PROJECT

MANAGEMENT IN
ENGINEERING DESIGN
CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 Is a graphical network diagram approach to project
planning
 Shows logical precedence relationships
 Attempts to identify major bottlenecks in a project
schedule
Elements of the CPM Diagram
 Activity: Ongoing effort on a project activity for a
specific duration.
 Activities are labelled with name/letter and duration.
 Event: Represents a discrete state (event), or
decision point, etc... and it is assumed the event
consumes ‘no time’. Events are usually not labelled.
Table of Activities, Duration and Precedence
Relations:
GENERAL RULES for CPM diagram
construction:

 Must start at a single “Start” event and end at a single

“Finish/End” event.
 Consecutive activities must be separated by events.
 Any pair of events cannot be connected by more than
one activity, without an intervening event.
 f a single activity (R) must precede several unrelated
activities(S, T, etc...), the relation is depicted as Fig. A:
 If several unrelated activities (S, T, etc...) must precede
an activity (R), the relation is depicted as Fig. B:
Dummy Activities (if necessary):
Approach to using the CPM method:

 (1) Generate the table of “Activities, Duration and

Precedence Relations”.
 This can be done as a team, especially for establishing/
estimating Duration and Precedence of activities.
 (2) Find all activities that have no ‘precedence
requirement’, and draw them using arrows
emanating from “start” event.
 Terminate these arrows with an “event” circle. Scratch
these activities from your table.
Approach to using the CPM method: Cont’d

 (3) Find all activities preceded by the activities

drawn in the previous step.
 Place them as appropriate on the network diagram.
Terminate them with an “event” circle, and scratch
them from the table list.
 (4) Repeat step (3) and ‘iterate and backtrack’ if
necessary.
 (5) All activities must eventually terminate at single
“End” event.
Determining the critical path
 The critical path is defined as:

“The sequence of activities from project start to

project end, such that a delay in any one of those
activities, will delay the completion of the entire
project”
Determining the critical path (Cont’d)

 Determining the ‘critical path’ can be done ‘ad-hoc’ by

tracing the various paths from start to finish.

 Hence, the critical path here is: A-B-F-G-H-K, which is

19 units in duration.
Determining the critical path (Cont’d)

 For more ‘complex CPM diagrams’, there is a systematic

approach to determining the critical path.
 Determine for each activity:
 Earliest Start (ES): The earliest possible time the activity can
begin.
 Project Duration: Least possible time to complete the project.
 Latest Start (LS): The latest possible time activity can begin
without delaying the project.
Defined as:
 Proj.Dur. - (longest possible reverse path to activity)
 Total Float (TF): Defined as (LS - ES)
Determining the critical path: Example
In Summary....
 The project duration is equal to the sum of the
duration of all activities along the critical path.
 The TF for each activity in the Table, is the amount
of time by which that activity can be delayed,
without causing a delay in the project duration.
 The critical path is defined as the sequence of
activities in the Table, for which TF = 0.
 Any delay in an activity that is on the critical path,
will cause a delay in the project duration.
In Summary....
 The CPM has application to very practical problems,
likely to occur during your professional careers.
 Consider the results of Table 7.4. Immediately, you
can see:
 The project has a duration of 19 time-units.
 The critical path is: A-B-F-G-H-K, therefore, you
must “pay special attention to these activities” as a
project manager. If any of these is delayed, the whole
project is delayed!
PERT: Program Evaluation and Review
Technique

 Using PERT, each activity is assigned ‘three time

estimates’ as attributes, which are:
 to (optimistic estimate
 tm (mode (most likely) estimate)
 tp (pessimistic estimate)
 Note: The values to and tp represent the left and
right terminus respectively, of a Beta probability
density function.
PERT Example (Previous Ex.)
Determine Critical Path in PERT
 Similar to CPM, however, the activity duration is
known as “expected time, te”.
 Calculate te for each activity, based on the
weighted average of tm, and the midpoint of (to +
tp)/2. This is done with the formula:
Determine Critical Path in PERT
 The te values are thus;
In Summary PERT....
 The main advantage of the PERT technique, is the
ability to determine the ‘probability’ that a project
will be completed within a specified time, Ts.
 It is thus more realistic
Summary PERT and CPM
 Like CPM, the PERT has application to very
practical and realistic problems, likely to occur
during your professional careers.

 PERT has all the benefits of CPM, plus, you can

make realistic estimations of activity durations that
account for uncertainty in the estimates.