...SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN (PERT) AND (CPM) Critical Path Analysis and PERT are powerful tools that help you to schedule and manage complex projects. They were developed in the 1950s to control large defense projects, and have been used routinely since then. Program (Project) Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. It is basically a method to analyze the tasks involved in completing a given project, especially the time needed to complete each task, and to identify the minimum time needed to complete the total project. The Critical Path Method or Critical Path Analysis, is a mathematically based algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities.Critical path method seeks to determine the longest possible continuous pathway taken from the initial event to the terminal event. It determines the total calendar time required for the project; and, therefore, any time delays along the critical path will delay the reaching of the terminal event by at least the same amount. PERT Networks and CPM Arrow Diagramsare similar in manyways and yet take paths that are often-different:Both aresystematic ways of analyzing and planningthe components ofa program or project.Both have been used extensively byindustry and government. CPM uses activity oriented network while PERT uses event oriented network. Furthermore durations of an activity may be estimated with a fair degree of accuracy...
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...Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION 3 2.0 NETWORK TECHNIQUES 7 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 Critical Path Method (CPM) ……………………………………………………………..…………………………………… 8 2.2.1 Steps of CPM Project Planning ……….……………………………………………………………………………… 9 2.2.2 Example of CPM …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11 2.2.3 Benefits of CPM …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 2.2.4 Limitation of CPM …………….…………………………………………………………………………………………. 12 2.3 Project Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT) ……..……………..………………………………………… 13 2.3.1 Steps of PERT in Project Planning ……....……………………………………………………………………….. 14 2.3.2 Benefits of PERT……..……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16 2.5.1 Limitation of PERT ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16 3.0 CONCLUSION 17 4.0 REFERANCES 29 1.0 INTRODUCTION: 1.1 What is a project? A project is a series of activities directed to accomplishment of a desired objective. A project have a defined start which is when the descision of the project process starts and also a defined end where by that point the goal and the objectives of that project is achived. 1.2 What is project management? Project management its concerned with the overall planning and co-ordination of a project from conception to completion aimed at meeting the stated requirements and ensuring completion on time, within cost and to required quality standards. Project management is normally reserved for focused, non-repetitive, time-limited...
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...It’s Not Luck, Goldratt wrote his book Critical Chain with the same simplicity of storytelling that has made him a master at his craft. He passes groundbreaking business concepts and principles to his audience in a simple, palatable manner. In Critical Chain, Goldratt introduces us to his protagonist, a young professor of business Mr. Rick Silver, a man struggling to make it in the academic world. Mr. Silver is a good teacher seeking tenure in a business school and who would like to have his work published. His area of expertise is project management and he hopes to see the ideas propagated in his articles make a difference in the world of project management (Goldratt, 1997). He soon realizes that the ideas and the theories that are currently in use in project management are outdated and incomprehensive and as a result, projects often delay and not completed in time (Goldratt, 1997). In his attempts to pass his ideas and concepts on better methods of project management, he encounters the fact that the content given in business schools is outdated. The therefore is convinced that business schools should revise their curriculum to accommodate the changes that occur in the business world. If the changes do not happen soon, then what the business schools teach their learners will soon be obsolete (Goldratt, 1997). The focus of the book is the shift of project management from the critical path method to the critical chain method of project management. Likewise, the...
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...Some activities of project are critical in the sense that delay in their commencement will delay the overall project completion time. Therefore, management and scheduling of projects is inevitable. In this paper, project scheduling in agriculture, for establishing 300 hectares grape garden in Agricultural Research Center of University of Zabol, is carried out by CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT (Program Evaluation Review Technique) methods. Results show that the minimum completion time of this project, based on using Normal time and PERT method is 390 days and 364.67 days, respectively. Also the results obtained from employing CPM method indicate that the cost of reducing the project completion time to 365 days is 23643530 Rials. Key words: Project scheduling % CPM % PERT % Agriculture INTRODUCTION Project scheduling and control refers to the planning, scheduling and control of projects, which consist of numerous activities. In the other words, Scheduling issue is a frequent task in the control of various systems such as manufacturing processes [1], project management [2] and service system control (reservation systems, timetabling). Examples can be found in diverse areas such as shipbuilding, road construction, oil refinery maintenance, missile launching and auditing. The management of such projects is problematic, because certain activities must be completed in a prescribed order or sequence. This means that some of these activities are critical so that they delay in their commencement...
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...Work Breakdown Structure Ducks Unlimited will be holding its Keystone Conference in Charlottesville, NC in less than 21 months. There has been a reduction in budgeting due to economic conditions beyond the control of Ducks Unlimited. The operating budget for the conference has been reduced by nearly than 75%. Therefore changes have been made to reflect the reduction. The teams who are responsible for speakers, venue, marketing, and registration are all still in place. However there will be fewer speakers and fewer representatives attending the conference. Ducks Unlimited will be divided into regions for the purpose of the conference: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, South, and Pacific. Out of each of these five regions will come five regional representatives and one senior manager who will speak at the conference. Otherwise, the WBS does not change significantly. Cost Estimates Hotel and transportation costs for the event have been reduced because of the need to provide lodging for much fewer attendees. With such a small conference, catering costs will also be reduced by nearly 70%. Costs will be shaved even more with the venue selection. A smaller venue capable of accommodating 30 to 40 attendees will be required, down from the 100 guests originally scheduled. Administration needs and technical requirements will change with the new budget parameters. Administration costs will decrease since attendance at the conference will be very exclusive. Fewer flyers...
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...CPA (Critical Path Analysis) and its value on Strategy Implementation Critical Path Analysis (CPA) plays a very important role in the planning and implementation of an operations strategy. Its helps with planning the implementation of the operations strategy and is a mechanism to help manage and control improvements and/or the targets of performance objectives, the alignment of capabilities (changes in layout, machinery etc.) and the resources required underpinning the implementation exercise. The main outcome from CPA and its main value to implementing an operations strategy is that it identifies those tasks which cannot be delayed or take longer than their estimate without impacting the overall project, this being from a time perspective. Such tasks form the basis of the critical path and are the tasks crucial to the success of the implementation exercise. Karaca & Onargan (2007) describe that critical paths are not fixed and as changes and updates are made, a new critical path may emerge. CPA and its Application within an Operational Context Karaca & Onargan (2007) discuss as part of their article on the application of CPA in workflow schema of Marble Processing Plants, a number of benefits emerged upon completion of this exercise. Through the use of CPA network diagrams, the critical path of workflow for the new marble plant resulted in better production capacity and production timing. The study proves CPA can be used in the design of a new marble plant and...
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...the following questions. 1. Describe the nature of the project, and its key objectives. 2. Define “Dummy Activities” and describe their role in this project. 3. Describe the key problem(s) in this project and the strategies used to address these problems. Introduction This case example, although for a very small project, illustrates some interesting features of planning using critical path analysis. although there are only 17 activities, the precedence logic is a little complex to draw clearly owing to the number of crossed links, and we show how this difficulty is easily overcome by inserting dummy activities at three of the crossover points. Our case example demonstrates the application of pert (program evaluation and review technique), in which the estimated duration for each activity can be subjected to a probabilistic study in an attempt to forecast the most likely completion time for the entire project. Finally, this case will demonstrate how a project manager need not accept the results of time analysis without question, but can plan to apply extra effort to expedite critical activities (usually for additional cost) to bring the planned project completion date forward. Project Background CEN-CONSTRUCT is a medium-sized business located in Sydney, Australia that is owned and operated by a family. It is principally a consulting company that specializes in aviation civil engineering, having worked on runway construction and paving projects as well as several...
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...planning for project Any project with interdependent activities can apply this method of mathematical analysis. CPM calculates the longest path of planned activities to the end of the project, and the earliest and latest that each activity can start and finish without making the project longer. This process determines which activities are "critical" (i.e., on the longest path) and which have "total float" (i.e., can be delayed without making the project longer). A project can have several, parallel, near critical paths. An additional parallel path through the network with the total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub-critical or non-critical path. - One of the most important things to formulate a CPM is to identify the activities crucial to your project. - We used the SDLC model to identify the list of activities for drawing out the CPM This table shows the list of activities crucial to our project NETWORK DIAG -1 * Networks typically flow from left to right * Arrows indicate precedence and flow NETWORK DIAG -2 This is the 2nd non critical path for our project NETWORK DIAG -3 * This network shows the critical path for our project * Sum total of time required for each activity along this path was the highest. * This essentially gives us an idea about the time frame of our project After identifying the critical path you can decide to - - either fastrack your project by running the float...
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...Event Punch base Form base Punch roof Form roof Information flow See the total process; a systems view Define flow units and process boundaries Include only the key steps Clarify the level of detail needed. Processes can be broken down into sub-activities. On the other hand, cascading allows several activities to be combined in a single sub-process - Depicts resources required to carry out activities - Identify the processes that need attention (weak points) Start Start Sub assemble base Separate Sheet Activity A Activity B Activity C Assemble Inspect End End 1 9/28/2015 Wondershed Inc. Theoretical Flow Time Finding Theoretical Flow Time Sequential & Parallel Path 1: 1-3-5-7-8 (T1=80) Activity Times at Wonder Shed Inc. Activity Activity Time (minutes) 1 Separate Punch the base 25 3 Punch the roof 20 4 Form the base 5 5 Form the roof 10 6 Subassemble the base 10 7 8 Assemble Inspect 5 (10) 10 2 3 (20) 10 30 Start 7 (10) 1 (10) 2...
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...Week 2: Homework 1. Problems 3.3 The critical path is ACFH and the time is 21 days 3.6 Critical path is B–D–E–G Total project takes 26 days Activity | Time | ES | EF | LS | LF | Slack | Critical | A | 2 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 13 | No | B | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | Yes | C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 11 | No | D | 10 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 15 | 0 | YES | E | 3 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 18 | 0 | YES | F | 6 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 11 | NO | G | 8 | 18 | 26 | 18 | 26 | 0 | YES | 3.7 There are four paths: Path | Hours | ACEG | 19.5 | BDFG | 24.9 | ACDFG | 28.7 | BEG | 15.7 | Grant Chart 3.15 ABEF: 6 weeks ACF: 7 weeks The critical path is ACF Activity | Time | ES | EF | LS | LF | Slack | Critical | A | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | YES | B | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | NO | C | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | YES | E | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | NO | F | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 0 | YES | 3.18 We have: AD (11 weeks), B (8 weeks), CE (12 weeks). So CE is the critical path Activity | Daily Crash Cost | Maximum Crash | A | 100 | 1 day | B | 50 | 2 days | C | 100 | 1 day | D | 150 | 2 days | E | 200 | 3 days | So if Crash C by 1 day ($ 100) to 11 days Crash C by 1 day ($200) and A by 1 day ($100) to 10 days Crash E by 2 days ($400) and D by 2 days ($300) to 8 days Totally, the minimum cost of crashing by 4 days is: $100 + $200 +$100+$400+$300 = $1,100 2. Find a recent or historical news story about a major mismanaged project...
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...Brandon C. Foltz, M.Ed. 6/26/2012 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT NETWORK DIAGRAMS: CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS USING FORWARD AND BACKWARD PASSES B r a n d o n C . Fo l t z , M . E d . B r a n d o n C . Fo l t z , M . E d . education / training & development / business / tech / math / opinion http://bcfoltz.com/blog Twitter: @BCFoltz YouTube: BCFoltz education / training & development / business / tech / math / opinion http://bcfoltz.com/blog Twitter: @BCFoltz YouTube: BCFoltz MILWAUKEE PAPER EXAMPLE MILWAUKEE PAPER NETWORK WITH TIME Installing a complex air filtration system in a paper manufacturing plant Activity Description Immediate Predecessor(s) Time to Complete (weeks) A Build internal components ─ 2 B Modify roof and floor ─ 3 C Construct collection stack A 2 D Pour concrete and install frame A,B 4 E Build high-temperature burner C 4 F Install pollution control system C 3 G Install air pollution device D,E 5 H Inspect and test F,G 2 TOTAL TIME 25 http://bcfoltz.com/blog 1 Brandon C. Foltz, M.Ed. 6/26/2012 CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS CRITICAL PATH NODES When can we expect our project to be done? Which (if any) activities can be delayed without delaying the overall project? To conduct CPA, we need to find two starting times and two ending times for each activity Earliest Start (ES) - earliest start time given predecessor activities Earliest Finish (EF) - earliest possible completion time Latest Start (LS) – latest start time...
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...most appropriate today for reporting project status to a customer during an interchange meeting? A. BAR charts B. Milestone charts C. PERT charts D. Precedence charts (M) 3. The major disadvantage of using a bar chart on large projects is that bar charts: A. Cannot identify critical paths B. Do not show dependencies between activities C. Cannot identify milestones D. Cannot show slack (E) 4. Which of the following is not one of the four network diagramming techniques? A. PERT B. GERT C. VERT D. PDM (H) 5. Which of the following activity-on-arrow network diagramming methods does not require three estimates for durations? A. PERT B. GERT C. ADM D. PDM (M) 6. Which of the following network diagramming methods do not use dummy activities? A. PERT B. GERT C. ADM D. PDM (M) 7. Which of the following network diagramming methods allows for branching and looping? A. PERT B. GERT C. ADM D. PDM (M) 8. Which of the following is an activity-on-node network diagramming method? A. PERT B. GERT C. ADM D. PDM (H) 9. Which of the following cannot be determined after performing a forward pass and a backward pass on a network...
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...Definition of 'Critical Path Analysis' A project-management technique that lays out all the activities needed to complete a task, the time it will take to complete each activity and the relationships between the activities. Also called the "critical path method", critical path analysis can help predict whether a project can be completed on time and can be used to reorganize the project both before starting it, and as it progresses, to keep the project's completion on track and ensure that deliverables are ready on time. Either manually or using computer software, the project manager first lists each activity, the order it must be completed in and how long it is expected to take, and then diagrams the process. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/critical-path-analysis.asp Critical Path Term Definition Critical path analysis or critical path method is a project management technique used to predict project duration and, therefore, is useful for both project scheduling and resource planning. The Critical path represents the sequence of tasks or events that directly impact project completing. Project managers can shorten or at the least control a project's schedule by focusing on critical path tasks. This is referred to as critical path management. Understanding the critical path sequence provides you with information on where you have flexibility and where you do not. On every project there are activities or tasks that have flexibility. The task can start earlier...
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...CPM (Critical Path Method) determines the longest path and the critical activities along this path in a project network; the project completion time can't be shorter than the duration of this longest path unless such techniques as time crashing are used. PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) incorporates probabilistic elements into the computation of activity durations and hence the project completion time; PERT uses optimistic (o), most probable (m), and pessimistic (p) activity times to estimate the expected activity times. Expected time is given by (o + 4m + p) / 6 and variance is given by ((p - o)/6)2 . The reason for dividing by 6 is due to the fact that the area under the normal curve between -3 and 3 accounts for more than 99% of the total probability of 100%. In case of standard normal curve, = 1; hence -3 = -3(1) = -3 and 3() = 3(1) = 3 and the difference between 3 and -3 is 6. An example will illustrate the PERT/CPM technique. Example: The optimistic, most probable, and pessimistic times (in days) for completion of activities for a certain project are as follows: ACTIVITY | IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR | OPTIMISTIC TIME (o) | MOST PROBABLE TIME (m) | PESSIMISTIC TIME (p) | A | - | 4 | 5 | 6 | B | - | 6 | 8 | 10 | C | A | 6 | 6 | 6 | D | B | 3 | 4 | 5 | E | B | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | C,D | 8 | 10 | 12 | G | E | 6 | 7 | 8 | H | C,D | 12 | 13 | 20 | I | F,G | 10 | 12 | 14 | a) Find the critical path...
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...Here is a worked example and process for constructing a network diagram: Using this example: Activity Duration (days) Predecessor(s) A 5 --- B 2 --- C 4 A D 6 B E 3 C, D F 1 D Follow this sequence: 1. Construct the Network diagram. 2. Check the network diagram. 3. Add durations to the activities. 4. Identify all paths through the network. 5. Identify the critical path (CP) and scheduled duration. 6. Calculate slack times (float) for each activity. 1. Construct the Network diagram. Using the AIB method: Draw a box on the left labeled "Start" Add boxes to the right of this box for activities with no predecessors, in the example A, and B. Connect these boxes to the box labeled start, but not to each other! I always start with box A at the top, and others in sequence underneath, vertically. Add arrows to the end of the lines where they connect to the activity (A and B) boxes. (This is important for step 4). Draw a box to the right of activity A for any activities which list A as a predecessor. (C in our example). Connect this box to activity A, don't forget the arrow! Draw a box to the right of activity B for any activities which list B as a predecessor. (D in our example). Connect this box to activity B, don't...
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