JSPM Group of Institutes

Session Objectives
Course: Civil Engineering
Project Management and Engineering Economics

UNIT II
Session

Session Objective

Segregate /spilling into a group and defining shoot form goal to achieve small
group of activities.

Able to plot a WBS or activities of project on time - vs. activity and finding project
duration.

10

To overcome Gantt Chart limitations, advances technique to co related activities

and project duration.

11

Finding a critical activities and critical duration.

12
Defining critical path of project.
13
14
A calculating a slag duration in non critical activities and identifying type of float.
15
16
17

Developing a A-O-N Network and remembrance of precedence relation

Project Planning and Scheduling

2.1 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):

It is pictorial representation of logical breakdown of project into component parts.

It is preliminary diagram illustrating the way in which all supporting objectives go

together & mesh to ensure the attainment of major objectives.

It is constructed by dividing the project into major parts with each of these being
further divided into sub-parts. This is continued till the breakdown is done in

terms of manageable units of work for which responsibility can be defined.

Such a breakdown structure is more essential in complex projects consisting of

hundreds of events & activities.

The development of WBS begins at the highest level of program with
identification of project end items. The major end items are divided into their subcomponent parts (system, sub-system, component) & the component parts are

further sub divided into their more detailed units.

The sub-division of WBS continues to successive lower level reducing
complexity of units at each level, until it reaches the level where the end items

subdivisions become manageable units for planning & controlling purposes.

End item subdivisions at last stages divided into major work packages (i.e.

engineering, manufacturing, testing etc.)

So WBS helps in: Effective planning by dividing the work into manageable

elements which can be planned budgeted & controlled.

Assignments of responsibility for work elements to project personnel & outside

agencies.
Development of control & information system.

Project of a house

Level 1

House

Masonry work
Carpentry work
Survey & land leveling
Electric Water
fittings& Sanitary fittings Finishing
Level 2

Figure1. WBS for Residential Housing

Project

2.2 Bar Chart:

A project generally consists of number of well defined manageable units
or activities which should be performed or completed in definite sequence for
successful completion of project. These activities are those operations of project
plan which take time to carry out & on which resources are expanded. Out of the
various tools & techniques of project management bar charts were one of the
earliest one.
Bar charts were introduced by Hennery Gantt around 1900 AD. In his
work on production control, Gantt developed the famous Gantt chart still used on
many projects of moderate magnitude. Bar chart consists of two co-ordinate axes;
one usually horizontal representing the time elapsed other vertical axis represents
the jobs or activities to be performed. The beginning & the end of each bar
represent the time of start & time of finish of that activity. The length of bar
represents the time required for completion of that job.

2.2.1 Development of bar chart:

2.2.2 Important stages in developing a bar chart:

1. Breakdown: Breakdown the project into different activities each representing
manageable unit for planning & control
2. Decide: Decide the method for execution of project. Also decide the sequence in
which the activities are to be completed.
3. Assign: Assign the duration of time for completion of each activity. Once the
activities are separated & choice of method is made it is possible to estimate the
time required for completion of each activity.
4. Represent: Represent the above information in bar chart indicating relative
positions of each activity.

2.2.3 Limitations of bar chart:

Lack of degree of details

Review of project progress
Activity inter-relationships
Time uncertainties

1. Lack of degree of details:

- Only major activities are shown
- If too many activities are separately shown it becomes clumsy so not used for big
-

projects
A particular activity is shown by one bar without its sub-activities
So effective control on activities cannot be achieved.
But for effective control of activity stages can be marked on activity bar( called

milestones)
2. Review of project progress:
- Bar chart does not show the progress of work so can not be used as a control
-

device
For proper control it is necessary to know the progress at a particular instant of

time
This can be done by showing the progress of by hatched lines on activity bar &

hatching is done in half the width of the bar

Sometimes colors like black(anticipated progress), green( actual progress), red

( progress behind schedule) are also used

3. Activity inter-relationships:
- There are some activities of project which are taken up concurrently while there
are the others which can be taken up only after completion of some other activity.
Concurrent activities are represented by bars which run parallel to each other or
which overlap. The activities whose start & end depend on other activities are
shown serially. In a project there are large numbers of activities which can start
with certain degree of concurrency. By merely depicting those by parallel lines
the inter-relationships between them cannot be clearly depicted. One cannot draw
the conclusion that if two activities are scheduled for simultaneous or overlapping
times, they are inter dependent or completely independent.
4. Time uncertainty:
- Uncertainties are always there in research development project
- Because of uncertainties in time determination some of activities may require
-

rescheduling
Such rescheduling cannot be reflected in bar chart

2.3 Network planning:

Network: It is a graphical and logical model or plan which lists out the sequence
of various operations which are required to be performed for the final achievement of
the project objectives.
Network techniques: This refers to method of planning, scheduling &
controlling the progress on various components of projects, especially those projects
which are complex in nature.
2.3.1 Network construction:
Networks can be constructed either by forward planning or by backward planning
or by combination of both.
1.

Forward Planning:
In this method a planner starts from the initial event & builds up the events &

activities logically & sequentially until end event is reached. In this method planner
asks himself the following questions:
-what event comes next?
-what are dependent events?
-what events can take place concurrently?

2.

Backward planning:
In this method planner starts with end event & arranges the events

&

activities until the initial event is reached. Planner asks himself it we want to achieve
this, what events or activities should have taken place?
3. Combined planning:
In practice this method is followed. At any stage planner may need to traverse
the network back & forth several times until it is found to be satisfactory. The planner
must ask himself the following questions:
-what event or events must be completed before the particular event can start?
-what event or events follows this?
-what activities can be accomplished simultaneously?

2.4 Types of network

Activity on arrow (A-O-A) or arrow diagrams

Activity on Node (A-O-N) or precedence diagram or Event oriented network
2.4.1 Activity on arrow

Composed of arrows & nodes

Arrows represent activities & nodes represent the events
Each activity carries activity name, or symbol & the time duration.
Easy to associate with time flow of activity
A major difficulty to arrow diagramming is the dummy activity
First method, popular method

2.4.2 Activity on node

Nodes represent the activities & the arrows, their interdependencies or

precedence relationships
Nodes are represented by squares or rectangles, but circles may also be

used
Activity number & description are written within bxes representing the

nodes
Eliminates the dummy activity

2.5 Modes of network construction:

Event oriented diagrams
Activity oriented

2.5.1 Event oriented diagrams:

PERT prepares this

Selection of events that are to be included in plan
Focusing is on start & completion of events rather than activities
The events in such a network fall in a logical sequence, the start circle is omitted

& only the completed event is recorded

The enumerated events are then connected by arrows to show how they are
related to current plans for accomplishing the project.
Events are used to show the milestones or stages in a project

2.5.2 Activity oriented:

CPM prepares this diagram

Activities are arranged in sequential & logical order
The description of the activity is written on arrow representing it
Importance of events is minimized
Activities are the actual performance of task to achieve event

2.6 Terms & Definitions:

1. Activitya. Any portion of a project which consumes time or resources & has a definite
beginning & an end is called as an activity.
b. It is denoted by an arrow. The symbol above arrow indicates activity description
& the number below indicates activity duration in time units.
DESCRIPTION
DURATION
2. Eventa. The beginning & the completion of activity is termed as an event. It indicates a
particular instant of time at which some specific milestone has been achieved. It
does not consume any time or resources by itself.
Node

3. Network logica. This denotes the technical dependencies among the activities.
e.g. Network logic in the network drawn below is that activity A must be
completed before activity B can be started.
A
1

B
2

4. Dummya. It is similar to an activity but it does not consume any resources. Interdependence
of activities or events can be clearly shown.
5. Types of event-

a) Tail event- an event which marks the beginning of an activity(fig-1)

B
A

C
D

e.g. event 1 is said to be tail event to activity A4 as it indicates the beginning of

the activity A.
b) Head event- the event which marks the completion of an activity.
e.g. in above fig. event 2 is a head event to activity A as it indicates the
completion or end of activity A.
c) Dual role events- If an event acts as tail event for some activity & as the
head event for some other activity it is called as dual role event. E.g. event 2 is
a dual role event
d) Burst & merge event- In arrow diagram there are some nodes to which
number of activities converges & there may be others from which a number of
other activities may diverge. The nodes to which number of activities
converges are called as merge nodes or merge events. The nodes from which a
number of activities emerge are called as burst event or burst node.

4
7

Burst event

Merge eventPAINT

2.6.1 Inter-relationship of Events:

1.

Successor event- the event that follows a particular event in the sequence of their

2.

completion. e.g. in above fig. event 2

Predecessor event- the event that occurs before a particular event in sequence of
their completion. E.g. Event 1

2.6.2 Inter-relationship of Activities:

3.

Parallel activities or concurrent activities- activities which can be carried out

4.

simultaneously & independent of each other. In fig-1 activities B,C & D

Serial activities- activities which can be performed only in succession i.e. one
after other sequentially.

o
o
o
o
o
o

Activity with zero time consumed

Represented by dashed arrow
Identified by the event number it connects
Used to show logical interrelationship between different activities
Maintains the logic of network diagram perfectly
Keeps the numbering system of network unique

2.7 CRITICAL PATH METHOD (CPM):

Generally CPM is used for repetitive type projects or for these projects for which
accurate estimate of time for completion of each activity can be made , & for which cost
estimations can be made with fair degree of accuracy.
Following are the examples where application of CPM is made:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Construction of multi-storied buildings

Extension of factory building
Shifting a manufacturing unit to another site
Manufacture of a new car

2.8 Difference in CPM & PERT:

Sr.

CPM

No.

1
2
3
4
5

Time

estimates

for

PERT
completion

of Time

estimates

are

not

so

activities are with fair degree of accuracy accurate & definite

The cost is not directly proportional to Cost varies directly with time
time
Cost is direct controlling factor

Time is controlling factor

Critical path is the time wise longest path A critical path is the path that
in a network
joins the critical events
Critical path is determined on the basis of Critical path is determined on
minimum float for each activity

the basis of slack at each event

CPM has different levels of applications in project management:

I)
Planning: - In this level the logical sequence in which the jobs or activities must be
performed, is formalized. It should be ascertained that all activities are shown & the
scope of the project has been interpreted correctly & also that the resources that are
II)

required for performing each job are applied.

Scheduling:- It is the determination of time required for execution of each
operation & the time order in which each operation has to be carried out to meet
plan objectives. It is done for operations as well as for resources. It is the
mechanical process of formalizing the planned functions assigning starting &

III)

completion dates for each part of project.

Controlling: - it is the process in which difference between plan & actual
performance is reviewed after the project has started. In CPM controlling is
required not only for physical progress of work, but also in respect of cost.

Earliest event time-

It is the earliest time at which the event can occur. It is the time by which all the
activities discharging into event under consideration are completed. It is also called as
earliest occurrence time.
Latest event timeThe latest time by which an event must occur to keep the project on schedule. It is
also called as latest allowable occurrence time.
Earliest start time (EST)The time by which the activity can start. This is equal to earliest event time of the
tail event of activity.
Earliest finish time (EFT)The earliest time by which it by which it can be completed.
Latest Start Time (LST)The latest time by which the activity can start without delaying the completion of
project as a whole.
Latest Finish Time (LFT)The latest time by which the activity can be completed without delaying the
project.

2.9 Concept of Float:

Float is associated with activity times

Since CPM is activity oriented, float is used in CPM
Denotes the flexibility range within which the activity start & finish time may
fluctuate without affecting the total project duration

There are 4 types of float:

a)
b)
c)
d)
2.9.1

Total float
Free float
Independent float
Interfering float
Total float It is the time span by which the starting & the finishing of an activity can
be delayed without affecting the overall completion of the project. It is
sometimes found that certain activities have a difference between the
maximum time available for completion & their actual duration. This

2.9.2

difference is termed as total float

Free float It is that duration by which an activity can be delayed without delaying
any other succeeding activity. It a portion of a total float. This concept is

2.9.3

2.9.4

based on the assumption that all activities start at their earliest time.
Independent float It is the excess time available if the preceding activity ends as late as
possible & the succeeding activity starts as early as possible.
Interfering float- It is the difference between total float & free float.

2.10 Precedence network:

2.10.1 Why precedence diagramming?
One short coming of A-O-A network method is that it does not allow for leads
& lag between two activities.
Introduction:
These networks are shown as A-O-N
Here nodes represent activities & arrow represents interdependencies or
precedence relationships

 It represents logical & sequential relationship between various components of

jobs & activities required to be performed for the final objectives of project
completion.

2.10.2 Logic of precedence activities:

1. Finish to start

Activity B cannot start until activity A finish.

e.g. Activity is pouring a concrete for a sidewalk. Next activity might be any activity
that uses the sidewalk.
2. Start to start
A
Time lag or lead

Activity B can start at the time as activity A but not before.

Also if time lag is started, then activity B cannot be started until that interval after
start of activity A.
e.g. setting electrical wires in place cannot begin until two days after framing has
begun.
3. Finish to finish

A
B

Activity B cannot be finished until activity has been finished.

 If time lag or lead is started then activity B cannot be finished earlier than the
interval after the finishing of activity.
e.g. Priming the walls of a house, next activity involves in selecting purchasing
& finally delivering the wall paper . it is important not to hang the paper until the
wall primer has dried for 24 hours.

4. Start to start combined with finish to finish

A
B

Activity B cannot be started & cannot be finished earlier than the stated time
lag/lead after the start & finish of the activity A. This sequence is used ti
define overlapping independent activities
E.g. Both activities are two major cruising activities in prepaid week long
ocean cruise, the total time cannot less than the promised week.

2.10.3 Advantages of precedence network:

A-O-N network method that easily allows for these leads & lags within network.
Network node times are calculated in a manner similar AON or AOA because of lead
& lag restriction, it is often helpful to lay out a Gantt chart to see what is actually
happening.
The richer set of precedence relationships allowed by AON is pertinent for variety of
projects particularly construction projects.
P.N. can show activities which should be allowed to overlap each other or must be

separated by time delay.

P.N. is self sufficient as it contains the necessary information regarding projects.
Revision & modification can be carried out easily without affecting most of activities.
Easily understood by non specialist also.
No arrows are required to show the logical sequence of activities.

2.11 PERT (Program Evaluation & Review Technique)

It can be applied to any field requiring planned, controlled & integrated

work efforts.
Project is composed of many diversified activities.
PERT is a technique that statistically presents knowledge

activities & uncertainties.

It has probabilistic approach.

about these

2.11.1 Definition of PERT:

It is a managerial tool for defining project & coordinating various
operations that must be done to successfully accomplish the objective of project.
Profile: that aids the decision maker
Way: For synchronizing various parts of overall job
Technique: That presents statistical information regarding the uncertainties about
computation time of various activities associated with the project
Methods: Focusing managerial attentions in latest problem that require quick
decision
Approach: of expending the completion of project
Communication facility: in that it can report development both favorable to manager
& in that it can keep the manager posted & informed.
2.11.2 Use Of PERT:
PERT has developed & has been used most frequent in research & development
type projects. E.g. space industry, aerospace, defense
PERT is proffered for projects or operations which are non repetitive nature
It is used for those projects in which correct time determination for various
activities cannot be made
It is favorable for project where design & construction requires new
developments in material & technology.
2.11.3 Time estimates:
They are most essential & basic variable

 An estimate is made of not only the most probable time required to complete the
activity but some measures of uncertainties.
Probable time is incorporated with pessimistic estimate & optimistic estimates
They help to take uncertainty into account
2.11.3.1 The optimistic time:
This is the shortest possible time in which activities can be completed
We can complete the activity if everything is perfect
Optimistic time denoted by t0
2.11.3.2 Pessimistic time estimates:
Best guess of maximum time that would be required to complete the activity
It is long time when everything go wrong
This estimate does not include possible effects of highly unusual disasters
It is denoted by tp
2.11.3.3 Most likely time estimate:
It is most probable time, require for activity would most often require if normal
conditions prevail
This lies between optimistic & pessimistic time
It reflects a situation where conditions are normal
It is denoted by tL.
2.11.4 Frequency distribution:

Plotted time vs. no. of activities

It is clear that there are large no. of cases of activities that are comleted in
most t0
likely time
tL
tp
P corresponds to optimistic time, R corresponds to pessimistic time & Q
corresponds to most likely time
This curve called as uni modal curve
It is not necessary that the curve should be symmetrical

Wide range in time estimates represents greater uncertainty & hence less
confidence, our ability to correctly anticipate the actual time that activity
will require
2.11.5 Mean, variance, standard deviation:
MEAN: Algebraic sum of time durations taken by various activities divided by
number of activities tm= t/n
DEVIATION: Difference between time under consideration & mean time
= t-tm
VARIANCE: It is mean of squared deviation. Degree of uncertainty is indicated
by variance.
2 = 2 / n
STANDARD DEVIATION: It is simply square root of variance
= (2 / n)1/2
2.11.6 Beta distribution:
It is a type of probability distribution which fit for PERT analysis
PERT is interested in finding that type of probability distribution which
satisfies the following conditions:
Distribution should have small probability of reaching the most optimistic
time
Small probability of reaching the most pessimistic time
Distribution should have one & only one most likely time
Distribution should be that the amount of uncertainty in the estimating can be
measured easily.
Standard deviation - =( tp-t0)/6
Variance = 2 = ((tp-t0 )/6)2
Expected time = (t0+4tL+tP)/6

1) Should concentrate on Network Planning

2) Difference between CPM and PERT
3) Floats
Dictation of Notes
Solving various examples
What are various methods which are used for networking?
What is Dumpty activity?
What are various terms used for network.

JSPM Group of Institute

Course: Civil Engineering

Project Management- Assignment
Unit II

Que.1 What is Gantt Chart? Explain with suitable example. State its merits and demerits.
Que.2 Define the term
1. Activity
2. Event
3. Critical Event
4. Critical Path
5. Optimistic Time to
6. Most likely time tm
7. Pessimistic time tp
8. Slag or float
9. Total float
10. Free Float
11. Independent float
12. Interdependent float
13. Dummy Activity
14. Critical activity
15. Concerned activity
16. Preceding activity
17. Succeeding activity

Que.3 What are different relationships in precedence of network?

Que4. Explain silent features of CPM and PERT and circumstances in which each is used?
Que5. Draw a WBS for construction of Pile Foundation and prepare a calendar based Gantt
Chart considering 6 days in a week for the same.
Que6. Write a short note on PERT with its uses, time estimates, variance and standard deviation.
Que7. Write a short note on beta distribution with suitable example.

Que. 8 A small construction work comprises the following activities. The duration and restraints
are given below:
Activity

Duration(weeks)

Restraints

Starting activity

Starting activity

C follows A

D follows B

E follows C and D

F follows C and D

G follows E

H follows F

I follows G and F

J follows H and I

a) Draw CPM network and calculate total project duration. Show the critical path.
b) Calculate EST, EFT, LST, LFT, total float, free float for the activities.
Que. 9 A project consists of 8 activities. Precedence relation and activity times are given below.
Draw thye network diagram and compute the critical path for the activities.
Activity

Immediate predecessor

Activity time(weeks)

12

20

28

12

P,Q

28

T,S

12

U,V

Session outcome
1. Able to achieve short term goals by splitting the activities into groups.
2. Able to plot WBS or activities of project on time vs. activity for finding project duration
3. Able to correlate the activities and project duration by using advance techniques to
overcome the limitation of the bar chart.
4. Able to identify the critical activities and critical duration.
5. Able to define critical path of project.
6. Able to calculate slag duration in non critical activities and identify type of float.

7. Able to develop A-O-N network.