Pert Chart

1. Can you imagine starting a long car trip to
an unfamiliar destination without a map or
navigation system?
You're pretty sure you have to make some
turns here and there, but you have no idea
when or where, or how long it will take to get
there.
You may arrive eventually, but you run
the risk of getting lost, and feeling frustrated,
along the way.

2. Essentially, driving without any idea of
how you're going to get there is the same as
working on a project without a schedule.
No matter the size or scope of your
project, the schedule is a key part of project
management.
The schedule tells you when each activity
should be done, what has already been
completed, and the sequence in which things
need to be finished.

3. Luckily, drivers have fairly accurate tools they
can use. Scheduling, on the other hand, is not an
exact process. It's part estimation, part prediction,
and part 'educated guessing.‘ Because of the
uncertainty involved, the schedule is reviewed
regularly, and it is often revised while the project is
in progress.
It continues to develop as the project moves
forward, changes arise, risks come and go, and new
risks are identified. The schedule essentially
transforms the project from a vision to a time-based
plan.

4. Project Schedule also help you do the following:
 They provide a basis for you to monitor and control
project activities
 They help you determine how best to allocate resources
so you can achieve the project goal
 They help you assess how time delays will impact the
project
 You can figure out where excess resources are available
to allocate to other projects
 They provide a basis to help you track project progress

5. Personal and project calendars – Understanding
working days, shifts, and resource availability is
critical to completing a project schedule.
Description of project scope – From this, you can
determine key start and end dates, major
assumptions behind the plan, and key constraints
and restrictions. You can also include stakeholder
expectations, which will often determine project
milestones.

6. Project risks – You need to understand this to make
sure there's enough extra time to deal with
identified risks – and with unidentified risks (risks
are identified with thorough Risk Analysis).
Lists of activities and resource requirements –It's
important to determine if there are other
constraints to consider when developing the
schedule. Understanding the resource capabilities
and experience you have available – as well as
company holidays and staff vacations – will affect
the schedule.

7. Schedule Network Analysis – This is a graphic
representation of the project's activities, the time it
takes to complete them, and the sequence in which
they must be done.
Project management software is typically used to
create these analyses – Gantt charts and PERT
Charts are common formats.

8. Critical Path Analysis – This is the
, and
calculating the 'best line' – or critical path – to take
so that you'll complete the project in the minimum
amount of time.
The method calculates the earliest and latest
possible start and finish times for project activities,
and it estimates the dependencies among them to
create a schedule of critical activities and dates.

9. Schedule Compression – This tool helps shorten the
total duration of a project by decreasing the time
allotted for certain activities. It's done so that you
can meet time constraints, and still keep the original
scope of the project. You can use two methods here:
Crashing – This is where you assign more resources
to an activity, thus decreasing the time it takes to
complete it.
This is based on the assumption that the time
you save will offset the added resource costs.

10. Fast-Tracking – This involves rearranging activities to
allow more parallel work. This means that things
you would normally do one after another are now
done at the same time.
However, do bear in mind that this approach
increases the risk that you'll miss things, or fail to
address changes.

11.  These activities need to be completed in a
sequence, with each stage being more-or-less
completed before the next stage can
begin. These are 'sequential' activities.
 Other activities are not dependent on
completion of any other tasks. You can do
these at any time before or after a particular
stage is reached. These are non-dependent
or 'parallel' tasks.

12. Step 1. List all activities in the plan
For each activity, show the earliest
start date, estimated length of time it
will take, and whether it is parallel or
sequential.
If tasks are sequential, show
which stage they depend on.

13. Task Earliest start Length Type
Dependent
on...
A. High level analysis Week 0 1 week Sequential
B. Selection of
hardware platform Week 1 1 day Sequential A
C. Installation and
commissioning of
hardware
Week 1.2 2 weeks Parallel B
D. Detailed analysis
of core modules Week 1 2 weeks Sequential A
E. Detailed analysis
of supporting
Week 3 2 weeks Sequential D
modules
F. Programming of
core modules Week 3 2 weeks Sequential D
G. Programming of
supporting modules Week 5 3 weeks Sequential E

14. Task Earliest start Length Type
Dependent
on...
H. Quality assurance of
core modules Week 5 1 week Sequential F
I. Quality assurance of
supporting modules Week 8 1 week Sequential G
J. Core module training Week 6 1 day Parallel C,H
K. Development and QA
of accounting reporting Week 5 1 week Parallel E
L. Development and QA
of management
reporting
Week 5 1 week Parallel E
M. Development of
Management
Information System
Week 6 1 week Sequential L
N. Detailed training Week 9 1 week Sequential I, J, K, M

15.  Critical Path Analysis are presented using circle and arrow diagrams. In these,
circles show events within the project, such as the start and finish of tasks.
 The number shown in the left hand half of the circle allows you to identify each
one easily. Circles are sometimes known as nodes.
 An arrow running between two event circles shows the activity needed to
complete that task.
 A description of the task is written underneath the arrow. The length of the task
is shown above it. By convention, all arrows run left to right. Arrows are also
sometimes called arcs.

16.  This shows the start event (circle 1), and the
completion of the 'High Level Analysis' task
(circle 2).
The arrow between them shows the activity of
carrying out the High Level Analysis. This activity
should take 1 week.

17.  Here the activities of 'Select Hardware' and 'Core Module Analysis' cannot be
started until 'High Level Analysis' has been completed. This diagram also brings
out a number of other important points:
 Within Critical Path Analysis, we refer to activities by the numbers in the circles
at each end. For example, the task 'Core Module Analysis' would be called
activity 2 to 3. 'Select Hardware' would be activity 2 to 9.

18.  Activities are not drawn to scale. In the diagram above, activities
are 1 week long, 2 weeks long, and 1 day long. Arrows in this case
are all the same length.
 In the example above, you can see a second number in the top,
right hand quadrant of each circle. This shows the earliest start
time for the following activity. It is conventional to start at 0. Here
units are whole weeks.

19.  Here activity 6 to 7 cannot start until the
other four activities (11 to 6, 5 to 6, 4 to 6,
and 8 to 6) have been completed.

21. The program (or project) evaluation and
review technique, commonly abbreviated
PERT, is a statistical tool, used in project
management, which was designed to
analyze and represent the tasks involved in
completing a given project.
 First developed by the United States Navy
in the 1950s, it is commonly used in
conjunction with the critical path method
(CPM).

22. The program (or project) evaluation and
review technique, commonly abbreviated
PERT, is a statistical tool, used in project
management, which was designed to
analyze and represent the tasks involved in
completing a given project.
 First developed by the United States Navy
in the 1950s, it is commonly used in
conjunction with the critical path method
(CPM).

23. Activity
Predecess
or
Time estimates
Expected
time
Opt. (O) Normal (M) Pess. (P)
A — 2 4 6 4.00
B — 3 5 9 5.33
C A 4 5 7 5.17
D A 4 6 10 6.33
E B, C 4 5 7 5.17
F D 3 4 8 4.50
G E 3 5 8 5.17

26. A node like this one (from Microsoft Visio) can be used
to display the activity name, duration, ES, EF, LS, LF, and
slack.

30.  A tools use to determine
critical activities for a project.
 It can be used to improve a
project schedule and evaluate
progress.

31. In PERT Chart, the longest
path is referred to as the critical
path, it is defined as the path
that will cause the whole
project fall behind if even one
day’s delay is encountered on
it.

32. It is essential that the systems
analyst carefully monitor the
activities on the critical path so as
to keep the entire project on time
or even shorten the project length
if warranted.

33. It is the leeway to fall behind
somewhat on critical paths.

34. Activity
Predecess
or
Time estimates
Expected
time
Opt. (O) Normal (M) Pess. (P)
A — 2 4 6 4.00
B — 3 5 9 5.33
C A 4 5 7 5.17
D A 4 6 10 6.33
E B, C 4 5 7 5.17
F D 3 4 8 4.50
G E 3 5 8 5.17

39. Activity Predecessor Duration
A. Conduct Interviews None 3
B. Administer Questionnaires A 4
C. Read Company Reports None 4
D. Analyze Data Flow B,C 8
E. Introduce Prototype B,C 5
F. Observe Reaction to Prototype E 3
G. Perform Cost/ Benefit Analysis D 3
H. Prepare Proposal G 2
I. Present Proposal H 2

40. 10
20
30 50 60 70 80
40
A,3
C,4
B,4
D,8
E,5 F,3
G,3 H,2 I,2

41. Determining Paths:
There are 4 Paths
10-20-30-50-60-70-80
10-20-30-40-60-70-80
10-30-50-60-70-80
10-30-40-60-70-80
10-20-30-50-60-70-80 is the longest path
with takes 22 days which is the critical
path, while others are set to be slack paths