This presentation is prepared as part of the Course assignment of "HSM 612 Health Project Management” for the Master's Degree of Public Health (MPH), Pokhara University and can be used as reference materials. This Presentation is prepared by Jagat Prasad Upadhyay

1. Reducing Project
Duration
Presented By:
Jagat Prasad Upadhyay
MPH (PHSM)3rd Semester
School of Health and Allied Sciences
(SHAS)
Pokhara University

2. Presentation Outline
• Introduction
• Why reduce project duration
• Option for reducing project duration
• Project Crashing
• Benefits and risk of reducing project duration
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3. Reducing Project Duration
• Reducing project duration refers to the process of shortening the
overall time required to complete a project while maintaining its
quality and objectives.
• It involves analyzing and modifying various project components, such
as task dependencies, resource allocation, scheduling, and project
scope, to expedite project completion.
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4. Why Reduce Project Duration?
• Reduce project duration so as to minimize risks caused by
unforeseen delays—for example, adverse weather, design defect,
and equipment breakdowns etc.
• In recent years emphasis on time-to-market has taken on new
importance because of intense global competition and rapid
technological advances.
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5. Why Reduce Project Duration?
• There is a need to complete the project before the planned date to respond
customers’ demand (imposed project duration date).
• There are times for reassigning key equipment and/or people to new
projects. Under these circumstances, the cost of compressing the project
can be compared with the costs of not releasing key equipment or people.
• Incentives contract (bonus for early completion)
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6. Options for Reducing Project Duration
Adding Resources: The most common method for shortening project time
is to assign additional staff and equipment to activities. There are limits,
as to how much speed can be gained by adding staffs. Doubling the size of
the workforce will not certainly reduce completion time by half.
Outsourcing Project Work: Sometimes the organization subcontract out
the project activities to shorten the project time. The subcontractor may
have access to superior technology or expertise that will accelerate the
completion of the activity.
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7. Options for Reducing Project Duration
 Establish a Core Project Team: One of the advantages of creating a
dedicated core team to complete project in speed. Assigning
professionals full time to a project avoids the hidden cost of multi-
tasking.
 Fast-Tracking: Sometimes it is possible to re-arrange the logic of the
project network so that critical activities are done in parallel rather
than sequentially.
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8. Options for Reducing Project Duration
Reducing Project Scope: This refers to limiting the number of features,
tasks, or objectives within a project. It's often done to expedite project
completion or to align with resource constraints. While reducing scope can
indeed shorten the project timeline, it can also lead to a project that doesn't
fully meet its initial goals or requirements.
Compromise Quality: Reducing quality is always an opinion, but it is
rarely used or acceptable. If quality is sacrificed, it may be possible to
reduce the time of an activity on the critical path.
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9. Project Crashing
• Project crashing, also known as schedule compression or time crashing, is a project
management technique used to accelerate the completion of a project by reducing its
overall duration.
• Project crashing is when we shorten the duration of a project by reducing the time of
one or more tasks.
• Crashing is done by increasing the resources to the project, which helps make tasks
take less time than what they were planned for.
• This also adds to the cost of the overall project. Therefore, the primary objective of
project crashing is to shorten the project while also keeping costs at a minimum.
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10. Project Crashing
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11. Summary of principles: Determine least expensive way to
finish project by earlier date
• Focus on the critical path.
• Choose least costly (lowest cost slope) alternative to shorten project
duration first.
• If project duration has not been reduced sufficiently, choose second-
cheapest alternative, and so on.
• Keep an eye on all non-critical paths.
• If a non-critical path becomes critical, reduce activity duration on this
path as well in next round.
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12. Cost-duration graph
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13. Example
Activity
Starting and
finishing event
Time (Days) Cost ($)
Normal Crash Normal Crash
A (1-2) 4 3 60 90
B (1-4) 6 4 150 250
C (1-3) 2 1 38 60
D (2-4) 5 3 150 250
E (3-4) 2 2 100 100
F (2-5) 7 5 115 175
G (4-5) 4 2 100 240
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Indirect Cost: 60 per day

14. Network Diagram
11
5
3
4
2
A= 4
B= 6
G= 4
D= 5
C= 2
E= 2
F= 7
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15. Network Diagram
Possible paths
• A-F = 4+7 = 11 days
• A-D-G = 4+5+4 = 13 days (Critical path)
• B-G = 6+4 = 10 days
• C-E-G = 2+2+4 = 8 days
Normal Project completion time 13 days
Direct Cost = 713 days
Indirect cost = 13*60 = 780 days
Normal Project cost = direct cost + indirect cost = 713+(13*60) = 1493
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16. Cost Slope Calculation formula
The cost per unit of time or slope for any activity is computed by the
following:
Crash cost – Normal cost
Normal Time – Crash Time
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Cost Slope =
Crashing Limit = Normal Time- Crash Time

17. Cost Slope Table
Activities
Crash cost per day (Cost
slope) Δc/Δt [$]
Maximum Possible Crashing Δt
(Crashing Limit)
A (90-60)/(4-3) = 30 4-3 = 1
B (250-150)/(6-4) = 50 6-4 = 2
C (60-38)/(2-1) = 22 2-1 = 1
D (250-150)/(5-3) = 50 5-3 = 2
E (100-100)/(2-2) = 0 2-2 = 0
F (175-115)/(7-5) = 30 7-5 = 2
G (240-100)/(4-2) = 70 4-2 = 2
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18. Crashing Table
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Crashing A-F A-D-G B-G C-E-G Direct cost Indirect cost Total cost
Before Crashing 11 13 10 8 713 780 1493
1st Crashing, A by 1 day 10 12 10 8 743 720 1463
2nd Crashing, D by 1 day
10 11 10 8 793 660 1453
3rd Crashing, D by 1 day
10 10 10 8 843 600 1443
4th Crashing, G by 1 day
& F by 1 day 9 9 9 7 943 540 1483
5th Crashing, G by 1 day
& F by 1 day 8 8 8 6 1043 480 1523
Optimal project completion time = 10 days
Optimal project cost = $1443

19. Benefits of reducing project duration
• Increased speed to market: This can be a major benefit for businesses that are competing
in fast-paced industries.
• Reduced costs: By completing the project sooner, you can save on indirect costs such as
overhead and staffing.
• Improved customer satisfaction: Customers are often more satisfied with projects that
are delivered on time or early.
• Increased flexibility: Having a shorter project duration gives you more flexibility to
respond to changes in the environment.
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20. Risks of reducing project duration
• Quality Compromise: Speeding up the project may lead to cutting corners or
sacrificing quality. This can result in defects, rework, and customer dissatisfaction in
the long run.
• Increased risk of errors: When we compress the schedule, there is a greater risk that
errors will be made.
• Increased resource contention: When we try to complete a project in a shorter
timeframe, we may need to use more resources, which can lead to conflicts and delays.
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21. Risks of reducing project duration
• Increased stress on team members: Putting pressure on team members to complete
the project in a shorter timeframe can lead to stress and burnout.
• Communication and Coordination Challenges: Shorter project durations may
require more frequent communication and coordination among team members
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22. References
• Chapter Nine Reducing Project Duration (https://universe.bits
pilani.ac.in/uploads/Chapter%209%20%20Reducing%20Project%20D
uration_5e.pdf
• Project Crashing by Nitin Kulkarni (https://youtu.be/srb6yzbcu80)
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