MANAGING PROJECTS

Managing Projects



Managing Projects

Task 1: Case 1

Network Diagram

Determination of Total Float and Activity Timing

Project

Activity time

Early Start

Early Finish

Late Start

Late Finish

Slack

50

 

 

 

 

 

A

4

0

4

0

4

0

B

3

4

7

4

7

0

C

7

7

14

7

14

0

D

2

7

9

12

14

5

E

5

7

12

9

14

2

F

3

14

17

14

17

0

G

9

17

26

17

26

0

H

3

17

20

23

26

6

I

2

17

19

24

26

7

J

3

17

20

23

26

6

K

3

26

29

26

29

0

L

5

29

34

29

34

0

M

3

34

37

34

37

0

N

3

37

40

37

40

0

O

5

40

45

40

45

0

P

2

40

42

43

45

3

Q

2

45

47

45

47

0

R

2

46

47

46

50

0

The diagram presented above is the Hansdon Ltd's network diagram. Logical relationship among all the activities can be understood clearly through this diagram. If the total float is positive, it represents the maximum amount of time that can delay the activities of a particular route without jeopardizing the project as required completion time. If the total float is zero, there is no need to hurry the activities on the route, but neither may be delayed. The total float for particular route activities common to other tasks and is shared among them on that route. This gap is calculated by subtracting the later completion time (or start) your activity completion time (or boot) earlier.

Total slack = LF - EF or total float = LS - ES

Free float is the amount of time it can take a particular activity, without delaying the earliest start time of its immediate successor activities. Is the relative difference between the amounts of total slack for activities falling under the same activity. The free float is a relative difference between total float values, always a positive value. From above table it is clear that the there are some activities in which there is free float and is marked with red colour.

Determination of Critical Path and Duration of the Project

The method of the critical path or critical path also known by its acronym CPM (Critical Path Method), was developed in 1957 in the United States of America. A related concept is an essential chain, which adds resource dependencies. Each resource handler depends upon where the critical path is present. Unlike technical review and program evaluation (PERT), the critical path method uses certain times (real or deterministic). However, the development of a project based on CPM and PERT networks are similar and consist of:

Identify all activities involving the project, which means, determine precedence relationships, technical times for each of the activities.

Building a network based on nodes and activities (or arcs, as the method used), involving the project.

Analyze specific calculations, identifying the critical path and the clearances of the activities that make up the project.

In above network diagram the critical path is drawn and shown in red colour. It contains all those points where the slack was zero/free float. The activities that are making critical path are A, B, C, F, G, K, L, M, N, O, and Q. The total time taken for the project is 50 days.

If the project starts on ------ Assume no other holidays

The project duration is the number of time units (hours, days, weeks, months ...) necessary to complete the project.

The project duration depends on the duration of each task and the dependencies that exist between them.

Given a start date, the duration of the project does not provide directly the project completion date. For the date of completion is necessary to use the project calendar and each of the resources involved.

For the following project if it starts on the Monday 15 April 2013, the completion of ...