Professional & Industrial Studies

(Lecture 3 P Matorwa)
Topics:-
Project Network Techniques
Network construction
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Activity and event times
1. TPT = total project time determined by a
sequence of activities known as the critical
path(or paths)
2. TPT determined by a forward pass whereby the
earliest start times (EST) for each activity are
calculated
3. Critical path is determined by carrying out the
backward pass where calculation is as follows
• Latest starting time (LST) =
Latest Finishing Time (LFT) –Duration
2
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Activity and event times
4. Earliest Event Time (EET) = the earliest time the
event can be realised determined by forward pass
5. Latest Event time(LET) = the latest time the event
can be realised if the total project time is to be
achieved & it is determined by backward pass.
6. EET is EST of all emerging activities
7. LET is the LFT of all entering activities
EET
NODE label

BS 4335:1987
LET
3
CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies

10 K
01 01 16

A
20 L 15
05 0 17

30
M
10 10 18

4
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Activity and event times
1. Activity K, duration 16 weeks, tail node 01 has an EET of
10 weeks
2. Activity L, duration 17 weeks, tail node 05 has an EET of
20 weeks
3. Activity M, duration 18 weeks, tail node 10 has an EET of
30 weeks
4. Activity K has an EST of 10weeks and hence an EFT of
(10 + 16)weeks = 26weeks
5. Activity L has an EST of 20weeks and hence an EFT of
(20 + 17)weeks = 37weeks
6. Activity M has an EST of 30weeks and hence an EFT of
(30 + 18)weeks = 48weeks
7. The earliest time at which all activities entering event 15
are complete is 48weeks EST for activity A is 48 weeks 5
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies

W 20 01
19 85

A
P X
12 25
0 20 60

30
Y 30 10
21 72

6
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Activity and event times
1. Activity W, duration 19 weeks, has a head node 20 with
an LET of 85 weeks
2. Activity X, duration20weeks, has a head node 25 with
an LET of 60 weeks
3. Activity Y, duration 21 weeks, has a head node 30 with
an LET of 72 weeks
4. Activity W has an LFT of 85weeks and hence an LST of
(85-19)weeks = 66weeks
5. Activity X has an LFT of 60weeks and hence an LST of
(60-20)weeks = 40weeks
6. Activity Y has an LFT of 72weeks and hence an LST of
(72-21weeks = 51weeks
7. The latest time at which event 12 must be realised is the
earliest of the LST’s of all the emerging activities , that is
week 40 i.e. LET for event 12 is week
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies

A J
16 2 01 15

E
10

P G K 11 01
1 01 B 3 01 D 7 01 8 01 12
20 15 3

H
16

C
30

8
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Forward pass
1. Node 2 has an EET of 16 weeks, that is activity J may
start at the end of week 16.
2. Node 3 has an EET of 20 weeks, that is activity D and E
may start at the end of week 20.
3. Node 7 has an EET of (20 +15) weeks =35 weeks, that is
activities G and H may start at the end of week 35
4. When a node has several activities entering it, its EFT is
determined by latest EFT eg Node 8
1. EFT for activity J is (16 +15)weeks =31weeks
2. EFT for activity E is (20 +10) weeks= 30weeks
3. EFT for activity G is (35+3)weeks =38weeks
4. Node 8 has EET of 38weeks that is activity K may start at the
end of week 38
5. By similar token. EFT’s for K,H and C are 50,51 & 30
weeks implying EET for node 11 is 51weeks.
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Backward pass
1. Node 8 has an LET of (51-12)weeks=39weeks, that is
activities J, G and E may finish at the end of week 39
2. Node 2 has an LET of (39-15)weeks=24weeks, that is
activity A may finish at the end of week 24
3. When a node has several activities, emerging from it,
then its LET is determined by the earliest of the LSTs
e.g. Node 7 has two activities (G and H) emerging from
it
1. LST for activity G is (39-3) weeks =36weeks
2. LST for activity H is (51-16)weeks =35weeks
3. Node 7 has an LET of 35 weeks, that is activity D may finish at
the end of week 35
4. Similarly LSTs for activities E & D are 29 and 20 weeks
respectively thus Node 3 has an LET of 20 weeks and activity B may
finish at the end of week 20
5. Node 1 has LSTs for activities A, B & C of 8, 0 and 21weeks
respectively thus Node 1 has an LET of 0weeks
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies

A 16 J
16 2 01 15
24

E
10

38 51
0P 20 35 K
1 01 B 3 01 D 7 01
G 8 01 12
11 01
20 15 3 39 51
0 20 35

H
16

C
30

11
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Critical Path
1. Critical path is the sequence of activities through a project network
from start to finish , the sum of whose durations, determines the
overall project duration(there may be more than one such paths)
2. Critical path characteristics
i. It start at the first node
ii. It is continuous
iii. It ends at the last node
iv. It has no float
v. In the example above it lies along activities B, D and H.
3. What its not:-The critical path is not necessarily lying between
nodes whose EET and LET are the same e.g. activity C
LFT in weeks =51
EST in weeks = 0
Time available in weeks =51
Time required in weeks =30
Spare time in weeks =21
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Activity times recapitulation
1. The EST is the earliest possible time at which an activity can start,
and it is given by the earliest time of the tail node. Thus EST for
activity 2-8 is the earliest time for node 2-that is , at the end of week
16
2. The EFT of an activity is the earliest possible time at which an
activity can finish and is given by adding the duration time to EST:
again for activity 2-8 this is 16+15=31, i.e. end of week 31
3. The LFT is found by taking the LET of the ; again for activity 2-8
this is the LET for node 8, that is at the end of week 39
4. The LST is the latest possible time by which an activity must start
and is given by subtracting the duration from the latest finish time:
for activity 2-8 the LST is 39-15=24 so that the activity can start at
the beginning of week 24

Number Activity Duration EST LST EFT LFT

2-8 J 15 16 24 31 39
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Activity times recapitulation
Number Activity Duration EST LST EFT LFT
1-2 A 16 0 8 16 24

1-3 B 20 0 0 20 20

1-11 C 30 0 21 30 51

2-8 J 15 16 24 31 39

3-7 D 15 20 20 35 35

3-8 E 10 20 29 30 39

7-8 G 3 35 36 38 39

7-11 H 16 35 35 51 51

8-11 K 12 38 39 50 51
CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies

Float or slack
16 J
02 01 15
24

51
38 K
0
8 51
39 12

15
 CE 309-Professional and Industrial Studies
• Float or slack
1. Total float:-time by which an activity can be delayed or extended
without affecting the total project duration , for activity j above
i. Maximum time available = 39 -16 weeks = 23weeks
ii. Necessary time = 15weeks
iii. Total float =(23 -15) = 8 weeks
2. Free float :- time by which an activity can be delayed or extended
without affecting the start of any succeeding activities. For activity
K above
i. Maximum available time =(51-38)weeks =13weeks
ii. Necessary time =12 weeks
iii. Hence total float = 1 week
If activity J actually absorbs all its float of 8 weeks, event 8 will be realised by week
(16+15+8) = end of week 39
iv. Available time =(51-39)weeks =12 weeks
v. Necessary time =12weeks
vi. Hence float = 0 weeks
Hence activity J has total float of 8 weeks and free float of 7 weeks.
3. Event slack is the difference between EET and LET of an event e.g.
event 2 has a slack of 8 weeks & event 8 has 1 week.