ENGR 301

Engineering Management
Principles and Economics
Lecture 3
Scheduling of Projects

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 1

 Learning Objectives
Learners will:
• understand what is a project schedule
• understand the role of schedules
• be introduced to the Critical Path Method

References
• Schexnayder and Mayo (2004) Construction Management Fundamentals,
McGraw-Hill Chapter 4.
• Halpin and Woodhead (1998) Construction Management, John Wiley and
Sons Inc. Chapter 6
• Mantel, Meredith, Shafer and Sutton (2005) Project Management in
Practice, Second Edition, John Wiley and Son Inc. Chapter 5

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 2

 What is a Project Schedule?
• A project schedule can be defined as the sum of all
project activities (in sequence), taking into account the
necessary dependencies and interrelationships

• A project schedule is an orderly arrangement of activities

describing sequence and/or timing

• A schedule is a plan of how to complete the project

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 3

 Role of Schedules
Schedules have three roles:
1. Schedules aid in planning project implementation by
logically sequencing activities based on their time and
resource constraints.
2. Schedules are used to communicate aspects of project
execution progress
3. Schedules serve as the basis for controlling the
implementation of project activities.

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 4

Choosing a Method of Representing
a Schedule
• There are many methods of representing a project
schedule.

• The choice of the method depends on the audience and

the information to be conveyed.

• Usually, the best method is the simplest method that

conveys the necessary information.

• Always keep in mind the level of detail required for the

purposes of planning and later control

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 5

 Categories of Schedules

Schedules can be categorized based on their

format of presentation as:
1. Pictorial charts (easy to understand / restricted in
detail)
2. Gantt (bar) charts (easy to draw and understand / do
not show logic)
3. Linear schedules (work well for linear construction)
4. Network diagrams (represent logic / can be confusing
if complex)

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 6

 Determining Activity Durations

D – Activity duration
A – Units of work to be done
P – Productivity rate for a crew (unit of work
/ hour)
T – Number of crews to finish the activity
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 7
 Determining Productivity Rate

• From historical data

• Factors affecting productivity rate

– Project conditions
– Learning curve
– Weather conditions

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 8

 Network Diagrams
• Network diagrams are usually of two types, PERT and
CPM
• PERT is an acronym for Project Evaluation and Review
Technique
• CPM stands for Critical Path Method
• PERT usually uses probabilistic (uncertain) estimates of
activity durations
• CPM uses deterministic (certain) estimates of activity
durations
• In PERT, the project network is usually displayed by
activities being represented as arrows and events as
nodes. This is referred to as an activity-on-arrow (AOA)
network 9
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
 Network Diagrams
• In CPM the project network is displayed by activities
being represented as nodes and arrows are used to link
the nodes to show their relationships. This is referred to
as activity-on-node (AON) network.

• Of the two, the AOA is more difficult to draw

• In this course we will focus on CPM and will learn to

develop AON networks.

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 10

 Network Diagrams - CPM

5 12 ES EF

B
7
12 21
5 12 LS LF
0 5
D
A 9 21 25
5
5 8 12 21 F
0 5 4
C 8 13
3 21 25
E
9 12
5

17 21

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 11

 Drawing the Activity Logic Network
• Before the diagram can be developed, activity
relationships must be developed
• This is done by asking the following questions
for each activity on the activity list:
1. Can this activity start at the beginning of the project? (Start
activities)
2. Which activities must be finished before this one begins?
(Precedence)
3. Which activities may either start or finish at the same time this
one does? (Concurrence)
4. Which activities cannot begin until this one is finished?
(Succession)

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 12

 Drawing the Activity Network
• List all activities in a columnar format with a second
column to the right of the activities list titled ‘Preceded
Immediately By’ (PIB)
• It is a necessity for the CPM algorithm to work that a
network must have only one start and one finish activity
• In the case of a network with multiple activities that have
no predecessor, a ‘dummy’ start activity can be inserted
at the beginning of the network
• Likewise, a dummy ‘finish’ activity is placed at the end of
a network and all activities that have no successor
activity are tied to this final activity.

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 13

 Example
Sketch the AON network diagram for a small foundation
project comprising of the following activities:
A - Set out/lay out of foundation
B - Excavate to required depth
C - Place blinding concrete
D - Fabricate steel reinforcement
E - Place formwork
F - Place steel reinforcement
G - Pour concrete
H - Cure concrete
J - Strike formwork
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 14
 Example
Activity “PiB”
A - Set out/lay out of foundation -
B - Excavate to required depth A
C - Place blinding concrete B
D - Fabricate steel reinforcement -
E - Place formwork C
F - Place steel reinforcement D,E
G - Pour concrete F
H - Cure concrete G
J - Strike formwork H

•When we draw the network diagram it should flow from left to

right
•Line crossings should be minimized
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 15
 CPM Network Calculations
• After the logic network has been constructed the next step in the
CPM process is to calculate the earliest and latest times at which
the activities can occur without violating the network logic or
increasing the project’s overall duration.

• An activity’s Early Start Time and Early Finish Time are determined
by carrying out what is called a Forward Pass.

• An activity’s Late Start Time and Late Finish Time are determined by
carrying out what is called a Backward Pass.

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 16

 CPM Forward Pass
• The purpose of the forward pass is to determine the earliest (soonest)
possible start and finish time for each activity.

• The start time for a project can be any number or date, but unless noted
otherwise it is assumed to be zero. Always underline this start time to
indicate that it is assumed, not calculated.

• The Early Finish Time of an activity is the sum of its Early Start Time and its
Duration:
EFn = ESn + Dn

• The Early Start Time of an activity is the maximum, or latest, of the Early
Finish Times of all immediately preceding activities:
ESn = max (EFn-1)

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Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
 CPM Forward Pass
ES EF

ACT Dur
7 10 33 38 38 42
LS LF
C 3 I 5 K 4

0 3 3 7 25 33 42 46

A 3 B 4 H 8 M 4

17 25

E 8
33 38 38 40

7 17 J 5 L 2
D 10

17 21

F 4

Note:
17 23

G 6 ESTH=MAX(EFTC,EFTE,EFTF,EFTG)=25
18
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
 CPM Backward Pass
• The purpose of the backward pass is to determine the latest possible finish
and start time for each activity.

• The latest allowable finish time of the project can be any number or date,
but unless noted otherwise, is assumed to be the Earliest Finish time
computed from the forward pass calculations. Always underline this
assumed time.

• The Late Start Time of an activity is its Late Finish Time minus its Duration:
LSn = LFn - D

• The Late Finish Time of an activity is the minimum, or earliest, of the Late
Start Times of all immediately succeeding activities:
LFn = min (LSn+1)

19
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
 CPM Backward Pass
7 10 33 38 38 42

C 3 I 5 K 4
22 25 33 38 38 42

0 3 3 7 25 33 42 46

A 3 B 4 H 8 M 4
0 3 33 7 25 33 42 46
17 25

E 8
33 38 38 40
17 25
7 17 J 5 L 2
D 10 35 40 40 42

7 17

17 21

F 4
21 25

Note:
LFTH=MIN(LSTI,LSTJ)=33
17 23

G 6 LFTD=MIN(LSTE,LSTF ,LSTG)=17
19 25 LFTB=MIN(LSTC,LSTD)=7
20
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
Critical Path and Critical Path Activities

• The critical path is the longest time duration path through the
network and establishes the minimum overall project time duration.

• All activities that are on the critical path are critical activities.

• A critical activity can be determined from the logic diagram by

applying either of two rules:
– The early start and late start times for a particular activity are the
same.
– The early finish and late finish times for a particular activity are
the same.

21
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
Critical Path and Critical Activities
• If a critical activity is delayed by an amount of time it will delay the
entire project’s completion by the same amount of time.

• Critical activities are linked together forming a path from the start
activity to the finish activity called a critical path

• There can be more than one critical path through a network, and the
critical path may branch out or come back together at any point.

• All critical paths must be continuous, so if a critical path does not

start at the start node and end at the finish node, a logic mistake
exists.

• Critical paths are usually highlighted on the logic network by bold

lines, double lines and color highlighted lines
22
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
Float / Slack Calculations
• Float or slack is the additional time available to complete
an activity beyond the activity’s work duration.
– “It is the time flexibility of activity performance that states the
maximum allowable for not delaying a following activity or the
project” (Shexnayder & Mayo, 2004)

• There are three types of float that can be calculated.

– Total Float (TF)
– Free Float (FF)
– Interfering Float (IF)

Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng 23

Total Float of an Activity
• The purpose of calculating Total Float of an activity is to
determine the amount of time that the activity can be
delayed without delaying the completion of the total
project.
– When an activity has a total float of zero it means the activity is a
critical activity.
• Total Float is the difference between the early and late
start times or the difference between the early and late
finish times.
TFn = LSn – ESn
or
TFn = LFn – EFn

24
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
Free Float
• The purpose of calculating Free Float for an activity is to
determine the amount of time that the completion of the
activity can be delayed without delaying the start time of
any other activity in the project.

• Free Float for the last activity is always zero.

• Free Float is obtained by subtracting the early finish time

of an activity from the minimum Early Start Time of
succeeding activities:

FFn = [min (ESn+1)] - EFn

25
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
Interfering Float
• The purpose of calculating Interfering Float of an activity
is to determine the amount of time that is available to
delay an activity without delaying the project’s estimated
completion time.

• Delaying an activity into interfering float will delay the

start of one or more following none critical activities.

• Interfering float is obtained by subtracting the smallest

early start time of succeeding activity (ies) from the Late
Finish Time of an activity:
IFn = LFn – [min (ESn+1)]
26
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
 Critical Path
7 10 33 38 38 42

C 3 I 5 K 4
22 25 33 38 38 42

Slack=15 Slack=0 Slack=0

0 3 3 7 25 33 42 46

A 3 B 4 H 8 M 4
0 3 3 7 25 33 42 46
17 25
Slack=0 Slack=0 Slack=0 Slack=0
E 8
33 38 38 40
17 25
7 17 J 5 L 2
Slack=0
D 10 35 40 40 42

7 17
Slack=2 Slack=2
17 21
Slack=0
F 4
21 25

Slack=4
Note:
17 23
Total Slack = LSTi-ESTi and LFTi-EFTi
G 6
19 25

Slack=2 27
Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng
 Assignment #2
• Construct a CPM network diagram from the precedence
relationships of activities given in Table 1 and identify the
critical path. Try to minimize line crossings and sketch the
network so that is flows from left to right.

TABLE 1
Activity A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
PIB ---- A B C D,G A F,J --- H I F,J H L K,M
Duration 5 6 3 4 5 8 3 3 2 7 2 7 4 3

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Dr C.J. Willis, CAPM, P.Eng