PERT CPM

GROUP 2
 PERT- CPM
Project management can be understood as a systematic way of planning, scheduling, executing,
monitoring, controlling the different aspects of the project, so as to attain the goal made at the time of
project formulation. PERT and CPM are the two network-based project management techniques, which
exhibit the flow and sequence of the activities and events. Program (Project) Management and Review
Technique (PERT) is appropriate for the projects where the time needed to complete different activities
are not known.
On the other hand, the Critical Path Method or CPM is apt for the projects which are recurring in nature.
The two scheduling methods use a common approach for designing the network and for ascertaining its
critical path. They are used in the successful completion of a project and hence used in conjunction with
each other. Nevertheless, the truth is that CPM is different from PERT in a way that the latter
concentrates on time while the former stresses on the time-cost trade-off.
 KEY COMPARISON OF PERT AND CPM
Basis for Comparison PERT CPM
Meaning PERT is a project management CPM is a statistical technique of
technique, used to manage project management that
uncertain activities of a project. manages well defined activities
of a project.

What is it? A technique of planning and A method to control cost and

control of time. time.
Orientation Event-oriented Activity-oriented
Evolution Evolved as Research & Evolved as Construction project
Development project
Model Probabilistic Model Deterministic Model
Focuses on Time One time estimate
Estimates Three-time estimates Time-cost trade-off
Appropriate for High precision time estimate Reasonable time estimate
Management of Unpredictable Activities Predictable activities
Nature of jobs Non-repetitive nature Repetitive nature
Critical and Non-critical activities No differentiation Differentiated

Suitable for Research and Development Non-research projects like civil

Project construction, ship building etc.

Crashing concept Not Applicable Applicable

Definition of PERT
PERT is an acronym for Program (Project) Evaluation and Review Technique, in
which planning, scheduling, organizing, coordinating and controlling uncertain
activities take place. The technique studies and represents the tasks undertaken
to complete a project, to identify the least time for completing a task and the
minimum time required to complete the whole project. It was developed in the
late 1950s. It is aimed to reduce the time and cost of the project.

PERT uses time as a variable which represents the planned resource application
along with performance specification. In this technique, first of all, the project is
divided into activities and events. After that proper sequence is ascertained, and
a network is constructed. After that time needed in each activity is calculated
and the critical path (longest path connecting all the events) is determined.
 Definition of CPM
Developed in the late 1950s, Critical Path Method or CPM is an algorithm used
for planning, scheduling, coordination and control of activities in a project. Here,
it is assumed that the activity duration is fixed and certain. CPM is used to
compute the earliest and latest possible start time for each activity.
The process differentiates the critical and non-critical activities to reduce the time
and avoid the queue generation in the process. The reason for the identification of
critical activities is that, if any activity is delayed, it will cause the whole process
to suffer. That is why it is named as Critical Path Method.
In this method, first of all, a list is prepared consisting of all the activities needed
to complete a project, followed by the computation of time required to complete
each activity. After that, the dependency between the activities is determined.
Here, ‘path’ is defined as a sequence of activities a network. The critical path is the
path with the highest length.  
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PERT

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Planning For Large Projects • Time Focused Method
• Visibility of Critical Path • Subjective Analysis
• Analysis of Activity • Prediction Inaccuracy
• Coordination • Expensive
• The What-if • Have Other Issues
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CPM

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• gives a practical and disciplined base • difficult to estimate the completion time of
• figures out the activities that can run parallel to activity
each other • The critical path is not always clear
• strengthen a team’s perception • The scheduling of personnel is not handled
• provides a demonstration of dependencies • For bigger projects, CPM networks can be
• gives a fair and concise procedure of documenting complicated too
of project
• It also does not handle the scheduling of
• helps in optimization
resource allocation
• explicit and clear approach of communicating
project plans, schedules, time, and cost
• A critical path needs to be calculated precisely
performance is developed
Example: Constructing a Activity Schedule for a project

What to do:
• Construct a project network
• Perform forward and backward passes
• Determine project completion time
• Calculate slack values
• State critical path
 The node
convention to be
used:
• A is the activity described
• T as the expected activity
duration
• ES as the earliest time the
activity can start
• EF is the earliest finish
time
• LS is the latest start time
• LF is the latest finish time
without extending the
minimum completion
Activity A and B have no predecessors so it can begin at START. Activity C
needs A to be completed before it can start. D needs both A and B completed. E
needs D, F needs C and E, G depends on E. Since F and G have no successors
go to FINISH.
Network with activity nodes displaying letters and times
Forward Pass
• A has no predecessor so its earliest
start time will be 0 or right away.
Since its has 7 weeks to be
completed, its earliest time would
be 0 + 7 which gives 7 .
• B also has earliest time of 0 and • D on the other hand needs A and B to finish before it start,
with the activity time of 9, it will since A and B has 7 and 9 weeks earliest finish time, the D will
have an earliest time of 9. have 9 as its earliest finish time. In other words, the highest
• Now C needs A to be completed finish times preceding an activity will be the activity’s earliest
before it can start so since the time. So D finishes at 8 + 9 which gives 17.
earliest finish time for A is 7 then • E only has one predecessor D, and so can start at 17 and finish
the earliest time C can start is 7 the at 26.
and with the activity time of 12 • F has predecessors C and E, which 26 is the highest finish time
weeks, it gives 19 weeks of earliest so F can start at 26 and will be finish at 32.
finish time. • G also can start at earliest at 26 since it only has one
predecessor E and G can finish at 26 + 5 which gives 31.
• Because the highest finish time is 32 then we can say that the
project’s completion time is 32 weeks.
Backward Pass
• Since the project completion time
is 32 weeks, the latest finish time
for the activities at the finish node,
F and G has to be 32. That is, F
and G cannot be completed in • Now E has 2 successors, F and G. The latest start time are 26
longer than 2 weeks. and 27 which gives the E the latest time of 26 to finish.
• Next, we start obtaining the latest • In doing backward pass, the latest time of the activity must be
start times by subtracting the at the minimum of the latest start time of its successor.
activity times from the latest finish • Thus the latest start time of E will be 17.
times. • D has only one successor E which gives latest finish time of
• For G, the latest start time will be 17 and the latest start time for D would be 9.
32 minus 5 that gives 27. • Activity C has only one successor F which gives the latest
• For F, the latest start time will be finish for C is 26 which gives the latest start time of 14.
• A has two successors, C and B, which have a minimum start
32 minus 6 that gives 26.
time of 9 which will be the latest finish time. It gives the latest
start time of 2 weeks.
• Activity b has only one successor D which gives it 9 as its
latest finish time which gives the latest start time of 0.
 Calculating Slack
Slack for activity is defined as how long the activity can be delayed without
extending or increasing the project completion time
 Critical Path
Note that activity C can begin anytime between week 7 and 14 and it can finish anytime
between week 19 and 26. Thus, C can be delayed for up to 7 weeks and the project will
still be completed in a week 32. Activities B,D E and F on the other hand, cannot be
delayed at all without extending the project’s completion time. The activities with zero
slack are called critical activities and they form a critical path which is the longest path
in the network. So the critical path here is, B-D-E-F.
 References:
Emmanuel, John.[John Emmanuel].(2017, July 17). Project Scheduling
- PERT/CPM | Finding Critical Path[Video].YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TDh-5n90vk

(n.d).Advantages and Disadvantages of PERT and CPM. Assignment

Point.
https://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/accounting/advantages
-disadvantages-pert-cpm.html

Surbhi, S.(2019). Difference Between PERT and CPM. Retrieved

November 10, 2021, from https://keydifferences.com/difference-
between-pert-and-cpm.html
 Group 2 Members:
Micah Abuyan
Cherish Bugtong
Kyla Mae Handig
Leian Linao
Pamela Merjudio
Dennilyn Zalameda