Project Management PM 816

Project Scheduling
Foundations

Professor: Professor Taryn Bond-Barnard

Email: tarynbarnard@[Link]

Lecture 5
Lecture 5: Learning objectives

During this lecture you will learn:

• How to perform a forward and backward pass

through a network to be able to calculate ES, EF,
LS, LF.
• How to calculate the total float, float and free float
• When to apply and how to perform resource
smoothing and leveling
• Be able to distinguish the differences between
resource smoothing and leveling
Network Diagram | Inserting Dummy
Activities as Start & End Nodes

If the project does not have a single end node (or a single start node),
insert a dummy activity

Start End
Network Diagram | Forward
Pass
• Determines the early start and early finish dates by
working forward through a network
• It helps us determine the earliest that the project can
finish/shortest project duration
• It helps us determine the earliest that each activity
can start and finish

Finish date = Start date + duration

Network Diagram | Forward
Pass Calculations

Finish date = Start date + duration

Network Diagram | Forward Pass
Calculations

When an activity has more than one predecessor,

(like Activity C) use the latest predecessor to determine the early start
date
Forward Pass | Exercise

1. Compute the ES and EF for each

activity
2. Identify the longest path through the
network
Ignore non-working days e.g. weekends
Weeks can be treated the same as days
Ignore the number of days in a month
Forward Pass | Exercise Answer
 Network Diagram | Backward
Pass
• Determining the late finish and late start dates by working
backwards through a network from the end date.

Late Start = Late Finish – Duration

Network Diagram | Backward
Pass

When an activity has more than one successor,

(like Activity A) use the earliest Late Start (LS)
date to determine the late finish (LF) date of the
predecessor (i.e. A must finish on day 10, not 14)
Critical Path
A B C
0 10 10 16 20 30
10 6 10
0 10 14 20 20 30

D
10 20
10
10 20

• The longest path through a network Key:

• Often no float on critical activities Red = Critical

Why is it an important concept?

• Determines the project duration
• Shows the project manager where to focus
The Stability of the Critical Path

“The critical path will generally change

from time to time as activities are
completed ahead or fall behind
schedule”
And it does so without warning!

You do not know where to focus

The answer is critical chain to be

discussed in lecture 6
Backward Pass | Exercise

3. Compute the LS and LF

for each activity
4. Identify & indicate the
critical path
Backward Pass | Exercise

Critical path =
B,C,A,D,E,N,O
Forward & Backward Pass
Durations
To see the earliest and latest times that each
activity can start (and finish)

What if you work in weeks and the duration of an

activity is a fraction of a week?
• Then convert all durations to days
• And if the duration is a fraction of a day?
• Then convert all durations to hours!
Weekends & Other Non-
working Days
Sat Sun

Working day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Calendar day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Computer systems e.g. MSProject automatically assumes Saturdays &

Sundays are non-working days.
You can programme in other non-working days – each individual can
even have her / his own personal calendar
Projects ASAP or with a set
Deadline

• If a project has to be done ASAP, use the end date

calculated during the forward pass.
• If a project has a predetermined due date, use this
due date instead of the date calculated during the
forward pass (There could then be float on the
critical path).
Project with a Due Date
Network Diagram | Hammock
Activities
How do we
handle an activity Coordinate
that runs over the Activity A

whole project Activity B

Activity C
(e.g. Activity D
coordination)?

An activity such as ‘Co-ordinate’ is called a ‘hammock’

A hammock is ignored during the forward and backward
pass
During the forward and backward pass, the start and end
dates of the hammock become clear
Network Diagram | Activities
with Float

Activity with float

Float | Slack

The amount of time that an activity can be delayed from

the early dates without delaying the project

• @ activity level: Float = slack

• @ project level: total float = total slack
• Between the LF of predecessor and ES of
successor: Free float = free slack
Lead | Negative Duration FS
Lag | Positive Duration FS
Float vs Lag

Float: Time that you can move an activity later than its early
dates

Lag: Time that an activity must wait (e.g. after a predecessor is

done) before it can start
A Start-To-Start Dependency
with 3 Day Lag
Calculating Float

Float = Late Finish – Early Finish

OR

Float = Late Start – Early Start

Float of activity B = 20 – 16
B=4
Free Float

Amount of time an activity can be delayed without

delaying the early start of any successor

For G: Free float is 2 days

Free Float
Activities with Float

Why should the Gantt chart be

drawn only after the network has
been developed?

For each activity with float, a decision has to be made whether

the activity should be performed ASAP or only later
Float & Free Float | Exercise

5. Determine the float and free float of every activity

Float & Free Float | Answer
Activity Float Free
Float
A 0 0
B 0 0
C 0 0
D 0 0
E 0 0
F 5 0
G 5 4
H 1 1
I 19 0
J 19 0
K 19 0
L 19 19
M 2 2
N 0 0
O 0 -
P 1 0
Reducing Project Duration
Focus on the Critical Path:

• More resources (incl. outsourcing, overtime …)

• More expensive resources (“Crashing” – lecture 6)
• Motivation of team (also via incentive bonuses)
• Eliminate discretionary dependencies (fast track) i.e. let
activities that were planned to be in series (or even
project phases) overlap
• Critical chain method to manage contingency reserves
(lecture 6)
• If you are not convinced that duration (or cost) can be
reduced any further, say so and do not make a
commitment
• Reduce the scope
 Project Workload
typical ‘pile’ of work for next 3 months
 Project Workload
The workload of an individual can be
indicated
• in man-hours
• in % of time (man-hours) available

• The workload of a facility/company/

division can be indicated by the number
of workers required
Resource Loading

A 40 man-hours
Gantt chart 10 man-
For John’s over 2 weeks
hours
work B

30
Hours
John 20
needs to
work per Activity B
week 10
Activity A
2 3 4
Weeks 1
Resource Loading

You need a company-wide system to manage

the workload of all resources on all projects

Why should smaller projects be loaded onto

the system as well?
Resource Loading | resource
constrained sequencing of activities
Resource Loading
resource-constrained sequencing of activities
 Resource Loading| Exercise
Question
To produce a manual John has to
write the text and once he has
done that, Ann has to draw the
sketches and typeset the
document. John can start with
any section (in other words he
does not have to start with
Section 1). The work has to be
done within 95 days.
a) Draw a schedule on a Gantt chart to show how the work could be done within
95 days. Consider that both John and Ann can attend to only one activity at a
time.
b) In general if there is more than one activity that you could start doing, how
should you choose the one to do first?
Resource Loading| Exercise
Answer
Resource Loading| Exercise
Answer

b) Some practical guidelines (with scientific backing)

to solve such problems:
1. If other people wait for your inputs, do the shortest job
first. (This also has motivational value)
2. Do the activities with least float first
Multi-Tasking
The Effect of Multi-Tasking

Without multi-tasking With multi-tasking

Time Time
Difficult to Manage Workload
Smooth Workload on
Resources
Resource Smoothing

• A method to reduce peaks in workload.

• It involves decisions to move activities that have
float later than their earliest possible dates.
Resource Smoothing

Which activities are critical?

Resource Smoothing
Resource Levelling
Resource levelling can be used when shared or critically required
resources are available only at certain times or in limited quantities, or
are over-allocated, or there is a need to keep resource usage at a constant
level.
Resource Smoothing vs
Levelling
 Resource Levelling vs
Smoothing
Resource Leveling Resource Smoothing
Main constraint is resource availability. You Main constraint is time. Project Duration is
extend the project duration as required. fixed.
Project End date may change. Project End date will not change.
Overall Project can be delayed. Overall project will not be delayed, but
Consequently, costs may be Activities may only be delayed with in their
increased. free or total float.
Can be done to activities on the critical Cannot be done to activities on the critical
path. path.
Changes are allowed to critical path. Changes are not allowed to the critical
path.
Used when resources are over-allocated. Used when resources are unevenly
allocated.
Resource Constrained Scheduling Time Constrained Scheduling (TCS)
(RCS)

51
Readings

Reflection:
• Provide a brief Reflection on the lecture and
• Please answer questions 1-4
Summary
• How forward and backward pass is done in a
network to be able to calculate the start and finish
times for each activity.
• How to determine the project duration when the
project has to be done ASAP or by a specific
deadline.
• How total float, float and free float is calculated
and to understand that this is an asset when
scheduling a project.
• The application, purpose and differences between
resource smoothing and levelling