DEVELOPING A PROJECT PLAN
MGMT 6084 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
MODULE
SIX
Prof. Mohamed Soliman
Project Management by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
The following content was prepared by Prof Robert Brookes and reproduced
from Larson, Gray (2018) Project Management: The Managerial Process.
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TODAY?
WBS
Review last week’s work.
Today you will learn what
a project network is, and
how to draw one!
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
You are here!
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROJECT NETWORK
The project network is a flow chart that graphically depicts the
sequence, interdependencies, and start and finish times of the project
job plan of activities that is the critical path through the network.
Provides the basis for scheduling labor and equipment.
Enhances communication among project participants.
Provides an estimate of the project’s duration.
Provides a basis for budgeting cash flow.
Identifies activities that are critical.
Highlights activities that are “critical” and can not be delayed.
Help managers get and stay on plan.
WBS TO ACTIVITY NETWORK
WBS FOR YOUR PARTY PLAN
Celebration Party
1.0 Food 2.0 Beverages 3.0 Invitations 4.0 Location
1.1 Order 2.1 Bought 3.1 4.1
the food beverage Design Find
1.2 2.2 3.2 4.2
Cutlery / Made Print or Secure
Plates beverage setup approval
1.3 4.3
3.3
Washing Setup /
Send
the dishes cleanup
PARTY PLAN PROJECT LOGIC
Order cutlery
Order Food
/ plates
Send /
Design Secure Setup Clean-
Process Find Location
Invitations location Party up
Invitations
Buy beverages
Relationship
Activity
PROJECT LOGIC
A, B, C, D are nodes that
represent activities.
The arrows represent the logical
A B D flow, and when activity durations
are added, the critical path of
your project.
Compared to activity B:
C
‘A’ is a predecessor activity.
‘D’ is a successor activity.
‘C’ is a concurrent/Parallel
activity.
PROJECT LOGIC
PROJECT LOGIC
DEVELOPING A PROJECT NETWORK
1. Networks flow from left to right.
2. An activity cannot begin until a preceding connected activity has completed.
3. Arrows are used to indicate precedence and flow. Arrows can overlap.
4. Each activity should have a unique identifier (WBS).
5. An activity ID number must be larger than subsequent activities.
6. Looping is not allowed.
7. Do not use conditional statements.
8. Try to have a single start and single end node
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE EXAMPLE
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – FIRST SECTION
Try drawing the rest of the project
logic diagram using the WBS.
Once you are done, compare your
work with a partner.
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – FULL DIAGRAM
NETWORK COMPUTATION PROCESS
Forward Pass—Earliest Times
How soon can the activity start? (early start—ES)
How soon can the activity finish? (early finish—EF)
How soon can the project finish? (expected time—ET)
Backward Pass—Latest Times
How late can the activity start? (late start—LS)
How late can the activity finish? (late finish—LF)
Which activities represent the critical path?
How long can activity be delayed? (slack or float—SL)
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE EXAMPLE
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE -- DURATIONS
THE FORWARD PASS
Add activity times along each path in the network
(ES + Duration = EF).
Carry the early finish (EF) to the next activity
where it becomes its early start (ES) unless…
The next succeeding activity is a merge activity, in
which case the largest EF of all preceding
activities is selected.
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – FORWARD PASS
THE BACKWARD PASS
Subtract activity times along each
path in the network (LF -
Duration = LS).
Carry the late start (LS) to the
next activity where it becomes
its late finish (LF) unless
The next succeeding activity is a
burst activity, in which case the
smallest LF of all preceding
activities is selected.
AUTOMATED WAREHOUSE – BACKWARD PASS
FLOAT / CRITICAL PATH
Slack (or Float)
Is the amount of time an activity can be delayed after the
start of a longer parallel activity or activities.
SL = LS - ES
Is how long an activity can exceed its early finish date
without affecting early start dates of any successor(s).
Allows flexibility in scheduling scarce resources.
Sensitivity
The likelihood the original critical path(s) will change
once the project is initiated.
The critical path is the network path(s) that has (have)
the least slack in common.
FREE SLACK / CRITICAL PATH
Critical Path:
It is the network path
that adds up to the
longest duration. This
means if ANY activity
on this path is delayed,
the whole project is
delayed.
BREAK TIME
10 minutes
Licenced under CC
3.0
NOW YOU TRY…
Questions?
Work on exercise 6:
Draw the network. Which is a burst activity? Which is a merge
activity?
Complete the forward and backward pass, and float.
Identify the critical path.
Get a partner and see if you go the same result, modify and agree. (5
minutes)
Bonus: try drawing a Gantt chart!
We will review the answer together. (5 minutes)
EXERCISE 6 – GANTT HINT
EXERCISE 6 – PROJECT LOGIC
EXERCISE 6 -- DURATIONS
EXERCISE 6 – FORWARD PASS
EXERCISE 6 – BACKWARD PASS AND FLOAT
EXERCISE 6 – CRITICAL PATH
EXERCISE 6 -- GANTT
Can you see the critical path and float here?
EXERCISE 6 -- GANTT
Can you see the critical path and float here?
HAMMOCK ACTIVITIES
Added after the
network plan is drawn
up.
Occurs between
activities during
segment of the project.
EXTENDED NETWORK TECHNIQUES
Laddering
Activities are broken into segments so the following
activity can begin sooner and not delay the work.
Lags
The minimum amount of time a dependent activity must
be delayed to begin or end.
Lengthy activities are broken down to reduce the delay
in the start of successor activities.
Lags can be used to constrain finish-to-start, start-to-
start, finish-to-finish, start-to-finish, or combination
relationships.
LADDERING
Trench
9 Lay pipe
6 Refill
3
LAG RELATIONSHIPS
Finish-to-Start Use when there
Relationship is a ‘wait time’
after the activity.
Start-to-Start Use when you
Relationship can start one
activity once
another activity
has started.
Introducing a lag
time simulates
the ‘laddering’
approach
presented
FIGURE 6.14 earlier.
LAG RELATIONSHIPS
Finish-to-Finish Start-to-Finish Combination
Relationship Relationship Relationship
Use when you can
start the activities at
Combination bounds both the
the same time, but you
start and finish times!
still need a period of
time to elapse when The activity In this example, debugging the
the predecessor cannot finish software code can’t START
activity is complete. until three days until 2 days after the coding
after the has begun, and cannot FINISH
Similar to finish-to- preceding until 4 days after the coding is
start but some of the activity has complete.
activity can be started.
concurrent.
INCORPORATING LAGS INTO A NETWORK
DESIGN
EXERCISE
Complete the exercise and hand in.
This is a graded assignment (5%) – no talking or sharing.
SUMMARY
How to turn a WBS into a project network.
The logic of the project network.
How to calculate the forward pass, backward pass and critical path.
How to create a basic Gantt chart.
Introduction to more complicated forms of sequence logic.
THINGS TO DO BETWEEN NOW AND THE NEXT
CLASS…
Don’t forget about the midterm exam!
It will cover modules 1-6.
Material might come from the text, assignments, lectures, or Powerpoint decks.
So for week ONE: review modules 1-6.
To practice today’s material, try completing exercises 3, 11, and 13 (the solutions are in
the text).
Exercise 7 in text
Week 2 (post mid-term)
Case study 6.2 (5%).
READ Chapter 7 (162-189)
Videos for assistance
OPTIONAL
YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAY
EXAM
Time constrained exam:
You have 1.5 hours to complete the exam.
The test is in 2 sections:
Multiple Choice (50 marks)
Short Answer (25 marks)
2. Bill is looking at a document that outlines the specific deliverables and sub-
deliverables required to complete the writing of a technical support manual. He is
most likely viewing the
(A) Organization breakdown structure.
(B) Work package.
(C) Work breakdown structure.
(D) Responsibility matrix.
(E) Priority matrix.
3. The assessment of the external and internal environments is called ________
analysis.
(A) SWOT
(B) Industry
(C) Market
(D) Competitive
(E) Strategic
. A(n) ________ activity has more than one dependency arrow flowing from it.
(A) Merge
(B) Critical path
(C) Independent
(D) Parallel
(E) Burst
________ organization is a hybrid form in which a horizontal project
management structure is "overlaid" in the normal functional hierarchy.