Developing A Network Model
Chapter 2
1
Steps in Building A Network Model EM
[Link] activities
[Link] activities
[Link] activity relationships and draw a network diagram
[Link] quantities and assign durations to activities
[Link] resources and costs
[Link] early and late start/finish times
[Link] float values and identify the critical path
[Link] activity start/finish times
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Define Activities EM
• Anything that must be accomplished in order for the project to be
completed mat warrant inclusion in the network.
• Production/ Construction
• Activities that relate directly to the physical effort of creating the
project.
• Resources->Time and cost
• time required, [Link] concrete
• Procurement
• Special order, long lead time, uncertain lead time
• Permit, transportation time
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Define Activities EM
• Management
• Support or administration tasks
• Other tasks, such as process shop drawings, factory tests...
• Objectives of the model
• Users: level of detail
• Frequency of use: weekly progress-> duration of the activity
(days or weeks instead of month)
• Products: activity could account the actual amounts of
material utilized=>progress payments
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Principles EM
• What constitutes an appropriate activities
• A small shed
• Frame the walls ?Frame north walls?Hammer nail number
574?
• Manageable level
• Activity Time & Cost can be estimated, monitored,and
controlled
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Work Breakdown Structure EM
• Identify the important tasks
• Different disciplines
• Tree-like hierarchy
• Duration, resources, precedences
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Work Breakdown Structure EM
Building A
Site Work Foundation Electrical Structure Finishes Mechanical Specialty
Grade
Pile caps Piles Excavation Survey
beams
Test piles Area 1 Area 2 Area 3
Pour Conduct
Drive piles Inspect Clean Rebar
concrete pile load
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Simple Approach for Creating the WBS EM
• Gather Project Team
• Provide Team Members with Pad of Sticky-Notes
• Team Members Write Down all Tasks They can Think of.
• Sticky-Notes Placed and Arranged on Wall
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Ordering Activities EM
• The order of activities is based on the timing of some activities
relative to the occurrence of other activities.
• For each activity
• Which activities must precede it?
• Which activities must follow it?
• Which activities can be concurrent with it?
• Identify the Immediately Preceding Activities (IPAs)
• Constraints
• Physical constraints
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Factors to be
considered
• Physical constraints
• Attached to, Covers, Hides,
Uses, Protected by, More
flexible than, Integral with, May
be damaged by
• Resource constraints
• Availability, Limitation
• Safety constraints
• Cannot be preformed
concurrently, Wether, Lighting
• Financial constraints
• Staggering high cost activities
• Tax consideration
Factors to be considered EM
• Environmental constraints
• Management constraints
• Holidays, e.g. New Year..
• Contractual constraints
• Owner
• Regulatory constraints
• Permits
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Ordering Activities EM
• Minimize the number of constraints
• Excessive constraints could
• Reduce scheduling flexibility
• Lengthen project duration
• Generally increase project cost
• Confuse basic scheduling logic
• Only physical constraints should be entered during
development stage of the project model
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Example-Precedence Diagram (IPAs) EM
Activity Label Activity Description IPAs
A Lay out Foundation --
B Dig Foundation A
C Place Formwork B
D Place Concrete G, H
E Purchase Steel Reinforcement --
F Cut and Bend Steel reinforcement E
G Place Steel reinforcement C, F
H Order Concrete --
IPAs: Immediate Preceding Activities
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Drawing the Network Diagram EM
• Common Networks types
• Precedence Diagram (Activity on Node)
• Arrow Diagram (Activity on Arrow)
• Read from left to right
• Shows dependency between activities
• Milestone
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Precedence Diagram EM
A B C
Lay Out Dig Place
Foundation Foundation Formwork
Activity
G
D
Place Steel
Place Concrete
Reinforcement
F H
E Order Concrete
Cut and Bend
Purchase Steel
Steel
Reinforcement
Reinforcement
Logic
link line
Dr. Chung-Wei Feng 15
Assign Durations to Activities EM
• The duration of an activity is the estimated time that will be
required to complete it.
• Unit of time
• Types of projects
• workday, workweek, (Calender Day)
• Defining duration
• Less of a science than it is an art
• Tied directly to the resources applied
• Crew size, equipment, productivity of the resource
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Defining the Duration of an activity EM
• Duration = Quantity of work/(qty/crew-hour) = crew-hours
• Crew-hours/ (hours/day)= days
• qty/crew-hour
• formwork, a crew with three carpenters=> 60m2 /hour
• Reliability of the Productivity factor
• Standard published rates (e.g. R.S. Means)
• Average, historical data
• Guesstimates
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Assigning Resources and Costs EM
• Resources: materials, labor, equipment
• Activity cost depends on resources used
• quantity of materials, amount and type of labor and
equipment
• Resource allocation
• Resource leveling
• Resource vs. Duration decision priority
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Calculating Early and Late Start/ Finish Times EM
• The early start time of an activity is the earliest time that the
activity can begin.
• The late start time is the latest that the activity can start w/o
adversely impacting the date of project completion.
• The early finish time, the late finish time
• Floats
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Identify the Critical Path EM
• The path in which activities have no floats
• The time of the critical path is longest
• Could be more than one
• Highly important
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Schedule Activity Start/Finish Time EM
• Requirements
• Time
• Cost
• Management tools
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The End
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