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PERT,CPMandGANTT

PERT,CPMandGANTT
November20,1997
Takenfrom"AProfessional'sGuidetoSystemsAnalysis",MartinE.Modell,2nd.Ed.McGrawHill,1996.

PREVIOUSSTEPS
Beforeattemptingtousethesetools,theproject'sinformation
mustbeassembledinacertainway.Iincludeabasicdescription
oftheprecedingsteps.
Theprojectplanningprocessconsistsofthefollowing:
1. Settingtheprojectstartdate
2. Settingtheprojectcompletiondate
3. Selectingtheprojectmethodologyorprojectlifecycletobe
used
4. Determiningthescopeoftheprojectintermsofthephases
oftheselectedprojectmethodologyorprojectlifecycle
5. Identifyingorselectingtheprojectreviewmethodstobe
used
6. Identifyinganypredterminedinterimmilestoneorother
criticaldateswhichmustbemet.
7. Listingtasks,byprojectphase,intheorderinwhichthey
mightbeaccomplished.
8. Estimatingthepersonnelnecessarytoaccomplisheachtask
9. Estimatingthepersonnelavailabletoaccomplisheachtask
10. Determiningskilllevelnecessaytoperformeachtask
11. Determiningtaskdependencies
Whichtaskscanbedoneinparallel
Whichtasksrequirethecompletionofothertasksbefore
theycanstart
12. Projectcontrolorreviewpoints
13. Performingprojectcostestimationandcostbenefitanalysis
WorkbreakdownStructures
Thedevelopmentofaprojectplanispredicatedonhavinga
clearanddetailedunderstandingofboththetasksinvolved,the
estimatedlengthoftimeeachtaskwilltake,thedependencies
betweenthosetasks,andthesequenceinwhichthosetasks
havetobeperformed.Additionally,resourceavailabilitymustbe
determinedinordertoassigneachtaskorgroupoftaskstothe
appropiateworker.
Onemethodusedtodevelopthelistoftasksistocreatewhatis
knownasaworkbreakdownstructure.

Adefinition
Aworkbreakdownstructure(WBS)isahierarchic
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decompositionorbreakdownofaprojectormajor
activityintosuccessivelevels,inwhciheachlevelisa
finerbreakdownoftheprecedingone.Infinalforma
WBSisverysimilarinstructureandlayouttoa
documentoutline.Eachitemataspecificlevelofa
WBSisnumberedconsecutively(e.g.,10,10,30,40,
50).Eachitematthenextlevelisnumberedwithin
thenumberofitsparentitem(e.g.,10.1,10.2,10.3,
10.4).
TheWBSmaybedrawninadiagrammaticform(ifautomated
toolsareavailable)orinachartresemblinganoutline.
TheWBSbeginswithasingleoveralltaskrepresentingthe
totalityofworktobeperformedontheproject.Thisbecomes
thenameoftheprojectplanWBS.Usingamethodologyor
systemlifecycle(analysis,designandimplementation)stepsas
aguide,theprojectisdividedintoitsmajorsteps.Thefirst
phaseisprojectinitiationthesecondmajorphaseisanalysis,
followedbydesign,construction,testing,implementation,and
postimplementationfollowup.Eachofthesephasesmustbe
brokenintheirnextlevelofdetail,andeachofthose,intostill
finerlevelsofdetail,untilamanageabletasksizeisarrivedat.
ThefirstWBSlevelforthelifecyclewouldbe:

WBSnumber

TaskDescription

1.0

Projectinitiation

1.1

Draftprojectplan

2.0

Analysisphase

2.1

Planuserinterviews

2.2

Scheduleusersinterviews

3.0

Examinationandtest

4.0

Design

5.0

Test

6.0

Implementation

7.0

Postimplementationreview

Tasksateachsuccesivelyfinerlevelofdetailarenumberedto
reflectthetaskfromwhichtheywerederived.Thus,thefirst
leveloftaskswouldbenumbered1.0,2.0,3.0,andsoforth.
Eachoftheirsubtaskswouldhaveatwopartnumber:thefirst
partreflectingtheparenttaskandthesecondpart,thesubtask
numberitslef,suchas1.1,1.2,or1.3.Aseachofthese,inturn,
decomposedorbrokendownintoitscomponenttasks,each
componentreceivesanumbercomprisedofit'sparentnumber
plusauniquenumberofitsown.
Adefinition
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Amanageabletaskisoneinwhichtheexpected
resultscanbeeasilyidentifiedsuccess,failure,or
completionofthetaskcanbeeasilyascertainedthe
timetocompletethetaskcanbeeasilyestimatedant
theresourcerequirementsofthetaskcanbeeasily
determined.

ProgramEvaluationandReviewTechnique
(PERT)

Programevaluationandreviewtechnique(PERT)chartsdepict
task,duration,anddependencyinformation.Eachchartstarts
withaninitiationnodefromwhichthefirsttask,ortasks,
originates.Ifmultipletasksbeginatthesametime,theyareall
startedfromthenodeorbranch,orforkoutfromthestarting
point.Eachtaskisrepresentedbyalinewhichstatesitsname
orotheridentifier,itsduration,thenumberofpeopleassigned
toit,andinsomecasestheinitialsofthepersonnelassigned.
Theotherendofthetasklineisterminatedbyanothernode
whichidentifiesthestartofanothertask,orthebeginningof
anyslacktime,thatis,waitingtimebetweentasks.
Eachtaskisconnectedtoitssuccessortasksinthismanner
forminganetworkofnodesandconnectinglines.Thechartis
completewhenallfinaltaskscometogetheratthecompletion
node.Whenslacktimeexistsbetweentheendofonetaskand
thestartofanother,theusualmethodistodrawabrokenor
dottedlinebetweentheendofthefirsttaskandthestartofthe
nextdependenttask.
APERTchartmayhavemultipleparallelorinterconnecting
networksoftasks.Ifthescheduledprojecthasmilestones,
checkpoints,orreviewpoints(allofwhicharehighly
recommendedinanyprojectschedule),thePERTchartwillnote
thatalltasksuptothatpointterminateatthereviewnode.It
shouldbenotedatthispointthattheprojectreview,approvals,
userreviews,andsoforthalltaketime.Thistimeshouldnever
beunderestimatedwhendrawinguptheprojectplan.Itisnot
unusualforareviewtotake1or2weeks.Obtaining
managementanduserapprovalsmaytakeevenlonger.
Whendrawinguptheplan,besuretoincludetasksfor
documentationwriting,documentationediting,projectreport
writingandediting,andreportreproduction.Thesetasksare
usuallytimeconsuming,sodon'tunderestimatehowlongitwill
taketocompletethem.
PERTchartsareusuallydrawnonruledpaperwiththehorizontal
axisindicatingtimeperioddivisionsindays,weeks,months,and
soon.AlthoughitispossibletodrawaPERTchartforanentire
project,theusualpracticeistobreaktheplansintosmaller,
moremeaningfulparts.Thisisveryhelpfulifthecharthastobe
redrawnforanyreason,suchasskippedorincorrectlyestimated
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tasks.
ManyPERTchartsterminateatthemajorreviewpoints,suchas
attheendoftheanalysis.Manyorganizationsincludefunding
reviewsintheprojectslifecycle.Wherethisisthecase,each
chartterminatesinthefundingreviewnode.
Fundingreviewscanaffectaprojectinthattheymayeither
increasefunding,inwhichcasemorepeoplehavetomade
available,ortheymaydecreasefunding,inwhichcasefewer
peoplemaybeavailable.Obviouslymoreorlesspeoplewill
affectthelengthoftimeittakestocompletetheproject.

CriticalPathMethod(CPM)

CriticalPathMethod(CPM)chartsaresimilartoPERTchartsand
aresometimesknownasPERT/CPM.InaCPMchart,thecritical
pathisindicated.Acriticalpathconsiststhatsetofdependen
tasks(eachdepedentontheprecedingone)whichtogethertake
thelongesttimetocomplete.Althoughitisnotnormallydone,a
CPMchartcandefinemultiple,equallycriticalpaths.Taskswhich
fallonthecriticalpathshouldbenotedinsomeway,sothat
theymaybegivenspecialattention.Onewayistodrawcritical
pathtaskswithadoublelineinsteadofasingleline.
Taskswhichfallonthecriticalpathshouldreceivespecial
attentionbyboththeprojectmanagerandthepersonnel
assignedtothem.Thecriticalpathforanygivenmethodmay
shiftastheprojectprogressesthiscanhappenwhentasksare
completedeitherbehindoraheadofschedule,causingother
taskswhichmaystillbeonscheduletofallonthenewcritical
path.

GanttCharts

AGanttchartisamatrixwhichlistsontheverticalaxisallthe
taskstobeperformed.Eachrowcontainsasingletask
identificationwhichusuallyconsistsofanumberandname.The
horizontalaxisisheadedbycolumnsindicatingestimatedtask
duration,skilllevelneededtoperformthetask,andthenameof
thepersonassignedtothetask,followedbyonecolumnfor
eachperiodintheproject'sduration.Eachperiodmaybe
expressedinhours,days,weeks,months,andothertimeunits.
Insomecasesitmaybenecessarytolabeltheperiodcolumns
asperiod1,period2,andsoon.
ThegraphicsportionoftheGanttchartconsistsofahorizontal
barforeachtaskconnectingtheperiodstartandperiodending
columns.Asetofmarkersisusuallyusedtoindicateestimated
andactualstartandend.Eachbaronaseparateline,andthe
nameofeachpersonassignedtothetaskisonaseparateline.
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Inmanycaseswhenthistypeofprojectplanisused,ablank
rowisleftbetweentasks.Whentheprojectisunderway,this
rowisusedtoindicateprogress,indicatedbyasecondbar
whichstartsintheperiodcolumnwhenthetaskisactually
startedandcontinuesuntilthetaskisactuallycompleted.
Comparisonbetweenestimatedstartandendandactualstart
andendshouldindicateprojectstatusonataskbytaskbasis.
Variantsofthismethodincludealowerchartwhichshows
personnelallocationsonapersonbypersonbasis.Forthis
sectiontheverticalaxiscontainsthenumberofpeopleassigned
totheproject,andthecolumnsindicatingtaskdurationareleft
blank,asisthecolumnindicatingpersonassigned.Thegraphics
consistsofthesamebarnotationasintheupperchartindicates
thatthepersonisworkingonatask.Thevalueofthislower
chartisevidentwhenitshowsslacktimefortheproject
personnel,thatis,timeswhentheyarenotactuallyworkingon
anyproject.

VCEITLecturenotesMarkKelly

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