Simulation of Project network

Simulation of Project network ......................................................................................................... 2 1. 2. 3. 4. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2 Terminology.......................................................................................................................... 2 Main functions ...................................................................................................................... 3 Simulation Algorithm ........................................................................................................... 3

Simulation of Project network

1. Introduction

The project network under focus has certain number of activities linked with each other by some technical relationship. These details of the network are known. The various activities of the network represent the activities of the project. The time required by these activities is random. The distribution of the time taken by each activity is known with all its parameters. The objective of the simulation is to identify the following measures. Mean project completion time Standard deviation of project completion time Probability that an activity becomes critical . The simulation program work will be dived into mainly five functions namely input of data, initialization, observing the system repeatedly, calculating the final summary statistics and outputting the required results. The main step of the procedure is observing the system repeatedly, which in fact means simulating the system.

2.

Terminology

Various main terms used in the simulation are as listed below. The first four are directly the input of the project scheduling. Number of activities number of activities involved in the project Head node [i] - head node of ith activity Tail node [i] - tail node of ith activity Distribution [i]- probability distribution of duration of ith activity Run length number of times the simulation is to be repeated Time [i] duration of ith activity in present run

Early start [i] Early start of ith activity in present run Early finish [i] Early finish of ith activity in present run Late start [i] Late start of ith activity in present run Late finish [i] Late finish of ith activity in present run Total float [i] Total float of ith activity in present run Critical [i] number of times ith activity was critical up to present run Duration [j]- duration of the project in jth run

3.

Main functions

The main part of the simulation is observation of the system repeatedly. The part includes the various functions as listed below. 1. Identifying the duration of all the activities in the present run. 2. Implementing forward pass and calculating early start and finish of all the activities in the present run. 3. Implementing backward pass and calculating late start and finish of all the activities in the present run. 4. Calculating total float of all the activities in the present run. 5. Accounting cumulatively the critical activities. 6. Recording duration of the project in the present run.

4.

Simulation Algorithm

The simulation algorithm will now be as given. 1. Input all the data Number of activities Head node [i] ; Tail node [i] ; Distribution [i] ; 2. Initialization Critical [i] = 0 ; i=0, Number of activities-1 i= 0, Number of activities-1 i=0, Number of activities-1 i=0, Number of activities-1

3. Perform the following observations on the system for j= 0, Run length-1.

Check if the stopping criterion of simulation is reached. If the observations are made for Run length times then stop the simulation and go to step IV. Calculate the final summary statistics, and present the result. If not, go to next step. Decide the duration of all the activities using the distribution of the activities. Hence, Time [i] = random time generated using Distribution [i] ; i=0, Number of activities-1. Using this time, implement forward pass and calculate Early start [i] and Early finish [i] ; i=0, Number of activities-1. Implement backward pass and calculate Late finish [i] and Late start [i] ; Number of activities-1. Calculate Total float [i] = Late start [i] - Early start [i] ; i=0, Number of activities-1. Account for critical activities. If (Total float [i] ==0) Critical [i] = Critical [i] +1; i=0, Number of activities-1. Identify the duration of the project in this run. Duration [j] = Early finish [last activity] 4. Calculate the final summary statistics From the duration, calculate mean project duration and standard deviation of project duration. Calculate probability of each activity becoming critical. The same will be Probability [i]= Critical [i] / Run length; i=0, Number of activities-1. i=0,

5. Outputting the required results. The following needs to be outputted. Mean project duration Standard deviation of project duration Probability [i]; i=0, Number of activities-1