J.D.

Birla Institute (Department Of Management)

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Critical Path Method Crashing a Project
Critical Path Method (CPM), is a procedure for using network analysis to identify those
tasks which are on the critical path: ie where any delay in the completion of these tasks
will lengthen the project timescale, unless action is taken .For all tasks off the critical
path, a degree of tolerance is possible (eg. late start, late completion,
early start, etc.).
The CPM formally identifies tasks which must be completed on time for the whole
project to be completed on time. It Identifies which tasks can be delayed for a
while if resource needs to be reallocated to catch up on missed tasks. It helps you to
identify the minimum length of time needed to complete a project. The !" determines
both the early start and the late start date for each acti#ity in the schedule.
Time and cost are interrelated
The faster an acti#ity is completed, the more it costs
hange the schedule and you change the budget
Thus many acti#ities can be speeded up by spending more money
The essential techni$ue for using !" is to construct a model of the project that
includes the following:
%. & list of all acti#ities re$uired to complete the project
'. The time (duration) and cost that each acti#ity will take to completion, and
(. The dependencies between the acti#ities.
)sing these #alues, !" calculates the longest path of planned acti#ities to the end of
the project, and the earliest and latest that each acti#ity can start and finish without
making the project longer. This process determines which acti#ities are *critical* (i.e., on
the longest path) and which ha#e *total float* (i.e., can be delayed without making the
project longer). In project management, a critical path is the se$uence of project
network acti#ities which add up to the longest o#erall duration. This determines the
shortest time possible to complete the project. &ny delay of an acti#ity on the critical
path directly impacts the planned project completion date (i.e. there is no float on the
critical path). & project can ha#e se#eral, parallel, near critical paths. &n additional
parallel path through the network with the total durations shorter than the critical path is
called a sub+critical or non+critical path.
&lthough the acti#ity+on+arrow diagram (*!,-T hart*) is still used in a few places, it
has generally been superseded by the acti#ity+on+node diagram, where each acti#ity is
shown as a bo. or node and the arrows represent the logical relationships going from
predecessor to successor as shown in the diagram &cti#ity+on+node diagram showing
critical path schedule, along with total float and critical path drag computations.
In this diagram, &cti#ities &, /, , 0, and , comprise the critical or longest path,
while &cti#ities F, 1, and 2 are off the critical path with floats of %3 days, 4 days, and '3
days respecti#ely. 5hereas acti#ities that are off the critical path ha#e float and are
therefore not delaying completion of the project, those on the critical path will usually
ha#e critical path drag 6, i.e., they delay project completion. The drag of a critical path
acti#ity can be computed using the following formula:
%. If a critical path acti#ity has nothing in parallel, its drag is e$ual to its duration. Thus &
and , ha#e drags of %3 days and '3 days respecti#ely. '. If a critical path acti#ity has
another acti#ity in parallel, its drag is e$ual to whiche#er is less: its duration or the total
float of the parallel acti#ity with the least total float. Thus since / and are both parallel
to F (float of %4) and 2 (float of '3), / has a duration of '3 and drag of %4 (e$ual to F7s
float), while has a duration of only 4 days and thus drag of only 4. &cti#ity 0, with a
duration of %3 days, is parallel to 1 (float of 4) and 2 (float of '3) and therefore its drag
is e$ual to 4, the float of 1.
These results, including the drag computations, allow managers to prioriti8e acti#ities for
the effecti#e management of project completion, and to shorten the planned critical path
of a project by pruning critical path acti#ities, by *fast tracking* (i.e., performing more
acti#ities in parallel), and9or by *crashing the critical path* (i.e., shortening the
durations of critical path acti#ities by adding resources).
2owe#er, we first compute a cost9time slope for each acti#ity that can be
e.pedited(crashed) .
Activity Slope :
What is Crashing Cr!nching"
Project crashing is a #ethod for shortening the project d!ration $y red!cing the
ti#e of one or #ore of the critical project activities to less than its nor#al activity
ti#e% &he o$ject crashing is to red!ce project d!ration 'hile #ini#i(ing the cost
of crashing%
)*+,C&-., )/ C0AS1-23 :
%. To reduce the scheduled completion time to reap the results of the project
sooner.
'. &s project continue o#er time, the team consume indirect costs.
(. There may be direct financial penalties for not completing a project on time.
:. reduce project duration at minimum cost.
The project team should estimate re$uire time, re$uire the cost, crash time,
crash cost for each acti#ities. &nd then the team can estimate total crash time,
total crash cost, the crash cost per week to reduce project duration at minimum
cost.
4,5 &,0MS
C0AS1-23 is reducing project time by e.pending additional resources.
C0AS1 &-M, is an amount of time an acti#ity is reduced.
C0AS1 C)S& is the cost of reducing acti#ity.
0eso!rce Allocation :
0eso!rce allocation is used to assign the a#ailable resources in an economic way. It is
part of resource management. In project management, resource allocation is the
scheduling of acti#ities and the resources re$uired by those acti#ities while taking into
consideration both the resource a#ailability and the project time
Time Normal - Time Crash
Cost Normal - Cost Crash
= Slope
0eso!rce Allocation Pro$le#:
&s discussed, !"9!,-T ignore resource utili8ation and a#ailability. 5ith
e.ternal resources, this may not be a problem .It is, howe#er, a concern with
internal resources. It is common to see the resource allocation problem in terms
of costs, manpower, but it can apply to e$uipment ,kinds of materials, capital etc.
;chedules need to be e#aluated in terms of both time (i.e. projects must be
finished by a certain time, using as few resources as possible) and resources(i.e.
projects must be finished as soon as possible, but without e.ceeding some
specific le#el of resource usage or some general resource constraint).
<ccasionally, it is possible that some useful resources can be added at little or
no cost to a project during a crisis period. &t other times, some resources in
abundance may be traded for scarce ones. "ost of the time, howe#er, these
trades entail additional costs to the organi8ation ,so a primary responsibility for
the !" is to make do what is a#ailable.
"oreo#er,-esource allocation in project management is #ery similar to capacity
planning in production management./oth the approaches to the problem and
potential solutions to the problem are #ery similar.
0eso!rce 6oading:
-esource loading describes the amount of indi#idual resources an e.isting
schedule re$uires during specific. Therefore , it is irrele#ant whether we are
considering a single work unit or se#eral projects= the loads of each resource
type are simply listed as a function of time period. It gi#es an understanding of
the demands a project will make of a firm>s resources. It is an e.cellent guide for
early, rough project planning.
0eso!rce leveling :
0eso!rce leveling is a project management techni$ue used to e.amine unbalanced
use of resources (usually people or e$uipment) o#er time, and for resol#ing o#er+
allocations or conflicts.
5hen performing project planning acti#ities, the manager will attempt to schedule
certain tasks simultaneously. 5hen more resources such as machines or people are
needed than are a#ailable, or perhaps a specific person is needed in both tasks, the
tasks will ha#e to be rescheduled concurrently or e#en se$uentially to manage the
constraint. !roject planning resource le#eling is the process of resol#ing these conflicts.
It can also be used to balance the workload of primary resources o#er the course of the
project?s@, usually at the e.pense of one of the traditional triple constraints (time, cost,
scope).
Constrained 0eso!rce Sched!ling:
There are two fundamental approaches to constrained resource allocation problem:
%. 2euristics+ employ rules of thumb that ha#e been found to work reasonably well
in similar situations. They seek better solution.
'. <ptimi8ation method+ seeks the best solutions but is far more limited in their
ability to handle comple. situations and large problems.
1e!ristic Methods
2euristics approaches to constrained resource scheduling problems are in wide,
general use for a number of reasons.
This approach is the only feasible way of attacking the large, nonlinear, comple.
problems that tend to occur in the real world of project management.
"ost heuristic solution methods start with the !,-T9!" schedule and analy8e
resource usage period by period, resource by resource.
In a period when the a#ailable supply of a resource is e.ceeded, the heuristic
e.amines the tasks in that period and allocated the scarce resources to them
se$uentially, according to some priority rules.
;ome of the most common priority rules are:
&s soon as possible+ the default rule for scheduling. This pro#ides the general
solution for critical path and time.
&s late as possible+ all acti#ities are scheduled as late as possible without
delaying the projects. The main purpose of this heuristic is to defer cash outflows
as long as possible.
;hortest task first+ tasks are ordered in terms of duration, with the shortest first.
In general, this rule will ma.imi8e the number of tasks that can be completed by
a system during some period.
"ost resources first+acti#ities are ordered by use of a specific resource, with the
largest user heading the list. The assumption behind this rule is that more
important tasks usually place a higher demand on scarce resources.
"inimum slack first+ this heuristic orders acti#ities by the amount of slack, least
slack going first. (it is common, when using this rule, to break ties by using the
shortest+task+first rule.)
"ost critical followers+ tasks are arranged by the number of critical acti#ities
following them. The one with the greatest number of critical followers go first.
"ost successors+ this is the same as the pre#ious rule, e.cept that all followers,
not merely critical ones, are counted.
&rbitrary+ priorities are assigned to acti#ities according to some rule not
associated with task length, slack, or resource re$uirements. ;uch rules might be
that tasks on projects of higher #alue to the parent organi8ation are taken before
those of lower #alue.
These are the most common priority rules. There are many more priority rules. Aike,
the heuristic can either start at the beginning or work forwards or it can start at the
end and work backwards.
)pti#i(ing #ethod
The methods to find an optimal solution to the constrained resource scheduling problem
fall into two categories+ mathematical programming (linear programming for the most
part) and enumeration.
<ptimi8ation finds the one best solution. &s mentioned before, it uses either linear
programming or enumeration method. &ll projects cannot be optimi8ed. &pproached
work with small to medium projects i.e., it is limited to small and medium projects. <ther
approaches ha#e combined programming and enumeration methods. !aterson and
2uber (%B6:) employed an integer programming approach combined with a minimum
bounding procedure to reduce the computation time for minimi8ing project duration
M!lti7Project Sched!ling and 0eso!rce Allocation:
;cheduling and resource allocation problems increase with more than one project. The
greater the number of projects, the greater the problems. <ne way is to consider each
project as part of a much larger project.
;cheduling and allocating resources to multiple projects are much more complicated
than for the single+project case. The most common approach is to treat the se#eral
projects as if they were elements of a single large project. 2owe#er, different projects
ha#e different goals. Therefore, combining them may not make sense. There are
se#eral projects, each with its own set of acti#ities, due dates and resource
re$uirements. In addition, the penalties for not meeting time, cost, and performance
goals for the se#eral projects may differ. )sually, the multi+project problem in#ol#es
determining how to allocate resources to, and set completion time for, a new project that
is added to an e.isting set of ongoing projects. This re$uires the de#elopment of an
efficient, dynamic multi+project scheduling system. To describe such a system,
standards are needed by which to measure scheduling effecti#eness. These standards
are:
%. Sched!le slippage+ it is considered the most important standard or criteria. It is the
time past a project>s due date or deli#ery date when the project is completed. ;lippage
may result in penalty cost that reduces profits. ;lippage of one project may ha#e a
ripple effect, causing other projects to slip. Indeed, e.pediting a project in order to
pre#ent slippage may, and usually does, disturb the o#erall organi8ation to the point
where slippage due to resource shortages may then be caused in other projects.
'. 0eso!rce !tili(ation+ resource utili8ation is of particular concern to industrial firms
because of the high cost of making resources a#ailable. & resource allocation system
that smooth>s out the peaks and #alleys of resource usage is ideal, but it is e.tremely
difficult to attain while maintaining scheduled performance because all the projects in a
multi+project organi8ation are competing for the same scarce resources. It is e.pensi#e
to change the si8e of the human resource pool on which the firm draws.
(. -n7process inventory+ it concerns the amount of work waiting to be processed
because there is a shortage of some resources. It is similar to work in progress in
manufacturing. "ost industrial organi8ations ha#e a large in#estment in in+process
in#entory, which may indicate a lack of efficiency and often represents a major source of
e.pense for the firm. The remedy in#ol#es a trade+off between the cost of in+process
in#entory and the cost of resources, usually capital e$uipment, needed to reduce the in+
process in#entory le#els. It is almost a.iomatic that the most time consuming operation
in any production system in#ol#ing much machining of metals is an operation called
CwaitD.
1e!ristic &echni8!es
It refers to e.perience+based techni$ues for problem sol#ing, learning, and disco#ery.
2euristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution,
where an e.hausti#e search is impractical. In more precise terms, heuristics are
strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to
control problem sol#ing in human beings and machines. "ulti+projects are too comple.
for optimi8ation approaches.
"any of the heuristics are e.tensions of the ones used for one project.
There are some additional priority rules such as:
0eso!rce sched!ling #ethod+ in calculating acti#ity priority, gi#e precedence
to that acti#ity with the minimum #alue of 0ig, where
o 0igE increase in project duration resulting when acti#ity j follows acti#ity i
o E ma. ?3=( ,Fii+ A;j )@
o 5here
o ,FiE early finish of acti#ity i
o A;jElatest start of acti#ity j
o The comparison is made on a pairwise basis among all acti#ities in the
conflict set.
Mini#!# late finish ti#e+ this rule assigns priorities to acti#ities on the basis of
acti#ity finish times as determined by &0"9!,-T or !"9!". The earliest late
finishers are scheduled first.
3reatest reso!rce de#and+ this method assigns priorities on the basis of total
resource re$uirements, with higher priorities gi#en for greater demands on
resources. !roject or task priority is calculated as:
-esource re$uirements must be stated in common terms, usually dollars. This heuristic
is based on an attempt to gi#e priority to potential resource bottleneck acti#ities.
3reatest reso!rce !tili(ation+ this rule gi#es priority to that combination of
acti#ities that results in ma.imum resource utili8ation during each scheduling
period. This rule was found to be appro.imately as effecti#e as the minimum
slack rule for multiple project scheduling, where the criterion used was project
slippage. Fariations of this rule are found in commercial computer programs such
as -&"!;.
Most possi$le jo$s+ here, priority is gi#en to the set of acti#ities that results in
the greatest number of acti#ities being scheduled in any period. It differs from the
greatest+resource+utili8ation heuristic in that the determination of the greatest
number of possible jobs is made purely with regard to resource feasibility.
3oldratt9s Critical Chain :
What is Critical Chain"
Critical Chain Project Manage#ent (CCPM) is a #ethodology for planning,
e:ec!ting and #anaging projects in single and #!lti7project environ#ents%
Critical Chain Project Manage#ent 'as developed $y ;r ,li 3oldratt
and 'as first introd!ced to the #arket in his &heory of Constraints $ook <Critical
Chain= in >??@% -t 'as developed in response to #any projects $eing dogged $y
poor perfor#ance #anifested in longer than e:pected d!rations, fre8!ently
#issed deadlines, increased costs in e:cess of $!dget, and s!$stantially less
delivera$les than originally pro#ised%
&o deal 'ith strong opti#istic $ias in #any project sched!les,let !s consider
fe' of the follo'ing things that tend to create it%
&ho!ghtless )pti#is#+ some project managers, apparently with a strong need
to deny that lateness could be their fault, deal with e#ery problem faced by the
their projects as strict e.ceptions, acts as chance that cannot be forecast and
hence need not be the subject of planning. These indi#iduals simply ignore risk
management.
Capacity sho!ld $e set to e8!al de#and+ some senior managers refuse to
recogni8e that projects are not assembly lines and are not subject to standard
operations management line of balance methods.
&he <St!dent Syndro#e=+ This phrase is 1oldratt>s name for the fact that
students always want more time to complete the project. 1i#e more time,
students delay starting the project until the last possible moment. <ne of the
most common occurrences is for acti#ities with high slack to be delayed and
ignored until the slack is gone. If any problems arise with such acti#ities they will
be late.
M!ltitasking to red!ce idle ti#e+ onsider a situation where there are two
projects, & G /, each with three se$uential acti#ities and has a single resource
re$uired by both projects. ,ach acti#ity re$uires %3 days. & 1antt chart is to be
used for se$uencing both the two projects. In the first, switch from project & to
project / for each of the ( acti#ities, this is , carry out &cti#ity % for project & , then
&cti#ity % for project / , then &cti#ity ' for &, and soforth. In the second
se$uence, complete project & before starting project /. In both the cases, the
total time re$uired will be H3 days. 2owe#er. In the second se$uence, project & is
completed after (3 days and / after H3 days. In the first case, project & will be
finished after 43 days and / after H3 days. 5hile the total time re$uired is the
same project & has been delayed for '3 days by the multitasking. Further, it
ignores the fact that switching back and forth between tasks is neither a
particularly efficient nor effecti#e way to complete two different jobs.
People need a reason to 'ork hard+ senior managers of our ac$uaintances
ha#e been known to argue that project workers+ and they include project
managers in that category+CalwaysD ha#e enough slack time in their acti#ity
duration estimates to make sure that they can complete the acti#ities on time and
Cwithout too much sweatD. Therefore, it makes some managerial sense to cut
back on the time allowances until they can ser#e as an incenti#e to the project
team. It has, howe#er, long been known that for people with a high need for
achie#ement, the ma.imum le#el of moti#ation is associated with only moderate,
not high, le#els of risk of failure.
3a#e playing + this is possibly the most common cause of late projects. It is
certainly a major cause of frustration for anyone in#ol#ed in a project. ;enior
managers, firm are in the belief that project workers add e.tra time and
resources to acti#ity time and budget estimates in order to ensure a safe and
peaceful life on their potion of a project, routinely cut schedules and budget.
!roject workers, suspecting that senior management will cut schedules and
budgets without regard to any logic or reason, increase their schedules and
budgets as much as they guess will be allowed. ,ach assumes that the order is
not to be trusted. The outcome is simple. -ather than practice careful risk
management, each blames the other for any lateness or budget o#erage.
Ass!#ing net'ork co#ple:ity #akes no difference7 onsider two different
projects constituting of two acti#ities. ,ach acti#ity re$uires %3 days and is known
with certainty. learly, both the projects are completed in :3 days though one is
considerably more comple. than the other. /ut in reality comple.ity, uncertainty
and merging paths all join to make trouble.
,arly finishes not canceling o!t late finishes+ &ssume two acti#ities, & G /. &
is a predecessor of /.If acti#ity & is late, then acti#ity / will start late by whate#er
amount of lateness is be$ueathed to it by &. ;imilarly , if in spite of all forces
tending to thwart such things, acti#ity & finishes early, / will start early. The
assumption is generally true for first case, when & is late. /ut for the case when &
is early, the assumption is rarely true. )nfortunately, a finish by & in less than its
e.pected duration almost ne#er translates to a start by / before its e.pected start
time.
Bibliography:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT (A Managerial Approach) By Jac R! Mere"ith # $am%el J! Mantel
http&''en!(iipe"ia!org'('in"e)!php*title+$pecial
,-A$earch#search+comple)ity.o/.net(ors.maes.no."i//erence
http&''(((!google!co!in'imgres*0+reso%rce.allocation.ta1le#hl+en#sa/e+o//#1i(+2-33#1ih
http&''(((!mhcc!e"%'A1o%t-mhcc!asp)*i"+45-
http&''en!(iipe"ia!org'(ii'Reso%rce6allocation
http&''(((!netm1a!com'operations'pro7ect'cpm'
(((!pmipr!org'html'!!!'The,89Critical,89Path,89Metho"!p"/
Class notes an" ppts