preiesoompletien time in a given duration is also caleut considered as advancement over CPM. In both these methods we have to draw network diagram to deter: project completion time. A network is a diagrammatic FePresentation ont the activities concerning a project arranged in a logical manner. Bach acy, represented by a straight line with an arrow indicating the direction ar Livi, i of the project. Each activity is connected by two events called activi "Petes vent and activity finishing event. Events are represented by circles Batting network are numbered 1, 2, 3 etc., activities are denoted by the even ms of 3, 2-4, ete. By representing an activity 1-2 we mean that is athe Stani. 2! 2. and? is the finishing point of the activity. The duration of the activity is, itd Pri by a number ( denoting the number of days required to perform the activiyy gt above the line Tepresenting the activity. st The following diagram is an example of a network diagram, ——_—_—___-—— eration, R, inties are attached with these estimates, Probability op Tone lated Pen te bs A path ofa network is the Sequence of activities Starting from the initial event to the final event proceedin, the direction of arrows, The duration of a path i, the sum of the activities Coming along the path. The various paths and their durations in the above network diagram are given below: Paths Duration 1. 1-2-4-5 S+74+8 = 20 2. S+6+5+8 = 24 3. 5+6+4 15 4. 84548 a2 5 4 = 12 + * The Path that takes the longest duration is called the o tical path. The duita OF this path is called the Project duration. The activities coming along this Pa! are called bottleneck activities, ect There is another method of determining the critical path and the projet Qe seth duration. For obtaining the project duration and the critical path by this me We introduce the following definitions.vy -atwork Analysis 143 e carliest start time (EST): = w waity can be started assuming tha all the precediy time at which an pe started at the earliest start times. anpractivies’s arliest finish time (EFT): The earliest finish ti ag fn varies start time plus the duration of the ie Dees bai qatest finish time (LFT): The latest finish time for an acti ae iutest possible time at which an activity can be finished ashing a ny the subsequent activities can also be finished at the latest possible tine, )) The latest start time (LST): The latest start time of an activity 1s equal tore latest finish time minus the duration ofthe activity —, Total float (F) This is the amount of time a path of activities could be delayed without affecting the overall project duration. (ig., Total Float (TF) = Head event L. ~ Tail event E ~ Duration Total float is also defined as the difference between the two finishing times or the difference between the starting times. . (ie) TF = LFT - EFT = LST - EST (6 Free Float (FF): This is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the commencement of a subsequent activity at its earliest start time, but may affect the float of a previous activity, Free float = Head event L. - Tail event E - Duration ‘Also FF = TF - Head event Slack (1. - E) Independent Float (IF): This is the amount of time an activity can be delayed when all the preceding activities are completed as late as possible and all subsequent activities are completed as early as possible. Independent float therefore does not affect the float of either preceding or subsequent activities: IF = Head event L ~ Tail event - = FF - Tail event slack (L ~ EF, t of an activity is called the head event and the siarting The finishing point point is called tail event. L is the latest finish time of an activity and E is the Liest start time of an activity. In the earliest start time of an activity and E is the ear network diagram we calculate the values of E and Lat each event. If there are ‘two or more values of E occurring at an event we take the largest as the value of Eatthe event. Iftwo more values of L occur at an event We trike the lowest as the value ofL at the event, Thus, we calculate E and L at cach event, Consider the Nelwork diagram given earlier. an, (0 E — Duration