Schedule
Compressio
n
PROJECT CRASHING
AN D FAS T T R AC K I N G
Schedule Compression
Schedule compression refers to techniques used when a project manager wants to
shorten the duration of the project without changing the scope of the project. It can be
used when a project falls behind schedule and needs to catch up or to finish the project
sooner than originally scheduled.
Reducing Project Duration
• Reasons for imposed project duration dates:
• Time-to-market pressures
• Unforeseen delays
• Incentive contracts (bonuses for early completion)
• Imposed deadlines and contract commitments
• Overhead and public goodwill costs
• Pressure to move resources to other projects
Schedule Compression-Fast Tracking
• Fast tracking involves doing activities in parallel that you would normally do in
sequence
• •Instead of waiting for Task 1 to be totally finished before starting Task 2, start Task 2
when Task 1 is halfway done
• Schedule compression often backfires by causing cost, human resource, and quality
problems, which lead to even longer schedules.
Fast Tracking & Crashing
Fast Tracking & Crashing
Schedule Compression- Crashing
• Crashing: make cost and schedule trade offs to obtain the greatest amount
of schedule compression for the least incremental cost •
• If two critical tasks each take two weeks, and it will take $100 to shorten
Task 1 by a week and $1,000 to shorten Task 2 by a week, shorten Task
1.
• Activities on critical path are crashed.
Project Crashing and Time-Cost Trade-Off Definition
• Project duration can be reduced by assigning more resources to project activities.
• Doing this however increases project cost.
• Decision is based on analysis of trade-off between time and cost.
• Project crashing is a method for shortening project duration by reducing one or more
critical activities to a time less than normal activity time.
• Crashing achieved by devoting more resources to crashed activities.
Project Crashing -4 Steps
• Compute the crash cost per week (or other time period) for each activity in the network.
• Find the critical path(s) in the project network. Identify the critical activities.
• If there is only one critical path, then select the activity on this critical path that (a)can still be crashed
and (b) has the smallest crash cost per period. Crash this activity by one period.
• Update all activity times. If the desired due date has been reached, stop. If not, return to Step 2.
• Note: If there is more than one critical path, then select one activity from each critical path & crash
each activity by one period. Same activity may be common to more than one critical path
Explanation of Project Costs
• Project Indirect Costs
• Are costs that cannot be associated with any particular work package or project
activity. • Supervision, administration, consultants etc. •
• Are costs that vary (increase) with time. • Reducing project time directly reduces
indirect costs.
• Project Direct Costs • Are normal costs that can be assigned directly to a specific
work package or project activity. •
• Labor, materials, equipment, and subcontractors •
• Increase with use of crashing activities
Example
Project Overhead Cost: 600$/Day
Activit Predec Normal Crash Normal Cost Additional Cost
y essor Duration Duration of Activity Per Day to Crash
A 2 2 1200 0
B A 5 4 1800 600
C B 6 4 1700 400
D B 7 5 1500 700
E C, D 3 3 1900 500
Task
• Draw Network Diagram.
• Find Normal Completion Time & Total Normal Cost of the Project?
• Crash and Find Optimal completion Time and Optimal Cost ?
Example
Project Overhead Cost: 600$/Day
Activi Prede Normal Crash Normal Additional Cost Max Crash
ty cesso Duration Duratio Cost of Per Day to Duration
r n Activity Crash
A 2 2 1200 0 0
B A 5 4 1800 600 1
C B 6 4 1700 400 2
D B 7 5 1500 700 2
E C, D 4 3 1900 500 1
Step 01- Draw Network Diagram
Step 01- Forward Pass/Backward Pass/Critical Path
• Crash cost per period/slope is already given
• Paths A- B- C – E = 17 Weeks
A- B –D-E = 18 Weeks
Before Crashing
• Project Cost = Direct Cost + Indirect Cost
• = 8100 + (600 * 18)
• = 18,900.
Crashing Paths Cost
A-B-C-E A-B-D-E Direct Cost Indirect / Total Cost
Overhead
Before Crashing 17 18 8100 10,800 18,900
Cycle 1- Crash E 17-1 =16 18-1=17 8100+500= 8600 600*17=10,200 18,800
by 1 Day
Cycle 1- Crash B 16-1=15 17-1=16 8600+600=9200 600*16= 9600 18,800
by 1 Day
Stopping Criteria: Optimal Cost or Number of Days i.e. 15 days.
Project Crashing Example
Normal Crash Cost Normal Crash Max Possible Crash Cost Per
Cost Duration Duration Crashing Per Period /
Slope
A 60 90 4 3 1 (90-60)/1=30
B 150 250 6 4 2 (250-150)/2=50
C 38 60 2 1 1 (60-38)/1=22
D 150 250 5 3 2 (250-150)/2=50
E 100 100 2 2 0 0
F 115 175 7 5 2 (175-115)/2=30
G 100 240 4 2 2 (240-100)/2=70
Network Diagram
Crashing Paths Cost
A-F A-D-G B-G C-E-G Direct Cost Indirect / Total Cost
Overhead
Before 11 13 10 8 713 780 1493
Crashing
