Network Analysis

Introduction 1
Network is a technique used for planning and scheduling of large projects in the fields of
construction, maintenance, fabrication, purchasing, computer system instantiation, research
and development planning etc. There is multitude of operations research situations that can
be modeled and solved as network. Some recent surveys reports that as much as 70% of
the real-world mathematical programming problems can be represented by network related
models. Network analysis is known by many names _PERT (Programme Evaluation and
Review Technique), CPM (Critical Path Method), PEP (Programme Evaluation Procedure),
LCES (Least Cost Estimating and Scheduling), SCANS (Scheduling and Control by
Automated Network System), etc
This chapter will present three of algorithms.
1. PERT & CPM
2. Shortest- route algorithms
3. Maximum-flow algorithms

The Basic Terminology

Network

It is a graphical representation of logical and sequentially connected activities and events of

a project. Network is also called arrow diagram. PERT (Programme Evolution Review
Technique) and (Critical Path Method) are the two most widely applied techniques.

Network
Techniques

PERT CPM

Project
A project is defined as a combination of interrelated activities which must be executed in a
certain order in for its completion.
Project Management Process
Network analysis is the general name given to certain specific techniques which can be used
for the planning, management and control of projects
Activity
Any individual operation, which utilizes resources and has an end and a beginning, is called
activity.
A task or a certain amount of work required in the project
Requires time to complete
Represented by an arrow

These are usually classified into four categories:

Predecessor activity
Successor activity

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Concurrent activity
Dummy activity 2
Dummy Activity
It Indicates only precedence relationships and does not require any time of effort

PERT(Program Evaluation and Review Technique) is a method to analyze the involved

tasks in completing a given project, especially the time needed to complete each task, and
identifying the minimum time needed to complete the total project.

PERT is based on the assumption that an activity’s duration follows a probability distribution
instead of being a single value
Three time estimates are required to compute the parameters of an activity’s duration
distribution:

1. Pessimistic time (tp ) - the time the activity would take if things did not go well
2. Most likely time (tm ) - the consensus best estimate of the activity’s duration
3. Optimistic time (to ) - the time the activity would take if things did go well.

(t p 4t m to )
Mean (expected time) =
6
2
2
tp to
Variance ( )=
6

Probability computation: Determine probability that project is completed within specified

X
time Z
Where = project mean time
= project standard mean time
x = (proposed) specified time

Float:
Float of an activity represents the excess of available time over its duration.

Total Float (Ft)

The amount of time by which the completion of an activity could be delay beyond the
earliest expected completion time without affecting the overall project duration.
i.e. Tf= (Latest start-Earliest start) for activity(i-j), or,(Tf)ij=(LS)jj-(ES)ij

Free Float (Ff)

The time by which the completion of an activity can be delayed beyond the earliest finish
time without affecting the earliest start of a subsequent (succeeding) activities.

Situations in network diagram

1. A must finish before either B or C can start

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2. Both A and B must finish before C can start

3. Both A and C must finish before either of B or D can start

4. A must finish before B can start both A and C must finish before D can start

Benefits of CPM/PERT
1) Useful at many stages of project management
2) Mathematically simple
3) Give critical path and slack time
4) Provide project documentation
5) Useful in monitoring costs

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Distinguish Between PERT and CPM? WBUT-08 4

PERT CPM
(Programme Evaluation Review (Critical Path Method)
Technique)

1. PERT is event oriented. 1. CPM is activity oriented.

2. PERT is probabilistic. 2. CPM is deterministic.

3. PERT is primarily concerned with time 3. CPM places dual emphasis on project
only. time as well cost.
4. PERT is generally used for projects
where time required to complete the 4. CPM is used for projects which are
activities is not known a priori. Thus repetitive in nature and comparatively
PERT is used for large, R&D type of small in size.
projects. 5.One time estimate is possible for activities
5. Three time estimates are possible for (No allowance is made for uncertainty)
activities linking up two events.

Example: 02. The following table gives the activities of a construction project and other
relevant information.

Activities Normal duration Crash duration Crashing cost

(i-j) (days) (days) (Rs. per day)
1-2 9 6 20
1-3 8 5 25
1-4 15 10 30
2-4 5 3 10
3-5 10 6 15
4-5 2 1 40

A. What is the normal project length and minimum project length?

B. Determine the minimum crashing costs of schedule ranging from length down to and
the minimum length schedule.
C. What is the optimal length schedule duration of each job for your solution?
Given that over head cost total Rs. 60 per day.

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E2=9,6 5
Solution: L2=13,8

5-3 E2=20,12
9-6 E2=18,11 L2=20,12
E1=0,0
L2=18,11
L1=0,0
15-10 5
4
1

8-5 10-6

3
E2=8,5
L2=8,5

A. The Critical path is 1 3 4 5 with normal duration 20 days and minimum project
length is 12 days.
Normal Project Crashing Cost (day/Rs.) Overhead cost @ Total Cost(Rs.)
length(days) Rs. 60/day
20 ------ 20 60=1200 1200
19 1 15=15 19 60=1140 1155
18 15+1 15=30 18 60=1080 1110
17 30+1 13=45 17 60=1020 1065
16 45+1 40=85 16 60=960 1045
15 85+1 40+1 30=145 15 60=900 1030
14 145+1 30+1 10+1 25=195 14 60=840 1035

B. Total cost increasing for 14 days duration, the minimum total cost Rs. 1030 occurs 15
days duration.
C. Optimum duration of each job is as follows:
D.

Job: (1,2) (1,3) (1,4) (2,4) (3,4) (4,5)

Optimum duration days: 9 8 14 4 6 1

Example-3: The time estimates (in hours) for the activities of a PERT network are given
below:

Activity t0 tm tp
1-2 1 1 7
1-3 1 4 7
1-4 2 2 8
2-5 1 1 1

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3-5 2 5 14
4-6 2 5 8 6
5-6 3 6 15

Where t0 is the optimistic time tp is the pessimistic time and tm is most likely time
(a) Draw the project network
(b) Identify all paths through it and write critical path.
(c) Determine the expected project length
(d) Calculate standard deviation and variance of the project length
(e) What is the percentage of confidence that the project will complete
I. at least 4 weeks earlier then expected time
II. not more than 4 weeks than the expected time
(f) What should be the scheduled complication times for the probability of complication
are 90% confidence and 100% confidence?
Given data P( Z 1.33) 0.9082, P( Z 1.28) 0.9 , P( Z 5) 0.99999. WBUT-08
Solution: i) The Network is given by the following diagram
3

2 1 5
2 6
1

3
5
3

The expected time and variance of each activity is shown below

Activity t0 tm tp t0 tm tp tp t0
2
te 2
6 6
1-2 1 1 7 2 1
1-3 1 4 7 4 1
1-4 2 2 8 3 1
2-5 1 1 1 1 0
3-5 2 5 14 6 4
4-6 2 5 8 5 1
5-6 3 6 15 7 4

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b) Determination of project paths
7
Length of the path 1→ 2→5→6 = 2+1+7=10

Length of the path 1→ 3→5→6 = 4+6+7=17

Length of the path 1→ 4→6 = 5+3= 8

Since 1→ 3→5→6 has largest duration. Therefore the critical path is1→ 3→5→6.

c) The expected project length duration is = 17 weeks

d) Standard deviation of project length (σ2)=sum of the standard deviations of the activities on
the critical paths=1+4+4 =9

e) I) the probability of completing the project with in 4 weeks earlier than expected is given by
TS TE
P( Z D), where D

13 17
D 1.33 . Given that P(Z 1.33) 0.9082 . Therefore
3

P(Z 1.33) 0.5 (1.33)

0.5 0.4082
0.0918 9.18%

ii) The probability of completing the project not more than 4 weeks than the expected time
TS TE
is given by P( Z D), where D

21 17
D 1.33 . Given that P(Z 1.33) 0.9082 . Therefore
3

P(Z 1.33) 0.5 (1.33)

0.5 0.4082
0.9082 90.82%

TS 17
f) Value of Z for p=90% i.e. 1.28 , Therefore TS=1.28×3+17=20.84 weeks
3

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Example-06: Find the shortest path between every two nodes by Floyd’s algorithms?
8
5

2 4

3
4

6
1
5
3
15
3

Solution: Using Floyd’s algorithms, we have

Iteration-0, k=0
D0 S0
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

1 — 3 10 1 — 2 3 4 5

2 3 — 2 1 — 3 4 5

3 10 — 6 15 3 1 2 — 4 5

4 5 6 — 4 4 1 2 3 — 5

5 4 — 5 1 2 3 4 —

Iteration-1,k=1
D1 S1
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

1 — 3 10 1 — 2 3 4 5

2 3 — 13 5 2 1 — 1 4 5

3 10 15 — 6 15 3 1 1 — 4 5

4 5 6 — 4 4 1 2 3 — 5

5 4 — 5 1 2 3 4 —

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Iteration-2,k=2 D2 S2
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 9

1 — 3 10 1 — 2 3 2 4

2 3 — 13 5 2 1 — 1 4 5

3 10 15 — 6 15 3 1 1 — 4 5

4 5 6 — 4 4 2 2 3 — 5

5 4 — 5 1 2 3 4 —

Iteration-3,k=3 D3 S3
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

1 — 3 10 1 — 2 3 2 3

2 3 — 13 5 2 1 — 1 4 3

3 10 15 — 6 15 3 1 1 — 4 5

4 5 6 — 4 4 2 2 3 — 5

5 4 — 5 1 2 3 4 —

Iteration-4,k=4 D4 S4
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

1 — 3 10 1 — 2 3 2 4

2 3 — 13 5 2 1 — 1 4 4

3 10 15 — 6 15 3 1 1 — 4 4

4 5 6 — 4 4 2 2 3 — 5

5 4 — 5 4 4 4 4 —

Shortest distance is given by d15=12 units and path is

=1 5
=1 4 5
=1 2 4 5, Therefore required path S15 is 1 2 4 5.
.

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10

Therefore Maximum flow in the network is F=f1+f2+f3+f4+f5=20+10+10+10+10=60 units.

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11
Exercises
01. Distinguish between PERT and CPM. What is Critical path? WBUT-08

02. Construct a network for each of the activities and their precedence relationships are
given below:

Activities A B C D E F G H I J K
Predecessor - - A A I,J,K B,D B,D F A G,H F

02. Find the shortest routes between city 1 to city 2 by Dijkstra’s algorithm.

03. Find the maximum flow in the network

04. Draw a network diagram for the following project & find critical path and critical
activities and project duration. WBUT-08

Activity Predecessor Duration

(days)
A --- 6
B A 4
C B 7
D A 2
E D 4
F E 10
G --- 2

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H G 10
I J,H 6 12
J --- 13
K A 9
L C,K 3
M I,L 5

05. A project consists of 8 activities named A to H. Construct a network so as to satisfy the

scheduling requirements shown in the table below.

Activity Completion time immediate predecessor

(days) activities
A 3 -
B 6 A

C 7 A
D 5 A
E 13 B,C
F 8 C,D
G 11 D,F
H 6 G,E

Find the least time required to complete the whole project and identify the critical activities. How
is the project completion time affected if?

1. activity F is delayed by 3 days

2. activity E is delayed by 7 days
3. Activity G is finished 7 days early.

11. The Reliance Mobile Phone Company services six graphical areas. The satellite distances
(in miles) among the six areas in following figure. All needs to determine the most efficient
message routes that should be established between each two areas 9in the network.

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