» Pert Chart/Diagram - PERT/CPM http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pert_Chart.

html

Project
Pert Diagram and CPM
Management
Project
Management
Pert History
Articles
Project When working on projects involving valuable
Management resources, every manager worth their salt tries to
Software
PERT Estimation
optimally utilize those resources to the best extent
Gantt Charts possible, while, at the same time, striving to
Root Cause complete the project on schedule. Thinkers and
Analysis innovators throughout the world have been putting
Fishbone
Diagram
in a lot of effort to come out with tools which would
Pareto make their work simpler and enjoyable, instead of
Efficiency the constant rushing against deadlines and
Pareto Optimum inefficient utilization of resources that one finds
Parkinson's Law
PERT Diagram
them going through.
Project Related Articles
Management The PERT chart is one such tool. Developed by the
Newsletter U.S. Navy in the late 1950s, PERT is an acronym for PERT Estimation
Program Evaluation and Review Technique, Gantt Charting
Management
Business sometimes mistakenly called Project Evaluation
Management Review Technique. There were thousands of
Articles contractors and agencies who the project managers had to handle for the
The Pareto
development of the Polaris Missile. Projects of such mammoth sizes had no
Principle
Pareto Charts precedent in the history of man. There was no prior project management
The Halo Effect experience available to the managers to handle them. Ingenuity, coupled
with determination to succeed against such odds gave rise to a clutch of
Micromanagement
management tools - all using the humble paper and pencil. At this time, the
Zeigarnik Effect
The Red Queen PERT chart was created.
Hypothesis
Law of Proximity
Resources
Leadership
Leadership
Articles
Leadership
Theory
Charting Basics
Fiedler's
Contingency A PERT Chart is a visual tool that project management uses to schedule,
Theory organize, and coordinate activities of their project. In every project, a list of
Contingency
Leadership tasks is broken down (cf: Work Breakdown Structure), to complete in a
Theory definite sequence, which define the project. Resources required to complete
Path Goal each task - in terms of money, material, and manpower - are listed.
Leadership
The Peter Tasks are then sequenced one after another along a timeline. Tasks which
Principle
Pygmalion Effect can be done simultaneously, without having to depend on one another for
Rosenthal Effect completion, are noted. Milestones are penned down, which have to be
Self Fulfilling reached while within the project. Creating a PERT chart then involves
Prophecy thinking through the project flow.
Normative
Decision Making
Theory The project manager creates circles or rectangles to represent events - or
milestones - in the project. These are called Nodes of the PERT chart.
Work Motivation Activities which must occur in order to reach a milestone are represented by
Work Motivation
Articles
arrows, and these are known as vectors in PERT terminology. Nodes are
Alderfer's ERG linked by the Vectors, and the direction of the Vectors indicates the sequence
Theory of activities. Together, the Nodes and the Vectors, along with the information
The Hawthorne that they carry, form the Chart or the Network Diagram.

1 of 4 03-09-2010 15:28
» Pert Chart/Diagram - PERT/CPM http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pert_Chart.html

Effect
Maslow's Needs The first activity, or set of activities originates the Initiation Node. When
Heirarchy
Theory X and
multiple activities begin in parallel, the vectors are shown as emanating from
Theory Y the Node, outward. On each Vector is noted the following information:
Prisoner's
Dilemma Name of the activity that the Vector represents; or some similar
Herzberg identifier
Motivational
Theory
Expected duration of the activity (in terms of days, weeks, months)
Learned Number of people assigned to the activity
Helplessness Initials of the person resonsible for the activity.
Biography Every activity ultimately results in some event or milestone. Correspondingly,
Vilfredo Pareto
every Vector ultimately terminates in some Node. The progression of cause-
and-effect; that is, of activities as Vectors ending in events as Nodes
continues; until we have a complete chart, wherein all the final activities
converge at the completion Node.

There would be some Vectors that do not require any resources. They start
from one Node and terminate into another, in order not to break the flow of
the network, and to ensure that the entire diagram has just one Node - the
completion Node - which has no Node leaving it. These are called Dummy
Vectors. (Otherwise there would be "hanging" nodes - events that seemingly
have got nothing to do with the project completion!)

Thus, a PERT chart affords the project management a bird's-eye-view of the

entire project. Along with an associated Gantt chart, they are able to gauge
where they stand in terms of the project being completed within the
estimated time.

Hidden Details
It is not unusual conduct periodic reviews during a project, or after every
predefined set of milestones are reached. These review points may be given
their place of honor in the PERT chart, by representing them with a Node, and
having all preceding milestone nodes connect to them with the help of
dummy Vectors. Progress Reviews may take anywhere between 1 day to 2
weeks or even longer. A prudent project manager has to build in this time
consciously in their plan.

Also, frequently, mundane tasks such as documentation, project report

writing, and report reproduction are taken for granted. Managers diligent
about the slightest schedule slippage must give these activities their deserved
place in the PERT chart. This also helps in underlining the importance of such
tasks to people who are supposed to carry them out.

Critical Path Management (CPM)

One of the best advantages of creating a PERT chart during project planning
is the insight it provides on the Critical Path. In our network diagram above,
a critical path is the longest path traversed from the starting Node to the
ending Node, in terms of the total of the calendar time taken to achieve each
intermediate Node. All activities on this Critical Path must be completed on
schedule for the project to finish on time. Seen in this light, each activity in
the Critical Path is a critical activity, to be given the utmost attention.
Resources from tasks which are not critical can be reallocated to assist
Critical Path elements should issues arise, or inevitably unforeseen conditions
occur. The process of managing the critical path is is referred to as Critical
Path Management, or CPM.

On the other hand, an activity outside of the critical path "can" be delayed
without the project getting delayed - for a certain amount of time. PERT

2 of 4 03-09-2010 15:28
» Pert Chart/Diagram - PERT/CPM http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pert_Chart.html

experts call this the Slack Time for that particular activity.

Sometimes, the Critical Path is not immediately obvious when viewing the
Chart cursorily. In such situations, we can determine the following four
parameters associated with each activity:

TES (Task Early Start) - the earliest start time of that activity. Working
forward through the network (from start to finish), and keeping in mind
the predecessor activities, the earliest time at which an activity can
start.
TEF (Task Early Finish) - the earliest finishing time of the activity.
Usually, this is arrived at keeping in mind optimistic conditions.
TLS (Task Late Start) - this is the latest time that the activity in
question can begin. This value is arrived at by working backward
through the network (from finish to the start), and keeping in mind the
deadline for the project.
TLF (Task Late Finish) - this is the latest time that the activity can end.
Again, optimistic conditions are borne in mind while calculating this
value.

Slack for each activity is then computed by subtracting TEF from TLF. The
slack thus calculated may be noted on each Vector in the network diagram.
The critical path shall then be a path that traverses the diagram across those
Vectors where slack is Zero.

Project Progress
After the project plan is created, a thorough PERT chart is in place, customer
approval obtained, and all resources have been allocated and scheduled, the
project commences. As the project progresses, actual results start trickling in.
These results could be activity progression on schedule, behind schedule, or
ahead of schedule. When there is deviation from the estimated times, root
cause analysis is performed, and appropriate corrections need to be carried
out in the PERT chart.

Similarly, as the project unfolds with the progression of time, activities that
were originally thought of as outside the Critical Path might suddenly
threaten to upset the completion date of the total project. On the other hand,
time estimates that were presumed to be quite intelligent guesstimates -
based on expertise, experience, and what have you - seem to appear hollow.
An ever-alert manager keeps themselves on their toes, learning every day of
the project, and applying this knowledge about the men, material and the
ground-realities involved to further fine-tune the future activities down the
network diagram.

Conclusion
Over time, the original PERT chart notation has been modified so that
activities are denoted as Nodes rather than arrows. The manager may decide
to use any of these alternatives, which best suit their particular situation.

It is very easy for a project manager to get stuck in one single task or
activity, or get bogged down with some particular event. There is always the
risk of losing sight of the overall picture. To prevent this, one must
continually consider the Critical Path and PERT chart.

© Copyright 1998-2009 Envision Software, Incorporated Tampa, Florida

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License .
Questions? Comments? Send them to the Webmaster
Last Update: April 10, 2009 17:21

3 of 4 03-09-2010 15:28
» Pert Chart/Diagram - PERT/CPM http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pert_Chart.html

4 of 4 03-09-2010 15:28