PERT/CPM Network

• Is a flowchart diagram that depicts the sequence of activities needed to complete a project and the time or costs associated with each activity.
• With a PERT network, a manager must think through what has to be done, determine which events depend on one another, and identify potential trouble spots.
• Thus, PERT allows managers to monitor a project’s progress, identify possible bottlenecks, and shift resources as necessary to keep the project on schedule.
• To understand how to construct a PERT network, you need to know the following terms:

a) Events and End Points: represent the completion of major activities.

c) Activities: represent the time or resources required to progress from one event to another.

d) Slack time: the amount of time an individual activity can be delayed without delaying the whole project.

e) Critical path: longest or most time-consuming sequence of events and activities in a PERT network. Any delay in completing events on this path would delay the completion of the entire project.

Steps in PERT/CPM Network analysis

1. Identify every significant activity that must be achieved for a project to be completed.
2. Determine the order in which these events must be completed.
3. Diagram the flow of activities from start to finish, identifying each activity and its relationship to all other activities. This results in a flowchart diagram called a PERT network.
4. Compute a time estimate for completing each activity.
5. Using the network diagram that contains time estimates for each activity, determine a schedule for the start and finish dates of each activity and the entire project.