Advantage and disadvantage of the network approach

Some benefit drawbacks of the network approach to project planning are given below :

Advantage :

1.The network approach makes it easier for the project managers to build a team and create human network
for efficient handling of multitasked project.

2.The network approach binds the entire team together and motivates the human resources in timely
completion of the tasks in project.

3.The network approach takes into consideration the requirements well in advance to complete a project in
the most efficient way possible.

4.The network approach assist the project managers in planning schedules,monitoring task,and helps control
the project expenses.

5.Charting in a network approach makes it easier to evaluate parallel activities,handledelays and judge the
outcome of the task.

6.It enables the manager to minimize the project length by monitoring the critical path.

Disadvantage :

1.In a big projec, a network approach can become extremely complicated and difficult to fathom for the
new recruits to the project team.

2.If the project is so far too bulky and lengthy, the network approach requires software to monitor the plan.

3.Network appoach can become ineffective and difficult to manage if it is not well-defined and stable.

4.The allocation of resources cannot be properly monitored.

5.The Network approach takes longer to identity and to monitor the critical path when the project is of big
dimension.

6.At times,to design a network approach is time consuming. It is also difficult to estimate the activity
completion timein a multidimensional project.

Rules for network Construction

1.The length of the arrow bears no relationship to the time which the activity takes or resources which the
activity consumes.

2.The arrow in network identifies the logical conditions of dependency. The geometry of arrow diagram is of
no significance except that it should be aesthetically pleasing.

Numbering the events and activity identification

Network is a powerful tool for planning and controlling a project. Network analysis nowadays can be used in
scheduling the projects of almost every field . Rules for numbering events and identification of activities are
as follows:

a)All events must be numbered.

b)The same number cannot be used for more than one event . This is necessary in order to identify each
activity.

c)Events can be numbered in any other system but usually forward numbering system is more familiar. In this
method, first event in the network is number 1 (or zero) and the second 2 and so on, in such a way that the
event number at the tail of each activity arronetwork

ways smaller them the event number head of that activity arrow.This implies that the final event of the
network will have the large number and will be equal to the number of the nodes in the network.

Dummy Activities and its uses:

1. A dummy is similar to an activity but it does not consume any resources.

2. It is merely a method by which interdependence of activities or events can be clearly shown.

3. A dummy is represented by a dashed arrow.

4. Dmmy maintains the logic of the network diagram perfectly.

5.Dummy keeps the numbering system of the network unique

Dummies are used to serve two purposes:

a. Grammatical purpose.
b. Logical purpose.

a. Grammatical purpose: In a project, a situation may arise that two activities have the same beginning and
end points. Such situations leads to a lot of inconvenience as the identity of the activities are lot. This results
in errors during network computations. This problem can be solved by using a dummy, two activities cannot
have the same starting and end event.

b. Logical purpose: Dummies are also used to clearly represent the logic of the network, where an activity is
common to two sets of operations running parallel to each other. Hence for the activities having same name
or function which is against the network rules. This situation can be overcome by the use of dummies.

AON System of Network Representation

In the activity on the node System, activities are by the circles or nodes and arrows are used to show only the
dependency relationship between activity nodes.

In the network diagram shown below, for the problem we considered before, each node (circle) represents
an activity and is labelled with the activity number and the associated completion time (shown in brackets
after the activity number).

This network is an activity on node (AON) network.

In constructing the network we:

1.Draw a node for each activity

2.Add an arrow from (activity) node i to (activity) node j if activity i must be finished before activity j can start
(activity i precedes activity j). Note here that all arcs have arrows attached to them (indicating the direction
the project is flowing in).

Characteristic of the critical path times that makes them critical :

There are a number of characteristics of the critical path times that makes them critical. These include:-
1.Each activity is represented by one and only one narrow in the network

2.No two events can be identified by the same end events.

3.The flow of the diagram should be left to right.

4.Activities are represented by arrows and event are represented by circles.

5.Arrow should not cross each other.

6. Arrows should be kept straight and should not be curved or bent.

7.Dangling must be avoided in a network diagram.

8.The dummy activity should be introduced only if it extremely necessary.

9.All events should be numbered In ascending order.

10. No event number can be repeated.

11. No event can occur until every activity preceding it has been completed.

12.An activity succeeding an event cannot be started until that event has occurred.

13.The network lies only one starting point (event) and one ending point which is known as ending/terminal
event.

Program evaluation and review technique(PERT)

PERT is a method of analyzing the tasks involved in completing a given project, especially the time needed to
complete each task, and to identify the minimum time needed to complete the total project. It incorporates
uncertainty by making it possible to schedule a project while not knowing precisely the details and durations
of all the activities. It is more of an event-oriented technique rather than start- and completion-oriented, and
is used more in these projects where time is the major factor rather than cost. It is applied on very large-
scale, one-time, complex, non-routine infrastructure and on Research and Development projects.

PERT offers a management tool, which relies "on arrow and node diagrams of activities and events: arrows
represent the activities or work necessary to reach the events or nodes that indicate each completed phase
of the total project."

Steps in the PERT planning process :

1.Identify the specific activities and milestones.

3.Construct a network diagram.

4.Estimate the time required for each activity.

4.Determine the critical path.

5.Update the PERT chart as the project progresses.

The advantages of PERT:

1.It provides a graphical display of project activities that helps the users understand the relationships among
the activities.

2.It is the ideal technique for tactical level planning and operational level control of projects.

3.It is effective in planning single project activities in any type of industry.

4.It allows project managers to do 'what if' analysis on project activities.

Limitations of PERT:

1. In PERT, it is assumed that all the activities involved in the project are known in advance. In projects like
research and development (R and D), it is not possible to list out all the activities in advance.

2. The assumption that a project can be sub-divided into a set of predictable and independent, activities may
not hold true always.