D1: Chapter 8, Critical Path Analysis

This chapter is concerned with managing a project – whether that is Ex 8A Precedence tables/activity networks
planning an event, building a house, or overseeing the production of a Ex 8B Dummy activities
car in a factory.
Ex 8C Early/late event times

We look at all the component pieces that make up that project – for Ex 8D Critical activities
example, putting the engine together, spray painting the exterior of Ex 8E Floats
the car, to even installing the dashboard controls and sound system. Ex 8F Gantt charts (1)

Logically, some of these activities can only take place once others have Ex 8G Gantt charts (2)
taken place – i.e. they depend on the completion of previous Exam Questions AS
activities. Similarly, some activities take priority, or precedence, over Ex 8H Resource histograms
other ones – these must be completed first before others can be.
Ex 8I Scheduling diagrams

Hence, a table which describes this order is called a dependence or Exam Questions A2
precedence table.

e.g. Immediately
Activity
preceding activities
This precedence table represents the manufacturing of a sofa with
the following component activities:
A -
A: build wooden frame
B - B: cut out fabric for cushions
C B C: stitch and fill cushions
D A D: attach springs to frame
E: cover frame
E D
F: complete assembly
F C, E
G: inspect
G F H: wrap
H G
Precedence Tables
Given that activity E can only be completed once all other activities have been
completed, complete the below precedence table.
Immediately
Activity
preceding activities
A -
B A
C B
D B
E

Given that activity G can only be completed once all other activities have been
completed, complete the below precedence table.

Immediately
Activity
preceding activities
A -
B -
C A
D A
E B
F C, E
G

Shortcut: include the activities which are not yet written in the column
Activity Networks
There are two types of activity network, but we will only be studying the ‘activity on arc’ type.

• Arcs/edges represent activities, labelled with activity’s letter

• Must be straight lines
• Include arrows to define the direction
• Nodes/vertices represent events (i.e. the completion of an activity), numbered
• First node is 0, called source node
• Last node is called sink node
• Each time a node is added, it is numbered.
Where is the sink? Where is the source?

Ignore the dotted lines and bracketed

numbers, for now!

D1 June 2017
Draw an activity network for this precedence table. I see these a bit like solving a puzzle…

Activity Depends on Tips:

• Always use a pencil and have a rubber at hand
A - • Only draw a node and number it when
needing to add an activity on
B - • Be prepared to swap edges around
• Only straight lines allowed
C A
D A
E B
F C, E
G D, F
Draw an activity network for this precedence table. Tips:
• Always use a pencil and have a rubber at hand
• Only draw a node and number it when
Activity Depends on needing to add an activity on
A - • Be prepared to swap edges around
• Only straight lines allowed
B A
C A
D B
E C
F E
G C
H D, F
I G
J G
K I
L J

Ex 8A
Dummy activities
Let’s consider an earlier example and try to draw an activity network:
Activity Depends on
A -
B A
C B
D B
E C, D

To counter this, we introduce a dummy activity. It has no time or cost, and its only use is to show
dependencies between activities. It is shown with a dotted line. It might be tempting to use two
(curved) edges between nodes 2 and 3, but every activity must be uniquely represented in terms of its
events, meaning there can be at most one activity between events
i.e. only one edge between vertices
Draw an activity network for this precedence table. Tips:
• Always use a pencil and have a rubber at hand
Use exactly two dummies. • Only draw a node and number it when
needing to add an activity on
• Be prepared to swap edges around
Activity Depends on • Only straight lines allowed

A -
B A
C A
D A
E B
F B, C
G D, F
H D
I G, H
Your Turn
Draw an activity network for this precedence table.
Use exactly two dummies.
Explain why each of the two dummies is necessary.

Activity Depends on
A -
B -
C A
D B
E B, C
F B, C

Ex 8B
Early and late event times
We can add weights to the edges to represent the duration of each activity.
Dummies have 0 duration.
D1 June 2017

The early event time is the earliest time of arrival at the event (i.e. the earliest time it can start)

The late event time is the latest time you can leave the event (i.e. the latest time it must finish by,
without delaying the overall project)
Early event time

A forward pass starts from the source, working towards the sink.
This calculates the early event times. Late event time

A backward pass starts from the sink, working towards the source.
This calculates the late event times.
Calculate the early and late times at each vertex.
The source node always has 0
for its early and late times.

The sink node always has the

same early and late times.

Tips: If there are a few times at an event, the largest of these values represents when all are completed

Select the largest early times for the forward pass

Select the smallest late times for the backward pass
If there are a few times at an event, the smallest of these values gives enough time for all subsequent activities to complete
 D1 June 2011

Your Turn
Calculate the early and late times at each vertex.

Ex 8C
Critical activities
An activity is critical if any increase in its duration increases the overall project’s duration.

i.e. it is critical that this activity remains on time, otherwise we delay the whole project

A critical path is one from source to sink, following only critical activities.
It is the longest path in the network.

At each vertex on a critical path, early time = late time.

Identify any critical paths and critical

activities in this activity network.

13 18
5 13 18
6
0 5 18 24
0 8 22 24

17
3 9 13
19
3 9 15
D1 June 2017
 Be warned – not all activities connecting critical events are necessarily critical

D1 June 2011

Identify any critical paths and critical activities in this activity network.

Ex 8D
Floats
The float of an activity describes how much it could be delayed by without delaying the
overall project. Critical activities, therefore, have a float of .

The float can be thought of as the spare time that there is for an activity.

Suppose an activity has an earliest start time of 4, and a latest finish time of 11. This means
there is a space of 7 for the activity to be completed within without delaying the project.
If the activity has a duration of 5, this means there is a float of 2
i.e. there is a spare duration of 2

Latest finish time – earliest start time – duration = float

Time available to complete activity

e.g.

It’ll be even clearer when we start drawing Gantt charts!

Example
Determine the total float of each activity in this network.

Activity Float
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
Your Turn
Determine the total float of each activity in this network.

Activity Float
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
D1 June 2011 H
I
J
K
L

Ex 8E
Drawing Gantt charts
A Gantt chart (sometimes called a cascade chart) provides a graphical representation of the start and
finish times for a project and is a helpful visualisation tool. They are very easy to read!

The critical activities are shown as rectangles along the top – unsurprisingly there are no gaps for the
critical activities.

Float is represented by a dotted line – showing how much the activity could move.

Critical activities:

Notice how floats are easily identifiable now

Interpreting Gantt charts
The Gantt chart you have just drawn represents a project that must be completed in 24
days.
a) Determine the activities that must be happening half-way through the 19th day.
b) Write down any other activities that may be happening at this time.
c) An additional activity, P, is now included, and is immediately preceded only by D. No
activity is dependent on the completion of P. Can the project still be completed on time if
the duration of P is 16 days?
d) If one worker can only work on one activity at a time, what is the lower bound for the
number of workers required to complete this project?

total duration of activities

Lower bound for number of workers =
critical project time
Your Turn
D1 June 2011

a) Determine the activities that must be happening

half-way through the 13th day.
b) Activities C and G have become more complex
and now take an additional day each. If one worker
is required per activity, explain why it is not
possible to complete this project with just 3
workers in the minimum time.

Ex 8F/G
Ex8I Q1a-c & Mixed Exercise Q4a-e cover lower bound of workers
Exam Questions – AS AS 2021
AS 2022
Resource Histograms (A2 only)
Next, we consider how many workers are required to complete the project in the minimum
time.

• No worker can do more than one job at a time

• Once a worker/workers have started an activity, they must complete it
• Once an activity is finished, they are immediately available to start another activity

A resource histogram shows how many workers are active at a particular time – easier to
read than a Gantt chart.

Resource levelling:
• Adjusting start and finish times can minimise the number of workers required
• If we don’t have enough workers to meet the minimum time, we can still try to reduce
the number of workers and to complete the project as quickly as possible.
Example
Here is the Gantt chart from the previous example. The number
of workers required for each activity is shown in the table. Draw
a resource histogram to show the number of workers required
each day when activity begins at its earliest time.
Adjust the start time of an activity to show how the project can
be completed with just 5 workers.

Number of
Activity
workers
A 1
B 2
C 1
D 2
E 1
F 1
G 1
H 1
I 1
J 2
K 1
L 1
Drawing from an activity network
14
𝐶(8) a) For the following activity network and workers table,
6 17 𝐷(4) draw a resource histogram to show the number of
workers required on each day, given that the project
6 manager asks for each activity to start at the earliest
𝐴(6) 21
possible time. State the total number of workers required
𝐸(7) 𝐻(8) for this situation.
21
0 13
b) Due to budget cuts, only four workers are available for
0 𝐹(9) 13 this project. Use resource levelling to show how the
project can be completed with just four workers, stating
the time required to complete the project in this case.
𝐵(3) 3
4 11
𝐺(8)
13

Activity Workers

A 1
B 2
C 2
D 1
E 1
F 1
G 2
H 1
Your Turn
One worker is required for every activity. Draw a
resource histogram to show the number of
workers required each day when activity begins at
its earliest time.
Adjust the start time of activities to show how the
project can be completed with just 3 workers.

Ex 8H
Scheduling diagrams
Scheduling is the process of assigning workers to activities. The diagrams look similar to Gantt charts,
but this time each row of activities represents those to be completed by a worker.

When scheduling you should:

- always use the first available worker
- assign the activity with the smaller value for its late finish time to a worker (if there is a choice) – i.e.
assign the one that must be completed first out of the choice
Visually, this will be the activity whose bar ends earliest (including the float section)

Schedule the activities to be

completed in the critical time by
the minimum number of workers.
Scheduling from an activity network
When the number of available workers is lower than the minimum number of workers required
(calculated from the lower bound), we know that the project will overrun.

Constructing a scheduling diagram in this situation is thus easier from an activity network rather than a
Gantt chart, as the activity network tells us about dependencies, whereas a Gantt chart does not.

The diagram shows an activity network representing a

project with a minimum time of 31 days.
Use a scheduling diagram to find the new completion
time for the project given that only two workers are
available.

Ex 8I
Exam Question – A2 A2 2021