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Network Analysis in Project Management

By BYJU'S Exam Prep

Updated on: September 25th, 2023

Project management is the proper management of the different activities of a project, and it also involves the scheduling and controlling of the project activities. Network analysis in project management helps to determine the project’s total duration and understand the different roles of the different activities. Network analysis in project management is carried out with the help of different methods, including PERT and CPM.

Network Analysis in Project Management PDF

Network analysis in project management is the foremost process of starting a project. A network is the combination of different activities of the project. These activities are so connected that it defines the whole project. Network analysis in project management is also used to determine the critical path and duration of the project. With the help of PERT and CPM techniques, these parameters can be found easily.

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What is Network Analysis in Project Management?

Network analysis in project management analyzes the different networks of activities. It is carried out to know the critical path and duration of the project. Determination of the critical path and critical activities is important because, with the help of critical activities, project controlling and rescheduling of the delayed activities can be possible.

There are many methods are available for network analysis in project management. The critical Path Method and Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT and CPM) are the most commonly used method for network analysis in project management. The CPM method is generally used for repetitive types of projects, and PERT is generally used for research-oriented projects.

Applications of Network Analysis

Network analysis has various applications in project management. With the help of network analysis of the activities, project planning, controlling, and scheduling can be carried out easily. Here a few applications of network analysis are listed below.

  • Network analysis helps the contractor understand the project activities and their interrelationships.
  • Network analysis visually represents the activity’s duration and prerequisite activities.
  • Network analysis helps to understand the project’s critical activities.
  • With the help of network analysis, project managers can control and reschedule the different activities of the project.

Network Analysis Techniques

There are many network analysis techniques available, including CPM and PERT. These network analysis techniques are the Gantt chart, Bar chart, etc. These techniques are discussed one by one.

Gantt Chart

The predecessor to network techniques, the Gantt Chart, was developed, during world war I, by Henry L Gantt, for production scheduling. Here an example of a Gantt chart is shown below.

Network

The Gantt chart was later modified to a bar chart, which was an important tool in the project and production schedule.

Bar Chart

The bar chart is a modification of the Gantt Chart. Here an example of the Bar chart is shown below.

Network

Milestone chart

The bar charts then developed into milestone charts and network techniques such as CPM and PERT. The bar chart didn’t give information about critical activity and interdependence among activities. A bar chart is activity-oriented, while a milestone chart is event-oriented.

Network

Network Construction

Network construction is the foremost step of the Network analysis with PERT and CPM. A network is the graphical representation of the project activities arranged in a logical sequence, depicting all the interrelationships among them. A network consists of activities and events. Network construction is the foremost step of network analysis. Here different terms of a network are explained below.

Activity

An activity is a physically identifiable part of a project which consumes both time and resources. An arrow in a network diagram represents activity. The head of an arrow represents the start of the activity, and the tail of the arrow represents its end. The activity description and its estimated completion time are written along the arrow. Activity in the network can be represented in several ways: (i) by numbers of its head and tail events (i.e., 10-20 etc.), and (ii) by a letter code (i.e., A, B etc.). All those activities, which must be completed before the start of the activity under consideration, are called their predecessor activities. All those activities, which must follow the activity under consideration, are called their successor activities.

An activity used to maintain the pre-defined precedence relationship only during the construction of the project network is called a dummy activity. A dotted arrow represents a dummy activity and does not consume time and resources.

Network

An unbroken chain of activities between any two events is called a path.

Event

AN event is a moment of time at which the start or end of the activity is completed in PERT and CPM. An event represents the accomplishment of some task. In a network diagram, the beginning and end of an activity are represented as events. Each event is represented as a node in a network diagram. An event does not consume any time or resources. Each network diagram starts with an initial event and ends at a terminal event.

Each node is represented by a circle and numbered using Fulkerson’s Rule. The following steps are involved in the numbering of the nodes.

  • The initial event, which has all outgoing arrows and no incoming arrow, is numbered 1.
  • Delete all the arrows from the node just numbered (i.e., 1). This step will create some more nodes (at least one) in the initial events. Number these events in ascending order (i.e., 2, 3 ­etc.).
  • Continue the process until the final or terminal node with all arrows coming in, with no arrow going out, is numbered.

As a recommendation, it must be noted that most of the projects are liable for modifications, and hence there should be scope for adding more events and numbering them without causing any inconsistency in the network. This is achieved by skipping the numbers (i.e., 10, 20, 30).

Importance of Network Analysis in Project Management

Network analysis with PERT and CPM techniques in project management is crucial for understanding the task’s critical duration, critical path, and supercritical and subcritical activities. Network analysis in project management is also carried out to minimize the project’s total cost. Total cost is minimized based on the process of engineering economy. Here a few importance of the network analysis is listed below.

  • With the help of network analysis, project duration can be calculated easily.
  • Network analysis helps understand the project duration and the different activities.
  • With the help of network analysis, controlling and scheduling the project can be done easily.
  • With the help of proper network analysis, complex networks can be understood easily.

Rules for Drawing a Network Diagram

As we know, drawing a network diagram is the foremost step of network analysis. Network analysis is required to determine the project’s critical duration and path. Here some rules for the drawing of a network diagram are given below.

Rule 1: Each activity is represented by one and only one arrow in the network.

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

Rule 3: Precedence relationships among all activities must always be maintained.

Rule 4: Dummy activities can only be used to maintain precedence relationships when required. Their use should be minimized in the network diagram.

Use of Dummy Activities

Rules

Rule 5: Looping among the activities must be avoided.

Rules

Rules for the Network Analysis in Project Management

Network analysis in project management is carried out based on some rules. These rules collect the parameters on which the definition of a network depends. These rules are explained below.

  • In a project network, each activity is defined as an arrow.
  • Before the start of any activity, its preceding activity must be completed.
  • In a project network, events are depicted with the node of an activity. The occurrence of an event does not take any time or resources.
  • The occurrence of activity takes time and resources.
  • A network should have only one starting and ending activity.
  • A loop in the project network should not be formed.
  • For the network analysis and finding the critical path in the network, calculate the duration of the activities along each path between the start end and the last end of the network.
  • Path for the maximum duration is considered the critical path of the network.

Network Analysis in Project Management Examples

Network analysis in project management is one of the most important topics of construction planning and management. The concept of the network analysis will be clear by solving examples. Here such an example is shown that strengthens your concept related to the network analysis.

Examples

In the above-mentioned example, the critical path will consider the A-B-E-F activity.

Other Important GATE Notes
Steel Zero Force Member In A Truss
Functions Of The Network Layer Transverse Loading
Geometric Design Of Highways Moment Area Method
Macaulay’s Method Impact Load
Impulse An Momentum Uniformly Varying Load
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