PERT and CPM : SHORT NOTES - ADVANTAGES - DISADVANTAGES- DIFFERENCE

PERT & CPM - SHORT NOTES

ADVANTAGES - DISADVANTAGES- DIFFERENCE

PERT

PERT is acronym for Programme evaluation and Review Technique. PERT is a Statistical tool used in Project Management. Which was designed to analyze and represent the Tasks Involved in completing a given project .

In this map, a node represents each event. The activities are represented as arrows and they are drawn from one event to another, based on the sequence.

PERT was developed for the U.S. Navy special Project office in 1957 to support the U.S. Navy's Polaris nuclear submarine project. An early example was it was used for the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble which applied PERT from 1965 until the opening of the 1968 Games.

It is more of an event-oriented technique rather than start- and completion-oriented, and is used more in those 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.
PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) is one of the successful and proven methods among the many other techniques, such as, CPM, Function Point Counting, Top-Down Estimating, WAVE, etc

There are Three Estimation Times Involved In PERT.

Optimistic Time Estimate (TOPT),
Most Likely Time Estimate (TLIKELY)
Pessimistic Time Estimate (TPESS).

The best thing about PERT is its ability to integrate the uncertainty in project times estimations into its methodology.

Advantages of PERT

Planning for Large Project : It is used in scheduling large project by the project manager
Visibility of Critical Path : It is used to show the critical path in a clear way. The critical path those paths were activities cannot be paused under any conditions.
Analysis of Activity : This will provide the management with the progress report and the completion of the project including the budget.
Coordination Ability:This helps in improving the communication within different departments of the company.
The What-if Analysis :This analysis benefits the company to recognize the risk linked with any projects.

Disadvantages of PERT

Time Focused Method : PERT is a time-bound method, so finishing project or activities on time is of high importance. If it does not happen than a problem can arise
Subjective Analysis: Here, the project activities are recognized according to the available data. However, it is difficult in PEERT projects as it is applicable for the only new project are which is not repetitive in nature, therefore, the collection of information to be subjective in nature.
Prediction Inaccuracy: PERT does not have any past records for a framework of a project, so prediction comes into play. The project will be ruined if the prediction is not accurate.
Expensive : Too expensive in terms of time consumed, research, prediction, and resources utilized.

CPM

CPM is acronym of Critical Path Method. CPM is an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities.
CPM is a Sequence of Activity between a Project’s start and finish that takes the longest time to complete.
CPM is based on Mathematical Calculation and it is used for scheduling Project activities.
This method was first introduced in 1950s as a joint venture between James E. Kelley Jr. of Remington Rand Corporation and Morgan R. Walker of DuPont Corporation.

In the critical path method, the critical activities of a program or a project are identified. These are the activities that have a direct impact on the completion date of the projects.

Steps In CPM

There are Six Steps In Critical Path method.

Step 1 - Specify Each Activity

Step 2 - Activity Sequence establishment

Step 3 - Draw the Network Diagram.

Step 4 - Estimate Activity Completion Time

Step 5 - Identify the Critical Path

Step 6 - Update the Critical Path to show the Progress.

Critical path identification is required for any project-planning phase. A critical path diagram should be constantly updated with actual information when the project progresses in order to refine the activity length/project duration predictions

Advantages of CPM