The Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and the Critical Path Method (CPM) were developed by management scientists to help organizations to plan, plan and control large projects, such as building a new hospital or launching a new product. I first became familiar with the utility of project planning in my Air Force career when we used PERT/CPM to plan activities associated with the construction of an airfield in Spain. Most recently, last semester, I worked with an MBA student to apply techniques for scheduling subcontractors for the construction of car wash facilities throughout the state. I even wanted to use PERT/CPM to plan our wedding activities, but when you're young, in love and/or on the run, you don't have time to analyze (just kidding - at least the analysis part) . When I talk about large projects, I mean an undertaking that involves a series of interrelated activities that take time to complete, require funds and resources, such as time and labor. Interdependence means that activities follow a given sequence or precedence relationship – some activities cannot start until others are completed. PERT is a planning technique specifically designed by the Navy in 1958 for projects with uncertain activity schedules. CPM was designed by Remington-Rand and DuPont in 1957 to address the time-cost trade-off: if the project manager wants to speed up a project so that it is completed faster than initially planned, there is a trade-off in terms of cost. Today, PERT/CPM is generally referred to as a single quantitative method with several analytical components. Moreover, today, the method applies to both small and large projects. Project planning can be broken down into twelve general steps. These ...... middle of document ...... do not begin until Activities C and E are completed. Step 4 of project planning involves constructing a graphical representation of the project, called an activity network. The network of activities of this project is illustrated in Figure 7.1.1.Figure 7.1.1.- -> B --- --- -> E --- --- -> G --- --- -> I --- --- -> J| 60 6 10 6 12| ^ ^| | |A ---- ---| -> C --- --- --- --- --- --- --- | |3 | 5 || || |- -> D --- --- -> F --- --- -> H --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -15 40 7