The Full form of PERT is Program Evaluation Review Technique which is used to make strategy for project planning. By which we can analyse assignments in a manner and find a critical path method variety. It is a management tool which is used to schedule, coordinate and organize tasks of a project. This provides us with a visual representation of project planning. PERT represents all the data of a network as a graph. It is a management system that tracks total progresses and lacks of the project. It helps project managers take decisions for work delegation, budget and separate tasks in concerned projects.
To plan complex projects, PERT has following set of steps:
First, we have to make a list of all assignments and events which we have to complete.
Second, we have to fix the sequence of tasks which are required.
Third, we have to make a chart of all steps which are required to perform.
Fourth, we have to calculate the times for every task.
Next, decide the toughest path in which the project takes a long time to perform every task of the sequence.
Next, we have to track the progress and shortcomings in the project with the help of PERT.
PERT was created by the US Navy in 1950 to help the management of many contractors working on different projects. In previous days, PERT was used manually, but the electronic PERT system is very easy and fast to make the project chart. The principal significant flow in PERT is that the time required to complete every activity is very subjective. Sometimes we have to make wild guesses. When the project is started and running, recurring progress updates provide an enhanced timeline.
PERT is developed by the US Navy to manage the Polaris Submarine Missile Program. With this PERT system, managers can approximate the minimum time required to complete the project. This also helps in examining and failing the work. The work failing helps in the organization of a project. It helps us to understand the provinces between all the steps of the project. Nodes are used for events to understand the starting and ending of tasks. Sequence activities are represented by an arrow.
There are the four types of time defined for a task:
In Optimistic time, we calculate the shortest time taken by a task to perform.
In Pessimistic time, we calculate the amount of time taken by a task to perform in a difficult case.
In Expected time, we calculate the amount of time taken by a task to perform when there are no issues.
The most important approximation is how long it should take to complete a task.
To use PERT chart, we have to follow these steps:
Select the tasks which have to be completed, set them in a perfect order and calculate the approximate time of task completion.
Find an illustrative network in which nodes represent events and arrows represent activities.
Decide a critical route and any slack that may exist.
PERT helps management in discovering the biggest systematic staff allocation approach.
PERT is used by a foundation for all planning tasks.
PERT serves a foundation as a starting point for collecting analytical information for decision making.
PERT represents the report data in a structured way.
PERT can analyze the time networks.
PERT helps management to identify the most required tasks of the project.
We get a time estimate of completing the project.
It helps us to identify the things which can be done in downtime.
We can discover the starting and ending date by PERT.
PERT helps management to understand which tasks are the most important.
It provides a perfect diagram for showing a huge amount of data.
PERT is very costly and hard to maintain.
The biggest significant disadvantage of PERT is time estimation which is subjective.
Another big disadvantage of PERT, it is very hard to implement.
There might be unrealistic data present in the chart.
PERT takes extra time and staff to collect information.
Nodes (Used for events representation)
Arrows (Used for activities representation)
PERT gives us a visual representation of the sequence of events that must happen in the running of a project. Arrows are used to represent tasks. Nodes are used to represent events. In PERT events are shown by circles or rectangles which are called nodes. Though, It has advantages and disadvantages, we can use it for our convenience.
Create a diagram of the network. Make an estimate of how long each activity will take. Find the critical route. As the project progresses, update the PERT chart.
In PERT, there are three estimation times; Optimistic Time Estimate (TOPT), Most Likely Time Estimate (TLIKELY), and Pessimism Time Estimate (TPESS). In PERT, these three estimated times are determined for every action.
The following is a list of the main PERT assumptions: The durations of the activities are unrelated random variables. The critical paths are independent, meaning they do not share any activities.
A PERT chart is created by a project manager to estimate the amount of time required to complete each of a project's tasks. The project manager can estimate the minimum amount of time required to complete the project using this information.
PERT is a probabilistic model, which means it takes into account the uncertainties associated with estimating an activity's or job's duration. It utilizes three assessments of the action time - hopeful, cynical, and in all likelihood.
In project management, a statistical tool called the program evaluation and review technique (PERT) is used to analyze and represent the tasks required to complete a project.