NETWORK ANALYSIS

<b>Network analysis</b>
Introduction

Network analysis is the general name given to certain specific techniques which can be used for the planning, management and control of projects.

PERT was developed to aid the US Navy in the planning and control of its Polaris missile program . This was a project to build a strategic weapons system, namely the first submarine launched intercontinental ballistic missile, at the time of the Cold War between the USA and Russia. Military doctrine at that time emphasised 'MAD - mutually assured destruction', namely if the other side struck first then sufficient nuclear weapons would remain to obliterate their homeland. That way peace was preserved. By the late 1950s the USA believed (or more importantly believed that the Russians believed) that American land based missiles and nuclear bombers were vulnerable to a first strike. Hence there was a strategic emphasis on completing the Polaris project as quickly as possible, cost was not an issue. However no one had ever build a submarine launched intercontinental ballistic missile before, so dealing with uncertainty was a key issue. PERT has the ability to cope with uncertain activity completion times (e.g. for a particular activity the most likely completion time is 4 weeks but it could be any time between 3 weeks and 8 weeks).

CPM was developed in the 1950's as a result of a joint effort by the DuPont Company and Remington Rand Univac. As these were commercial companies cost was an issue, unlike the Polaris project mentioned above. In CPM the emphasis is on the trade-off between the cost of the project and its overall completion time (e.g. for certain activities it may be possible to decrease their completion times by spending more money - how does this affect the overall completion time of the project?)