Scheduling Using Priority Lists and Critical Paths
INSTRUCTIONS
* The Project Table Tab
Start by clicking on the Project table tab. Each row on the table
represents a task. You can add or remove tasks by clicking on the Add task
or Remove task button.
For each task, you can input (and edit) the task name (it is recommended
that you use single letter names), the processing time (in the Task
duration column), and the list of tasks that immediately precede the task
(in the Comes after column enter the task names separated by commas). If
the Comes after field is left empty, the applet will automatically assume
that the task follows Start. To input data, first click on the cell (its
background turns white), then enter the data.
When finished entering the data, click on the Apply button to update and
store the information you entered. To start a new scheduling project,
click on the New project button.
* The Project Graph Tab
After entering the project information on the Project table, clicking on
the Project graph tab shows a digraph for the project. The applet is
programmed to display a reasonable looking digraph, but this is not always
possible. You can improve the looks of the digraph by changing the
placement of the tasks (first click on the Drag nodes button and then
click and drag the tasks to better positions). This change does not affect
the digraph, only the way it looks!
If you click on the Compute Critical Path button, the applet will display
the critical path for the project in red.
* The Project Schedule Tab
Clicking on the Project Schedule tab will show the project digraph and a
blank timeline for a schedule. (If the Compute critical path was selected,
the timeline will display the schedule produced by the critical path
algorithm). In this tab you can
(a) change the number of processors assigned to the project (click on the
# of processors to edit the number- clicking a little right of center
increases the number; clicking left of center decreases the number), and
(b) enter a priority list (enter the names of the tasks in order,
separated by commas).
After you have entered the tasks, processing times, and precedence
relations; chosen the number of processors and entered the priority list
for the tasks, click on the Schedule button. The timeline will show the
schedule for the project.
After the schedule is completed the state of the tasks at any particular
instance can be observed by clicking anywhere in the timeline area.
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