Validation and Interpretation about Precedence Diagram for Start to Finish Relationship by Graph Theory

Authors: Naoki Ohshima, Ken Kaminishi

Abstract:

Four types of dependencies, which are 'Finish-to-start', 'Finish-to-finish', 'Start-to-start' and 'Start-to-finish (S-F)' as logical relationship are modeled based on the definition by 'the predecessor activity is defined as an activity to come before a dependent activity in a schedule' in PMBOK. However, it is found a self-contradiction in the precedence diagram for S-F relationship by PMBOK. In this paper, author would like to validate logical relationship of S-F by Graph Theory and propose a new interpretation of the precedence diagram for S-F relationship.

Keywords: project time management, sequence activity, start-to-finish relationship, precedence diagram, PMBOK