The Introduction and the Calculation of Virtual Expense Ratio in Decision Critical Path Method (DCPM)

Abstract

As the particularity of power engineering projects, in order to achieve great economic and social benefits as soon as possible, the owner often add reward or punishment factor on the power project construction schedule management. This paper improved the presentation of decision critical method (DCPM), using a simple arrow to present multi decision of a decision-making activity, similarly as PERT network. This paper introduce the concept of virtual expense ratio of different decisions, on the base of which combined the reward coefficient b and penalty coefficient a as well as the real project completion time T and the target completion time D. A new heuristic rule was proposed, not only takes the cost of different decisions but also considers the relations of real project completion time T and target completion time D. Thus, the new heuristic rule enjoys broader application than previous methods. The new calculation procedure is given, broad the application range of DCPM, and affords an effective new and practical method to help solving power project construction schedule management problem.