Those who have trouble with mapping the project's tasks or tracking task dependencies should start using a PERT Chart to organize these aspects of your project.

Also known as a PERT diagram, a PERT chart is a project management tool used to organize, schedule, and map out tasks within your project. 

This diagram will require just a few steps to get you from the project start to the end date. In this guide, you will learn how a PERT chart works, its benefits, and application. We’ll also provide you with template examples to ease your work.

The acronym "PERT" stands for "Program Evaluation Review Technique." It illustrates a project as a network diagram and visualizes the sequential and logical relationship between all the project tasks. 

Project managers usually use PERT charts to measure the minimum time required to complete the entire project, assess project risk, and analyze task connections. A PERT chart is most useful when implemented over large-scale projects, where time is a major factor. It makes it easy to organize and visualize complex projects as it illustrates the dependencies between each project step.

To correctly make a PERT chart, five steps should be followed, which we will see below.

Identify Project Tasks

The first step in making a strong and effective PERT chart is identifying and collecting all the necessary project information. You can start this project planning stage in the same way as typically, a project begins with its initial project management process. 

This would include setting up a business case, pairing it with a communication plan, and having an initial kickoff meeting. Early planning will ensure you are prepared to determine dependencies and connect each task during the next phases.

Determine Task Dependencies

These task dependencies are milestones that rely on another task to be finished before it can start. Sometimes this might be referred to as logical relationships, often used in a project management chart as a WBS (work breakdown structure).

You will need to plan project duration and timelines ahead of time if you are dealing with a complex project. Creating dependencies will help you track work, ensure tasks are completed, and establish clear communication.

In a PERT chart, dependencies are illustrated by connecting and numbering tasks. It helps show a high level of visualization of tasks and the work required to complete them.

Connect Tasks

Once those task dependencies are written down, you can start properly making your PERT chart connecting project tasks to one another. These connections will consist of arrows (which will represent tasks) and nodes (events or milestones).

This layout will provide a simple and understandable project structure for project stakeholders. 

Estimate Time Frame

You can calculate your overall project time frame using the CPM (Critical Path Method) and the PERT formula. 

Your goal is to identify the longest path that will take the most time to finish to calculate the shortest overall project duration. These time estimates can be estimated based on the following:

• Pessimistic Time: It is the maximum time required to complete a task.
• Optimistic Time: It is the minimum time required to complete a task.
• Most Likely Time: It is the best estimate of how much time it will likely take to complete a task.

Once you have these numbers, you can use the PERT formula to estimate a task's expected duration and completion time, using: [Optimistic T. + (4 x Most Likely T.) + Pessimistic T.] / 6. You can measure it by minutes, hours, days, weeks, etc.

When you are done calculating the expected time per task, you should add each estimate of your critical path together and get an average project timeline. 

Manage Progress

The final step of creating a PERT chart is managing task progress to completion. It can be done by mitigating issues and closing dependencies until all tasks are finished. 

Update your PERT chart throughout the project as changes may occur. And once all the tasks within the project are completed, you can keep and archive materials in a shared space to use them as a reference to later projects if needed.

How may PERT charts look? Since all diagrams could differ, depending on their complexity and the time frame given, your PERT chart would look different, too.

Start by drawing your numbered nodes. These are parent tasks of your project and, when they are completed, will make up the project at hand. As a piece of advice, 10 tasks is a good number to start with for your PERT chart. 

Once you have your nodes drawn, it is time to connect them. The arrows that will connect each node represent task dependencies. Each of these tasks is what needs to be done before the events can be completed. Your PERT chart must have a clear beginning and end. Although, the middle part of the diagram can be more complex.

Let’s clarify the terminology that people will use (and you should, too) for their PERT charts:

• Nodes: They represent project events. These are large components that will make up your project. 
• Tasks: things required to be done for your nodes to be completed and implemented. 
• Dependencies: The arrows connecting each task. One cannot be completed without the other. 
• Dependencies Without Resources: While they are connected to another task, they don't have tangible tasks that need to be completed. They can be correlated, but you can start without finishing the previous one.

While both are visual tools for project management, there are some key differences between PERT charts and Gantt charts. 

Starting with our main topic, PERT charts are used before a project begins. This allows project managers to plan and define the duration of each task, and they don't have to show the actual dates of the project. Also, PERT charts better show if specific tasks require to be completed in order or if they can be done simultaneously.

PERT charts are needed when: 

• You need to show the interdependencies of certain tasks.
• To anticipate the amount of time that would take to finish a project.
• To define the critical path to meet your deadlines.
• To plan out a more complex or large project.

Meanwhile, Gantt charts will break down projects into smaller tasks and highlight scheduling constraints. Project managers use Gantt charts while the project is happening. It allows them to schedule tasks by date and check how much work has been done. Every activity on Gantt charts is represented with bars that stretch from the start date to the end date of a specific activity. 

Gantt charts are used when:

• You have to anticipate the time frame to complete each task.
• You need to clearly communicate task responsibility.
• You want to increase transparency on the project’s progress.

Both Gantt charts and PERT charts simplify the project management process, increasing efficiencies and allowing you to see the big picture. Consider using both strategically to better organize your project.

Now is the time to make your own PERT chart. There are several steps to follow, but all of them are very simple, even more considering that we are going to use Microsoft Excel as our selected program.

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Let's review each step in the making of your PERT chart in Excel:

• Open the Excel application and click on the “Insert” tab on the command ribbon.
• Click on "Shapes," and a drop-down menu will appear.
• Choose your desired format on the "Flowchart" section of the menu.
• Click on the location where you want to place your diagram inside the spreadsheet.
• Then, select “Text Box” in the command ribbon and select your flowchart.
• Type the text detailing project tasks.
• Repeat these steps to create your diagram's flowcharts (or nodes).
• Once you are done and have added your desired amount of nodes, you can connect them using directional arrows.
• Once more, click on “Shapes” inside the “Insert” menu.
• Choose the connector you want to use from the “Lines” section.
• This will generate gray dots on your diagram. You can select the gray dot you want to connect to a node.
• Drag the other end of your gray dotted line of another node in the diagram to connect them.
• Repeat these last four steps until every node is connected.
• Once they are all connected, you have completed and done your PERT chart.