Operations Planning with VERT

The Venture Evaluation and Review Technique (VERT) is a computerized, mathematically oriented network-based simulation technique designed to analyze risks existing in three parameters of most concern to managers in new projects or ventures—time, cost, and performance. As such, the VERT technique is more powerful than techniques such as GERT, which are basically time and cost oriented. VERT has been successfully utilized to assess the risks involved in new ventures and projects, in the estimation of future capital requirements, in control monitoring, and in the overall evaluation of ongoing projects, programs, and systems. It has been helpful to management in cases where there is a requirement to make decisions with incomplete or inadequate information about the alternatives. An example describing the application of VERT to an operational planning problem—the evaluation of electric power generating methods—is illustrated.