Exam 9: Project Scheduling: Networks, Duration Estimation, and Critical Path

Float is always measured in exactly the same way as slack.

The amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the finish of the project is the:

Draw a network of any size that has at least one of each of the following features: merge activity, burst activity, hammock activity, ladder activity, critical path, serial activities, concurrent activities, critical path, and float. Mark these features on your network.

A sequence of activities defined by the project network logic is a(n):

What is the late start time for Activity B given the activity times and precedence requirements shown in the table?

An activity has an optimistic time estimate of 7 days, a most likely estimate of 12 days, and a pessimistic estimate of 20 days. What is the expected standard deviation of the activity?

A backward pass is performed when it is necessary to undo some work that has been performed in order to complete it properly.

Use the information in the table to determine the late finish time for Activity B.

A project has the precedence requirements and activity durations shown in the table. After he draws the network, the project manager decides that activities E and F can be represented by a hammock activity. What are the duration and the early start time associated with this hammock activity?

In assigning a value for the most pessimistic (b) duration, the project manager should estimate the duration of the activity to have a 99% likelihood that it will take b or less amount of time.

Project Test Bank is composed of activities we will refer to as A, B, C, and D for convenience (and lack of creativity). Durations and precedence requirements are shown in the table. Each of these activities can be conveniently laddered into two sub-activities of equal duration. The first half of each activity serves as the predecessor to its second half and the first half of the original following activity. What is the expected completion time of the laddered project?

What is the slack time for Activity C given the activity times and precedence requirements shown in the table?

__________ activities have two or more immediate successors.

Use the information in the table to determine the early finish time for Activity D.

Hammock activities break a task into greater levels of detail so that each task is represented as two or more subtasks that each have their own duration and precedence requirements.

There's an old saying, "The job is not finished until the paperwork is done." From an activity network standpoint, this does not necessarily mean that the paperwork can't begin until the last non-paperwork activity is completed. It might be possible to work on some paperwork as early activities are completed. In order to depict this in an activity network:

The longest route through the network is the __________.

Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the slack time for activity D.

What is the late start time for Activity E given the activity times and precedence requirements shown in the table?

What is laddering and what advantages can be gained from its use in project management?