Exam 10: Project Scheduling: Lagging, Crashing, and Activity Networks

Mick has a project consisting of eight activities (listed in the table with durations and precedence requirements)to complete.He assigned his intern Guinness to sketch a network diagram in AOA and Guinness produced the sketch shown below.Discuss any issues with the apprentice's diagram. Activity Activity time Predecessar 6 8 5 A 9 A, B 12 11 , 6 ,

-Which of the activities in the diagram have slack?

What is the cost to finish this project (all activity durations are in weeks and costs in US dollars)as quickly as possible? Normal Minimum Normal Activity Predecessor Time Time Cost Crash Cost 12 10 1000 1500 B A 5 3 1200 1950 C A 9 7 1500 2100 D B, C 14 10 1800 2100 E B 4 3 1400 1875 F D 9 8 1000 1450 G E 7 5 700 1200 H F, G 11 8 2000 3000 I H 8 6 1100 1700

The heir to the throne was due 56 days from now and the first-time father had a serious construction project on his hands converting his man cave into a nursery.The seven activities,their normal and expedited times (in days)and costs appear in the table.What is the minimum cost to ensure that this project is completed in 56 days? Which activities should be reduced and by how many days? Normal Crash Normal Crash Activity time time Cost Cast Predecesar 5 500 1100 18 15 900 2300 12 9 2500 3000 9 7 500 650 15 12 3000 5000 12 10 4000 5000 , 20 15 3600 4800

-Use the Gantt chart and activity list to determine which resource has the greatest continual use. Activity Resources Activity Resources 3 1 1 5 4 3 2 1 2 2 4 3

AOA networks have an advantage over AON networks:

An AOA network:

Use the information in the table (all times are in days)to determine the lowest cost minimum completion time if the base cost for each activity finished in normal time is $1,000. Normal Minimum Crash Cost Activity Time Time ( \/ day) Predecessor 10 6 \ 70 -- 6 3 \ 40 -- 2 2 - 4 2 \ 60 6 4 \ 80 8 5 \ 90 ,

Finish to start lags are the same as additional activity slack.

What are the three principal methods for accelerating a project and under what circumstances might these methods yield little gain?

The critical path of this network is:

-Use the Gantt chart and activity list to determine which resource is used the most. Activity Resources Activity Resources 5 1 1 4 5 3 2 1 2 2 4 3

A complex project that is managed using a top-down,bottom-up approach to network diagrams means that:

AOA is a more useful technique than AON if the project is complex and has many significant milestones.

What is project crashing and what are three reasons why it might be important to do so?

Use the information in the table (all times are in days)to determine the lowest extra cost for an 18-day project if the base cost for each activity finished in normal time is $1,000. Normal Minimum Crash Cost Activity Time Time ( \/ day) Predecessor 10 6 \ 70 -- 6 3 \ 40 -- 2 2 - 4 2 \ 60 6 4 \ 80 8 5 \ 90 ,

The critical path may not contain a dummy activity.

The heir to the throne was due 60 days from now and the first-time father had a serious construction project on his hands converting his man cave into a nursery.The seven activities,their normal and expedited times (in days)and costs appear in the table.Just to be on the safe side,he decided to bring the project in at 53 days in case the delivery was a week early.Tell him what the least expensive 53-day project is;which activities should be reduced in duration,by how many days,and at the total cost,so he can roll up the sleeves on his "World's Greatest Dad" sweatshirt,and get to work. Normal Crash Normal Crash Activity time time Cost Cast Predecesar 5 500 1100 18 15 900 2300 12 9 2500 3000 9 7 500 650 15 12 3000 5000 12 10 4000 5000 , 20 15 3600 4800

In an actual project,one means of crashing critical path activities would be to perform at a lower level of quality.

For large projects,network diagrams are more useful if they are completely detailed.