Project Management, 2e (Pinto)

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

9.1 True/False

1) Preceding activities are those that must occur before others can be done.
Answer: TRUE

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

3) A merge activity has two or more immediate predecessors.

Answer: TRUE

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

Answer: TRUE

5) You must know the mean of an activity in order to determine its standard deviation.
Answer: FALSE

6) 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.
Answer: TRUE

7) The late start time should be calculated using a forward pass through the network.
Answer: FALSE

8) Negative float exists when a project's critical path has been completed more quickly
than anticipated.
Answer: TRUE

9) Laddering is a technique that allows the project manager to redraw the network to
more closely sequence project subtasks to make the overall network sequence more
efficient.
Answer: TRUE

10) 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.
Answer: FALSE
9.2 Fill in the Blank

1) __________ is the identification of the project objectives and the ordered activity
necessary to complete the project.
Answer: Project planning

2) The late finish times are determined by taking a(n) __________ through the network.
Answer: backward pass

3) Activities that can be worked on simultaneously are __________ activities.

Answer: concurrent

4) _________ activities have two or more immediate predecessors.

Answer: Merge

5) __________ activities have two or more immediate successors.

Answer: Burst

6) Because an activity's pessimistic estimate may represent a much greater deviation

from the most likely time than its optimistic estimate, the __________ better represents
the distribution of possible alternative durations.
Answer: beta distribution

7) The longest route through the network is the __________.

Answer: critical path

8) There is no slack on the project __________.

Answer: critical path

9) Thanks to excessive dilly dallying, the subcontractor grossly exceeded the slack on
his portion of the project, resulting in __________.
Answer: negative float

10) __________ activities can be used as summaries for some subsets of the activities
identified
in the overall project network.
Answer: Hammock
9.3 Multiple Choice

1) The term ordered activity means:

A) tasks must either precede or follow other tasks in project planning and management.
B) tasks cannot be performed unless the project manager issues a specific command to
perform
the work.
C) prior project planning removes the need for any rush so that tasks can be performed
in a
methodical fashion.
D) tasks are not performed unless the customer issues a specific request to perform the
work.
Answer: A

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

A) event.
B) path.
C) node.
D) route.
Answer: B

3) One of the defining points of a network, a junction point joined to some or all of the
others by
dependency lines, is called a(n):
A) event.
B) path.
C) node.
D) burst.
Answer: C

4) These can be located by doing a backward pass through a network.

A) critical paths
B) merge activities
C) successors
D) burst activities
Answer: D

5) An activity with two or more immediate predecessors is a(n):

A) merge activity.
B) burst activity.
C) float activity.
D) event.
Answer: A
6) The amount of time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying
the finish of the project is the:
A) delay.
B) float.
C) late start.
D) late finish.
Answer: B

7) The least amount of float is found:

A) in a resource-limited schedule.
B) after a burst activity.
C) on the critical path.
D) after a merge activity.
Answer: C

8) Prior to creating a network, it is important to:

A) identify all loops through activities.
B) identify the party responsible for each activity.
C) calculate the float for each activity.
D) understand the activity precedence.
Answer: D

9) Serial activities are those that:

A) flow from one to the next in sequence.
B) have sequential numbers.
C) have the same numbers.
D) should be performed simultaneously.
Answer: A

10) Concurrent activities are:

A) activities that must be done one after the other.
B) activities that can be performed at the same time.
C) activities that use labor from the same group of workers.
D) activities that use resources from the same resource pool.
Answer: B
11) Which of these statements about this network is best?

A) Activities A and B are serial activities.

B) Activities B and C are serial activities.
C) Activities A and C are serial activities.
D) Activity D is a merge activity.
Answer: D

12) Network logic suggests that:

A) Activity D can start any time.

B) Activity A must be complete before Activity B can be done.
C) Activities A, B and C must be complete before Activity D can be done.
D) Activity C must begin before Activity B begins.
Answer: C
13) What is the earliest that Activity D can begin if Activity A takes 3 days, Activity B
takes 5 days, and Activity C takes 7 days?

A) day 15
B) day 7
C) day 5
D) day 3
Answer: B

14) Based on the activity network pictured, what is the best statement?

A) Before starting Activity C, Activity A, and Activity B must be completed.

B) Before starting Activity D, Activity A, and Activity B need to be completed.
C) Before starting Activity E, Activity A, and Activity B need to be completed.
D) Before starting Activity C, Activity A, and Activity D must be completed.
Answer: A

15) Based on the activity network pictured, what is the best statement?

A) Activity C is a burst activity.

B) Activity E has one predecessor, Activity B.
C) Activity A and Activity C are merge activities.
D) There are no serial activities in this network.
Answer: B
16) The length of time expected to complete an activity assuming that its development
proceeds normally is called the:
A) optimistic duration.
B) pessimistic duration.
C) most likely duration.
D) normal duration.
Answer: C

17) Ray's shipment of materials hit every red light and traffic jam on the way to the site.
Upon arrival, half of the material was judged defective, necessitating a trip back to the
supplier, and then the same arduous journey back to the site once the new materials were
loaded. Traffic was a little better on the second round but the flat tire and subsequent
repair caused as much if not more delay than the first trip. In the final analysis:
A) the project activity of Material Delivery was pretty close to the optimistic estimate.
B) the project activity of Material Delivery was pretty close to the most likely estimate.
C) the project activity of Material Delivery had a much higher variance than anticipated.
D) the project activity of Material Delivery was pretty close to the pessimistic estimate.
Answer: D

18) The variance of an activity is given by:

A) [1/6(b-a)]2.
B) 1/6[b-a].
C) [1/36(b-a)]2.
D) 1/36[b-a].
Answer: A

19) An activity has an optimistic time estimate of 15 days, a most likely estimate of 24
days, and a pessimistic estimate of 40 days. What is the expected duration of the
activity?
A) less than 27 days but greater than or equal to 26 days
B) less than 26 days but greater than or equal to 25 days
C) less than 25 days but greater than or equal to 24 days
D) less than 24 days
Answer: B

20) An activity has an optimistic time estimate of 15 days, a most likely estimate of 24
days, and a pessimistic estimate of 40 days. What is the variance of the activity?
A) 4.17
B) 25.17
C) 17.36
D) 10.33
Answer: C
21) 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 duration of the
activity?
A) 13 days
B) 13.5 days
C) 12 days
D) 12.5 days
Answer: D

22) 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) between 2 and 3 days
B) between 3 and 4 days
C) between 4 and 5 days
D) between 5 and 6 days
Answer: D

23) An activity has a pessimistic time that is three times as long as its most likely time
and five times as long as its optimistic time. If the activity variance is 10, what is the
expected time?
A) about 10 days
B) about 14 days
C) about 19 days
D) about 23 days
Answer: A

24) Activity Z has estimates a=5, b=10, m=7; activity X has estimates a=4, b=11, m=6;
and
activity Y has estimates a=3, b=12, m=8. Which of the following statements is best?
A) Activity X is longer than Activity Y.
B) Activity X has a higher standard deviation than Activity Z
C) Activity Z is shorter than Activity Y.
D) Activity Y has a smaller variance than Activity Z.
Answer: B
25) What is the early start time for Activity D given the activity times and precedence
requirements shown in the table?

A) 5
B) 9
C) 13
D) 18
Answer: C

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

A) 18
B) 9
C) 13
D) 5
Answer: D

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

A) 12
B) 13
C) 14
D) 15
Answer: B
28) What is the late finish time for Activity D given the activity times and precedence
requirements shown in the table?

A) 14
B) 13
C) 12
D) 11
Answer: C

29) What is the early start time for Activity G given the activity times and precedence
requirements shown in the table?

A) 14
B) 15
C) 16
D) 17
Answer: D
30) What is the early finish time for Activity F given the activity times and precedence
requirements shown in the table?

A) 17
B) 12
C) 13
D) 26
Answer: A

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

A) 7
B) 6
C) 5
D) 4
Answer: B
32) What is the slack time for Activity C given the activity times and precedence
requirements shown in the table?

A) 2
B) 1
C) 0
D) 3
Answer: C

33) What is the float start time for Activity C given the activity times and precedence
requirements shown in the table?

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
Answer: D

34) Use the information in the table to determine the late start time for Activity E.

A) day 23
B) day 26
C) day 32
D) day 17
Answer: A
35) Use the information in the table to determine the early start time for Activity B.

A) day 10
B) day 8
C) day 9
D) day 11
Answer: B

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

A) day 23
B) day 26
C) day 29
D) day 32
Answer: C

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

A) day 17
B) day 26
C) day 20
D) day 23
Answer: D
38) Use the information in the table to determine the slack time for Activity B.

A) 6 days
B) 4 days
C) 2 days
D) 0 days
Answer: A

39) What is the slack time for activity E?

A) 1 day
B) 0 days
C) 2 days
D) 4 days
Answer: B
40) Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the early
start time for activity D.

A) 8
B) 13
C) 14
D) 21
Answer: C

41) Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the late start
time for activity F.

A) 21
B) 24
C) 26
D) 23
Answer: D
42) Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the early
finish time for activity G.

A) 26
B) 25
C) 24
D) 23
Answer: A

43) Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the late
finish time for activity C.

A) 12
B) 13
C) 14
D) 15
Answer: C
44) Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the slack
time for activity D.

A) 3
B) 2
C) 1
D) 0
Answer: D

45) Use the network diagram and activity lengths in the nodes to determine the early
start time for activity D.

A) 8
B) 13
C) 14
D) 21
Answer: C
46) 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:
A) hammock activities could be drawn.
B) subroutines could be added.
C) shortcuts can be added to the network.
D) laddering could be used to redraw the network.
Answer: D

47) 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?

A) 34
B) 38
C) 42
D) 48
Answer: A

48) 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?

A) 34
B) 38
C) 42
D) 48
Answer: B
49) 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, so activity C in the original project becomes two activities, C1 and
C2, each of which last 7 days. 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 difference in
the late start time for activity C in the original project and activity C1 in the laddered
project?

A) 3
B) 5
C) 7
D) 9
Answer: C

50) The overall effect of laddering activities is to:

A) streamline the linkage and sequencing between activities and keep project resources
fully employed.
B) summarize some subsets of the activities identified in the overall project network.
C) allow the project team to disaggregate the overall project network into logical
summaries.
D) allow the project manager to more fully deploy resources and complete the project
with zero slack.
Answer: A

51) Summaries for some subsets of the activities identified in the overall project network
are
called:
A) ladder activities.
B) hammock activities.
C) negative float activities.
D) compressed activities.
Answer: B
52) Hammock activities allow:
A) project managers to streamline the linkage and sequencing between activities.
B) project workers to effectively skip nonessential activities without compromising
project
quality.
C) the project team to better disaggregate the overall project network into subsets.
D) the project manager to identify float more quickly and leverage it more successfully
for the overall success of the project.
Answer: C

53) Activities C, D, and E in the project represented by the network are to be

hammocked. What is the activity length of the hammock activity?

A) 20
B) 16
C) 13
D) 11
Answer: A
54) Activities C, D, and E in the project represented by the network are to be
hammocked. What are the early start and late finish times of the hammock activity?

A) 6, 20
B) 6, 26
C) 9, 20
D) 9, 26
Answer: B

55) Activities C, D, and E in the project represented by the network are to be

hammocked. What are the late start and early finish times of the hammock activity?

A) 6, 24
B) 6, 26
C) 8, 24
D) 8, 26
Answer: C
56) A project has the precedence requirements and activity durations shown in the table.
After he draws the network, the project manager decides that activities B, C, and D can
be represented by a hammock activity. What are the early start and late finish times
associated with this hammock activity?

A) 11, 30
B) 7, 24
C) 11, 24
D) 7, 36
Answer: D

57) A project has the precedence requirements and activity durations shown in the table.
After he draws the network, the project manager decides that activities H and I can be
represented by a hammock activity. What are the early start and late finish times
associated with this hammock activity?

A) 13, 36
B) 13, 24
C) 24, 36
D) 7, 36
Answer: A
58) A project has the precedence requirements and activity durations shown in the table.
After he draws the network, the project manager decides to represent a few activities by
as hammock activity. Which is a legitimate hammock activity for this project?

A) combine activities A, B, C
B) combine activities B, E, H
C) combine activities E, F
D) combine activities G, H, I
Answer: B

59) 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?

A) 13, 36
B) 7, 0
C) 13, 7
D) 7, 14
Answer: C

60) One approach to reducing project length would be to:

A) convert parallel paths to be serial.
B) convert merge activities to burst activities.
C) use hammock activities in place of multiple activities.
D) eliminate tasks on the critical path.
Answer: D
61) A project's duration can be reduced by:
A) shortening the duration of critical path tasks.
B) adding tasks to the critical path.
C) adding shorter routes around the critical path.
D) completing the backward pass first.
Answer: A

62) The best candidate activities for shortening the overall project are:
A) the shortest tasks.
B) the longest tasks.
C) the merge tasks.
D) the burst tasks.
Answer: B

63) Which technique would accelerate the completion of a project?

A) hammocking
B) bursting
C) laddering
D) passing
Answer: C

64) In order to reduce the length of a project, it would be wise to shorten:

A) the project activity that costs the least to speed up.
B) the project activity that can be speeded up by the greatest amount.
C) the critical path activity that can be speeded up by the greatest amount.
D) the critical path activity that costs the least to speed up.
Answer: D
9.4 Essay

1) What does a network diagram illustrate and why are they important in project
management?
Answer: A network diagram is a schematic display of the project's work packages and
the logical relationships and interdependencies among them. For this reason, the
network diagram facilitates communication flows and helps with the master scheduling
of organizational resources because it shows times when personnel must be fully
committed to project activities. The network diagram also identifies the critical activities
and distinguishes them from the less critical and when each must start and end in order
to keep the project on schedule and complete it on time.

2) 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.
Answer: Answers will vary, but here's an example. Activity C is a merge because it has
two predecessors and a burst activity because it has two successors. Activities A and B
are concurrent activities and activities D and F are serial activities. Activities E and G
have been laddered and activities H and I are represented by a hammock activity. The
critical path consists of activities ACDFHIJ. Activities B, E, and G have float.
3) Construct a network using the information in the table and identify the critical path.

Answer: The network appears below; critical path is ACEGH. Early and late start and
finish times are in the table below the network.
4) Compute early and late start and finish times for the network shown.

Answer: Early and late start and finish times are given in the table.
5) Use the information in the table to sketch the network and compute early and late
start times.

Answer: The early and late start times are shown in the table and the network is below:
6) Phoebe B. Beebee is constructing a canal for the annual canoe races and has
identified eleven activities that are required to complete this important project. She
calculated early and late start times and early and late finish times but spilled coffee all
over her printout. Use the remaining information to reconstruct the table for Phoebe B.
Beebee and her new canoe canal.

Answer: The completed table appears below:

7) What are three methods of duration estimation for project activities and what are the
advantages and disadvantages of each method?
Answer: The text presents three alternative ways to estimate times, including past
experience, expert opinion, and mathematical derivation. Past experience is easily
leveraged but it assumes that the circumstances are the same and that what worked in the
past will work tomorrow. Expert opinion calls upon past project managers or subject
matter experts to get accurate information on activity estimates. Experts should have
knowledge about how to perform an activity and how long it should take, but if they are
not used to perform the work their estimates may be too low. Mathematical derivation
offers an objective alternative to activity estimation by calling for optimistic, most
likely, and pessimistic estimates of each activity. The gain in objectivity may be offset
by the pain of developing three time estimates for each activity instead of just one.
8) Use the values in the table to calculate activity durations and variances for the project.

Which path is critical? How closely should the other path be watched and why?
Answer: The estimated activity lengths and variances appear in the table below. The
critical pathis ACEF at 34.17 days and path ABDF has duration of 32.83 days. The path
variances are ACEF=5.69 and ABDF=14.02, resulting in standard deviations of 2.39
and 3.75 days, respectively. The higher variability associated with the non-critical path
is cause for concern; it will take a movement of only one standard deviation above the
mean for the non-critical path to become critical.

9) What is the underlying theory to the three time estimates approach? What data
distribution should be applied in this case and what confidence should a project manager
place in the calculations associated with this technique?
Answer: Probability suggests that the amount of time that an activity is likely to take is
rarely deterministic; rather it is stochastic and found as the result of sampling a range of
likelihoods of the event occurring. These likelihoods range from zero to one. In order to
derive a reasonable estimate for the activity's duration, we identify the activity's most
likely, pessimistic, and optimistic durations. From these time estimates we can use a
symmetrical or asymmetrical probability distribution to develop a mean and standard
deviation for each activity. A normal distribution might be used if the optimistic and
pessimistic estimates are symmetrical to the mean and a beta distribution can be
employed if the estimates are asymmetrical. The goal is to achieve a high level of
confidence for the probability estimates; the higher the better in order to achieve a
better estimate for the project duration.

10) What is laddering and what advantages can be gained from its use in project
management?
Answer: Laddering is a technique that allows us to redraw the activity network to more
closely sequence the project subtasks to make the overall network sequence more
efficient. Complicated activities are broken down into smaller activities by virtue of
identifying milestones within them. If a successor activity can begin after the attainment
of one of these milestones, then project resources can be more fully employed, project
duration can be reduced and the linkage and sequencing between activities can be
streamlined.
11) Consider a project composed activities X and Y having equal length and performed
in that order. Both activities can be laddered such that the first half of each activity is the
predecessor for its own second half, so X1 precedes X2 and Y1 precedes Y2. The first
half of X1 is also the predecessor for Y1. If the laddering procedure were performed
again activities X and Y would be divided in four parts each, with precedence working
as it did in the first split. Derive an expression for the minimum length of the project as
laddering increases.
Answer: The original length of the project is X+Y. When laddering is performed the
first time, the project length becomes X1+Y1+Y2; this is because X2 can be performed
concurrently with Y1. If the activities are divided again, the project length will be
X1+Y1+Y2+Y3+Y4; because X2 can be performed concurrently with Y1, X3 can be
performed concurrently with Y2, and X4 can be performed concurrently with Y3.
In general, the project can be viewed as the length of Y plus the waiting time while
completing the length of sub-activity X1. As the number of iterations of laddering these
activities becomes large, the length of sub-activity X1 becomes small, reducing project
length to the length of activity Y.
Expressed mathematically where P is the project length:

12) What are hammock activities and when should they be used?
Answer: Hammock activities can be used as summaries for some subsets of the activities
identified in the overall project network. The hammock is named so because it hangs
below the network path for tasks it is summarizing and serves as an aggregation for the
activities it rolls up. Hammocks allow the project team to better disaggregate the overall
project network into logical summaries. The process is helpful when the project network
is extremely complex or consists of a large number of individual activities. It is also
useful when the project budget if actually shared among a number of cost centers or
departments. Hammocking the activities that are assignable to each cost center makes
the job of cost accounting for the project easier.
13) Discuss any five approaches to reducing the critical path. Which is the most
effective and which is the most difficult to achieve? Why?
Answer: The text presents eight ways to reduce the critical path; answers will vary as to
the most effective and most difficult to achieve depending on circumstances and
students' intellectual capital. The alternatives presented are:
Eliminate tasks on the critical path — tasks can be dropped or moved to non-critical
paths, thereby shortening the critical path.
Re-plan serial paths to be in parallel — if serial activities are converted to concurrent
activities, project length can be reduced.
Overlap sequential tasks — laddering is a good method for overlapping sequential
activities.
Shorten the duration on critical path tasks — if these tasks were improperly estimated,
then the project length can be reduced.
Shorten early tasks the logic here is that these tasks are more certain, being in the near
future and such certainty can be taken advantage of by time reduction.
Shorten longest tasks — the longest tasks may have the same percentage padding and, as
a result, the greatest amount of tie that can be cut.
Shorten easiest tasks — duration estimates for the easiest tasks can be deflated without
an adverse impact on the project team's work.
Shorten tasks that cost the least to speed up — crashing critical path activities by
throwing money at them should be performed with a budget and conscience.