. Part A
1. Discuss the importance of project schedules
2. Explain project time management process.
a. Activity definition
b. Activity sequencing
c. Activity resource estimating
d. Activity duration estimating
e. Schedule development
f. Schedule control
3. Explain why we use WBS; and the linkage between WBS and the project network.
4. Explain how estimating project resources (times and costs) serve as the foundation for project
planning and control.
5. Identify the ways to estimate task duration
6. Discuss the top-down and bottom-up methods of estimating time and cost
7. Distinguish between deterministic and probabilistic activity time estimates
8. What is project analysis with deterministic and probabilistic time estimates.
9. Describe how project managers use network diagrams and dependencies to assist in activity
sequencing.
10. Discuss how project managers use the planning tools such as charts and network diagrams
particularly the Gantt chart , PERT (Performance Evaluations and Review Technique, and CPM
(Critical Path Method) for planning, tracking and managing schedule.
11. Compare between CPM and PERT
12. Discuss the two approaches (Activity on node and activity on arrow) to constructing a project
network
13. Define the following project activities, paths and concepts
a. Burst/preceding activity
b. Merger/succeeding activity
c. Parallel/concurrent activities
d. Dummy activity
e. Critical and non-critical activities
f. Critical path and non-critical path
g. An event/ node
h. Earliest start time (ES)and Earliest finish time (EF) for an activity
i. Latest start time (LS) and Latest finish time (LF) for an activity
j. Slack time
14. Project Crashing - Time cost trade off- why the need for project crashing? Illustration:
Assume that ABC Construction Company has identified 8 activities in a house building project together with
expected activity time and precedence relationships as stated in the table below: Activity( No. or Code) Description Duration ( time in Months) Immediate predecessor
1 or (A) Design house and obtain financing 3 None
2 or (B) Site Clearing and preparation 1 A
3 or (C) Order and receive materials 1 B
4 or (D) Lay foundation 2 B
5 or (E) Build house 3 C, D
6 or (F) Select paint 1 C
7 or (G) Select carpet 1 F
8 or (H) Finish work 1 E, G
Required:
i. Draw activity on node (AON) network diagram for the project
ii. Identify the critical activities and the critical path
iii. Determine the project duration
Note:
Consider the attached PPP specially slide 2 that shows how the different times are determined for each
activity. Part B: Exercise
Please attempt the following exercises
1. The following table shows list of project activities, immediate predecessors, and expected time (days) for
each activity.
ACTIVITIES IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS EXPECTED TIME (DAYS)
1 - 5
2 1 3
3 1 2
4 3 3
5 1 4
6 2,4 8
7 5 5
8 6,7 2
9 6,8 2
Required:
i. Draw activity on node (AON) network diagram for the project
ii. For each activity, determine:
a. Earliest start time
b. Earliest finis time
c. Latest start time
d. Latest finish time
e. Slack time
iii. Identify the critical path.
iv. Determine project completion time.
2. For the same activities and activity interdependence in exercise 1, above, the expected value of activity
time estimate are developed in three estimates as follow:
Activities Immediate
Predecessors
EXPECTED TIME (DAYS)
Optimistic Most probable Pessimistic
1 - 3 5 7
2 1 2 3 4
3 1 1 2 3
4 3 1 2 9
5 1 4 4 4
6 2,4 4 8 12
7 5 1 3 17
8 6,7 1 2 3
9 6,8 2 2 2
Required:
i. Compute the expected activity time and standard deviation for each activity time
ii. Identify the critical path and expected time for completion of the project.
iii. What is the probability that the project will be completed within 22 days?
iv. What is the probability that the project will be completed within 12 days?
v. What is the probability that the project will be completed within 18 days?
vi. What is the probability that the project will be completed within 24 days?
vii. What is the probability that the project will take more than 22 days?