1. Identify the critical path and its activities for Rockfest. How long does the project take?
2. Which activities have a slack time of 8 weeks or more?
3. Identify five (5) major challenges a project manager faces in events such as this one.
4. Why is a work breakdown structure (WBS) useful in a project such as this? Take the 26 activities and break them into what you think should be level 2, level 3 and level 4 tasks. (The level 1 activity is the Rockfest itself)

Developing the Project Network [1.1 Introduction The project network is the tool used for planning, scheduling, and monitoring project progress The network is developed from the information collected for the wand mm owchart of the m'ect 'ob plan The network depicts the project activities that must be completed, the logical sequences, the interdependencies of the activities to be completed and in most cases the times for the activities to start and nish along with the longest path(s) through the network - the critical path. The network is the framework for the project information system still be used by the project managers to make decisions concerning project time, cost, and performance Developing the project networks takes time for someone or some group to develop: therefore, they cost money! Are networks really worth the struggle? The answer is definitely yes, except in cases where the project is considered trivial or very short in duration The network is easily understood by others because the network presents a graphic display ofthe ow and sequence of work through the project Once the network is developed, it is very easy to modify or change when unexpected events occur as the project progresses For example, if materials for activity are delayed the impact can be quickly assessed in the whole project revised in only a few minutes with the computer, These revisions can be communicated to all project participants quickly, The project network provides other in valuable information and insights: - It provides the basis for scheduling labor and equipment a It enhances communication that melds all managers and groups together in meeting the time, cost, and performance objectives of the project 0 It provides an estimate of product duration rather than picking a project completion date from a hat or someone's preferred date. 0 The network gives the times when activities can start and nish him when they can be delayed if the project is to be completed as planned. v It highlights which activities to consider if the project needs to be compressed to meet a deadline There other reasons project networks are worth their weight in gold Basically, project networks minimize surprises by getting the plan out early in allowing corrective feedback a commonly heard statement from practitioners is that the project network represents three quarters of the planning process. Perhaps this is an exaggeration, but it signals the perceived importance of the network to project managers inthe eld. Project networks are developed from the W138. The project network is a visual ow diagram of the sequence, imerrelationships, and dependencies of all the activities that must be accomplished to complete the project An activity is an element in the project that consumes time - for example, work or waiting. Work packages from the are used to build the activities found in the project network An activity can include one or more work packages The activities are placed in a sequence that provides for orderly completion of the project Networks are built using nodes (boxes) and arrows (lines). Integrating the work packages and the network represents a point where the management process often fails in practice. The primary explanations for this failure are that: (1) Different groups (people) are used to define work packages and activities and (2) The WBS is poorly constructed and not deliverable/output oriented Integration of the W135 and project network is crucial to affective project management, The project manager must be careful to guarantee continuity by having some of the same people who dene the WES and work packages develop the network activities. Networks provide the project schedule by identifying dependencies, sequencing, and timing of activities, which the WBS is not designed to do, The primary inputs for developing a project network plan are work packages, Remember, a work package is dened independently of other work packages, has denite start and nish points, require specic resources, includes technical specications, and has cost estimates for the package. However, dependency, sequencing, and timing of each of these factors are not included in the work package. In network activity can include one or more work packages 2.1 Terminology Every eld has its jargon and allows colleagues to communicate comfortably with each other about the techniques they use. Project managers are no exception Here are some terms used in building project networks. Activity. For project managers an activity is an element of the project that requires time It may or may not require resources, Typically an activity consumes time - either while people work or while people wait, Examples of the latter are time waiting for contracts to be signed, materials to arrive, drug approval by the government, budget clearance, etc. Activities usually represent one or more tasks from a work package. Description of activities should use a verboun format: for example, develop product specifications. 2 Merge Activity. This is an activity that has more than one activity immediately An activity is represented by a node (box). The node can take many forms, but in recent years preceding it (more than one dependency are all flowing to it) the node represented as a rectangle (box) has dominated. The dependencies among activities are depicted by arrows between the rectangles (boxes) on the AON network. The arrows indicate Parallel Activity. These are activities that can take place at the same time, if the manager out the activities are related and the sequence in which things must be accomplished. The length wishes. However, the manager may choose to have parallel activities not occur and slope of the arrow are arbitrary and set for convenience of drawing that network. The letter is simultaneously in the boxes serve here to identify the activities while you learn the fundamentals of network Path. A sequence of connected, dependent activities. construction and analysis. In practice activities have identification numbers and descriptions. Critical Path. When this term is used, it means the path(s) with the longest duration There are three basic relationships and must be established for activities included in a project through the network; if an activity on the path is delayed, the project is delayed the same network. Relationships can be found by answering the following three questions for each amount of time. activity: Burst activity. This activity as more than one activity immediately following it (more 1. Which activities must be completed immediately before this activity? These activities are than one dependency arrow flowing from it) call predecessor activities 2. Which activities must immediately follow this activity? These activities are called 3.1 Basic Rules to Follow in Developing Project Networks successor activities. 3. Which activities occur while this activity is taking place? This is known as a concurrent The following eight rules apply in general when developing a project network: or parallel relationship. 1. Networks flowed typically from left to right. 2. An activity cannot begin until all preceding connected activities have been completed. 3. Arrows on networks indicate precedence and flow. Arrows can cross over each other. 5.1 Critical Element of Project Networks - the Critical Path 4. Each activity should have a unique identification number. 5. An activity identification number must be larger than that of any activities precede it. The critical path method (CPM) has long been considered the "Holy Grail" of project 6. Looping is not allowed (in other words, recycling through a set of activities cannot take management. Here are comments made by veteran project managers when asked about the place). significance of the critical path in managing projects: 7. Conditional statements are not allowed (that is, this type of statement should not appear: . I tried to make it a point whenever possible to put my best people on critical activities or if successful, do something: if not, do nothing) on those activities that stand the greatest chance of becoming critical 8. Experience suggests that when there are multiple starts, a common start node can be used to indicate a clear project beginning on the network. Similarly, a single project and node I pay extra attention when doing risk assessment to identify and those risks that can can be used to indicate a clear ending. impact the critical path, either directly or indirectly, by making a noncritical activity so late that it becomes critical. When I've got the money to spend the reduce risks, it usually gets spent on critical tasks. I don't have time to monitor all the activities on a big project, but I make it a point to 4.1 Activity on Node (AON) Fundamentals keep in touch with the people who are working on critical activities. When I have the time, there are the ones I visit to find out firsthand how things are going. It's amazing Historically, to methods have been used to develop project networks: how much more I can find out from talking to the rank and file who are doing the work Activity on Node (AON) and and by reading the facial expressions of people - much more than I can gain from a number driven status report. Activity on Arrow (AOA) When I get calls from other managers asking to "borrow" people or equipment, and much more generous when it involves resources from working on noncritical activities. For Today, the activity on node method has come to dominate nearly all project network plans. example, if another project manager needs an electrical engineer who is assigned to a taskwith ve days of slack, I'm willing to share that engineer with another project manager for 2 to 3 days. 0 The most obvious reason the critical path is importam is because these of the activities that impact completion time. IfI suddenly get a call from above saying they mean by project done two weeks earlier than planned, the critical path is where I scheduled the overtime and add extra resources to get the project done more quickly. In the same way if the project schedule begins to slip, it's the critical activities I focus on the get back on schedule. 6.1 Summary Project network sequence and Time phase the project work, resources, and budgets. Work package tasks are used to develop activities for networks. Although most project managers use computers to generate networks and activities time they nd a keen understanding of network development and the ability to compute activity times is invaluable in the eld. Project managers who are well acquainted with network development and AON methods and who are able to compute activity times will encounter fewer problems than project managers less well acquainted Project networks help to ensure there are no surprises Example of Constructing a Project Network: The Yellow Sticky Approach (for constructing a project network): In practice small project networks (25 to 100 activities) are equently developed using yellow Post-it stickers. The meaning requirements and process for the project team are described herein. The follcwving are the requirements for such a project: 1, Project team members and a facilitator. 2. One yellow sticker (3 x 4 inches or larger) for each activity with the description of the activity primed on the sticker. 3. Erasable white board with marker pen (or aposter size sheet of paper) All of the yellow stickers are placed the easy view of all team members. The teambegins by identifying those activity stickers that have no predecessors. Each of these activity stickers is then attached to the whiteboard a start node is drawn, and a dependency arrow is connected to each activity. Given the initial network start activities, each activity is determined for immediate successor activities. These activities are attached to the whiteboard and dependency arrows drawn. This process is continued until all of the yellow stickers are attached to the whiteboard with dependency arrows. (Note: the process can be twersed, beginning with those activities that have no successor activities and connecting them to a project and node. The predecessor activities are selected for each activity and attached to the whiteboard with dependency arrows marked.) When the process is complete, the dependencies are recorded in the project soware, which develops a computer design network along with the critical path(s) and early, late, and slack times. This methodology sensitizes team members early to the interdependencies among activities of the project. But more importantly, methodology and powers team members by giving them input to the important decisions that they must implement later. Source: Larson, E.W., Gray, C.F. (2018). Project Management, 7'11 Ed, N.Y., N.Y., McGraW Hill Education. ISBN 978-125966609-4. Pg. 163-139