When deciding on whether or not to crash project activities, a project manager was faced with the following information. Activities of the critical path are highlighted with an asterisk:

a. Identify the sequencing of the activities to be crashed in the first four steps. Which of the critical activities should be crashed first? Why?
b. What is the project€™s critical path? After four iterations involving crashing project activities, what has the critical path shrunk to? (Assume all noncritical paths are c. Suppose project overhead costs accrued at a fixed rate of $500 per week. Chart the decline in direct costs over the project life relative to the increase in overhead expenses.
d. Assume that a project penalty clause kicks in after 19 weeks. The penalty charged is $5,000 per week. When the penalty charges are added, what does the total project cost curve look like? Develop a table listing the costs accruing on a per-week basis.
e. If there were no penalty payments accruing to the project, would it make sense to crash any project activities? Show your work.

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Normal Crashed Activity Cost 5,000 10,000 3,500 4,500 1,500 7,500 3,000 Duration Extra Cost 4,000 3,000 3,500 4,000 2,500 5,000 2,500 3,000 4 weeks 5 weeks 2 weeks 6 weeks 3 weeks 8 weeks 7 weeks 6 weeks Duration 3 weeks 4 weeks 1 week 4 weeks 2 weeks 7 weeks 6 weeks 5 weeks B a* D* G*