Project Scheduling & Critical Path Flashcards

What is the purpose of a schedule baseline in project management?

Answer: To serve as the approved reference for measuring and reporting schedule performance

The schedule baseline is the approved version of the schedule model used to compare actual progress against planned performance.

Activity B has an Early Start of day 5, Early Finish of day 10, Late Start of day 8, and Late Finish of day 13. What is its total float?

Answer: 3 days

Total float = Late Start − Early Start = 8 − 5 = 3 days (or Late Finish − Early Finish = 13 − 10 = 3 days).

A lag in a project schedule means:

Answer: A waiting period added after a predecessor activity before the successor can start

A lag is a mandatory waiting period between a predecessor and successor activity, such as waiting for concrete to cure before building on it.

Which of the following BEST describes the critical chain method?

Answer: A schedule method that accounts for resource constraints and uses project and feeding buffers

Critical Chain Method modifies the schedule to account for limited resources and protects the project completion date with strategically placed buffers.

When performing a forward pass in CPM, you are calculating:

Answer: Early Start and Early Finish dates

The forward pass moves from left to right through the network to calculate the earliest possible start and finish dates for each activity.

A project manager needs to shorten the project schedule with minimum cost impact. Which technique is preferred over crashing?

Answer: Fast tracking

Fast tracking compresses the schedule by overlapping activities in parallel and typically does not add direct cost, unlike crashing which requires additional resources.

In PERT, if the optimistic estimate is 4 days, pessimistic is 16 days, and most likely is 7 days, what is the expected duration?

Answer: 8 days

PERT expected duration = (O + 4M + P) / 6 = (4 + 4×7 + 16) / 6 = (4 + 28 + 16) / 6 = 48 / 6 = 8 days.