CST Milestone & Constraint Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project manager wants to mark a contractual delivery date in the schedule without adding duration. Which activity type is most appropriate?
- Summary task
- Milestone (Correct answer)
- Hammock activity
- Lag activity
Correct answer: Milestone
A milestone is a zero-duration activity used to mark significant events or contractual dates in the schedule.
Question 2: Which constraint type forces a task to start on a specific date regardless of its predecessors' finish dates?
- Start No Earlier Than (SNET)
- Must Start On (MSO) (Correct answer)
- Finish No Later Than (FNLT)
- As Late As Possible (ALAP)
Correct answer: Must Start On (MSO)
Must Start On (MSO) is a hard constraint that locks the task start to an exact calendar date, overriding logic-driven dates.
Question 3: In a CPM network, which milestone serves as the official beginning reference point for all downstream logic?
- Finish milestone
- Status date milestone
- Project start milestone (Correct answer)
- Baseline milestone
Correct answer: Project start milestone
The project start milestone anchors the network and serves as the source node from which all forward-pass calculations begin.
Question 4: A CST candidate reviews a schedule where a milestone has a Total Float of -5 days. What does this indicate?
- The milestone is on the critical path with buffer
- The milestone is behind schedule by 5 days relative to its target (Correct answer)
- The milestone has 5 days of free float
- The milestone cannot be calculated
Correct answer: The milestone is behind schedule by 5 days relative to its target
Negative total float on a milestone means it is currently projected to occur 5 days later than its constrained or target date.
Question 5: What is the primary risk of overusing hard constraints (MSO, MFO) throughout a schedule?
- The schedule becomes resource-leveled automatically
- Critical path analysis is enhanced
- Logic-driven date calculations are suppressed, hiding real delays (Correct answer)
- Milestones gain additional float
Correct answer: Logic-driven date calculations are suppressed, hiding real delays
Excessive hard constraints prevent the CPM algorithm from propagating actual delays through the network, masking true schedule risk.
Question 6: Which DCMA 14-Point Assessment check directly relates to milestone constraint usage?
- Logic check
- Hard constraint check (Correct answer)
- Negative float check
- Duplicate activity check
Correct answer: Hard constraint check
The DCMA Hard Constraint check flags activities with MSO or MFO constraints because they interfere with dynamic date calculations.
Question 7: A project has a key milestone constrained as 'Finish No Later Than' (FNLT). The network logic pushes the milestone earlier than the constraint date. What is the result?
- The milestone gains positive float equal to the difference (Correct answer)
- The constraint overrides logic and delays the milestone to the FNLT date
- The milestone is automatically marked critical
- The scheduler must delete the constraint
Correct answer: The milestone gains positive float equal to the difference
When logic drives the date earlier than an FNLT constraint, the activity has positive float equal to the buffer between the logic date and the constraint date.
CST Milestone & Constraint Management 2
A project manager wants to mark a contractual delivery date in the schedule without adding duration.
Which activity type is most appropriate?