Exercise 1

Determining the critical path, total duration, and amount of slack for each activity. (Slack or float is
the difference between the latest start date of an activity and the earliest start date OR the difference
between the latest finish date and earliest finish date of an activity).

Activity Time(Days) Immediate Predecessor

A 5 -
B 3 A
C 5 A
D 6 A
E 5 B,C
F 2 D,E

Slack for Activity A: _______ days. Slack for Activity D: _______ days.

Slack for Activity B: _______ days. Slack for Activity E: _______ days.

Slack for Activity C: _______ days. Slack for Activity F: _______ days.

Critical Path: ____________________________________

Total Duration of Project: ___________ days.

Exercise 2
Crashing a project. First consider the cost/time slope for each activity: where slope is equal to crash
cost minus normal cost divided by crash time minus normal time.

Duration Cost
Activity Predecessor Normal/crash Normal/Crash

A -- 3/2 $ 40 / 80
B A 2/1 $ 20 / 80
C A 2/2 $ 20 / 20
D A 4/1 $ 30 / 120
E B 3/1 $ 10 / 80

What is the critical path? ______A+D+E_________________________

What is the total (normal) duration of this project? ______10_______ days.

What would be the minimal cost to crash the project by one day? $ __30____

What would be the maximum number of days you could crash the project? __2____

What would be the cost to crash to the maximum? $ ___70_____

Exercise 3

E
A C H

G
B F
D

The above project has the following parameters:

Duration Cost
Activity Predecessor Normal/crash Normal/Crash

A -- 3/2 $ 20 / 60
B -- 3/1 $ 20 / 80
C A 2/1 $ 40 / 60
D B 5/3 $ 70 / 170
E A 3/2 $ 50 / 90
F C, D 4/2 $ 35 / 85
G F 3/3 $ 80 / 80
H E, G 2/1 $ 40 / 120
What is the:
Slack for Activity A: _______ days. Slack for Activity E: _______ days.
Slack for Activity B: _______ days. Slack for Activity F: _______ days.
Slack for Activity C: _______ days. Slack for Activity G: _______ days.
Slack for Activity D: _______ days. Slack for Activity H: _______days
Critical Path: ____________________________________

Total Duration of Project: ___________ days.

What is the normal cost of the project? $_____________

What would be the minimal cost to crash the project by one day? $________

What would be the minimal cost to crash the project by two days? $________
Exercise 4
Development of a new deluxe version of a particular software product is being considered. The
activities necessary for the completion of this project are listed in the table below along with their
costs and completion times in weeks.

Activity Normal Crash Normal Crash Immediate

Time Time Cost Cost Predecessor

A 4 3 2,000 2,600 -

B 2 1 2,200 2,800 A

C 3 3 500 500 A

D 8 4 2,300 2,600 A

E 6 3 900 1,200 B, D

F 3 2 3,000 4,200 C, E

G 4 2 1,400 2,000 F

(a) What is the project expected completion date?

(b) What is the total cost required for completing this project on normal time?
(c) If you wish to reduce the time required to complete this project by 1 week, which activity should
be crashed, and how much will this increase the total cost?
Exercise 5
You are considering the decision of whether or not to crash your project. After asking your
operations manager to conduct an analysis, you have determined the pre-crash and post-crash
activity durations and costs, shown in the table below:

Normal Crashed

Activity Duration Cost Duration Cost

A 4 days $1,000 3 days $2,000
B 5 days $2,500 3 days $5,000
C 3 days $750 2 days $1,200
D 7 days $3,500 5 days $5,000
E 2 days $500 1 day $2,000
F 5 days $2,000 4 days $3,000
G 9 days $4,500 7 days $6,300
a. Calculate the per day costs for crashing each activity
b. Which are the most attractive candidates for crashing? Why?
c. Calculate project costs by project duration. At what point does it no longer make cost
sense to continue crashing activities? Why? Show your graph.

Exercise 6
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:

Normal Crashed
Activity Cost Duration Extra Cost Duration
A 5,000 4 weeks 4,000 3 weeks
B* 10,000 5 weeks 3,000 4 weeks
C 3,500 2 weeks 3,500 1 week
D* 4,500 6 weeks 4,000 4 weeks
E* 1,500 3 weeks 2,500 2 weeks
F 7,500 8 weeks 5,000 7 weeks
G* 3,000 7 weeks 2,500 6 weeks
H 2,500 6 weeks 3,000 5 weeks
 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 projects critical path? After four iterations involving crashing
project activities, what has the critical path shrunk to?
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 after 19 weeks. 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.

Exercise 7
The activities, duration, and direct activity cost of a project are shown in the below mention table.
Time in Weeks Cost
Activity Normal Crash Normal ($) Crash ($)
12 8 4 3000 6000
13 5 3 4000 8000
24 9 6 4000 5500
35 7 5 2000 3200
25 5 1 8000 12000
46 3 2.5 10000 11200
56 6 2 4000 6800
67 10 7 6000 8700
57 9 5 4200 9000

1. Draw the network diagram.

2. Determine all normal and critical paths
3. Find the minimum cost project schedule if the indirect costs are $ 2000 per week

Exercise 8
The activities, duration, and direct activity cost of a project are shown in the below mention table.
Time in Weeks Cost
Activity Normal Crash Normal ($) Crash ($)
12 5 2 6000 9000
24 6 3 7000 10000
 13 4 2 1000 2000
34 7 4 4000 8000
47 9 5 6000 9200
35 12 3 16000 19600
46 10 6 15000 18000
67 7 4 4000 4900
79 6 4 3000 4200
59 12 7 4000 8500

1. Draw the network diagram.

2. Determine all normal and critical paths
3. Find the minimum cost project schedule if the indirect costs are $ 1000 per week