How often Activity planning and critical path is asked

Where it was asked

• May/Jun 201216 marks
• Oct/Nov 201120 marks
• May/Jun 201127 marks

The questions

1. May/Jun 2012, Q1.21 mark · multiple choice

   What is the first step in software project planning?

2. May/Jun 2012, Q22 marks

   Give a short explanation of the actions a project manager could take if it becomes apparent that a project is not going to meet its target completion date.

3. May/Jun 2012, Q4.113 marks

   Consider the list of tasks, their precedents and estimated durations given in Table 4.1: Activity A has no precedents and takes 5 days; Activity B depends on A and takes 9 days; Activity C has no precedents and takes 4 days; Activity D depends on A and takes 2 days; Activity E depends on C and takes 5 days; Activity F depends on B and takes 6 days. Using the node naming convention from Hughes & Cotterel, based on British Standard BS 4335, draw the activity-on-node network (precedence network) diagram for these six tasks. All values must be indicated on the nodes, and the critical path must be marked with an asterisk (*) on each task that lies on it.

4. Oct/Nov 2011, Q4.14 marks

   This question deals with network planning conventions and the construction of a Precedence (activity-on-node) network diagram. Several different conventions exist for recording information on network and activity planning diagrams, including activity-on-arrow networks and Precedence (activity-on-node) network diagrams. State the naming convention used for events in activity-on-arrow networks, and also state the naming convention used for the nodes in a Precedence (activity-on-node) network diagram, as presented in Hughes & Cotterel.

5. Oct/Nov 2011, Q4.212 marks

   This question deals with network planning conventions and the construction of a Precedence (activity-on-node) network diagram. Consider the following list of activities together with their precedents and estimated durations in days: Activity A has no precedents and a duration of 34 days; Activity B follows A and takes 20 days; Activity C follows A and takes 15 days; Activity D follows C and takes 25 days; Activity E follows B and takes 12 days; Activity F follows D and E and takes 7 days; Activity G follows D and E and takes 6 days; Activity H follows F and takes 30 days; Activity I follows G and takes 28 days; Activity J follows I and H and takes 6 days. Using this information, draw a complete Precedence network (Activity-on-node) diagram. Each node must follow the naming convention used in Hughes & Cotterel (based on British Standard BS 4335), where each node box is divided to show, in the top row, the Early Start, Duration and Early Finish, in the middle row the Task Name, and in the bottom row the Late Start, Slack and Late Finish. Complete both a forward pass and a backward pass through the network in order to determine the total project duration and identify the critical path.