http://www.alsenosy.com | http://www.professionalengineers.uspath(s).Adjustmentstoactivitydurations(ifmoreresourcesorlessscopecanbearranged),logical
relationships(iftherelationshipswerediscretionarytobeginwith),leadsandlags,orotherschedule
constraintsmaybenecessarytoproducenetworkpathswithazeroorpositivetotalfloat.Oncethe
totalfloatforanetworkpathhasbeencalculated,thenthefreefloat–theamountoftimethata
scheduleactivitycanbedelayedwithoutdelayingtheearlystartdateofanysuccessororviolatinga
scheduleconstraint–canalsobedetermined.Forexample,thefreefloatforActivityB,inFigure 6 –
18 ,isfivedays.
96.Answer: B.
PMBOK®Guide,pages 210 – 211 ,Section 6. 5. 2. 2
CriticalPath Method
Thecriticalpathmethod,whichisamethodusedtoestimatetheminimumprojectdurationand
determinethe amountofscheduling flexibilityon thelogicalnetworkpathswithinthe schedule
model.Thisschedulenetworkanalysistechniquecalculatestheearlystart,earlyfinish,latestart,and
latefinishdatesforallactivitieswithoutregardforanyresourcelimitationsbyperformingaforward
and backward pass analysisthrough theschedule network,as shownin Figure 6 – 18. In this
example,thelongestpathincludesactivitiesA,C,andD,andtherefore,thesequenceofA–C–Dis
thecritical path.Thecritical pathis thesequence ofactivitiesthatrepresentsthelongestpath
throughaproject,whichdeterminestheshortestpossibleprojectduration.
Onanynetworkpath,thescheduleflexibilityismeasuredbytheamountoftimethataschedule
activitycanbedelayedorextendedfromitsearlystartdatewithoutdelayingtheprojectfinishdate
or violating a schedule constraint, and is termed total float. A CPM critical path is normally
characterizedbyzerototalfloatonthecriticalpath.AsimplementedwithPDMsequencing,critical
pathsmayhavepositive,zero,ornegativetotalfloatdependingonconstraintsapplied.Anyactivity
onthecriticalpathiscalledacriticalpathactivity.Positivetotalfloatiscausedwhenthebackward
passiscalculatedfromascheduleconstraintthatislaterthantheearlyfinishdatethathasbeen
calculatedduringforwardpasscalculation.Negativetotalfloatiscausedwhenaconstraintonthe
latedatesisviolatedbydurationandlogic.Schedulenetworksmayhavemultiplenear-criticalpaths.
Manysoftwarepackagesallow theusertodefine theparametersusedtodetermine thecritical
path(s).Adjustmentstoactivitydurations(ifmoreresourcesorlessscopecanbearranged),logical
relationships(iftherelationshipswerediscretionarytobeginwith),leadsandlags,orotherschedule
constraintsmaybenecessarytoproducenetworkpathswithazeroorpositivetotalfloat.Oncethe
totalfloatforanetworkpathhasbeencalculated,thenthefreefloat–theamountoftimethata
scheduleactivitycanbedelayedwithoutdelayingtheearlystartdateofanysuccessororviolatinga
scheduleconstraint–canalsobedetermined.Forexample,thefreefloatforActivityB,inFigure 6 –
18 ,isfivedays.
97.Answer: A.
PMBOK®Guide,page 215 ,Section 6. 5. 2. 6 ;andGlossary
ScheduleCompression
Schedulecompressiontechniquesareusedtoshortenoracceleratethescheduledurationwithout
reducingtheprojectscopeinordertomeetscheduleconstraints,imposeddates,orotherschedule
objectives.Ahelpfultechniqueisthenegativefloatanalysis.Thecriticalpathistheonewiththe