The table below represents a IS project set of activities, its expected completion time (weeks) and preceding activities.

Question

Activity	Expected Time (weeks)	Preceding activities
A	5	None
B	4	None
C	10	A
D	8	B
E	14	B
F	6	C, D
G	7	D, E, F
H	3	F, G

a Draw a network diagram for the IS project shown above. For each activity, calculate its earliest completion time (TE) and latest completion time (TL). Label TE and TL on the network diagram.

b.     Calculate the slack time for each activity.

c.     List the activities on the critical path.

The project has started, and the project team members have just completed activity

D. Activity D took 9 weeks to complete, which is longer than the expected time allocated. Will this affect the overall project schedule? Explain your answer

Answer 1

There are a number of styles for network diagrams. Make sure to use the one your instructor recommends.

Note that activities A and B will be on the left of the network diagram because they have no predecessors.

The earliest completion time for any node can be calculated by determining its earliest start date and adding its duration.

Slack time for a node is determined by subtracting the earliest completion time from the latest completion time.

The critical path is the sequence of steps that will take the longest to complete. This important because in general if one of the items on the critical path is late it will probably affect the completion date.

if activity D is on the critical path or if its completion will affect the start date for one of the nodes on the critical path, late completion of D will affect the project completion date.