Resource leveling and the resource critical path

Try 3 questions on this

Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.

1. A program's schedule names the staff for every activity, but one specialist welder is booked on three parallel activities at once. Management wants to know which sequence of activities will actually drive the finish date. Which tool can be used?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building.

   Not that one: C is right. In the game your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.Longest pathThe longest path is the sequence of longest duration through the network. It, too, is calculated from logic and durations, so the welder's three overlapping bookings do not change it.Your answerB.Near-critical pathNear-critical activities have total float within a narrow range of the critical path's. They are watched because they can quickly become critical, but they are still found without regard to resource availability.The answerC.Resource critical pathGAO says the critical path method assumes unlimited resources, even in a resource-loaded schedule, because it does not account for overallocation.Your answerD.Critical pathThe critical path comes from network logic and float. GAO says it assumes unlimited resources even when the schedule is resource loaded: one worker can be assigned to any number of parallel activities.

   Show the full explanation and doc quotes

   When resource availability matters, the sequence that drives the finish, based on both network logic and resource availability, is the resource critical path, also called the resource-constrained critical path or critical chain.

   Written from www.gao.gov/assets/d1689G.pdf

2. After a program's schedule is baselined, two activities planned for the same week both need its only crane operator. To resolve the conflict, the scheduler links them finish-to-start. Which technique is used to sequence them?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building.

   Not that one: D is right. In the game your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.LagA lag denotes the passing of time between two linked activities. It does not choose which activity goes first.Your answerB.Fast trackingFast tracking reduces finish-to-start logic to partial dependencies to force parallel work. The scheduler here is removing parallel work, not adding it.Your answerC.Engineering logicEngineering, or hard, logic is an order that must occur regardless of preference, such as concrete curing after pouring. These two activities were planned for the same week, so the work itself does not demand an order.The answerD.Preferential logicGAO's Schedule Assessment Guide says logic used to solve resource leveling issues once the plan is baselined is preferential, or soft, logic: it reflects management's plan for executing the work, not an order the work requires.

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   Here the order exists only because one crane operator cannot do both jobs at once.

   Written from www.gao.gov/assets/d1689G.pdf

3. During resource leveling, a scheduler wants to delay only those activities whose slip will leave the dates of every successor activity unchanged. Which tool can be used to identify them?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building.

   Not that one: C is right. In the game your Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.Total floatTotal float is the time an activity can slip before the program finish moves. An activity can have total float and still have zero free float, so using total float can move a successor's dates.Your answerB.LagA lag is a set passage of time between two linked activities, such as concrete curing. It does not show how far an activity can slip.The answerC.Free floatFree float is the portion of an activity's total float available before its delay affects its immediate successor.Your answerD.Critical pathCritical path activities have no float to give: any delay to them moves the finish date. They are the activities leveling should avoid delaying.

   Show the full explanation and doc quotes

   GAO notes that leveling generally targets activities with free float first, because delaying an activity within its free float does not move its successor or the finish date.

   Written from www.gao.gov/assets/d1689G.pdf