Practice Problems: Networks and Crashing

Problem 1:
The following represent activities in a major construction project. Draw the
network to represent this project.
Activity

Immediate
Predecessor

Normal Time
(days)

Crash Time
(days)

Crash Cost
per day

--

$85

$60

$50

$95

C, E

$105

$65

F, G

$80

What is the critical path?

Use the information in the table to determine the lowest cost minimum
completion time.
Problem 2:

Draw
What
What
What

Activity

Predeces
sor

Optimisti
c

Most
Likely

Pessimisti
c

--

12

B, C

the network
is the critical path based on the expected times?
is the variance in completion time for the critical path?
is the probability that the project will finish in 11 days or less?

Problem 3:
A project has an expected completion time of 40 weeks and a standard
deviation of 5 weeks. It is assumed that the project completion time is
normally distributed.
(a) What is the probability of finishing the project in 50 weeks or less?
(b) What is the probability of finishing the project in 38 weeks or less?
(c) The due date for the project is set so that there is a 90% chance that the
project will be finished by this date. What is the date?

Problem 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
Time

Crash
Time

Normal
Cost

Crash
Cost

Immediate
Predecessor

2,000

2,600

2,200

2,800

500

500

2,300

2,600

900

1,200

B, D

3,000

4,200

C, E

1,400

2,000

(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?
Problem 5:
Given the following time-cost information on a construction project:
Task

Preceding
Activities

Required Time (weeks)

Normal
Crash

Cost
Normal

Crash

$10,000

$11,000

6,000

9,000

4,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

B, C

9,000

11,000

13,000

18,000

E, F

13,000

25,000

D, E

11,000

20,000

H, G

20,000

29,000

(a) Draw the network.

(b) What is the critical path and the duration of the project?
(c) What is the early start time and early finish time for activity D?
(d) To shorten the project by three weeks, what tasks should be shortened,
and in what order?
(e) What would be the total cost for the shortened project?