Question :

(a) Under what conditions is PERT preferred to CPM in project management ? Illustrate your answer with examples of projects.

(b) Several stages are involved in the management of projects. Discuss these stages.

(c ) The table below defines the various activities in a small project :

The immediate precedent relationships are :
- Activity 1 must be finished before activity 3 can start
- Activity 2 must be finished before activities 4, 5 and 6 can start
- Activity 3 must be finished before activities 5 and 6 can start
- Activity 4 must be finished before activity 7 can start
- Activity 5 must be finished before activity 8 can start
- Activities 6 and 7 must be finished before activity 9 can start

(i) Show the network diagram. Show the earliest start time and latest finishing time of each activity.

(ii) Identify the critical path and determine the overall project completion time and float for each activity.

(iii) How would the overall project completion time be affected if the completion time of activity 6 is increased from 5 to 7 weeks?