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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Leading and managing projects

A project network for Corvane Media's studio refit shows the following activities: A (3 weeks, no predecessor), B (4 weeks, after A), C (6 weeks, after A), D (2 weeks, after B and C). The board wants to finish earlier and asks which activity to shorten. What is the implication?

The critical path is A-C-D at 11 weeks, against 9 weeks for A-B-D. Activity B therefore has two weeks of float, so shortening it does not speed up the project. Only reductions to A, C or D shorten the overall duration.

  1. AShortening B by one week shortens the project by one week
  2. BShortening A, C or D can reduce the duration, but B has float and shortening it will notCorrect
  3. CShortening any activity reduces the project by the same amount
  4. DOnly activity D has float, so the others cannot be changed

Explanation

Path A-B-D = 3+4+2 = 9 weeks; path A-C-D = 3+6+2 = 11 weeks. The critical path is A-C-D, so B has 2 weeks of float. Shortening B does not reduce the 11-week duration, whereas shortening A, C or D does.

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