1. The project manager can use a network diagram like the one above to carry out a forward pass and backward pass to calculate, among other things, the ES/EF and LS/LF times for each of the activities in the project.

1. What additional information will the project manager be able to determine about the project schedule after performing these calculations? Why is this information important to the project manager?

2. What else does the project manager need to know to complete the project schedule and how might this additional information impact on the results from part (i)? Explain.

2. This question refers to the network diagram at the start of this question.
   1. You are required to shorten the duration of the project in the network diagram above by 1 week less than its earliest finish time. Only the activities in the following table can be shortened (crashed). They can all be crashed by up to 2 weeks. The costs to crash each activity are shown in the table below. Activity I cannot be crashed. What activity (or activities) would you crash if you are required to shorten the project duration by one week for the lowest possible cost. You must explain your choice(s). (1 mark)

Activity	Cost to shorten task by 1 week
A	$3000
B	$1500
C	$1000
D	$1000
E	$800
F	$1000
G	$900
H	$4000

2. In practice it may not be quite as straightforward to crash (shorten the duration of) a project as this exercise suggests. Explain what can complicate this process in practice.

3. Discuss the risks associated with compressing (or crashing) projects.

B F 2 20 6 3 C Hill 1 5 3 10 . D G 8 11 9 2 E 5 5 KEY: Activity Activity number Duration estimate (in weeks)