FIN5003 Project Management: Critical Path and Crashing Analysis

This project management assignment analyzes a hypothetical project for a new computer launch. The solution begins with an AON diagram illustrating the project's activities and dependencies, followed by an identification of the critical path, which includes the activities A-F-G-D-J, with a total project duration of 194 days. The assignment then explores project crashing, recommending crashing activities A and F to reduce the project duration by 8 days at an additional cost of $395. The rationale behind this decision prioritizes the importance of the post-production advertising campaign (activity J) to ensure a timely market launch. The analysis includes a detailed table of activities, durations, and early/late start and finish times. The solution references relevant academic sources on project planning and scheduling to support the analysis.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author’s Note-

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a. AON Diagram
Figure 1: AON Diagram
(Source: Created by Author)

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b. Critical Path
Figure 2: AON Diagram showing critical path
(Source: Created by Author)
The red path in the diagram above shows the critical path of the project. There are three
critical paths in the project; A – F – G – D – E, A – F – G – D – H, and A – F – G – D – J
The critical path that is needed to be considered for this project is: A – F – G – D – J
The total length of the project is 194 days.
Explanation:
Activity Duration Early Start Early Finish Late Start Late Finish
A 90 0 90 0 90
B 15 90 105 15 110
C 5 105 110 110 115

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D 20 129 149 129 149
E 21 149 170 149 170
F 25 90 115 90 115
G 14 115 129 115 129
H 28 149 177 149 177
I 30 90 120 119 149
J 45 149 194 149 194
c. Crashing the project
From the given crashing chart of the project for each activities, it is recommended to
crash activity A and activity F to bring the new computer 8 days earlier than the expected
duration of the project. Crashing these activities will increase the cost of the project by $395. But
the company can launch the new computer 8 day earlier than the expected scheduled time and
faster than other competitors in the market.
Other crashing possibilities were also possible for the project, but as the critical path of
the project is A- F – G – D – J, the best possible crashing within these activities is activity A and
activity J. Crashing other activities will increase the cost of the project more.
If the critical path A – F – G – D – H would be taken as the critical path of the project,
then crashing activity A and activity H would bring the crash cost much less. The crashing of
activities A and H would increase the cost of the project with only $326. But the activity J is to
be considered in the critical path of the project as because the activity Post production

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advertising campaign is an important activity for campaigning the new launch of the computer
before any other competitor in the market. So, it is recommended to crash activity A and activity
J to have a positive effect in the market and launch the new computer system earlier than any
competitor.

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Bibliography
Agyei, W. (2015). Project planning and scheduling using PERT and CPM techniques with linear
programming: case study. International journal of scientific & technology research, 4(8), 222-
227.
Effendi, Y.A. and Sarno, R., 2017, October. Non-linear optimization of critical path method.
In 2017 3rd International Conference on Science in Information Technology (ICSITech)(pp. 90-
96). IEEE.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Meier, C., Browning, T.R., Yassine, A.A. and Walter, U., 2015. The cost of speed: Work
policies for crashing and overlapping in product development projects. IEEE Transactions on
Engineering Management, 62(2), pp.237-255.