ITPEC FE Morning April 2021 Question 52

How long a non-critical activity can be deferred without delaying the project — slack (total float) is measured against the project end date.

For each activity, slack = latest start − earliest start = latest finish − earliest finish. Activities on the critical path have zero slack, so any delay to them delays the project. An activity off the critical path can slip by up to its slack and the project still ends on time.

Answer (b)

Why not others:

• •(a) — the time from earliest start to earliest finish, or latest start to latest finish, is the activity's duration, not its slack
• •(c) — delay that does not affect the earliest start of any successor is free float, a stricter measure than total slack
• •(d) — the latest start and latest finish are already the limits; delaying past them delays the whole project

Key rule: Total float protects the project end date, free float protects the next activity's earliest start; the critical path is the chain of activities with zero total float.

Project Management · AI-written, may contain errors