Project Management
Project Management tests planning and control of engineering projects: work breakdown, network logic, critical path, float, crashing, earned value, risk, and contractual communication. Expect schedule and cost calculations tied to a narrative, not just definition recall.
Core rules
- CPM: critical path has zero total float; total float = LS − ES or LF − EF.
- PERT expected time = (optimistic + 4 × most likely + pessimistic)/6.
- Crashing should target the critical activity with the lowest cost per unit time saved, while checking for new critical paths.
- EVM: CV = EV − AC; SV = EV − PV; CPI = EV/AC; SPI = EV/PV.
- A negative CV or SV indicates over budget or behind schedule respectively.
- Risk response: avoid, mitigate, transfer, accept; record owners and triggers.
Worked example
A project has PV = 200,000, EV = 180,000, and AC = 190,000. CV = 180,000 − 190,000 = −10,000, so it is over budget. SV = 180,000 − 200,000 = −20,000, so it is behind schedule. CPI = 180,000/190,000 = 0.947; SPI = 180,000/200,000 = 0.90. The project is earning about 95 cents per dollar spent and progressing at 90% of planned value. Forecast cost at completion, if the trend continues, is BAC/CPI.
Traps
- Reversing EVM sign conventions or using AC in place of PV.
- Treating free float and total float as interchangeable.
- Crashing a non-critical activity and expecting schedule gain.
- Using PERT weighted average without checking network logic.
- Ignoring resource constraints that make a mathematically critical path infeasible.