Question: When deciding on whether or not to crash project activities, a project manager was faced with the following information. Activities on the critical path are highlighted with an asterisk:

a. Identify the sequencing of the activities to be crashed in the first four steps. Which of the critical activities should be crashed first? Why?

b. What is the project's critical path? After four iterations involving crashing project activities, what has the critical path shrunk to? (Assume all noncritical paths are ... a fully crashed critical path.)

c. Suppose project overhead costs accrued at a fixed rate of $500 per week. Chart the decline in direct costs over the project life relative to the increase in overhead expenses.

d. Assume that a project penalty clause kicks in after 19 weeks. The penalty charged is $5,000 per week. When the penalty charges are added, what does the total project cost curve look like? Develop a table listing the costs accruing on a per-week basis.

e. If there were no penalty payments accruing to the project, would it make sense to crash any project activities? Show your work.