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home / study / business / operations management / operations management questions and answers / write an essay that exceeds 500 words following the apa 6th edition on the network diagram ... Your question has been answered Let us know if you got a helpful answer. Rate this answer Question: Write an Essay that exceeds 500 words following the APA 6th edition on the network diagram and it... Write an Essay that exceeds 500 words following the APA 6th edition on the network diagram and its benefit to the project. Address the following: What is the Network Diagram? Describe the "Activity on Node" and "Activity on Arrow" diagram. What is an early and late start, early and late finish? Describe forward and backward pass. What is slack or float? Explain the critical path. Please use a minimum of 2 references.

Answer 1

Network Diagram

A Network diagram can be defined as a visual representation of a schedule of a project. Examples of a network diagram includes PERT, Gant chart. This diagram is very useful in planning and tracking a project right from the beginning till it is finished. The diagram also represents the critical path of the project as well as the project scope.

Further, there as two types of Network diagram which are AON (Activity on node) and AOA (Activity on Arrow).

AON – Activity on Node

Activity on node basically refers to a method where we use boxes (nodes) to demote scheduled activities. It is also called a precedence diagramming method. These nodes are then connected with arrows from beginning to the end so as to depict a logical progression of dependencies between the activities scheduled.

AOA – Activity on Arrow

This method is also called as Arrow Diagramming method (ADM). This diagram basically circles and arrows. In this diagram, an arrow represents the scheduled activities whereas a circle represents a node that represents the starting and the finish point of the activity. These diagrams are used in order to optimize the performance the task in a project. These are used in CPM and PERT applications.

Early Start

Early start dates basically represents the earliest that a project activity can be started considering the respective logic and constraints for that activity. Early start dates are always declared first

Early Finish

Early finish dates are exactly the reverse of the early start dates. These basically represents the latest an activity could be finished for a project considering the respective logic and constraints for that activity.

Late Start

Late start dates of a project represents the latest an activity should be started in order to ensure that the project finishes in the desired time period considering the logic and constraints for that activity

Late Finish

Late start dates of a project represents the latest an activity should be finished in order to ensure that the project finishes in the desired time period considering the logic and constraints for that activity

Forward Pass

Forward pass is a term related to critical path Forward pass is a technique that tells you to move forward through a diagram in order to calculate the activity duration

Backward Pass

Backward pass is a term related to critical path. Backward pass is a technique that tells you to move backwards through a diagram in order to calculate the activity duration. It is the exact opposite of the forward pass

Note: Whether we use a forward pass or a backward method, we get the same activity duration

Slack or Float

Slack is also known as float in an activity diagram. Slack or Float can be defined as the mount of time for which any task of an activity diagram can be allowed to be delayed without causing any sort of delay in the subsequent tasks or in the overall project completion time of the project. The Total float in an activity diagram represents the combined free float values of all the activities in a path.

Critical Path

Critical path is basically the longest path in terms of the project completion time such that all the activities are completed and the project does not suffer any sort of delay.