An activity has an early finish date of January 21 and a late finish date of January 28. What can be said of this activity?

An activity has an early finish date of January 21 and a late finish date of January 28. What can be said of this activity?

• A. The activity is on a non-critical path
• B. The activity has a lead
• C. The activity has a lag
• D. The activity is on the critical path

Answer: (A)

In CPM terms, early finish and late finish show the window during which an activity can complete without delaying the project. If an activity finishes by January 21 but could finish as late as January 28, there are 7 days of float (slack). This means the activity can slip up to a week without impacting the project’s finish date. Only tasks on the critical path have zero float, where early finish equals late finish. Since this activity has a positive difference between its late finish and early finish, it is not on the critical path. Lead and lag describe timing relationships between activities, not the existence of this slack, so those concepts aren’t determined by these dates.

In CPM terms, early finish and late finish show the window during which an activity can complete without delaying the project. If an activity finishes by January 21 but could finish as late as January 28, there are 7 days of float (slack). This means the activity can slip up to a week without impacting the project’s finish date. Only tasks on the critical path have zero float, where early finish equals late finish. Since this activity has a positive difference between its late finish and early finish, it is not on the critical path. Lead and lag describe timing relationships between activities, not the existence of this slack, so those concepts aren’t determined by these dates.