Activity
Task(s) of the project that consumes time while people/equipment either work or wait.
Activity-on-arrow
(AOA)
Activity-on-arrow method for drawing project networks. The activity is shown as an arrow.
Activity-on-node
(AON)
Activity-on-node method for drawing project networks. The activity is on the node (rectangle).
Burst activity
An activity that has more than one activity immediately following it.
Concurrent engineering
Cross functional teamwork in new-product development projects that provides product design, quality engineering, and manufacturing process engineering all at
the same time.
Critical path
The longest activity path(s) through the network. The critical path can be distinguished by identifying the collection of activities that all have the same minimum slack.
Gantt chart
A graphic presentation of project activities depicted as a time-scaled bar line.
Hammock activity
A special-purpose, aggregate activity that identifies the use of fixed resources or costs over a segment of the project—e.g., a consultant. Derives its duration from the time span between other activities.
Lag relationship
The relationship between the start and/ or finish of a project activity and the start and/or finish of another activity. The most common lag relationships are (1)
finish-to-start, (2) finish-to-finish, (3) start-tostart, and (4) start-to-finish.
Merge activity
An activity that has more than one activity immediately preceding it.
Parallel activity
One or more activities that can be carried on concurrently or simultaneously.
Sensitivity
The likelihood that the critical path(s) will change once the project begins to be implemented.
