CVEN9702 Project Planning and Control
The Complete Exam Bible · T3 2026CVEN9702 Overview
- UNSW Sydney
- Term 3 2026
- Postgraduate
- Moodle course
- Final exam
CVEN9702 Project Planning and Control is a postgraduate UNSW Sydney course about turning construction and engineering work into a schedule that can be explained, tested and controlled.
- Assessed by Online quizzes and a final exam
- Core calculation Critical path, float and constrained scheduling
- How to prepare Draw, calculate, interpret and check every problem
What you get in the full CVEN9702 Exam Bible
- 9 chapters, 40 pages — every examinable topic, week by week
- 24 original practice questions, each with a model answer in the Final Exam format
- 9 worked examples, solved the way CVEN9702 marks
- 9 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Exam-morning plan for the Final Exam (60%) — what to revise last, where marks are lost
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full exam bible.
How CVEN9702 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Online quizzes | 40% | Moodle presents four individual assignments issued across the teaching period and due in later teaching weeks |
| Final Exam | 60% | Individual assessment during the exam period; the current Moodle table states a two-hour point after opening |
What other students are asking about CVEN9702
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for CVEN9702 at UNSW?
- The CVEN9702 study guide in AskSia Library covers Project Planning and Control in 9 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in CVEN9702, and how much is it worth?
- Yes. In the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from, Final Exam carries 60% of the CVEN9702 mark; the full split is Online quizzes 40%, Final Exam 60%.
- What does CVEN9702 cover on project networks and critical paths?
- In AskSia Library's CVEN9702 guide, the Project Networks and Critical Paths chapter explains precedence logic, forward and backward passes, float and the path controlling completion.
- What does CVEN9702 cover on estimating durations and productivity?
- In AskSia Library's CVEN9702 guide, the Estimating Durations and Productivity chapter explains quantities, production rates, calendars, learning effects and defensible assumptions.
- What does CVEN9702 cover on resource levelling and constrained scheduling?
- In AskSia Library's CVEN9702 guide, the Resource Levelling and Constrained Scheduling chapter explains histograms, crew caps, float-based movement and feasible scheduling priorities.
What CVEN9702 covers
The course moves from planning and network logic into estimating, resource scheduling and compression, then adds linear production, stochastic scheduling, monitoring, earned value and contract-based delay control.
Planning Logic and Project Strategy
From project objectives and work packages to a maintainable baseline and control loopPlanning in this course covers the method of work, activity timing and order, money, non-monetary resources and quality. The practical aim is not to predict every detail perfectly.
- Define the project finish condition before decomposing work
- Move from objectives to work packages and then to activities
- Record duration, resource and interface assumptions
- Preserve baseline, actual progress and forecast separately
- Use monitoring evidence to control and replan future work
- Balance planning effort against the value of better decisions
Project Networks and Critical Paths
Precedence logic, forward and backward passes, float and the path controlling completionProject networks translate activity dependency into time. A forward pass calculates earliest times and takes the latest predecessor finish at a merge. A backward pass calculates latest times and takes the earliest successor late start at a burst.
- Represent physical and approval dependencies explicitly
- Calculate earliest starts and finishes with a forward pass
- Calculate latest starts and finishes with a backward pass
- Identify every zero-float critical path
- Distinguish total, free and interfering float
- Recalculate criticality after logic or duration changes
Estimating Durations and Productivity
Quantities, production rates, calendars, learning effects and defensible assumptionsA schedule duration combines work quantity, production rate, discrete setup or testing work and a calendar. The basis may come from measured work, practical experience, subcontractor advice, public approval periods or vendor fabrication data.
- Separate quantity and productivity from elapsed calendar time
- Match estimate detail to the information available
- Use subcontractor, authority and vendor durations transparently
- Assign the correct calendar to each activity
- Apply learning curves only to comparable repeated work
- Record ranges, assumptions and triggers for revision
Resource Levelling and Constrained Scheduling
Histograms, crew caps, float-based movement and feasible scheduling prioritiesResource histograms aggregate activity demand across time and expose overloads, valleys and workforce instability. Resource levelling moves flexible work to smooth demand while protecting completion where possible.
- Build a resource histogram from scheduled activities
- Distinguish smoothing from hard-cap scheduling
- Use free float before consuming downstream flexibility
- Apply and explain a resource priority rule
- Recalculate duration and criticality after each move
- Compare crew continuity, cost and completion outcomes
Project Compression and Cost Trade-offs
Crash slopes, multiple critical paths and the incremental price of a shorter finishProject compression shortens duration by changing activity methods, resources or working arrangements. Only reductions on the current critical path can reduce completion.
- Confirm which path controls before spending on compression
- Calculate crash cost per unit of activity time saved
- Respect normal time, crash time and feasible methods
- Recalculate all paths after every compression increment
- Handle multiple critical paths with shared or paired actions
- Compare added direct cost with time-related project benefit
Line of Balance and PERT
Repeated-work production rates, interference and three-point duration estimatesLine-of-balance charts represent repeated work across locations or units and make production rate, buffer and interference visible. PERT addresses a different scheduling problem: uncertain activity time.
- Read line slope as a repeated-work production rate
- Use start buffers to prevent activity interference
- Distinguish a shifted start from a changed production rate
- Calculate a PERT expected duration from three estimates
- Calculate activity and path variance with correct units
- Recognise independence and normal-approximation limits
PNET and Monte Carlo Simulation
Sampled activity durations, criticality frequencies and deadline riskPNET and Monte Carlo simulation model uncertain project networks by repeating the schedule with sampled activity durations. Every run recalculates path lengths, project finish and critical-path identity.
- Assign an appropriate duration distribution to each activity
- Sample activity durations once per simulation run
- Recalculate every path and project finish inside each run
- Count deadline events with an explicit inequality
- Estimate activity and path criticality frequencies
- Validate inputs, dependence and output stability
Monitoring, Reporting and Earned Value
Baseline comparison, progress evidence, schedule variance and cost varianceProject control compares observed performance with the authorised plan and uses the difference to decide corrective action. Earned value puts planned work, completed work and actual cost on a common budget basis.
- Set a clear status date and preserve the authorised baseline
- Calculate planned value from time-phased budgeted work
- Calculate earned value from verified completion
- Separate actual cost from the value of progress
- Interpret schedule and cost variances independently
- Turn variance into cause, action, ownership and forecast
Project Control and Delay Entitlement
Critical effect, mitigation, contemporaneous records and contract-dependent conclusionsDelay analysis separates the duration of an event from its effect on project completion.
- Prove the delay event and its timing with records
- Test the event against the contemporaneous critical path
- Distinguish activity delay from project completion delay
- Account for float, resource constraints and mitigation
- Maintain an as-executed programme linked to factual records
- Apply the governing clause before stating entitlement
The Term 3 2026 Moodle sequence begins with planning, then builds project networks and overlapping relationships, duration estimates, resources and project compression. The later weeks introduce line-of-balance planning for repeated work, PERT, PNET and Monte Carlo simulation for uncertain durations, monitoring and reporting, earned value, project control and contract-based delay reasoning.
The subject is quantitative, but arithmetic is only one layer. A strong answer must first model the activity logic correctly, then show the calculation, and finally explain the project consequence. The official assessment record gives forty percent to online quizzes, which Moodle presents as four individual assignments, and sixty percent to an individual final exam.
The current Moodle table places that exam during the exam period and states a two-hour point after opening. The captured current text does not publish the section count, question mix or permitted aids, so those details should be checked on Moodle before the exam.
Historical papers in the course site show why broad preparation matters: they use short explanations as well as substantial resource scheduling, earned-value and simulation problems. This guide therefore follows the course as a connected system. Planning supplies the baseline. Network analysis identifies the controlling path and available float. Resource decisions and compression can change that path.
Stochastic methods show that the controlling path can move under uncertainty. Monitoring compares actual performance with the baseline, while delay analysis tests whether an event affects practical completion and how the contract allocates that effect. Every worked problem here is newly authored with fresh numbers, while the methods and question families remain grounded in the university teaching materials.
Worked example · free
A four-activity critical-path check
- +1Forward pass: A runs from day zero to day three. B finishes at day eight and C at day seven.
- +1D waits for the later predecessor, starts at day eight and finishes at day ten, so project duration is ten days.
- +1The path A-B-D totals ten days and A-C-D totals nine, so A-B-D is critical.
- +1C may start at day four instead of day three without delaying D, so its total float is one day.
Key terms
- Baseline
- The authorised plan used as the reference for measuring project performance and approved change.
- Critical path
- The longest start-to-finish sequence of activities that sets the minimum project duration.
- Total float
- The time an activity may move without delaying project completion, calculated from its early and late times.
- Free float
- The time an activity may move without delaying the early start of a succeeding activity.
- Resource levelling
- Movement of flexible work to smooth resource demand while protecting the required project finish where possible.
- Resource constraint
- A hard limit on labour, plant, space or another input that can force a different schedule.
- Crash slope
- The additional direct cost per unit of activity time saved between normal and crash points.
- Line of balance
- A time-location chart that compares production rates and buffers across repeated units of work.
- PERT
- A stochastic scheduling method using optimistic, most likely and pessimistic activity durations.
- Criticality index
- The share of simulation runs in which an activity lies on a controlling path.
- Earned value
- The baseline budgeted value of work actually completed at the status date.
- As-executed programme
- A factual record of actual sequence, delays, variations and agreed changes supported by project records.
CVEN9702 FAQ
How is the course assessed?
The official UNSW record assigns forty percent to online quizzes and sixty percent to the final exam. Moodle presents the quiz group as four individual assignments spread across the teaching period. The two numeric components total one hundred percent.
Is the course difficult?
The challenge is integration rather than one isolated formula. Network logic, resources, uncertainty and control affect one another, so a small modelling error can propagate. Students who draw the structure first and keep units and signs visible make the calculations much more manageable.
What should I revise first for the final?
Start with forward and backward passes, float and critical-path identification because resource scheduling, compression and delay analysis inherit that logic. Then revise PERT and simulation, followed by earned value. Finish with short written explanations that connect the result to project action.
Are past papers available?
Yes. The Moodle folder lists a long archive of past papers and solutions, including raw files through the most recent historical paper captured here. Use them to identify question families and mark allocation, but write fresh practice and verify current exam administration on Moodle.
How do schedule and cost variance differ?
Schedule variance compares earned value with planned value, while cost variance compares earned value with actual cost. A negative schedule variance means less budgeted work was completed than planned. A negative cost variance means the completed work cost more than its budgeted value.
What exam format should I expect?
The current Moodle assessment table confirms an individual final exam worth sixty percent and states a two-hour point after opening. It does not specify the current section count, question types or permitted aids in the captured text, so check the live instructions before the exam.
Questions students ask in each CVEN9702 chapter
- Why should the baseline not be overwritten?
- The baseline preserves the authorised intention needed to measure variance and understand why performance changed. Actual dates and the current forecast should be updated separately. A formal baseline change needs a visible approval and reason rather than a silent rewrite of history. Chapter 01 · Planning Logic and Project Strategy
- Why does a merge use the maximum predecessor finish?
- A successor that needs several predecessors cannot start until all are complete. The latest predecessor therefore controls its earliest start. Taking an average or the earliest finish would allow work to begin before one required input is ready. Chapter 02 · Project Networks and Critical Paths
- Why are working days different from calendar days?
- A working duration counts only periods when the assigned calendar permits work. Weekends, holidays, shutdowns and activity-specific calendars change elapsed dates. Concrete curing, normal labour and crash work may therefore use different calendars in the same project. Chapter 03 · Estimating Durations and Productivity
- What is the difference between levelling and constrained scheduling?
- Levelling seeks a smoother demand profile and often uses float to preserve completion. Constrained scheduling obeys a hard resource cap and may extend the project. State which objective applies before judging whether a move is successful. Chapter 04 · Resource Levelling and Constrained Scheduling
- Why not crash the activity with the lowest cost slope?
- A low slope saves project time only when the activity lies on every path that must shorten in that increment. Crashing non-critical work can increase float without changing completion, producing cost with no project-time benefit. Chapter 05 · Project Compression and Cost Trade-offs
- What does a crossing line mean in line of balance?
- It signals that one activity catches another across time or location, creating interference or an impossible sequence. Change the start buffer, production rate, crew arrangement or method so the follower remains safely separated. Chapter 06 · Line of Balance and PERT
- Why must the critical path be recalculated in every run?
- Sampled durations can change which path is longest. Keeping the deterministic critical path fixed misses path switching and understates uncertainty. Each run must therefore calculate all path totals and store the realised controlling path. Chapter 07 · PNET and Monte Carlo Simulation
- Why is actual cost not a progress measure?
- Spending records what the project paid, not how much accepted work it produced. A project can spend quickly and achieve little. Earned value converts verified completion into the baseline budget so cost and progress can be compared fairly. Chapter 08 · Monitoring, Reporting and Earned Value
- Does every delayed activity delay the project?
- No. An activity may use available float without changing completion. Test the event against the current feasible programme, including resource constraints, and trace its effect through successors before calling it a project delay. Chapter 09 · Project Control and Delay Entitlement
How to study for the exam
Revise the course as a dependency chain. Begin with a small original project and draw its precedence network. Complete the forward and backward passes, calculate float and identify every critical path. Add resource requirements and create a histogram, then test how a crew limit changes the schedule. Price a compression step and recalculate the paths before buying another day.
Convert one repeated activity set into a line-of-balance chart, then add uncertainty through PERT and a small Monte Carlo table. Finally, status the same project with planned value, earned value and actual cost, and test a delay event against the current critical path and project records. For each calculation, use four moves: draw or tabulate the structure, calculate with units, interpret the result, and run a sanity check.
Historical course papers mix concise concepts with large applied problems, so alternate short written explanations with timed calculations. Use the current Moodle instructions for administrative details and permitted aids rather than assuming a historical paper still applies.
Keep an error log organised by logic, arithmetic, units, sign and interpretation; redo the same question family until the reason for each mistake is explicit.
