Dummy activity definition
/What is a Dummy Activity?
A dummy activity is an activity added to a project schedule as a placeholder. It has no activity time associated with it. A dummy activity is intended to show a path of action in a project activity diagram and is employed when a logical relationship between two activities cannot be linked by showing the use of arrows linking one activity to another. It typically appears as a dashed line that links two tasks.
Example of a Dummy Activity
As an example of a dummy activity, picture a project with the following tasks:
Task A: Conduct Research
Task B: Write Report
Task C: Review Report
Task D: Approval Meeting
Task E: Publish Report
The workflow looks like this:
Task A (Conduct Research) must be completed before Task B (Write Report).
Task C (Review Report) depends on Task B (Write Report).
Task D (Approval Meeting) requires both Task A (Conduct Research) and Task C (Review Report) to be complete.
Task E (Publish Report) depends on Task D (Approval Meeting).
In this example, Task D (Approval Meeting) depends on both Task A and Task C. However, if we only show Task C as its dependency, we miss the fact that Task A is also required. Adding a dummy activity between Task A and Task D ensures clarity by showing that Task D depends on both Task A and Task C, without adding any time or resource cost.
In a network diagram, this dummy activity could be represented as a dotted arrow connecting Task A and Task D.