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:

  1. Task A (Conduct Research) must be completed before Task B (Write Report).

  2. Task C (Review Report) depends on Task B (Write Report).

  3. Task D (Approval Meeting) requires both Task A (Conduct Research) and Task C (Review Report) to be complete.

  4. 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.

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