| Course | HLTH 5683 Project Management for Healthcare Administrators |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 3 |
| Paper type | Schedule and critical path analysis |
| Length | 1,200 words, about 4 pages plus title and reference pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | American College of Education |
| Program | MHA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HLTH 5683 Module 3
The Temporary Room Sets the Date: Sequencing a Cleanroom Project Until Its 45-Week Critical Path Appears
Student Name
American College of Education
HLTH5683: Project Management for Healthcare Administrators
Module 3 Assignment
Instructor Name
September 18, 2028
From Work Packages to Activities
The work breakdown in the previous module divided the composite hospital's sterile compounding suite into 45 work packages. For scheduling, the team grouped them into 28 activities, combining packages that are always done in sequence by the same crew, such as new walls, ceiling and floors. Each activity's duration was estimated by the person responsible for it, in weeks, with the basis written down: the design firm for design, the building department's published review times for the permit, the vendors' quoted lead times for equipment and the contractor for construction. Dependencies were set as finish-to-start relationships unless the work could clearly overlap.
The critical path method, first described by Kelley and Walker (1959), calculates for each activity the earliest it can start and finish, working forward from the start, and the latest it can start and finish without delaying the project, working backward from the end. The difference is float. Activities with zero float form the critical path: any delay to them delays the finish. A schedule without a critical path tells everyone when things should happen; a schedule with one tells the project manager which delays matter.
The Network
Starting from charter approval on September 15, 2028, the design chain runs through a site survey of two weeks, schematic design of four weeks, a one-week design review with the certifier, building official and fire marshal, construction documents of six weeks and a building permit review of seven weeks, which ends in early February. Three chains branch from the design review. The dedicated air handling unit can be ordered once the design review fixes its specification; its quoted lead time is 14 weeks. Procedures can be drafted over eight weeks, followed by six weeks of classroom training. And the primary engineering controls can be ordered once construction documents are complete, with a ten-week lead time.
The temporary cleanroom chain starts after schematic design: ten weeks to procure the modular unit, two weeks to install it once the infection control risk assessment is complete, two weeks to certify it and one week to move compounding into it. Demolition in the pharmacy can begin only when both the permit is issued and compounding has moved out. Construction then runs through demolition of two weeks, walls, ceiling and floors of eight weeks and doors, pass-through, sink and finishes of four weeks, while ductwork of six weeks and installation of the air handling unit of two weeks proceed in parallel. Controls and pressure monitoring take two weeks, air balancing two, certification two, followed in parallel by environmental sampling and hands-on competency assessment in the new suite, each two weeks, and a final two weeks of stocking and a dry run.
The Critical Path
The forward pass gives a finish at week 45, July 27, 2029, five days before the charter's target of August 1. The backward pass identifies the critical path: charter approval, site survey, schematic design, procurement, installation and certification of the temporary cleanroom, the move into it, demolition, walls, ceiling and floors, doors and finishes, controls, air balancing, certification, then environmental sampling and competency assessment together and the final dry run. Every activity on that chain has zero float.
The team had assumed the permit would drive the date. It does not, by one week. The design and permit chain finishes in week 20, while the temporary cleanroom is ready for compounding only in week 21, so demolition waits for the temporary room, not for the permit. The air handling unit, the risk everyone worried about, has 12 weeks of float if ordered after the design review. The primary engineering controls have 13 weeks and training 20. Ductwork and air handling installation run four weeks ahead of the walls they must meet.
Decisions the Critical Path Changes
The finding changes three decisions. First, the temporary cleanroom should be ordered as soon as the site survey confirms where it will go, four weeks earlier than planned, rather than waiting for schematic design. Rerunning the schedule with that change moves the temporary room off the critical path and makes the permit the driver, with the finish moving one week earlier to week 44. Second, the air handling unit should be ordered immediately after the design review, not after construction documents. If the order waited for final documents in week 13, the unit would arrive in week 27, only two weeks before it is needed, and its 12 weeks of float would shrink to two. Third, training can start later without any effect on the date, which lets pharmacy staff complete it closer to opening, when it will be fresher.
The analysis also shows what does not need attention. Several stakeholders had asked for the primary engineering controls to be ordered early; with 13 weeks of float, there is no schedule reason to spend the money sooner.
Options If the Date Slips
The schedule also needs a plan for recovery, decided before it is needed. The Project Management Institute (2021) describes two common ways to shorten a schedule: crashing, which adds resources to critical activities at extra cost, and fast tracking, which overlaps activities that would normally run in sequence, at the price of more risk and possible rework. The team identified one of each on the critical path. The contractor can add a second crew to walls, ceiling and floors, cutting that activity from eight weeks to six for about $38,000 in overtime and additional labor. And controls and pressure monitoring can begin on the ductwork side of the suite while the last finishes are completed, saving about one week, with the risk that finishing work damages sensors already installed.
Neither option will be used unless the critical path loses more than the two-week buffer. Both are recorded now, with their costs and risks, so that a decision in June does not have to start from nothing. Options off the critical path, such as speeding up equipment deliveries, would cost money without moving the date and are excluded from the recovery plan.
Protecting the Schedule
A single-point schedule is only as good as its estimates, and large projects are notoriously optimistic. Flyvbjerg (2014), reviewing evidence on major projects, argued that cost overruns and delays are the rule rather than the exception and that planners' optimism and misjudgment of risk are major causes. This project is not large, but its estimates came from the same kind of people. The team therefore asked each owner of a critical activity for a pessimistic duration. The three largest gaps were air balancing, which can take several rounds if pressures do not hold, walls and finishes, which depend on the contractor's crew availability, and the temporary cleanroom's certification.
The project manager will hold two weeks of schedule buffer between the dry run and the August 1 opening, report float on the critical and near-critical paths every two weeks and treat any loss of float on the permit chain as critical once the temporary room is ordered early. The critical path is not fixed at the start; it moves whenever an activity uses its float, and the project manager's job is to notice.
References
Flyvbjerg, B. (2014). What you should know about megaprojects and why: An overview. Project Management Journal, 45(2), 6-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmj.21409
Kelley, J. E., Jr., & Walker, M. R. (1959). Critical-path planning and scheduling. In Papers presented at the December 1-3, 1959, eastern joint IRE-AIEE-ACM computer conference (pp. 160-173). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/1460299.1460318
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.
The HLTH 5683 Module 3 assignment instructions
HLTH 5683 Module 3 asks you to sequence project activities until a critical path appears. Most prompts expect activities derived from work packages, durations with a basis, dependencies, a network diagram, the critical path and finish date, float on other activities, decisions the analysis changes and options if the schedule slips. Many sections allow project software; others ask you to calculate by hand. A schedule paper usually runs five pages with a network figure. The HLTH 5683 Canvas instructions state whether a Gantt chart or network diagram must be attached. Give the basis for every duration, such as a vendor quote or a past project.
How this HLTH 5683 Module 3 example is built
The paper begins by converting work packages into activities, each with a duration based on vendor quotes, past projects or expert judgment. The network section sets dependencies, such as design approval before permits and air balancing before certification. The critical path section runs the forward and backward passes and lists the path: building a temporary compounding room, moving operations, demolition, construction, air handling, certification and training, finishing in 45 weeks, three weeks inside the charter date. Near-critical activities with little float are flagged. The decisions section shows how the path moves effort to the temporary room. The slip section weighs fast tracking and crashing with costs and risks. The last section protects the date with a buffer and early warning triggers.
Reading the HLTH 5683 Module 3 rubric
Schedule papers are graded on correctness and use. Activity credit requires durations with a stated basis. Network marks reward dependencies that make sense and are complete. The critical path row usually carries the most weight: forward and backward passes done correctly, the path listed in full and the finish date compared with the charter. Graders give credit for reporting float on near-critical activities. Decision and slip marks go to concrete choices with costs and risks. Schedule protection with buffers and triggers, an attached diagram and APA 7 round out the remaining marks. Raters also reward identifying the activity that surprises the team by sitting on the critical path. Raters also reward float shown for every activity, with the critical path marked clearly on the diagram.
Common HLTH 5683 Module 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Schedule papers most often present a Gantt chart without dependencies, so the critical path cannot be found. Another frequent weakness is durations with no basis. Students also ignore near-critical activities that become critical after a small delay. Derive activities from the breakdown. State the basis for each duration. Set dependencies. Calculate the critical path and float. Show what the path changes. Plan responses before the date slips. Update the schedule when any activity on the path moves. If your project is an implementation, a renovation or a service launch, the desk can write a schedule and critical path analysis for it. Show the network diagram beside the calculations.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official American College of Education document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More HLTH 5683 and MHA sample papers
- HLTH 5683 Module 1: Project Charter
- HLTH 5683 Module 2: Work Breakdown and Stakeholders
- HLTH 5683 Module 4: Risk Register and Analysis
- HLTH 5683 Module 5: Budget and Change Control Plan
- HLTH 5683 Module 6: Closeout and Handover Report
- HLTH 5643 Module 4: Implementation Plan
- HLTH 5643 Module 5: Data Governance Plan
- HLTH 5613 Module 2: Competitor and Payer Analysis
- HLTH 5693 Module 6: Capstone Final Synthesis
HLTH 5683 Module 3 questions, answered
How do I find the critical path?
Work forward from the start to find each activity's earliest start and finish, then backward from the end to find its latest start and finish. Activities where earliest and latest are the same have zero float and form the critical path.
Why report float on non-critical activities?
Activities with little float can become critical after a small delay, and activities with a lot of float can be scheduled flexibly. Knowing float helps a project manager decide where to watch closely and where there is room.
Where can I find a free HLTH 5683 Module 3 sample paper?
Yes, above. Start at "From Work Packages to Activities"; the HLTH 5683 Module 3 schedule and critical path analysis then turns to "Decisions the Critical Path Changes" and closes on "Protecting the Schedule".
What is the difference between fast tracking and crashing?
Fast tracking overlaps activities that would normally run in sequence, adding risk. Crashing adds resources, such as overtime or extra crews, to shorten critical activities, adding cost.
What is float in a project schedule?
Float is how long an activity can be delayed without delaying the project's finish. Activities on the critical path have zero float.