Project scheduling fundamentals: PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) and CPM (Critical Path Method) are best classified as what kind of methods used to plan and control complex projects?

Introduction / Context:
Managers use structured methods to plan, schedule, and control multi-activity projects. Two foundational methods—PERT and CPM—visually and analytically model task precedence and timing to identify the longest path (critical path) that governs project duration. Recognizing their classification helps distinguish them from other operations research tools like assignment or transportation models.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Projects consist of interdependent activities with precedence constraints.
• Goal: estimate duration, identify critical path, and allocate slack.
• Methods compared: network techniques versus assignment approaches.

Concept / Approach:
PERT and CPM represent projects as networks (nodes/activities with directed edges denoting precedence). Calculations determine earliest and latest start/finish times and reveal the critical path. While they do evaluate projects, their defining characteristic is the network representation. Assignment techniques, by contrast, allocate resources to tasks without modeling temporal precedence as a network over time.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Project management standards teach PERT/CPM under network planning techniques, reinforcing the classification.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Assignment techniques: Solve allocation problems; not network-based scheduling.
• Project evaluation techniques: Descriptive but less precise; the core is network modeling.
• All/None: Invalid because “assignment” is not applicable.

Common Pitfalls:
Confusing Gantt displays (visualization) with the underlying network logic; ignoring slack management on noncritical paths.

Final Answer:
network techniques