Basic Top 10 Primavera Interview Questions

with Answers.
Q1: What are the difference between free float, total float and what is different between Float
and Slack?
This is very common question in a Primavera interview, Float and slack are the two different
words for the same meaning.
Q2: What is a constraint in primavera?
Constrains in primavera is to fix the early or late start or finish date of an activity as per
following options:
1) Project Must Finish by
2) Mandatory Start / Mandatory Finish
3) Start / Finish On or After
4) Start / Finish On or Before
5) Start / Finish On
6) Expected Finish
Q3:How can you define the Critical Path in primavera?
The sequence of activities which describe the longest path from the data date to the end of the
project. In a schedule without any constraints, this will be all activities with zero total float.
(if you have constrains which force negative float, simply filtering on total float equal to or less
than zero can bring up activities which are not on the critical path)
Q4:What is WBS?
WBS means Work Breakdown Structure. it represents a hierarchical breakdown of a Project into
elements and deliverables.
Q5:What is an open end activity in primavera?
The open end activity is the activity that does not have any successor. Normally open end
activity is not accepted in schedule because the total float will be calculate from the end of the

project and these entire activities late dates gather at the end of the project and can not be prepare
a logical late start plan.
Q6:What is the difference between Retained Logic & Override Logic in progress update?
If a project is generally running according to plan and activities are not progressed out of
sequence then there will be virtually no difference between the two methods. BIG differences
come when activities are progressed out of sequence.
I believe in retained logic. Invariably that will produce the longest critical path but if activities
have been progressed out of sequence, there could be some resulting illogical dependencies
remaining, in particular resulting from dependencies with durations.
Progress override invariably produces a shorter critical path and again there could be some
illogical lack of dependencies resulting from activities having been progressed out of sequence.
Q7:How do u measure & compare the progress using primavera?
This is one of the Hard primavera Interview Questions, try to explain without confusion.Progress
is measured primarily against the baseline. If the baseline has been loaded with cost and/or
resources, earned value management can be used for this purpose. If not, progress is measured as
variance to baseline dates.
Budget at Completion (BAC)
Planned Value (PV) = budget at Completion (BAC) x Planned % Complete
Earned Value (EV) = budget at Completion (BAC) x Actual% Complete
Actual Cost (AC) = No formula What youve actually spent on the project
Schedule Performance Index (SPl) =Earned Value (EV) / Planned Value (PV)
Schedule Variance (SV) =Earned Value (EV) Planned Value (PV)
Cost Performance Index (CPI) =Earned Value (EV) / Actual Cost (AC)
To Complete Performance Index (TCPI) =(Budget at Completion (BAC) Earned Value (EV) ) /
(Budget at Completion (BAC) -Actual Cost (AC) )
Cost Variance (CV) = Earned Value (EV) -Actual Cost (AC)
Q8: What is resource allocation and resource leveling?
Resource allocation is assigning resources to activities, determine the amount of labor,
equipment and money required for any activity.

Resource leveling is Resource requirements of all scheduled activities are compared to the
maximum quantity available at the time of leveling. An activity is delayed if too few resources
are available at any time during the activitys duration. The maximum quantity for a resource is
determined through the Max units/time for a particular resource in the Resources Tab.

Q9: What is an S Curve and how to create S Curve in primavera?

An S-curve is a graph showing cumulative cost or value (measured in terms of money or manhours) against time. On a typical project, these graphs follow an S shape, hence the name.
Typical data to be plotted on an S-Curve includes:
Actual Cost (ACWP)
Planned Value (BCWS) Early dates
Planned Value (BCWS) Late dates
Earned Value (BCWP)
Forecast Value Early dates
Forecast value Late dates
Forecast Cost Early dates
Forecast cost Late dates
Q10: What are the difference between flag and milestone activity in primavera?
This is one of the tricky Primavera Interview questions.
Mile stone & flags both are events rather than activities. Some client likes to use flags rather than
mile stone due the following differences.
1- With the use of flags the logic of main event can be easily tracked as these cannot be created
without predecessor as standalone allocating the constraint. Whereas mile stone can.
2- Flags cannot update manually as Primavera automatically update the status whereas milestone
can be update manually.
3- Flags cannot be constraint only driven by predecessor whereas milestone can.