Deck 6: Allocating Resources to the Project

Question 1

When crashing a task, the usual assumption is that a task is crashed the full amount or none at all.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

If resources were not scarce, the resource allocation problem would be concerned solely with profit maximization.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

If resources were not scarce, the resource allocation problem would be concerned solely with cost minimization.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Projects often compete with each other for the same resources.

Question 5

All projects are carried out under conditions of uncertainty.

Question 6

Trade-offs must be made in order to optimize the use of limited resources.

Question 7

Often it is beneficial to crash activities not on the critical path.

Question 8

When the work is routine, fast-tracking rarely causes serious problems.

Question 9

The time to complete a task with normal or standard-practice resource usage is referred to as the crash duration.

Question 10

Good project managers are able to estimate project task times with absolute certainty.

Question 11

Resource loading refers to the amounts of specific resources that are scheduled for use on specific activities or projects at specific times.

Question 12

Fast-tracking a project is used primarily in the pharmaceutical industry.

Question 13

The CPM method cannot be used when task durations are probabilistic.

Question 14

All tasks can be crashed to some extent.

Question 15

The amount of resources a project can use depends in part on the timing of the allocation.

Question 16

Resource loading refers to the amounts of specific resources that are scheduled for use on specific activities or projects at specific times.

Question 17

The variance of the normal time can be quite different from the variance of the crash time.

Question 18

It is considered good management to crash the least costly activities before the more costly ones.

Question 19

A project that must be completed by a fixed time is referred to as resource constrained.

Question 20

For resources that are consumed when used, the problem is which project gets to use the resource first and which must wait.

Question 21

Pools of like workers are most useful when labor is subdivided into highly specialized subtasks.

Question 22

According to research minimum slack rule is the overall best priority rule.

Question 23

The task duration with standard-practice resource usage is referred to as the…

A) expected task duration
B) nominal task duration
C) crash duration
D) normal task duration
E) planned task duration

Question 24

The primary cause of concern in resource allocation is…

A) labor cost
B) resource scarcity
C) lack of solution methodologies
D) parallel activities
E) equipment downtime

Question 25

The process of line balancing is when individual production lines are made to generate the required amount of product with a little excess capacity as possible.

Question 26

Crashing non-critical activities will influence project duration.

Question 27

Microsoft Project allows the project manager to create an individual availability calendar for each resource on the project

Question 28

A limitation associated with traditional approaches to project management is that the dependency between resources and tasks is often ignored.

Question 29

One limitation of Microsoft Project is that all resources must share the same availability calendar.

Question 30

The as late as possible priority rule is considered the standard scheduling rule.

Question 31

Pools of like resources from which labor can be added temporarily to projects tend to increase costs for the firm as a whole.

Question 32

. The shortest duration task first rule minimizes the number of tasks that can be completed by s system in a given time period.

Question 33

A task has a normal duration of 9 days and a crash duration of 7 days. Its normal cost is $40 and its crash cost is $100. What is the crash cost per day?

A) $140
B) $70
C) $50
D) $40
E) $30

Question 34

A resource allocation decision may be intended to avoid a future problem rather than correct a current problem.

Question 35

Activities that have duration but do not require resources are referred to as pseudoactivities.

Question 36

A task's duration is a function of both the amount of labor required to complete the task as well as the calendar time required to complete it.

Question 37

Allocating specific, limited resources to specific activities is called…

A) resource allocation
B) resource leveling
C) resource tracking
D) expediting a project
E) crashing a project

Question 38

A project that must be completed by a specific time is considered…

A) time constrained
B) schedule constrained
C) resource constrained
D) performance constrained
E) critically constrained

Question 39

In general, steady state demand for human resources is highly desirable.

Question 40

Applying "line balancing" techniques to balance the capacity of a project typically yields significant benefits.

Question 41

All of the following are criteria available to help choose the priority rule mentioned in the textbook except;

A) Schedule slippage
B) Project cost
C) resource utilization
D) in-process inventory

Question 42

What is fast-tracking a project?

Question 43

The practice of assigning project team members to multiple projects is called…

A) concurrent engineering
B) parallel activities
C) fast-tracking
D) project crashing
E) multitasking

Question 44

Which of the following priority rules makes resources available so that activities start on their LSTs whenever possible without increasing the project's duration?

A) as soon as possible
B) as late as possible
C) shortest task duration first
D) minimum slack first
E) most critical successor

Question 45

Crashing refers to…

A) expediting the project so as to minimizing the total cost of completing the project.
B) expediting the project so as to minimizing the number of activities in the project
C) expediting the project so as to completing the project by a specified time.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above.

Question 46

A project that must be completed with in the specified performance requirements is considered…

A) time constrained
B) schedule constrained
C) resource constrained
D) performance constrained
E) critically constrained

Question 47

Which of the following is not commonly used to help select a priority rule?

A) schedule slippage
B) resource utilization
C) in-process inventory
D) cost overruns
E) all of the above are used

Question 48

The safety time added to chains other than the critical chain is called…

A) feeding buffer
B) project buffer
C) path buffer
D) critical buffer
E) team buffer

Question 49

What is the student syndrome? In what ways can it create problems for a project?

Question 50

Which of the following is a measure of the amount by which a project is delayed by application of a leveling rule?

A) schedule inflation
B) schedule progression
C) schedule efficacy
D) schedule efficiency
E) schedule slippage

Question 51

What is resource loading?

Question 52

Which of the following is not considered a resource?

A) Money
B) People
C) Equipment
D) Material
E) None of the above

Question 53

According to research, the best overall priority rule is…

A) as soon as possible
B) as late as possible
C) shortest task duration first
D) minimum slack first
E) most critical successor

Question 54

Explain how the commonly made assumption of known activity times can lead to unrealistic project deadlines.

Question 55

What is resource leveling? Why is it needed?

Question 56

List and briefly explain five priority rules used to assign preference to activities when allocating scarce resources.

Question 57

Which of the following rules maximizes the number of tasks that can be completed by a system in a given period of time?

A) as soon as possible
B) as late as possible
C) shortest task duration first
D) minimum slack first
E) most critical successor

Question 58

Starting the building phase before the design and planning phases is called…

A) operations overlapping
B) concurrent engineering
C) fast-tracking
D) concurrent construction
E) construction overlapping

Question 59

To crash a project, which of the following principles apply? 1) Focus on the critical path(s) when trying to shorten the duration of a project, 2) Select the least expensive way to do it 3) Crash non-critical activities

A) All three are correct
B) Only 1 and 3 are correct
C) Only 1 and 2 are correct
D) Only 1 is correct

Question 60

Explain how you would choose a priority rule.

Question 61

Explain the concept of a safety buffer.

Question 62

Briefly overview Goldratt's common chain of events.

Question 63

What is the effect of not reporting the early completion of project activities?

Question 64

Explain the concept of a feeding buffer.

Question 65

Why are scarce resources referred to as "Walts"?

Question 66

Explain the concept of a project buffer.