Deck 8: Scheduling Projects

Question 1

To use the enumeration method of determining the critical path,we list or enumerate all of the paths through the network.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The critical path is the sequence of schedule activities determining the duration of the project,and is generally the shortest path through the project.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The most common type of logical dependency to determine the sequence of project activities is "finish-to-finish" (FF).

Answer 3

False

Question 4

When developing a project schedule,total float refers to the amount of time a schedule activity may be delayed from its early start date without delaying the project end date.

Question 5

The length of time to perform an activity is often dependent upon who will do that work.

Question 6

The "start-to-start" logical relationship used in activity sequencing applies to the case in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has started.

Question 7

A mandatory dependency is a logical relationship between activities that must happen - usually due to a physical or legal demand.

Question 8

There is often terrific pressure to complete a project as quickly as possible.To confront this pressure,a project manager should quickly promise to meet the deadlines requested by the sponsor and then assemble a team to create the corresponding schedule.

Question 9

In the enumeration method the project schedule is calculated many times (perhaps 1,000 or more),and each time,the estimate for a particular activity is generated based on the likelihood of that time as determined by the project manager.

Question 10

If the project manager changes an activity on the critical path to start at a later date,then the whole project will end at a later date.

Question 11

While the lowest level of decomposition in a WBS is the work package,work packages can still be decomposed further into work activities.

Question 12

A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that shows each work activity on a separate line with the bar placed from the early start date to the early finish date for each activity on a timescale.

Question 13

In order for activities to be useful as schedule building blocks,they should have tangible output that can be verified.

Question 14

PERT refers to Program Evaluation and Review Technique,which was developed in the 1950s to better understand how variability in the individual activity durations impacts the entire project schedule.

Question 15

GANTT refers to the Generalized Activity Network Tracking Technique which was developed to better understand how variability in the duration of individual activities impacts the expected project duration.

Question 16

The primary advantage of PERT is that it removes uncertainty from the estimates of activity durations,thereby increasing confidence in the reliability of a project schedule.

Question 17

Except in rare circumstances,project teams should not attempt to decompose work packages into project activities because work packages provide sufficient detail to develop a project schedule.

Question 18

A successor activity is the schedule activity that follows a predecessor activity,as determined by their logical relationship.

Question 19

The first process in developing a project schedule is to identify all the resources available to work on the project.

Question 20

Even small delays on "near-critical" activities can change the critical path of a project.

Question 21

Figure 7-1 Assembly Project
Consider the Assembly Project depicted in Figure 7-1.Based on the information provided,what is the early start date for activity D - "Attach Modules 1 & 2"?​ 

A) Day 0 
B) Day 3 
C) Day 4 
D) Day 5

Question 22

Faced with significant schedule challenges,the project manager has an ethical responsibility to do all of the following EXCEPT:​ 

A) willingly accept end dates dictated by customers or sponsors 
B) persuade all stakeholders that the schedule makes sense 
C) deliver the project according to the agreed-upon schedule 
D) determine a schedule that is possible to achieve

Question 23

Which of the following statements correctly describes the critical path?​ 

A) The sequence of activities that represents the shortest path through the project network. 
B) It determines the latest possible end date of the project. 
C) It consists only of activities with zero float (slack). 
D) It consists only of activities with lag times

Question 24

Milestones are important points in a project schedule that can serve as check points for project managers and sponsors.Which of the following could be a reason to identify a milestone during project schedule planning?​ 

A) signing of  the project charter  
B) completion of a major deliverable 
C) completion of the WBS  
D) weekly team status meetings

Question 25

During which of the following Project Schedule Management processes does the team estimate the number of work periods that will be required to complete a schedule activity,usually expressed as workdays or workweeks? ​ 

A) Define activities 
B) Sequence activities 
C) Estimate activity durations 
D) Develop schedule

Question 26

The sequencing of activities is often based upon dependencies between the activities.The dependencies that should guide activity sequencing can be either: 

A) critical or non-critical 
B) opportunities or threats 
C) mandatory or discretionary 
D) interior or exterior

Question 27

The amount of time a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of immediately following schedule activities is:​ 

A) reserve 
B) free float 
C) contingency 
D) lead

Question 28

Figure 7-2 Research Project
Consider the Research Project depicted in Figure 7-2.Based on the information provided,which activity can you delay by one day without impacting the expected completion date for the project?​ 

A) Activity A 
B) Activity B 
C) Activity C 
D) Activity D

Question 29

Which of these is NOT one of the items that can provide useful assistance to a project team to define the activities of a project?​ 

A) the major milestones from the Project Charter 
B) issue logs 
C) templates or checklists for projects of the same type 
D) schedules from similar, previous projects

Question 30

Which of the following remedies may reduce the likelihood of omissions when developing activity duration estimates?​ 

A) Lessons learned 
B) Resource buffers 
C) Learning curve 
D) Staggering project start dates

Question 31

Figure 7-2 Research Project
Consider the Research Project depicted in Figure 7-2.Based on the information provided,what is the late start date for activity A - "Plan Research"?​ 

A) Day 0 
B) Day 2 
C) Day 4 
D) Day 10

Question 32

Which of the following responses identifies a common type of logical dependency used to sequence project activities?​ 

A) first-in; first-out 
B) last-in; last-out 
C) finish-to-start 
D) last-in; first-out

Question 33

Figure 7-2 Research Project
Consider the Research Project depicted in Figure 7-2.Based on the information provided,what is the slack associated with activity C - "Review Reports"?​ 

A) 0 days 
B) 1 day 
C) 2 days 
D) 4 days

Question 34

Creating a realistic schedule is often an iterative process because several factors can limit how fast a project can be completed.All of the following factors can limit how fast a project can be scheduled and completed EXCEPT:​ 

A) Logical order 
B) Imposed dates 
C) Resource availability 
D) Quality metrics

Question 35

Figure 7-3 System Integration Project
Consider the System Integration Project depicted in Figure 7-3.Based on the information provided,what is the expected duration of this project?​ 

A) 15 days 
B) 16 days 
C) 17 days 
D) 30 days

Question 36

Which of these represents a typical problem that can make it difficult to estimate activity durations accurately?​ 

A) merging - multiple predecessors 
B) checklists and templates 
C) reducing sources of uncertainty in the estimate 
D) carefully authorizing the start of non-critical activities

Question 37

Figure 7-2 Research Project
Consider the Research Project depicted in Figure 7-2.Based on the information provided,what is the late start date for activity C - "Review Reports"?​ 

A) Day 0 
B) Day 2 
C) Day 4 
D) Day 10

Question 38

The schedule activity that determines when the logical successor activity can begin or end is called the _______: 

A) leader activity 
B) predecessor activity 
C) successor activity 
D) mandatory activity

Question 39

All of the following strategies can help a project team to develop realistic time estimates for project activities EXCEPT:​ 

A) Add a significant buffer of time to each activity 
B) Keep in mind time constraints such as learning curves, interruptions and competing priorities 
C) Estimate times of completion of work without initial reference to a calendar 
D) Verify all time estimates with the people doing the work

Question 40

This term is defined as the total number of work periods (not including holidays or other non-work periods)required to complete a schedule activity,usually expressed as workdays or workweeks:​ 

A) effort 
B) elapsed time 
C) duration 
D) resource days

Question 41

All of the following statements correctly describe an advantage or disadvantage associated with the use of Monte Carlo Analysis EXCEPT: 

A) The flexibility of Monte Carlo Analysis allows for more realistic estimates. 
B) Monte Carlo simulation aids in the identification of near-critical paths. 
C) Monte Carlo simulations typically require the use of special software and skills. 
D) Monte Carlo simulations do not consider risks

Question 42

Describe free float and how you can use it to your advantage in scheduling and managing a project.

Question 43

Figure 7-6 Network Scheduling Data
Consider the network scheduling data presented in Figure 7-6.How many days of slack are associated with activity F? 

A) 0 
B) 15 
C) 80 
D) 107

Question 44

Figure 7-6 Network Scheduling Data
Consider the network scheduling data provided in Figure 7-6.Which activities constitute the critical path for this project network? 

A) A-D-F-I 
B) A-C-E-H-I 
C) A-B-E-H-I 
D) A-B-E-G-I

Question 45

Figure 7-4 Lab Experiment Project
Consider the Lab Experiment Project depicted in Figure 7-4.Based on the information provided,identify the critical path(s)for this project? 

A) A-C-F only 
B) A-B-D-F only 
C) A-B-E-F only 
D) Both A-B-D-F and A-B-E-F are critical paths

Question 46

Figure 7-4 Lab Experiment Project
Consider the Lab Experiment Project depicted in Figure 7-4.Based on the information provided,how many days can you delay the calibration of the instrumentation (Activity B),without impacting the expected project completion date? 

A) 0 days 
B) 1 day 
C) 2 days 
D) 4 days

Question 47

Figure 7-4 Lab Experiment Project
Consider the Lab Experiment Project depicted in Figure 7-4.Based on the information provided,what is the expected duration of this project? 

A) 22 days 
B) 24 days 
C) 26 days 
D) 28 days

Question 48

Figure 7-3 System Integration Project
Consider the System Integration Project depicted in Figure 7-3.Based on the information provided,which activities constitute the critical path for this project?​ 

A) A-B-E-F 
B) A-C-E-F 
C) A-D-E-F 
D) A-D-F

Question 49

Many factors can impact the accuracy of activity duration estimates.Describe four of the problems associated with estimating activity durations accurately,and the techniques you could use as a project manager to overcome them.

Question 50

Describe how you would use the members of your project team to develop and execute a project schedule.

Question 51

Figure 7-4 Lab Experiment Project
Consider the Lab Experiment Project depicted in Figure 7-4.Based on the information provided,which activity can be delayed one day without impacting the expected project completion date? 

A) Activity B - Calibrate Instruments 
B) Activity C - Review Studies 
C) Activity D - Monitor Instruments 
D) Activity E - Test Samples

Question 52

Figure 7-5 Duration Estimates
Consider the activity duration estimates presented in Figure 7-5.Based on the information provided and adopting the PERT conventions to calculate expected activity durations,what is the expected duration of Activity D - "Package Item"?​ 

A) 9 days 
B) 9.5 days 
C) 10 days 
D) 12 days

Question 53

Despite the insights that PERT provides,there are still practical limitations that impact its usefulness.All of the following difficulties are associated with the use of PERT EXCEPT: 

A) It often requires more effort to generate three estimates than one. 
B) It highlights uncertainty in project duration 
C) It does not accurately address the case when two activities both need to be accomplished before a third can begin. 
D) There is no assurance that three estimates are any more accurate than one

Question 54

Figure 7-3 System Integration Project
Consider the System Integration Project depicted in Figure 7-3.Based on the information provided,how many days can you delay the purchase of software (Activity C),without impacting the expected project completion date? 

A) 0 days 
B) 1 day 
C) 2 days 
D) 4 days

Question 55

Figure 7-6 Network Scheduling Data
Consider the network scheduling data provided in Figure 7-6.What is the expected duration of this project? 

A) 97 days 
B) 102 days 
C) 107 days 
D) 112 days

Question 56

Figure 7-3 System Integration Project
Consider the System Integration Project depicted in Figure 7-3.Based on the information provided,which activities can be delayed one day without impacting the expected project completion date? 

A) Activity E - Install Software and Activity F - Test System 
B) Activity C - Purchase Software and Activity E - Install Software 
C) Activity C - Purchase Software and Activity D - Prepare Test Plan 
D) none of these