Deck 18: Project Management

Question 1

When the beta probability distribution is used to characterize uncertain activity times, the distribution of the project completion time will also have a beta probability distribution.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A slack of (-2) means the project is ahead of schedule by two time periods.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Project managers need to be specialists, not generalists.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The Critical Path Method (CPM) allows for an evaluation of uncertainty in project completion times.

Question 5

Activity times must be estimated from historical data of similar work tasks to provide realism for a project.

Question 6

With the Activity-On-Node (AON) network, the nodes define the precedence relationships and the arcs define the work activities.

Question 7

Using a beta probability distribution to characterize uncertain activity times is practical because it allows managers to use judgmental estimates to identify the distribution.

Question 8

Because the preparation of annual reports is done on a repeating basis, project management techniques are not appropriate.

Question 9

A statement of work would be developed in the "Organize" step of the project life cycle.

Question 10

In a matrix organization, functional managers may be reluctant to provide the resources and employees, and the employees assigned to projects may relegate a project to a lower priority than their daily functional job.

Question 11

All activities on the critical path have a zero slack time.

Question 12

The early start time for an activity is computed by finding the largest early finish time of all immediate predecessors.

Question 13

The critical path is the sequence of activities that takes the longest time.

Question 14

In most organizations, projects cut across organizational boundaries, making it difficult to implement projects exclusively within functional departments.

Question 15

Immediate predecessors are activities that must be completed immediately before an activity may start.

Question 16

To compute the critical path, we assign all nodes in the network an earliest starting time of zero.

Question 17

Strong leadership is an impediment to project management success because of the team-based nature of most projects.

Question 18

Project management objectives revolved around on-time and budget performance.

Question 19

Crashing refers to the process of shortening selected activity times in order to reduce the overall project completion time.

Question 20

A Gantt chart is a useful tool for allocating limited resources among project activities.

Question 21

Which step in the project management process would involve determining time estimates for activities?

A)Project definition
B)Resource planning
C)Project scheduling
D)Project control

Question 22

Which of the following is not considered a project?

A)Writing and implementing a computer program
B)Introducing a new product
C)Production of soft drinks
D)Building a bridge

Question 23

The slack for an activity is equal to its latest finish time minus its earliest start time.

Question 24

The county government has decided to redo the street you live on and plans to block the street off which causes you and your neighbor's considerable inconvenience. The project has three parallel paths defined as follows: (i) path A-B-C-H to install street lights and electrical wiring that takes 16 days, (ii) path A-D-E-H to install sidewalks with handicap capabilities that takes 22 days, and (iii) path A-F-G-H to repave the street including storm drains that takes 30 days. Which one of the following statements is true?

A)The expected duration of the project is 30 + 22 + 16 = 68 days.
B)Path A-B-C-H is the critical path.
C)Path A-D-E-H has the most slack time.
D)Path A-F-G-H is the critical path.

Question 25

A project has three paths. A-B-C has a length of 25 days. A-D-C has a length of 15 days. Finally, A-E-C has a length of 20 days. Which one of the following statements is true?

A)A-D-C is the critical path.
B)A-B-C has the most slack.
C)The expected duration of this project is 25 days.
D)The expected duration of this project is 25 + 15 + 20 = 60 days.

Question 26

A type of organization which "loans" resources to projects while still maintaining control over them is called

A)Pure project structure
B)Pure functional structure
C)Matrix structure
D)Product structure

Question 27

Which step in the project management process would involve developing alternative plans in anticipation of problems that might arise?

A)Project definition
B)Resource planning
C)Project scheduling
D)Project control

Question 28

In which stage in the project life cycle would critical path calculations be performed?

A)Define
B)Plan
C)Organize
D)Control

Question 29

Which of the following is not an assumption of the critical path method?

A)Activities are independent of one another
B)Activity time estimates are stable
C)Activity times are characterized by a beta probability distribution
D)Once an activity is started it continues uninterrupted until completion

Question 30

Which statement is true regarding activities not on the critical path?

A)Usually cannot be delayed
B)Have less slack than activities on the critical path
C)Can delay a project if they are highly variable
D)Are used to crash project completion times

Question 31

We should not crash activities on the critical path.

Question 32

Which is incorrect regarding the critical path?

A)Shortest time to complete a project
B)Longest time to complete a project
C)Project path with 0 slack
D)Delays in activities will delay the project

Question 33

Which of the following is incorrect regarding time/cost trade-offs?

A)The relationship between time and cost is proportional
B)Some activities cannot be crashed
C)The minimum cost can be found by crashing all activities as much as possible
D)Crashing priority is based on the amount of uncertainty in activity times

Question 34

Slack in an activity is computed as

A)ES -LS
B)EF - LF
C)LS - ES
D)LS - EF

Question 35

When finding the earliest finish (EF) time for an activity with two or more predecessor activities, the largest EF among the predecessor activities is used to calculate the EF for that activity.

Question 36

In which stage in the project life cycle would a Gantt chart be used?

A)Define
B)Plan
C)Organize
D)Control

Question 37

Which of the following is not a stage in the project life cycle?

A)Define
B)Organize
C)Improve
D)Close

Question 38

In which stage in the project life cycle would crashing likely be performed?

A)Define
B)Plan
C)Organize
D)Control

Question 39

A type of organization that can result in inefficiencies because of duplication of resources across the organization is called

A)Pure project structure
B)Pure functional structure
C)Matrix structure
D)Product structure

Question 40

Which of the following is least related to Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)?

A)Beta distribution
B)Variance
C)Most probable time
D)Crashing

Question 41

Define critical path and explain how it is identified once a project schedule is calculated.

Question 42

A company has a PERT project with path b-d-e-g-i that has these activity time estimates in days:
a.What is the expected duration for activity e?
b.What is the variance for activity b?
c.What is the standard deviation of the path?

Question 43

You are in charge of the "advertising program" for the Boston Red Sox baseball team during their spring training in Fort Myers, Florida. You have defined the advertising program as a project with the following characteristics. The goal is to fill all stadium seats during the spring training season.
a.What is the earliest completion time for this project?
b.What is the largest amount of slack that any activity has in this project?
c.If activity C is delayed three weeks, what is the revised earliest project completion time?
d.For the original CPM problem, what is the minimum number of activities that would have to be crashed in order to reduce the project's earliest completion time by two weeks assuming all activity crash costs per week are the same and all activities can be crashed?

Question 44

Explain the role of the project managers and some principles for success.

Question 45

You are responsible for managing an advertising and promotion project with the following activities (times are given in weeks).
a.What is the critical path and expected completion time for this project?
b.Which activity has the largest slack, and how large is that slack?
c.What is the probability that the project will be completed within 16 weeks?
d.If the expected time (not the most likely time) for activity B is changed to 18 weeks from 11 weeks, by how many weeks will the project's expected completion time increase?

Question 46

Data regarding the activities for a project are presented below. The times are in weeks. The critical path for this project is A - D - H - I - J - K.
a.Determine the standard deviation of the critical path.
b.Determine the probability of completing the project in 38 weeks or less.
c.What is the probability of completing the project in 32 weeks or less?

Question 47

Consider the project network and data shown below:
a.Determine the critical path and the project completion time.
b.Determine the crash cost per week for all activities
c.Which activities need to be crashed to reduce the project's completion time by 4 weeks? How much does this cost?

Question 48

Describe how a project fits into each of the three common organizational structures.

Question 49

Explain the three time estimates used to characterize uncertainty of activity times in the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) procedure.

Question 50

Describe the four major steps in the project-planning process.

Question 51

The following network shows all the major activities on the circles (nodes). Each node contains time estimates in weeks. Complete the following table.

Question 52

The following network shows the activities on the circles or nodes. Time estimates are in weeks. Complete the following table:

Question 53

Consider the project network and data shown below:
a.Determine the critical path.
b.If management wants the project done in one less month, which activity should they crash?

Question 54

List at least six principal factors (contributors) to project success.

Question 55

The network below represents a project being analyzed by the Critical Path Method.
a.What activity must be on the critical path, regardless of activity durations?
b.What is the duration of path A-B-E-H-J?
c.What is the critical path of this network?
d.What is the length of the critical path?

Question 56

Explain the stages of the project life cycle.

Question 57

Explain the purpose of Gantt charts.

Question 58

A company has used PERT for a project and wants to minimize the probability of overrunning a contract deadline of 30 weeks. Three paths of concern in the PERT network have these mean durations and variances in weeks:
a.What is the Z-score for path 1?
b.What is the probability of path 2 overrunning the deadline?

Question 59

Define a project. Give some non-manufacturing or non-construction examples.

Question 60

An electrical contracting company has been awarded a government contract to install lighting fixtures on a major highway. They want to use a horizontal bar chart to plan the schedule for the contract with work to begin on January 1 and assuming four weeks per month. The company has established the following project activities, their precedence relationships, and their estimated normal times:
a.When does activity d begin?
b.When does activity f end?