Deck 3: Managing Projects

Question 1

The project organization works best when which of the following conditions are satisfied? I.Work tasks can be defined with a specific goal and deadline.
II.The job is typical and familiar to the existing organization.
III.The work contains interrelated tasks requiring specialized skills.
IV.The project is temporary but unimportant to long-term organizational success.
V.The project cuts across organizational lines.

A)I,II,III,IV,V
B)None of the above conditions need to be satisfied.
C)I,III,V
D)I,II,III,V
E)I,III,IV,V

Answer 1

I,III,V

Question 2

Which of the following statements about Bechtel is true?

A)Even though Bechtel is over 100 years old,the Kuwaiti oil fields was its first "project."
B)Bechtel is the world's premier manager of massive construction and engineering projects.
C)Bechtel's competitive advantage is supply chain management.
D)While its projects are worldwide,its network of suppliers is largely in the United States
E)All of the above are true.

Answer 2

Bechtel is the world's premier manager of massive construction and engineering projects.

Question 3

One responsibility of a project manager is to make sure that the project meets its quality goals.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A project organization:

A)is effective for companies with multiple large projects.
B)is appropriate only in construction firms.
C)often fails when the project cuts across organizational lines.
D)is most helpful for ongoing projects with no termination date.
E)is most helpful when the work contains simple and unrelated tasks.

Question 5

Work breakdown structure is a useful tool in project management because it addresses the timing of individual work elements.

Question 6

What are the three phases of a project? Describe each in a sentence or two.

Question 7

Match the following steps in Microsoft's development of Windows 8 to their respective WBS level. Step Level
Develop Windows 8 Operating System ?
System Testing ?
Compatible with Windows 7 ?
Develop GUI's ?
Module Testing ?

A)Level 1,Level 2,Level 4,Level 3,Level 3
B)Level 1,Level 2,Level 3,Level 4,Level 5
C)Level 0,Level 1,Level 2,Level 3,Level 4
D)Level 0,Level 2,Level 2,Level 3,Level 3
E)Level 5,Level 3,Level 4,Level 1,Level 2

Question 8

Which of the following statements regarding Bechtel is true?

A)Its competitive advantage is project management.
B)Bechtel was the construction contractor for the Hoover Dam.
C)While helping to rebuild Iraq,Bechtel's crews had to travel under armed escort.
D)Bechtel's procurement program is global in nature.
E)All of the above are true.

Question 9

Ethical issues that can arise in projects include gifts from contractors,pressure to mask delays with false status reports,and pressure to compromise project quality to meet bonuses or avoid penalties related to schedules.

Question 10

A project organization works best for an organization when the project resides in only one of its functional areas.

Question 11

One phase of a large project is scheduling.

Question 12

The phases of project management are:

A)planning,scheduling,and controlling.
B)planning,programming,and budgeting.
C)planning,organizing,staffing,leading,and controlling.
D)different for manufacturing projects than for service projects.
E)GANTT,CPM,and PERT.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT one of the phases of project management?

A)planning
B)scheduling
C)controlling
D)budgeting
E)All of the above are project management phases.

Question 14

WBS stands for which of the following project management tools?

A)work break schedule
B)work breakdown status
C)work breakdown schedule
D)work breakdown structure
E)work break status

Question 15

Which of the following projects were completed by Bechtel?

A)Hoover Dam
B)Boston Central Artery/Tunnel
C)Rebuilding Kuwait after Iraq's invasion in 1990
D)Rebuilding Iraq after the U.S.invasion,starting in 2003
E)All of the above were Bechtel projects

Question 16

Ethical issues that may arise in projects large and small include:

A)gifts from contractors.
B)exaggerated expense reports.
C)compromised quality standards to meet bonuses or avoid penalties related to schedules.
D)pressure to mask delays with false status reports.
E)all of the above.

Question 17

A code of ethics especially for project managers:

A)has been established by the Project Management Institute.
B)has been formulated by the Federal government.
C)has been formulated by the World Trade Organization.
D)is inappropriate,since everyone should use the same guidance on ethical issues.
E)does not exist at this time.

Question 18

A(n)________ is an organization formed to ensure that programs (projects)receive the proper management and attention.

Question 19

Project managers have their own code of ethics,established by the Project Management Institute.

Question 20

A project organization that becomes permanent is often referred to as a:

A)fixed project organization.
B)matrix organization.
C)normal organization.
D)standard organization.
E)permanent project organization.

Question 21

A(n)________ divides a project into more and more detailed components.

Question 22

Gantt charts give a timeline for each of a project's activities,but they do not adequately illustrate the interrelationships between the activities and the resources.

Question 23

Which of the following statements regarding Gantt charts is true?

A)Gantt charts give a timeline and precedence relationships for each activity of a project.
B)Gantt charts use the four standard spines of Methods,Materials,Manpower,and Machinery.
C)Gantt charts are visual devices that show the duration of activities in a project.
D)Gantt charts are expensive.
E)All of the above are true.

Question 24

Describe some of the challenges faced in the construction of the new 11-story building at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando,Florida.

Question 25

What is a project organization?

Question 26

The ________ has established a code of ethics especially for project managers.

Question 27

PERT,but not CPM,has the ability to consider the precedence relationships in a project.

Question 28

The main difference between PERT and CPM is that:

A)PERT is more accurate than CPM.
B)PERT assumes that activity durations are known.
C)PERT ignores activity costs.
D)CPM assumes activity durations can vary.
E)PERT employs three time estimates for each activity.

Question 29

A combination of effective Gantt chart use and other tactics allowed Delta to cut the average time for a plane layover by what % of the original 60 minute duration?

A)33%,to 40 minutes
B)50%,to 30 minutes
C)20%,to 48 minutes
D)25%,to 45 minutes
E)40%,to 36 minutes

Question 30

The ________ is the computed longest time path(s)through a network.

Question 31

Identify each of the purposes of project scheduling.

Question 32

What are some of the ethical issues faced by project managers?

Question 33

The control of projects involves close monitoring of which of the following?

A)resources
B)costs
C)quality
D)budgets
E)all of the above

Question 34

The ________ is a project management technique using only one time factor per activity that enables managers to schedule,monitor,and control large and complex projects.

Question 35

The difference between AON and AOA networks is that:

A)AOA networks sometimes require dummy activities.
B)nodes consume no resources or time in AOA networks.
C)both are acceptable in practice;however,Microsoft Project uses AON.
D)nodes designate activities in AON,while arrows designate activities in AOA.
E)All of the above are true.

Question 36

Describe the differences between a Gantt chart and a PERT/CPM network.

Question 37

Identify the responsibilities of project managers.

Question 38

The fundamental difference between PERT and CPM is that PERT uses the beta distribution for crashing projects while CPM uses cost estimates.

Question 39

A simple CPM network has five activities,A,B,C,D,and E.A is an immediate predecessor of C and of D.B is also an immediate predecessor of C and of D.C and D are both immediate predecessors of E.Which of the following statements is true?

A)There are two paths in this network.
B)There are four paths in this network.
C)There are five paths in this network.
D)There are 25 paths in this network.
E)There are six paths in this network.

Question 40

The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path.

Question 41

What is the basic difference between PERT and CPM?

Question 42

Activity D on a CPM network has predecessors B and C,and has successor F.D has duration 6.B's earliest finish is 18,while C's is 20.F's late start is 26.Which of the following is definitely true?

A)B is a critical activity.
B)C is completed before B.
C)D has no slack but is not critical.
D)D is critical,and has zero slack.
E)F is critical,and has zero slack.

Question 43

What is the objective of critical path analysis?

Question 44

Which of the following statements regarding CPM is true?

A)The critical path is the shortest of all paths through the network.
B)The critical path is that set of activities that has positive slack.
C)Some networks have no critical path.
D)All activities on the critical path have their LS equal to the maximum EF of all immediate predecessors.
E)All activities on the critical path have their ES equal to their LF.

Question 45

A simple CPM network has three activities,D,E,and F.D is an immediate predecessor of E and of F.E is an immediate predecessor of F.The activity durations are D=4,E=3,F=8.

A)The critical path is D-E-F,duration 15.
B)The critical path is D-F,duration 12.
C)Slack at D is 3 periods.
D)Slack at E is 3 periods.
E)Both A and C are true.

Question 46

Identify,in order,the six steps basic to both PERT and CPM.

Question 47

The critical path for the network activities shown below is ________ with duration ________.

A)A-B-D;10
B)A-B-E;11
C)C-E;12
D)A-D-E;13
E)A-B-C-D-E;22

Question 48

The network analysis method that allows activity times to vary is ________.

Question 49

A simple CPM network has three activities,A,B,and C.A is an immediate predecessor of B and of C.B is an immediate predecessor of C.The activity durations are A=4,B=3,C=8.

A)The critical path is A-B-C,duration 15.
B)The critical path is A-C,duration 12.
C)The critical path is A-B-C,duration 13.5
D)The critical path cannot be determined without knowing PERT expected activity times.
E)The network has no critical path.

Question 50

The critical path for the network activities shown below is ________ with duration ________.

A)A-D-E;5
B)B-E;6
C)B-D-E;7
D)A-C-E;10
E)B-C-E;12

Question 51

Which of the following statements regarding CPM networks is true?

A)There can be multiple critical paths on the same project,all with different durations.
B)The early finish of an activity is the latest early start of all preceding activities.
C)The late start of an activity is its late finish plus its duration.
D)If a specific project has multiple critical paths,all of them will have the same duration.
E)None of the above are true.

Question 52

The critical path for the network activities shown below is ________ with duration ________.

A)A-C;12
B)A-D-E;19
C)B-E;13
D)A-B-C-D-E;29
E)none of the above

Question 53

Slack is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

Question 54

Which of the following statements concerning CPM activities is false?

A)The early finish of an activity is the early start of that activity plus its duration.
B)The late finish is the earliest of the late start times of all successor activities.
C)The late start of an activity is its late finish less its duration.
D)The late finish of an activity is the earliest late start of all preceding activities.
E)The early start of an activity is the latest early finish of all preceding activities.

Question 55

Activity R on a CPM network has predecessors M and N,and has successor S.R has duration 5.N's late finish is 18,while M's is 20.S's late start is 14.Which of the following is definitely true?

A)R is critical and has zero slack.
B)R has no slack but is not critical.
C)The set of times cannot all be possible.
D)N is a critical activity.
E)S is a critical activity.

Question 56

The ES of an activity that has only one predecessor is simply the EF of that predecessor.

Question 57

________ is the amount of time an individual activity in a network can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

Question 58

Every network has at least one critical path.

Question 59

The critical path can be determined by use of either the "forward pass" or the "backward pass."

Question 60

Which of the following statements regarding critical paths is true?

A)The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path.
B)Some activities on the critical path may have slack.
C)Every network has only one critical path.
D)On a specific project,there can be multiple critical paths,all with exactly the same duration.
E)The duration of the critical path is the average duration of all paths in the project network.

Question 61

The beta distribution is used in project management to:

A)determine which activity should be crashed.
B)calculate the probability that a project will be completed within its budget.
C)calculate expected activity times.
D)calculate slack for activities on the critical path.
E)none of the above

Question 62

Which of the following statements regarding PERT times is true?

A)The expected time is an estimate of the time an activity will require if everything goes as planned.
B)The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require.
C)The expected time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b)/6.
D)The pessimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require.
E)The most likely time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require.

Question 63

Draw the AOA and AON networks for the following project and calculate the minimum project duration.

Question 64

The standard deviation of project duration is the average of the standard deviation of all activities on the critical path.

Question 65

Explain why the critical path is the longest,not the shortest,path through a network.

Question 66

The time an activity will take assuming very unfavorable conditions is:

A)the optimistic time.
B)the pessimistic time.
C)the activity variance.
D)the minimum time.
E)exactly twice as long as the expected time.

Question 67

Define slack time.

Question 68

The beta distribution is used in project management to:

A)calculate slack on activities not on the critical path.
B)calculate the probability that a project will be completed within its budget.
C)calculate pessimistic and optimistic activity times.
D)determine which activity should be crashed.
E)none of the above

Question 69

What are the earliest activity start time and latest activity start time,and how are they computed?

Question 70

Consider the network presented in the following table.Calculate
a.All possible paths
b.The critical path
c.The slack available at any non-critical points
d.The minimum project duration

Question 71

The expected activity time in PERT analysis is calculated as:

A)the simple average of the optimistic,pessimistic,and most likely times.
B)the weighted average of a,m,and b,with m weighted 4 times as heavily as a and b.
C)the sum of the optimistic,pessimistic,and most likely times.
D)the sum of the optimistic,pessimistic,and most likely times,divided by six.
E)the sum of the activity variances,divided by six.

Question 72

The ________ distribution is used by PERT analysis to calculate expected activity times and variances.

A)Normal
B)Beta
C)Alpha
D)Gaussian
E)Binomial

Question 73

A network consists of the activities in the following list.Times are given in weeks.
a.Draw the network diagram.
b.Calculate the ES,EF,LS,LF,and Slack for each activity.
c.What is project completion time?

Question 74

A network consists of the following list.Times are given in weeks.
a.Draw the network diagram.
b.Which activities form the critical path?
c.How much slack exists at activities A and F?
d.What is the duration of the critical path?

Question 75

In PERT analysis,the identification of the critical path can be incorrect if a noncritical activity takes substantially more than its expected time.

Question 76

The network below represents a project being analyzed by the critical path method.Activity durations are indicated on the network. a.Identify the activities on the critical path.
b.What is the duration of the critical path?
c.Calculate the amount of slack time at activity H.
d.If activity I were delayed by ten time units,what would be the impact on the project duration?

Question 77

The PERT pessimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require.

Question 78

Which of the following statements regarding PERT times is true?

A)The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require.
B)The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require.
C)The expected time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b).
D)The pessimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require.
E)The most likely time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require.

Question 79

Given the project within the table below,calculate the following:
a.The critical path
b.The minimum project duration
c.The amount of slack for each activity

Question 80

The network below represents a project being analyzed by the critical path method.Activity durations are A=5,B=2,C=12,D=3,E=5,F=1,G=7,H=2,I=10,and J=6. a.What task 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?
e.What is slack time at activity H?
f.What is the Late Finish of activity H?
g.If activity C were delayed by two time units,what would happen to the project duration?