Deck 16: Managing Service Projects

Question 1

The term 'total slack' refers to the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the start of a subsequent activity.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

When crashing activities for construction projects, the contractor's minimum cost duration might not coincide with the client's target completion date.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The term 'calendar' is used in project management to keep track of the days and hours required for completion of projects.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The critical path for a project with uncertain activity times is not known for certain until after the project is completed.

Question 5

Estimates of project expected completion time and variance usually are not biased when based on the single critical path.

Question 6

It is possible to delay the start of a non-critical activity and, in the process, make a following activity critical.

Question 7

The single important attribute of a project manager is leadership ability.

Question 8

Total slack for an activity can be shared with following activities.

Question 9

Developing a project network is the only major concern for implementing critical path analysis.

Question 10

A major flaw in critical path analysis with uncertain activity times is the conservative nature of the expected project completion time.

Question 11

A project can be defined as a set of complex interrelated tasks with different requirements regarding activity time and resources, but with a high degree of repetitiveness.

Question 12

A major assumption in project network analysis is that sufficient resources are available to perform many activities concurrently.

Question 13

Schedule variance is the difference between budgeted cost for work performed and actual cost of work performed.

Question 14

Merge node bias occurs where the project network contains non-critical paths with small total slack times.

Question 15

When delays occur owing to technical difficulties, performance becomes the source of unexpected project management problems.

Question 16

Gantt charts fail to indicate the interdependence among project activities.

Question 17

Time variance is calculated by subtracting actual time used for work performed from scheduled time for work performed.

Question 18

The term 'late finish' refers to the latest time an activity can begin without delaying the completion of the project.

Question 19

Before calculating a late start time for an activity, the late finish time must be known.

Question 20

The critical path refers to the sequence of activities that represent the longest time path through a project network.

Question 21

For a project with uncertain activity times, the probability of project completion exceeding the expected time calculated for the critical path is ________.

A) 25 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 75 percent
D) None of these answers are correct.

Question 22

Projects are terminated for all of the following reasons, except ________.

A) subtraction
B) addition
C) integration
D) starvation

Question 23

The four sequential stages of team development include all of the following, except ________.

A) forming
B) storming
C) coalescing
D) performing

Question 24

Which of the following is not considered a source of unexpected project management problems?

A) Cost.
B) Time.
C) Economy.
D) Performance.

Question 25

Which one of the following allows the manager to make probability statements with regard to meeting project objectives?

A) Gantt chart.
B) CPM.
C) PERT.
D) Earned-value chart.

Question 26

Which of the following is not true about a critical path in a project network with certain activity times?

A) Activities on the critical path have the least slack.
B) The longest activity in the project must lie on the critical path.
C) There can be several critical paths in a project network.
D) The first activity in the network is always on the critical path.

Question 27

Implementing critical path analysis is faced with all of the following problems, except ________.

A) availability of project management software
B) agreement on the project network
C) eliciting time estimates for activities
D) introduction of bias in activity time estimates

Question 28

A resource-leveled schedule would have all of the following characteristics except ________.

A) the project duration could be longer than normal
B) slack time is used to begin some activities later than their early start time
C) the critical path may be changed
D) a more balanced use of labor resources would be exhibited

Question 29

Which of the following is not a critical time estimate for a Beta distribution?

A) Optimistic time.
B) Pessimistic time.
C) Most likely time.
D) Expected time.

Question 30

Gantt project charts are useful for all of the following reasons, except ________.

A) visual presentation is appealing
B) they show interdependence of activities
C) they are easy to understand
D) they assist in planning construction forces

Question 31

Which of the following makes performance a source of unexpected project management problem?

A) Delays owing to technical difficulties.
B) Unexpected technical problems.
C) Unforeseen government regulations.
D) Increase in the scope of work.

Question 32

The Beta distribution is useful in network analysis because it ________.

A) provides formulas for calculating the activity mean and variance
B) can be approximated by a normal distribution
C) provides probability estimates for project completion time
D) requires only three time estimates to describe uncertain activity duration

Question 33

Which of the following attributes is not considered in the selection of a project manager?

A) Credibility.
B) Originality.
C) Sensitivity.
D) Ability to handle stress.

Question 34

The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the completion of the project is referred to as ________.

A) total slack
B) late finish
C) late start
D) free slack

Question 35

Monte Carlo simulation of project networks is not recommended when ________.

A) activity times are deterministic
B) more than one critical path exists
C) bias in project completion time is important
D) activity time distributions are Beta

Question 36

A major weakness with project completion time analysis with uncertain activity times is the ________.

A) possibility that more than one critical path might exist
B) need to solicit three time estimates for each activity
C) assumption that the project completion time is normally distributed
D) bias associated with the expected project completion time

Question 37

Which of the following is not considered a source of variance on the earned value chart?

A) Time.
B) Cost.
C) Schedule.
D) None of these answers are correct.

Question 38

A project history report should include all of the following items, except ________.

A) project performance
B) organization structure
C) project success and failures
D) project and administrative team

Question 39

A key assumption underlying project networks is: ________.

A) dummy activities take up no time
B) the critical path is known with certainty
C) an activity begins only after all predecessors are completed
D) a project network is cyclic

Question 40

Which one of the following is not an objective of activity crashing?

A) Reduce the total cost of completing a project.
B) Complete a project in less time than normally expected.
C) Create multiple critical paths.
D) Prepare a contract bid.