Deck 8: Timeliness: Scheduling and Project Management

Question 1

Time plays an important role for business customers and for businesses selling to them.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Time often plays a more critical role in the determination of value for a B2C customer than a B2B customer.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The length of the cash-to-cash cycle has become a popular means for measuring the impact of time on business productivity.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In addition to the competitive attributes associated with time, scheduling has an impact on the utilization of capital resources.

Question 5

Backward scheduling is utilized when a completion date needs to be determined.

Question 6

Particularly in process-oriented manufacturing, orders and parts tend to queue up in front of work centers.

Question 7

SPT and critical ratio recognize the impact that sequencing at one resource has on other resources.

Question 8

Reneging occurs when a customer views the queue and does not enter because it is too long.

Question 9

The critical path can shift from one path to another if an activity on a non-critical path is lengthened enough, or an activity on the critical path is reduced enough.

Question 10

Project scheduling with uncertain time estimates typically assumes that the activity times follow the alpha distribution.

Question 11

Which of the following statement is not true about the role of timeliness?

A) Time-related issues and decisions affect costs and value.
B) Increasing processing time allows businesses to respond more quickly to demand changes
C) Timeliness can have a significant impact on the financial health of the firm.
D) There are several time-related components of value in B2C and B2B relationships.
E) Time plays equally important roles for customers and for businesses selling them.

Question 12

Which of the following statements is accurate concerning costs and time?

A) Costs associated with time reduce the bottom line for business and for its customers in several ways.
B) Direct materials costs, direct labor costs, and overhead costs are indirectly related to time.
C) The amount of time a product or a customer is in a productive system isn't all devoted to processing and adding value.
D) Both A and B
E) Both A and C
F) A, B and C

Question 13

A popular means of measuring the impact of time on business productivity is referred to as:

A) Lead time
B) Queue time
C) Cash-to-cash cycle
D) Due date performance
E) None of the above

Question 14

Which of the following statements is not true regarding the cash-to-cash cycle?

A) A common tendency is to focus only on production time when trying to reduce the cash-to-cash cycle, . but in reality, any task in the cycle has the same impact.
B) An important part of the cash-to-cash cycle is known as the make/market or order/deliver loop.
C) The cash-to-cash cycle compares the actual completion of order to its due date and calculates the actual . receipt of the payment when it is sold.
D) Profitability increases as the cash-to-cash cycle is reduced.

Question 15

The time between creation and identification of a defect is known as

A) Balking time
B) The cash-to-cash cycle
C) Feedback delay
D) The service process

Question 16

Assuming that all non-value adding time has already been removed, which of the following would likely be the best way to reduce the total time required to accomplish a set of tasks?

A) Identify tasks that can be done in sequence, rather than in parallel.
B) Find ways to actually reduce the amount of time required for each individual task.
C) Identify tasks that could be done in parallel, rather than in sequence.
D) Find tasks currently done in parallel, and eliminate the one adding the least amount of value.

Question 17

In the typical service setting, approaches used to match capacity with demand include:

A) Storing finished goods inventory for later use.
B) Using appointments or reservations to match demand and capacity
C) Changing prices to reduce demand during times when demand is low and increase demand at peak times.
D) Involving customers in the process so that tasks don't take as long and capacity is increased.

Question 18

The sequencing rule that sequences jobs according to the expected amount of time to complete the job is referred to as:

A) Earliest due date
B) Shortest processing time
C) Critical ratio
D) Slack per remaining operation
E) First come first serve

Question 19

An example of a sequencing technique that does not treat each resource or operation independently is:

A) Earliest due date
B) Shortest processing time
C) Critical ratio
D) Slack per remaining operation
E) First come first serve

Question 20

A sequencing technique that considers due date and processing time is:

A) Earliest due date
B) Shortest processing time
C) Critical ratio
D) First come first serve

Question 21

Which of the following is not a physical feature of queues?

A) The queue configuration
B) The queue discipline
C) The calling population
D) The customer
E) The service process

Question 22

When customers switch lines hoping to move faster, the behavior is referred to as:

A) Jockeying
B) Reneging
C) Balking
D) Breaking
E) Smoothing

Question 23

Which of the following statement is not true about managing queues of people?

A) The actual amount of time a customer waits is a function of five features of every queuing system
B) Knowledge of the queue configuration and the parameters describing the arrival and service rates make . it possible to determine a number of measures describing the queuing system's performance.
C) An understanding of the probabilities of a customer balking is useful for determining the sequencing method to use.
D) Service rates typically follow a negative exponential distribution.

Question 24

Which of the following is not a technique used to make the time waiting in queue seem shorter for the customer?

A) Keep the customers busy
B) Meet the customer's expectations
C) Treat customers fairly
D) Keep customers informed
E) Start the service as soon as possible

Question 25

A visual model of how resources are used to accomplish specific tasks is known as:

A) A Gantt chart
B) A Network diagram
C) A queue configuration
D) None of the above

Question 26

Which of the following statements is true about crashing projects?

A) The crashing process determines how to reduce the project time by identifying the cheapest way to . reduce the time of activities on non-critical paths
B) Crashing the project is a methodological approach to reducing project variability
C) The crashing process helps management decide which interventions will provide the greatest improvement for the least cost.
D) The crashing process focuses on eliminating nonvalue-adding tasks in the critical path to reduce project time.

Question 27

$\begin{array}{ccc} \text {Order }&\text { Processing Time} & \text {Due Date} \\1 & 5 & 9 \\2 & 3 & 3 \\3 & 4 & 5 \\4 & 5 & 13 \\5 & 6 & 7\end{array}$

-Using the data above on five orders, compute the earliest due date (EDD) sequence.

A) 2,3,1,4,5
B) 1,2,3,4,5
C) 2,3,5,1,4
D) 2,3,4,1,5

Question 28

$\begin{array}{ccc} \text {Order }&\text { Processing Time} & \text {Due Date} \\1 & 5 & 9 \\2 & 3 & 3 \\3 & 4 & 5 \\4 & 5 & 13 \\5 & 6 & 7\end{array}$

-Using the data above on five orders, compute the shortest processing time (SPT) sequence.

A) 2,3,1,4,5
B) 1,2,3,4,5
C) 2,3,5,1,4
D) 2,5,4,1,3

Question 29

$\begin{array}{ccc} \text {Order }&\text { Processing Time} & \text {Due Date} \\1 & 5 & 9 \\2 & 3 & 3 \\3 & 4 & 5 \\4 & 5 & 13 \\5 & 6 & 7\end{array}$

-Using the data above on five orders, compute the critical ratio sequence.

A) 2,3,1,4,5
B) 4,1,3,5,2
C) 2,1,5,3,4
D) 2,5,3,1,4

Question 30

Use the following data to compute the average lateness and the number of jobs late.
$\begin{array}{ccc} \text {Order} & \text {Processing Time} & \text {Due Date} \\2 & 3 & 3 \\5 & 6 & 7 \\3 & 4 & 5 \\1 & 5 & 9 \\4 & 5 & 13\end{array}$

A) Average lateness=5.8 Number of jobs late = 4
B) Average lateness=6.2 Number of jobs late = 4
C) Average lateness=6.4 Number of jobs late = 1
D) Average lateness=8.3 Number of jobs late = 3
E) None of the above

Question 31

Whereas ____ provides the measure of the speed at which a firm can react, _____ is the breadth of possible reactions the firm can have.

Question 32

An important part of the cash-to-cash cycle is known as the ________ or ______ loop.

Question 33

Identifying tasks that could be done _____rather than in a ______ can have a greater impact on the total time required to process an order.

Question 34

In addition to the competitive attributes associated with time, _____ has an impact on the utilization of capital resources.

Question 35

_______ are used as a way to match demand and capacity when resource time is very expensive.

Question 36

The _____ ____ is one of the oldest scheduling tools and is used to provide a visual model of how resources are used to accomplish specific tasks.

Question 37

______ sequencing rule provides a means for including the due date and processing time in the priority decision.

Question 38

_______ occurs when a customer joins the queue, but then leaves it because the wait was too long.

Question 39

The completion of the ES and EF times is known as the ____ ____ ___ of the network.

Question 40

The ____ process helps management decide which interventions will provide the greatest improvement for the lowest cost.

Question 41

Match these items.

-Critical ration

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 42

Match these items.

-Cash-to-cash cycle

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 43

Match these items.

-Reneging

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 44

Match these items.

-Crashing

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 45

Match these items.

-Backward scheduling

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 46

Match these items.

-Queue discipline

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 47

Match these items.

-Forward scheduling

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 48

Match these items.

-Critical path

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 49

Match these items.

-Slack

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 50

Match these items.

-Jockeying

A) Determines who goes next when serving a queue
B) Customers switch lines hoping to move faster
C) Takes the longest to complete
D) The difference between due date and processing time
E) Completion date needs to be determined
F) Measures impact of time on business productivity
G) Approach to reducing project duration
H) Customers join queue and then leaves it the wait is too long
I) If it is less than one, the order is already late
J) Completion date is known

Question 51

How does slower response time result in lower levels of quality? Give an example.

Question 52

Describe how you could make it seem like customers do not spend as much time in queue as they actually do.

Question 53

How do are resource utilization and queue length form a tradeoff in queue management?