Deck 11: Project Management

Question 1

One PERT/COST assumption is that money is spent at a constant rate over the time taken to complete an activity.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A PERT/CPM network is a graphical display of a project that connects activities.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

In CPM, crashing an activity that is not on the critical path increases the cost of the project.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Before drawing a PERT or CPM network, we must identify all activities and their predecessors.

Question 5

The identification of the project activities and their time, cost, resource requirements, predecessors, and person(s)responsible is called PERT planning.

Question 6

The optimistic time is the greatest amount of time that could be required to complete an activity.

Question 7

PERT is a deterministic analysis tool allowing for precise times of activities within a project.

Question 8

In PERT, the earliest start time for an activity is equal to the latest of the earliest finish times of all of its immediate predecessors.

Question 9

CPM was developed for use in managing projects about which we have good information about activity or task completion times.

Question 10

CPM is a probabilistic analysis of managing a project.

Question 11

The first step in planning and scheduling a project is to develop the work breakdown structure.

Question 12

PERT and CPM are quantitative analysis tools designed to schedule and control large projects.

Question 13

The longest time path through a PERT/CPM network is called the critical path.

Question 14

PERT stands for Probabilistic Evaluation and Review Technique.

Question 15

One of the most significant benefits of PERT is that it forces the project manager to sit down and plan the project in great detail-and thus come to an understanding of relationships between the activities.

Question 16

The three time estimates employed in PERT are optimistic time, average time, and pessimistic time.

Question 17

Given the assumptions in PERT, the probability that a project will be completed in less time than required by the activities on the critical path is approximately 50%.

Question 18

With PERT, we are able to calculate the probability of finishing the project within a specified time.

Question 19

Through the use of PERT/CPM, astute managers can derive flexibility by identifying noncritical activities and replanning, rescheduling, and reallocating resources such as personnel and finances.

Question 20

Given the variability of the activity completion times, the original critical path we identify in our PERT analysis may not always be the actual critical path as the project takes place.

Question 21

Once the crash cost per time period value is negative, no additional crashing should be performed.

Question 22

The critical path of a network is the

A)shortest time path through the network.
B)path with the fewest activities.
C)path with the most activities.
D)longest time path through the network.

Question 23

Gantt charts and PERT diagrams provide the same information, just in different formats.

Question 24

When crashing a project, all critical paths must be shortened by the same amount for activity duration reductions to be cost-effective.

Question 25

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 4, 6, and 14 days respectively, compute the PERT expected activity time for this activity.

A)8
B)6
C)7
D)9

Question 26

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 4, 14, and 18 days respectively, compute the PERT expected activity time for this activity.

A)14
B)12
C)11
D)13

Question 27

The value of work completed is computed by multiplying budgeted cost by the percent completion.

Question 28

CPM

A)assumes we do not know ahead of time what activities must be completed.
B)assumes that activity time estimates follow the normal probability distribution.
C)is a deterministic network technique that allows for project crashing.
D)is a network technique that allows three time estimates for each activity in a project.

Question 29

Gantt charts contain information about the time taken by each activity, but not about the sequential dependencies of the activities.

Question 30

The first step in planning and scheduling a project is to develop the

A)employee scheduling plan.
B)PERT/CPM network diagram.
C)critical path.
D)work breakdown structure.

Question 31

The expected time in PERT is

A)a weighted average of the most optimistic time, most pessimistic time, and four times the most likely time.
B)the modal time of a beta distribution.
C)a simple average of the most optimistic, most likely, and most pessimistic times.
D)the square root of the sum of the variances of the activities on the critical path.

Question 32

The activity crash cost is equal to the incremental cost of shortening the project.

Question 33

The activity difference is the actual duration of an activity less the planned duration of that same activity.

Question 34

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 2, 5, and 14 days respectively, compute the PERT expected activity time for this activity.

A)6
B)7
C)9
D)5

Question 35

Budgets are computed using only ES times.

Question 36

PERT

A)assumes that we do not know ahead of time what activities must be completed.
B)assumes that activity time estimates follow the normal probability distribution.
C)is a network technique that uses three time estimates for each activity in a project.
D)is a deterministic network technique that allows for project crashing.

Question 37

For projects that have a daily fixed cost, it is not possible to reduce the overall duration once the cost of crashing exceeds the daily fixed cost.

Question 38

Slack time in a network is the

A)amount of time that an activity would take assuming very unfavorable conditions.
B)shortest amount of time that could be required to complete the activity.
C)amount of time that you would expect it would take to complete the activity.
D)amount of time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

Question 39

Which of the following is not a concept associated with CPM?

A)normal time
B)probability
C)normal cost
D)crash cost

Question 40

In a PERT network, the earliest (activity)start time is the

A)earliest time that an activity can be finished without delaying the entire project.
B)latest time that an activity can be started without delaying the entire project.
C)earliest time that an activity can start without violation of precedence requirements.
D)latest time that an activity can be finished without delaying the entire project.

Question 41

Table 11-1
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-1, what is the minimum possible time required for completing the project?

A)8
B)14
C)25
D)10

Question 42

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 4, 12, and 18 days respectively, compute the PERT variance for this activity.

A)2.33
B)5.44
C)8.00
D)64.00

Question 43

Given the following small project, the critical path is ________ days.

A)10
B)14
C)16
D)20

Question 44

Table 11-2
The following represents a project with four activities.All times are in weeks.

According to Table 11-2, there are four activities in the project.Assume the normal distribution is appropriate to use to determine the probability of finishing by a particular time.If you wished to find the probability of finishing the project in 20 weeks or fewer, it would be necessary to find the variance and then the standard deviation to be used with the normal distribution.What variance would be used?

A)2
B)4
C)8
D)12

Question 45

Given the following small project, the critical path is ________ days.

A)4
B)10
C)12
D)22

Question 46

Consider a project that has an expected completion time of 60 weeks and a standard deviation of five weeks.What is the probability that the project is finished in 70 weeks or fewer? (Round to two decimals.)

A)0.98
B)0.48
C)0.50
D)0.02

Question 47

Table 11-3

According to Table 11-3, there are five activities in a PERT project.If the normal distribution were used to find the probability of finishing this project in 24 weeks or fewer, what mean and variance would be used?

A)30 and 5.222
B)20 and 5.222
C)30 and 4.222
D)22.667 and 1.111

Question 48

In a PERT network, the latest (activity)start time is the

A)earliest time that an activity can be finished without delaying the entire project.
B)latest time that an activity can be started without delaying the entire project.
C)earliest time that an activity can start without violation of precedence requirements.
D)latest time that an activity can be finished without delaying the entire project.

Question 49

Your company is considering submitting a bid on a major project.You determine that the expected completion time is 100 weeks and the standard deviation is 10 weeks.It is assumed that the normal distribution applies.You wish to set the due date for the project such that there is an 85 percent chance that the project will be finished by this time.What due date should be set?

A)108.0
B)110.4
C)89.6
D)85.0

Question 50

Table 11-3

According to Table 11-3, there are five activities in a PERT project.What is the variance of the critical path?

A)5.222
B)4.222
C)1.222
D)1.111

Question 51

Table 11-1
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-1, compute the latest finish time for activity E.

A)4
B)10
C)14
D)25

Question 52

Table 11-2
The following represents a project with four activities.All times are in weeks.

According to Table 11-2, there are four activities in the project.Assume the normal distribution is appropriate to use to determine the probability of finishing by a particular time.What is the probability that the project is finished in 16 weeks or fewer? (Round to two decimals.)

A)0.07
B)0.93
C)0.43
D)0.77

Question 53

Table 11-2
The following represents a project with four activities.All times are in weeks.

According to the data in Table 11-2, what is the minimum expected completion time for the project?

A)18
B)19
C)37
D)11

Question 54

The critical path of a network is the

A)path with the least variance.
B)path with zero slack.
C)path with the most activities.
D)path with the largest variance.

Question 55

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 3, 5, and 15 days, respectively, compute the PERT standard deviation for this activity.

A)2
B)4
C)5
D)15

Question 56

Table 11-3

According to Table 11-3, there are five activities in a PERT project.Which activities are on the critical path?

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

Question 57

Table 11-1
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

According to Table 11-1, compute the slack time for activity D.

A)0
B)5
C)3
D)6

Question 58

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 2, 10, and 20 days respectively, compute the PERT variance for this activity.

A)3
B)6
C)9
D)18

Question 59

Table 11-2
The following represents a project with four activities.All times are in weeks.

According to the data in Table 11-2, what is the critical path?

A)A-B
B)A-C
C)B-D
D)A-B-C-D

Question 60

Table 11-1
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-1, what is the latest possible time that C may be started without delaying completion of the project?

A)0
B)4
C)8
D)10

Question 61

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 3, 5, and 13 days respectively, compute the expected time for this activity.

A)3
B)4
C)5
D)6

Question 62

The project described by: is best represented by which of the following networks?

A)

B)

C)

D)

Question 63

Table 11-4
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-4, what is the minimum possible time required for completing the project?

A)8
B)12
C)18
D)10

Question 64

The project described by has a critical path length of:

A)21 days.
B)14 days.
C)23 days.
D)32 days.

Question 65

CPM stands for

A)critical path management.
B)critical project management.
C)critical project method.
D)critical path method.

Question 66

The two common techniques for drawing PERT networks are

A)NOA and NRA.
B)AON and AOA.
C)GANTT and NOA.
D)ONA and OAO.

Question 67

Table 11-4
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-4, what is the latest possible time that C may be started without delaying completion of the project?

A)0
B)4
C)8
D)10

Question 68

Table 11-4
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-4, determine the latest time activity A can be started without delaying the project completion.

A)4
B)3
C)8
D)6

Question 69

Your company is considering submitting a bid on a major project.You determine that the expected completion time is 150 weeks and the standard deviation is 10 weeks.It is assumed that the normal distribution applies.You wish to set the due date for the project such that there is a 95 percent chance that the project will be finished by this time.What due date should be set?

A)108.0
B)160.4
C)166.5
D)135.0

Question 70

Consider a project that has an expected completion time of 50 weeks and a standard deviation of 9 weeks.What is the probability that the project is finished in 57 weeks or fewer? (Round to two decimals.)

A)0.68
B)0.78
C)0.22
D)0.32

Question 71

PERT stands for

A)probabilistic evaluation and review technique.
B)program evaluation and review technique.
C)probability of expected run times.
D)program of expected run times.

Question 72

Table 11-4
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-4, compute the latest finish time for activity E.

A)4
B)10
C)14
D)25

Question 73

In PERT, we assume that

A)the times to complete individual activities are known with certainty.
B)all activities are carried out by staff from our own organization.
C)the total cost of a project is independent of the time to complete the project.
D)the total time to complete all activities on the critical path is described by a normal distribution.

Question 74

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 3, 7, and 11 days respectively, compute the expected time for this activity.

A)5
B)6
C)7
D)12

Question 75

The project described by: has a critical path of length of

A)15 days.
B)20 days.
C)17 days.
D)18 days.

Question 76

Table 11-4
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-4, determine the latest time activity A can be finished and not delay any activity?

A)4
B)0
C)8
D)5

Question 77

In PERT analysis, the probability of the optimistic time occurring should be on the order of

A)1/3.
B)1/6.
C)1/10.
D)1/100.

Question 78

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 1, 9, and 23 days respectively, compute the PERT expected activity time for this activity.

A)10
B)12
C)9
D)11

Question 79

Given an activity's optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates of 3, 6, and 9 days respectively, compute the PERT variance for this activity.

A)3
B)1
C)9
D)6

Question 80

Table 11-4
The following represents a project with known activity times.All times are in weeks.

Using the data in Table 11-4, compute the slack time for activity D.

A)0
B)5
C)3
D)6