Deck 3: Project Management

Question 1

Which of the following projects was NOT completed by Bechtel?

A) Hoover Dam
B) Boston Central Artery/Tunnel
C) Trans-Arabian Pipeline
D) Channel Tunnel
E) Getty Center

Answer 1

E

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

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

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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

Question 5

One phase of a large project is scheduling.

Question 6

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

Question 7

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 8

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 these conditions need to be satisfied.
C) I, III, V
D) I, II, III, V
E) I, III, IV, V

Question 9

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

Question 10

Match the following steps in Microsoft's development of Windows 10 to their respective WBS level. Step Level
Develop Windows 10 Operating System ?
System Testing ?
Compatible with Windows 8 ?
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 11

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 12

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 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 these are project management phases.

Question 14

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 these are true.

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

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 19

Which of the following statements regarding Bechtel is NOT true?

A) Its competitive advantage is project management.
B) Bechtel was the construction contractor for the Hoover Dam.
C) By the end of 1970s, Bechtel had moved from nuclear power construction to nuclear cleanup projects.
D) Bechtel handled the project management of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
E) Even though Bechtel is over 100 years old, the Kuwaiti oil fields was its first "project."

Question 20

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 these.

Question 21

Agile project management is a type of work breakdown structure (WBS).

Question 22

Describe agile projects.

Question 23

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

Question 24

Identify each of the purposes of project scheduling.

Question 25

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

Question 26

The waterfall approach is used most often for:

A) well-defined projects.
B) projects whose changes tend to be minor.
C) projects with step-by-step progress.
D) engineered products with well-defined specifications and drawings.
E) all of the these.

Question 27

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

Question 28

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

Question 29

Project managers often use the waterfall approach when managing agile projects.

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

Ill-defined projects are typified by software development and new technology.

Question 33

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 34

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 these are true.

Question 35

What is a project organization?

Question 36

Identify the responsibilities of project managers.

Question 37

Projects such as road building and plane building are:

A) ill-defined.
B) well-defined.
C) agile.
D) not defined.
E) none of these.

Question 38

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 39

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

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

Question 40

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

Question 41

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 these are true.

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 a slack of two days.
E) F is critical, and has zero slack.

Question 43

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 44

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

Question 45

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

Question 46

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

Question 47

A simple CPM network has five activities, A, B, C, D, and E. A is an immediate predecessor of B and of C. B is an immediate predecessor of D and of E. C is an immediate predecessor 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 three paths in this network.
E) There are six paths in this network.

Question 48

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

Question 49

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 these are true.

Question 50

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

Question 51

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 52

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 22. 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 53

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=6.

A) The critical path is D-E-F, duration 12.
B) The critical path is D-F, duration 10.
C) Slack at D is 0 periods.
D) Slack at E is 3 periods.
E) Both A and C are true.

Question 54

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

Question 55

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 56

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 57

Every network has at most one critical path.

Question 58

What is the basic difference between PERT and CPM?

Question 59

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

Question 60

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=5.

A) The critical path is A-B-C, duration 9.
B) The critical path is A-B-C, duration 12.
C) The critical path is A-C, duration 10.5.
D) The critical path cannot be determined without knowing PERT expected activity times.
E) The network has no critical path.

Question 61

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

Question 62

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; 14
D) A-D-E; 13
E) A-B-C-D-E; 22

Question 63

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 64

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 was delayed by six time units, what would happen to the project duration?

Question 65

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 66

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

Question 67

The following activities are part of a project to be scheduled using the critical path method.
Calculate
(a) The critical path.
(b) The slack available at any non-critical points.
(c) The minimum project duration.

Question 68

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

A) A-C-E; 20
B) A-D-E; 18
C) B-E; 14
D) A-B-D-E; 26
E) none of the above

Question 69

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

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

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

Question 72

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

A) A-D-E; 11
B) B-E; 7
C) B-D-E; 13
D) A-C-E; 6
E) B-C-E; 8

Question 73

Define slack time.

Question 74

What is the objective of critical path analysis?

Question 75

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

Question 76

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

Question 77

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 78

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 79

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 80

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