Deck 7: Project Management

Question 1

________ determines the sequence for undertaking activities.

Answer 1

Precedence relationship

Question 2

Scope creep is one of the primary causes of project failure.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A project organization structure where team members are assigned to the project and work exclusively for the project manager is called:

A)a matrix structure.
B)a fixed structure.
C)a pure project structure.
D)a functional structure.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A pure project organizational structure houses the project in a specific functional area.

Question 5

The ________ is a statement of all work that has to be completed.

Question 6

A(n)________ is an interrelated set of activities that has a definite starting and ending point and that results in a unique outcome for a specific allocation of resources.

Question 7

In a network diagram,an activity:

A)is the largest unit of work effort consuming both time and resources that a project manager can schedule and control.
B)is the smallest unit of work effort consuming both time and resources that a project manager can schedule and control.
C)should always be something the company has had experience with.
D)must always have a single,precise estimate for the time duration.

Question 8

The project's objective statement should contain:

A)slack time and activities.
B)scope,time frame,and allocated resources.
C)strengths and weaknesses of subcontractors.
D)activities,completion times,and incentives.

Question 9

A project is an interrelated set of activities that has a definite starting and ending point.

Question 10

A relationship that determines the sequence for undertaking activities is a precedence relationship.

Question 11

Activity times for a project are estimated by all but which of the following methods?

A)the use of dowsing rods.
B)managerial opinions based on similar prior experiences
C)statistical methods based on actual past experience
D)estimates using learning curve models to improve replications and estimate accuracy

Question 12

The work breakdown structure is a statement of all work that has to be completed.

Question 13

Heidi was part of a project team that retained their roles within the organization and was on loan to the project due to her technical expertise.In effect,she reported to two bosses,one in her functional area and also to the project manager.Heidi is operating within a(n)________ organizational structure.

Question 14

What characteristics should be considered when selecting project team members? Briefly describe these characteristics for members of a project team assigned to improve a teller's job in a bank.

Question 15

The network diagram is a planning method that is designed to depict the relationships between activities.

Question 16

Projects,and the application of project management,facilitate the implementation of operations strategy.

Question 17

Projects often cut across organizational lines.

Question 18

What are the primary responsibilities of a Project Manager? Briefly describe these responsibilities for a project manager whose team is purchasing a new machine and installing it in a manufacturing process.

Question 19

Following the project defining and organizing phase,project planning involves five steps.List and briefly describe these five planning steps as applied to writing a term paper for an Operations Management class.

Question 20

Project managers should be able to organize a set of disparate activities.

Question 21

Assume that activity G has the following times: Early start time = 7 days
Early finish time = 13 days
Late start time = 15 days
Late finish time = 21 days
Which of the following statements is TRUE about activity G?

A)Activity G takes 14 days to complete.
B)Activity G has a slack time of 8 days.
C)Activity G is on the critical path.
D)Activity G takes 2 days to complete.

Question 22

Fig.7.1
For the network shown in Fig.7.1,what is the project duration?

A)6
B)15
C)13
D)14

Question 23

A critical path is any sequence of activities between a project's start and finish.

Question 24

Fig.7.1
For the network shown in Fig.7.1,which of the following is the critical path?

A)ABCDEF
B)ABEF
C)ACDF
D)ACEF

Question 25

Which one of the following best describes the critical path of a PERT/CPM network?

A)the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that takes the longest time to complete
B)the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that has the maximum amount of activity slack
C)the set of activities that has no precedence relationships
D)the sequence of activities that has the lowest normal activity cost

Question 26

Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1

Refer to the Figure to accompany Table 7.1.Which one of the following is the critical path?

A)ABDG
B)ABEG
C)ACEG
D)ACFG

Question 27

The ________ is the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that takes the longest time to complete.

Question 28

Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1

Using the information shown in Table 7.1,what is the activity time for activity F?

A)5
B)11
C)6
D)1

Question 29

Which one of the following conditions violates the assumptions of PERT/CPM networks?

A)Some activities can have zero variance.
B)Costs increase linearly as activity time is reduced below its normal time.
C)Two activities tied together by an arc are overlapping and can be worked on simultaneously.
D)There can be more than one critical path in a network.

Question 30

The earliest start time is never the same as the latest start time.

Question 31

Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1

Using the information shown in Table 7.1,what is the latest start time for activity E?

A)2
B)3
C)5
D)8

Question 32

Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1

Using the information shown in Table 7.1,what is the slack time for activity D?

A)1
B)4
C)6
D)7

Question 33

A project has three paths.A-B-C has a length of 25 days.A-D-C has a length of 15 days.Finally,A-E-C has a length of 20 days.Which one of the following statements is TRUE?

A)A-D-C is the critical path.
B)A-B-C has the most slack.
C)The expected duration of this project is 25 days.
D)The expected duration of this project is 25 + 15 + 20 = 60 days.

Question 34

To obtain the latest start and latest finish time in a network diagram,we must work forward through the network.

Question 35

Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1

Using the information shown in Table 7.1,what is the project duration?

A)15
B)14
C)12
D)10

Question 36

A Gantt chart is a project schedule that superimposes project activities on a time line.

Question 37

Activity slack is defined as:

A)latest start time minus earliest start time.
B)earliest start time minus latest start time.
C)earliest finish time minus latest finish time.
D)latest finish time minus earliest start time.

Question 38

Fig.7.2 Which one of the following statements regarding Figure 7.2 is TRUE?

A)Activity S cannot finish until activity T finishes.
B)Activity T cannot begin until activity U is completed.
C)Activity U cannot begin until activities S and T have been completed.
D)Activity V cannot begin until activity S has been completed.

Question 39

Figure to accompany Table 7.1 Table 7.1

Using the information shown in Table 7.1,what is the earliest finish time for activity A?

A)0
B)2
C)3
D)4

Question 40

The earliest start time for an activity is equal to the:

A)smallest earliest finish time of all of its immediate predecessors.
B)largest earliest finish time of all of its immediate predecessors.
C)smallest late start time of any of its immediate predecessors.
D)largest late finish time of all of its immediate predecessors.

Question 41

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the minimum number of activities that would have to be crashed to cause a decrease in the project's earliest completion date?

A)one activity
B)two activities
C)three activities
D)four or more activities

Question 42

Table 7.5

Using Table 7.5,what is the latest start time for activity E?

A)day 8
B)day 10
C)day 12
D)day 14

Question 43

Why do managers want to know the slack of activities?

Question 44

Disaster strikes and activity F takes 20 days instead of the anticipated 5 days.Using Table 7.5,how much longer will the project last than initially estimated?

A)15 days
B)0 days
C)7 days
D)3 days

Question 45

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the minimum number of activities that would have to be delayed to cause an increase in the project's earliest completion date?

A)one activity
B)two activities
C)three activities
D)four or more activities

Question 46

Table 7.5

Using Table 7.5,what is the earliest completion time of this project?

A)23 days
B)25 days
C)27 days
D)29 days

Question 47

The normal cost is the amount of money it normally takes to complete an activity faster than its normal time.

Question 48

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the slack associated with activity B?

A)1 week
B)2 weeks
C)3 weeks
D)None of these is the correct activity slack for B.

Question 49

Consider a project that consists of three consecutive activities of equal length as shown in the network diagram.The project manager would like to complete the project as quickly as possible and realizes that the diagram's logic is misleading.Instead of waiting until activity A is completed before activity B can begin,he can actually begin activity B once activity A has begun.The same reasoning holds for the relationship between activity B and activity C.The project manager decides to divide each activity in half,a technique known as "laddering".The second diagram shows the new network logic.In this diagram,activity A is divided into activity A1 and A2 where A1 must be finished before A2 can begin and before B1 can begin.The manager still isn't satisfied with the completion time of the project.Derive an expression or draw a diagram that demonstrates the fastest possible completion time of the project.

Question 50

Table 7.5

Using Table 7.5,what is the earliest that activity D can be finished?

A)18 days
B)8 days
C)13 days
D)25 days

Question 51

Phoebe B.Beebee is constructing a canal for the annual canoe races and has identified eleven activities that are required to complete this important project.She calculated early and late start times and early and late finish times but spilled coffee all over her printout.Use the remaining information to reconstruct the table for Phoebe B.Beebee and her new canoe canal.

Question 52

Draw the network corresponding to the following information.Also,complete the table,identify the critical path,and specify project completion time.

Question 53

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the largest amount of slack that any activity in the project has?

A)zero weeks
B)two weeks
C)four weeks
D)six weeks

Question 54

Explain the importance of the critical path in project management.

Question 55

Using Table 7.5,every day the construction crew is on-site costs $1000.What activities would you consider crashing to reduce the project completion cost?

A)Activity E
B)Activity F
C)Activity G
D)All of these activities would be candidates for crashing.

Question 56

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the early start time for activity D?

A)week 9
B)week 4
C)week 7
D)week 0

Question 57

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the latest finish time for activity C?

A)week 4
B)week 6
C)week 8
D)week 10

Question 58

________ is the maximum length of time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

Question 59

Table 7.4

Using Table 7.4,what is the earliest completion time for this project?

A)18 weeks
B)19 weeks
C)20 weeks
D)21 weeks

Question 60

A project manager should stop crashing a project if the time budget has been met or if the crash costs have exceeded the savings in indirect and penalty costs.

Question 61

Table 7.8

Using Table 7.8,what is the latest start time for activity E?

A)day 7
B)day 8
C)day 9
D)day 10

Question 62

Table 7.6

Using Table 7.6,what is the critical path for this project?

A)B-E-H-K
B)B-E-H-J
C)A-E-G-J
D)C-F-I-L

Question 63

Table 7.6

Using Table 7.6,suppose activity I is delayed,taking eight days to complete instead of two days.Assume all other activity times remain the same.How much longer will the total project earliest completion time become?

A)zero days
B)one or two days
C)three or four days
D)five or six days

Question 64

Table 7.6

Using Table 7.6,suppose activity D can be shortened from four days to one day.Assume all other activity times remain the same.How much shorter will the total project earliest completion time become?

A)zero days
B)one day
C)two days
D)three days

Question 65

Table 7.8

Using Table 7.8,what is the minimum crashing cost to finish this project in 18 days?

A)$3,450
B)$850
C)$1,150
D)$1,500

Question 66

How many week(s)of crashing are available for activity B in Table 7.7?

A)0
B)1
C)2
D)3

Question 67

Using Table 7.5,how many days can activity C be delayed without changing the whole project's earliest completion time?

A)0 days
B)2 days
C)5 days
D)7 days

Question 68

What is the crashing cost per week for activity A in Table 7.7?

A)$2,000
B)$3,000
C)$4,000
D)This activity cannot be crashed.

Question 69

Table 7.8

Using Table 7.8,what is the minimum completion time for this project after crashing?

A)23 days
B)21 days
C)19 days
D)17 days

Question 70

What is the crashing cost per week for activity F in Table 7.7?

A)$2,000
B)$3,000
C)$4,000
D)This activity cannot be crashed.

Question 71

Table 7.6

Using Table 7.6,what is the latest start time for activity A?

A)day 0
B)day 1
C)day 2
D)day 3 or later

Question 72

What is the crashing cost per week for activity E in Table 7.7?

A)$1,000
B)$2,000
C)$3,000
D)This activity cannot be crashed.

Question 73

If a decision is made to crash activity D in Table 7.7 by one week,what is the cost for this one week of crashing?

A)$3,000
B)$2,000
C)$2,500
D)This activity cannot be crashed.

Question 74

Table 7.8

Using Table 7.8,what is the critical path for this project using the normal times?

A)A-D-H
B)C-F
C)B-E-H
D)B-G-H

Question 75

Table 7.8

Using Table 7.8,what is the activity with the greatest amount of slack?

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

Question 76

How many weeks of crashing are available for activity C in Table 7.7?

A)0
B)1
C)2
D)6

Question 77

Which activity should be crashed first for the project shown in Table 7.7?

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

Question 78

Figure to accompany Table 7.7 Table 7.7

What is the critical path for the project shown in the above network and Table 7.7,using the normal times?

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

Question 79

Table 7.8

Using Table 7.8,what is the earliest possible completion time for activity E after crashing?

A)day 11
B)day 13
C)day 15
D)day 17

Question 80

Determine the information missing from Table 7.7;then answer the following questions.How many week(s)of crashing are available for activity D in Table 2.9?

A)0
B)1
C)2
D)6