Andy #4 Time

Front 1

misc hints to understanding time management process.

Back 1

"The WBS is a key input to time mgt processes. Using this comprehensive lsit of deliverables, you now define the work that must be done in order to produce these deliverables. The individual schedule activities are then sequenced, and the resource and duration estimates are applied to these activities."

Front 2

What are the key outputs of Define Activities Process (within Project Time Mgt)?

Back 2

Activity list

Front 3

What are the key outputs of Sequence Activities Process (within Project Time Mgt)?

Back 3

Project schedule network diagrams

Front 4

What are the key outputs of Estimate Activities Resources Process (within Project Time Mgt)?

Back 4

"Activity resource requirements, Resrouce breakdown structure"

Front 5

What are the key outputs of Estimate Activity Durations Process (within Project Time Mgt)?

Back 5

Activity duration estimates

Front 6

What are the key outputs of Develop Schedule Process (within Project Time Mgt)?

Back 6

"Project schedule, Schedule baseline"

Front 7

What are the key outputs of Control Schedule Process (within Project Time Mgt)?

Back 7

"Work performance measurements, Change requests"

Front 8

List the six processes of Project Time Mgt?

Back 8

Define Activities; Sequence Activities; Estimate Activity Resources; Estimate Activity Durations; Develop schedule; Control Schedule

Front 9

The activity list is used as the basis for the next three planning processes. List them.

Back 9

"Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations"

Front 10

What is the Define Activities process (within Time Mgt)?

Back 10

"Once the scope baseline has been created, it is used to decompose the work into activity. The main result of this planning process is the activity list. This list represents all of the scheduled activities that need to take palce for the project to be completed. This is primarily accomplished by taking the WBS and decomposing the work packages even further until they represent scheduled activites."

Front 11

What is the difference between work packages in a WBS and an activity list?

Back 11

Activity list are more granular and is decomposed into individual schedule activities. Work packages often contain budles of related activites that may involve multiple groups of people. It is these activities that comprise the activity list.

Front 12

Why is the Define Activities process (within Time Mgt) important?

Back 12

"In scope mgt, we focus on what needs to be done. In time mgt, we focus on how and when it is accomplished. The activity list is an essential input into building the schedule."

Front 13

When is the Define Activities process (within Time Mgt) performed?

Back 13

"Performed as soon as the scope has been baselined. In other words, it is common to create the activity list after the requirements documentation, project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary have been created and are in stable form."

Front 14

List the inputs to the Define Activity process(within Time Mgt)

Back 14

"Scope Baseline, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets."

Front 15

What is the significance of the Scope Baseline as an input for the Define Activities process (within Time Mgt)

Back 15

"The scope baseline is made up of the approved project scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary. The scope baseline provieds the primary input into this process. Each resulting schedule activity should tie back to a specific deliverable in the scope baseline."

Front 16

List the tools used for the Define activities process (within time Mgt)

Back 16

"Decomposition, Rolling Wave Planning, Templates, Expert Judgement"

Front 17

Significance of Decomposition used as a tool for the Define Activities process (within Time Mgt)

Back 17

"Each work package at the bottom of the WBS is simply decomposed into smaller pieces, known as schedule activities. The pm should solicit heavy involvement from the project team or the functional managers to leverage their expertise when performing this process."

Front 18

Significance of Rolling Wave used as a tool for the Define Activities process (within Time Mgt)

Back 18

"Things in the near future should be relatively clear, while project activities in the distant future may not be as detailed or as easily understood. Armed with this perspective, a pm may choose to carefully decompose certain work packages, with anticipated execution in the near term in great detail, while delaying analysis on work packages that will not be accomplished until later in the project."

Front 19

List the outputs of Define Activity process (within Time Mgt)

Back 19

"Activity List, Activity attribues, Milestone List"

Front 20

Can an activity in the activity list map back to more than one work package?

Back 20

No. Each activity should map back to one and only one work package.

Front 21

Significance of the Activity List as an output of the Define activity process (within Time Mgt)

Back 21

All of the scheduled activities that need to be performed in order to complete the project are compiled into the activity list.

Front 22

Significance of the Activity attributes as an output of the Define activity process (within Time Mgt)

Back 22

"Extension of the activity list. As planning progresses, there will be a need to store additional info about activities. Ie. The person responsible for the activity, the parts that need to be procured for the actiity, location where work will be performed etc."

Front 23

What is the Sequence Actiities process (within Time Mgt)

Back 23

The sequence activities process is primarily concerned with taking the activity list in the Defined Activities process and arranging those activities in the order they must be performed.

Front 24

Why is the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt) important?

Back 24

Sequence Activities is the planning process in which network diagrams are produced.

Front 25

When is the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt) performed?

Back 25

After Define Activities and before Develop Schedule.

Front 26

What are the inputs for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt)?

Back 26

"Activity list (**IMPORTANT**), Activity Attributes, Milesone List, Project Scope Statement, Organizational Process assets."

Front 27

Significance of the Milestone list as an input for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt).

Back 27

"Milestones are often imposed from outside the project(eg. The project sponsor indicats an overall deliverable date). Because of this, activities will often need to be arranged in a specific way in order to meet key milestones. For instance, if the customer specificed a milestone of a preconstruction walkthrough at a certain point in time, then the activiy of cleaning up the worksite may need to be sequenced earlier."

Front 28

Significance of the Project Scope Statement as an input for the Project Scope Statement (within Time Mgt).

Back 28

"The project scope statement is used to ensure that nothing is missed. It will often give you info about the project that will influence the order in which certain activities are performed. For instance, if a computer system contained hardware and software, it might be necessary to procure and configure the hardware before constructing the software."

Front 29

List the tools used for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt)

Back 29

"Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM), Dependency Determination, Apply leads and lags, Schedule Network Templates."

Front 30

Significance of the Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

Back 30

used as a tool for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt). It creates a graphical representation of the schedule activities in the order that they must be performed on the projected. Activities are represented by the nodes (rectanges) with arrows representing the dependencies that exist between the activities.

Front 31

Dependency Determination

Back 31

"used as a tool for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt). Dependencies are those things that influence which activities must be performed first. For example, a road must be graded before it is paved. We would say the activity of paving the road is dependent upon the activity of grading the road."

Front 32

List the 3 types of Dependencies

Back 32

"used as a tool for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt). Mandatory Dependencies, Discretionary Dependencies, External Dependencies."

Front 33

External Dependencies

Back 33

"used as a tool for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt). External dependencies are those dependencies that must be considered but are outside of the project's control and scope. For Instance, if an automobile is eing develped to use alternative tech, they may be an external dependency on a supplier providing a battery that meets certain specifications before the project can mee its schedule. Because of these dependencies, they must be identified and documented as part of the process."

Front 34

Apply leads and lags

Back 34

"used as a tool for the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt). A lead is simply one activity getting a jump start on another. Think of a lag as a waiting period that exists between two activities. If one activity was to order a server and another activity was to configure the server, then a lag might exist between the time the server is ordered and the time it arrives to be configured. During this lag, they are simply waiting."

Front 35

What is the output of the Sequence Activities process (within Time Mgt)

Back 35

Project Schedule Network diagrams. Note: is is not the schedule. No start or finish dates are assigned to the activities yet. They are simply arranged in the order they need to be performed on the project.

Front 36

What is Estimate Activity Resources process (within Time Mgt)

Back 36

"How long an activity takes is usually a function of determining the size of the activity and the number of resources that will be applied to it, the and the availability of resources. This process is all about analyzing the project activity to determine the resource requirements."

Front 37

When is the Estimate Activity Resources process (within Time Mgt) performed?

Back 37

"b/c it uses the activity list, it must be performed after the Define Activities process. Additionally, since the output of this process is used to build the project schedule, this process must be performed before Develop Schedule. This process often goes hand in hand with Estimate Costs, since cost and time are closely linked, so they may be perforemd at the same time, or in an iterative cycle."

Front 38

What are the inputs for the Estimate Activity Resources (within Time Mgt)

Back 38

"Activity list, Activity attributes, Resource Calendars, Enterprise Envirnomental Factors, Organizational Process Assets."

Front 39

Resource Calendars

Back 39

"inputs used for the Estimate Activity Resources Process (w/in Time Mgt). Resources may include both physical and human resources, and their availability needs to be factored in. For instance, a piedce of heavy machinery may currently be availbable during the months of April and May, which must be considered. The resource calendars provide the dates that human and physical resources are available."

Front 40

What tools are used for the Estimate Resource Activities (within Time Mgt)

Back 40

"Expert Judgement, Alternative Analysis, Published Estimating Data, Bottom-Up Estimating, Project Mgt Software."

Front 41

Published Estimating Data

Back 41

"tools used for Estimating Activity Resources process (within Time Mgt). Some industries have extensive data available through published recognized sources that can help in estimating. For instance, if you take a car to a body shop for repar, they often have books provided by the insurance industry with almost every conceivable repair listed, along with how long the repair should take for an experienced person to complete."

Front 42

Bottom-up Estimating

Back 42

"tools used for Estimating Activity Resources process (within Time Mgt). It may be that you encounter an activity that cannot be estimated, either because it has not been broken down enough , or because it is simply too complex. In this case, it is appropriate to break down the activity further into progressively smaller pieces of work until these pieces may be estimated for their resource requirements."

Front 43

List the outputs of the Estimate Activity Resources process (within Time Mgt)

Back 43

"Activity Resource requirements, Resource Breakdown Structure, Project Document Updates."

Front 44

Activity Resource Requirements

Back 44

"Primary output of Estimate Activity Resources (w/in time mgt). These resources include the kind of resources and the number of resources. The activity resource requirements need to specify, for instance, if two senior programmers are requried for four months or if three junior programmers are required for five months. Each activity resource requirement should be documented with sufficient detail to explain the decision making process used to arrive at these estimates."

Front 45

Resource Breakdown Structure

Back 45

"output of Estimate Activity Resources (w/in time mgt). Similar to WBS, it is graphical and hierarchical. It arranges resources by category and type."

Front 46

What documents are typically updated during the Estimate Activity Resources (w/in time mgt)

Back 46

"Activity list, resource calendar."

Front 47

What is the Estimate Activity Durations process (within time mgt)

Back 47

"Each activity in the activity list is analyzed to estimate how long it wil take. The duration of an activity is a function of many factors, ie. Who will be doing the work, when they are available, how many resources will be assigned to this activity, and the amount of work contained in the activity."

Front 48

When is Estimate Activity Durations process (within time mgt) performed?

Back 48

After the Activity Resource requirements have been gathered and before the schedule is developed.

Front 49

List the inputs for the Estimate Activity Durations process (within time mgt)

Back 49

"Activity list, Activity attributes, Activity Resource Requirements(**IMPORTANT**), Resource Calendars, Project Scope Statement, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets."

Front 50

Significance of Project Scope Statement as an input for the Estimate Activity Durations process (within time mgt)

Back 50

"the scope statement has the constraints and assumptions for the project that can affect this process. For instance, a constraint that a particular component of a house had to be built at a differenct facility and transported to the construction site would influence the activity's duration. Likewise, an assumptin that a particular component of a software productcould be completed by a subcontracting firm faster thatn it could be built internally would be helpful in performing for Estimate Activity Durations."

Front 51

Significance of Enterprise Environmental Factors as an input for the Estimate Activity Durations process (within time mgt)

Back 51

"Factors such as what records an org requires, safety standards and regulations can all affect how long an activity takes. For instance, it may take longer to perform an activity in a nuclear power plant thatn it does in a conventional power plant due to enterise envir factors."

Front 52

What tools are used for the Estimate Activities Durations process (within time Mgt)

Back 52

"Expert Judgement, Analogous Estimating, Parametric Estimating, Three Point Estimates, Reserve Analysis."

Front 53

Significance of Analogous Estimating used as a tool for Estimate Activities Durations process (within time Mgt)

Back 53

"Aka top down estimating, is where an activity form a project previously performed within the org is used to help estimate another activity's duration. Typically, the previous actual time spent on the similar activity is used as the estimate for another similar activity. The technique is combined with expert judgement to determine if the two activites are truly alike."

Front 54

Significance of Parametric Estimating used as a tool for Estimate Activities Durations process (within time Mgt)

Back 54

"If one team can install 100 ft of fence a day, then it would take 10 teams to install 1000 ft of fence. This kind of linear extrapolation is an example of parametric estimating. Parametric estimating can work well for activities that are either linear or easily scaled. It is not as effectie for activites that have not been performed or those for which little or no historical info has been gathered."

Front 55

In what situations can Parametric Estimating work well as a tool for Estimating Activity Durations process (time mgt) and in what situations will it not work well.

Back 55

Parametric estimating can work well for activities that are either linear or easily scaled. It is not as effectie for activites that have not been performed or those for which little or no historical info has been gathered.

Front 56

Significance of Three point estimates used as a tool for Estimate Activities Durations process (within time Mgt)

Back 56

"aka PERT estimates, uses three data points for the duration instead of simply one. These are pessimistic(aka realistic) and optimistic estimates. As an example, suppose a developer estimates that it wil most likely take 9 days to write a module of code; however, he also supplies an optimistic estimate of 7 days and a pessimistic estimate of 17 days. The pm then applies a formula, usually in the form of a weighted avg. The formula is (P+4R+O)/6 where P is pess, O is optimistic, R is realistic estimate. In this example, (17 +4*9+7)/6=10 days. This is used as the activity duration estimate for this schedule activity."

Front 57

Show shortcut formula to calculate standard deviation for an estimate.

Back 57

SD=(Pessimistic-Optimistec)/6

Front 58

Significance of Reserve Analysis used as a tool for Estimate Activities Durations process (within time Mgt)

Back 58

"Reserve time, also called contingency, is extra time added to an activity during estimate. Reserve time estimates are revisted throughout the life of the project, being revised up or down as more info on schedule risk becomes available."

Front 59

What are the outputs of Estimate Activity Durations process (within time mgt)

Back 59

"Activity Duration Estimates, Project Document Updates"

Front 60

When is the Develop Schedule process performed?

Back 60

"After the processes of Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Druations, and Sequence Activities has been performed and before Determine Budget is performed."

Front 61

List the inputs for the Develop Schdule process(within time mgt)

Back 61

"Activitiy List, Activity Attributes, Project Schedule Network Diagrams, Activity Resource Requiremens, Resource Calendars, Activity Duration Estimates, Project Scope Statement, Enterprise Envirnomental Factors, Organizational Process Assets"

Front 62

List the tools for the Develop Schedule process(within time mgt)

Back 62

"Schedule Network Analysis, Critical Path Method (CPM), Critical Chain Method, Resource Leveling, What-If Scenario Analysis, Applying Leads and Lags, Schedule Compression, Scheduling Tool"

Front 63

Significance of Critical Path Method (CPM) as a tool for the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 63

"A project's critical path is the combination of activities that, if any are delayed, will delay the project's finish. The main purpose of the critical path method is to calculate the project's finish date and to identify how much individual activities in the schedule can slip (or float) without delaying the project."

Front 64

Significance of Critical Chain Method as a tool for the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 64

"Not yet widely used, but it provides a new way to view and manage uncertainty when building the project schedule. The traditional way, using CPM, puts the primary mangerial focus on making sure no activity exceeds its float. If successful, the project finishs on time. With the critical chain method, you first determine latest possible start and finish date for each activity, and then add schedule ""buffers"" between activities. The goal is to manage the project so that no matter what uncertainties or problems occur, you do not exceed your bufers. If successful, project finishes on time."

Front 65

Significance of Resource Leveling as a tool for the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 65

"Resource leveling is when your resource needs meet up with the organization's ability to supply resources. In order to resource level the project, you first use the critical path method to calculate and analyze all of the network paths for the project. Then you apply resources to that analysis to see what effect it has on schedule outcome. After the resource calendar has been applied and teh schedule has been leveled, a schedule is created based on the resources applied, where each activity is assigned a project start and finish date."

Front 66

Significance of What-If Scenario Aanalysis as a tool for the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 66

"The what-if analysis typically uses Monte Carlo analysis to predict likely schedule outcomes for a project and identify the areas of the schedule that are the highest risk. This analysis is performed by computer and evaluates probability by considering a huge number of simulated scheduling possibilities, or a few selected likely scenarios. A computer can identify the highest risk activities that may not otherwise be apparent, showing the impact of these changes on the schedule."

Front 67

Significance of Schedule Compression as a tool for the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 67

"The purpose of schedule compression is to complete the project earlier without cutting the project's scope. Crashing involves adding resources to a project activity so that it will be completed more quickly. Crashing almost always increases cost. Fast tracking means that you re-order the sequence of activities so that some of the activities are performed in parallel, or at the sem time. It doesn't necessarily increase costs, but it almost alwas increases risk to the project since discretionary dependencies are ignored and additional activities are happening simultaneously. Note that fask tracking often results in some individual activites taking longer, and it increases the risk. Example, installing carpet and painting walls at the same time, instead of waiting until one activity is done. The workers might have trouble moving around each other, painters could damage the carpet etc."

Front 68

Crashing

Back 68

Type of Schedule Compression. The purpose of schedule compression is to complete the project earlier without cutting the project's scope. Crashing involves adding resources to a project activity so that it will be completed more quickly. Crashing almost always increases cost.

Front 69

Fasttracking

Back 69

"Type of Schedule Compression. The purpose of schedule compression is to complete the project earlier without cutting the project's scope. Fast tracking means that you re-order the sequence of activities so that some of the activities are performed in parallel, or at the sem time. It doesn't necessarily increase costs, but it almost alwas increases risk to the project since discretionary dependencies are ignored and additional activities are happening simultaneously. Note that fask tracking often results in some individual activites taking longer, and it increases the risk. Example, installing carpet and painting walls at the same time, instead of waiting until one activity is done. The workers might have trouble moving around each other, painters could damage the carpet etc."

Front 70

List the ouptust of Develop Schedule Process (within time mgt)

Back 70

"Project Schedule, Schedule Baseline, Schedule Data, Project Document Updates"

Front 71

List the common forms of the project shedule.

Back 71

"Project Network diagram(best for calculating critical path and showing dependencies), Bar Charts(aka Gantt Charts), Milestone charts"

Front 72

Significance of the Schedule Baseline as an output of the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 72

"Any baseline (whether scope, time, cost) is the original paln plus all approved changes. The schedule baseline is created at the point at which the schedule is approved by the customer, the sponsor, and the project manager(as well as functional manager and team). When scheduling change requests are approved, they become part of the schedule baseline."

Front 73

Significance of the Schedule Data as an output of the Develop Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 73

"Schedule Data refers to the info the project team used to model and create the project schedule. It would include schedule templates that were used, the activities and their attributes, estimated durations, and any constraints and assumptions. "

Front 74

When is the Control Schedule process performed?

Back 74

Throughout the life of the project from the moment the schedule is developed until all schduled activities have been completed.

Front 75

What are the inputs to the Control Schedule Process (within time mgt)

Back 75

"Project mgt plan(contains the schedule mgt plan-defines how the schedule will be managed and changed and schedule baseline), Project schedule, Work Performance Info, Organizational Process Assets"

Front 76

Tools used for the Control schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 76

"Performance reviews, Variance Analysis, Project Mgt Software, Resource Leveling, What-If Scenario Analysis, Adjusting Leads and Lags, Schedule Compression, Scheduling Tool"

Front 77

Significance of Performance Reviews as a tool for the Control schedule Process (within time mgt)

Back 77

"The project scheduled shows planned start and finish dates for each activity, but it is the actual dates that determine if the project is delivered. Performance review are used so that the project manager can determine how the project is progressing against the schedule."

Front 78

Significance of Variance Analysis as a tool for the Control schedule Process (within time mgt)

Back 78

Variance Analysis looks at the difference between what was scheduled and what was executed in order to understand any differences. These differences are analyzed to determine whether or not a corrective action is required.

Front 79

List the oupouts of the Control Schedule process (within time mgt)

Back 79

"Work Performance Measurements, Organzational Process Assets Updates, Change Requests, Project Mgt Plan Updates, Project Document Updates."

Front 80

Significance of Work Performance Measurements as an output of the Control schedule Process (within time mgt)

Back 80

"The updated schedule performance index (SPI), schedule variance (SV) and other earned value measurements revlevant to the schedule need to be calculated and communicated out."

Front 81

Network path

Back 81

The term network path refers to a sequence of events that affect each other on the project from start to finish. They illustrate the different set of sequences in which activites are perforemd and they are used to identify areas of high risk on the project..

Front 82

Can a project have more than one critical path?

Back 82

"Yes and in such projects, the schedule risk is increase because there are more then one way that the project could be delayed."

Front 83

Float

Back 83

"Float is simply how much time an activity can slip before it changes the critical path. It is the maximum amount of time an activity can slip without pushing out the finish date of the project. If an item is on the critical path, it has zero float."

Front 84

What is the float of an item on the crirical path.

Back 84

zero.

Front 85

"For activities with zero float or slack, what is the late start and early start, what is the late finish and early finish."

Back 85

The late start and early start will be the same. The late finish and early finish will be the same

Front 86

"1. You are the project manager for the construction of a commercial office building that has very similar characteristics to a construction project performed by your company two years ago. As you perform Define Activities, what is the BEST approach? A. Use the activity list from the previous project as your activity list. B. Generate your activity list without looking at the previous project's list and compare when your project's list is complete. C. Use gap analysis technique to identify andy differences between your project and teh previous project. D. Use the previous activity list to help construct your list."

Back 86

"D. The previous activity list would make an excellent tool to help you ensure that you are considering all activities. Any historical info such as this is thought of as an organizational process asset. 'A' is incorrect because you cannot simply substitue something as intricate as a complete activity list. 'B' is incorrect because the other activity list would provide a good starting point and should be considered before you create your activity list. 'C' (gap analysis) is a tool that is used in the real world that is not defined by PMI, nor is it used in activity list definition."

Front 87

2. The customer has called a project team member to request a change in the project's schedule. The team member asks you what the procedure is for handling scheduling changes. Where should you refer the team member to help him understand the procedure? A. the project office. B. The change control board. C. The schedule mgt plan. D. Inform the team member that the customer is always right.

Back 87

"C. The schedule mgt plan is part of the project paln. This is the best source of info on how changes to the schedule are to be handled. 'A' is incorrect b/c the project offices's job is to define standards-not to make decisions on tactical items such as this. 'B' is incorrect b/c teh change control board may or may not even exist, and even if it does, it usually approves or rejects scope changes. 'D' is the worst choice. Customer is not always right. Procedures should be defined and followed in order to imporve the project's chance of success."

Front 88

"3. If you were creating duration estimates for a schedule activity, which of the following tools or techniques would NOT be appropriate to use? A. Expert judgement. B. Reserve analysis. C. Three point estimating. D. Least-squares estimating."

Back 88

"D. Since we are creating activity duration estimates, we are performing the process of Estimate Activity Durations. 'A, B, C' are all tools used in estimate activity durations, but 'D' is a made up term."

Front 89

4. Senior mgt has called you in for a meeting to review the progress of your project. You have been allocated 15 minutes to report the progress and discuss critical issues. Which of the following would be BEST to carry with you in this case? A. milestone chart. B. The project network diagram. C. An expert from each functional ara of the project so that all questions may be answered. D. Project status reports from your team members.

Back 89

"A. Milestone charts show the high level status, which would be appropriate given the audence and time allocated for this update."

Front 90

"5. Which of the following is FALSE concerning an activity's early finish and/or late finish? A. Early finish represents the earliest possible date an activity could finish. B. Late finish represents the latest possible date an activity could finish without lengthening the critical path. C. The difference between an activity's early finish and late finish is the same as the difference between the early start and late start. D. Early finish is typically depicted in the node's lower left quadrant, and late finish is depicted in the lower right quadrant."

Back 90

"D. The early finish is typically depicted in a node's upper right quandrant, while the late finish is in the lower right. 'A' was not a good choice because that accurately defines the early finish, given the activity's duration. 'B' is not correct because that is the definition of late finish. 'C' is not a good choice because the float(or slack) determines the gap between early finish and late finish and between the early start and late start. Since the float is the same, the difference between those dates should also be the same."

Front 91

6. The amount of time that an activity may be delayed without extending the critical path is: A. lag B. Grace period. C. Free factor. D. Slack.

Back 91

D. The slack(or float) is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without affecting the critical path.

Front 92

7. Crashing differs from fast tracking because crashing: A. Usually increases value. B. Usually increases cost. C. Usually saves more time. D. Usually saves more money.

Back 92

B. Crashing adds more resources to an activity. This usually increases the cost due to the law of diminshing returns which predicts that 10 people usually cannot complete an activity in half the time that 5 people can. The savings from crashing are rearely linear.

Front 93

"8. If senior mgt tells you ""The last project we did like this cost us almost five million dollars,"" what estimating method is being used? A. Delphi technique B. Principle of equivalency of activities. C. Analogous estimating. D. Bottom up estimating."

Back 93

C. In this example magt is providing you with analogous estimates. These estimates are actual costs from previous projects (historical info or organizational process assets) to produce estimates for a similar project.

Front 94

9. You are advising a project manager who is behind schedule on his project. The sponsor on his project is very unhappy with the way things have progressed and is threatening to cancel the project. The sponsor has accepted a revised due date from the project manager but did not allow any increased spending. Which of the following would represent the BEST advice for the pm in this case? A. Fast track the schedule. B. Ask senior mgt for a new sponsor within the org. C. Crash the schedule. D. Talk with the customer to see if budget may be increased without the sponsor's involvement.

Back 94

"A. In this case, you must compress the schedule without increasing the costs. Fast tracking does not directly add cost to the project and is the best choice in this case. 'B' is incorrect. The sponsor is paing for the project. Do this and your sponsor will be asking for a new project manager instead. 'C' is inocrrect because crashing usually adds cost to the project, and this is not allowed in this scenario. 'D' is incorrect because the sponsor authorizes the budget. Doing an end run around the sponsro and going to the customer would be inappropriate."

Front 95

10. Which Develop Schedule tool inserts non-working buffer time between schedule activities? A. Critical chain method. B. Critical path method. C. Resource leveling. D. Schedule modeling.

Back 95

"A. The critical chain method uses buffers, which are non-working times, to helpo prevent the activities themselves from slipping."

Front 96

11. What is the BEST tool to use to calculate the critical path on a project? A. WBS. B. GERT diagram. C. Gantt chart. D. Project network diagram.

Back 96

D. The project network diagram shows duration and dependencies wich would help you calculate the critical path. 'A' is incorrect because the WBS does not show durations or activity dependencies. 'B' is incorrect because GERT is mot helpful for showing conditions and branches. 'C' in incorrect because a Gantt chart is very useful for showing percentage complete on activities but is not the best tool for showing activity dependecies or calculting critical path.

Front 97

"14. An activity has a duration estimate that is best case = 30 days, most likely = 44 days, and worst case = 62 days. What is the three point estimate for this activity? A. 44.67days. B. 34.67 days. C. 5.33 days. D. 59.33 days."

Back 97

A. The formula for PERT is (P +4R + O)/6

Front 98

15. Which of the following choices best fits the description of a project manager applying the technique of what-if scenario analysis? A. Using project mgt software to build three versions of the project schedule. B. Using Monte Carlo analysis to identify what would happen if schedule delays occured. C. Using critical path method to analyze what would happen if the critical path actually occured. D. Discussing with the functional managers what they would do if certain project team members quit the project early.

Back 98

"B. What-if analysis takes many forms, but the form you'll most likey see on the exam is Monte Carlo analysis, which throws a large number of scenarios at the schedule to see what would happen if one or more bad scenarios occurred."

Front 99

"16. How do the activity list and activity attributes relate to each other? A. The activity list focuses on schedule activities, while the activity attributes apply to WBS activities. B. The activity attributes are created prior to the activity list. C. The activity list may be substituted for the activity attributes in most processes. D. Activity attributes provide addtional info for each activity on the activity list."

Back 99

"D. The activity attributes simply expand on the information for each activity. 'A' is incorrect since the activity attributes tie back to the activity list and not the WBS. 'B' is incorrect since the activity attributes may be created at the same time or after the activity list, but not befoer. 'C' is incorrect since the activity attributes may never be substitued for the activity list. Instead the activity attributes accompany the activity list, providing addtioanl info on each activity."

Front 100

17. Which of the following is the BEST description of the critical path? A. The activities that represent critical functionality. B. The activities that represent the largest portions of the work packages. C. The activites that represent the highest schedule risk on the project. D. The activities that represent the optimal path through the network.

Back 100

"C. The critical path is the series of activities, which if delayed, will delay the project. This makes these activities the highest schedule risk on the project. 'A' is incorrect because the critical path has no relationship with functionality. 'B' is incorrect because the size of the work packages does not directly correlate to the critical path. 'D' is incorrect because the critical path does not represent the optimal path through the network."

Front 101

18. Which of the following is TRUE about Estimate Activity Durations? A. It must be performed after Sequence Activities. B. It must be performed after Develop schedule. C. Parametric estimates may be used to derive the durations. D. The activity duration estimates must be validated during Develop Schedule.

Back 101

"C. One of the most important tools used in Estimate Activity Durations is parametric estimates. 'A' is incorrect because none of the outputs of Sequence Activites is an input into Estimate Activity Druations, meaning that there is no reason one has to be performed before the other. 'B' is incorrec because Develop Schedule should always be performed after Estimate Activity Durations(how will you develop the schedule if you don't know how long the activities will take) 'D' validation of activity sounds great but is not part of Develop Schedule process."

Front 102

"19. If schedule activities are not properly decomposed, which of the following would NOT be an expected outcome? A. The team encounters difficulty estimating cost and time. B. The team encounters difficulty in building the schedule. C. The team encounters difficulty in calculating earned value. D. The team encounters difficulty in creating the responsibility matrix."

Back 102

"D. Keep in mind that WBS nodes are decomposed inot work packages first. Then schedule activities are decomposed from the work packages. 'A, B, C' all realte to problems you would fact if the schedule activities are not properly decomposed, but 'D' relates to work packages and you are not given anything in the question that suggests there is a problem with the way they are decomposed."

Front 103

"20. Your project schedule has just been developed, approved, and distributed to the stakeholders and presented to senior mgt when one of the resources assigned to an activity approaches you and tells you that her activity cannot be performed within the allotted time due to several necessary pieces that were left out of planning. Her revised estimate would change the schedule but would not affect the critical path. What would be the BEST way for the project manager to handle this situation? A. Stick with the published schedule and allow for any deviation by using schedule reserve. B. Go back to Estimate Activities Durations and update the schedule and other plans to refect the new estimate. C. Hire an independent consultant to validate her claim. D. Replace the resource with someone who says they can meet the published schedule.."

Back 103

"B. Change happens. Some of them are submitted as change requests, come come out of nowhere. In this case, you want to returen to planning and update the plans. The project will not be delaysed, and the resource has give a good reason why the dates need to be revisted(a common real world problem). 'A' is wrong becaue the plan shoudl reflect reality, not an unrealistic estimate. 'C' is incorrect, because you cannot possibly get an outside opinion every time a resource needs to change a date. 'D' is incorrect, because the resource gave a good reson for the adjustment.It was not that she was lacking in training or ability, but that pieces were left out of planning. Therefore, 'B' represents the all around best answer."