Project Management Test 3.9

Front 1

In CPM, two activity times and two __________ are specified.

Back 1

costs

Front 2

If deterministic time estimates are used and if project __________ are firm, there is a high likelihood that it will be necessary to crash the last few activities of most projects.

Back 2

deadlines

Front 3

This schedule compression technique expedites a project by overlapping the design and build phases.

Back 3

fast-tracking

Front 4

The __________ approach to constrained resource scheduling problems is the only feasible method of attacking the large, nonlinear, complex problems that tend to occur in the real world of project management.

Back 4

heuristic

Front 5

The __________ heuristic provides a general solution for critical path and time. It is usually the default rule for a schedule.

Back 5

as soon as possible

Front 6

Using the shortest task first heuristic method, the project team can complete the __________ number of tasks during given period of time.

Back 6

maximum

Front 7

The student syndrome, observed by __________, proposes that if an activity has slack time, often times the start of the task is delayed until the slack is removed.

Back 7

Goldratt

Front 8

The primary reason project managers are surprised by resource constraints on a project is their failure to include __________ in risk identification activities.

Back 8

resource availability

Front 9

The standard practice with PERT/CPM is to estimate activity times under the assumption of resource loadings that are __________.

Back 9

normal

Front 10

When using heuristic solutions to schedule, __________ will always take precedence.

Back 10

technological necessities

Front 11

The usual purpose of the __________ scheduling heuristic is to delay cash outflows as long as possible.

Back 11

as late as possible

Front 12

A project task is said to be system constrained if it requires a fixed amount of __________ and known quantities of resources.

Back 12

time

Front 13

Resource leveling aims to minimize the period-by-period variations in resource loading by shifting tasks within their ________.

Back 13

slack allowances

Front 14

The formula for computing the cost/time slope for each activity that can be crashed is (Crash cost - normal cost) / (crash time - normal time).

Back 14

True

Front 15

Most heuristic solution methods start with the master schedule and analyze resource usage period by period, resource by resource.

Back 15

False

Front 16

One of the most common priority rules is the longest task first.

Back 16

True

Front 17

Resource leveling describes the amounts of individual resources an existing schedule requires during specific time periods.

Back 17

False

Front 18

While standard practice and rules of thumb are sufficient for estimating the resourceneeds for normal progress, careful planning is critical when attempting to expeditea project.

Back 18

True

Front 19

When crashing a project, a change in technology with which something is done will change. In economics terms, this is a change in the “execution function.”

Back 19

False

Front 20

Resource loading aims to minimize the period-by-period variations in resource loading shifting tasks within their slack allowances.

Back 20

False

Front 21

In CPM, ________ are specified.

Back 21

Two activity times and two costs

Front 22

The standard practice with PERT/CPM is to estimate activity times under the assumption of ________.

Back 22

Resource loadings that are normal

Front 23

If deterministic time estimates are used, and if project deadlines are firm, there is a high likelihood that it will ________.

Back 23

Be necessary to crash the last few activities of most projects

Front 24

The formula for computing the cost/time slope for each activity that can be crashed is ________.

Back 24

(Crash cost - normal cost) / (crash time - normal time)

Front 25

Economically speaking, crashing a project creates a technology change in the ________ for an activity.

Back 25

Production function

Front 26

The ________ schedule compression technique overlaps the design and build phases of a project to expedite a project.

Back 26

Fast-tracking

Front 27

The points between the extreme points of the relationship between time use and resource use represent ________.

Back 27

Alternatives for trade-offs between time and resources

Front 28

The two fundamental approaches to constrained allocation problems are ________.

Back 28

Heuristic approaches and optimization models

Front 29

The ________ approach to constrained resource scheduling problems is the only feasible method of attacking large, nonlinear, complex problems that tend to occur in the real world of project management.

Back 29

Heuristic

Front 30

Most heuristic solution methods start with the ________ and analyze resource usage period by period, resource by resource.

Back 30

PERT/CPM schedule

Front 31

When using heuristic solutions to build a schedule, ________ will always take precedence.

Back 31

Technological necessities

Front 32

The ________ heuristic provides a general solution for critical path and time. It is usually the default rule for a schedule.

Back 32

ASAP

Front 33

The usual purpose of the ________ scheduling heuristic is to delay cash outflows as long as possible.

Back 33

ALAP

Front 34

If a date-constrained project is scheduled from the ending date constraint using the ALAP heuristic, the following effect will be observed in the network..

Back 34

Each activity will have zero slack and be located on the critical path

Front 35

The methods to find an optimal solution to the constrained resource scheduling problem fall into two categories. They are ________.

Back 35

Mathematical programming and enumeration

Front 36

A project is said to be ________ if all three variables --- time, cost, and specifications --- are fixed by the project sponsor.

Back 36

overdetermined

Front 37

A project task is said to be ________ if it requires a fixed amount of time and known quantities of resources.

Back 37

system constrained

Front 38

________ describes the amounts of individual resources an existing schedule requires during specific time periods.

Back 38

resource loading

Front 39

________ aims to minimize the period-by-period variations in resource loading by shifting tasks within their slack allowances. The purpose is to create a smoother distribution of resource usage.

Back 39

resource leveling

Front 40

________ refers to the amount of time beyond the project’s due date or beyond the expected delivery date required to complete the project.

Back 40

schedule slippage

Front 41

Three important parameters used to assess the effectiveness of a scheduling system include schedule slippage, in-process inventory, and ________.

Back 41

resource utilization

Front 42

With respect to project scheduling, ________ is the amount of work waiting to be processed because there is a shortage of some resource.

Back 42

in-process inventory

Front 43

Work = duration * units. Given that task A will use three carpenters and have duration of six days, task A requires ________ days of work.

Back 43

18

18 days = three resources * six days.

Front 44

The number of work periods required to complete the work effort for an activity is its ________.

Back 44

duration

Front 45

Given a scheduling equation W = D * U, if the equation for task A is initialized so that W = 40d, D = 10d, and U = 4 resources, and task A is an effort-driven activity, correctly balance this equation if the value for U is changed from 4 to 5. To balance the equation, the altered variable and its new value are ________.

Back 45

D = 8d

In an effort-driven task, W is held constant when resources are changed. Therefore, 40 days of work spread among 5 resources should require 8 days instead of 10 days to complete the job.

Front 46

Given a scheduling equation W = D * U, if the equation for task J is initialized so that W = 20d, D= 5d, and U = 4 resources, and task J is a non-effort-driven activity, correctly balance this equation if the value for U is changed from 4 to 5. To balance the equation, the altered variable and its new value are ________.

Back 46

W = 25d

In a non-effort-driven task, D is held constant when resources are changed. Therefore, 5 days of duration spread among 5 resources should require 25 days instead of 20 days of effort to complete the job. Adding resources to a non-effort driven task will not decrease duration.

Front 47

Given W = D * U for an effort-driven task. Assume an 8-hour workday. Initially, task R was assigned to Bob. Bob was expected to accomplish 32 hours of work in five days. If Bob was 100 percent available to work on task R during the entire five days, his efficiency rate is ________%.

Back 47

80

Work / duration = efficiency if the resource is 100 percent available over the entire duration.

Front 48

Given W = D * U for an effort-driven task. Assume an 8-hour workday. Initially, task R was assigned to Bob. Bob was expected to accomplish 32 hours of work in five days. Bob was expected to be 100% available to work on task R during the entire five days. However, Bob left the company and will be replaced by Sam. Sam’s efficiency rate is 90%. If Sam is only 70% available, Sam will require ________ hours to complete task R.

Back 48

50.8

(32 hours of work) / (70 percent availability * 90 percent efficiency) = 50.8 hours for duration.

Front 49

Describe the extreme points of the relationship between time use and resource use.

Back 49

If the project is time-limited, it will seek to use as few resources as possible but will be constrained by time. If the project is resource limited, it will seek to finish as soon as possible but will be resource constrained. The points between these two extremes represent time/resource use trade-offs available to the project manager.

Front 50

Discuss the advantages obtained from resource leveling.

Back 50

First, less hands-on management is required if the use of a given resource is nearly constant over its period of use. Second, if resource usage is level, the project manager may be able to use a just-in-time inventory policy without much worry that the quantity delivered will be wrong. For human resources, leveling can improve morale and lead to fewer problems in the personnel and payroll offices due to increasing and decreasing labor levels. Moreover, the leveling of resources tends to level costs. And since hiring and layoff costs can be significant, leveling can minimize such costs.

Front 51

Describe the basic procedure for resource leveling.

Back 51

Identify the type and quantity of resources that are required to complete activities in the network. Once the logical relationships between tasks and their duration have been established, resource assignments will establish the initial load required to accomplish the work. Working within project constraints for time and resources, fluctuations in load for each resource will be minimized.

Front 52

Suggest some options for leveling the load placed on resources.

Back 52

Leveling demand arrival patterns would be one possible option. If this were not possible, personnel could be asked to alter working hours to accommodate the demand arrival patterns. The third possibility would be to hire temporary workers to handle peak demand patterns exceeding the internal capacity of the organization. It is also important to allow for unexpected delays associated with resource availability problems. For example, is generally unwise to load scarce resources with demand exceeding 85 to 90 percent of the resources’ available capacity. Thus, if future load will consistently exceed the existing capacity of the organization, it may be appropriate to hire additional resources in the affected resource category.

Front 53

Discuss some other causes of the strong optimistic bias in a project schedule.

Back 53

An overly optimistic project manager simply ignore the need to perform risk management. When problems arise, this category of project manager treats the problem as an act of chance that cannot be forecasted. When senior managers refuse to recognize that the capacity to undertake projects will need to exceed the demand for projects, then resources will become overloaded. Goldratt described the student syndrome as a scenario where students always want more time to complete a project. Then, the project will be delayed until the last possible moment. Multitasking to reduce idle time actually increases the amount of time it takes to accomplish work. The perception that people need a reason to work hard will often result in arbitrary reductions to the allotted time to complete activities. To mitigate the impact of arbitrary cuts in the schedule, game playing may take place during planning.