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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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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 the gap analysis technique to identify any differences between your project and the previous project D. Use the previous activity list to help construct your list |
D
The previous activity list would make an excellent tool to help you ensure that you are considering all activities. Any historical information such as this is thought of as an organizational process asset. 'A' is incorrect because you cannot simply substitute 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. |
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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 schedule 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 management plan D. Inform the team member that the customer is always right |
C
The schedule management plan, discussed in chapter 4, is part of the project plan. This is the best source of information on how changes to the schedule are to be handled. 'A' is incorrect because the project office's job is to define standards - not to make decisions on tactical items such as this. 'B' is incorrect because the change control board may or may not even exist, and if it does exist, it usually approves or rejects scope changes. Answer 'D' would be the worst choice. The customer is not always right when it comes to requesting changes. Procedures should be defined and followed in order to improve the project's chances of success. |
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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 judgment B. Reserve analysis C. Three-point estimating D. Least-squares estimating |
D
Since we are creating activity duration estimates, we are performing the process of Estimate Activity Durations. Answers 'A', 'B', and 'C' are all tools used in Estimate Activity Durations, but 'D' is a made up term. |
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4. Senior management has called you in for a meeting to review the progress of your project. You have been allocated 15 minutes to report 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 area of the project so that all questions may be answered D. Project status reports from your team members |
A
Milestone charts show the high level status, which would be appropriate given the audience and time allocated for this update. |
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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 berween 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 |
D
The early finish is typically depicted in a node's upper right quadrant, while the late finish is in the lower right. 'A' was not a good choice because that accurately defines the early finish, given the activiry's estimated duration. 'B' is not correct because that is the definition of the late finish. 'C' is not a good choice, because the Hoat (or slack) determines the gap between early finish and late finish and between the early start and late start. Since the Hoat is the same, the difference between those dates should also be the same. |
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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 |
D
The slack (or Hoat) is the amount of time an activity may be delayed without affecting the critical path. |
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7. Crashing differs from fast tracking because crashing:
A. Usually increases value B. Usually increases the cost C. Usually saves more time D. Usually saves more money |
B
Crashing adds more resources to an activity. This usually increases the cost due to the law of diminishing returns which predicts that 10 people usually cannot complete an activity in half the time that 5 people can. The savings from crashing are rarely linear. 'A' is incorrect because crashing does not directly affect the project's value. 'C' is incorrect because crashing may or may not save more time than fast tracking - depending on the situation. 'D' is incorrect because crashing usually costs more money than fast tracking. |
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8. If senior management 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 |
C
In this example management is providing you with analogous estimates. These estimates use acrual costs from previous projects (historical information or organizational process assets) to produce estimates for a similar project. |
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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 project manager in this case? A. Fast track the schedule B. Ask senior management for a new sponsor within the organization C. Crash the schedule D. Talk with the customer to see if budget may be increased without the sponsor's involvement |
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 paying for the project. Do this, and your sponsor will probably be asking for a new project manager instead! 'C' is incorrect because crashing usually adds cost to the project, and that is not allowed in this scenario. 'D' is incorrect because the sponsor authorizes budget. Doing an end-run around the sponsor and going to the customer would be very inappropriate. |
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10. Which Develop Schedule tool inserts non-working
buffer time to be managed by the project manager? A. Critical chain method B. Critical path method C. Resource leveling D. Schedule modeling |
A
The critical chain method provides a buffer to be used by the project manager to protect the critical path. Typically, the team is not aware of this buffer. |
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11. What is the BEST tool to use to
calculate the critical path on a project? A. Work breakdown structure B. GERT diagram C. Gantt chart D. Project network diagram |
D
The project network diagram shows duration and dependencies which 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 most helpful for showing conditions and ranches. 'C' is incorrect because a Gantt chart is very useful for showing percentage complete on activities but is not the best tool for showing activity dependencies or calculating the critical path. |
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12. Consider the table at right:
What is the critical path? A. Start-A-E-H-Finish B. Start-C-E-H-Finish C. Start-B-D-I-Finish D. Start-B-D-G-Finish |
A
The critical path is determined in 3 steps. The first step is to draw out the project network diagram. Yours should look similar to the one depicted as follows (Note that activities Band C were moved to make the diagram neater - don't worry if your diagram does not look this neat): The next step is to list out all of the paths through the network. The six paths are: Start-A-E-H-Finish Start -C- E-H -Finish Start- B- F-I- Finish Start -B-F-G- Finish Start -B-D- I-Finish Start- B-D-G- Finish The last step is to add up all of the values associated with each path as is done below: Start-A-E-H-Finish = 0+3+5+11+0 = 19 Start-C-E-H-Finish = 0+2+5+11+0 = 18 Start-B-F-I-Finish = 0+4+1+8+0 = 13 Start-B-F-G-Finish = 0+4+1+6+0 = 11 Start-B-D-I-Finish = 0+4+2+8+0 = 14 Start-B-D-G-Finish = 0+4+2+6+0 = 12 The critical path emerges as Start-A-E-H-Finish because the path adds up to 19, which is longer than any of the other paths. If any of the activities in this path are delayed, the finish of the project will be delayed. |
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13. Referring to the following table, what is the float for activity D?
A. 0 days B. 3 days C. 5 days D. 7 days |
C
The float (or slack) of an activity is the amount of time it can slip wichout moving the critical path. In this case, we must calculate the float of activity 'D'. If activity 'D' was on the critical path, we would immediately know that the float was 0, but in this case it is not. To solve this problem, we must first list out all of the paths. We will use the list from the previous question. Start-A-E-H-Finish = 0+3+5+11+0 = 19 Start-C-E-H-Finish = 0+2+5+11+0 = 18 Start-B-F-I-Finish = 0+4+1+8+0 = 13 Start-B-F-G-Finish = 0+4+1+6+0 = 11 Start-B-D-I-Finish = 0+4+2+8+0 = 14 Start-B-D-G-Finish = 0+4+2+6+0 = 12 The next step is to identify the ones that have activity 'D' in them. They are: Start-B-D-I-Finish = 0+4+2+8+0 = 14 Start-B-D-G-Finish = 0+4+2+6+0 = 12 Now the task is simple. We simply subtract the path sums from the length of the critical path for each (19-14 = 5, and 19-12 = 7), and finally we take the smaller of those two values which is 5. Therefore, the float for activity D is 5. |
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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. 44.67 days B. 34.67 days C. 5.33 days D. 59.33 days |
A
The formula for a three-point estimate, also called a PERT estimate, is (Pessimistic + 4x Realistic + Optimistic ) / 6. In this example, the terms were switched around slightly, but it equates to (62 + 4x44 + 30) /6 = 268 / 6 = 44.67. |
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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 management software to build three versions of the project schedule B. Using Monte Carlo analysis to identify what would happen if schedule delays occurred C. Using critical path method to analyze what would happen if the critical path actually occurred D. Discussing with the functional managers what they would do if certain project team members quit the project early |
B
What-if analysis can take on many forms, but the form you are most likely to 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. |
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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 additional information for each activity on the activity list. |
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 before. 'C' is incorrect since the activity attributes may never be substituted for the activity list. Instead the activity attributes accompany the activity list, providing additional information on each activity. |
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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 activities that represent the highest schedule risk on the project D. The activities that represent the optimal path through the network |
C
This one may have been difficult for you, because it is a nontraditional definition of the critical path. 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. |
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18. Which of the following is TRUE about Estimate Activity Durations ?
A. It must be performed after Sequence Activities B. lt must be performed after Develop Schedule C. Parametrie estimates may be used to derive the durations D. The activity duration estimates must be validated during Develop Schedule |
C
One of the important tools used in Estimate Activity Durations is parametric estimates. 'A' was incorrect because none of the outputs of Sequence Activities is an input into Estimate Activity Durations, meaning that there is no reason one has to be performed before the other. 'B' is incorrect because Develop Schedule should always be performed after Estimate Activity Durations (how will you be able to create the schedule if you don't know how long the component activities will take?). 'D' is incorrect because validation of the activity durations sounds like a great thing to do, but it is not apart of the Develop Schedule process. |
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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 difliculty in calculating earned value D. The team encounters difficulty in creating the responsibility assignment matrix |
D
This is a problem many project managers have faced. As you answer this question, keep in mind that WBS nodes are decomposed into work packages first. Then schedule activities are decomposed from the work packages. 'A', 'B', and 'C' all relate to problems you would have if the schedule activities are not properly decomposed, but 'D' is related to the work packages, and you are not given anything in the question that suggests there is a problem with the way they were decomposed. |
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20. Your project schedule has just been developed, approved, and distributed to the stakeholders and presented to senior management when one of the resources assigned to an activity approaches you and teIls 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 Activity Durations and update the schedule and other plans to reflect 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 |
B
Changes happen. Some of them are submitted as change requests, and some of them come out of nowhere. In this case, you would want to return to planning and update the plans. The project will not be delayed, and the resource has given a good reason why the dates need to be revisited (a common occurrence in the real world). 'A' is incorrect, because the plan should 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 reason 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. |
