Ch. 15 Project Management

Question 1

the process of organizing, planning, and monitoring an effort consisting of various constraints

Answer 1

Project Management

Question 2

Characteristics of project management:

Answer 2

Many projects do not finish on schedule or budget

Time delays frequently occur.

Budget overruns are common-place

Many projects fall short of planned technical content

Some projects are canceled before completion

Question 3

how is project management different from management of more traditional activities?

Answer 3

has limited time framework and unique set of activities involved, which gives rise to a host of unique problems

Question 4

a person who promotes and supports a project

Answer 4

project champions

Question 5

a hierarchical listing of what must be done during a project

Answer 5

work breakdown structure (WBS)

Question 6

A Project is

Answer 6

Interrelated set of activities

Each activity has a definite starting/ending point

Some tasks can be conducted in parallel

Question 7

Activity

Answer 7

The smallest unit of a project

Question 8

network diagram convention in which nodes designate activities
has a starting node, S, which is actually not an activity but is added in order to have a single starting node
activities are referred to by a letter (or number) assigned to a node

Answer 8

activity-on-node (AON)

Question 9

network diagram convention in which arrows designate activities
activities can be referred to by their endpoints or by a letter assigned to an arrow

Answer 9

activity-on-arrow (AOA)

Question 10

Project management 3 points

Answer 10

Defining project goals
Planning project activities
Coordinating resources

Question 11

A planning system for integrating schedules, costs, and resource allocation

Answer 11

Earned value analysis—

Question 12

CAPM

Answer 12

critical path method

for planning and coordinating large projects

Question 13

PERT

Answer 13

program evaluation and review technique

for planning and coordinating large projects

Question 14

How are earliest start dates calculated?

Answer 14

They are computed by adding up the durations of tasks along the network paths from left to right

Question 15

”

How is the earliest completion date calculated?”

Answer 15

Add the expected duration to the earliest start date

Question 16

Define backward path analysis?

Answer 16

A way to calculate the latest start and completion for all tasks in a project network
The backward pass is done by starting with the project completion date (defined by the critical path), and then subtracting the task times from right to left along the paths in the network.

Question 17

individual responsible for managing the overall effort

Answer 17

Project Manager

Question 18

cross-functional group assigned to specific task functions

Answer 18

Project Team

Question 19

structure used to organize and implement the project

Answer 19

Project Management System

Question 20

Project life cycle

Answer 20

(1) initiating
(2) planning
(3) executing
(4) monitoring and controlling
(5) closing

Question 21

initiating phase of a project:

Answer 21

goals, specifications, feasibility, tasks, responsibilities

Question 22

planning phase of a project:

Answer 22

schedules, budgets, resources, risks, staffing

Question 23

executing phase & monitoring/controlling phase of a project:

Answer 23

status reports, changes, quality, manage, monitor and control

Question 24

closing phase of a project

Answer 24

train customer, transfer documents, release resources, reassign staff, lessons learned

Question 25

A type of bar chart that depicts the tasks on the vertical axis and time intervals on the horizontal axis you can add percentage completed as well

Answer 25

Gantt Chart

Question 26

Gantt Chart Facts

Answer 26

a popular visual tool for planning and scheduling simple projects fails to reveal certain relationships among activities that can be crucial to effective project management

Question 27

a hierarchical listing of what must be done during a project

Answer 27

work breakdown structure (WBS)

Question 28

diagram of project activities that shows sequential relationships by use of arrows and nodes

Answer 28

network (precedence) diagram

Question 29

the minimum time required to complete all of the project tasks

Answer 29

Critical Time

Question 30

the set of activities with zero slack that require the longest time to complete. There can be more than one CP

Answer 30

Critical path

Question 31

project costs

Answer 31

Budget

Question 32

consume resources and/or time.

Answer 32

activities

Question 33

the starting and finishing of activities, designated by nodes in the AOA convention

Answer 33

events

Question 34

"the longest path; determines expected project duration | --has 0 slack"

Answer 34

critical path

Question 35

allowable slippage for a path; the difference between the length of a path and the length of the critical path

Answer 35

slack

Question 36

estimates of times that allow for variation

Answer 36

probabilistic

Question 37

time estimates that are fairly certain

Answer 37

deterministic

Question 38

expected length of the project

Answer 38

equal to the length of the critical path

Question 39

the earliest time activity can start, assuming all preceding activities start as early as possible

Answer 39

ES

Question 40

the earliest time the activity can finish

Answer 40

EF

Question 41

the latest time the activity can finish and not delay the project

Answer 41

LF

Question 42

the length of time required under optimum conditions, represented by To

Answer 42

optimistic time

Question 43

" | the length of time required under the worst conditions; represented by Tp"

Answer 43

pessimistic time

Question 44

the most probable amount of time required; represented by tm

Answer 44

most likely time

Question 45

the shortest time in which the activity can be completed, if all goes exceptionally well

Answer 45

Optimistic (MO):

Question 46

the probable time required to perform the activity

Answer 46

Most likely (ML):

Question 47

the longest estimated time required to perform an activity

Answer 47

Pessimistic (MP):

Question 48

Task Times Distributions

Answer 48

Constant Normal Beta

Question 49

variance of each activity time

Answer 49

the size of the variance reflects the degree of uncertainty associated with an activity's time; the larger the variance, the greater the uncertainty

Question 50

represented by a normal distribution

Answer 50

path distribution

Question 51

2-4-6

Answer 51

2=optimistic time 4=most likely time 6=pessimistic time

Question 52

z -- what does it stand for?

Answer 52

indicates how many standard deviations of the path distribution the specified time is beyond the expected path duration - -the more positive the value, the better - -a negative value of z indicates that the specified time is earlier than the expected path duration - -the probability is equal to the area under the normal curve to the *left* of z

Question 53

rule of thumb for z

Answer 53

if the value of z is +3.00 or more, treat the probability of path completion by the specified time as 100%

Question 54

Constant

Answer 54

All three time are equal.

Question 55

Normal

Answer 55

Both the optimistic time and the pessimistic times are equal distance from the most likely time.

Question 56

Beta

Answer 56

Either the optimistic or pessimistic time is further distance from the most likely time. used to describe the inherent variability in activity time estimates can be symmetrical or skewed to either the right or the left according to the nature of a particular activity the mean and variance of the distribution can be readily obtained from the three time estimates the distribution is unimodal with a high concentration of probability surrounding the most likely time estimate

Question 57

Single time estimates | Multiple time estimates

Answer 57

Network

Question 58

is an analytical method for determining the optimal way to reduce overall project time at minimum cost Goal to reduce project time and properly allocate resources Objective is to achieve a given project schedule based on minimizing the total crashing cost Typically, the activities with the lowest crashing costs that are on the critical path(s) are initially selected Often, linear programming is used for determining the optimal crashing schedule Not all tasks can be crashed

Answer 58

Minimum cost scheduling (Crashing)

Question 59

—The process of determining which tasks should be

Answer 59

Crashing

Question 60

—The minimum time in which a task can be completed

Answer 60

Crash time—

Question 61

shortening activity duration - -can do this by increasing direct expenses to speed up the project, thereby realizing savings on indirect project costs - -activities on the critical path are potential candidates for crashing, because shortening noncritical activities would not have an impact on total project duration

Answer 61

crash

Question 62

procedure for crashing

Answer 62

(1) crash the project one period at a time (2) crash the least expensive activity on the critical path (3) when there are multiple critical paths, find the sum of crashing the least expensive activity on each critical path. If two or more critical paths share common activities, compare the least expensive cost of crashing a common activity shared by critical paths with the sum for the separate critical paths