Chapter 14

Question 1

What is a “Project”?

Answer 1

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.

Question 2

Project Characteristics

Answer 2

Unique item or event - often a single unit.

Often located in one place. The unit does not move during production.

Resources are brought to the project.

May be of any size, although we tend to focus on large projects.

Question 3

Project Management

Answer 3

Planning

Scheduling

Control

Question 4

Planning

Answer 4

Identify the project customer

Establish the end product or service

Set project objectives

Estimate total resources and time required

Decide on the form of project organization

Make key personnel appointments

Define major tasks required

Establish a budget

Question 5

Scheduling

Answer 5

Develop a detailed work breakdown structure

Sequence tasks in proper order

Estimated time required for each task

Develop a start/stop time for each task

Develop detailed budget for each task

Assign people to tasks

Question 6

Control

Answer 6

Monitor actual time, cost, and performance

Compare planned to actual figures

Determine whether corrective action is needed

Evaluate alternative corrective actions

Take appropriate corrective action

Question 7

Project Scheduling Methods

Answer 7

Network Methods

Gantt Charts

Question 8

Network Methods

Answer 8

Project shown as a network (diagram)

Shows precedence relationships

More complex and costly than Gantt charts

Question 9

Gantt Charts

Answer 9

Project shown as a bar chart

Does not show precedence relationships

Visual & easy to understand

Question 10

Network Approaches

Answer 10

Constant Time Method (CTM)

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Question 11

Constant-Time Method (CTM)

Answer 11

Activity times are assumed to be constant

Question 12

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Answer 12

Activity times are assumed to be stochastic

Optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates are used to compute a single expected time for each activity

Expected activity times are used in the scheduling process exactly as the constant times are used in CTM

Probabilistic project completion time estimates can be estimated

Question 13

Network Approaches

Answer 13

Activity-on-arrow vs. activity-on-node conventions

“Dummy” activities

An “event” is the completion and/or beginning of one or more activities

Question 14

Critical Path

Answer 14

A path is a sequence of connected activities running from the source node to the sink node

Question 15

Slack Times

Answer 15

Slack time is the amount of time a path may be delayed without delaying the project

Paths not on the critical path have slack

Question 16

Optimistic Time Estimate (To):

Answer 16

A time that the activity would have a 1% chance of meeting or bettering.

Question 17

Total Slack =

Answer 17

LS-ES = LF-EF

Question 18

The critical path is the path in the network that is estimated to require

Answer 18

the most time to complete (length of the critical path is equal to the project completion time)

Question 19

A project cannot be expected to be completed in less time than

Answer 19

time required by the critical path.

Question 20

Any delay on the critical path will likely result in

Answer 20

the project completion being delayed (unless “corrective action” is taken or the time is “made up” elsewhere)

Question 21

Pessimistic Time Estimate (Tp):

Answer 21

A time that the activity would have a 99% chance of meeting or bettering.

Question 22

Most Likely Time Estimate (Tm):

Answer 22

The most realistic estimate of the time required to perform the activity (the mode).

Question 23

With PERT (unlike with the constant time method), the probability of completing a project by a specified deadline

Answer 23

can be estimated.

Question 24

Scheduling is only part of a

Answer 24

complete approach to project management

Question 25

Advantages of Network Approaches

Answer 25

Forces the manager to consider the parts of the whole and how they fit together

Pinpoint critical and “near critical” paths

Control tool

Question 26

Disadvantages of Network Approaches

Answer 26

Many managers already know from experience the information that the formal technique provides

Takes away some of manager’s power (as the sole source of planning)

Subjectivity of time estimates:
“Padded” times to provide “cushion” for evaluation
Manipulation of times to avoid being on critical p

Question 27

Limitations of Network Approaches

Answer 27

All activities are assumed to be successful on the first try (no failures/re-starts)

Preceding event must be “realized” before succeeding activities can begin

“Near critical” paths with large time variances

Distribution of activity times is assumed to approximate the Beta distribution

Question 28

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Answer 28

Objective is to reduce the amount of time the project is expected to take to be completed

Assumes that activity times can be reduced by adding additional resources

Focus is on reducing the time required to complete the critical path activities

Within the critical path activities, “crash” those activities that are least costly to crash.

If still “tied” (actually not a part of the formal technique):
If risk averse - crash early in the critical path
If risk taker - wait to verify crashing is needed

Question 29

Objectives and trade offs of projects

Answer 29

Stay within budget
Meet the deadline
Meet the specifications