Chapter 6 - Time Flashcards
What happens in the Define Activities process group?
We identify the specific actions necessary to produce the project deliverables
What are activities?
They are the project work packages that are decomposed into smaller components
What are the inputs to Define Activities?
Scope baseline
What are the tools and techniques of Define Activities?
- Decomposition
- Rolling wave planning
- Templates
What is decomposition?
Subdividing the project work packages into smaller packages called activities.
What is rolling wave planning?
A form of progressive elaboration whereby the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned while future work is planned in less detail
What are outputs of Define Activities?
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Milestone list
What is the activity list that is an output of Define Activities?
A list of all of the scheduled activities required for the project
What is the activity attributes that is an output of Define Activities?
It extends the description of the activity by identifying more information (can include things like activity description, resource requirements, etc.)
What is the Sequence Activities process group?
It identifies and documents the relationship between project activities. The focus is to arrange the activities in an order.
What are the inputs to Sequence Activities?
- Schedule Management Plan
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Milestone list
- Project scope statement
What are the tools and techniques to Sequence Activities?
- Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
- Dependency determination
- Leads and lags
What are the 4 types of dependencies (AKA logical relationships) in the PDM and what do they represent?
- Finish to Start
- Finish to Finish
- Start to Start
- Start to Finish
What are the 3 dependency determinations?
- Mandatory
- Discretionary
- External
Explain the difference between the 3 dependency determinations?
Mandatory (AKA hard logic) – required constraint, often involve physical limitations (i.e. foundation before the walls)
Discretionary (AKA soft logic, preferred logic) – constraint based on lessons learned or best practices, but not required. Project Manager or Project Team determines this dependency. (i.e. need plumbing and electrical work finished before the dry wall is installed (a mandatory dependency between the first two activities and the dry wall installation). But, it is not necessary to do the plumbing first and the electrical second, or at the same time. They can be done in any order as long as they are completed before the dry wall installation. The project team decides the order while developing the schedule.
External – constraint involving something out of your control. (i.e. government regulations, suppliers)
Explain the difference between the 3 dependency determinations?
What is a lead? (coding might start before design finished)
An accelerant that allows one activity to begin before its successor is complete
What is a lag? (wait 3 days after pouring concrete)
A delay between activities (Lag is a drag)
What are the outputs of Sequence Activities?
What are the outputs of Sequence Activities?
Project schedule network diagrams
What is a network diagram and when is it used?
It’s a schematic showing how project activities are connected and how the project flows
Used to evaluate schedule compressions
What are the 2 network diagramming methods?
- Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) – activity on nodes (AON)
- Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) – activity on arrow (AOA), dummy activities
What is GERT?
Graphic Evaluation Review Technique (GERT) – allows loops
What happens in the Estimate Activity Resources process group?
Estimate the type and quantities of resources to perform each activity
What are the inputs to Estimate Activity Resources?
- Schedule Management Plan
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Resource calendars
- Risk Register
- Activity Cost Estimates
What are resource calendars?
They define what resources are available and when
What are the tools and techniques to Estimate Activity Resources?
- Expert Judgment
- Alternatives analysis
- Publishing estimating data
- Bottom up estimating
- Project management software
What is bottom up estimating?
Estimates are prepared at the lower, more detailed level and then aggregated up to complete all of the activities
What are the outputs to Estimate Activity Resources?
What are the outputs to Estimate Activity Resources?
- Activity resource requirements
- Resource breakdown structure – shows the resources to be used, organized by their category type.
- Project document updates.
What happens in Estimate Activity Durations?
Estimate the number of work periods needed to complete the activities
What are the inputs to Estimate Activity Durations?
- Schedule Management Plan
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Activity resource requirements
- Resource calendars
- Project scope statement
- Risk Register
- Resource Breakdown Structure
What are the tools and techniques to Estimate Activity Durations?
- Expert Judgment
- Analogous estimating
3 Parametric estimating - 3-point estimating
- Group decision making techniques
- Reserve analysis
What is analogous estimating?
Relies on historical information and expert judgment
Relies on historical information and expert judgment
What is the advantage and disadvantage of using analogous estimating?
Advantages: less costly and time-consuming, can be used when you don’t have much details
Disadvantages: less accurate
What is parametric estimating? (average to replace a muffler is 3 hours)
Uses statistical relationship between historical data and other variables
What is 3-point estimating (AKA PERT)?
Factors in uncertainty and risk to improve estimates (most likely, optimistic, pessimistic)
What is the PERT Estimate formula? (AKA beta distribution or weighted formula)
= (P+4M+O)/6
What is the PERT standard deviation formula?
= (P-O)/6
What is the triangular distribution formula?(AKA simple)
= (P+M+O)/3
What does reserve analysis provide?
Contingency reserve
What are the outputs to Estimate Activity Durations?
- Activity duration estimates
2. Project document updates
What is the critical path?
The longest path in the project
What is slack ? (same as float)
The amount of time the activity/project can be delayed without delaying the next activity or project
What happens in Develop Schedule?
Create the project schedule
What are the inputs to Develop Schedule?
- Schedule Management Plan
- Activity list
- Activity attributes
- Project schedule network diagrams
- Activity resource requirements
- Resource calendars
- Activity duration estimates
- Project scope statement
- Risk Register
- Project staff assignments
- Resource breakdown structure
What are the tools and techniques to Develop Schedule?
- Schedule network analysis
- Critical path method
- Critical chain method
- Resource optimization techniques
- Modeling techniques
- Leads/lags
- Schedule compression
- Scheduling tools
How much float does the critical path have?
Zero
What does the critical path represent?
The greatest project risk
What are the 3 types of slack?
- Free slack – the latest an activity can start without delaying its successor
- Total slack – the latest an activity can start without delaying the project
- Project slack – the amount of time the project can be delayed without delaying the customer’s completion date
What are 2 schedule compression techniques?
- Crashing – more people on critical path
2. Fast tracking – adjusting sequential activities to run in parallel to accelerate completion
What is the disadvantage of crashing?
Increases cost
What is the disadvantage of fast tracking?
Increases risk
Does schedule compression change the project scope?
No
What is resource leveling?
Keeps resource usage at a constant level
What is the disadvantage of resource leveling?
Usually pushes out the overall finish date
The most common modeling technique (what-if scenario analysis) is …
Monte Carlo analysis
What does modeling analysis (what-if scenario analyzing) do for a project?
Assesses the feasibility of a project schedule and helps prepare contingency plans
What are the outputs to Develop Schedule?
- Schedule baseline
- Project schedule
- Schedule data
- Project calendars
- Project Management Plan updates
- Project documents updates
What is the most common bar chart used in project management and why is it used?
The Gantt Chart used to track day-to-day details of the project
When would you use a milestone chart?
For executive reporting
What is the duration of a milestone?
Zero. It is only a significant point or date in the project.
The Resource Breakdown Structure shows …
A hierarchical representation of resources by category and type.
What is the Control Schedule process group?
It monitors the status of the schedule and manages changes to the schedule baseline
What are the inputs to Control Schedule?
- Project Management Plan
- Project schedule
- Work performance data
- Project calendars
- Schedule data
- Organizational process assets
What does the performance review of Control Schedule comprise?
- Trend analysis (Project slowing down or moving ahead of schedule).
- Critical path method (review CP).
- Critical chain method (buffer analysis).
- Earned Value Management (EVM)
- Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
- Schedule variance (SV)
What is the formula for SPI?
= EV/PV
What is the formula for SV?
= EV - PV
What are the outputs to Control Schedule?
- Work Performance Information
- Schedule forecasts
- Change requests
- Updates – Project Management Plan, project documents, OPAs
