PMBOK Chapter 6 - Project Time Management

Question 1

What is Project Time Management? (knowledge area)

Answer 1

includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project

Question 2

Plan Schedule Management (process)

Answer 2

the process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing and controlling the project schedule

Question 3

Define Activities (process)

Answer 3

the process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables

Question 4

Sequence Activities (process)

Answer 4

the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities

Question 5

Estimate Activity Resources (process)

Answer 5

the process of estimating the type and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity

Question 6

Estimate Activity Durations (process)

Answer 6

the process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources

Question 7

Develop Schedule (process)

Answer 7

the process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule model

Question 8

Control Schedule (process)

Answer 8

the process of monitoring the status of project activities to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline to achieve the plan

Question 9

What is a schedule model?

Answer 9

a representation of the plan for executing the project’s activities including durations, dependencies, and other planning information

Question 10

What is the schedule management plan?

Answer 10

a component of the project management plan that establishes the criteria and the activities for developing, monitoring, and controlling the schedule.

Question 11

What are work packages decomposed to?

Answer 11

activities that represent the work effort required to complete the work package

Question 12

What is rolling wave planning?

Answer 12

an iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level

Question 13

What is an activity list?

Answer 13

a comprehensive list that includes all schedule activities required on the project, also includes the activity identifier and a scope of work description for each activity

Question 14

What are activity attributes?

Answer 14

they extend the description of the activity by identifying the multiple components associated with each activity

Question 15

What is a milestone list?

Answer 15

a list identifying all project milestones and indicates whether the milestone is mandatory

Question 16

What is the precedence diagramming method?

Answer 16

a technique used for constructing a schedule model in which activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed

Question 17

What is a predecessor activity?

Answer 17

an activity that logically comes before a dependent activity in a schedule

Question 18

What is a successor activity?

Answer 18

a dependent activity that logically comes after another activity in a schedule

Question 19

Four types of logical relationships:

Answer 19

1) Finish-to-start (FS) - a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished
2) Finish-to-finish (FF) - a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished
3) Start-to-start (SS) - a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has started
4) Start-to-finish (SF) - a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has started

Question 20

Four types of dependencies:

Answer 20

1) Mandatory dependencies - those that are legally or contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work
2) Discretionary dependencies - sometimes referred to as preferred logic or soft logic
3) External dependencies - involve a relationship between project activities and non-project activities
4) Internal dependencies - involve a precedence relationship between project activities and are generally inside the project team’s control

Question 21

What are leads and lags?

Answer 21

lead is the amount of time whereby a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity
lag is the amount of time whereby a successor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity

Question 22

What are project schedule network diagrams?

Answer 22

a graphical representation of the logical relationships among the project activities

Question 23

What are resource calendars?

Answer 23

a calendar that identifies the working days and shifts on which each specific resource is available

Question 24

What is Published estimating data?

Answer 24

several organizations routinely publish updated production rates and unit costs of resources for an extensive array of labor trades, material, equipment for different countries

Question 25

What is bottom-up estimating?

Answer 25

a method of estimating project duration or costs by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the WBS

Question 26

What are activity resource requirements?

Answer 26

identify the types and quantities of resources required for each activity in a work package

Question 27

What is a resource breakdown structure?

Answer 27

a hierarchical representation of resources by category and type

Question 28

What is analogous estimating?

Answer 28

technique for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or a project using historical data from a similar activity or project. generally less costly and less time consuming that other techniques, but it is also less accurate

Question 29

What is parametric estimating?

Answer 29

estimating technique in which an algorithm is used to calculate cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters

Question 30

What is three-point estimating?

Answer 30

PERT (program evaluation and review technique) uses three estimates to define an approximate range for an activity’s duration:

1) Most-likely - (tM) this estimate is based on the duration of the activity, the most realistic scenario
2) Optimistic - (tO) the activity duration based on analysis of the best-case scenario for the activity
3) Pessimistic - (tP) the activity duration based on analysis of the worst-cast scenario for the activity

Expected duration, tE, can be calculated using one of two formulas:
Triangular distribution - tE = (tO + tM + tP) / 3
Beta distribution (from the traditional PERT technique - tE = (tO + 4tM + tP ) /6

Question 31

What is reserve analysis?

Answer 31

contingency reserves are the estimated duration within the schedule baseline, which is allocated for identified risks that are accepted and for which contingent or mitigation responses are developed

Question 32

What are activity duration estimates?

Answer 32

quantitative assessments of the likely number of time periods that are required to complete an activity

Question 33

What is schedule network analysis?

Answer 33

technique that generates the project schedule model. it employs various techniques to calculate the early and late start and finish dates for the uncompleted portions of project activities

Question 34

What is the critical path method?

Answer 34

used to estimate minimum project duration and determine the amount of scheduling flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model

Question 35

What is the critical path?

Answer 35

the sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, with determines the shortest possible project duration

Question 36

What is the critical chain method?

Answer 36

schedule method that allows the project team to place buffers on any project schedule path to account for limited resources and project uncertainties

Question 37

What is resource leveling?

Answer 37

technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal of balancing demand for resources with the available supply

Question 38

What is resource smoothing?

Answer 38

technique that adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirements for resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits

Question 39

What is crashing?

Answer 39

technique used to shorten the schedule duration for the least incremental cost by adding resources

Question 40

What is fast-tracking?

Answer 40

technique in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of the duration

Question 41

What is a schedule baseline?

Answer 41

the approved version of a schedule model that can be changed only through a formal change control procedure and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results

Question 42

What is a project schedule?

Answer 42

an output of a schedule model that presents linked activities with planned dates, duration, milestones and resources

Question 43

What is schedule data?

Answer 43

the collection of information for describing and controlling the schedule

Question 44

What is a project calendar?

Answer 44

identifies working days and shifts that are available for scheduled activities

Question 45

What are performance reviews?

Answer 45

measure, compare and analyze schedule performance such as actual start and finish dates, percent complete, and remaining duration

Question 46

What are schedule forecasts?

Answer 46

estimates or predictions of conditions and events in the project’s future based on information and knowledge available at the time of the forecast.