SCMT Exam 2 - FLASHCARDS - Chapter 4
True or false: A firm should have a mix of projects that best supports it’s strategy.
TRUE
Which of the following are resources controlled by project management? Check all that apply.
Time
Equipment
People
Material
Cost
Equipment
People
Material
At what point in the project planning process is the organizational structure of the project decided?
Before the project begins
Which of the following are disadvantages for pure projects. Check all that apply.
The organization falls behind in its knowledge of new technology.
Needs of the client are secondary and are responded to slowly.
Organizational goals and policies are ignored.
Duplication of resources.
Team members worry about their job once the project is over.
There are two or more bosses.
The organization falls behind in its knowledge of new technology.
Organizational goals and policies are ignored.
Duplication of resources.
Team members worry about their job once the project is over.
What types of projects represents the least amount of change?
Derivative projects
Which of the following are advantages of the functional project organizational structure? Check all that apply.
The functional area is a home after the project is completed.
Functional-area experts creates synergistic solutions to technical problems.
Technical expertise is maintained within the functional area.
Team members report to one boss.
A team member can work on several projects.
The project manager has full authority over the project.
Communication between functional divisions is enhanced.
The functional area is a home after the project is completed.
Functional-area experts creates synergistic solutions to technical problems.
Technical expertise is maintained within the functional area.
A team member can work on several projects.
Which of the following are required for a project? Check all that apply.
Taking at least six months
Requiring a significant period of time
Using project management software
Series of related jobs
Having a major output
Requiring a significant period of time
Series of related jobs
Having a major output
All of the following are constraints addressed in project management except:
Technical
People
Time
Cost
People
What are parts of a statement of work?
Work to be done
Proposed schedule
Performance measures
Objectives to be achieved
A project where all members of the team work on the project full time is an example of which project organizational structure?
Pure
What are disadvantages of the functional project organizational structure?
Needs of the client are secondary and are responded to slowly.
Aspects of the project unrelated to the functional area get shortchanged.
Motivation of team members is often weak.
Which project organizational structure minimizes the duplication of resources?
Matrix
True or false: Typically, a task is performed by one group or organization?
TRUE
What are resources controlled by project management?
Equipment
People
Material
What term describes the group of activities assigned to a single organizational unit?
Work package
In a project, what has the shortest duration?
Work package
How many milestones does a project have?
It depends on the project
When a project is housed within a functional division, such as manufacturing, it is called a ________ project.
functional
What do Gantt charts show?
Amount of time and sequence of activities
Which technique combines measures of scope, schedule and cost for evaluating project progress?
earned value management
If a delay of one activity delays the entire project, then this activity is on what?
On the critical path
A Gantt chart is sometimes referred to as what?
Bar chart
Completion of one or more subtasks results in the completion of a _______
Task
Activities that need to be completed before an activity are referred to as
immediate predecessors
What is the longest chain of activities in a project?
Critical path
For some activities in a project there may be some leeway in when an activity can start and finish. This is called the _____
Slack time
The early finish is calculated by _____
adding the early start and duration
A project has how many critical paths?
It is possible to have multiple critical paths.
Activity A is a predecessor for Activities B and C. When determining the late finish time for Activity A, you select
the smaller of the late starts for B and C
The costs associated with sustaining a project are referred to as
indirect costs
What is the major assumption when determining the cost per unit of time to expedite each activity?
A linear relationship between time and cost
What is project management?
The planning, scheduling, and controlling of resources
(labor, equipment, material) to meet the technical, cost,
and time constraints of a project
Do projects have to be products?
No. For example, Olympics
What objectives must a successful project meet?
- Completed within budget
- Completed on time
- Deliverables meet
customer expectations
What is the first step of project management?
Planning - Goal setting, project definition, and team organization
What is included in the execution phase of project managenent?
Scheduling and controlling
What is relating people, money, and supplies to activities and activities to one and other?
Scheduling
What is Monitoring resources, costs, quality, and budgets and revising plans and shifting resources to meet time and cost demands?
Controlling
What are the three types of project structure?
pure project, functional project, and matrix project
What is is where a self‐contained team works full‐time on the project?
Pure project
What is it where responsibility for the project lies within one functional area of the firm? Employees from that area work on the project, usually only part‐time
Functional project
What is a blend of pure and functional project structures – people from different functional areas work on the project, possibly only part‐time? Project manager works on project full‐time
Matrix project
What are advantages of a pure project?
– The project manager has full authority
– Team members report to one boss; shortened communication lines; team pride, motivation, and commitment are high
– Best when speed is critical, innovation is required, or complex with a high degree of commitment needed
What are disadvantages of a pure project?
– Duplication of resources, so costs can be higher
– Organizational goals and policies are ignored
– Lack of technology transfer
– Team members have no functional area “home”
What are advantages of a functional project?
– Team members can work on several projects, so more efficient
– Technical expertise is maintained within the functional area even if individual team members leave the project
– Functional area is a home after the project completion
What are disadvantages of a functional project?
– Aspects of the project that are not directly related to the functional area get lost or ignored
– Motivation of the team members can be weak
– Needs of the client are secondary and often handled slowly
What are advantages of a matrix project?
– Improved communication between functional divisions
– Project manger is responsible for success/failure
– Duplication of resources is minimized
– Team members remain in functional home after project completion
– Policies of the parent organization remain intact
What are disadvantages of a matrix project?
– Two bosses for some employees
– Project failure risk is high if the project manager cannot negotiate across functional zones
What is a written description of the objectives to be achieved?
Statement of work
What is a further subdivision of a project – usually shorter than several months and performed by a single group or organization?
Task
What is a group of activities combined to be assignable to a single organizational unit?
Work package
What defines the hierarchy of project tasks, subtasks, and work packages?
Work breakdown structure
What is a bar chart that shows the timing, relationships, status, and % completion for activities in a project?
Gantt chart
What is the work breakdown structure?
A project breaks down into a task, which breaks into subtasks, which break into work packages
What provides a wide range of scheduling information useful in managing a project?
Critical path
What helps to identify the critical paths in the project networks?
Critical path method (CPM)
What is the early start?
The earliest point in time an activity can begin based on predecessors
What is the early finish?
The earliest time an activity can finish based on predecessors given the expected activity duration
What is the late finish?
The latest an activity can finish without impacting successors and delaying the entire project
What is the late start?
The latest point in time an activity can begin without impacting successors and delaying the entire project
What is product crashing?
The method of shortening a project’s completion time by adjusting its scope or adding resources. Involves adding more resources to accelerate the project timeline
What are the steps of project crashing?
1: Prepare a CPM‐type network diagram.
2: Determine the cost per unit of time to expedite each activity.
3: Compute the current critical path.
4: Shorten the critical path at the point where costs are lowest.
5: Plot project, indirect, and total cost curves to find the minimum‐cost schedule.
What is earned value management?
A technique for measuring project progress in an objective manner:
– Has the ability to combine measurements of scope, schedule, and cost in a project
– Provides a method for evaluating the relative success of a project at a point in time
What does EVM provide?
provides information about performance according to the schedule
True or false: project leadership is critical for success?
TRUE
True or false: An event unit package is a subdivision of a project?
FALSE. An event unit package is not described in text
True or false: The second step in managing a project is writing the statement of work?
FALSE. A project starts out as a statement of work
True or false: One of the advantages of a functional project organizational structure is that a team member can work on several projects?
TRUE
True or false: One of the assumptions made using CPM is that project activity times can be estimated accurately and that they do not vary?
TRUE. A network reflecting the precedence relationships needs accurate durations of activities
An advantage of a pure project where self-contained teams work full time on a project is which of the following?
a. Team members can work on several projects.
b. Functional area is a “home” after the project is completed.
c. There are duplicated resources.
d. Lines of communication are shortened.
e. Overall organizational policies and goals can be ignored.
Lines of communication are shortened
A project can be subdivided into which of the following?
a. Job orders
b. Sub-jobs
c. Work packages
d. Sub-paths
e. Events and decisions
Work packages
