Time Management

Question 1

What is the process of time management?

Answer 1

Plan schedule management, define activities, sequence activities, estimate activity resources, estimate activity durations, develop schedule, control schedule

Question 2

What is the key output of the Plan Schedule Management process?

Answer 2

Schedule management plan

Question 3

What are the key outputs of the Define Activities process?

Answer 3

Activity listActivity attributesMilestone list

Question 4

What are the key outputs of the Sequence Activities process

Answer 4

Network diagramsUpdates to the project documents

Question 5

What are some of the key outputs of the Estimate Activity Resources process?

Answer 5

Activity resource requirementsResource breakdown structure

Question 6

What are the key outputs of the Estimate Activity Durations process?

Answer 6

Activity duration estimatesUpdates to the project documents

Question 7

What does the Develop Schedule process involve?What are some key outputs?

Answer 7

Creating a project schedule that is bought into, aproved, realistic, and formalProject scheduleSchedule baselineUpdates to the project management plan and project documents

Question 8

What are the key outputs of the Control Schedule process?

Answer 8

Work performance informationSchedule forecastsChange requests

Question 9

What are the four types of logical relationships between activities in the precedence diagramming method?

Answer 9

Finish-to-Start (FS): An activity must finish before the successor can startStart to Start (SS): An activity must start before the successor can startFinish to Finish (FF): An activity must finish before the successor can finishStart to Finish (SF): An activity must start before the successor can finish

Question 10

What are mandatory dependencies?What are discretionary dependencies?

Answer 10

Mandatory: the order in which the activities MUST be done, due to the inherent nature of the work; also called “hard logic”Disretionary: the order in which the organization has CHOSEN that activities be performed; also called preferred, preferential, or soft logic

Question 11

What are external dependencies?What are internal dependencies?

Answer 11

External: dependencies based on the need of a party OUTSIDE the projectInternal: dependencies based on the needs of the project; may be under the control of the project team

Question 12

What is lag?What is lead?

Answer 12

Lag: waiting time inserted between activitiesLead: how soon an activity can start before its predecessor activity is completed

Question 13

What is a resource breakdown structure?

Answer 13

An organizational chart or table showing identified resources, organized by category and type

Question 14

How does a schedule model differ from a schedule?

Answer 14

The schedule model consists of all the project data that will be used to calculate the schedule, such as the activities, dependencies, leads and lags, etc.The project schedule is the output of the schedule model - this refers to the final printed dates that make up the schedule that becomes the baseline and part of the project management plan

Question 15

What is the critical path?What is the near-critical path?

Answer 15

Critical: the longest path through the network diagramNear-critical: the path closest in length to the critical path

Question 16

How does the critical path help us manage the project?

Answer 16

It shows the project manager the shortest time in which the project can be completedIt shows the project manager where to focus his/her timeIt is used in compressing or adjusting the schedule

Question 17

Define total float, free float, and project float

Answer 17

Total float: the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date or an intermediary milestoneFree float: the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of its successor(s)Project float: the amount of time the project can be delayed without affecting the projects required end date

Question 18

What are the two formulas for calculating float?

Answer 18

Late start - early startORLate finish - early finish

Question 19

What are the methods that can be used to compress a schedule?

Answer 19

CrashingFast Tracking

Question 20

What is crashing?

Answer 20

Adding or adjusting resources in order to compress the schedule while maintaining the original project scope

Question 21

What is fast tracking?

Answer 21

Compressing the schedule by doing more critical path activities in parallel

Question 22

What is the critical chain method?

Answer 22

A schedule network analysis tool that builds in buffers at critical milestones

Question 23

What is reestimating?

Answer 23

Estimating the project again after planning to make sure you can still meet the end date, budget, or other objectives, and adjusting the project if you cannot

Question 24

What is resource optimization?

Answer 24

Finding ways to adjust the use of resources

Question 25

What is resource leveling?

Answer 25

A resource optimization technique that keeps the amount of resources used for each time period constant, resulting in a more stable level of resources and a longer project duration

Question 26

What is resource smoothing?

Answer 26

A modified form of resource leveling where resources are leveled only within the limits of the float of their activities, so the completion dates of activities are not delayed

Question 27

What is the schedule baseline?

Answer 27

The approved version of the schedule model, along with any approved changes, used to measure the project schedule performance

Question 28

What are the main presentation formats for a schedule?

Answer 28

Network diagramBar chartsMilestone charts

Question 29

What do network diagrams show?

Answer 29

Dependencies (logical relationships) between activitiesHow project activities will flow from beginning to endMay also be used to determine the critical path

Question 30

What do simple bar charts show?

Answer 30

Project schedule or project status

Question 31

What do milestone charts show?

Answer 31

High-level project status

Question 32

What is Monte Carlo analysis?

Answer 32

A schedule network analysis technique used to simulate the project to determine the likelihood that the project will be completed by a specific date or for a specific costAlso used in Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis to determine the overall level of risk on the project