SIE 457 Midterm

Resource leveling can provide

-Lower peak demand -Reduced resource need over the life of the project -Reduced fluctuations in resource demand

Splitting an activity creates the following situation:

-More people working on the same activity -There are possible startup and shutdown costs -A resource may be moved from one activity to another and then back

Which of the following statements regarding PERT times is true?

-Optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require. -The probable time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b)/6.

Which of the following is a common multi-criteria selection model?

-checklist -weighted criteria model

The notion that work fills the time available so why hustle to complete a task when it isn't due until tomorrow is?

Parkinson's law

Mitigating Risk

Reducing the likelihood an adverse event will occur. Reducing impact of adverse event.

You have just been made the Project Manager of the ABC project. You are trying to read the WBS and are unable to understand some of the WBS components. Which should be your first step to understand this?

Refer to the WBS dictionary

When would a milestone chart be used instead of a bar (Gantt) chart?

Reporting to management

In a software company a large number of simultaneously performed projects utilize the same groups of human and other resources. What is the term commonly used for this situation?

Resource pooling

What does the acronym RACI commonly stand for in project management?

Responsible, Accountable, to be Consulted, to be Informed

The chances of a risk event occurring as a project proceeds through its life cycle tends to

Slowly drop

Which is the best definition of the "Critical Chain"?

The longest sequence of dependent events through a project network considering both task and resource dependencies

A finish to finish relationship is defined as which of the following?

The predecessor has to finish before the successor can finish

What is the project impact of a one-week delay of a task that is on the critical path?

The project will be delayed by one week

Purchasing insurance is BEST considered an example of risk:

Transfer

Which of the following is not true about the WBS report?

WBS should focus in on the activities that must be performed in the project and should not focus on the deliverables

What is the difference between a weak and strong matrix

Weak Matrix - Project manager is limited to only creating project activities, and the functional managers are responsible to managing their segment if the project Strong Matrix - The project managers control most aspects of the project.

Discuss pros and cons of checklist method versus weighted factor method of selecting projects

Weighted > Checklist Weighted model allows you to compare projects, open system, allows for self-evaluation of proposed project Checklist model is flexible and it applies to a wide range of projects but you can compare and rank projects

Which of the following would be least important on the risk register?

Who identified the risk

Cost baseline is usually represented using which curve or line?

an S-curve

Which relationship model is most commonly used in the Precedence diagrams?

finish-to-start

What is the difference between free slack and total slack ?

free slack usually occurs at the end of an activity chain total slack is the amount of time an activity can be delayed before it becomes critical

The PMI project management process groups are

initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling , closing

Explain the role that projects play in the strategic management process

pick projects that push towards the goals of organization because projects that dont contribute waste organization resource

Rolling wave planning is

planning near term work in detail

Advantages of matrix

project focus is provided by having a designated project manager specialists maintain ties with their functional group balances project's mission statement and alignment with companies goals with technical requirements

How are projects linked to strategic plan ?

projects represents how a strategy is to be implemented , best way to maximize resources is to prioritize projects which contribute most to the organizational goals

A RACI chart is a type of _______ .

responsibility assignment matrix

Project portfolio management addresses ______ goals of an organization, whereas project management addresses _____ goals.

strategic, tactical

Under what conditions would you use strong versus a dedicated team ?

strong is recommended when organization cannot afford to have people work full-time on the project versus dedicated when speed is essential and when the prevalent culture does not support collaboration innovation

Which of the following is not part of a SWOT analysis?

tactics

Disadvantages of dedicated teams

what do you do with people once project is over technical expertise limited to the people on the team expensive

Which of the following best describes a project stakeholder

-A team member -The project manager -Someone who works in an area affected by the project All of the above are stakeholders

In a matrix organization, which of the following is true?

-The functional manager is responsible for employee skills improvement. -The employee is responsible for his or her own skills improvement.

What is the main role of the functional manager?

-To control resources -To define business processes

How does the WBS differ from the project network?

-WBS is hierarchical while project network sequential - network sets all project work, resources needs and budgets into a sequential time frame -WBS is used to identify each project deliverable and the organization unit responsible

A project manager is informed that a limited number of resources are going to be available for his project. He creates a project schedule by adding buffers to the project to protect the target finish date. What type of schedule network analysis is he using?

Critical Chain method

To control the schedule, a project manager is reanalyzing the project to predict project duration. She does this by analyzing the sequence of activities with the least amount of scheduling flexibility. What technique is she using?

Critical Path Method

Transferring Risk

Paying a premium to pass the risk to another party

How are the WBS and project network linked?

The network is based off information in the WBS. It uses the time estimates found in the work packages of the WBS. Dates are computed after the network is developed.

Which of the following is the most critical components of the quadruple constraint ?

They are all equal importance unless otherwise stated

A ______ is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in a project that defines the total scope of the project.

WBS

Why should you have a priority system that is open and published? does the process encourage bottom-up initiation or does it discourage some projects ?

bottom-up is encourages because every organization member can self evaluate their project idea against priorities. This process does discourage projects that clearly will not make positive, significant contributions to the organization vision

Difference between budget reserves and management reserves

budget reserves cover identified risks while the management reserve covers unforeseen risks. They are independent of each other.

What does it mean if priorities of a project include: time-constrain, scope-accept, and cost-enhance

must be completed on a specific date, scope can be scaled back to meet cost and time objectives, and when possible seek to reduce costs

Project Risks can/cannot be eliminated if the project is carefully planned

risks cannot be eliminated completely but they can be transferred, retained/reduce or shared

Why are lags used in developing project networks?

two major reasons 1. to closer represent real situations found in projects 2. to allow to be completed in parallel

What are the five characteristics that define a project?

1. A defined lifespan 2. well defined objective 3. Typically involves from several disciplines 4. a project life cycle 5. Specific time, cost and performance requirements

Which statement describes best the meaning of the term cost baseline?

A cost baseline is an approved time-phased budget that will be used to measure and monitor cost performance on the project.

Avoiding Risk

Changing the project plan to eliminate the risk or condition

A hospital expansion is being planned for a community. As part of the scope of this project, it will be necessary to close down the access routes into the emergency room for major remolding; however, because this is the only hospital for trauma cases within 50 miles, it is not possible to completely shut down the emergency room. The project team will have to find a means to remodel the emergency room while allowing for continuous operations of the unit. This is an example of what?

Constraints

A _____ is a time-phased budget that project managers use to measure and monitor cost performance.

Cost baseline

______ is a method of planning and managing projects that emphasizes the resources required to execute project tasks. It is based on methods and algorithms derived from Theory of Constraints?

Critical Chain Method

In which of the five PMI project management process groups is the most time and money usually spent?

Executing

What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed the way that projects are managed? What has been the effect fo these forces ?

Forces include: product life cycle, knowledge growth, global competition, organization downsizing, tech changes, time-to-market Impact: more projects, accountability, changing structure, need for rapid completion of project, linking projects to organization strategy and customers, prioritizing and conserve resources

Why is implementation important to strategic planning and the project manager?

If the project is not linked to the strategic plan of the organization, resources devoted are wasted and customer need is not met

What is meant by an integrative approach to PM? Why is this approach important to today's environment ?

Integrative approach includes two parts that are interrelated: must have a strong link to organization's strategic plan to meet customer needs, second it must provide an integrated system which supports the sociocultural environment

The project manager wants to make sure that he is proceeding in the right order as he moves to develop a clear scope for his project. During scope definition, what should he be doing?

Involving stakeholders and verifying that they have all provided their input to the process

You are creating your WBS and find that you keep decomposing tasks into smaller and smaller units. How can you tell when you are done?

Keep decomposing tasks until you reach an amount of work that is small enough to reliably estimate required resources and durations

When activities can be broken into segments such as in the example below, what method is being employed?

Laddering

Activity slack (also known as float) can be calculated through which of the following means?

Late start - early start

Retaining Risk

Making a conscious decision to accept the risk

Which of the following is not part of the triple constraint in project management?

Meeting communication goals

You have been criticized that certain specifications in your scope statement do not pass the test for SMART objectives. What are SMART objectives?

Objectives that are described using specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time-related specifications.

A project manager is using weighted average duration estimates to perform schedule network analysis. Which type of mathematical analysis is being used?

PERT

How can project office support effective project management ?

POs support by: tracking project progress providing project management training and consulting services integrating latest advances in the field of project management

A group of related projects that are managed in a coordinated way that usually include an element of ongoing activity is called a:

Program

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a new product or service is called a:

Project

Todd is working on resource scheduling in preparation for the start of a project. There is a potential problem in the works; however, as the new collective bargaining agreement with the company's union has not been concluded. Todd decides to continue working on the resource schedule in anticipation of a satisfactory settlement. Todd's approach would be an example of which method for dealing with risk?

Retain (Accept) it

The project manager has just met with her team to brainstorm some of the problems that could occur on the upcoming project. Today's session was intended to generate possible issues that could arise and get everyone to start thinking in terms of what they should be looking for once the project kicks off. This meeting would be an example of what element in the risk management process?

Risk identification

A ______ is a document that contains results of various risk management assessments, often displayed in a table or

Risk register

The assessment of the external and internal environments is called a _______ analysis.

SWOT

A building contractor is working on a vacation home and is looking over his schedule. He notices that the schedule calls for the foundation footers to be poured and then the rough decking to be installed. In this plan, the decking would be an example of what type of activity?

Successor task

What is the typical role of senior management on a project?

Support the project and resolve resource and other conflicts

A project is handled by departments of an organization and expedited by a project coordinator. Which of the following statements is most likely to be true?

The performing organization is a weak matrix.

Which of the following statements is false concerning the financial analysis of projects?

The required rate of return is the discount rate that results in an NPV of zero for the project

Top-down Estimate Approach

Typically used in the project conceptual phase, good for rough estimates and can help prioritize projects

How are the work breakdown structure and change control connected?

WBS and change control are directly linked , if change control is not used budgets and plans will self-destruct

Why bother creating a WBS?

WBS provides different information for decision making such as: -link deliverables, organizational units -provide for control -isolate problem to source -track schedule and cost variance, network doesn't -assign responsibility and budgets

What is the difference between avoiding the risk and accepting the risk ?

avoiding risk is when you change the project plan to eliminate the risk while accepting the risk means no action is taken and a contingency plan may be used

Disadvantages of matrix

decision making is slowed down because of agreements and negotiations between project managers and functional managers. Stress of having multiple superiors

What is the first step in planning a project schedule?

developing an activity list

Major types of costs

direct, direct direct overhead, general and administrative, direct are controllable by the PM

Bottom-up Approach

directly tied to WBS, made by people familiar with the tasks, should be preferred if time to estimate is available, estimating cost is reasonable, and accuracy is important

Advantages of dedicated teams

does not disrupt the basic structure of the parent organization concentrated project focus project tends to get done quickly strong cross functional integration

Portfolio of projects is typically represented by compliance, strategic and operation of projects. What impact can this classification have on a project selection ?

knowledge of funds available, risk portfolio, senior management bias

Disadvantages of functional

lack of project focus poor cross-functional integration slow lack of project ownership

What is the difference between mitigating versus contingency planning?

mitigating is preventive while contingency is reactive

Advantages of Functional Approach

no radical alteration in basic structure of the parent organization maximum flexibility in use of staff within functional units normal career paths can be maintained

How can outsourcing project work alleviate the three most common problems associated with multi-project resource schedule ?

outsourcing can reduce project slippage, improve utilization of critical resources, and avoid resources bottlenecks/

What cost estimating technique uses project characteristics in a mathematical model to estimate project costs?

parametric modeling

What other organization factors (aside from culture) should be used to determine which project management structure should be used

percentage of core work and resource availability Matrix is the best when resources are limited

All of the following are characteristics of a project except that..

repeats itself every month

All of the following are characteristics of a project except that..

roles and responsibilities

responsibility matrix

use only on smaller projects, where verbal, face to face communication is possible

How does resource scheduling reduce flexibility in managing projects?

when slack is used up flexibility is lost and the risk of delaying the project increases

Work packages include

work to accomplish a segment of the project time to accomplish the work package time-phased budget and total cost to complete the work resources needed to complete single person responsible monitoring points for measuring progress

To balance risks, the PM should also consider?

Opportunities

You need to analyze the assembly process of a rocket engine. Which method is best to be applied for this situation?

PFMEA

What is a trigger in project risk management?

A warning sign that a previously identified risk might be occurring or has occurred

The objective of failure mode and effects analysis is to:

Anticipate product failures and prevent them from occurring

Which is not a point used for three-point estimation?

Budget estimate

A project manager tracks the work of team members using a network logic diagram. Which effect will the presence of an actual finish date have on the calculation of float for the finished activity?

Calculating free float and total float is generally not reasonable for finished activities.

The authority to approve or deny change request lies with

Configuration Control Board

Funds that are for identified risks that have a low probability of occurring and that decrease as the project progresses are called ______ reserves.

Contingency

The essential difference between cost price is?

Cost is the expenses incurred by the project; price is what the customer is charged for the work/product

The WBS, estimates for each work package, and the network diagram are completed. Which of the following would be the NEXT thing for the project manager to do?

Create a preliminary schedule

What are the six elements of the typical scope statement

Project objective deliverables Milestones technical requirements limits and exclusions reviews with customers

If a risk has a 90 percent chance of occurring, and the consequences will be $10,000, what does $9,000 represent?

Expected monetary value

Which of the following is true statement about risks?

If a risk is identified in a risk response plan, then that means that risk has already happened. Once a risk has happened, you refer to the risk management plan to determine what action needs to be taken. A risk that was not planned but has happened is called a trigger. *Risk identification happens in all the phases of the project

What should not be covered by a risk management plan?

Individual risks and potential responses to them

Which of the following is a benefit of an analogous project estimate?

It gives the project team an understanding of management's expectations

Which of the following is a benefit of an analogous project estimate?

It gives the project team an understanding of managements' expectations

Which of the following is not true about analogous estimating

It uses bottom-up approach

Learning curves are most likely to be applied in situations where most of the costs are

Labor

You are working on the project of painting of your house. You identify a dependency that the painting of roof should begin only after two days of completion of painting of walls. This is an example of

Lag

You have been asked to make an estimate for a project. The project involves manufacturing 1000 toys. You expect that as the team manufactures some toys, the time to make them will reduce. Which estimation technique are you trying to use?

Learning Curve

Which of the following is true statement about risks ?

Risk identification happens in all the phases of the project.

What questions does a project objective answer ? example of a good one

answers what, when and how much

Describe Major Components of the strategic management process

1. Defining mission of the organization 2. Analysis of the external and internal environments 3. Setting objectives 4. formulating strategies to reach objectives 5. implementing strategies through projects

Your project team is working on a brand new project with leading edge technology. As a result, it is very difficult for your team to give reasonable accurate estimates for how long their activities are going to take in order to be completed. Because of this uncertainty, it would be appropriate for you to require your team members to use what kind of logic when estimating durations?

Beta distribution

What are the major differences between managing negative versus positive risks ?

COME BACK TO THIS ONE

You need to analyze a rocket engine. Which method is best to be applied for this situation?

DFMEA

What two dimensions should you use when evaluating project risks?

Probability and impact

A rough order of magnitude estimate is made during which project management process group?

Project initiating

The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides of the same coin.

Project manager needs to know the technical background of a project as well know how to socially interact with people

You are working as a project manager in a company. You have the highest degree of authority, you are working full-time for your project and you manage the budget of the project. What is the organization structure in your company?

Projectized

Why should an organization not rely on ROI to select projects?

ROI alone will not ensure that selected projects contribute to the mission and strategy of a firm. You need to consider other things such as new technology, public image, brand loyalty, ethical positions, and maintaining core competencies.