TPV1 ch4

Explain a network diagram.

A network diagram is used in Activity Sequencing to depict project activities and the interrelationships and dependencies among these activities.

Name the two major relationships between dependent tasks.

A predecessor is a task that exists on a path with another task and occurs before the task in question. A successor is a task that exists on a common path with another task and occurs after the task in question.

You are a project manager for a major movie studio. You need to schedule a shoot in Denver during ski season. This is an example of which of the following?

A. A requirement such as weather conditions or a specific season that drives the scheduling of a task is an example of an external dependency.

You' re in the process of developing a project schedule for a new project for which you've just completed the WBS. What would be the smart next step in figuring out what tasks go into the project schedule?

A. After the WBS is developed, the next step involves creating an activity list that describes the activities required to complete each work package on the WBS.

What are the crashing and fast track techniques used for?

A. Duration compression involves either crashing the schedule by adding more resources or by creating a fast track by working activities in parallel that would normally be done in sequence.

Which is the most commonly used logical relationship?

A. Finish-to-start is the most commonly used logical relationship in network and schedule diagrams.

Which of the following is not true for critical path activities?

A. Float is always zero for the critical path activities, so early start and late start are the same date.

You're working on a project in which the time to complete the project has been heavily restricted and funds are short. You have one resource working on preparing six servers for use in a balanced web array. The servers will all look basically alike. What technique can you use to slim down some of the time required to perform this task in the project?

A. You have only one resource and funds are limited, so crashing the project isn't the solution. The fast tracking option allows you to start more than one task at the same time. Previously, each server was scheduled to start and complete sequentially. You could start two or three servers at once, thereby fast tracking the schedule.

Describe the Activity Sequencing process.

Activity Sequencing is the process of identifying dependency relationships between the project activities and scheduling activities in the proper order.

Your task requires 4 miles of paving, and it will take 30 hours to complete a mile. On a past project similar to this one, it took 150 hours to complete. Which of the following is true regarding this estimate?

B. If you didn't know the quantity and rate, option C or D would be acceptable. In this case, you'd use the parametric estimating technique because you do know the quantity and rate; 30 hours times 4 miles is a total duration of 120 hours.

What is the most commonly used form of network diagramming?

B. Precedence diagramming is the most commonly used diagramming method. The arrow diagramming method (ADM) is a less-used diagramming method that uses arrows to represent the tasks. CPM is a schedule development technique. PERT is a schedule development technique that uses weighted averages.

You've defined a task in a project schedule in which your team members will develop an XML application that uses a MySQL back end. Although the data base administrator (DBA) has plenty of experience with Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, he has never been exposed to MySQL. Which of the following elements will most likely be affected?

B. Since the question states this DBA is unfamiliar with MySQL, the task estimation process is the most likely affected by all the options. You should use a three-point estimate or have another expert verify the estimate for this task since the DBA doesn't know this software well.

Which of the following is not true for the critical path?

B. The critical path is the longest activity sequence in the network. It has zero float or slack time, and it controls the project end date. Using critical path, you can determine which tasks can start late or go longer than planned without impacting the project end date.

Which of the following is not a tool used to determine a project's critical path?

B. The tools used to calculate critical path are forward pass, backward pass, and float calculation.

You are working on your network diagram. Activity A is a predecessor to Activity B. Activity B cannot begin until Activity A is completed. What is this telling you?

B. There is a finish-to-start dependency relationship between Activity A and Activity B. You do not have enough information to determine whether the dependency between the two activities is mandatory, discretionary, or external or if they are critical path activities.

Which of the following is true for float or slack time?

C. Float or slack time is the length of time a task may be started late or the additional duration a task may take without impacting project completion.

Activity B on your network diagram has a most likely estimate of 8 days, a pessimistic estimate of 11 days, and an optimistic estimate of 6 days. What is the three-point estimate for this task rounded to the nearest whole number?

C. The three-point estimate is calculated by averaging all three estimates. 8 + 11 + 6 = 25. 25/3 = 8.3.

Define the purpose of CPM.

CPM calculates the longest path in the project. This path controls the finish date of the project. Any delay to a critical path task will delay the completion date of the project.

What is analogous estimating also referred to as?

D. Analogous estimating is also called top-down estimating. It is used early in the project, when there is not enough detail to do a detailed estimate.

All of the following are true regarding milestone charts except for which one?

D. Milestone charts list the major deliverables, key events, or project phases and show the scheduled and actual completion dates of each milestone. They may include other information, but that information would not be displayed as bar charts.

Suppose that you're working on a project in which you've established this milestone: "Database servers built and functional." The following tasks are needed to complete this milestone: Task 1: Build three database servers. Task 2: Install database software on each server. Task 3: Validate that software is running correctly. Task 4: Install database schemas from development environment. Task 5: Test that it's 100 percent successful. Which of these tasks would represent the acceptance criteria for this milestone?

E. Building the servers, installing software on them, validating that the software works, and bringing up the schemas represents work toward the milestone but does not adequately represent that you've reached the milestone. Task 5, which says that you've successfully tested the database servers, indicates that you've reached your goal.

Know and understand the five most commonly used techniques to estimate activity duration.

Expert judgment relies on the knowledge of someone familiar with the tasks. Analogous or top-down estimating bases the estimate on similar activities from a previous project. Parametric estimates are quantitatively based estimates that typically calculate the rate times quantity. Three-point estimates use the most likely, optimistic, and pessimistic estimates to determine an average estimate. PERT uses the same estimates as the three-point estimating technique, but it calculates an expected value or weighted average estimate.

Name the two most common ways project schedules are displayed.

Project schedules are typically displayed as milestone charts or Gantt charts; a Gantt chart is a type of bar chart.

Name the four types of logical relationships.

The four types of logical relationships are finish-to-start, start-to-start, start-to-finish, and finish-to-finish.