CH6

9) What is the Concurrent Engineering Approach and why should project managers be aware of it?

The chainlike sequence of finish-to-start relationships is replaced by a series of start-to-start lag relationships as soon as meaningful work can be initiated for the next phase. The resulting overlap of tasks slightly increases risk but results in a much shorter schedule.

7) What is a lag and give an example of when you would need to use one?

A lag is the minimum amount of time a dependent activity must be delayed to begin or end. Lags occur during laddering and avoid delays and they are also used to constraint the start and finish of an activity.

2) Consider the following table of activities A through G in which A is the start node and G is the stop node. Activity Duration (days) Predecessor A 5 -- B 8 A C 7 A D 6 A E 9 B, C, D F 10 B, C, D G 5 E, F On a piece of scratch paper, draw the network associated with this table and determine the following. What is the total slack for activity F? A) 0 B) 2 C) 1 D) 4 E) 3

A) 0

25) A _________ activity is one that has more than one activity taking place at the same time. A) Parallel B) Slack C) Burst D) Dangling E) Merge

A) Parallel

1) When translated into a project network, a work package will become A) one or more activities. B) a critical path. C) a single activity. D) a milestone. E) an arrow.

A) one or more activities.

10) A project network provides the basis for A) scheduling labor and equipment. B) organizational authority. C) understanding the structural relationships. D) hierarchical understanding of task relationships. E) completing the effort on time and within budget.

A) scheduling labor and equipment.

8) Consider the following table of activities A through G in which A is the start node and G is the stop node. Activity Duration (days) Predecessor A 5 -- B 8 A C 7 A D 6 A E 9 B, C, D F 10 B, C, D G 5 E, F On a piece of scratch paper, draw the network associated with this table and determine the following. What is the late start time for activity E (how late can activity E start?)? A) 10 B) 14 C) 12 D) 11 E) 13

B) 14

14) ________ activities must be completed immediately before a particular activity. A) Parallel B) Predecessor C) Successor D) Merge E) Burst

B) Predecessor

28) Arrows on an activity-on-node (AON) project network represent A) an activity and dependency. B) project flow and dependency. C) project flow. D) dependency. E) an activity.

B) project flow and dependency.

20) The amount of delay within a task that will not delay the overall project is known as a A) both total slack and free slack. B) total slack. C) estimated effort. D) opportunity cost. E) free slack.

B) total slack.

26) The amount of time an activity can be delayed and yet not delay the project is termed A) float pad. B) slip pad. C) free slack. D) total slack. E) critical float.

D) total slack.

21) The assumption that all immediately preceding activities must be 100% complete is too restrictive in some situations. When an activity is broken down into smaller segments in order to start the succeeding activity sooner, this is called A) hammock activities. B) dissecting. C) laddering. D) concurrent engineering. E) a forward pass.

C) laddering.

3) The ________ calculates the critical path and determines how long an activity can be delayed without delaying the project. A) concurrent pass B) forward pass C) parallel pass D) backward pass E) universal pass

D) backward pass

19) Consider the following table of activities A through G in which A is the start node and G is the stop node. Activity Duration (days) Predecessor A 10 -- B 20 A C 5 A D 3 B, C E 20 B, C F 4 B, C G 10 D, E, F On a piece of scratch paper, draw the network associated with this table and determine the following. What is the late finish time for activity G? A) 55 B) 70 C) 50 D) 65 E) 60

D) 65

5) A _________ activity is one that has more than one activity immediately preceding it. A) Dangling B) Slack C) Parallel D) Merge E) Burst

D) Merge

4) Which of the following is NOT one of the basic rules to follow when developing project networks? A) Networks flow from left to right. B) An activity identification number must be larger than that of any preceding activities. C) An activity cannot begin until all preceding activities have been completed. D) Each activity must have a unique identification number. E) Conditional statements are allowed but looping statements are not allowed.

E) Conditional statements are allowed but looping statements are not allowed.

18) ________ activities are to be completed immediately following a particular activity. A) Merge B) Predecessor C) Burst D) Parallel E) Successor

E) Successor

17) The backward pass determines project duration. ⊚ true ⊚ false

FALSE

24) If the project has a duration of 8 days, the project should be completed 8 days from the day it starts. ⊚ true ⊚ false

FALSE

6) An activity can include only one work package. ⊚ true ⊚ false

FALSE

11) Burst activities have more than one activity immediately following them (more than one dependency arrow flowing from them). ⊚ true ⊚ false

TRUE

16) An activity cannot begin until ALL preceding connected activities have been completed. ⊚ true ⊚ false

TRUE

22) Even though a project network costs time and money to develop, it is worth the effort. ⊚ true ⊚ false

TRUE

23) Only activities that occur at the end of a chain of activities can have free slack. ⊚ true ⊚ false

TRUE

12) Briefly describe some of the useful benefits to the project manager that are derived from thorough development of a project schedule.

The project manager will learn many things:1) Total project duration2) The critical path3) Which tasks have slack and thus can be delayed4) How to shorten total project duration without additional costs5) The starting and stopping date for each task6) Where to place milestones7) Approximate human resource requirements