Chapter 6 - Project Time Management
____________ is a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities. Also, their corresponding start and finish dates in calendar form.
Gantt chart
What are 4 techniques/tools used to assist in schedule development?
Gantt chart, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, PERT analysis
Give an example of what this definition means: Duration includes actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time.
If someone asked an estimate of when you plan on finishing a book, you give an answer of 2 months instead of the 20 hours you would actually expect to spend reading the book.
What drives the completion date for the project?
Longest path Path that contains the critical tasks
_____________ - significant event that normally has no duration
Milestone
______________ - schematic display of the logical relationships among project activities and their sequences
Network diagram
Is every item from WBS listed on network diagram?
No, but it can be
________ - starting and ending point of an activity
Node
Which network diagram technique is particularly useful for visualizing certain types of time relationships?
PDM (precedence diagramming method)
What's the network diagramming technique where boxes represent activities?
PDM precedence diagramming method
What is the first step in project time management?
Planning how the schedule will be managed
________________ - determining the policies, procedures, and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the project schedule.
Planning schedule management
What is the goal of defining activities?
Project team will understand all work it must do
_________________ involves the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project.
Project time management
____________________ - hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type
Resource breakdown structure
What should you use to make milestones meaningful?
SMART criteria
____________ - amount of time an activity may be delayed • Without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date
Slack/float
Resources assigned to a task will affect the task duration estimate. True/False
True
Where do the activities on a network diagram come from?
WBS and activity definition process
Can a project have more than 1 critical path?
Yes
Can critical path for a project change as the project progresses?
Yes
Does every activity on the network diagram must be completed in order to finish the project?
Yes
Black diamond on a Gantt represents what?
a milestone
Thick black bars with arrows at beginning and end on a Gantt chart represents what?
a summary task
What do the letters on a network diagram represent?
activities with dependencies that are required to complete project
Information should be added as soon as it's available to the _____________.
activity attributes
________________ - provides more schedule-related information about each activity
activity attributes
______________ - tabulation of activities to be included on project schedule
activity list
What does activity list typically include?
activity name, identifier/number, and brief description
What do the arrows on a network diagram represent?
activity sequencing/relationships between tasks
______________/______________ - element of work normally found on the WBS that has expected duration, cost, and resource requirements
activity, task
One of the most important considerations in making activity duration estimates is?
availability of resources, especially human resources
Main outputs of ______________________: work performance information schedule forecasts change requests project management plan updates project documents updates organizational process assets updates
controlling the schedule
______________ - controlling and managing changes to the project schedule.
controlling the schedule
Critical path method (CPM) is also called what?
critical path analysis
Main outputs of ______________________: activity list activity attributes milestone list project management plan updates
defining activities
__________ involves identifying specific actions that will produce project deliverables in enough detail to determine resource/schedule estimates
defining activities
The triple constraint reflects the basic order of processes in project time management. Which are:
defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations
What is a technique to help managers make schedule trade-offs?
determining free slack and total slack for each project activity
Main outputs of ______________________: schedule baseline project schedule schedule data project calendars project management plan updates project documents updates
developing the schedule
______________ - analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule.
developing the schedule
Duration estimates are provided as a ____________ or ________.
discrete number, three-point estimate
___________ dependency is defined by project team.
discretionary
Light gray bars on a Gantt chart represents what?
duration of a task
____________________ - earliest possible time an activity can finish based on project network logic
early finish date
____________________ - earliest possible time an activity can start based on project network logic
early start date
How does effort and duration differ?
effort is the hours of work and duration is the time estimate on a calendar (effort for one day could be 80 hours if 10 people working on one thing)
Main outputs of ______________________: activity duration estimates project documents updates
estimating activity durations
______________ - estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities.
estimating activity durations
Main outputs of ______________________: activity resource requirements resource breakdown structure project documents updates
estimating activity resources
What involves the quantity and type of resources (people, equipment, materials) that will be assigned to each activity?
estimating activity resources
What provides the basis for estimating activity durations?
estimating activity resources
______________ - estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities
estimating activity resources
____________ dependencies - relationships between project and non-project activities
external
Task (B) can't finish until task (A) finishes is an example of which task dependency?
finish-to-finish (FF)
Task (B) can't start until task (A) finishes is an example of which task dependency?
finish-to-start (FS)
What are the 4 types of dependencies/relationships between activities?
finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish
____________________ - amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediately following activities
free slack/float
____________________ - latest possible time an activity can be completed without delaying project finish date
late finish date
____________________ - latest possible time an activity might begin without delaying project finish date
late start date
Even though the critical path is the __________ path, it represents the ___________ time required to complete a project.
longest, shortest
__________ dependency - essential in the nature of work being performed on a project.
mandatory
Hard logic is another name for? Soft logic is another name for?
mandatory dependencies and discretionary dependencies
What are the 3 basic dependencies among project activities?
mandatory dependencies, discretionary dependencies, and external dependencies
___________ is useful for setting schedule goals and monitoring progress
milestones
Name 3 advantages of using PDM over AOA.
more popular avoids use of dummy activities shows different dependencies
What is the preferred technique for showing activity sequencing?
network diagrams
What does a 3-point estimate include?
optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate
Main output of _________ is schedule management plan.
planning schedule management
What are the 7 main processes involved in project time management?
planning schedule management, defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations, developing the schedule, controlling the schedule
The ______________ generally includes: project schedule model development, scheduling methodology and the scheduling tools to use when developing project schedule model, level of accuracy and units of measure, control thresholds, rules of performance measurements, reporting formats, process descriptions
project management plan
What are 2 other common names for network diagrams?
project schedule network diagrams/PERT charts
Arrows connecting symbols on a Gantt chart represents what?
relationship/dependency between the tasks
People, activities, and materials are examples of what?
resources
Inputs needed for __________________: • Schedule management plan • Activity list/attributes • Project scope statement • Milestone list • Organizational process assets
sequencing activities
Main outputs of ______________________: project schedule network diagrams project documents updates
sequencing activities
The _________ process involves: Evaluating reasons for dependencies and the different types of dependencies
sequencing activities
______________ - identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities
sequencing activities
What does SMART of SMART criteria stand for?
specific measurable assignable realistic time-framed
Task (B) can't finish until task (A) starts is an example of which task dependency?
start-to-finish (SF)
Task (B) can't start until task (A) starts is an example of which task dependency?
start-to-start (SS)
Name the 5 key points of using project milestones.
1. define them early 2. keep them small and frequent 3. should be binary 4. set of milestones are all-encompassing 5. monitor critical path
What are the 3 steps to calculate the critical path?
1. develop good network diagram 2. estimate the duration of each activity 3. add the durations for all activities on each path through network diagram the longest path is critical path
• Networking diagramming technique • Activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes • Used to illustrate sequence of activities The above is describing what format of network diagram?
AOA (activity-on-arrow) or ADM (arrow diagramming method)
What is required input to all other time management processes?
Activity information
__________ - 2 or more activities follow a single node __________ - 2 or more nodes precede a single node
Bursts, Merges
_____________ - Network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration; Helps you combat project schedule overruns
CPM critical path method
Is the schedule management plan broad and informal or formal and detailed?
Can be either
________________ - series of activities that determine the earliest time that the project can be completed • It's the longest path through the network diagram • Has the least amount of slack/float
Critical path
___________ - identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables
Defining activities
_____________/________________ - sequencing of project activities and tasks
Dependency/relationship
Outputs: • Project schedule • Schedule baseline • Schedule data • Project calendars • Project management plan updates • Project documents updates The above of outputs of which project time management process?
Developing the schedule
The goal of ______________ is to provide a basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project.
Developing the schedule
What project time management process determines the start and end dates of the project and its activities?
Developing the schedule
_________ is entered into the Duration column _________ is entered into the Work column
Duration, Effort
AOA only uses which dependency?
FS finish-to-start
True/False Critical path method includes all critical paths.
False
What is a major disadvantage of Gantt charts?
they often don't show dependencies
____________________ - amount of time an activity can be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date
total slack/float
When estimating activity durations, what are 2 things to review?
• Past project information • Accuracy of the duration estimates so far for the project
