Operations Management - Project Management

Who created PERT?

Good, Allen, and Hamilton with the U.S. Navy for Polaris missile (1958)

Disadvantages of a Gantt chart

- still difficult to see which tasks are done concurrently/sequentially when there are many tasks to he completed - you can't see how to reallocate resources if one task is taking longer than expected, how to reduce time to complete a task, or what would happen if you have lower staff than expected

The main difference between PERT and CPM is​ that: A. PERT employs three time estimates for each activity. B. PERT ignores activity costs. C. CPM assumes activity durations can vary. D. PERT is more accurate than CPM. E. PERT assumes that activity durations are known.

A.

A code of ethics especially for project​ managers: A. does not exist at this time. B. has been established by the Project Management Institute. C. has been formulated by the World Trade Organization. D. has been formulated by the Federal government. E. is​ inappropriate, since everyone should use the same guidance on ethical issues.

B.

A project organization that becomes permanent is often referred to as​ a: A. fixed project organization. B. matrix organization. C. standard organization. D. normal organization. E. permanent project organization.

B.

WBS stands for which of the following project management​ tools? A. work breakdown schedule B. work break schedule C. work breakdown structure D. work breakdown status E. work break status

C.

Which of the following statements regarding CPM networks is​ true? A. The late start of an activity is its late finish plus its duration. B. The early finish of an activity is the latest early start of all preceding activities. C. If a specific project has multiple critical​ paths, all of them will have the same duration. D. There can be multiple critical paths on the same​ project, all with different durations. E. None of the above are true.

C.

The phases of project management​ are: A. ​planning, programming, and budgeting. B. different for manufacturing projects than for service projects. C. ​GANTT, CPM, and PERT. D. ​planning, scheduling, and controlling. E. ​planning, organizing,​ staffing, leading, and controlling.

D.

Who created CPM?

DuPont created CPM for chemical plants (1957)

Advantages of a Gantt chart

Tells you which tasks can be completed simultaneously and how long each task takes

Difference between CPM and PERT

They use a different estimate of activity times. CPM is deterministic (20 days). PERT gives 3 potential outcomes: optimistic (if everything goes right, 16 days), most likely (maybe 21 days), pessimistic (Murphy's law, 30 days)

Every network has at least one critical path.

True

The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path.

False - the critical path is the longest path

Gantt charts give a timeline for each of a​ project's activities, but they do not adequately illustrate the interrelationships between the activities and the resources.

True

Slack is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

True

Project crashing

You use the time taken for the project reducing the budget time taken and costs incurred