OM test 1

Project managers have their own code of ethics, established by the Project Management Institute.

TRUE

The ES of an activity that has only one predecessor is simply the EF of that predecessor.

TRUE

The beta distribution is used in project management to: a. calculate expected activity times. b. determine which activity should be crashed. c. calculate the probability that a project will be completed within its budget. d. calculate slack for activities on the critical path. e. None of these

A

Which of the following projects were completed by Bechtel? a. Boston Central Artery/Tunnel b. All of these were Bechtel projects c. Rebuilding Kuwait after Iraq's invasion in 1990 d. Hoover Dam e. Rebuilding Iraq after the U.S. invasion, starting in 2003

B

A project manager is interested in crashing a project with variable activity times. Which of the following tools should he/she employ? a. Gantt Chart b. PERT, CPM, or a Gantt chart are fine. c. PERT d. either PERT or CPM e. CPM

C

If an activity whose normal duration is 15 days can be shortened to 10 days for an added cost of $2,000, what is the crash cost per period? Select one: a. $10,000 b. $20,000 c. $400 d. $2,000 e. $30,000

C

In a PERT network, non-critical activities that have little slack need to be monitored closely: a. because they are causing the entire project to be delayed. b. because PERT treats all activities as equally important. c. because near-critical paths could become critical paths with small delays in these activities d. because slack is undesirable and needs to be eliminated. e. because they have a high risk of not being completed.

C

The beta distribution is used in project management to: a. calculate pessimistic and optimistic activity times. b. determine which activity should be crashed. c. None of these d. calculate slack on activities not on the critical path. e. calculate the probability that a project will be completed within its budget.

C

Which of the following statements regarding PERT times is true? a. The pessimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require. b. The expected time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b). c. The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require. d. The most likely time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require. e. The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require.

C

Which of the following statements regarding Bechtel is true? Select one: a. Bechtel's procurement program is global in nature. b. Its competitive advantage is project management. c. While helping to rebuild Iraq, Bechtel's crews had to travel under armed escort. d. All of these are true. e. Bechtel was the construction contractor for the Hoover Dam.

D

The phases of project management are: Select one: a. GANTT, CPM, and PERT. b. planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. c. planning, programming, and budgeting. d. planning, scheduling, and controlling e. different for manufacturing projects than for service projects.

D

Two critical path activities are candidates for crashing on a CPM network. Activity details are in the table below. To cut one day from the project's duration, activity ________ should be crashed first, adding ________ to project cost. a. One; $6,800 b. Two; $5,000 c. One or Two should be crashed; $1,400 d. One; $400 e. Two; $1,000

D

Which of the following statements regarding critical paths is true? Select one: a. The duration of the critical path is the average duration of all paths in the project network. b. Some activities on the critical path may have slack. c. The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path. d. On a specific project, there can be multiple critical paths, all with exactly the same duration. e. Every network has only one critical path.

D

A simple CPM network has three activities, A, B, and C. A is an immediate predecessor of B and of C. B is an immediate predecessor of C. The activity durations are A=4, B=3, C=8. Select one: a. The network has no critical path. b. The critical path cannot be determined without knowing PERT expected activity times. c. The critical path is A-C, duration 12. d. The critical path is A-B-C, duration 13.5 e. The critical path is A-B-C, duration 15.

E

Activity D on a CPM network has predecessors B and C, and has successor F. D has duration 6. B's earliest finish is 18, while C's is 20. F's late start is 26. Which of the following is definitely true? a. F is critical, and has zero slack. b. C is completed before B. c. D has no slack but is not critical. d. B is a critical activity. e. D is critical, and has zero slack.

E

The critical path for the network activities shown below is ________ with duration ________. Select one: a. B-D-E; 7 b. A-C-E; 10 c. B-E; 6 d. A-D-E; 5 e. B-C-E; 12

E

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

A project organization works best for an organization when the project resides in only one of its functional areas.

FALSE

The standard deviation of project duration is the average of the standard deviation of all activities on the critical path.

FALSE

Ethical issues that can arise in projects include gifts from contractors, pressure to mask delays with false status reports, and pressure to compromise project quality to meet bonuses or avoid penalties related to schedules.

TRUE