quiz 3 operations management

An activity on a PERT network has these time estimates: optimistic = 1, most likely = 2, and pessimistic = 5. What is its expected activity time? 4.67 14.00 2.33 2.00 2.67

2.33

The difference between AON and AOA networks is that: AOA networks sometimes require dummy activities. nodes consume no resources or time in AOA networks. both are acceptable in practice; however, Microsoft Project uses AON. nodes designate activities in AON, while arrows designate activities in AOA. All of these are true.

All of these are true.

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

All of these are true.

Which of the following statements about Bechtel is true? Even though Bechtel is over 100 years old, the Kuwaiti oil fields was its first "project." Bechtel is the world's premier manager of massive construction and engineering projects. Bechtel's competitive advantage is supply chain management. While its projects are worldwide, its network of suppliers is largely in the United States All of these are true.

Bechtel is the world's premier manager of massive construction and engineering projects.

Which of these statements regarding time-cost tradeoffs in CPM networks is true? Crashing a project often reduces the length of long-duration, but noncritical, activities. The crash time always exceeds the normal time. Crashing is not possible unless there are multiple critical paths. Crashing shortens the project duration by assigning more resources to one or more of the critical tasks. Activities not on the critical path can never be on the critical path, even after crashing.

Crashing shortens the project duration by assigning more resources to one or more of the critical tasks.

true or false? The ES of an activity that has only one predecessor is simply the EF of that predecessor.

true

The project organization works best when which of the following conditions are satisfied? I. Work tasks can be defined with a specific goal and deadline. II. The job is typical and familiar to the existing organization. III. The work contains interrelated tasks requiring specialized skills. IV. The project is temporary but unimportant to long-term organizational success. V. The project cuts across organizational lines. I, II, III, IV, V None of these conditions need to be satisfied. I, III, V I, II, III, V I, III, IV, V

I, III, V

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

None of these

Which of the following statements regarding PERT analysis is true? Only critical activities contribute to the project variance. Each activity has two estimates of its duration. The most likely time is equivalent to the expected activity time. Project standard deviation is the sum of all critical activity standard deviations. Project variance is the sum of all activity variances.

Only critical activities contribute to the project variance.

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

PERT

Ethical issues that may arise in projects large and small include: gifts from contractors. exaggerated expense reports. compromised quality standards to meet bonuses or avoid penalties related to schedules. pressure to mask delays with false status reports. All of these.

all of these

The waterfall approach is used most often for: well-defined projects projects whose changes tend to be minor projects with step-by-step progress controlling projects All of these

all of these

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

true

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

because near-critical paths could become critical paths with small delays in these activities.

The ________ distribution is used by PERT analysis to calculate expected activity times and variances. Binomial Alpha Beta Gaussian Normal

beta

Which of the following is NOT one of the phases of project management? planning scheduling controlling budgeting All of these are project management phases.

budgeting

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

false

true or false? Agile project management is a type of work breakdown structure (WBS).

false

true or false? PERT, but not CPM, has the ability to consider the precedence relationships in a project.

false

true or false? Shortening the project's duration by deleting unnecessary activities is called "project crashing."

false

true or false? The fundamental difference between PERT and CPM is that PERT uses the beta distribution for crashing projects while CPM uses cost estimates.

false

true or false? The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path.

false

true or false? The standard deviation of project duration is the average of the standard deviation of all activities on the critical path.

false

A network has been crashed to the point where all activities are critical. Additional crashing: is unnecessary. is prohibitively expensive. is impossible. may require crashing multiple tasks simultaneously. can be done, but all critical tasks must be reduced in duration.

may require crashing multiple tasks simultaneously.

Which of the following is NOT performed by Microsoft Project? drawing the project AON network tracking the progress of the project identifying the critical path creating the project Gantt chart providing PERT probability calculations

providing PERT probability calculations

The expected activity time in PERT analysis is calculated as: the sum of the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely times, divided by six. the sum of the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely times. the simple average of the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely times. the weighted average of a, m, and b, with m weighted 4 times as heavily as a and b.t he sum of the activity variances, divided by six.

the weighted average of a, m, and b, with m weighted 4 times as heavily as a and b.t

true or 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

true or false? 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

true or false? Ill-defined projects are typified by software development and new technology.

true

true or false? One phase of a large project is scheduling.

true

true or false? One responsibility of a project manager is to make sure that the project meets its quality goals.

true

true or false? Project managers have their own code of ethics, established by the Project Management Institute.

true