Chapter 9

An activity's completion time is to be estimated using the beta distribution. If the most likely time (m), the optimistic time (a), and the pessimistic time (b) for the activity are 11 days, 6 days, and 18 days, respectively, then the activity's expected time is estimated to be

11.33 days

The estimated mean time for an activity with a most likely time (m) of 12 weeks, an optimistic time (a) of 9 weeks, and a pessimistic time (b) of 18 weeks would be

12.5 weeks

The estimated variance for an activity with a most likely time (m) of 12 weeks, an optimistic time (a) of 9 weeks, and a pessimistic time (b) of 18 weeks would be

2.25

The variance of an activity's completion time is to be estimated using the beta distribution. If the most likely time (m), the optimistic time (a), and the pessimistic time (b) for the activity are 11 days, 6 days, and 18 days, respectively, then the activity's variance is estimated to be

4

Which of the following is not one of the time estimates for an activity in Probabilistic Time Estimates?

Least likely

A graph with a bar for each activity displaying when activities are scheduled to start, when they will be finished, and where extra time is available is known as a

Gantt chart

A Gantt chart provides a visual display of the project schedule, including scheduled start times, finish times, and slack times.

True

A graph or bar chart with a bar representing the passage of time for each activity in the project is known as a Gantt chart.

True

A project has a unique purpose, it is temporary, and it draws resources from various areas in the organization.

True

A project team is typically cross-functional in its make up.

True

A project's duration can only be reduced by crashing activities on the critical path.

True

A unique, one-time operational activity or effort is referred to as a project.

True

An activity that is inserted in the network diagram to show a precedence relationship, but does not represent any passage of time, is known as a dummy activity.

True

Earned value analysis is a standard procedure for numerically measuring a project's progress, forecasting its completion date and cost and measuring schedule and budget variation.

True

In recent years projects have become increasingly pervasive in companies.

True

PERT/CPM have been around at least fifty years.

True

Project crashing is a method for shortening a project's duration by reducing the time of one (or more) of the critical path activities to less than its normal time.

True

Slack is the amount of time by which an activity can be delayed without delaying any of the activities that follow it or the project as a whole.

True

The management and control of a companywide portfolio of projects is known as enterprise project management.

True

The use of a network to depict precedence relationships between activities is an advantage of CPM/PERT over the Gantt chart.

True

A tool used for project planning which breaks down a project into components, subcomponents, activities, and tasks is referred to as the

Work breakdown structure (WBS)

In project management the term slack refers to the

amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project

The _______________ probability distribution is typically used to describe uncertain activity times in a project.

beta

For activities on the critical path

earliest start time (ES) = latest start time (LS)

The slack time for an activity can be computed as

latest start time (LS) - earliest start time (ES)

The cost of reducing activity time is referred to as:

Crash cost

The longest path through the network, in terms of time, is referred to as the

Critical Path

One disadvantage of Gantt charts, especially for large projects, is that the Gantt Chart

Does not clearly show precedence relationships

A standard procedure for numerically measuring a project's progress, forecasting its completion date and cost and providing measures of schedule and budget variation as activities are completed is referred to as

Earned Value Analysis (EVA)

A document that provides a common understanding and justification for a project is known as a work breakdown structure.

False

Activities that are not on a project's critical path have zero slack.

False

Because projects are unique, the principles of total quality management (TQM) cannot be applied to the project management process.

False

Because they are temporary, projects are subject to less uncertainty than normal management processes.

False

Crashing costs increase as a project time increases.

False

In an activity-on-node (AON) network diagram the nodes indicate the precedence relationship and the arrows represent the activities of a project.

False

In general, crashing costs and indirect costs move in the same direction as a project's duration is shortened.

False

Indirect cost increase as project time decreases.

False

Issues of cultural diversity in project management should only be addressed if and when they arise.

False

One can mix AOA and AON in any given PERT/CPM network.

False

PERT stands for program enterprise and resource technique.

False

Probabilistic activity ties reflect certainty.

False

Quality management and control are not part of the project management process.

False

The critical path for a project is the shortest path through the project's network.

False

The earliest time an activity can start is always at time zero.

False

The objective of project crashing is to increase project duration while maximizing the cost of crashing.

False

The three major processes encompassed by project management are planning, scheduling, and product design.

False

To reduce a project's duration activities with a positive slack must be crashed.

False

The project management process encompasses

Planning, scheduling, and control

In general, the latest finish time for an activity is equal to

The minimum of the latest start times for immediate following activities

For the activity-on-node (AON) network diagram

The nodes represent activities and the arrows indicate precedence relationships

The document that provides a common understanding, justification, and expected result for a project is referred to as

The scope statement

A team structure sometimes used in projects where members are drawn from different functional areas or departments in the company, depending on the skills required, is known as

A matrix organization

Which of the following is not a general characteristic of a project?

A project is more certain than the normal management process

In general, the earliest finish time for an activity is equal to

The earliest start time + the activity time estimate