Project Management- Chapter 13

____ ____ is the budgeted cost of the work performed.

-Earned -Value

______ is the total budgeted cost of the baseline or project costs accounts.

BAC (budget at completion)

______ is the estimated cost for completing remaining work.

ETC

What is the major goal of progress reporting?

To determine whether corrective action is necessary

The fourth step in the project control process of the measurement and evaluation of project performance is to ____________.

take necessary corrective actions

What is the best way to explain "a CPI of 0.70"?

$0.70 worth of planned work has been completed for each $1.00 actually spent.

What is the best explanation for "an SPI of 0.80"?

$0.80 of work has been accomplished for each $1.00 of work scheduled to date.

Select all that apply Identify the percent complete rules for placing costs in baselines.

-50/50 percent rule -0/100 percent rule -Percent complete with weighted monitoring gates

Select all that apply A project monitoring system involves which of the following?

-Collecting and analyzing data -Reporting on the data -Deciding what data to collect

Select all that apply In variance analysis, measuring accomplishments centers on two key computations. Identify the two computations.

-Comparing earned value with the expected schedule value -Comparing earned value with the actual costs

Select all that apply Which of the following might collect data on a project?

-Contractors -Project manager -Project team -Engineers

Select all that apply Work packages can be in which of following conditions?

-Finished -In process or partially complete -Not yet started

Select all that apply Which of the following are true regarding scope creep?

-It is often unnoticed until time delays or cost overruns are observed. -It is common in new product development. -It wears down team motivation and cohesiveness. -It affects the project scope.

Select all that apply Which of the following are typically included in baselines?

-Materials -Labor -Equipment

Select all that apply Several project percent complete indexes are used, depending on your judgment of which one is most representative of your project. What are they?

-PCIB -PCIC

Select all that apply What variances can be computed using the three data elements of PV, AC, and EV, in the earned value/schedule system?

-SV (schedule variance) -CV (cost variance)

Select all that apply What are the project control steps for measuring and evaluating project performance?

-Taking action -Measuring progress and performance -Comparing plan against actual -Setting a baseline plan

Select all that apply Earned value can be based on percent completion of ___.

-budgeted cost of a work package -hours of labor allocated to a work package

In more complex projects, the ____ of cost accounts by deliverables and organization units can be very revealing and more profound.

-crosstabs

A ____ ____ index is popular in the construction industry.

-third - percent

Frequently budgets are ____ - ____ for materials and labor separately for more effective control over costs.

-time -phased

What is the earned value (EV) of a work package that has not yet been started?

0% of planned value

Which of the following values is the "best" management reserve index from the project manager's perspective?

0.10

Which value for TCPI indicates the project is under budget?

0.78

In a tracking Gantt chart, how many bars are there for each activity?

2

Schedule variance (SV) is most useful in assessing the direction all work in the project is taking after _____ of the project has been completed.

20 percent

When measuring percent complete in the monitoring phase of the project, it is common to limit the amount earned to ______ percent complete until the work package is 100 percent complete.

80 to 90

Which of the following is the correct equation used to calculate the total forecasted cost?

AC + ETC

The percent complete index that looks at percent complete in terms of actual costs is calculated by which of the following?

AC/EAC

What is the formula for the variance at completion?

BAC - EAC

What does a tracking Gantt chart use to show activity duration?

Bars

What is the meaning of an index of "<1.00" on SPI?

Behind schedule

How is technical performance typically measured on a project?

By comparing work against criteria and tolerance limits in the scope and work package documentation

The two indexes that measure performance efficiency are ___.

CPI and SPI

Which of the following is the formula for the management reserve index?

CV/MR

The following terms are used to calculate the revised estimate at completion. Match each term with its meaning. EACre and EACf-----> ETC-----> AC-----> CPI-----> BAC-----> EV----->

EACre and EACf-----> Forecasted total cost at completion. ETC-----> Estimated cost to complete remaining work. AC-----> Cumulative actual cost of work completed to date. CPI-----> Cumulative cost index to date. BAC-----> Total budget of the baseline. EV----->Cumulative budgeted cost of work completed to date.

Select all that apply The three data elements required to assess current status of a project using the earned value/schedule system are ___.

EV PV AC

The cost performance index (CPI) measures cost efficiency of the work accomplished to date; what is the formula for calculating CPI?

EV/AC

The percent complete index that looks at percent complete in terms of budgeted amounts is calculated by which of the following?

EV/BAC

____ means of collecting data have vastly improved data assembly, analysis, and dissemination.

Electronic

Overhead costs and profit are typically included in the project baseline.

False

The 0/100 rule is used for work packages having very long durations.

False

The percent complete index actual costs assumes the ____________ is (are) the most reliable information for measuring percent complete.

False

The schedule variance is the difference between the earned value to date and the actual schedule.

False

Baseline costs typically include labor, equipment, materials and direct overhead cost.

False ( included in baselines—labor, equipment, and materials.)

The easy-to-understand visual format of _______ make them favorite tools for communicating project schedule status.

Gantt charts

________ and ________ are typical tools used for communicating project schedule status.

Gantt charts, control charts

Which statement explains why it is possible to have a negative schedule variance, but the project is ahead on the critical path?

If delays in noncritical activities outweigh progress on the critical path, SV will be negative, but the project may finish on time.

____ schedules are often used to keep more distal stakeholders informed on the progress of a project. (Enter only one word per blank.)

Milestone

What is the meaning of an index of "<1.00" on CPI?

Over cost

Which statement is correct about how schedule variance (SV) relates to the project schedule?

SV determines progress in dollars for all work packages.

What is the likely outcome of poor technical performance on a project?

The product or deliverable will not work.

What is the main advantage of using 0/100 and 50/50 rules, over the percent complete rule?

To reduce overhead costs of collecting data

Control is a process of comparing actual performance against plan to identify deviations, evaluate possible alternative courses of actions, and take appropriate corrective action.

True

What will be the best indicator for the difference between actual costs and the budget, at a project's completion?

VAC

______ is the expected actual overrun/underrun cost at completion.

VAC

A PCIC of 0.75 would mean ___.

actual cost to date is 75% of the estimated total cost at completion.

The percent complete index actual costs assumes the ____________ is (are) the most reliable information for measuring percent complete.

actual costs-to-date and expected cost at completion

Periodic monitoring and measuring of the status of the project allow for comparisons of _________.

actual versus expected plans

In a project monitoring system, data collected from ______ activity duration, resource usage, and costs are compared against ______ activity duration, resource usage, and costs.

actual; planned

In a project control chart, several observations trending in one direction indicate a high probability of ___ .

an identifiable cause

It is crucial to integrate the ____ with the performance measurement system.

baseline

The time-phased costs provides the project budget ____ .

baseline

In the project control process, the ____ provides the project control process with the elements for measuring performance.

baseline plan

A SPI value less than one indicates that the project is _________.

behind schedule

The current status of a project is that schedule variance (SV) is -$100. This means the project is ___.

behind schedule

The third step in the project control process of the measurement and evaluation of project performance is ___.

comparing planned against actual performance

You earn the value of the work that has been ____ .

completed

The project __________ is a tool used to monitor past project schedule performance and to estimate future schedule trends.

control chart

If deviations from plans are significant, _____ will be needed to bring the project back in line with the original or revised plan.

corrective action

Although different stakeholders need different levels of detail, most project progress reports include ___.

current status of project schedule

Project managers use a ____ to manage and motivate the project team to achieve deliverables.

detailed milestone-driven schedule

The best method for assigning costs to the baseline under the percent complete rule is to establish ___________ over the duration of the work package.

frequent checkpoints

The percent complete with weighted monitoring gates rule combines subjective estimated percent complete with ____.

hard, tangible monitoring points

In the cost/schedule system, when computing cost variance and schedule variance, ____ status reports are prepared for each level of management.

hierarchical

Practitioners sometimes prefer to use schedule and cost indexes over the absolute values of SV and CV, because ________.

indexes can be considered efficiency ratios

A system for determining what data to collect, analyzing that data; and reporting current progress is called a project ____ system.

monitoring

A ____ variance indicates an undesirable condition.

negative

The percent complete index budgeted costs, with regard to the first index, assumes the ____________ is (are) the most reliable information for measuring percent complete.

original budget of work complete

The current status of a project is that cost variance (CV) is -$100. This means the project is ___.

over budget

A CPI value less than one indicates that the project is:

over budget.

The ________ indexes compare the to-date progress to the end of the project.

percent complete

CPI and SPI are two types of indexes that measure ________.

performance efficiency

A ____ variance indicates a desirable condition.

positive

The major reasons for creating a baseline are to monitor and report:

progress and estimate cash flow.

In measuring project progress, an index greater than 1.00 indicates ___.

progress is better than expected

Time and budgets are _________ measures of performance that readily fit into the integrated information system.

quantitative

The TCPI ratio measures the amount of value each ____ dollar in the budget must earn to stay within the budget.

remaining

The ____ variance presents an overall assessment of all work packages in the project scheduled to date.

schedule

Small, undocumented changes in a project's scope are known as ___.

scope creep

Measuring progress and performance is the _______ step in creating a project control system for measuring and evaluating project performance.

second

The first step in creating a project control system for measuring and evaluating project performance is to:

set up a baseline plan.

The tracking Gantt chart ___________.

shows progress against plan with a solid bar below the original schedule bar.

In project monitoring information systems, ___ determine(s) what data to collect.

the metrics used for project control

A PCIB of 0.75 would mean ___.

the work accomplished to date represents 75% of the total budgeted dollars for the project.

Baseline project budgets are derived from ____________.

time-phasing the work packages

Cost variance of budget-to-actual alone does not measure how much ____ was accomplished for the money spent.

work

A major goal of progress reporting is to catch any negative variances from plan as early as possible to determine if corrective action is necessary. The project network schedule, derived from the ______, serves as the baseline to compare against actual performance.

work breakdown structure (WBS)/organization breakdown structure (OBS)

Project progress reports are designed and communicated in ____.

written or oral form