Project Management - Chapter 4

Name the two major relationships between dependent tasks.

1 A predecessor is a task that exists on a path with another task and occurs before the task in question. 2 A successor is a task that exists on a common path with another task and occurs after the task in question.

Know and understand the five most commonly used techniques to estimate activity duration.

1 Expert judgment relies on the knowledge of someone familiar with the tasks. 2 Analogous or top-down estimating bases the estimate on similar activities from a previous project. 3 Parametric estimates are quantitatively based estimates that typically calculate the rate times quantity. 4 Three-point estimates use the most likely, optimistic, and pessimistic estimates to determine an average estimate. 5 PERT uses the same estimates as the three-point estimating technique, but it calculates an expected value or weighted average estimate.

Network diagram

A depiction of project activities and the interrelationships between these activities.

Quantitatively based durations

A duration estimate obtained by applying a productivity rate of the resource performing the task.

Activity list

A list of all the activities required to complete the work of the project that also includes an identifier code and the WBS code it's associated with. Activities are broken down from the work package level of the WBS.

Explain a network diagram.

A network diagram is used in Activity Sequencing to depict project activities and the interrelationships and dependencies among these activities.

Precedence diagramming method (PDM)

A network diagramming method that places activities on nodes, which connect to dependent activities using arrows. Also known as activity on node.

Finish-to-finish

A project task relationship in which the finish of the successor task is dependent on the finish of the predecessor task.

Finish-to-start

A project task relationship in which the successor task cannot begin until the predecessor task has completed.

Start-to-start

A project task relationship where the start of the successor task depends on the start of the predecessor task.

Parametric estimating

A quantitatively based estimating technique that is typically calculated by multiplying rate times quantity.

Fast tracking

A schedule compression technique in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration.

Critical path method (CPM)

A schedule development method that determines a single early and late start date, early and late finish date, and the float for each activity on the project.

Successor

A task on the network diagram that occurs after another task.

Predecessor

A task on the network diagram that occurs before another task.

Start-to-finish

A task relationship where the finish of the successor task is dependent on the start of its predecessor.

Discretionary dependency

A type of dependency that the project manager and project team choose to impose on the project schedule, such as the use of an established corporate practice.

External dependency

A type of dependency where a relationship between a project task and a factor outside the project, such as weather conditions, drives the scheduling of that task.

Mandatory dependency

A type of dependency where the relationship between two tasks is created by the type of work the project requires.

Describe the Activity Sequencing process.

Activity Sequencing is the process of identifying dependency relationships between the project activities and scheduling activities in the proper order.

Activity Sequencing

Activity Sequencing looks at dependencies between tasks. These dependencies can be mandatory, discretionary, or external. A dependent task is either a successor or a predecessor of a linked task.

Top-down estimating

An estimating technique that uses actual durations from similar activities on a previous project. This is also referred to as analogous estimating.

Analogous estimating

An estimating technique that uses the actual duration of a similar, completed activity to determine the duration of the current activity. This is also called top-down estimating.

Preliminary investigation

An investigation at project request time to determine the costs and benefits of the project, as well as examine alternatives to the proposed solution in order to determine the feasibility of carrying out the project.

Iterative process

Any process that is repeated more than once. The five process groups are repeated throughout the project's life because of change requests, responses to change, corrective action, and so on.

Activity Duration

Assessing the number of work periods needed to complete the project activities. Work periods are usually expressed in hours or days. Large projects might express duration in weeks or months. Activity Duration estimating is obtained using analogous (also called top-down) estimating, parametric estimating, expert judgment, three-point estimates, and PERT.

Define the purpose of CPM.

CPM calculates the longest path in the project. This path controls the finish date of the project. Any delay to a critical path task will delay the completion date of the project.

Program evaluation and review technique (PERT)

Calculates the expected value, or weighted average, of critical path tasks to determine project duration by using three estimates: most likely, pessimistic, and optimistic. The PERT calculation is (optimistic + pessimistic + (4 × most likely)) / 6.

Schedule development

Calculating and preparing the schedule of project activities, which becomes the schedule baseline. It determines activity start and finish dates, finalizes activity sequences and durations, and determines activity duration estimates.

Backward pass

Calculating late start and late finish dates by starting at the end of a network diagram and working back through each path until reaching the start of the network diagram. This is part of critical path method (CPM), which is a mathematical technique to develop the project schedule.

Mathematical analysis

Calculating theoretical early and late start and finish dates for all project activities.

Project execution

Carrying out the project plan. Activities are clarified, the work is authorized to begin, resources are committed and assigned to activities, and the product or service of the project is created. The largest portion of the project budget will be spent during this process.

Document control process

Defines how revisions are made, the version numbering system, and the placement of the version number and revision date.

Project schedule

Determines the start and finish dates for project activities and assigns resources to the activities.

Expert judgment

Expert Judgment refers to a technique in which judgment is made based upon a specific set of criteria and/or expertise that has been acquired in a specific knowledge area, or product area, a particular discipline, an industry, etc.

Expected value

Finish-to-start is the most common logical relationship.

Activity definition

Identifying the activities of the project that need to be performed to produce the product or service of the project.

Name the two most common ways project schedules are displayed.

Project schedules are typically displayed as milestone charts or Gantt charts; a Gantt chart is a type of bar chart.

Sequencing

Putting the project activities in the order in which they will take place.

Activity Definition

Takes the work packages from your WBS and breaks them down into assignable tasks.

Slack time

The amount of time allowed to delay the early start of a task without delaying the finish date of the project. This is also known as float time.

Float time

The amount of time the early start of a task may be delayed without delaying the finish date of the project. Also known as slack time.

Logical relationships

The dependency relationships that may exist between tasks. The four types of logical relationships are finish-to-start, start-to-start, start-to-finish, and finish-to-finish. * Finish-to-start is the most common logical relationship.

Early finish

The earliest date an activity may finish as logically constrained by the network diagram.

Early start

The earliest date an activity may start as logically constrained by the network diagram.

Schedule baseline

The final, approved project schedule that is used during project execution to monitor project progress.

Name the four types of logical relationships.

The four types of logical relationships are finish-to-start, start-to-start, start-to-finish, and finish-to-finish.

Late finish

The latest date an activity can complete without impacting the project end date.

Late start

The latest date an activity can start without impacting the project end date.

Critical path

The longest path through the project. Activities with zero float are considered critical path tasks.

Forward pass

The process of working from the left to the right of a network diagram in order to calculate early start and early finish dates for each activity.

Dependencies

The relationship between project activities.

Dependency relationships

The type of dependency between two activities and the specific relationship between the activities.

Duration compression

The use of techniques (such as fast-tracking or crashing) to shorten a project schedule to meet a mandated completion date or resolve schedule slippage.

Crashing

This is a schedule compression technique that adds resources to the project to reduce the time it takes to complete the project.

Three-point estimates

Used in management and information systems applications for the construction of an approximate probability distribution representing the outcome of future events, based on very limited information. While the distribution used for the approximation might be a normal distribution, this is not always so and, for example a triangular distribution might be used, depending on the application. In three-point estimation, three figures are produced initially for every distribution that is required, based on prior experience or best-guesses: a = the best-case estimate m = the most likely estimate b = the worst-case estimate These are then combined to yield either a full probability distribution, for later combination with distributions obtained similarly for other variables, or summary descriptors of the distribution, such as the mean, standard deviation or percentage points of the distribution. The accuracy attributed to the results derived can be no better than the accuracy inherent in the 3 initial points, and there are clear dangers in using an assumed form for an underlying distribution that itself has little basis.