OM Chapter 3 & 5 & MOD E

In PERT analysis, the identification of the critical path can be incorrect if a noncritical activity takes substantially more than its expected time.

TRUE

In project management, crashing an activity must consider the impact on all paths in the network.

TRUE

One phase of a large project is scheduling

TRUE

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

TRUE

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

TRUE

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

TRUE

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

TRUE

WBS stands for which of the following project management tools? A. work break schedule B. work breakdown status C. work breakdown schedule D. work breakdown structure E. work break status

work breakdown structure

The ________ distribution is used by PERT analysis to calculate expected activity times and variances.

Beta

Agile project management is a type of work breakdown structure (WBS).

FALSE

In which stage of the product life cycle should product strategy focus on process modifications as the product is being "fine-tuned" for the market? -introduction -growth -maturity -decline -incubation

-introduction

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. B is a critical activity. B. C is completed before B. C. D has no slack but is not critical. D. D is critical, and has zero slack. E. F is critical, and has zero slack.

D is critical, and has zero slack.

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

FALSE

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

FALSE

Shortening the project's duration by deleting unnecessary activities is called "project crashing."

FALSE

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

FALSE

Work breakdown structure is a useful tool in project management because it addresses the timing of individual work elements.

FALSE

A work order is a list of the hierarchy of components, their description, and the quantity of each required to make one unit of the product.

False

According to PCN analysis, the consumer's process domain typically includes the set of activities at the beginning of the process chain.

False

An assembly chart shows an exploded view of the product, usually a three-dimensional or isometric drawing.

False

An assembly drawing lists the operations necessary to produce the component.

False

In the maturity stage of the product life cycle, operations managers will be particularly concerned with adding capacity or enhancing existing capacity to accommodate the increase in product demand.

False

Regal Marine's attempts to keep in touch with customers and respond to the marketplace are made impossible because consumer tastes change and maritime engineering improves.

False

The expected value of each course of action in a decision tree is determined by starting at the beginning of the tree (the left-hand side) and working toward the end of the tree (the right).

False

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, III, V

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

According to PCN analysis, firms intending to provide a value offering that focuses on customization should be positioned more toward the consumer's process domain.

True

The phases of project management are: A. planning, scheduling, and controlling. B. planning, programming, and budgeting. C. planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. D. different for manufacturing projects than for service projects. E. GANTT, CPM, and PERT.

planning, scheduling, and controlling.

Boeing's 737 airplane and Hewlett-Packard's printer business are examples of using enhancements and migrations of existing products to build on a ________.

product platform

Which of the following statements regarding CPM is true? A. The critical path is the shortest of all paths through the network. B. The critical path is that set of activities that has positive slack. C. Some networks have no critical path. D. All activities on the critical path have their LS equal to the maximum EF of all immediate predecessors. E. All activities on the critical path have their ES equal to their LF.

All activities on the critical path have their LS equal to the maximum EF of all immediate predecessors.

Project management at the Tour de France races can be complex because: A. a team is like a "large travelling circus." B. there is a wide variety of support staff. C. there are races being held simultaneously. D. each team has over two dozen riders. E. All of these

All of these

The control of projects involves close monitoring of which of the following? A. resources B. costs C. quality D. budgets E. All of these

All of these

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

All of these

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

All of these are true.

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

All of these.

Which of the following statements about Bechtel is true? A. Even though Bechtel is over 100 years old, the Kuwaiti oil fields was its first "project." B. Bechtel is the world's premier manager of massive construction and engineering projects. C. Bechtel's competitive advantage is supply chain management. D. While its projects are worldwide, its network of suppliers is largely in the United States E. 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? A. Crashing is not possible unless there are multiple critical paths. B. Crashing a project often reduces the length of long-duration, but noncritical, activities. C. Activities not on the critical path can never be on the critical path, even after crashing. D. Crashing shortens the project duration by assigning more resources to one or more of the critical tasks. E. The crash time always exceeds the normal time.

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

Projects such as road building and plane building are: A. ill-defined B. well-defined C. agile D. not defined E. None of these

well-defined

The critical path can be determined by use of either the "forward pass" or the "backward pass."

FALSE

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

FALSE

The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path.

FALSE

Which of the following statements regarding Gantt charts is true? A. Gantt charts give a timeline and precedence relationships for each activity of a project. B. Gantt charts use the four standard spines of Methods, Materials, Manpower, and Machinery. C. Gantt charts are visual devices that show the duration of activities in a project. D. Gantt charts are expensive. E. All of these are true.

Gantt charts are visual devices that show the duration of activities in a project.

Which of the following statements regarding CPM networks is true? A. There can be multiple critical paths on the same project, all with different durations. B. The early finish of an activity is the latest early start of all preceding activities. C. The late start of an activity is its late finish plus its duration. D. If a specific project has multiple critical paths, all of them will have the same duration. E. None of these are true.

If a specific project has multiple critical paths, all of them will have the same duration.

Match the following steps in Microsoft's development of Windows 8 to their respective WBS level. A. Level 1, Level 2, Level 4, Level 3, Level 3 B. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5 C. Level 0, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 D. Level 0, Level 2, Level 2, Level 3, Level 3 E. Level 5, Level 3, Level 4, Level 1, Level 2

Level 1, Level 2, Level 4, Level 3, Level 3

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

None of these

Which of the following is NOT a limitation of PERT? A. Project activities have to be clearly defined, independent, and stable in their relationships. B. Precedence relationships must be specified and networked together. C. Only one time estimate can be used for each activity. D. Time estimates tend to be subjective and are subject to fudging by managers. E. There is the inherent danger of placing too much emphasis on the critical path.

Only one time estimate can be used for each activity.

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

PERT

The main difference between PERT and CPM is that: A. PERT is more accurate than CPM. B. PERT assumes that activity durations are known. C. PERT ignores activity costs. D. CPM assumes activity durations can vary. E. PERT employs three time estimates for each activity.

PERT employs three time estimates for each activity.

Every network has at least one critical path.

TRUE

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

Ill-defined projects are typified by software development and new technology.

TRUE

Which of the following statements regarding PERT times is true? A. The expected time is an estimate of the time an activity will require if everything goes as planned. B. The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require. C. The expected time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b)/6. D. The pessimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require. E. The most likely time estimate is an estimate of the maximum time an activity will require.

The expected time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b)/6.

Which of the following statements concerning CPM activities is false? A. The early finish of an activity is the early start of that activity plus its duration. B. The late finish is the earliest of the late start times of all successor activities. C. The late start of an activity is its late finish less its duration. D. The late finish of an activity is the earliest late start of all preceding activities. E. The early start of an activity is the latest early finish of all preceding activities.

The late finish of an activity is the earliest late start of all preceding activities.

A project manager bases his time and labor estimates on a learning curve of 86%. The actual learning curve turns out to be 89%. The manager, because of the decreased learning, will complete his project in more time and with more labor use than his estimate suggested.

True

Group technology enables the grouping of parts into families based on similar processing requirements.

True

Which of the following is true regarding value engineering?

Value engineering is oriented toward improvement of design.

Which of the following typically shows the hierarchy of components, their description, and the quantity of each required to make one unit of a product? - an engineering drawing -an assembly drawing -a bill of material -an assembly chart -a route sheet

a bill of material

Which of the following documents lists the operations necessary to produce the component with the material specified in the bill of material?a) an engineering drawing b) an assembly drawing c) a route sheet d) an assembly chart e) an operations chart

a route sheet

Which of the following shows in schematic form how a product is assembled? - an engineering drawing - an assembly routing - an assembly chart - a route sheet - a process sheet

an assembly chart

When should product strategy focus on forecasting capacity requirements? -at the introduction stage of the product life cycle - at the growth stage of the product life cycle - at the maturity stage of the product life cycle - at the decline stage of the product life cycle - at the saturation stage of the product life cycle

at the growth stage of the product life cycle

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

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

Which of the following is NOT one of the phases of project management? A. planning B. scheduling C. controlling D. budgeting E. All of these are project management phases.

budgeting

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

calculate expected activity times.

Value analysis takes place: - when the product is selected and designed. - during the initial stages of production when something needs to be done to assure product success. - when the product is first conceived. - during the production process when it is clear that the new product is a success. - when the product cost is very low.

during the production process when it is clear that the new product is a success

Computer-aided design (CAD) refers to the use of specialized computer programs to direct and control manufacturing equipment.

false

In the formula to compute the time for the Nth unit, TN = T1(Nb), the exponent b is the learning curve rate L, expressed as a decimal.

false

A code of ethics especially for project managers: A. has been established by the Project Management Institute. B. has been formulated by the Federal government. C. has been formulated by the World Trade Organization. D. is inappropriate, since everyone should use the same guidance on ethical issues. E. does not exist at this time.

has been established by the Project Management Institute.

A project organization that becomes permanent is often referred to as a:

matrix organization.

A network has been crashed to the point where all activities are critical. Additional crashing: A. is unnecessary. B. is impossible. C. is prohibitively expensive. D. may require crashing multiple tasks simultaneously. E. 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? A. drawing the project AON network B. identifying the critical path C. providing PERT probability calculations D. tracking the progress of the project E. creating the project Gantt chart

providing PERT probability calculations

An assembly drawing: - shows, in schematic form, how the product is assembled. - shows an exploded view of the product. - lists the operations, including assembly and inspection, necessary to produce the component with the material specified in the bill of material. - provides detailed instructions on how to perform a given task. - describes the dimensions and finish of each component.

shows an exploded view of the product.

A disadvantage of the fixed-period inventory system is that: a. it involves higher ordering costs than the fixed quantity inventory system. b. additional inventory records are required. c. the average inventory level is decreased. d. since there is no count of inventory during the review period, a stockout is possible. e. orders usually are for larger quantities.

since there is no count of inventory during the review period, a stockout is possible.

A result of concurrent engineering in product design is: - speedier product development. - lower quality. - less customer demand. - higher costs. -All of these.

speedier product development.

According to PCN analysis, service operations exist only within the area(s) of: a) independent processing. b) independent processing and surrogate interaction. c) independent processing and direct interaction. d) surrogate interaction and direct interaction. e) independent processing, surrogate interaction, and direct interaction.

surrogate interaction and direct interaction.

The time an activity will take assuming very unfavorable conditions is: A. the optimistic time. B. the pessimistic time. C. the activity variance. D. the minimum time. E. exactly twice as long as the expected time

the pessimistic time.

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

An advantage of the fixed-period inventory system is that: a) safety stock will be lower than it would be under a fixed-quantity inventory system. b) there is no physical count of inventory items when an item is withdrawn. c) no inventory records are required. d) orders usually are for smaller order quantities. e) the average inventory level is reduced.

there is no physical count of inventory items when an item is withdrawn.

The fixed-period inventory model can have a stockout during the review period as well as during the lead time, which is why fixed-period systems require more safety stock than fixed-quantity systems.

true

A document for production that gives the instruction to make a given quantity of a particular item, usually to a given schedule, is a(n): - work order. - route sheet. - bill of information. - assembly chart. - value analysis.

work order.