SCMA 331 Exam 1 Chap 3
A local project being analyzed by PERT has 42 activities, 13 of which are on the critical path. If the estimated time along the critical path is 105 days with a project variance of 25, what is the probability that the project will be completed in 95 days or less? A) -0.4 B) 0.0228 C) 0.3444 D) 0.9772 E) 4.2
B) 0.0228
A project being analyzed by PERT has 38 activities, 16 of which are on the critical path. If the estimated time along the critical path is 90 days with a project variance of 25, what is the probability that the project will be completed in 88 days or less? A) 0.0228 B) 0.3446 C) 0.6554 D) 0.9772 E) 18
B) 0.3446
A project whose critical path has an estimated time of 120 days with a variance of 100 has a 20% chance that the project will be completed before which day (rounded to nearest day)? A) 98 B) 112 C) 120 D) 124 E) 220
B) 112
An activity on a PERT network has these time estimates: optimistic = 1, most likely = 2, and pessimistic = 5. What is its expected activity time? A) 2.00 B) 2.33 C) 2.67 D) 4.67 E) 14.00
B) 2.33
An activity on a PERT network has these time estimates: optimistic = 2, most likely = 5, and pessimistic = 10. What is its expected activity time? A) 5.00 B) 5.33 C) 5.67 D) 10.67 E) 32.00
B) 5.33
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 the above are true
B) Bechtel is the world's premier manager of massive construction and engineering projects.
The ________ distribution is used by PERT analysis to calculate expected activity times and variances. A) Normal B) Beta C) Alpha D) Gaussian E) Binomial
B) Beta
Which of the following statements regarding time-cost tradeoffs in CPM networks is false? A) Crashing shortens project duration by assigning more resources to critical tasks. B) Crashing sometimes has the reverse result of lengthening the project duration. C) Crashing must consider the impact of crashing an activity on all paths in the network. D) Activities not on the critical path can become critical after crashing takes place. E) A negative crash cost per period would imply that either crashing is cheaper than not crashing or that the crash time was slower than the normal time.
B) Crashing sometimes has the reverse result of lengthening the project duration.
A simple CPM network has five activities, A, B, C, D, and E. A is an immediate predecessor of C and of D. B is also an immediate predecessor of C and of D. C and D are both immediate predecessors of E. Which of the following statements is true? A) There are two paths in this network. B) There are four paths in this network. C) There are five paths in this network. D) There are 25 paths in this network. E) There are six paths in this network.
B) There are four paths in this network.
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.
B) because near-critical paths could become critical paths with small delays in these activities.
A project organization that becomes permanent is often referred to as a: A) fixed project organization. B) matrix organization. C) normal organization. D) standard organization. E) permanent project organization.
B) matrix organization.
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.
B) 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.
B) the weighted average of a, m, and b, with m weighted 4 times as heavily as a and b.
A project being analyzed by PERT has 60 activities, 13 of which are on the critical path. If the estimated time along the critical path is 214 days with a project variance of 100, what is the probability that the project will take 224 days or more to complete? A) near zero B) 0.0126 C) 0.1587 D) 0.8413 E) 2.14
C) 0.1587
A project whose critical path has an estimated time of 820 days with a variance of 225 has a 20% chance that the project will be completed before which day (rounded to nearest day)? A) 631 B) 689 C) 807 D) 833 E) 1009
C) 807
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 the above are true
C) Gantt charts are visual devices that show the duration of activities in a project.
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. A) I, II, III, IV, V B) None of the above conditions need to be satisfied. C) I, III, V D) I, II, III, V E) I, III, IV, V
C) I, III, V
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.
C) Only one time estimate can be used for each activity.
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.
C) The expected time estimate is calculated as t = (a + 4m + b)/6.
Activity R on a CPM network has predecessors M and N, and has successor S. R has duration 5. N's late finish is 18, while M's is 20. S's late start is 14. Which of the following is definitely true? A) R is critical and has zero slack. B) R has no slack but is not critical. C) The set of times cannot all be possible. D) N is a critical activity. E) S is a critical activity.
C) The set of times cannot all be possible.
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 the above
C) calculate expected activity times.
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
C) providing PERT probability calculations
________ is decreasing activity time in a network to reduce time on the critical path so total completion time is reduced.
Crashing
Contract requirements state that a project must be completed within 180 working days, or it will incur penalties for late completion. Analysis of the activity network reveals an estimated project time of 145 working days with a project variance of 400. What is the probability that the project will be completed before the late-payment deadline? A) 0.0401 B) 0.4599 C) 0.8056 D) 0.9599 E) near 1.0000, or almost certain
D) 0.9599
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.
D) All activities on the critical path have their LS equal to the maximum EF of all immediate predecessors.
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.
D) Crashing shortens the project duration by assigning more resources to one or more of the critical tasks.
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) D is critical, and has zero slack.
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 the above are true.
D) If a specific project has multiple critical paths, all of them will have the same duration
Which of the following statements regarding critical paths is true? A) The shortest of all paths through the network is the critical path. B) Some activities on the critical path may have slack. C) Every network has only one critical path. D) On a specific project, there can be multiple critical paths, all with exactly the same duration. E) The duration of the critical path is the average duration of all paths in the project network.
D) On a specific project, there can be multiple critical paths, all with exactly the same duration.
Which of the following statements regarding PERT analysis is true? A) Each activity has two estimates of its duration. B) Project variance is the sum of all activity variances. C) Project standard deviation is the sum of all critical activity standard deviations. D) Only critical activities contribute to the project variance. E) The most likely time is equivalent to the expected activity time.
D) Only critical activities contribute to the project variance.
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.
D) The late finish of an activity is the earliest late start of all preceding 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 the above are project management phases.
D) budgeting
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. D) may require crashing multiple tasks simultaneously.
D) may require crashing multiple tasks simultaneously.
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
D) work breakdown structure
A PERT project has 45 activities, 19 of which are on the critical path. The estimated time for the critical path is 120 days. The sum of all activity variances is 64, while the sum of variances along the critical path is 36. What is the probability that the project can be completed between days 108 and 120? A) -2.00 B) 0.0227 C) 0.1058 D) 0.4773 E) 0.9773
E) 0.9773
Analysis of a PERT problem shows the estimated time for the critical path to be 108 days with a variance of 64. There is a .90 probability that the project will be completed before approximately day: A) 98. B) 108. C) 109. D) 115. E) 118.
E) 118
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 the above are true.
E) All of the above are true.
Which of the following statements regarding Bechtel is true? A) Its competitive advantage is project management. B) Bechtel was the construction contractor for the Hoover Dam. C) While helping to rebuild Iraq, Bechtel's crews had to travel under armed escort. D) Bechtel's procurement program is global in nature. E) All of the above are true.
E) All of the above are true.
Which of the following projects were completed by Bechtel? A) Hoover Dam B) Boston Central Artery/Tunnel C) Rebuilding Kuwait after Iraq's invasion in 1990 D) Rebuilding Iraq after the U.S. invasion, starting in 2003 E) All of the above were Bechtel projects
E) All of the above were Bechtel projects
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.
E) PERT employs three time estimates for each activity.
What was the name of the construction project to rebuild the Pentagon after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001? A) Project Panther B) Project Pit Bull C) Project Python D) Project Piranha E) Project Phoenix
E) Project Phoenix
The control of projects involves close monitoring of which of the following? A) resources B) costs C) quality D) budgets E) all of the above
E) all of the above
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 the above.
E) all of the above.
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 the above
E) none of the above
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 PERT pessimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require.
False
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
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
________ is the amount of time an individual activity in a network can be delayed without delaying the entire project.
Slack time
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
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
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
If an activity whose normal duration is 15 days can be shortened to 10 days for an added cost of $2,000, what is the crash cost per period? A) $400 B) $2,000 C) $10,000 D) $20,000 E) $30,000
A) $400
If an activity whose normal duration is 13 days can be shortened to 10 days for an added cost of $1,500, what is the crash cost per period? A) $500 B) $1,500 C) $750 D) $13,000 E) $15,000
A) $500
A contractor's project being analyzed by PERT has an estimated time for the critical path of 120 days. The sum of all activity variances is 81; the sum of variances along the critical path is 64. What is the probability that the project will take 130 or more days to complete? A) 0.1057 B) 0.1335 C) 0.8512 D) 0.8943 E) 1.29
A) 0.1057
An activity on a PERT network has these time estimates: optimistic = 2, most likely = 3, and pessimistic = 8. What is its expected activity time and variance? A) 3.67; 1 B) 3.67; 6 C) 4.33; 1 D) 4.33; 6 E) none of the above
A) 3.67; 1
A combination of effective Gantt chart use and other tactics allowed Delta to cut the average time for a plane layover by what % of the original 60 minute duration? A) 33%, to 40 minutes B) 50%, to 30 minutes C) 20%, to 48 minutes D) 25%, to 45 minutes E) 40%, to 36 minutes
A) 33%, to 40 minutes
Match the following steps in Microsoft's development of Windows 8 to their respective WBS level. Step Level Develop Windows 8 Operating System System Testing Compatible with Windows 7 Develop GUI's Module Testing 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
A) Level 1, Level 2, Level 4, Level 3, Level 3
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.
A) PERT
A simple CPM network has three activities, A, B, and C. A is an immediate predecessor of B and of C. B is an immediate predecessor of C. The activity durations are A=4, B=3, C=8. A) The critical path is A-B-C, duration 15. B) The critical path is A-C, duration 12. C) The critical path is A-B-C, duration 13.5 D) The critical path cannot be determined without knowing PERT expected activity times. E) The network has no critical path.
A) The critical path is A-B-C, duration 15.
A simple CPM network has three activities, D, E, and F. D is an immediate predecessor of E and of F. E is an immediate predecessor of F. The activity durations are D=4, E=3, F=8. A) The critical path is D-E-F, duration 15. B) The critical path is D-F, duration 12. C) Slack at D is 3 periods. D) Slack at E is 3 periods. E) Both A and C are true.
A) The critical path is D-E-F, duration 15.
Which of the following statements regarding PERT times is true? A) The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require. 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). 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.
A) The optimistic time estimate is an estimate of the minimum time an activity will require.
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.
A) has been established by the Project Management Institute.
A project organization: A) is effective for companies with multiple large projects. B) is appropriate only in construction firms. C) often fails when the project cuts across organizational lines. D) is most helpful for ongoing projects with no termination date. E) is most helpful when the work contains simple and unrelated tasks.
A) is effective for companies with multiple large projects.
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.
A) planning, scheduling, and controlling
The ________ distribution is appropriate for calculating expected activity times and activity variances in PERT networks.
beta
The ________ is the computed longest time path(s) through a network.
critical path
A(n) ________ is an organization formed to ensure that programs (projects) receive the proper management and attention.
project organization