Bozhan Tif ch05
Bozhan Tif ch05
Managing Projects
1. A project is a one time undertaking designed to achieve a particular organization goal. Answer: True Reference: Introduction Difficulty: Easy Keywords: activity, project, goal 2. Your authors argue that the increasing numbers of middle management are attributable to their ability to manage projects. Answer: False Reference: The Growing Importance of Project Management Difficulty: Easy Keywords: middle, management 3. In the project definition phase, project planners identify, among other tasks, how to accomplish the work and how to organize for the project. Answer: True Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: project, definition, phase 4. Performance or time targets for each major group of activities in a project are set during the planning phase of a project. Answer: True Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: project, planning, phase, milestone 5. There are more resources required during the performance phase of a project than the project definition phase. Answer: True Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: project, phase, performance, definition 6. One of the primary characteristics of projects as a form of work is the movement of personnel from project to project. Answer: True Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: project, movement, reassignment 7. The best use of a Gantt chart is used to show precedence requirements for a projects constituent activities. Answer: False Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Easy Keywords: Gantt, chart, precedence
8. Program evaluation and review technique, PERT, is a network-based technique in which there are multiple time estimates for each activity. Answer: True Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Easy Keywords: PERT, time, estimate, network 9. A critical path is composed entirely of critical activities. Answer: True Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: critical, path, activity 10. A forward pass through a network is used to determine the earliest start and finish times for each project activity. Answer: True Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: forward pass, early, start, finish 11. The earliest finish time of an activity is always later than its latest start time. Answer: False Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: earliest, finish, latest, start, dummy AACSB: Reflective Thinking 12. The earliest start time of an activity is dependent on the earliest finish time of its immediate predecessors. Answer: True Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: earliest, start, finish AACSB: Analytic Skills 13. The earliest finish time is calculated by adding the activitys duration to the predecessors earliest finish time. Answer: False Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: earliest, start, finish, predecessor AACSB: Analytic Skills 14. Activities on the critical path may have positive or negative slack as long as the overall slack time of the critical path is zero. Answer: False Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: slack, critical path AACSB: Analytic Skills
15. Crashing a project refers to the technique that minimizes completion cost of the project. Answer: True Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: crashing, crash, project 16. The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is divided into two main parts, the various business processes that organizations follow in carrying out projects and the nine knowledge areas applicable to nearly all projects. Answer: True Reference: PMI and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: PMI, PMBOK MULTIPLE CHOICE 17. In what way are projects and typical business activities similar? a. For most companies, projects and typical business activities can be described as routine. b. Both projects and typical business activities have a defined ending point at which time they are complete. c. Projects and routine business activities require significant levels of cross-functional and interorganizational coordination. d. The successful completion of projects and business activities is essential to a firms competitive position. Answer: d Reference: Introduction Difficulty: Easy Keywords: project, routine 18. Project planners develop a broad definition of what the project is and what its scope will be during the: a. concept phase. b. project definition phase. c. planning phase. d. performance phase. Answer: a Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: concept, phase, scope. 19. The budget estimates made during the concept phase are usually accurate to within: a. 20 percent. b. 30 percent. c. 40 percent. d. 50 percent. Answer: b Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: concept, phase, budget
20. An expectation that a new buildings foundation would be poured and cured by the end of the year is an example of a(n): a. activity. b. scope. c. milestone. d. precedence. Answer: c Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: milestone, project 21. Work on a projects constituent activities begins in the projects: a. planning phase. b. concept phase. c. post-completion phase. d. performance phase. Answer: d Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: execution, performance, phase 22. This Gantt chart can be used to show:
a. b. c. d.
activity D must come before activity C. activity F can be done at the same time as D. activity E can begin as soon as activity A is complete. activities D and B can be done simultaneously. Answer: d Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Easy Keywords: Gantt, chart, precedence AACSB: Reflective Thinking
23. PERT is an acronym meaning: a. Project Evaluation and Review Technique. b. Project Execution and Review Technique. c. Program Evaluation and Review Technique. d. Plan Estimation and Review Technique. Answer: c Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Easy Keywords: PERT, program, evaluation, review
24. What is the latest that activity B can start if A is 35 days, B is 5, days C is 6 days, and D is 7 days long?
C A B D
a. b. c. d.
35 36 40 41 Answer: b Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: LS, late, start AACSB: Analytic Skills
25. What is the latest that activity D can start if A is 5 days, B is 7 days, C is 4 days, D is 5 days, E is 7 days, and F is 6 days long?
C A B
a. b. c. d. 14 15 16 17 Answer: a Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: LS, late, start AACSB: Analytic Skills
D F E
26. What is the fastest completion time of the project with activity lengths (in days) and precedence requirements as shown in the table? Activity Length Predecessor A 15 -B 7 A C 4 A D 8 B,C a. 22 b. 25 c. 27 d. 30 Answer: d Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Easy Keywords: completion, critical AACSB: Analytic Skills 27. A project is comprised of 6 activities that have durations and precedence requirements shown in the table. Which of these activities is not on the critical path? Activity Length Predecessor A 5 -B 7 A C 4 A D 7 B, C E 7 B F 6 D, E a. A b. B c. C d. D Answer: c Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: critical, critical path, slack AACSB: Analytic Skills
28. Which of the activities in this project has the greatest amount of slack? Activity Length Predecessor A 7 -B 4 A C 8 A D 3 B, C E 2 B F 8 D, E a. B b. C c. D d. E Answer: d Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: critical, critical path, slack AACSB: Analytic Skills 29. The project represented by this network diagram has activity lengths in days and crash costs as shown in the table. What is the cheapest completion cost for the project if the contractor must complete all work in 45 days? Activity Original Length Maximum Reduction Crash Cost/Day A 10 2 $250 B 16 4 $400 C 12 3 $100 D 17 1 $300 E 14 1 $300 F 6 2 $350
C A B
D F E
a. b. c. d.
$550 $950 $1150 $1450 Answer: c Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: crash, project crashing AACSB: Analytic Skills
30. The project represented by this network diagram has activity lengths in days and crash costs as shown in the table. The fixed cost for being on site is $450. What is the lowest total completion cost for the project? Activity Original Length Maximum Reduction Crash Cost/Day A 1 0 B 9 2 $475 C 4 1 $350 D 8 2 $500 E 10 2 $425 F 4 1 $300
C A B
D F E
a. b. c. d.
$10,600 $11,000 $11,400 $12,000 Answer: a Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: crash, project crashing AACSB: Analytic Skills
FILL IN THE BLANK 31. During the __________, project planners identify how to accomplish the work, how to organize for the project, and the key personnel and resources needed. Answer: project definition phase Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: project, phase, definition 32. A performance or time target for each major group of activities in a project is a(n) __________. Answer: milestone Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Easy Keywords: milestone
33. A __________ is a graphical tool that should be used to show a projects progress as time elapses. Answer: Gantt chart Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: Gantt 34. The longest path in a network from the start of a project to the end of a project is __________. Answer: critical (path) Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: critical, path 35. An activitys length added to its early start time yields the __________. Answer: early finish Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: early, start, finish AACSB: Analytic Skills 36. For critical path activities, slack is __________. Answer: zero Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: critical, path, slack 37. __________ is a technique to shorten the overall length of the project that usually involves a trade-off between time and cost. Answer: Crashing Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: crashing ESSAY 38. In what ways are projects distinct from typical business activities? Answer: Projects are distinct from typical business activities in four ways. First, projects are nonroutine. Second, the nonroutine nature of a project makes it very difficult to manage. Third, projects typically require significant levels of cross-functional and interorganizational coordination. Fourth, projects have a defined ending point at which time the project is complete Reference: Introduction Difficulty: Easy Keywords: activity, project
39. What are the phases of a project and the activities within each? Answer: The five phases of a generic project are concept, definition, planning, performance, and post-completion. In the concept phase the project planners develop a broad definition of what the project is and what the scope will be. In the project definition phase, planners identify how to accomplish and organize for the work, the key personnel and resources, and develop tentative schedules and budgets. In the planning phase, items from the definition phase are revisited and expressed in greater detail. Planners prepare detailed plans that identify activities, time and budget targets, and the resources needed to complete each task. In the fourth phase of the project, the organization actually starts to execute the project plan. In the post-completion phase, the manager or team confirms the final outcome, conducts a post implementation meeting to critique the project effort and personnel, and reassigns project personnel. Reference: Project Phases Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: project, phase 40. A project is composed of the twelve activities shown in the table. What are the early and late start times for each of these activities? Activity Time (days) Predecessors A 3 -B 3 A C 15 A D 2 B E 12 B F 16 C G 2 C H 11 E, F I 9 D, G J 6 D, E K 15 H, I L 13 J, K Answer: Activity ES LS A 0 0 B 3 19 C 3 3 D 6 34 E 6 22 F 18 18 G 18 34 H 34 34 I 20 36 J 18 54 K 45 45 L 60 60 Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Moderate Keywords: early, start, finish AACSB: Analytic Skills
41. Given the early and late finish times for each of these activities, what are the activity lengths? Activity Early Finish Late Finish Predecessors A 3 3 -B 10 10 A C 5 13 A D 18 18 B E 15 18 B F 11 19 C G 8 19 C H 23 23 D, E I 15 23 F, G J 24 24 H, I Answer: Activity Duration A 3 B 7 C 2 D 8 E 5 F 6 G 3 H 5 I 4 J 1 Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: activity, early, late, finish AACSB: Analytic Skills 42. Complete this table containing early and late start times and activity lengths. Activity Predecessor Length Early Start Early Finish Late Start A -11 11 0 B A 11 17 C B, D 30 20 D A 11 20 11 E D 4 F C, E, G 10 30 G A 11 20 Late Finish 11 20 30 20 30 30
Answer: Activity
Predecessor
Length
A -11 B A 6 C B, D 10 D A 9 E D 4 F C, E, G 10 G A 9 Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: activity, project AACSB: Analytic Skills, Reflective Thinking
Early Start 0 11 20 11 20 30 11
Early Finish 11 17 30 20 24 40 20
Late Start 0 14 20 11 26 30 21
Late Finish 11 20 30 20 30 40 30
43. The project shown below has crash costs as shown in the table. What is the minimum completion cost for this project that has a fixed cost of $1000 per day?
B A E
Activity A B C D E F G Regular Length (days) 3 8 6 9 6 6 2 Minimum Duration (days) 3 5 4 4 5 4 1
C D F
Crash Cost ($/day) $800 $1200 $600 $400 $1100 $900
Answer: Initially, the path lengths are: ABCG=19; ADG=14; and AEFG=17, so the project costs $18,000. Reducing B by 2 days costs $1600, saves $400, and yields two critical paths of ABCG=AEFG=17. Reducing G by 1 day costs $900, saves $100, and yields two critical paths of ABCG=AEFG=16. Further reductions are possible, but these are not economical, so the minimum cost project completion time is 16 days and the total cost is 16($1000) +$1600+$900=$18,500. Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: project, crash, crashing AACSB: Analytic Skills 44. A project represented by the activities shown in this table must meet a deadline of 51 days. Sketch the network and determine the critical path. Using the crash costs and minimum activity lengths shown in the table, determine which activities to shorten and provide the total cost of finishing this project in 51 days. Activity Predecessor Regular Minimum Crash Cost Length (days) Duration (days) ($/day) A -14 12 485 B A 5 4 775 C B, D 7 6 460 D A 16 12 670 E D 18 13 50 F C, E, G 19 14 265 G A 18 16 400 Answer: Initially, path lengths are ABCF=45, ADCF=56, ADEF=67, and AGF=51. Purchases made in increasing order of cost per day are as follows: Reduce E from 18 to 13 days for 5($50) =$250; ADEF=62 days Reduce F from 19 to 14 days for 5($265) =$1325; ADEF=57 days Reduce A from 14 to 12 days for 2($485) =$970; ADEF=55 days Reduce D from 16 to 12 days for 4($670) =$2680; ADEF=51 days Paths are now: ABCF=38; ADCF=44; ADEF=51; AGF=44 Total crash cost is $250+$1325+$970+$2680=$5225 Reference: Project Management Tools Difficulty: Difficult Keywords: project, crash, crashing AACSB: Analytic Skills