Chapter 17 – Project Management
1. Good project management is especially important with virtual teams.
2. One way that project management differs from management of more traditional activities is
because of the limited lifetime of projects.
3. Once a project is approved and underway, project managers are only responsible for
effectively managing time and costs which, if done well, will assure project completion on
time and on budget.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
4. Matrix organizations transfer control of workers to project managers for the duration of the
project.
5. Some organizations use a matrix organization to integrate the activities of specialists within
a functional framework.
6. The project computing algorithm requires both a forward and backward pass.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
7. A hierarchical (vertical) listing of what must be done during a project is called matrix.
8. An advantage of Gantt charts in project management is that they identify which activities
can be delayed without delaying the overall project.
9. A Gantt chart is built using established precedence relationships.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
10. The higher the node number, the longer the activity will take.
11. The probability of occurrence of risk events is lower near the beginning of a project and
higher near the end of the project since very few activities remain.
12. The costs associated with risk events tend to be lower near the beginning of a project, and
higher near the end of the project.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
13. Although PERT and CPM were originally developed for somewhat different types of
projects, they are now nearly identical in terms of analysis and procedures.
14. The network diagram describes sequential relationships among major activities on a
project.
15. The path in a network with the average length of time to completion is called the critical
path.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
16. The sum of times of the longest path in a network indicates expected project completion
time, and the activities represent the critical activities.
17. Path probabilities are calculated by dividing path mean by path standard deviations.
18. The main function of dummy activities is to clarify relationships in network diagrams.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
19. The earliest finish time for an activity is equal to the latest finish time minus the activity
time.
20. The latest starting time for an activity is equal to the latest finish time minus the activity
time.
21. The earliest finish time for an activity is equal to the latest finish time minus the activity
slack.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
22. Many activities have slack time; if we add these slack times together, this represents the
potential improvement in early completion for the project.
23. If two consecutive activities on the same path each have two days of activity slack, this
means that each of them can be delayed by two days without delaying the project.
24. The task of identifying risks should involve everyone associated with the project.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
25. Most likely time generally is more than optimistic time.
26. Activities not on the critical path have a slack time equal to zero.
27. If two consecutive activities have shared slack, this means that each of them can use only
half of the slack without delaying completion of the project.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
28. Deterministic networks use three time estimates – shortest, most likely and longest – for
each activity in order to best determine the activity’s estimated time.
29. Slack time is equal to LS-ES or LF-EF.
30. Project management software eliminates conflicts when there are shared resources.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
31. The standard deviation of the critical path is equal to the sum of the standard deviations of
all of the activities on the critical path.
32. The total cost of crashing any one activity should never exceed 20% of the total cost of the
original project.
33. If the expected length of a path is more than 2.5 standard deviations less than a desired
project completion time, the path would not be a factor in assessing the probability of
finishing the project on time.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
34. In order to determine the probability of timely project completion, it is sometimes
necessary to take into account paths other than the critical path.
35. The probability that the project will go beyond the desired time is equal to one minus the
joint probability that all paths will be completed within the desired time.
36. A disadvantage of activity-on-node diagrams is the occasional need for dummy activities.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
37. Simulation can be used for cases in which network activity times are dependent.
38. Project managers are sometimes able to reduce indirect project costs by increasing direct
costs.
39. Only activities on the critical path are initial candidates for crashing.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
40. The optimum project length in crashing occurs where the cumulative cost of crashing
equals savings in the indirect costs.
41. In PERT, the expected project duration will never exceed the expected duration of the
critical path.
42. In PERT, the path with the fewest activities is referred to as the critical path.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
43. Project management differs from management of more traditional activities mainly
because of:
44. Which of the following would probably not involve the use of PERT?
Chapter 17 – Project Management
45. Once a project is underway, the project manager usually is not responsible for effectively
managing:
46. Which of the following is not a form of risk reduction in project management?
Chapter 17 – Project Management
47. A sequence of activities that leads from the starting node to the finishing node is called a
_______.
48. Which of the following is not typically treated as part of a project life cycle?
Chapter 17 – Project Management
49. A hierarchical listing of what must be done in a project is called:
50. A method used for establishing a logical framework for identifying the required activities
for the project is called:
Chapter 17 – Project Management
51. A popular tool for planning and scheduling simple projects, and for initial planning on
more complex projects, is the:
52. To _____ an activity means to shorten the time it will take.
Chapter 17 – Project Management
53. Concerning PERT and CPM:
54. The advantage(s) a precedence diagram has over a Gantt chart is(are):