Ch12 Test Questions & Answers Project Management

Matching Supply with Demand: An Introduction to Operations Management, 4e (Cachon)

Chapter 12 Project Management

1) Building Brothers Construction Company has just been awarded a contract to build a commercial building in Seattle, Washington. Their team of project managers has started the process of listing the work that is required for the completion of this project. They have broken plans down into ten smaller activities that will each require the following amount of days: 7, 4, 9, 14, 26, 12, 8, 5, 19, and 3. Based on this information, how long will this construction project take to complete?

A) Exactly 26 days

B) Exactly 107 days

C) More than 26 days

D) More than 107 days

E) More information is needed to make this determination.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Motivating Example

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

[The following information applies to questions 2-3.]

The following five activities need to be completed in the development of an interactive website for children. Activity 1 begins first and Activity 2 is dependent upon its completion before it can begin. Activity 3 is dependent upon the completion of both Activities 2 and 1. Activity 4 is not dependent on information from any other activities, but Activity 5 is reliant on the completion of Activity 4.

2) Build a dependency matrix to represent these five activities.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Motivating Example

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

3) Based on the dependency matrix above, which of the following activities is likely not to be a part of the critical path?

A) Activity 1

B) Activity 2

C) Activity 3

D) Activity 4

E) Activity 5

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Motivating Example

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

4) Which of the following is a reason for the use of an activity-on-node (AON) diagram?

A) To create a visual of the project's critical path.

B) To manage a project.

C) To sequence activities based on their dependency on other activities.

D) To examine expected activity duration times.

E) All of the above are reasons to use AON.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Critical Path Method

AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

5) Which of the following is observed within the area of project management, not process management?

A) The completion time of the whole project.

B) The resources with the highest capacities.

C) The longest and shortest activity times.

D) The bottleneck of the activities.

E) The resources with the lowest capacities.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Computing Project Completion Time

AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

[The following information applies to questions 6-7.]

A hotel renovation company has recently accepted an extensive renovation project in downtown Raleigh, NC. The project manager has listed the following paths after creating and analyzing an activity-on-node representation with a total of 6 activities.

Path 1: A1-A2-A5-A6 with a duration of 7 + 4 + 10 + 3 = 2 days

Path 2: A1-A3-A5-A6 with a duration of 7 + 5 + 10 + 3 = 25 days

Path 3: A1-A3-A4-A6 with a duration of 7 + 5 + 12 + 3 = 27 days

6) What is the activity with the longest duration?

A) Activity 1

B) Activity 2

C) Activity 3

D) Activity 4

E) Activity 5

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Computing Project Completion Time

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

7) What is the critical path?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Computing Project Completion Time

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

[The following information applies to questions 8-9.]

Consider the following table of activities for a minor project on a construction site.

8) What is the earliest start time (EST) for activity 4 (A4)?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Finding the Critical Path and Creating a Gantt Chart

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

9) What is the earliest completion time (ECT) for the final activity (A4)?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Finding the Critical Path and Creating a Gantt Chart

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

10) Which of the following is true about the critical path of activities?

A) The activity with the longest duration is always on the critical path.

B) The entire project is delayed if any activity on the critical path is delayed.

C) The critical path is the path with the longest duration of activities.

D) Answer choices B and C are correct.

E) None of the above answer choices are correct.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Critical Path Method; Computing Slack Time

AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

11) The following activities are on the critical path of a project. A1 with a duration of 3 days and immediate start time. A2 can begin after A1 with a duration of 5 days, and A3 is dependent upon the completion of A2. What is the slack time for the completion of the entire project?

A) 0

B) 1

C) 2

D) 3

E) 4

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Computing Slack Time

AACSB: Analytical Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

12) Which of the following would be a reason to incorporate slack time?

A) Slack time should not be considered at any time because it can delay an entire project.

B) To allocate available resources at more pressing times in the process.

C) When other activities are dependent upon activities before they can begin.

D) To delay the sequence of activities along the critical path.

E) If you are trying to rush the completion date of the project.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Computing Slack Time

AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

[The following information applies to questions 13-15.]

Consider the following project that has uncertainty in activity duration. Activity 1 has a completion time of 7 or 10 days, each with a 50% probability. Activity 2 has a completion time of 9 or 13 days, each with a 50% probability. Both activities 1 and 2 can start immediately and must be completed before activity 3, which has a deterministic duration of 4 days.

13) What is the best-case scenario completion for this project?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

14) What is the worst-case scenario completion time for this project?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Knowledge Application

Blooms: Apply

15) What is the expected completion time for this project?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Analytical Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

[The following information applies to questions 16-18.]

The Three Marketeers is a startup company that has just secured its first account with an established corporation. The project manager who is assigned to this account acknowledges that there a great deal of uncertainty with two of the activities within the project. Activity 1 has a 50:50 probability of finishing within 12 or 15 days. Activity 2 has a 50:50 probability of finishing within 13 or 17 days.

16) What is the best-case scenario completion date for this project?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Analytical Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

17) What is the worst-case scenario completion date for this project?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Analytical Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

18) What is the expected completion time for this project?

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Analytical Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

19) Under what circumstance would the use of a Gantt chart and the critical path method be useful?

A) Projects with high uncertainty.

B) Projects that will likely require iteration.

C) Projects with low uncertainty or high certainty.

D) Projects that have activities with multiple rework loops.

E) Projects that are innovative and uncommon.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: Dealing with Uncertainty

AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Blooms: Analyze

20) Windy City Construction Company is seeking to accelerate one of its smaller construction projects so that the team and resources are available in time for a much larger project. What should the project manager consider as a viable option to speed activities up within this project?

A) Assign team members to begin preliminary activities while waiting for information providing activities to begin.

B) Front load early activities extra funding in order to prevent them from stretching on during longer durations.

C) Have plans in place to ensure high levels of productivity as soon as the project is able to begin.

D) Very carefully analyze and finalize the scope of the project and have plans in place in case of the event of a needed change.

E) All of the above are viable options for helping the project finish in time.

Difficulty: 3 Hard

Topic: How to Accelerate Projects

AACSB: Reflective Thinking

Blooms: Analyze