Project Schedule Management

Question 1

activity list

Answer 1

a documented tabulation of schedule activities that shows the activity description, activity identifier, and sufficiently detailed scope of work description so project team members understand what work is to be performed.

Question 2

activity attributes

Answer 2

multiple attributes associated w each schedule activity that can be included within the activity list.

Question 3

milestone list

Answer 3

a list identifying all project milestones and normally indicates whether the milestone is mandatory or optional.

Question 4

name the type of dependencies

Answer 4

mandatory (aka hard logic)
discretionary (aka preferred or soft logic)
internal
external

Question 5

mandatory (aka hard logic) dependencies

Answer 5

a relationship that is contractually required or inherent in the nature os the work.

Question 6

discretionary (aka preferred or soft logic) dependencies

Answer 6

a relationship that is established based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or an aspect of the project where a specific sequence is desired.

Question 7

internal dependencies

Answer 7

involve a precedence relationship between project activities and are generally inside the project team’s control.

Question 8

external dependencies

Answer 8

involve a relationship between project activities and non-project activities; are usually outside of the team’s control.

Question 9

logical relationships

Answer 9

a dependency between two activities, or between an activity and a milestone.

Question 10

lag

Answer 10

the amount of time whereby a successor activity is required to be delayed w respect to a predecessor activity.

Question 11

predecessor activity

Answer 11

an activity that logically comes before a dependent activity in a schedule.

Question 12

successor activity

Answer 12

a dependent activity that logically comes after another activity in a schedule.

Question 13

schedule management processes

Answer 13

includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project:

plan schedule management
define activities
sequence activities
estimate activity durations
develop schedule
control schedule

Question 14

transitioning from project scope management to project schedule management includes:

Answer 14

scope management:
- collecting requirements
- developing the scope statement
- creating a decomposed WBS (to the level of work packages)
- estimating the scope baseline

leads to…

schedule management:
- using WBS to further decompose work packages into activities
- creating a project schedule from the activities and the resource plan

Question 15

define plan schedule management

Answer 15

process of establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule.

key benefit is that it provides guidance on how the schedule will be managed.

Question 16

name inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs of plan schedule management

Answer 16

Inputs:
* Project Management Plan
* Project Charter
* Enterprise Environmental factors
* Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques:
* Expert judgement
* Data analysis
* Meetings

Outputs:
* Schedule Management Plan

Question 17

Data analysis techniques

Answer 17

Various techniques used to evaluate, analyze, or forecast potential outcomes based on possible variations of project or environmental variables and their relationships with other variables

Question 18

Schedule Management Plan

Answer 18

A component of the project management plan that establishes the criteria and the activities for developing, monitoring, and controlling the schedule.

should include control thresholds and performance measurement rules so that progress can be measured.

Question 19

Define Activities Process

Answer 19

The process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables.

The key benefit is that it breaks down the work packages in the WBS into specific activities.

Question 20

name inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs of Define Activities Process

Answer 20

Inputs:
* Project management plan
* Schedule Management Plan
* Scope baseline
* Enterprise environmental factors
* Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques:
* Decomposition
* Rolling wave planning
* Expert judgement
* Meetings

Outputs:
* Activity list
* Activity attributes
* Milestone list
* Change requests
* Project management plan updates

Question 21

Milestone

Answer 21

is simply a significant point or event in a project, program, or portfolio

Question 22

Rolling Wave Planning

Answer 22

An iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while work further out in the future is planned at a higher level. As that further out work get’s closer, it is then planned in detail.

Question 23

Decomposition

Answer 23

In scope management, project deliverables are subdivided into smaller and more manageable items until the project product, service, and process outcome components are defined to the work package level

Question 24

Sequence Activities Process

Answer 24

the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities.

key benefit is that it defines the logical sequence of work.

Question 25

name inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs of Sequence Activities Process

Answer 25

Inputs: * Project Management Plan * Schedule Management Plan * Project documents * Project Scope Statement * Activity list * Activity attributes * Milestone list * Requirements documentation * Organizational process assets Tools and Techniques: * PDM * Dependency determination * Leads and Lags * Project management information system Outputs: * Project Schedule network diagrams * Project documents updates

Question 26

PDM (Precedence Diagramming Method)

Answer 26

A technique used for constructing a schedule model in which activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.

Question 27

Dependency determination

Answer 27

A technique used to identify a type of dependency that is used to create the logical relationships between predecessor or successor activities.

Question 28

Project Schedule Network Diagram

Answer 28

A graphical representation of the logical relationships among the project schedule activities. This diagram is the result of the precedence diagramming effort and is an output of the Sequence Activities process. can be thought of as a flowchart that shows the order and relationships between the work that must be performed, and the Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) is the technique used to develop this schedule network diagram.

Question 29

There are four different precedence relationships:

Answer 29

* Finish-to-start (FS) - A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished (most common) * Finish-to-finish (FF) – A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished. * Start-to-start (SS) – A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has started. * Start-to-finish (SF) - A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has started.

Question 30

Precedence relationship

Answer 30

The term used in the precedence diagramming method for a logical relationship

Question 31

Estimate Activity Durations Process

Answer 31

the process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities with estimated resources. The key benefit is that it provides the time each activity will take to complete.

Question 32

name inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs of Estimate Activity Durations Process

Answer 32

Inputs: * Project Management Plan * Schedule Management Plan * Project documents * Activity list * Activity attributes * Project scope statement * Risk register * Enterprise environmental factors * Organizational process assets Tools and Techniques: * Expert judgement * Analogous estimating * Parametric estimating * Three-point estimating * Data analysis * Decision Making * Meetings Outputs: * Activity duration estimates * Basis of estimates * Project documents updates

Question 33

Bottom-Up Estimating

Answer 33

A method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the work breakdown structure (WBS).

Question 34

Activity resource requirements

Answer 34

The types and quantities of resources required for each activity in a work package.

Question 35

Analogous estimating

Answer 35

A technique for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or a project using historical data from a similar activity or project.

Question 36

Parametric estimating

Answer 36

An estimating technique in which an algorithm is used to calculate cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters

Question 37

Effort

Answer 37

The number of labor units required to complete a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component, often expressed in hours, days, or weeks.

Question 38

Duration

Answer 38

The total number of work periods (not including holidays or other nonworking periods) required to complete a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component. Usually expressed as workdays or workweeks. minimized if resources can be assigned full- time, this increasing productivity.

Question 39

Three-Point Estimating

Answer 39

a technique used to estimate cost or duration by applying an average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates.

Question 40

There are two types of three-point estimating:

Answer 40

PERT - Program Evaluation and Review Technique. It’s is also sometimes called Beta distribution. A technique for estimating that applies a weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the individual activity estimates. Triangular distribution – The more simple of the two types, here the most likely, optimistic and pessimistic estimate are simply summed and result is divided by 3.

Question 41

In three-point estimating, three values are individually estimated:

Answer 41

Most likely (m) - An estimate of the most probable activity duration that takes into account all of the known variables that could affect performance. This is sometimes also called the best guess (BG) estimate. Optimistic (o) - An estimate of the shortest activity duration that takes into account all of the known variables that could affect performance. This estimate considers what the estimate might be if positive factors do occur. Pessimistic (p) – An estimate of the longest activity duration that takes into account all of the known variables that could affect performance. This estimate considers what the estimate might be if negative factors do occur.