Schedule

Question 1

1. One of your team members working on the project informed you that a work package will most likely require ten weeks to complete. In the best case scenario, if everything goes well and there are no surprises, it will take eight weeks. Since he is involved in more than two projects and has several pending deliverables, this specific work package may take eighteen weeks to complete. Based on this information, what would be the correct estimated time to compete the work package?
A. Eleven weeks
B. ten weeks
C. Nine weeks
D. eighteen weeks

Answer 1

1. A: PERT allows the estimator to include three estimates: optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely, given by the equation: = (8 + 4*10 + 18) / 6 = 11 weeks

Question 2

2. Your project sponsor is extremely disappointed with the project as it is over budget by $15,000 and also behind schedule by several weeks. The sponsor has asked you to take care of the situation immediately and do whatever it takes. While exploring different options to shorten the project duration, you decide to put some of the noncritical activities on hold so that some of the resources working on these activities can be assigned to the activities with the most schedule risk. You also asked for a couple of additional external resources to be added to the project. The sponsor agrees to pay the additional cost since time is now a critical factor. This is an example of which of the following?
A. Crashing
B. Fast-tracking
C. Critical chain method
D. Resource leveling

Answer 2

2. A: The best option here is to add additional resources to the project activities on the critical path to complete them quickly. Fast-tracking is the technique of doing critical path activities in parallel when they were originally planned in series. Resource leveling is used to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources, resource availability, and other resource constraints. The critical chain method is another way to develop an
   approved, realistic, and resource-limited formal schedule. It provides a way to view and
   manage uncertainty when building the project schedule.

Question 3

3. A project manager is in the Sequence Activities process of identifying and documenting relationships among defined activities and arranging them in the order they must be performed. While in this process, the project manager decided to utilize a software tool to create a Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) network diagram. This network diagram creates a schematic display of the sequential and logical relationships,
   dependencies, and the order in which activities in a project must be performed. The
   project manager also added the duration of each activity in the network diagram to
   calculate the critical path. Which one of the following is FALSE about the critical path?
   A. It is the longest duration path through a network diagram.
   B. It determines the shortest time to complete the project.
   C. The activities on the critical path represent the highest schedule risk in the project.
   D. The activities on the critical path represent critical functionality.

Answer 3

3. D: The activities on the critical path do not necessarily represent the critical functionalities in the project. The critical path is the longest duration path in the network diagram, and this duration is the shortest time needed to complete the project. The activities on the critical path have no buffer, and any delay in the critical path activities will delay the project; thus, the critical path activities represent the highest schedule risk.

Question 4

4. While reviewing your project resource histogram, you notice several peaks and valleys, as resources are not evenly distributed in your project. In order to evenly utilize
   resources as much as possible, you decide to move some activities from the week when
   you are using a lot of resources to the week when you are hardly using any. Which
   technique are you using in this case?
   A. Resource leveling
   B. Overtime
   C. Schedule compression
   D. Schedule control

Answer 4

4. A: Resource leveling is used to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources, resource availability, and other resource constraints. It can be used when shared or critically required resources are only available at certain times, are in limited quantities, or when resources have been over allocated. We may have several peaks and valleys in our resource histogram. In order to level the resources, evenly utilize them as much as possible, or to keep resource usage at a constant level, we can move some of our activities from the week when we are using a lot of resources to the week when we are hardly using any.

Question 5

5. Which one of the following takes the progressive elaboration approach and plans the work in the near term in detail and future work in a higher level?
A. Scope definition
B. Rolling wave planning
C. Decomposition
D. SWOT analysis

Answer 5

5. B: The rolling wave planning takes the progressive elaboration approach and plans the work in the near term in detail and future work in a higher level. During the early strategic planning phase, work packages may be decomposed into less-defined milestone levels since all details are not available, and later they are decomposed into detailed activities. This kind of planning is usually used in IT and research projects, but is very unlikely in construction projects where any unknowns are extremely expensive and destructive.

Question 6

6. Your team just finished the design activities for a software development project. You
   have ordered a server and a couple of PCs to set up the development environment and
   are waiting for the vendor to deliver to you so that the team can start the development
   work. The vendor informs you that it will take twelve days for the equipment delivery, set
   up, and configuration. The twelve days waiting time can be defined as:
   A. Mandatory dependency
   B. Lag
   C. Lead
   D. Internal dependency

Answer 6

6. B: A lag is an inserted waiting time between activities.

Question 7

7. Which one of the following estimating techniques uses mathematical models based
   on historical records from other projects and can sometimes produce higher levels of
   accuracy?
   A. One point estimating
   B. Analogous estimating
   C. Parametric estimating
   D. Three-points estimating

Answer 7

7. C: A parametric estimate uses mathematical models based on historical records from other projects. It utilizes the statistical relationship that exists between a series of historical data and a particular delineated list of other variables. Depending upon the quality of the underlying data, this estimate can produce higher levels of accuracy and can be used in conjunction with other estimates to provide estimates for the entire project or for specific segments of the project. Measures such as time per line of code, time per installation, and time per linear meter are considered in this type of estimate.

Question 8

8. One of your team members is always late completing his deliverables. In order to help
   him out with proper planning for his activities, you’d like to explore different options
   with him. You asked the team member to send you information about the total float and
   free float for all of his activities if there is any. How does free float differ from total float?
   A. Total float and free float are the same thing.
   B. Free float affects only the early start of the successor activities.
   C. Total float is the accumulated amount of free float.
   D. Subtracting the total float from the critical path duration will give the free float.

Answer 8

8. B: Total float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the project completion date. Free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the early start of its successor.

Question 9

9. A project manager is managing a web-based application project to automate the
   accounting processes of his organization. The project has an estimated budget of
   $120,000 and a duration of nine months. While reviewing the project, the project
   manager notices that activities were scheduled in sequential order, but coding work was initiated twelve days earlier than planned. What type of relationship represents the start
   of the coding work to the completion of the design work?
   A. Finish-to-start relationship with a twelve-day lag
   B. Finish-to-start relationship with a twelve-day lead
   C. Start-to-finish with a twelve-day lag
   D. Start-to-finish with a twelve-day lead

Answer 9

9. B: A lead is an acceleration of the successor activity, or in other words, a successor activity getting a jump start. A lead may be added to start an activity before the predecessor activity is completed. There is a finish-to-start relationship between the design and coding, meaning that design work should be completed prior to starting coding. But in this case, coding work had a jump start as it was initiated twelve days before the design was completed. This can be shown as a finish-to-start relationship with twelve days lead.

Question 10

10. While working with your team members on activity sequencing, a team member
    identifies that even though a series of activities are planned to be completed in a
    specific sequence, they can be performed in parallel. What type of activity sequencing
    method may be utilized in this situation?
    A. Critical path
    B. Resource leveling method
    C. Monte Carlo simulation
    D. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

Answer 10

10. D: The precedence diagramming method creates a schematic display of the sequential and logical relationships of the project activities. Usually, it shows dependencies and the order in which activities in a project must be performed. Critical path is not a diagramming method.

Question 11

11. You are the project manager overseeing the implementation of a new computer
    infrastructure at the local hospital. Your sponsor has informed you that all the existing
    applications must work in the new infrastructure, and the project should be completed
    in three months. These are examples of:
    A. A lag
    B. A lead
    C. An estimation
    D. A constraint

Answer 11

11. D: These are examples of a constraint or limitation that limits options and eliminates
    alternatives in the project.

Question 12

12. One of your team members is always late completing his deliverables. You decided to keep an eye on this team member’s activities to avoid any delay in the project. While
    reviewing one of the activities of this team member, you found out that the activity
    has an early start of day 5, an early finish of day 12, a late start of day 15, and a late
    finish of day 22. The team member tells you that he needs an additional four days to
    complete the activity due to various reasons he can think of. Which one of the following
    statements is TRUE?
    A. This activity will delay the project.
    B. This activity will most probably not delay the project.
    C. The activity has a lag.
    D. The successor activity will be delayed.

Answer 12

12. B: There is not much information to determine if the activity has a lag or not. The float of this activity is Late Finish – Early Finish = 10 days. The activity is not on the critical path because it has a float or buffer of ten days. Even if the team member takes four additional days to complete the activity, it probably will have no impact on the project schedule or on the successor activity.

Question 13

13. Which one of the following analysis methods usually uses Monte Carlo simulation to simulate the outcome of a project by making use of three-point estimates (Optimistic, Pessimistic, Most Likely) for each activity, a huge number of simulated scheduling possibilities, or a few selected scenarios that are most likely, and the network diagram?

A. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
B. What-if scenario analysis
C. Critical chain method
D. Resource leveling

Answer 13

13. B: What-if scenario analysis usually uses Monte Carlo simulation to simulate the outcome of a project by making use of a few selected scenarios that are most likely, and
    the network diagram. The outcome of this analysis may be used to evaluate the project schedule under adverse conditions and to develop the preventive and contingency
    action plan to reduce the impact and probability of the unexpected situations.

Question 14

14. A project manager managing a recruitment automation application project just
    completed developing the schedule and requested stakeholders and the client for
    their approval. The sponsor has expressed her frustration about the unexpected long
    duration of the project and has demanded the schedule be compressed as much as
    possible. While exploring different options, you find out that you cannot really change
    the network diagram due to various constraints, but the sponsor has agreed to pay
    for additional personnel resources if needed. What will be your BEST option in this
    situation?
    A. Apply the critical chain method
    B. Fast-track the project and also apply the resource leveling method
    C. Crash the project
    D. Crash and fast-track the project

Answer 14

14. C: Fast-tracking is the technique of doing critical path activities in parallel when they were originally planned in series. Fast-tracking will not be an option in this case since you cannot change the network diagram, or in other words, you cannot perform activities
    in parallel that were originally planned to be completed in sequence. The best
    option here is to add additional resources to the project activities on the critical path to
    complete them quickly. Resource leveling is used to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources, resource availability, and other resource constraints. The critical chain method is another way to develop an approved, realistic, resource-limited, and formal schedule. It provides a way to view and manage uncertainty when building the project schedule.

Question 15

15. Your project sponsor is extremely disappointed with the project as it is over budget
    by $20,000 and also behind schedule by several weeks. The sponsor has asked you to
    take care of the situation immediately. While exploring different options to shorten the
    project duration, you decide, with management’s approval, to perform several activities
    in parallel rather than in sequential order as originally planned. You know your option
    will possibly result in rework, increase risks, and require more communication, but you
    decide to go for it any way. This is an example of which of the following?
    A. Critical chain method
    B. Crashing
    C. Resource leveling
    D. Fast-tracking

Answer 15

15. D: Fast-tracking is the technique of doing critical path activities in parallel when they
    were originally planned in series.

Question 16

16. You have recently been assigned as a program manager to implement an ERP solution in your organization. Initially, the team will only work on five key modules in the first phase of the project. The second phase of the project has not been approved yet. You have estimated that three of the modules will take ten days each, and the remaining two will be completed in fifteen days each. It is not possible to work on these modules in parallel. What would be the approximate duration for the first phase of your project?
A. Fifty-five to sixty-five days
B. Fifty days
C. Ten days
D. Ninety days

Answer 16

16. A: The duration of three modules is 10 * 3 = 30 days, and the remaining two modules is 2 * 15 = 30 days. The first phase of the project will take 30 + 30 = 60 days, or approximately between fifty-five and sixty-five days.

Question 17

17. You are in the Control Schedule process of monitoring the status of the project by
    comparing the result to the plan, updating project progress, and managing changes
    to the project schedule baseline. You are mainly focused on the current status and
    changes to the project schedule, influential factors that create schedule changes, and
    management of actual changes as they occur. Which of the following is NOT a tool or
    technique in this time management process?
    A. Schedule compression
    B. Data Analysis
    C. Resource optimization techniques
    D. Schedule forecasts

Answer 17

17. D: The schedule forecasts are outputs of the Control Schedule process, not tools & techniques.

Question 18

18. Steve has just been assigned as a project manager for a newly approved software
    development project. The sponsor is interested in knowing a high-level estimation on
    the total duration of the project and asks Steve to send him the information by the end
    of the day. What kind of estimate should Steve use in this kind of situation?
    A. An analogous estimate
    B. A heuristic estimate
    C. A three-point estimate
    D. A bottom-up estimate

Answer 18

18. A: An analogous estimate is usually done during the early phase of the project when not much information is available about the project. It is less accurate even though it is less costly and less time consuming. In a bottom-up approach, one estimate per activity is received from the team members; it requires significant time to develop. A heuristic estimate is based on rule of thumb. A PERT estimate, also known as a weighted average
    estimate, is usually associated with specific project activities and requires significant
    time to develop as well.

Question 19

19. You are in the Estimate Activity Durations process to estimate durations for the activities of the project. These estimates usually originated from project team members most familiar with the activity and then progressively elaborated. Which one of the following is TRUE about this process?
    A. This process must be performed after the Develop Schedule process.
    B. Padding is a common practice and the project manager should not be too worried
    about it.
    C. The activity duration estimates are outputs in this process.
    D. It is not important that all estimates in this process should use a common work unit/
    period.

Answer 19

19. C: The activity duration estimates are outputs in the Estimate Activity Durations process. This process should be performed before the Develop Schedule process. Adding additional time or padding the estimate is a common practice in this process, so the project manager should make sure that the estimates from the team members are realistic. It is important that all estimates in this process should use a common work unit/period.

Question 20

20. You just completed developing the schedule for your project and got the approval from stakeholders and the sponsor. One of the team members assigned to work on a critical component informs you that she needs additional time to complete her activities as several relevant pieces were missed during planning. Her updated estimate would have no impact on the critical path; thus, the project duration would be the same. The best approach the project manager may take in this situation will be:
    A. Find a replacement for the resource who can complete the task within the allocated
    time.
    B. Inform the resource that it is too late for any kind of change in the project schedule.
    C. Inform her that it is OK as you have sufficient schedule reserve to handle this kind of
    situation.
    D. Update the project schedule and other relevant plans to reflect the new estimate.

Answer 20

20. D: The best course of action will be to update the project schedule and other relevant plans to reflect the new estimate.

Question 21

21. You are overseeing a data center project for one of your clients. The team members have finished creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and work breakdown structure dictionary. The team members also submitted their activity duration estimates to you. What should you focus on NEXT?
    A. Sequence the activities using the precedence diagramming method.
    B. Create the activity list.
    C. Determine high-level project assumptions and constraints.
    D. Develop the project schedule.

Answer 21

21. A: Your team has created the WBS, WBS dictionary, and activity list and has submitted the activity durations. The next step should be to sequence the activities by creating a network diagram using the precedence diagramming method. Determining high-level project assumptions and constraints is done as part of project initiation and is completed much earlier. The Develop Schedule process follows the Sequence Activities process. Note that sequencing activities can be done before or after the activity duration estimation is done.

Question 22

22. Your IT project is progressing well and is on schedule when a vendor sends you an e-mail stating that the equipment delivery will be delayed by a week due to severe snow
    storm on the East Coast. Which of the documents would best capture the impact of the
    delay on the project schedule?
    A. Risk register
    B. Issue log
    C. Network diagram
    D. Work breakdown structure

Answer 22

22. C: The project network diagram represents activities and their logical relationships, dependencies, and sequence; thus, the network diagram will best capture the impact of the delay on the project schedule. The work breakdown structure is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables, but it does not focus on the duration of the project activities. The risk register would show an increase in project risk but would not help to determine the impact of a delay on the project schedule. An issue log will also capture the root cause, person assigned, due date, and other factors, but will not give out much information about the impact of the delay on the project schedule.

Question 23

23. Your IT project has ten team members, and recently you have hired three more database developers. You are using a time-phased graphical display of activity start dates, end dates, and durations for tracking progress and reporting to the team. Which chart are you using?
A. Milestone chart
B. Work breakdown structure
C. Network diagram
D. Gantt chart

Answer 23

23. D: A bar chart or Gantt chart is a time-phased graphical display of activity start dates,
    end dates, and durations. It is useful for tracking progress and reporting to the team
    and can be easily modified to show the percentage of completed work. As the project
    progresses, bars are shaded to show which activities are now complete. The work
    breakdown structure is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work
    to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the
    required deliverables, but it does not focus on the duration of the project activities. A
    milestone chart is similar to a bar chart, but only shows major events. It is a good tool
    for reporting to management and customers. This type of chart is reserved for brief,
    high-level presentations as too much detail may be undesirable and distracting to senior
    management. A network diagram is a schematic display of the sequential and logical
    relationships of the project activities. It shows dependencies and the order in which
    activities in a project must be performed.

Question 24

24. You are overseeing a project to implement a web-based traffic monitoring system. You have requested three programmers, three database developers, and two testers; senior management only approved five team members for your project. Which one of the following may you use to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources, resource availability, and other resource constraints?
A. Resource leveling
B. Fast-tracking
C. Crashing
D. Critical path method

Answer 24

24. A: Resource leveling is used to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the
    schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources,
    resource availability, and other resource constraints. It can be used when shared or
    critically required resources are only available at certain times, are in limited quantities, or when resources have been over allocated. Fast-tracking is the technique of doing critical path activities in parallel when they were originally planned in series. Crashing is the technique of adding additional resources to a project activity to complete it more
    quickly. The critical path is the longest path through a network diagram and determines
    the shortest time to complete the project as well as any scheduling flexibility. It is not
    the project schedule, but it indicates the time period within which an activity could be
    scheduled considering activity duration, logical relationships, dependencies, leads, lags,
    assumptions, and constraints.

Question 25

25. Steve is the project manager for a construction project to convert an old nursing home into a new multistory office complex. The architectural design and site surveys are completed, and Steve is now waiting for the clearance and permit from the city to start the construction. This is an example of which kind of dependency?
A. Mandatory dependency
B. Internal dependency
C. External dependency
D. Discretionary dependency

Answer 25

25. C: External dependencies are driven by circumstances or authority outside the project and must be considered during the process of sequencing the activities. Internal dependencies are based on the needs of the project and are mostly under the control of the project team. Mandatory dependencies are mandatory and unavoidable dependencies that are inherent in the nature of the work or are contractually required. They are like laws of nature and are also called “hard logic.” Discretionary dependencies are also called “preferred logic” or “soft logic” as they are the preference of the project manager and the team members. These dependencies may be determined by best practices or by local methodology and may vary from project to project.

Question 26

26. Your team has been working with the WBS for a while and has completed the
    decomposition of the work packages. After a week, the team finalized the estimates of all activities and completed the network diagram. Which of the following activities will be the next to concentrate on for the project manager?
    A. Develop a preliminary schedule and get the approval from the team members
    B. Finalize the project scope statement
    C. Use the precedence diagramming method for sequencing the activities
    D. Develop the risk management plan and add it to the total project management plan
    document

Answer 26

26. A: The project manager should now focus on developing the preliminary schedule and get the approval from the team members. Finalizing the project scope statement should have been completed prior to completing the WBS. The team members have completed the network diagram, which suggests that the activities sequencing is also completed. Since the project schedule is an input to risk management, developing the risk management plan should be done once the schedule is completed.

Question 27

27. Which of the following is FALSE about analogous estimating?
    A. It measures the project parameters such as budget, duration, size, complexity,
    and duration based on the parameters of a previous similar project and historical
    information.
    B. It is usually done during the early phase of the project when not much information is
    available.
    C. It uses a bottom-up approach.
    D. It usually is the overall project estimate given to the project manager from
    management or the sponsor.

Answer 27

27. C: Analogous estimates take a top-down approach, and this overall project estimate is usually given to the project manager from the management or the sponsor. It is usually done during the early phase of the project when not much information is available. It is less accurate even though it is less costly and less time consuming. In a bottom-up approach, one estimate per activity is received from the team members.

Question 28

28. You recently took over a project from another project manager. While reviewing the network diagram, you find that there are four critical paths and three near-critical paths.
    What can you conclude about the project?
    A. The project will likely be completed on time and within budget.
    B. The project is at high risk.
    C. The project will require more people and additional budget.
    D. The project should be terminated.

Answer 28

28. B: The project is definitely at high risk because activities on critical path and near critical path can be delayed anytime causing the entire project to be delayed. Having more than one critical path and several near-critical paths does not necessarily mean that more resources and additional budget will be required to complete the project. There is no valid reason to terminate the project just because it is at high risk of schedule delay.