Knowledge Area Test: Project Schedule Management

Question 1

1. Ron is a project manager handling an alternate water-supply project. During a project performance review, he notices the following: (i) Activity A, on the critical path, is delayed by four days. (ii) Activity B, not on the critical path, is delayed by nine days. (iii) Activity C, on the critical path, is delayed by two days. (iv) Activity D, not on the critical path, is delayed by five days. In what sequence should Ron prioritize his efforts in addressing these delays?

Answer 1

First Activities A and C, and then Activities B and D

Explanation:
An important part of schedule control is deciding if schedule variation requires corrective action. Activities on the critical path get first priority for immediate action. Larger delays on activities not on the critical path may not require immediate attention since they may not affect the overall project schedule. Hence, Ron will first deal with the delays on the critical path and then tackle the delays on the other paths. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 210]

Question 2

2. After one year of construction, an office building is scheduled for completion on 30 January. The landscaping work needs to start 15 days prior to the building’s completion. Which of the following relationships most likely represents the relationship of the start of landscaping work to the completion of the office building?

Answer 2

Finish-to-start with a 15-day lead

The landscaping work needs to start before completion of the office building, so it is a finish-to-start relationship. Since it needs to start 15 days before completion of the building, it requires a lead of 15 days. Hence, the answer is finish-to-start with a 15-day lead. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 192]

Question 3

3. The senior analyst on a project came up with Activity Duration Estimates as follows: Activity A: 10 days + a lag of two days; Activity B: 1 week + a lead of three days. The project manager who reviewed these estimates raised some objections to them. What would they most likely be?

Answer 3

Activity Duration Estimates should not include any lag or lead information.

Activity duration estimates are quantitative assessments of the likely work periods to complete an activity. They do not contain any lag or lead information. Lead and lags are determined during the Develop Schedule process when schedule network analysis is performed. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 209]

Question 4

4. You have been asked to create a graphic display of schedule-related information, listing schedule activities on the left side of the chart, dates on the top, and activity durations as date-placed horizontal bars on the right side. What is such a chart called?

Answer 4

Gantt chart

Such a chart is called a Gantt chart. This is a popular representation of project schedule information. Activity start dates, end dates, durations, dependencies, and milestones are easily depicted on this chart in a graphical manner. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 217]

Question 5

5. In a project, Activity A has a duration of four days and begins on the morning of Monday the fourth. The successor Activity, B, has a Finish-to-Start (FS) relationship with A. The Finish-to-Start relationship has two days of lag, and Activity B has a duration of three days. If Saturday and Sunday are non-working days, which of the following statements is true?

Answer 5

Activity B will be completed by the end of the day on Thursday, the 14th

Activity A has a duration of 4 days and completes by end of the day on Thursday, 7th. There is a 2-day lag, and since Saturday and Sunday are non-working, Activity B can begin only on Tuesday, 12th. Activity B has a duration of 3 days and completes by end of the day on Thursday, 14th. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 192]

Question 6

6. Your project team has listed an exhaustive list of project activities that need to be completed in order to deliver the project. As the next step you and the project team need to understand the inter-activity dependencies before you can put together an overall project schedule. Which of the Project Schedule Management processes involves identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities?

Answer 6

Sequence Activities

Sequence Activities is the process of identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 187]

Question 7

7. You are managing a complex project with over a thousand scheduled activities. Your project’s progress update meeting is coming up where you will be required to present the progress to the senior leadership of the organization. Instead of sharing progress on individual project activities, you want to display the project schedule with only the key deliverables displayed. What is the correct tool for this purpose?

Answer 7

Milestone chart

A milestone chart displays only the key deliverables and is simple and easy to understand. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 218]

Question 8

8. Midway through a project, a project manager determined the project was running far behind schedule. If the project manager needs to shorten the project schedule without changing the project scope, which of the following schedule compression techniques could he use?

Answer 8

Crashing

Crashing is a technique that can be applied to compress the project schedule without changing the project scope. Another option is fast tracking. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 215]

Question 9

9. Analogous Estimating is an estimation technique that uses the values of parameters such as scope, cost, budget, and duration from a previous similar activity as the basis of activity. It is frequently used for estimation when there is a limited amount of information about the project. This is a form of:

Answer 9

Gross value estimation

Analogous estimating is a gross value estimating technique. It is most reliable when the previous activities are similar in fact and not just in appearance, and the project team members preparing the estimates have the needed expertise. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 200]

Question 10

10. A project manager estimates the work to be accomplished in the near term in detail at a low level of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). He estimates work far in the future as WBS components that are at a relatively high level of the WBS. What is this technique called?

Answer 10

Rolling wave planning

In Rolling Wave Planning, the work to be accomplished in the near term is estimated in detail at a low level of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), while the work far in the future is estimated as WBS components that are at a relatively high level of the WBS. The work to be performed within another one or two reporting periods in the near future is planned in detail during the current period. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 185]