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True/False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
2. Predecessor activities are activities that can be worked on at the same time as
another activity.
a. True
b. False
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
3. Predecessor activities are activities that must be completed before another activity
can be started.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
4. A parallel activity is a task that can be worked on at the same time as another
activity.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
5. Parallel activities can shorten the project schedule, but can have an impact on
project resources if a resource is assigned to two tasks at the same time.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
6. The critical path is the shortest path in the project network and also is the longest
time in which the project can be completed.
a. True
b. False
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
7. The critical path is the longest path in the project network and also is the shortest
time in which the project can be completed.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
8. Identifying the critical path is important because any change in the duration of the
activities or tasks on the critical path will affect the project’s schedule.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
10. Identifying the critical path is important because a project can only have one
critical path and it never changes.
a. True
b. False
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
11. PERT was developed in the 1950s to create a visual representation of scheduled
activities, their logical sequence, and interrelationships using a statistical
probability distribution.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
12. Installing a server before loading the operating system is an example of a finish-
to-start relationship.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
14. A start-to-finish activity is the most common relationship between two activities.
a. True
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
b. False
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
15. The project budget is determined by the project schedule, the cost of the resources
assigned to each of the tasks, and by any other direct or indirect costs and
reserves.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
16. The direct costs of using a resource is the only type of cost that should be
considered when developing the project budget.
a. True
b. False
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
17. Sunk costs include such things as rent, utilities, insurance, and other
administrative costs.
a. True
b. False
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
19. An over allocated resource would arise when Mary is assigned to work on two
tasks scheduled at the same time.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
20. Once the project schedule and budget are accepted by the client or sponsor, the
project plan becomes the baseline plan that will be used as a benchmark to track
the project’s actual progress.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: THE BASELINE PLAN
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: THE KICK-OFF MEETING
22. The kick-off meeting brings closure to the planning phase of the project.
a. True
b. False
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: THE KICK-OFF MEETING
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
Multiple Choice
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: INTRODUCTION
2. The tool most closely associated with activity bars across a horizontal time axis
is:
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
3. _____ is considered the most useful and widely used project management tool.
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
4. _____ can be useful for tracking and monitoring project progress because because
they are simple and straightforward.
b) Gantt Charts
c) PERT
d) Activity on the Node
e) Critical Path Analysis
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
5. _____ provide valuable information about the logical sequence and dependencies
among the various activities and tasks:
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
6. _____ can help manage the Critical Path by providing information about which
activities can be delayed without affecting the deadline target date.
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
7. The amount of time an activity can be delayed before affecting the project
deadline is _____
a) slack
b) crash
c) fast-track
d) diversion
e) delay in any activity will delay the project
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
8. The technique used to find the sequence of tasks with zero slack (or float) is most
closely associated with:
Ans: E
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
a) slacking.
b) floating.
c) diverting.
d) crashing.
e) fast tracking
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
a) slacking.
b) floating.
c) diverting.
d) crashing.
e) fast tracking
Ans: E
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
12. The technique used to help manage the Polaris submarine project and which bases
activity estimates on probabilistic estimates of three scenarios is most closely
associated with:
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
13. Starting the next task before the first task is complete is _____
a) lead
b) lag
c) negative lead
d) slack
e) float
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
14. An activity being analyzed under PERT was judged to most likely have a duration
of 40 days. When considering the time it would take to complete the activity if
every relevant factor went well, it was estimated to be able to be doable in 20
days and even under the worst case imaginable, the task would be take 50 days.
The estimates PERT duration of that activity is:
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
a) 36.67 days
b) 38.33 days
c) 37.50 days
d) 28.33 days
e) 32.67 days
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
15. Based upon the following diagram and activity durations, the Critical Path is:
A 2
B 5
C 4
D 3
E 1
F 4
G 3
H 5
I 5
J 1
a) A+B+C+F+H+J
b) A+B+D+F+H+J
c) A+B+D+G+H+J
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
d) A+B+D+G+I+J
e) A+B+E+G+I+J
Ans: B
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
16. _____ is well suited for developing simulations where the project manager can
conduct sensitivity analysis for schedule planning and risk analysis.
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
17. Under the Precedence Diagramming Method, the situation which occurs when a
relationship between two tasks that can or must start at the same time is called:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
18. Under the Precedence Diagramming Method, the most common relationship
between two activities which implies a logical sequence is called:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: A
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
19. Installing the operating system on a computer before loading any application
packages is an example of:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: A
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
20. Under the Precedence Diagramming Method, the situation which occurs when
two activities can start at different times, have different durations, but are planned
to be competed at the same time is called:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: C
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
21. Under the Precedence Diagramming Method, the situation which occurs when
task A cannot end until task B starts is called:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: D
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
22. Waiting to leave your shift until another person shows up is an example of:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: D
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
23. Under the Precedence Diagramming Method, the least common relationship
between two activities which occurs when they must complete at the same time is
called:
a) Finish-To-Start (FS)
b) Start-To-Start (SS)
c) Finish-To-Finish (FF)
d) Start-To-Finish (SF)
e) none of these
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
24. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is based on the idea that
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
c) PERT
d) Theory of Constraints
e) Critical Path Analysis
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE TOOLS
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
28. To make a decision to attempt to build an application system based on what was
left after a previous attempt ended in failure primarily because of the large
investment the company made in the failed project most likely was made by a
manager who did not fully understand:
a) Direct Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
29. Rent, utilities, insurance and administrative costs are examples of:
a) Direct Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Ans: B
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
a) Direct Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
31. Time and effort needed to gather experience on a technology or process are _____
a) Direct Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Ans: D
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
a) Direct Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Ans: E
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
a) Direct Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
34. The idea that there is a cost associated with using a resource is _____
a) Prorated Costs
b) Indirect Costs
c) Sunk Costs
d) Learning Curve Costs
e) Reserves Costs
Ans: A
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
a) Resource leveling
b) Resource constraining
c) Resource starving
d) Resource management
e) Resource addition
Ans: A
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
36. Once the project schedule and project budget are approved they become the
_____
a) derivative plan
b) actual plan
c) baseline plan
d) project plan
e) schedule plan
Ans: C
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: THE BASELINE PLAN
Ans: E
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: THE KICK-OFF MEETING
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
1. Define predecessor, successor, and parallel activities. Give a real world example
of each.
Ans: Predecessor activities are those activities that must be completed before another
activity can be started—e.g., a computer’s operating system must be installed before
loading an application package. On the other hand, successor activities are activities
that must follow a particular activity in some type of sequence. For example, a
program must be tested and then documented after it is compiled. A parallel activity
is an activity or task that can be worked on at the same time as another activity.
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
2. How can parallel activities help shorten the project schedule? Are there any
trade-offs?
Ans: Parallel activities may be thought of as an opportunity to shorten the project
schedule since separate tasks can be done at the same time instead of sequentially.
They also can be a trade-off since doing more than one thing at the same time can
have a critical impact on project resources.
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
4. What is the difference between crashing and fast tracking a project’s schedule?
Ans: Crashing a project’s schedule is the process of adding additional resources to
some activity on the critical path (or diverting resources from some activity with
some slack) in order to shorten the project. Fast-tracking on the other hand is
involved in finding activities that were originally planned to be sequential and
making them in parallel – that is doing them simultaneously.
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
5. Define the following and give a real world example of each (other than the ones
described in this book): Finish-to-Start; Start-to-Start; Finish-to-Finish; Start-
to-Finish.
Ans:
• Finish-To-Start (FS)—A finish-to-start relationship is the most common
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
working on task C can be dedicated to work solely on this particular task for this
project.
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
8. What is the critical chain? How is it different from the concept of a critical
path?
Ans: The critical chain is different from the critical path in that it also takes into
account resource contention.
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT SCHEDULE
9. Describe the steps necessary for estimating the cost of a particular activity or
task that has an estimated duration.
Ans:
1. Defining what resources will be needed to perform the work
2. Determining the quantity of resources that are needed
3. Defining the cost of using each resource
4. Calculating the cost of the task or activity
5. Ensuring that the resources are leveled, that is, resources have not been over
allocated
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
11. Why should the project manager ensure that the project resources are leveled?
Ans: The project manager should ensure that the project resources are leveled to
prevent resources from being over allocated – that is requiring the same resource to
be utilized on more than one task at the same time.
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: DEVELOPING THE PROJECT BUDGET
Difficulty: Medium
Ref: THE BASELINE PLAN
14. When does the project manager or team have the authority to begin executing
the project plan?
Ans: Once the project schedule and project budget has been approved by the project
client or upper management it becomes the baseline plan and then the project
manager and team has the authority to begin executing the plan.
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: THE BASELINE PLAN
Essay Questions
1. How does the work breakdown structure (WBS) link the project’s scope to the
schedule and budget?
2. What are the benefits and disadvantages of using Gantt charts as a project
management tool?
3. In what ways are project network diagrams similar to Gantt charts and what
additional strengths do they have?
4. Construct an Activity on the Node (AON) network diagram with at least 5 tasks that
illustrate predecessors, successors and parallel activities. Label the nodes
appropriately and assuming your tasks show estimated durations in days, state the
estimated time for completing your project.
5. Assume the following activities for a project along with their estimated durations
and predecessors. Describe how critical path analysis would be applied to this
project, and calculate the critical path. Define the concepts: slack/float,
expedite/crash, and fast tracking and explain what their implications are for this
project?
6. Three team members are given the task of estimating activity durations. Mr.
Optimist estimates the activity to take 2 days to complete. Ms. Pessimist estimates
the activity to take 5 days. Mrs. Realist claims that the most likely estimate is 4
days. What should their PERT analysis assign as an expected duration for the
activity and what are the benefits and implications of deploying this tool?
7. Describe the Precedence Diagramming Method along with the four fundamental
relationships that they are based on.
8. Describe the five steps that comprise the process of estimating the cost of a
particular activity. Illustrate the steps with a hypothetical example.
Information Technology Project Management 5e - Marchewka
9. Discuss the nature and relevance of direct, indirect, sunk, and learning curve costs
as well as the notion of contingency reserves.
The return journey was for the most part uneventful, but with
empty wagons we could travel more rapidly.
On our reaching the crossing of the Arkansas we found there a
company of dragoons, and the officers informed us that they had
been fighting and chasing the Cheyennes all summer, having just
halted there in following one band of these Indians to the Arkansas
river. They had been forced to abandon their provision wagons some
days before we saw them, and were almost entirely out of food. The
artillery had also been left behind two or three days’ march down the
Arkansas river. These troops, a part of Colonel Sumner’s regiment,
had had several brushes with the Cheyennes, and captured a lot of
horses from the Indians. The soldiers, their horses and equipments,
gave every evidence of having undergone a severe campaign, and
they came around our camp begging for something to eat, tobacco
and whisky, much as the Indians were in the habit of doing. But our
ability to relieve their wants was very limited, having with us only
supplies enough for our own party back to the settlements.
The officers said that it would be hazardous for us to proceed
further, advising our captain to remain until the trains in our rear
could get up, until they had accumulated to at least one hundred
wagons and men, when we would be strong enough to resist any
attack that we were likely to be subjected to.
Acting on this advice, we remained in camp several days, until
five or six trains had arrived and camped in our immediate vicinity.
The journey was then resumed, our train taking the lead, all our
weapons of defense being put in as good order as possible. After the
trains were under way the wagonmasters of those behind us, to the
number of ten or a dozen, mounted on horses and mules, would ride
ahead to join Captain Chiles, Reece and myself, thus forming a lively
and agreeable company of companionable men.
As we were thus riding along down the level bottom of the
Arkansas, some distance in advance of the trains away to our right a
mile or more, out near the bank of the river, where we could see
some scattering cottonwood trees, we observed a smoke rising from
a camp fire. Some one of the party suggested that it was the smoke
of the camp of the artillery company, of which we had been told, so
we rode forward, giving little more attention to the smoke of the
camp fire that went curling upward among the cottonwood. When we
had reached a point about opposite the smoke there suddenly
appeared in our view a company of some fifty horsemen, riding pell-
mell in a fast gallop towards us. They were yet too far off to be
distinctly seen or for us to tell what manner of men they were. In
another moment, Captain Chiles exclaimed:
“Men, they are Indians! Soldiers don’t ride in that disorderly
manner. Form a line and get out your guns. We are in for it!”
Instantly all hands obeyed his command, forming a line, facing
the enemy, each of us drawing a pistol. The lead wagons of our train
were just barely visible, probably two miles from us. When the
approaching horsemen saw that we had formed a line of battle, they
instantly drew rein, slackening their speed to a walk, but kept
steadily drawing nearer us.
“MEN, THEY ARE INDIANS!”
When Reece had got to the top of the mound he saw Captain
Chiles, sitting on a horse, holding by a rope a huge bull elk. The elk
stood in the bottom of a deep, narrow ditch, ten feet deep, with
banks almost perpendicular, so steep that he was unable to get up
them or out of the ditch to assail his captor. Captain Chiles, when he
first caught up with the band of elk, had made an effort to kill one
with the pistols, but for some reason he could only get the pistols to
fire two of the charges, and with these two he only wounded a cow
slightly, not enough to stop her from running. He kept after the band,
all the while trying to get the revolver to fire, trying every chamber,
but with no success. After he had kept up the chase for two or three
miles the large bull elk, being very fat, got too tired to keep up with
the band, but trotted along behind, in fact, so far exhausted that
Chiles could keep up with him with his horse in a trot. The captain
despaired of being able to stop one with the pistols, and, finding a
small lariat I had brought from the Kiowas as we went out, on my
saddle, used for picketing my horse, resolved to try the plan of
lassoing the big fellow.
Being an expert in rope throwing, he had little difficulty in
preparing the noose or getting a fastening around the top prong of
one branch of the elk’s great antlers. As soon as the elk found he
was restrained by the rope he turned about and charged on Captain
Chiles with all the power and fury he could command, and twice or
thrice the captain was forced to cut loose from him in order to
escape his assaults. The rope was long enough to drag on the
ground some distance behind him, so that the captain could recover
hold of it without dismounting, reaching down and picking it up as the
bull trotted away from him. He kept on after him for some distance,
occasionally jerking him back, and worrying him until he could hardly
walk. Coming to the lower end of the ditch, washed out to a depth of
ten feet, at a point a few yards above, he managed to guide the
animal, bewildered as he was by the heat, together with the violent
and prolonged exercise, into it, leading or driving him along up the
ditch until he got him in between the high banks of it to a place
where the animal could not get at him however anxious he was to do
so.
When Reece arrived, as above related, he found Chiles sitting
there on the horse holding the end of the rope, but having nothing
with which to kill the animal, not even a pocket pistol. Reece had
with him a belt revolver, and, under the directions of Chiles, he
carefully crawled to the edge of the ditch to within a few feet of the
elk’s head and killed him with a couple of shots in the forehead.
The bull had not been wounded by Chiles, and no one but a
veritable daredevil as he was would have undertaken the job of
lassoing an elk under such circumstances as he did. But Chiles was
a stranger to fear.
Chiles, Reece and I got to the camp about 2 o’clock, near six
miles from where the elk was killed. After dinner we went out with
pack mules and the necessary hatchets and butcher knives, and two
of the drivers, to butcher the elk. The animal was a splendid
specimen of his kind, supporting a magnificent pair of antlers, fully
hardened and developed, and was fatter than any other animal of
the deer kind I have seen, before or since. We butchered and
brought to camp on the pack mules every part of his carcass,
including the antlers. The latter were brought home to Jackson
county. We feasted on the flesh of the fat elk for several days, and
my recollection is that I never tasted better meat.
The remaining part of the journey was uneventful, the entire
party remaining with the train until we were within eighty miles of the
state line of Missouri. Then, in company with Captain Chiles, I
started, before daylight, to make a forced march to Westport. We
rode forty miles before we halted for breakfast, obtaining it at a
settler’s cabin in the vicinity of Black Jack, arriving in Westport late in
the evening, in the latter part of September, feeling very willing to
rest once more in a comfortable house and bed.
I saw my friend Reece about a year after he had returned to his
home in Missouri still making a fight for life, but during the second
year he struck his flag and made a final surrender.
At Westport the drivers were paid off and disbanded, but I was
not present to witness the separation of the company that had
formed a companionship, offensive and defensive, during this long
and tiresome journey across the plains. Doubtless nearly all of them,
in the vernacular of the Western mountains, have “crossed over the
range.”
Lewis & Clark’s Route
Retraveled.