Chapter 9 - Resource Allocation

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1. In CPM, __________ are specified. two activity times

a) exact levels of uncertainty associated with activi- and two costs
ties
b) an expected time, a crash time, and the standard
deviation time
c) three costs
d) two activity times and two costs

2. The standard practice with AOA and AON is to esti- normal

mate activity times under the assumption of resource
loadings that are __________.
a) probabilistic
b) crashed
c) normal
d) dynamic

3. If deterministic time estimates are used, and if project be necessary to

deadlines are firm, there is a high likelihood that it will crash the last few
__________. activities of most
a) not be necessary to crash any activities in projects projects
b) be necessary to crash the last few activities of most
projects
c) be completed on time and within budget
d) be completed as per schedule

4. The formula for computing the cost/time slope for (crash cost - nor-
each activity that can be crashed is __________. mal cost) / (crash
a) (crash cost + normal cost) / (crash time + normal time - normal time)
time)
b) (crash cost - normal cost) / (crash time - normal
time)
c) (normal cost + crash cost) / (normal time + crash
time)
d) (normal cost - crash cost) / (normal time - crash
time)

5. Economically speaking, crashing a project creates a production func-

technology change in the __________ for an activity. tion
a) deliverable demand function
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b) production function
c) audit function
d) deliverable supply function

6. The __________ technique overlaps the design and fast-tracking

builds phases of a project to expedite its completion.
a) crashing
b) fast-tracking
c) leading
d) blitzing

7. The points between the extreme points of the relation- alternative

ship between time use and resource use represent trade-offs
__________. between time and
a) time constrained projects resources
b) resource constrained projects
c) alternative trade-offs between time and resources
d) a non-feasible solution space of trade-off alterna-
tives related to time and resource use

8. The two fundamental approaches to constrained al- heuristic ap-

location problems are __________. a) heuristic ap- proaches and opti-
proaches and rules of thumb mization models
b) linear programming approaches and optimization
models
c) heuristic approaches and optimization models
d) goal programming and trial and error

9. The __________ approach to constrained resource heuristic

scheduling problems is the only feasible method of at-
tacking large, nonlinear, complex problems that tend
to occur in the real world of project management.
a) goal programming
b) heuristic
c) optimization modeling
d) linear programming

10. Most heuristic solution methods start with the PERT/CPM

__________ and analyze resource usage period by schedule
period, resource by resource.
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a) GERT schedule
b) Gantt chart
c) PERT/CPM schedule
d) Master schedule

11. If a contradiction or conflict between constraints technological ne-

is detected, __________ should always take prece- cessities
dence.
a) technological necessities
b) time constraints
c) resource constraints
d) managerial preferences

12. The __________ heuristic provides a general solution as soon as possi-

for critical path and time and is usually the default rule ble
for a schedule.
a) as soon as possible
b) as late as possible
c) minimum slack first
d) shortest task first

13. The usual purpose of the __________ scheduling as late as possible

heuristic is to delay cash outflows as long as possi-
ble.
a) minimum slack first
b) shortest task first
c) most successors
d) as late as possible

14. Which of the following effects will be observed in Each activity will
a network if a date-constrained project is scheduled make use of all the
from the ending date constraint using the "as late as slack available to
possible" heuristic? it.
a) Each activity will make use of all the slack available
to it.
b) The network will not have any critical activities.
c) It would never be possible to override the "as late
as possible" heuristic with a "must start no later than"
date constraint.

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d) Many of the activities will be scheduled prior to the
start date of the project.

15. The methods to find an optimal solution to the con- mathematical pro-
strained resource scheduling problem fall into two gramming and
categories. They are __________. enumeration
a) mathematical programming and linear program-
ming
b) mathematical programming and enumeration
c) statistical analysis and simulation
d) quantified heuristics and gaming

16. The principal reason why a project manager is sur- resource availabili-
prised by resource constraints on a project is the ty
failure to include __________ in risk identification ac-
tivities.
a) resource availability
b) resource cost
c) resource mobility
d) resource skill

17. The tasks that logically precede a particular task in predecessors

time are referred to as __________.
a) successors
b) followers
c) predecessors
d) priorities

18. One of the problems that Goldratt observed was that the student syn-
if an activity has slack time, the task might become drome
delayed until the slack is removed. This is referred to
as __________.
a) Goldratt's Law
b) Murphy's Law
c) the delay game
d) the student syndrome

19. When crashing a project, our first task is to develop a table or graph
__________. of the cost of a
a) a table or graph of the cost of a project as a function project as a func-
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of the project's possible completion dates tion of the project's
b) a schedule that shows the risks associated with possible comple-
each activity in the project tion dates
c) a list that shows the activities and the events of a
project without referring to the costs
d) a table showing the noncritical activities and the
cost associated with each of those activities

20. Using the __________ heuristic method, the project shortest task first
team should be able to complete the maximum num-
ber of tasks during a given period of time.
a) as soon as possible
b) as late as possible
c) shortest task first
d) minimum slack first

21. Studies have shown that the __________ schedul- minimum slack
ing heuristic method usually results in the minimum first
amount of project schedule slippage, best utilization
of facilities, and minimum total system occupancy
time.
a) as soon as possible
b) as late as possible
c) shortest task first
d) minimum slack first

22. Thoughtless optimism, the "student syndrome," and optimistic bias

multitasking to reduce idle time can each contribute
to __________.
a) slack
b) pessimistic bias
c) optimistic bias
d) feeder buffer

23. In some situations, two activities are scheduled to duration

be carried out in parallel and using the same scarce
resource. If the supply of the scarce resource is not
sufficient to allow both activities to be carried out
simultaneously, then whichever of the two is given pri-
ority immediately lengthens the other activity's path
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but not its actual __________.
a) duration
b) slack
c) float
d) buffer

24. One cannot save __________, rather one can only time
spend more or less of it.
a) time
b) money
c) scope
d) risk

25. The use of __________ activity time estimates may three probabilistic
reduce the chance that crashing the project will be
needed.
a) one probabilistic
b) two probabilistic
c) three probabilistic
d) four probabilistic

26. When we change technology, we may also be chang- all of the above
ing the level of __________ in carrying out the activity.
a) risk
b) money
c) time
d) all of the above

27. The two principles to follow when crashing a project critical path and
focuses on the __________. selects the least
a) critical path and selects the least expensive alter- expensive alterna-
native tive
b) critical path and selects the most expensive alter-
native
c) shortest path and selects the least expensive alter-
native
d) critical path and selects the most expensive alter-
native

28.
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A project task is said to be __________ if it requires system con-
a fixed amount of time and known quantities of re- strained
sources.
a) scope constrained
b) time constrained
c) resource constrained
d) system constrained

29. __________ describes the amounts of individual re- Resource loading

sources an existing schedule requires during specific
time periods.
a) Resource loading
b) Resource leveling
c) Scope loading
d) Resource succeeding

30. __________ aims to minimize the period-by-period Resource leveling

variations in resource loading by shifting tasks within
their slack allowances. The purpose is to create a
smoother distribution of resource usage.
a) Resource loading
b) Resource leveling
c) Scope loading
d) Resource succeeding

31. __________ refers to the amount of time past a pro- Schedule slippage
ject's due or delivery date. a) Schedule slippage
b) Scope slippage
c) Quality slippage
d) Time constraint

32. Three important parameters used to assess the ef- resource utiliza-
fectiveness of a scheduling system include schedule tion
slippage, in-process inventory, and __________.
a) resource utilization
b) time utilization
c) management delay
d) schedule utilization

33.
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With respect to project scheduling, __________ is the in-process inven-
amount of work waiting to be processed because tory
there is a shortage of some resource.
a) in-process inventory
b) schedule slippage
c) resource utilization
d) management delay

34. Given that task A will use three carpenters and have 18
duration of six days, task A requires __________ labor
days of work.
a) 9
b) 12
c) 18
d) 24

35. If the appropriate scheduling equation for task A of a D = 8d

project were W = D * U, and it was initialized so that W
= 40d, D = 10d, and U = 4 resources, and task A is an
effort- driven activity, correctly balance this equation
if the value for U is changed from 4 to 5. To balance
the equation, the altered variable and its new value are
__________.
a) D = 6w
b) W = 6d
c) D = 8d
d) W = 6d

36. Given a scheduling equation W = D * U, if the equation W = 25d

for task J is initialized so that W = 20d, D= 5d, and
U = 4 resources, and task J is a non-effort-driven
activity (where D is held constant when resources are
changed), correctly balance this equation if the value
for U is changed from 4 to 5. To balance the equation,
the altered variable and its new value are __________.
a) D = 25w
b) W = 25d
c) D = 80w
d) W = 8d

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37. Given W = D * U for an effort-driven task. Assume an 80
8-hour workday. Initially, task R was assigned to Bob.
Bob was expected to accomplish 32 hours of work in
five days. If Bob were 100 percent available to work on
task R during the entire five days, his efficiency rate
is __________%.
a) 80
b) 70
c) 60
d) 75

38. Given W = D * U for an effort-driven task. Assume an 50.8

8-hour workday. Initially, task R was assigned to Bob.
Bob was expected to accomplish 32 hours of work in
five days. Bob was expected to be 100% available to
work on task R during the entire five days. However,
Bob left the company and will be replaced by Sam.
Sam's efficiency rate is 90%. If Sam is only 70% avail-
able, Sam will require __________ hours to complete
task R.
a) 63
b) 40
c) 53.2
d) 50.8

39. __________ times result from an attempt to expedite Crash

the activity by the application of additional resources.
a) Leveling
b) Crash
c) Post
d) Constraint

40. __________ are tasks that logically follow a particular Successor

task in time. a) Successor
b) Strays
c) Predecessors
d) Critical

41. Using Goldratt's meaning of the word "dependent," critical chain

the activities of a project can be ordered into paths
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based on their resource dependencies as well as
on their technological precedence requirements. The
longest of these paths of sequentially time- depen-
dent activities is known as the ______________.
a) priority chain
b) critical chain
c) dependency path
d) heuristic path

42. Assume two activities, printing and binding. Printing late

is a predecessor of binding. If printing is _______,
then binding will start late by whatever amount of
lateness is bequeathed to it by printing.
a) necessary
b) early
c) late
d) time-neutral

43. When doing multiproject scheduling, each individual pseudo activities

project is represented by a network of tasks. We can
form a single network of these projects by connecting
them with dummy activities and/or ___________.
a) pseudo activities
b) small tasks
c) pseudonyms
d) subnetworks

44. Which of the following describes a situation where student's syn-

priorities are assigned to activities according to some drome
rule not associated with task length, slack, or resource
requirements?
a) student's syndrome
b) arbitrary
c) most successors
d) most resources

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