Exam 9: Lean Systems

The critical path is the sequence of activities between a project's start and finish that take the shortest time to complete.

Scope creep is one of the primary causes of project failure.

For controlling projects, the Cost Performance Index (CPI) measures the ratio of the budgeted cost of the work completed to date divided by the actual cost for that same work.

The earliest start time (ES) for an activity is the maximum of the earliest finish (EF) times for all the activities that immediately precede the activity.

Resource allocation is an attempt to shift _________ from activities with slack to those on the critical path where resources are overloaded.

The ________ is the probable time required to perform an activity.

________ refers to a network planning method created for the U.S. Navy's Polaris missile project.

Project managers should be able to organize a set of disparate activities.

Before beginning to create a PERT/CPM network model for a project, the project must be described in general terms. Two types of information that must be defined are

Activity slack is the maximum length of time that an activity can be delayed without delaying the entire project.

Total slack for an activity is calculated by adding up the time required to complete all activities that follow the activity in the project.

Which one of the following best describes the critical path of a PERT/CPM network?

The optimistic time is the probable time required to perform the activity.

Network methods let project managers analyze the time and cost implications of resource trade- offs.

A(n) ________ determines the sequence for undertaking activities.

Activity slack is defined as

Typically activities along the critical path have more slack than activities not on the critical path.

Which of the following is NOT one of the five steps involved in planning projects?

Resource allocation is an attempt to reduce the peaks and valleys in resource needs by shifting the schedules of conflicting activities within their earliest and latest start dates.

________ is a measure of the probability and consequence of not reaching a defined project goal.