Questions and Answers of Project Management

How might an organization recognize their level of performance and plot a way forward?
Considering the very varied nature of the different audits and reviews that can be carried out, is it likely that these can be done at one time by one person?
Discuss the role of review in the process of continuous improvement and why this is vital for the survival of organizations.
Suppose you now want to convert the structure from that in Question 2.7 to a matrix structure, emphasizing dual commitments to function and project.a. Re-create the structural design to show how the
Using Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene factors, discuss why salaries should be kept confidential.Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene factors. Frederick Herzberg was a consultant for AT&T who
Using the communication theory model (or schedule) show graphically how information is communicated on your projects.Communication theory The purpose of a project communication system is to transfer
Explain the concept of resource leveling. Why is it an important consideration? What are the key steps involved in this process?
What is the critical path in the project? Draw an AON diagram.consider a project with the following information: Activity Duration Predecessors EFG I 3 5135 ABC D | A A B, C B 4 D 2 C H 5 E, F, G
Float data is missing from two of the tables. Completethis after you have created your network diagram.consider a project with the following information: Activity Duration Predecessors EFG I 3 5135
Calculate the total resources required for this project, and create a resource loading table highlighting the activity float.consider a project with the following information: Activity Duration
Assume that the maximum resource hours available per week are 10. Which weeks are overcommitted?consider a project with the following information: Activity Duration Predecessors EFG I 3 5135 ABC D |
Suppose you have the following information about Project Cross-Talk.Consider the project Gantt chart shown in Figure 12.24.Identify the resource constraints in the network. Who are the resources who
Access www.fastcompany.com/magazine/87/projectmanagement.html. What suggestions does the author offer for managing the pressures to multitask? The author suggests the need to “multiproject.” What
Search the Web for examples of projects that suffer from each of the following:a. Time constraintsb. Resource constraintsc. Mixed constraints For each of these examples, cite evidence of the types of
Using the information provided in Exercise 12.25, how might you resource-level this network to remove the conflicts?Show how you would resource-level the network. From a schedule perspective, what is
The project manager identifies 20 tasks needed to complete her project. She has four project team members available to assign to these activities. The process of assigning personnel to project
The correct definition of resource leveling is:a. A graph that displays the resources used over time on a projectb. The process of applying resources to a project’s activitiesc. The process of
Project resource constraints can involve any of the following examples?a. Poorly trained workersb. Lack of available materials for constructionc. Environmental or physical constraints of the project
When adopting resource-leveling heuristics, which of the following are relevant decision rules?a. The activities with the least slack time should have resources allocated to them firstb. The
One of the benefits of resource-loading charts is that they:a. Represent a method for finding available activity slackb. Graphically display the amount of resources required as a function of timec.
Your customer has requested a minor change to the project that “shouldn’t impact the schedule.” How should you respond?a. Authorize the change to maintain good customer relationsb. Refuse the
Resources should be estimated against which entity:a. The deliverables level of the WBSb. Critical project constraintsc. The Risk Breakdown Structured. The schedule activities
When are the resource requirements estimated?a. After the activities have been defined but before the schedule has been developedb. After the schedule has been developed but before the activities
Resource leveling is a method to:a. Make sure everyone working on the project has approximately the same amount of work to accomplishb. A technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based
The objectives of resource smoothing are:a. To determine the resource requirements so that they will be available at the right timeb. To allow each activity to be scheduled with the smoothest
An eastern U.S. financial services company found itself way behind schedule and over budget on an important strategic program. Both the budget and schedule baselines had begun slipping almost from
Sunrise Restoration and Remodeling is a small, privately-owned construction business specializing in restoring residential properties that have been damaged by fires and floods. Sunrise has a few
What are the benefits and drawbacks of using tracking Gantt charts as a monitoring tool?
Identify and describe the five steps that are considered important in successfully implementing EVM in projects.
The 10 critical success factors have been applied in a variety of settings and project types. Consider a project with which you have been involved. Did any of these factors emerge clearly as being
What are the main issues involved in using EVM effectively?How can a project manager overcome these issues?
Consider any project you have been involved in. Which of the control tools would you use? Why?
Suppose the expenditure figures in Problem 1 were modified as follows (figures are in thousands).Draw this S-curve. What does the new S-curve diagram represent? How would you explain the reason for
Assume the following information (figures are in thousands):a. Calculate the monthly budget and monthly cumulative budgets for the project.b. Draw a project S-curve representation of this project.
Using the information in Problem 13.15, highlight the project’s status on day 14 but assume that activity D has not yet begun. What would the new tracking Gantt chart show? Print the output
Using the data in the table below, calculate the project schedule variance units: Schedule Variance Work Units A B C D E Total Planned Value (PV) 30 25 10 15 40 120 Earned Value (EV) 25 15 5 15 30
Using the data from Problem 13.18, calculate the following values:Problem 13.18Using the data in the table below, complete the table by calculating the cumulative planned and cumulative actual
You are calculating the estimated time to completion for a project of 12 months’ duration and a budgeted cost of $500,000. Assuming the following information, calculate the Schedule Performance
Suppose, for Problem 13.20, that your PV was 70 and your EV was 95. Recalculate the SPI and estimated time to completion for the project with this new data.Problem 13.20You are calculating the
Consider the following project information. The total budget is $36,000 and is expected to last six months. After four months, you have calculated the following information about the project:PV =
You had planned to construct a series of eight traffic roundabouts in your town, with each roundabout costing $150,000. Your goal was to complete the project during the four (4) months of good
Go to www.brighthubpm.com/monitoring-projects/51982-understanding-the-s-curve-theory-for-project-management-monitoring/ and read the article on the multiple uses of project S-curves. What does the
Go to www.nu-solutions.com/downloads/earned_ value_lite.pdf and access the article by Q. W. Fleming and J. M. Koppelman, “Earned Value Lite: Earned Value for the Masses.” From your reading,
Go to www.acq.osd.mil/evm and explore the various links and screens. What does the size and diversity of this site tell you about the acceptance and use of earned value in organizations today?
Go to www.erpgenie.com/general/project.htm and access the reading on “Six Steps to Successful Sponsorship.” Consider the critical success factors it identifies for managing an IT project
Type in the address www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx and navigate through the Web site supporting the Boston Tunnel project. Evaluate the performance of this project using the model of
Now, suppose we assign costs to each of the resources in the following amounts:Create the resource usage statement for the project as of the most recent update. What are project expenses per task to
Using the data for Exercise 13.36, add the resource assignments to each of the activities and input their hourly rates as shown.Construct an earned value chart for the project. Which activities have
Suppose your PV for a project was $100,000 and your EV was $60,000. Your Schedule Performance Index (SPI) for this project would be:a. 1.52b. .60c. You cannot calculate SPI with the information
Activity A is worth $500, is complete, and actually cost$500. Activity B is worth $1,000, is 50% complete, and has actually cost $700 so far. Activity C is worth $100, is 75%complete, and has
Using the information in Question 13.39, calculate the Cost Performance Index (CPI) for the project.a. 1.20b. -1.20c. 0.83d. -0.83
Which of the following gives the remaining amount to be spent on the project in Questions 2 and 3 based on current spending efficiency?a. Budget remainingb. Estimate to completec. Cost varianced.
Activity A is worth $100, is complete, and actually cost$150. Activity B is worth $500, is 75% complete, and has actually cost $400 so far. Activity C is worth $500, is 25%complete, and has actually
Your project has been running into a series of unexpected problems, and at the latest project review meeting you calculated that the current schedule performance index was .70, while the cost
A software coding project was scheduled to be finished today, after 12 weeks of work. You receive an updated EVM report on the progress of the coding suggesting that it has a schedule performance
Your project control administrator submits an interim report to you stating that, as of the current period, your project has a CPI of 1.4. How should you interpret this information?a. You are
When the schedule variance is equal to zero (SV = $0.00), what else is true?a. Schedule variance can never equal zerob. The SPI must be greater than onec. Earned value must equal planned valued. The
Your project is scheduled to last 3 months and cost$100,000. At the end of the first month, the project is 25%complete. What is the Earned Value?a. Cannot determine from this informationb. $25,000c.
As part of the effort to upgrade the IT capabilities at Kimble College, the institution initiated a program more than five years ago to dramatically increase the size of the IT department while
Conceived in the 1980s as a device to accelerate particles in high-energy physics research, the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) was a political and technical hot potato from the beginning. The
Speaking on the status of Honolulu’s Elevated Rail public transport system, former Hawaii Governor Benjamin Cayetano had an interesting message for President Trump: “As a lifelong Democrat and
What are the reasons that prevent an effective closeout?How can you avoid these?
Consider the case of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship in Case Study 14.3. Take the position that terminating this project after having invested so much in research and development represented a good
What are some of the reasons for terminating a project early?
Consider the concerns that a project manager may face when closing a project illustrated in Table 14.2. What are the most difficult concerns to deal with? What are the easiest?Why?
Imagine that you are working on a project that entails constructing a building, for which you have multiple supplier contracts in place. How can you prevent claims and disputes on a project like this
Search the Internet for links to the Boston Tunnel, “The Big Dig”; the Channel Tunnel, “The Chunnel”; and London’s Millennium Dome. Why do you think these projects were supported to their
Go to https://hbr.org/2003/02/why-bad-projects-are-sohard-to-kill and read the perspective on the difficulty in killing bad projects. What are some of the critical stories or pieces of advice offered
Go to http://cs.unc.edu/~welch/class/comp145/media/docs/Boehm_Term_NE_Fail.pdf and read the article “Project Termination Doesn’t Equal Project Failure”by Barry Boehm. Summarize his main
Go to www.pmhut.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/project-closeout-document.pdf. Critique the content of this closeout form. What information would you suggest adding to the form to make it a more
Go to a search engine (Google, Yahoo!, Ask, etc.) and enter the term “project failure” or “project disaster.” Select one example and develop an analysis of the project. Was the project
When does a project close?a. When a project is canceledb. When a project runs out of moneyc. When a project is successfully completedd. All the above are correct answers
You have just completed your project and have to confront the final activities your company requires when putting a project to bed. Which of the following activities is not expected to be part of the
Your project is nearing completion. At your request, members of your project team are grouping together critical project documentation, including contracts and financial records, change orders, scope
The execution phase of the IT project has just finished. The goals of this project were to update order-entry systems for your company’s shipping department. Which of the following is the next step
The team has just completed work on the project. By all accounts, this was a difficult project from the beginning and the results bear this out. You were over budget by 20% and significantly behind
During project closeout, you are required to attend to activities related to all the following except:a. Conducting post-project reviewb. Obtain acceptance by the customer or sponsor to formally
During project closeout, you are required to attend to all these additional activities except:a. Apply appropriate updates to all organizational processesb. Archive relevant project documentationc.
The Closing Process Group in PMBoK refers to:a. Processes performed to finalize all activities to formally close the project or phaseb. Processes performed to complete the work defined in the project
Which of the following is a critical document to prepare during the closeout phase?a. Change requestsb. Lessons learnedc. Control chartsd. Integrated communications plan
You have completed a transportation hub project for a difficult customer who has been dissatisfied with the manner with which your organization managed his project.The project has been delayed for
The chapter suggests that it is critical for projects to be aligned with the strategic focus of an organization. Table 2.1 gives some examples of projects reflecting strategy.Consider the following
Scoring Model. Now assume that for Problem 3.14, the importance weights are altered as follows:How does this new information alter your decision? Which project now looks most attractive? Why?Problem
The required rate of return is 12%, and the expected rate of inflation over the life of the project is forecast to remain steady at 3%. Should you invest in this project?
For your answer to Problem 3.11, construct an argument as to why this selection process is useful for deciding which project is best. Now, construct a counterargument to criticize this choice. In
Scoring Model. Suppose the information in Problem 3.13 was supplemented by importance weights for each of the four assessment criteria, where 1 = low importance and 4 = high importance:Assume, too,
Screening Model. Consider the following weighted criteria for assessing the viability of different charity event project proposals.• Cost (3)• Location (4)• Team expertise (3)• Celebrity
Profile Model. Using the information from the profile model in Problem 3.18, construct an argument as to why project B is preferable to project C.Problem 3.18Profile Model. Assume the project profile
Discounted Payback. Your company is considering a high-risk project that could yield strong revenues but will involve a significant up-front investment. Because of this risk, top management is
Suppose for the previous Problem 3.21, that your firm has decided to raise their required rate of return to 20%. How long will it take to pay back your initial investment now?Problem 3.21Discounted
Suppose for the previous Problem 3.21, that your CEO is highly risk averse and will not invest in any project with a payback longer than three years. Assuming a required rate of return of 15%, what
Go to the Web sites for the following organizations:a. Merck & Company Pharmaceuticals: www.merck.com/about002Fb. Boeing Corporation: http://www.boeing.com/boeing/companyoffices/aboutus/index.pagec.
This chapter suggests that considering contractual arrangements is an important factor when managing the project scope. What are the advantages and limitations of turnkey and cost-plus contracts?
On January 14, 2011, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano made it official: the Virtual Fence Project was to be officially canceled. In her statement explaining the decision, Napolitano
Go to www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_07.htm and read the article on managing risks. What does the article say about creating a systematic methodology for managing project risks? How does this
Using the keyword phrase “cases on project risk management,” search the Internet to identify and report on a recent example of a project facing significant risks. What steps did the project
All the following would be considered examples of significant project risks except:a. Financial risksb. Technical risksc. Commercial risksd. Legal riskse. All are examples of significant potential
Assume you are a project cost engineer calculating the cost of a repetitive activity for your project. There are a total of 20 iterations of this activity required for the project. The project
Assume that you are a project manager in a software firm and have been asked to calculate the expected cost for a new fast-food epos system. Referring to historical information, you know that the
Go to the Internet and search using the phrase “cost analysis tools.” What are some of the links and examples of cost analysis as it applies to projects?

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