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Chapter 6 - Project Time Management

Terms in this set (129)

_________________ involves the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project.
Project time management
What are the 7 main processes involved in project time management?
planning schedule management, defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations, developing the schedule, controlling the schedule
________________ - determining the policies, procedures, and documentation that will be used for planning, executing, and controlling the project schedule.
Planning schedule management
Main output of _________ is schedule management plan.
planning schedule management
___________ - identifying the specific activities that the project team members and stakeholders must perform to produce the project deliverables
Defining activities
______________/______________ - element of work normally found on the WBS that has expected duration, cost, and resource requirements
activity, task
Main outputs of ______________________:
activity list
activity attributes
milestone list
project management plan updates
defining activities
______________ - identifying and documenting the relationships between project activities
sequencing activities
Main outputs of ______________________:
project schedule network diagrams
project documents updates
sequencing activities
______________ - estimating how many resources a project team should use to perform project activities
estimating activity resources
People, activities, and materials are examples of what?
resources
Main outputs of ______________________:
activity resource requirements
resource breakdown structure
project documents updates
estimating activity resources
______________ - estimating the number of work periods that are needed to complete individual activities.
estimating activity durations
Main outputs of ______________________:
activity duration estimates
project documents updates
estimating activity durations
______________ - analyzing activity sequences, activity resource estimates, and activity duration estimates to create the project schedule.
developing the schedule
Main outputs of ______________________:
schedule baseline
project schedule
schedule data
project calendars
project management plan updates
project documents updates
developing the schedule
______________ - controlling and managing changes to the project schedule.
controlling the schedule
Main outputs of ______________________:
work performance information
schedule forecasts
change requests
project management plan updates
project documents updates
organizational process assets updates
controlling the schedule
What is the first step in project time management?
Planning how the schedule will be managed
Is the schedule management plan broad and informal or formal and detailed?
Can be either
The ______________ generally includes:
project schedule model development, scheduling methodology and the scheduling tools to use when developing project schedule model, level of accuracy and units of measure, control thresholds, rules of performance measurements, reporting formats, process descriptions
project management plan
__________ involves identifying specific actions that will produce project deliverables in enough detail to determine resource/schedule estimates
defining activities
______________ - tabulation of activities to be included on project schedule
activity list
What does activity list typically include?
activity name, identifier/number, and brief description
________________ - provides more schedule-related information about each activity
activity attributes
Information should be added as soon as it's available to the _____________.
activity attributes
_____________ - significant event that normally has no duration
Milestone
___________ is useful for setting schedule goals and monitoring progress
milestones
What is required input to all other time management processes?
Activity information
The triple constraint reflects the basic order of processes in project time management.
Which are:
defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations
What is the goal of defining activities?
Project team will understand all work it must do
Inputs needed for __________________:
• Schedule management plan
• Activity list/attributes
• Project scope statement
• Milestone list
• Organizational process assets
sequencing activities
The _________ process involves:
Evaluating reasons for dependencies and the different types of dependencies
sequencing activities
_____________/________________ - sequencing of project activities and tasks
Dependency/relationship
What are the 3 basic dependencies among project activities?
mandatory dependencies, discretionary dependencies, and external dependencies
Hard logic is another name for?
Soft logic is another name for?
mandatory dependencies and discretionary dependencies
__________ dependency - essential in the nature of work being performed on a project.
mandatory
___________ dependency is defined by project team.
discretionary
____________ dependencies - relationships between project and non-project activities
external
What is the preferred technique for showing activity sequencing?
network diagrams
______________ - schematic display of the logical relationships among project activities and their sequences
Network diagram
What are 2 other common names for network diagrams?
project schedule network diagrams/PERT charts
What do the letters on a network diagram represent?
activities with dependencies that are required to complete project
Where do the activities on a network diagram come from?
WBS and activity definition process
What do the arrows on a network diagram represent?
activity sequencing/relationships between tasks
________ - starting and ending point of an activity
Node
• Networking diagramming technique
• Activities are represented by arrows and connected at points called nodes
• Used to illustrate sequence of activities

The above is describing what format of network diagram?
AOA (activity-on-arrow) or ADM (arrow diagramming method)
Does every activity on the network diagram must be completed in order to finish the project?
Yes
Is every item from WBS listed on network diagram?
No, but it can be
__________ - 2 or more activities follow a single node
__________ - 2 or more nodes precede a single node
Bursts, Merges
What's the network diagramming technique where boxes represent activities?
PDM precedence diagramming method
Which network diagram technique is particularly useful for visualizing certain types of time relationships?
PDM (precedence diagramming method)
What are the 4 types of dependencies/relationships between activities?
finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish
Task (B) can't start until task (A) finishes is an example of which task dependency?
finish-to-start (FS)
Task (B) can't start until task (A) starts is an example of which task dependency?
start-to-start (SS)
Task (B) can't finish until task (A) finishes is an example of which task dependency?
finish-to-finish (FF)
Task (B) can't finish until task (A) starts is an example of which task dependency?
start-to-finish (SF)
AOA only uses which dependency?
FS finish-to-start
Name 3 advantages of using PDM over AOA.
more popular
avoids use of dummy activities
shows different dependencies
What involves the quantity and type of resources (people, equipment, materials) that will be assigned to each activity?
estimating activity resources
What provides the basis for estimating activity durations?
estimating activity resources
____________________ - hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type
Resource breakdown structure
Give an example of what this definition means:
Duration includes actual amount of time worked on an activity plus elapsed time.
If someone asked an estimate of when you plan on finishing a book, you give an answer of 2 months instead of the 20 hours you would actually expect to spend reading the book.
Resources assigned to a task will affect the task duration estimate.
True/False
True
How does effort and duration differ?
effort is the hours of work and duration is the time estimate on a calendar
(effort for one day could be 80 hours if 10 people working on one thing)
_________ is entered into the Duration column
_________ is entered into the Work column
Duration, Effort
When estimating activity durations, what are 2 things to review?
• Past project information
• Accuracy of the duration estimates so far for the project
One of the most important considerations in making activity duration estimates is?
availability of resources, especially human resources
Duration estimates are provided as a ____________ or ________.
discrete number, three-point estimate
What does a 3-point estimate include?
optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimate
What project time management process determines the start and end dates of the project and its activities?
Developing the schedule
The goal of ______________ is to provide a basis for monitoring project progress for the time dimension of the project.
Developing the schedule
Outputs:
• Project schedule
• Schedule baseline
• Schedule data
• Project calendars
• Project management plan updates
• Project documents updates
The above of outputs of which project time management process?
Developing the schedule
What are 4 techniques/tools used to assist in schedule development?
Gantt chart, critical path analysis, critical chain scheduling, PERT analysis
____________ is a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities.
Also, their corresponding start and finish dates in calendar form.
Gantt chart
Black diamond on a Gantt represents what?
a milestone
Thick black bars with arrows at beginning and end on a Gantt chart represents what?
a summary task
Light gray bars on a Gantt chart represents what?
duration of a task
Arrows connecting symbols on a Gantt chart represents what?
relationship/dependency between the tasks
What is a major disadvantage of Gantt charts?
they often don't show dependencies
What should you use to make milestones meaningful?
SMART criteria
What does SMART of SMART criteria stand for?
specific
measurable
assignable
realistic
time-framed
Name the 5 key points of using project milestones.
1. define them early
2. keep them small and frequent
3. should be binary
4. set of milestones are all-encompassing
5. monitor critical path
Critical path method (CPM) is also called what?
critical path analysis
_____________ - Network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration; Helps you combat project schedule overruns
CPM critical path method
________________ - series of activities that determine the earliest time that the project can be completed
• It's the longest path through the network diagram
• Has the least amount of slack/float
Critical path
____________ - amount of time an activity may be delayed
• Without delaying a succeeding activity or the project finish date
Slack/float
What drives the completion date for the project?
Longest path
Path that contains the critical tasks
What are the 3 steps to calculate the critical path?
1. develop good network diagram
2. estimate the duration of each activity
3. add the durations for all activities on each path through network diagram

the longest path is critical path
Even though the critical path is the __________ path, it represents the ___________ time required to complete a project.
longest, shortest
True/False
Critical path method includes all critical paths.
False
Can a project have more than 1 critical path?
Yes
Can critical path for a project change as the project progresses?
Yes
What is a technique to help managers make schedule trade-offs?
determining free slack and total slack for each project activity
____________________ - amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediately following activities
free slack/float
____________________ - amount of time an activity can be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date
total slack/float
____________________ - earliest possible time an activity can start based on project network logic
early start date
____________________ - earliest possible time an activity can finish based on project network logic
early finish date
____________________ - latest possible time an activity might begin without delaying project finish date
late start date
____________________ - latest possible time an activity can be completed without delaying project finish date
late finish date
How do project managers calculate free/total slack?
doing a forward and backward pass through a network diagram
____________________ - determines the early start and early finish dates for each activity
forward pass
____________________ - determines the late start and late finish dates for each activity
backward pass
What are the 2 ways that project managers determine early/late start/finish dates?
by hand or software
Early start date for first network diagram activity is what?
Project start date
Every activity's early start date that doesn't have predecessors, has what early start date?
Project start date
If activity has predecessors, what's its early start date?
latest of the early finish dates from predecessors
Knowing amount of float/slack allows project managers to know what?
whether the schedule is flexible and how flexible it might be
Name 3 techniques for duration compression.
1. reduce duration of activities on critical path
2. crashing
3. fast tracking
Name 2 ways to reduce duration of activities on the critical path
1. allocate more resources to those activities
2. change the scope
__________ - making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain greatest amount of schedule compression for least incremental cost
Crashing
What's the main advantage and disadvantage of crashing?
Main advantage: shortens time needed to finish a project
Main disadvantage: increases total project costs
___________ - doing activities that you would normally do in sequence
Fast tracking
What's the main advantage and disadvantage of fast tracking?
Main advantage: shortens time needed to finish project
Main disadvantage: Can lengthen project
Critical chain scheduling is an application of what?
Theory of Constraints (TOC)
What is the Theory of Constraints based on?
metaphor of a chain and its weakest link
____________ - considers limited resources when creating a project schedule
• Includes buffers to protect the project completion date
Critical chain scheduling
Name 3 important concepts of critical chain scheduling.
1. availability of scarce resources
2. multitasking
3. time buffers
__________ - a resource works on more than 1 task at a time
multitasking
Name 3 problems that come from multitasking.
• Delay task completion
• Waste setup time
Increase in total duration
If something can go wrong, it will. What is this?
Murphy's Law
Critical chain uses what 2 types of buffers?
project buffer and feeding buffers
_________________ - Time added before tasks on critical chain if they're preceded by tasks that aren't on critical chain
feeding buffer
_____________ - a network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there's a high degree of uncertainty about the individual activity duration estimates.
PERT Program Evaluation and Review Technique
_____________ - duration estimates based on using optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates of activity durations
probabilistic time estimates
PERT uses ____________ instead of one specific/discrete duration estimate
probabilistic time estimates
What's the main advantage of PERT?
Addresses the risk associated with duration estimates
What are 2 disadvantages of PERT?
1. More work than CPM
2. There are better probabilistic methods for assessing schedule risk
The following goal belongs to which time management process?
Know the status of the schedule, influence the factors that cause schedule changes, determine that the schedule has changed, and manage changes when they occur
Controlling the Schedule
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