PM Test Center

As a senior project manager, Jim is asked to review the work of other project managers in the organization. Wendy, a fairly new project manager, is working with her team to sequence activities. One thing Jim should ensure is that Wendy has already performed the __________ process.

A. Develop Schedule
B. Estimate Activity Resources
C. Define Activities
D. Estimate Activity Durations

Answer: C. Define Activities
Although all of the choices are time management processes, only the Define Activities process precedes the Sequence Activities process. The primary output of Define Activities is an activity list, which a project manager must obviously have in order to sequence activities.

The intern who will be verifying address labels will not be able to check them until they have obviously been printed. However, you recognize that she does not have to wait until all of the labels have been printed; rather she can begin shortly after the printing of the labels begin. This is an example of:

A. Finish-to-start
B. Finish-to-finish
C. Start-to-start
D. Start-to-finish

Answer: C. Start-to-start
The start of successor is determined by the start of the predecessor. Translation: when labels start printing out, the intern can start verifying them. You may even add a little lag (i.e. delay) if you wish.

You are planning a series of programming tasks and you know that your quality engineers will be testing the code after the programmers have completed the code. This is an example of:

A. Finish-to-start
B. Finish-to-finish
C. Start-to-start
D. Start-to-finish

Answer: A. Finish-to-start
In this example, programmers must complete the code before the testing begins. As a result, there is a finish-to-start relationship. The predecessor determines when the successor can begin, in other words, the testing cannot start until the programmers have finished the code.

Although you got your project schedule approved prior to starting it, your client just moved the target finish date up two days. In order to finish the project two days earlier, which of the following can you apply?

A. Add two days of lag to the critical path
B. Add two days of lag to a non-critical path
C. Add two days of lead to the critical path
D. Add two days of lead to a non-critical path

Answer: C. Add two days of lead to the critical path
Lag is a forced waiting period and therefore, would push the project out. Adding lead, also known as negative lag, would do the opposite — overlap related tasks, which is what you will need to do in this example to finish sooner. However, only adding lead to the critical path would affect the end date. Although you can add lead anywhere, putting it on a non-critical path would not allow you to finish any sooner.

After making a small change to your project schedule, you realize now that you have two critical paths. Therefore, the project:

A. Will cost less
B. Must be modified to allow only one critical path
C. Has increased risk
D. Cannot be accomplished

Answer: C. Has increased risk
A critical path is the longest path (and the shortest amount of time possible) it takes to complete the project. If you have two critical paths, that means you have less flexibility in your schedule. As a result, you have increased risk. You can actually have as many critical paths as necessary but of course, the more you have the riskier the project becomes.

One disadvantage of using Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) is that:

A. Only finish-to-start relationships can be used.
B. Negative lag is not shown.
C. There can only be one critical path.
D. Project duration is limited to the total of all dummy activities.

Answer: A. Only finish-to-start relationships can be used.
A drawback of AOA is that only finish-to-start relationships are possible.

__________ is an activity sequencing technique that uses arrows to represent activities.

A. Critical chain method
B. Activity-on-Arrow (AOA)
C. Activity-on-Node (AON)
D. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)

Answer: B. Activity-on-Arrow (AOA)
In an AOA, activities are arrows and nodes are used to connect them.

__________ is an activity sequencing technique that uses nodes to represent activities.

A. Project management software
B. Activity-on-Arrow (AOA)
C. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
D. Critical chain method

Answer: C. Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
In a PDM, also known as AON, activities are nodes and arrows are used to show relationships.

For your new software project, you decide you need to use a Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT) network diagram. When asked by an intern why you chose to use GERT, you explain that one of the main advantages is that you can:

A. Be more accurate than using a PERT
B. Use hammock activities
C. Assign multiple resources
D. Create loops between tasks

Answer: D. Create loops between tasks
GERT allows for conditions or loops between tasks. For projects with iterative tasks, GERT will often tell a better story.

Resource leveling typically results in a:

A. Project cost overrun
B. Project cost savings
C. Project duration longer than the baseline
D. Project duration shorter than the baseline

Answer: C. Project duration longer than the baseline
When resource leveling, work scheduled for resources that are over-allocated will be spread over a longer period of time. As a result, this smoothing out process will usually cause the project to take longer.