Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan Fill in the Blank

Fill in the Blank Questions 36. A(n) ________ is an element in the project that consumes time. activity An activity is an element of the project that requires time. It may or may not require resources. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Easy 37. The activity time estimates used to build a project network are derived from ________. work packages A work package is defined independently of other work packages, has definite start and finish points, requires specific resources, includes technical specifications, and has cost estimates for the package. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Developing the Project Network Level: Easy 38. A ________ is an activity that has more than one predecessor. merge activity Merge activity is an activity that has more than one activity immediately preceding it (more than one dependency arrow flowing to it). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Easy 6-36 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 39. In a ________ the delaying of any activity will delay the completion of the project by the same amount. critical path Critical path means the path(s) with the longest duration through the network; if an activity on the path is delayed, the project is delayed the same amount of time. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Easy 40. Activities that can take place at the same time if the manager wishes them to are called ________. parallel activities Parallel activities are activities that can take place at the same time, if the manager wishes. However, the manager may choose to have parallel activities not occur simultaneously. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Easy 6-37 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 41. A (n) ________ represents a point in time when an activity is started or completed and does not consume time. event Event is used to represent a point in time when an activity is started or completed. It does not consume time. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Easy 42. A (n) ________ has more than one successor activity. burst activity Burst activity has more than one activity immediately following it (more than one dependency arrow flowing from it). AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Medium 43. The ________ approach to creating project networks has come to dominate most projects. AON or activity-on-node In practice, the activity-on-node (AON) method has come to dominate most projects. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Medium 6-38 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 44. In a project network, ________ (recycling through a set of activities) is not permitted. looping Looping is not allowed (in other words, recycling through a set of activities cannot take place). AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Constructing a Project Network Level: Easy 45. In a project network, ________ indicate precedence and flow. arrows The wide availability of personal computers and graphics programs has served as an impetus for use of the activity-on-node (AON) method (sometimes called the precedence diagram method). The dependencies among activities are depicted by arrows between the rectangles (boxes) on the AON network. The arrows indicate how the activities are related and the sequence in which things must be accomplished. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Activity-on-Node (AON) Fundamentals Level: Easy 46. The ________ method for creating project networks is sometimes called the Precedence Diagram Method. AON or activity-on-node The wide availability of personal computers and graphics programs has served as an impetus for use of the activity-on-node (AON) method (sometimes called the precedence diagram method). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Activity-on-Node (AON) Fundamentals Level: Easy 6-39 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 47. Activities that must occur immediately before a given activity are called ________ activities. predecessor Activities that must be completed immediately before an activity are called predecessor activities. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Activity-on-Node (AON) Fundamentals Level: Easy 48. Activities that must immediately follow a given activity are called ________ activities. successor Activities that must immediately follow an activity are called successor activities. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Activity-on-Node (AON) Fundamentals Level: Easy 49. Activities that can occur while an activity is taking place are called ________ activities. parallel or concurrent Activities that can occur while an activity is taking place is known as a concurrent or parallel relationship. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Activity-on-Node (AON) Fundamentals Level: Easy 6-40 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 50. The ________ calculates the earliest times that activities can be started or finished. forward pass Forward Pass describes how soon can the activity start? (early start—ES) and how soon can the activity finish? (early finish—EF). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Network Computation Process Level: Medium 51. The ________ calculates the critical path and determines how long an activity can be delayed without delaying the project. backward pass The backwards pass which activities represent the critical path (CP). This is the longest path in the network which, when delayed, will delay the project and how long can the activity be delayed? (slack or float—SL). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Network Computation Process Level: Medium 52. An activity is on the critical path if its ________ is the lowest in the network. total slack Total slack tells us the amount of time an activity can be delayed and yet not delay the project. Stated differently, total slack is the amount of time an activity can exceed its early finish date without affecting the project end date or an imposed completion date. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Network Computation Process Level: Medium 6-41 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 53. ________ can never be negative and applies only to the last activity in a single chain of activities. Free slack Free slack is the amount of time and activity can be delayed without delaying any immediately following (successor) activity. Or, free slack is the amount of time an activity can exceed its early finish date without affecting the early start date of any successor(s). Free slack can never be negative. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Network Computation Process Level: Medium 54. A(n) ________ is the minimum amount of time a dependent activity must be delayed to begin or end. lag A lag is the minimum amount of time a dependent activity must be delayed to begin or end. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Extended Network Techniques to Come Closer to Reality Level: Easy 55. In the ________ technique, an activity with a long duration is broken into smaller segments so that the following activities can begin sooner. laddering The assumption that all immediate preceding activities must be 100 percent complete is too restrictive for some situations found in practice. This restriction occurs most frequently when one activity overlaps the start of another and has a long duration. Under the standard finish-tostart relationship, when an activity has a long duration and will delay the start of an activity immediately following it, the activity can be broken into segments and the network drawn using a laddering approach so the following activity can begin sooner and not delay the work. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Extended Network Techniques to Come Closer to Reality Level: Medium 6-42 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 56. ____________ is defined as the difference between the EF of an activity and the ES of the activity that follows it. Free Slack (Float) See Figure 6.9 on Page 172. AACSB: Analytic Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Factors Influencing the Quality of Estimates Level: Medium 57. ___________ reflects the likelihood the original critical path(s) will change once the project is initiated. Sensitivity Sensitivity reflects the likelihood the original critical path(s) will change once the project is initiated. Sensitivity is a function of the number of critical or near-critical paths. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Network Computation Process Level: Medium 58. A ____________ lag exists if debug cannot begin until two days after coding has started and that coding must be completed four days before debug can be completed. combination More than one lag relationship can be attached to an activity. These relationships are usually start-to-start and finish-to-finish combinations tied to two activities. For example, debug cannot begin until two time units after coding has started. Coding must be finished four days before debug can be finished (see Figure 6.20 on page 181). AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Comprehension Learning Objective: Extended Network Techniques to Come Closer to Reality Level: Medium 6-43 Chapter 06 - Developing a Project Plan 59. The _________ lag is the most typical type of lag that is encountered in developing networks. finish to start The finish-to-start relationship represents the typical, generic network However, there are situations in which the next activity in a sequence must be delayed even when the preceding activity is complete. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Extended Network Techniques to Come Closer to Reality Level: Easy 60. A __________ activity is frequently used to identify the use of fixed resources or costs over a segment of the project. hammock Hammock activities are frequently used to identify the use of fixed resources or costs over a segment of the project. Typical examples of hammock activities are inspection services, consultants, or construction management services. A hammock activity derives its duration from the time span between other activities. For example, a special color copy machine is needed for a segment of a tradeshow publication project. A hammock activity can be used to indicate the need for this resource and to apply costs over this segment of the project. AACSB: Reflective Thinking Bloom's: Knowledge Learning Objective: Extended Network Techniques to Come Closer to Reality Level: Easy 6-44