PMI-001 Q&A – Section 4: Time Management (111-120)

Section 4: Time Management

QUESTION 111
Your boss says that in order to get your new product to market sooner, the project must be completed four months earlier. However, he does not want to shorten the schedule if the project cost will go up more than US $22,000. Provided with the chart, which critical path activity(s) would you crash?

111
A. Activity D
B. Activities A and F
C. Activities A and H
D. Activity C
Answer: C
Explanation:
Simply pick the option with the lowest cost.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 206

QUESTION 112
You need to shorten the duration of this project by five months. Included in your solution, based on the chart, would be to crash activity C. However, further analysis reveals that this activity has two days of float. What should you do?

112
A. Crash activities F and H.
B. Crash activity D.
C. Crash activities D and H.
D. Crash activity C.
Answer: A
Explanation:
Choice A is the least expensive choice of the critical path activities. Activity C (choice D) is not on the critical path. Since it has float, crashing it would not shorten the project.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 196-206

QUESTION 113
Your project is currently scheduled to take 117 months. Based on the chart, you could crash the project by five months at a cost of US $20,000. How long will the project take if you select this option?

113
A. 55 months
B. 25 months
C. 112 months
D. 117 months
Answer: C
Explanation:
The duration of the critical path is 117 months, less the five months saved, resulting in a new duration of 112 months. NOTE: You did not need to refer to the chart. Don’t do more work than you need to.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 206

QUESTION 114
Based on the network diagram in the chart, the resource working on activity G is replaced with another resource with 50 percent of the productivity of the previous resource. How long will this project take?

114
A. 44
B. 51
C. 52
D. 36
Answer: C
Explanation:
Since the resource is 50 percent as productive, he will take twice as long to do the same work. This makes the duration of activity G 16 instead of 8 and increases the critical path by 8 to a total of 52.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 196-204

QUESTION 115
As project progress is tracked according to the project management plan, the project manager discovers that final deliverables will be completed two months after the deliverable dates imposed by management. What should the project manager do?
A. Look for options with stakeholders using some combination of scaling back work, reevaluating discretionary dependencies, and adding resources.
B. Evaluate the impact on the company of completing this project late.
C. Drive the project team to work faster to make up for lost time.
D. Recalculate the project schedule and distribute it according to the communications management plan.
Answer: A
Explanation:
The evaluation of the impact of the project being late on other aspects of the company (choice B) is not the project manager’s job. Working faster (choice C) may not be possible and will impact other projects and other work. Redistributing the schedule (choice D) does not solve the problem, it just improves communication of the problem. Look again at the words in choice A. Taking such action may not be the best way to handle the problem, but it is the best choice of those presented.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 205

QUESTION 116
You are managing the project when you discover an estimated completion date will occur after the desired date. What should you do FIRST?
A. Add resources to the project.
B. Evaluate the possibility of doing more activities in parallel.
C. Negotiate for more time.
D. Explain to the customer that the project cannot be done on time.
Answer: B
Explanation:
You don’t want to say that you are unable to meet the date (choice D) until after you have evaluated both crashing and fast tracking the project. Here the answer is to fast track, or do more activities in parallel (choice B).
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 205

QUESTION 117
Which of the following does NOT need to be done if there is a major delay on a noncritical path activity?
A. Investigate the delay.
B. Reevaluate which path is critical.
C. Change the project schedule.
D. Review the float time for the activity.
Answer: C
Explanation:
You do not necessarily need to change the schedule, unless, of course, the delay is more than the activity’s float.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 197

QUESTION 118
During its first winter, a multi-year construction project experienced weather-related schedule delays that all the local parties involved described as typical for this area. What should the project manager do to integrate this information into the project schedule?
A. Lengthen the estimated activity duration for all activities scheduled to occur the following winter.
B. Reevaluate the schedule to determine the potential impact.
C. Leave the current project schedule unchanged and work the issues as they arise next year.
D. Make changes to the project management plan in order to maintain the current project schedule.
Answer: B
Explanation:
Reevaluating the project schedule work calendar will provide the most reasonable and fastest estimate of the potential future weather-related schedule impact, allowing the project manager to perform a reasonable risk analysis of the potential problem.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 215

QUESTION 119
Originally a project has seven activities: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Activities A, B, and D can start anytime.
Activity A takes 3 weeks, activity B takes 5 weeks, and activity D takes 11 weeks. Activities A and B must be completed before activity C can start. Activity C takes 6 weeks to complete. Activities B, C, and D must be completed before activity E can start, and activity E takes 2 weeks. Activity F can start as soon as activity C completes and has a duration of 4 weeks. Activity G takes 3 weeks and cannot start until activity E is completed. Activities F and G must be completed for the project to be completed. However, during project executing, a dependency was discovered between activities E and F. What is the BEST thing to do?
A. Tell management that the project will take longer than 18 weeks.
B. Redo schedule development.
C. Call a team meeting and determine if crashing or fast tracking are possible solutions to meeting the original schedule.
D. Call a meeting of stakeholders and communicate schedule risks.
Answer: B
Explanation:
You do not know if you have a problem until you reexamine the detailed schedule, including the new information, and see whether or not the original schedule can still be met.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 214

QUESTION 120
The sponsor of the project you are managing asks you to compress the schedule. Which of the following is CORRECT?
A. Crashing always shortens the timeline but often increases risk.
B. Fast tracking often results in rework, and crashing often results in increased cost.
C. Crashing is only a viable alternative if earned value analysis indicates that the project is ahead of schedule and under budget.
D. Fast tracking will result in fewer parallel activities than crashing the project.
Answer: B
Explanation:
Crashing often results in increased cost, and fast tracking usually increases the likelihood of rework. Both crashing and fast tracking are methods of schedule compression.
Source: PMP® Exam Prep Page: 205, 206