CPE Project Planning & Scheduling Techniques 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary purpose of a 'Schedule Variance (SV)' in Earned Value Management?
- To measure cost efficiency of work performed
- To quantify the schedule deviation in monetary terms between earned and planned value (Correct answer)
- To forecast the final project completion date
- To determine the remaining budget available for the project
Correct answer: To quantify the schedule deviation in monetary terms between earned and planned value
SV = EV − PV and measures how much ahead or behind schedule the project is in dollar terms; a negative SV indicates the project is behind schedule.
Question 2: In a project with multiple calendars, which calendar type defines working and non-working periods for the entire project?
- Resource Calendar
- Task Calendar
- Project Calendar (Correct answer)
- Shift Calendar
Correct answer: Project Calendar
The Project Calendar sets the default working periods (days, hours, holidays) for the overall project, while resource and task calendars can override it at finer levels.
Question 3: When a scheduler identifies a 'Dangling Activity' in a CPM network, it means:
- The activity has a duration of zero and represents a milestone
- The activity has no predecessor or no successor (other than start/finish nodes) (Correct answer)
- The activity is on the critical path and has no float
- The activity has resource conflicts with other activities
Correct answer: The activity has no predecessor or no successor (other than start/finish nodes)
A dangling activity is one that either has no predecessor (other than project start) or no successor (other than project finish), indicating a logic gap in the network.
Question 4: The 'To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI)' measures:
- The cost efficiency achieved on work completed to date
- The cost efficiency required on remaining work to meet a budget goal (Correct answer)
- The schedule efficiency needed to complete the project on time
- The variance between planned and actual cost at completion
Correct answer: The cost efficiency required on remaining work to meet a budget goal
TCPI = (BAC − EV) / (BAC − AC) and indicates the efficiency required for the remaining work to complete within the original budget.
Question 5: Which scheduling concept describes a point in time that marks the completion of a significant project event and has zero duration?
- Hammock Activity
- Summary Task
- Milestone (Correct answer)
- Work Package
Correct answer: Milestone
A Milestone is a zero-duration point in the schedule that marks the completion of a major deliverable or phase, used for progress tracking and reporting.
Question 6: When performing 'Schedule Compression' through 'Crashing,' which activities should be crashed first?
- Activities with the most free float
- Critical path activities with the lowest cost-slope (least cost to compress) (Correct answer)
- Activities assigned to the most available resources
- Near-critical path activities with the highest risk rating
Correct answer: Critical path activities with the lowest cost-slope (least cost to compress)
Crashing should target critical path activities with the lowest cost-slope first to achieve maximum schedule compression at the least additional cost.
Question 7: A project schedule 'Baseline' is formally defined as:
- The most recent updated schedule reflecting current progress
- The approved version of the schedule used to measure and report performance (Correct answer)
- The original schedule prepared during project initiation
- The schedule produced after resource leveling is applied
Correct answer: The approved version of the schedule used to measure and report performance
The schedule baseline is the formally approved version of the project schedule that serves as the reference point for measuring and reporting schedule performance.
CPE Project Planning & Scheduling Techniques 5
What is the primary purpose of a 'Schedule Variance (SV)' in Earned Value Management?