CST Time Management & Resource Allocation 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project schedule shows a Schedule Performance Index (SPI) of 0.75. This means the project is:
- 25% ahead of schedule
- 25% behind schedule — only 75 cents of work done per $1 planned (Correct answer)
- 75% complete
- Spending 25% more than budgeted
Correct answer: 25% behind schedule — only 75 cents of work done per $1 planned
SPI = EV / PV; an SPI of 0.75 means only 75% of the planned work has been earned, indicating the project is behind schedule.
Question 2: In resource allocation, 'leveling' differs from 'smoothing' primarily because leveling:
- Only shifts activities within their available float
- May extend the project end date to resolve overallocations (Correct answer)
- Increases resource availability to meet demand
- Is applied only to non-critical activities
Correct answer: May extend the project end date to resolve overallocations
Resource leveling may change the project end date by delaying activities beyond their float, whereas smoothing respects the current end date.
Question 3: A scheduler is managing a project where one activity has a total float of -5 days. The MOST appropriate immediate response is to:
- Accept the negative float as normal schedule variance
- Compress the schedule through crashing or fast-tracking to eliminate the negative float (Correct answer)
- Remove the activity from the schedule
- Reassign resources from other projects
Correct answer: Compress the schedule through crashing or fast-tracking to eliminate the negative float
Negative float indicates the project end date will be missed; schedule compression techniques must be applied to recover the lost time.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of a resource breakdown structure (RBS) in project scheduling?
- To identify the critical path of a project
- To categorize and organize project resources by type and category (Correct answer)
- To calculate the total cost of resources
- To assign resources to work packages
Correct answer: To categorize and organize project resources by type and category
The RBS is a hierarchical structure that organizes resources by category and type, facilitating resource planning and allocation.
Question 5: Which scheduling technique uses three-point estimates and calculates the standard deviation of the critical path to predict schedule risk?
- Monte Carlo simulation
- Critical chain method
- PERT analysis (Correct answer)
- Earned value management
Correct answer: PERT analysis
PERT uses optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates to calculate expected durations and uses standard deviation to quantify schedule uncertainty.
Question 6: A project team member reports they are working at 120% allocation for three consecutive weeks. According to resource management best practices, this situation is MOST likely to cause:
- Higher productivity and faster task completion
- Burnout, errors, and reduced long-term productivity (Correct answer)
- Improved schedule performance index
- Lower project costs due to overtime savings
Correct answer: Burnout, errors, and reduced long-term productivity
Sustained over-allocation beyond 100% leads to fatigue, quality issues, and eventual productivity decline, increasing schedule and cost risk.
Question 7: The critical chain method (CCM) differs from the critical path method (CPM) primarily by:
- Ignoring resource constraints entirely
- Removing individual activity buffers and placing them as project and feeding buffers (Correct answer)
- Using only one-point estimates instead of three-point estimates
- Focusing exclusively on cost rather than schedule
Correct answer: Removing individual activity buffers and placing them as project and feeding buffers
CCM consolidates individual safety buffers into strategically placed project buffers and feeding buffers, protecting the constraint path.
CST Time Management & Resource Allocation 4
A project schedule shows a Schedule Performance Index (SPI) of 0.75.
This means the project is: