ME or MEng Master of Engineering Master of Engineering Management 5

Question 1

A program manager is using Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) with Earned Value Management (EVM). The Cost Performance Index (CPI) is 0.78. This means:

Accepted Answer

The project is getting $0.78 of value for every $1.00 spent

Answer

CPI = Earned Value / Actual Cost; a CPI of 0.78 means only 78 cents of planned work value is being produced per dollar spent, signaling a cost overrun trend.

Question 2

Which organizational structure gives functional managers the most authority over engineers assigned to a project?

Accepted Answer

Functional organization

Answer

In a functional organization, engineers report directly to their functional department head, who controls assignments, priorities, and performance reviews.

Question 3

A product development team uses Quality Function Deployment (QFD). The 'House of Quality' primarily maps:

Accepted Answer

Customer requirements (WHATs) to engineering characteristics (HOWs)

Answer

QFD's House of Quality translates the voice of the customer into specific, measurable engineering design targets, prioritizing features by customer importance.

Question 4

When managing a geographically distributed engineering team across multiple time zones, the most effective communication practice is to:

Accepted Answer

Establish overlapping core hours and rely heavily on asynchronous documentation

Answer

Defined overlap hours allow real-time collaboration for critical decisions while asynchronous tools (shared docs, recorded meetings) enable productive work outside those windows.

Question 5

The 'learning curve effect' in engineering production management predicts that:

Accepted Answer

Unit labor costs decrease by a fixed percentage each time cumulative volume doubles

Answer

Learning curve theory states that as cumulative production doubles, unit labor hours fall by a constant percentage (e.g., 80% curve = 20% reduction each doubling).

ME or MEng Master of Engineering Practice Test

ME or MEng Master of Engineering Practice Test

ME or MEng Master of Engineering Master of Engineering Management 5