Project Scheduling and Costing Flashcards

A project manager is compressing the schedule by adding more team members to critical path tasks. This technique is called:

Answer: Crashing

Crashing involves adding resources to critical path activities to shorten duration, typically at increased cost.

What is the Estimate at Completion (EAC) formula when future work is expected to be performed at the budgeted rate?

Answer: EAC = AC + (BAC – EV)

When future work will proceed at the planned rate, EAC = AC + (BAC – EV), which adds actual costs to the remaining budget.

Which scheduling output shows the planned start and finish dates for each project activity in a bar chart format?

Answer: Gantt chart

A Gantt chart is a bar chart displaying activities against a time scale with planned start and finish dates visually represented.

A mandatory dependency between activities is also known as a:

Answer: Hard logic

Hard logic (mandatory dependency) is inherent in the nature of the work and cannot be changed, such as testing software before deployment.

When using three-point estimation for PERT, what is the expected duration if optimistic = 4 days, most likely = 7 days, and pessimistic = 16 days?

Answer: 8 days

PERT expected duration = (O + 4M + P) / 6 = (4 + 28 + 16) / 6 = 48 / 6 = 8 days.

What is the primary purpose of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in cost estimation?

Answer: To decompose the project into manageable components for cost estimating

The WBS decomposes the project scope into work packages, which become the basis for cost estimating and budgeting.

Which cost estimation technique uses the actual cost of a similar past project as the basis for estimating?

Answer: Analogous estimating

Analogous estimating uses historical data from similar past projects as the basis for estimates and is less accurate but faster.