Week 2 group assignment
• Assignment must be submitted only in word document over email on or before 6 Oct 2019 (Sun)
• Late submissions would carry 10 marks penalty (would be subtracted from actual)
• Submissions after 9 Oct 2019 (Wed) are not considered for evaluation.
• For mathematical questions, steps are important and carry marks. Pl highlight final answers
• Assignment file naming convention: Group Name_Week#_assignment. Coordinator shall email
assignment to me with members copied.
• If the answers found copied / lend copied by other groups, no marks shall be given
QI Choose one BEST answer [7 marks]
One mark for each right answer. No negative marking.
Caution: more options may look right, but judiciously choose the best.
# Question
1 Senior management has called you in for a meeting to review the progress of your project. You
have been allocated 15 minutes to report progress and discuss critical issues. Which of the
following would be BEST to carry with you in this case?
A. Milestone chart
B. The project network diagram
C. An expert from each functional area of the project so that all questions may be answered
D. Project status reports from your team members
2 The senior management tells you “The last project we did this cost us almost 5 million dollars”.
What estimation method is being used?
A. Delphi estimate
B. Analogous estimating
C. Parametric estimating
D. Expert Judgment
3 Which is untrue about critical path?
A.The minimum time to complete the project
B. The longest path in the project network
C. Can contain only critical activities
D. Any valid sequence of critical activities from start to end would provide a critical path
E. The path with maximum float
4 Given below data for a part of project network, find the lead / lag for X-Y relationship:
o Activity X, Early start (ES) = 9, Duration = 10 days
o Activity Y, Duration = 20 days, Early Start = 17
o Activity X is the lone predecessor to Activity Y
o Activity Y is related to activity X by Finish to start relationship
A. Lead of 2
B. Lag of 2
C. No lead / Lag
D. Data insufficient to find
5 Which is untrue about Cost baseline?
A. It is cumulative planned cost curve
B. It includes management reserve
C. It is used to get funding requirements
D. It includes contingency reserve
6 A Project is estimated to take 12 months with a budget of 10 million $.
After 6 months, against planned value of 5 million $, the actual spend was 6 million $, work is
50% overall complete and the revised cost forecast is 12 million.
Find out the estimate to complete (ETC)?
A. 4 million $
B. 5 million $
C. 6 million $
D. 7 million $
7 The key use EVM
A.Provide two quantitative metrics for project performance measurement
B. Provide two qualitative metrics for project performance measurement
C. To determine Milestones
D. To do cost & time forecast
E. A & C
F. B & D
G. A & D
Q II Multiple choice questions [8 marks]
Each right selection would fetch one mark. No negative marking.
Only first required selections would be evaluated.
Caution: more options may look right, but judiciously choose the right options.
# Question
I Identify 4 wrong statements regarding project network diagram and CPM (Critical Path Method)
A. In activity on node diagram, the activities are represented in the node and relationships in
arrows (edges)
B. Activity on node diagram can show only FS (Finish to Start) relationship
C. CPM is the schedule development and schedule management tool
D. Project float is the safety buffer time without impacting project end date
E. Free float is the safety buffer in an activity without impacting ES (Early Start) of successor
activities
F. Total float of an activity is the difference between late finish to early start
G. Longest path in the network is the minimum time to complete the project
H. Typically, CPM uses ES (Early Start) and EF (Early Finish) dates for scheduling
I. A network can only have one longest path (Critical path)
J. Any path whose length is closer to longest path is called ‘near’ critical path, which all practical
purposes to be treated at par with critical path
K. Negative float in an project network indicates infeasible schedule
2 Identify 4 wrong statements regarding Earned Value management
A. Earned value represents completed work worth
B. The difference between Earned Value and Planned value provide the cost variance
C. The difference between Earned Value and Actual cost provide the schedule variance
D. The CPI & SPI values closer to one is fine; The more the values deviate from 1 needs
investigation
E. SV & CV values clearly indicate the seriousness of the performance problems
F. Negative SV indicates SPI < 1
G. Positive CV indicates CPI > 1
H. TCPI = 1.5 indicates, currently the project is saving on cost
I. EAC = AC + ETC
Q III Short answer questions [15 marks]
Avoid copy paste from Web. Form your own answer in crisp.
Pl highlight key words.
# Question Marks
1 Define and explain the applications of total float & free float 4
2 Explain the weakness(es) of CPM and explain how CCM overcomes it (not exceeding one page) 6
3 Define the resource optimization tools and state when it would be applied 5
Q IV [15 marks]
CPM 1:
Activity Duration Predecessor Men / day
(Days) (Finish to Start)
A 2 Start 1
B 3 A 2
C 4 A 3
D 2 A 1
E 4 B 2
F 2 C 3
G 4 C 3
H 4 D 5
I 2 F 1
J 5 G 1
K 3 I 1
L 2 H,J,K 1
M 3 E 1
N 2 L,M 1
Finish N
a) Draw the activity on node diagram
b) Find total float, free float, minimum project duration and critical path(s)
c) Smooth the peak(s) between the day 5-8 (preferably use graph sheet, if drawing by hand and embed the
image in the document)
Note: It is enough to only draw the pre-smoothing histogram. Action(s) to reduce peak can be written in text.
QV [5 marks]
Path Standard Deviation 1:
All numbers are in days
Activity Optimistic Most likely Pessimistic
A 5 8 11
B 3 5 8
C 8 13 16
Find expected duration, standard deviation for each activity and the path A-B-C
What duration shall be committed to Client?
Q VI [8 marks]
EVM 1:
An airport construction project is estimated to cost USD 2 Billion in 36 months. After a year, the baseline and
actuals are given below.
Figures are in Million USD. Figures are in cumulative.
Quarter -> Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
PV 400 500 700 1000 1300
EV 350 490 725 1200
AC 350 500 750 1300
a) Find current SV & CV
b) Find current SPI & CPI
c) What is your inference from current SPI & CPI?
d) Find cost & time forecast, assuming current performance would continue
e) Find cost & time forecast, assuming cost performance would improve by 10% and time performance would
be down by 10%?
Q VII [8 marks]
EVM 2:
The project contains 4 activities A, B, C & D. The overall duration of the project is 12 months and below is the
status after two quarters:
Activity Budgeted Man- Planned Man- Actual Man- % of completion
hours hours hours against Plan
A 200 100 120 90
B 400 250 250 100
C 300 200 180 90
D 100 25 0 0
Project 1000 575 550
a) Find earned value for each activity and for the project
b) Find overall completion of the project
c) Find current SPI & CPI
d) What is your inference from current SPI & CPI?
e) Find cost forecast, assuming current performance would continue
Q VIII [9 marks]
Milestone trend chart 1:
Draw milestone trend chart for below project with 4 milestones. The project performance review happens
every alternate week.
• Milestone A: Original target is week 8. Found slipped by 1 week from at second review and got it
recovered in the very next review.
• Milestone B: Original target is week 12. Found slipped by 1 week starting review 3 till review 6. Got it
recovered by 1 week in review 7.
• Milestone C: Original target is week 16. Forecast was 17, 18 & 19 in review period 4, 6 & 8 respectively
• Milestone D: Original target is week 22. Forecast was 23 & 24 in review 3 & 9 respectively
Preferably use graph sheet, if drawing by hand and embed the image in the document
