Which technique involves doing activities in parallel that one would normally do in sequence quizlet?

(PMBOK) Project Management Body of Knowledge

the Project Management Institute (PMI) publishes this project management guide.

(PMO) project management office

interorganizational office that manage projects and programs.

brings about a unique product, service, or result and has definite beginning and ending dates.

work that is ongoing and repetitive.

a group of related projects that are managed together using coordinated processes and techniques.

the application of skills, knowledge, and management tools and techniques to fulfill the project requirements.

leads the project team and oversees all the work required to complete the project goals to the satisfaction of the stakeholders.

classic organizational structure with hierarchical reporting structures.

organizational structure where employees report to one functional manager and at least one project manager.

matrix organization type that emphasizes project work over functional duties.

matrix organization type that emphasizes functional work over project work.

matrix organization type that shares equal emphasis between projects and functional work.

project-based organization

organizational structure focused on projects.

team members work together at the same physical location.

formal justification for a project.

involves preparing the business case and identifying and analyzing the project stakeholders.

determines whether the project is a viable project, the probability of project success, and the viability of the product of the project.

anyone who has a vested interest in the project.

authorizes the project to begin and is someone who has the ability to assign funds and resources to the project.

formal method of project selection that helps managers make the best use of limited budgets and human resources; uses benefit measurement methods and constrained optimization models.

benefit measurement method

type of decision model that compares the benefits obtained from a variety of new project requests by evaluating them using the same criteria and comparing the results.

benefit measurement method that compares the cost to produce the product or service to the financial gain.

benefit measurement methods that uses a predefined list of weighted and scored criteria against which each project is ranked.

length of time it takes a company to recover the initial cost of producing the product or service of the project.

series of financial calculations, also known as cash flow techniques, which provide data on the overall financials of the project.

(DCF) discounted cash flow

compares the value of the future cash flows of the project to today's dollars.

similar to discounted cash flows, but total present value of the cash flows is deducted from the initial investment.

(IRR) internal rate of return

discount rate when the present value of the cash inflows equals the original investment.

constrained optimization models

decision models using complex principles of statistics and other mathematical concepts to assess a proposed project.

decision making that relies on the knowledge of those with expertise on the requested subject matter.

general management skills or soft skills

skills that include leadership, communication, problem solving, negotiation, organization, and time management.

identify the project, validate the project, prepare project charter

three requirements to complete pre-project setup.

grouping of project phases in a sequential order from the beginning of the project to the close.

deliverable or critical success factor

an output or result that must be completed and approved before moving to the next phase of the project.

initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing

five process groups that define project management.

formal authorization for the project to begin.

process group that includes all activities that lead up to the final authorization to begin a project, starting with the original project request.

primary output of the initiating process.

process group where project plans are developed that will be used throughout the project to direct, monitor, and control work results.

primary output of the planning process.

process group where the work of the project is performed.

monitoring and controlling

process group where activities are performed to analyze the progress of the project and determine whether there are variances from the project plan.

process group that documents the final delivery and acceptance of the project.

product description or high-level requirements

explains the major characteristics of a product and describes the relationship between the business need and the product.

requirements that describe how the business objectives of the project will be met.

defines what the product of the project will do by focusing on how the end user will interact with the product.

technical requirements or nonfunctional requirements

product characteristics needed for the product to perform the functional requirements.

(RFP) request for proposal

document that is sent out to potential vendors requesting them to provide a proposal on a product or service.

a description of what product or service the vendor will provide and is generally included as part of a contract.

person who fully understands, believes in, and espouses the benefits of the project to the organization.

experts who will be performing the work associated with the project.

recipient of the product or service created by the project.

person who directly uses the product produced as a result of an IT project.

(COTS) commercial off-the-shelf

a software application that is purchased from a reseller, vendor, or manufacturer.

the complete array of business units within an organization.

provides formal approval for the project to begin and authorizes the project manager to apply resources, signed by project sponsor.

major events in a project that are used to measure progress.

anything that either restricts or dictates the actions of the project team.

events, actions, concepts, or ideas you believe to be true.

time, budget, and quality.

pose either opportunities or threats to the project.

contains problem statement, deliverables, milestones, costs, assumptions, constraints, risks, stakeholders, and project description.

process of breaking project deliverables down into smaller, manageable components of work so that work packages can be planned and estimated.

starting the next phase of the project before the prior phase is completed in order to shorten the project schedule.

provides the employees performing the work of the project.

includes all the components that make up the product or service of the project and the results the project intends to produce.

describes how the project team will define project scope, verify the work of the project, and manage and control scope.

provides a common understanding of the project by documenting the project objectives and deliverables.

includes a product description, key deliverables, success and acceptance criteria, key performance indicators, exclusions, assumptions, and constraints.

breaks the project deliverables down into smaller components from which you can estimate task durations, assign resources, and estimate costs.

premier meeting that includes sponsor, key project team members, and key stakeholders to discuss the project charter.

minor changes or small additions that are made to the project outside of a formal scope change process.

the process of defining the scope management plan, the scope statement, and the WBS and WBS dictionary.

acceptance criteria or success criteria

the process and the criteria that will be used to determine whether the deliverables are acceptable and satisfactory.

(KPIs) key performance indicators

helps determine whether the project is on track and progressing as planned.

anything that isn't included as a deliverable or work of the project, documented to prevent misunderstandings.

order of magnitude estimate

high-level estimate of the time and cost of a project based on the actual cost and duration of a similar project.

approval on this document should be required before any project work is undertaken.

(WBS) work breakdown structure

a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines all the work of the project.

(WBS) work breakdown structure

the basis for estimating activity duration, assigning resources to activities, estimating work effort, and creating a budget.

the lowest WBS level where resources, time, and cost estimates are determined.

numeric identifiers usually associated with the corporation's chart of accounts, which are used to track costs by category.

where the WBS levels and work component descriptions are documented including code of account identifiers, responsible party, estimates, criteria for acceptance, etc.

taking the work packages from the WBS and breaking them down into assignable tasks.

a list of all activities required to complete the work of the project that also includes an identifier code and the WBS code it's associated with.

the process of identifying dependency relationships between project activities and sequencing them in proper order.

relationships between activities.

dependency defined by the type of work being performed, and one activity is dependent on another activity.

dependency defined by process or procedure, and may include best-practice techniques.

type of dependency where a relationship between a project task and a factor outside the project, such as weather conditions, drives the scheduling of that task.

a task on the network diagram that occurs before another task.

a task on the network diagram that occurs after another task.

finish-to-start, start-to-start, start-to-finish, and finish-to-finish

name the four types of logical relationships.

in this logical relationship, the successor activity cannot begin until the predecessor activity has completed.

in this logical relationship, the predecessor activity must start before the successor activity can finish.

in this logical relationship, the predecessor activity must finish before the successor activity finishes.

in this logical relationship, the predecessor activity depends on starting before the successive activity can start.

depicts the project activities and the interrelationships among these activities.

(PDM) precedence diagramming method

common network diagram that uses boxes to represent the project activities and arrows to connect the boxes and show the dependencies.

(ADM) arrow diagramming method

network diagram that uses arrows representing project activities, and nodes as the connecting points between the activities.

(CDM) conditional diagramming method

network diagram used to show activities that loop or repeat throughout the project, or show activities not in sequential order.

the process of estimating the time to complete each item on the activity list.

expert judgment, analogous or top-down estimating, parametric, three-point, and PERT

name five of the most common methods for estimating activity duration.

analogous estimating or top-down estimating

estimate model based on similar activities from a previous project.

estimate model that relies on people most familiar with the work to create the estimate.

estimate model that is a quantitatively based, multiplying the quantity of work by the rate.

estimate model that is an average of the most likely estimate, the optimistic estimate, and the pessimistic estimate.

(optimistic + pessimistic + most likely) / 3

a three-point estimate is calculated using this formula.

(PERT) Program Evaluation and Review Technique

activity duration estimate that is similar to a three-point estimate, but uses a weighted average or "expected value."

(optimistic + pessimistic + (4 * most likely)) / 6

a PERT estimate is calculated using this formula.

involves establishing a start date and a finish date for each of the project activities.

(CPM) critical path method

schedule development method that determines a single early and late start date, early and late finish date, and the float for each activity on the project.

the longest full path through the project.

amount of time the early start of a task may be delayed without delaying the finish date of the project.

activities with zero float are considered this.

process of working from the left to the right of a network diagram in order to calculate early start and early finish dates for each activity.

calculating late start and late finish dates by starting at the end of a network diagram and working back through each path until reaching the start of the network diagram.

calculated by subtracting the early start from the late start or the early finish from the late finish for each activity.

use of techniques such as fast-tracking or crashing to shorten the planned duration of a project or to resolve schedule slippage.

a schedule compression technique that adds resources to the project to reduce the time it takes to complete the project.

a schedule compression technique performing two tasks in parallel that were previously scheduled to start sequentially.

tracks the scheduled dates and actual completion dates for the major milestones.

charts that typically display tasks using a horizontal bar chart format across a timeline.

milestone charts or Gantt charts

name the two most common ways project schedules are displayed.

the final approved version of the project schedule that includes start and finish dates, and will be used throughout the project to monitor progress.

the process of identifying what people or groups need to receive information regarding your project, what information each group needs, and how the information will be distributed.

how much time project managers should spend communicating.

sender-message-receiver model or the basic communication model

how all communication exchange occurs, no matter what format it takes.

network communication model

shows the lines of communication that exist between any number of project participants.

formula for calculating lines of communication, where "n" is used to represent the number of participants.

include phone calls and emails to and from team members, conversations in the hallway, and impromptu meetings.

include project kickoff meetings, team status meetings, written status reports, team building sessions, or other planned sessions.

typically includes the project sponsor, functional managers, customers, and end users.

stakeholder engagement plan

helps identify key messages to convey to each stakeholder during project communications.

determines what resources are needed for the project, including human, equipment, and material.

the people who have the experience and skills needed to complete project activities.

resources such as servers, specialized test equipment, or additional PCs that are required for a project.

a catchall category of project resources that includes software, utilities, project supplies, or other consumable goods.

resource requirements document

contains a description of each of the resources needed, for each of the work packages on the WBS.

resource pool description

a listing of all the job titles within a company or department with a brief description of the job; may also list the number of people currently employed in each job title.

(RAM) resource assignment matrix

a resource chart that defines the WBS identifier, the resource type needed for the WBS element, and the quantity of resources needed for the task.

type of RAM that describes the resources needed for a task and their role for that task using the following descriptors: responsible, accountable, consult, or inform.

involves defining team member roles and responsibilities, establishing an appropriate structure for team reporting, acquiring the right team members, and bringing them on the project as needed for the appropriate length of time.

organizational planning and staff acquisition

the two components of human resources planning.

process of addressing factors that may impact how to manage a project team, defining roles and responsibilities for project team members, identifying how the project team will be organized, and documenting a staffing management plan.

labor-union agreements, organizational structure, and economic conditions

name three potential constraints when performing human resources planning.

these organizational planning factors include elements such as personnel policies, location and logistics of personnel, technical factors, and interpersonal factors.

roles and responsibilities document

document that lists each group or individual team member on the project and their responsibilities.

project organization chart

chart that provides a snapshot of who is working on the project, and also shows the reporting structure.

documents when and how human resources will be added to and released from the project team and what they will be working on while they are part of the team.

What is the sequencing technique used to create a project schedule network diagram?

A technique to create project schedule network diagrams is the precedence diagramming method which we are explaining in this article (incl. example).

Is a sequence of activities that determine the earliest date by which a project can be completed?

The critical path is the series of activities that determine the earliest time by which a project can be completed.

Which of the following diagrams is the preferred technique for showing activity sequencing?

Network diagrams are the preferred technique for showing activity sequencing. A network diagram is a schematic display of the logical relationships among, or sequencing of, project activities.

What is the most common type of dependency between activities?

What is the most common type of a dependency between activities? The most common relationship is the Finish to Start relationship. It is pretty logical as a predecessor task A must be finished before successor task B can start.