Project management midterm exam questions

St. Joseph’s College

HCM/OM 651 - Project Management

St. Joseph’s College

Spring 2019- HCM/OM 651

Midterm Exam

Spring 2019 Mid-Term Exam

Name ____________________________________

Fill in your answers on this doc and email it back to me – egillespie@sjcny.edu by next Saturday, March 9th . Any problem let me know. There are two parts; in Part 2 you only have to answer 5 of the 6 essay questions. Choose the ones you want; your answers are worth 10 points for each answer.

Part 1 Short answer questions: (50 points)

1. A ‘project’ is a _______________________ undertaking to deliver a (n) ________________________ .

2. List three characteristics of a project:

1) _______________________________________________________________________

2) _______________________________________________________________________

3) _______________________________________________________________________

3. A process is a group of _____________________ actions required to create a pre-specified product, service or result.

4. Project Management activities are divided into _________________ process groups.

5. Project teams in modern corporations are typically made up by assigning individuals to join teams in a __________________________ type organization.

6. A stakeholder is someone or a group who actually or potentially can _________________________ the performance of your project.

7. List 2 of the 4 steps that comprise the Stakeholder Management Plan.

1. ________________________

2. ________________________

8. List the three broad categories typically used to define different types of projects.

1) _______________________

2) _______________________

3) _______________________

9. When selecting which project is a better choice to perform, generally you should choose the project with the _______________________ NPV.

10. The most common decision tool used by larger businesses today for screening and selecting projects is a _________________________________ .

11. The Project Charter _____________________________ the project manager to initiate and lead the project and commit corporate resources.

12. The issuance of a Project Charter marks the end of the _________________ phase of the project life cycle.

13. Defining Project Scope should be an activity shared by the project team and the __________________________________ .

14. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a _____________________ outline that identifies the _____________________________ involved in a project.

15. The highest level of the WBS is the ________________________________.

16. The lowest level of the WBS is _______________________________.

17. The OBS or Organizational Breakdown Structure overlays the WBS and identifies the group responsible for performing ________________________ .

18. List the three constraints that make up the Iron Triangle of project management.

1) _____________________

2) _____________________

3) _____________________

19. The Iron Triangle theory should be discussed with the project client/sponsor to determine the ________________________ to be followed by the project team as the project is performed.

20. Activity networks are based the tasks defined in the WBS and link or arrange those activities according to ______________________ relationships.

21. The timing relationships that define when work activities start and finish are known as _______________ and _______________ .

22. The critical path is defined as the _____________________ path through the activity network that allows for the completion of all project-related activities.

23. The critical path is determined by performing a ________________ and ________________ pass calculation though the activity network.

24. Slack and Float are synonyms. (true or false) ___________________

25. Crashing the project means that the time to complete the project will be __________________.

Part 2 Essay questions: (50 Points)

Answer any 5 of the following 6 essay questions. Your answer should reflect your knowledge and understanding of the concepts and may include details that you feel important. You don’t need exhaustive answers; I’m just concerned that you understand the concepts.

1. Provide a reasonable definition of what a project is and explain how a project differs from other corporate initiatives or undertakings such as operations work.

2. Discuss the positive and negative influences that corporate culture may exert on a project’s potential for success.

3. Define a project stakeholder and describe the principle objective of a project’s Stakeholder Management Plan.

4. Define the goal of modern project selection procedures. What are the major components or typical criteria used by modern companies?

5. What is a Project Charter? What are its key components and why is a Project Charter considered to be so important.

6. ‘Scope’ is perhaps the single most important concept in project management. How would you explain the meaning and importance of the concept to someone unfamiliar with project management?

4

EMG 3/2019