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2. Project Scope Management
¥ Define the term project scope management.
o Processes to identify and define the work and deliverables required
¥ Which aspects of scope are important for a project?
o Define end state of project to achieve clarity
o Detailed description of project and product (for example by WBS)
o Inclusion and exclusion of requirements
o Contribution to strategic goals
o Communicating scope (importance of project)
¥ What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
o Deliverable-orientated hierarchical decomposition of work to be executed
o Identification and definition of all work required
o Group of work packages lead to several levels of accuracy à most detailed level is activity
¥ What is an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and how is it linked to the WBS?
o Displays organizational units responsible for each work elements of WBS
¥ Define the term activity list and explain how it is created.
o Activity is lowest level of WBS with detailed information about work to be done
o Activity list contains all activities to be done to fulfil project objectives
3. Scheduling
¥ What are the main characteristics of CPM networks?
o AoA-network
o Single-valued
o No cycles, no loops, no parallel arrows
¥ Discuss what happens when the project deadline is shortened. What necessary measures have to be applied?
o Clarify if project can be done in shorter time
o If not, search for solutions to execute project activities faster (more employees, more resources à
higher expenses; less quality)
¥ What are the main types of project or activity networks in project management? What are advantages and what
are disadvantages?
o AoA-networks:
+ Stochastic network techniques like GERT & PERT use AoA
+ fewer arrows generated than in AoN
+ arrow denotes time à better suited for tasks
- Dummy frequent source of error
- Only minimum time lags can be modelled
o AoN-networks:
+ most project management software uses AoN
+ do not need dummy activities
+ clearer diagrams
- not clearly show the timeline
- large networks require dedicated maintenance and analysis
- not easy to reproduce
¥ How can activity precedencies be depicted? What are the different possibilities to depict a project network?
o Finish to start o Start to finish
o Start to start o Project networks like CPM, PERT, GERT,
o Finish to finish MPM
¥ How can the critical path and its activities be characterized?
o Activities with no time buffers/floats before or after their planned schedule time
o Every delay on critical path leads to project delay
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, dmuwodmfdmuwodmfdmuwodmf-f49534e796c33dce4f7512cfc174abaf
¥ What are characteristics of cumulative resources?
o Limited capacity o Predefined minimum and maximum
o Used by activities in different degrees capacity
¥ What are the main characteristics of PERT networks?
o Multi valued (expected activity o All activities are performed
durations) o Directional graph
¥ What are pre-conditions to apply the label-correcting algorithm for project scheduling?
o No cycle of positive/negative length in case of longest/shortest path to be searched
¥ Discuss what happens, when the resource availability changes during project execution. What necessary or
potential measures might be applied?
o Execution of activities might not be o Prolongation of Project duration
possible anymore o Higher cost possible
o Measures:
à Reduction of dependencies
à Need to find replacing resource
à Shift of workload
¥ What are possible solution algorithms for project scheduling?
o Label correcting algorithm o Heuristics (Greedy heuristic, priority
o Branch & Bound rule heuristic, …)
o Simplex algorithm
¥ How can multiple modes of project activities be defined?
o Multiple ways to perform an activity à specific time, resource and cost demand
¥ What does MRCPSP mean? What are advantages of MRCPSP?
o Multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem
o More planning flexibility
¥ What are potential application cases for multi-mode resource scheduling?
o Dismantling of buildings
o Dismantling of nuclear power plants
o Batch Scheduling of paints
4. Cost management
¥ Which processes are included in cost management? Define the term.
o Estimate the costs o Monitor progress and control costs
o Develop the budget
¥ What is the difference between “cost estimation” and “budget development”?
o Costs are approximated for each activity as well as for the whole project
o Budget development determines where and when costs will be spent
o Close relation between both topics
¥ Give three possibilities to estimate costs.
o Order of magnitude estimates o Definitive estimates
o Study estimates o Detailed estimates
o Preliminary estimates
¥ Describe how to develop a budget.
o Top-down budgeting (hierarchical planning): Top manager issues global budget à passed to lower level
managers, who break down budget in specific components à passed to lower level …
o Bottom-up budgeting: detailed estimates with support of functional organizations included
àaggregation of estimates
¥ What does “time/cost trade-off” mean?
o Reduction of activity duration increases the costs and vice versa
¥ Why do we use multi-mode activities for modelling a time/cost trade-off?
o Modelling different approaches with modes (Mode = different possibility to work on an activity)
o Every mode has specific duration and costs
Save time with the right summary on
2. Project Scope Management
¥ Define the term project scope management.
o Processes to identify and define the work and deliverables required
¥ Which aspects of scope are important for a project?
o Define end state of project to achieve clarity
o Detailed description of project and product (for example by WBS)
o Inclusion and exclusion of requirements
o Contribution to strategic goals
o Communicating scope (importance of project)
¥ What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
o Deliverable-orientated hierarchical decomposition of work to be executed
o Identification and definition of all work required
o Group of work packages lead to several levels of accuracy à most detailed level is activity
¥ What is an Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and how is it linked to the WBS?
o Displays organizational units responsible for each work elements of WBS
¥ Define the term activity list and explain how it is created.
o Activity is lowest level of WBS with detailed information about work to be done
o Activity list contains all activities to be done to fulfil project objectives
3. Scheduling
¥ What are the main characteristics of CPM networks?
o AoA-network
o Single-valued
o No cycles, no loops, no parallel arrows
¥ Discuss what happens when the project deadline is shortened. What necessary measures have to be applied?
o Clarify if project can be done in shorter time
o If not, search for solutions to execute project activities faster (more employees, more resources à
higher expenses; less quality)
¥ What are the main types of project or activity networks in project management? What are advantages and what
are disadvantages?
o AoA-networks:
+ Stochastic network techniques like GERT & PERT use AoA
+ fewer arrows generated than in AoN
+ arrow denotes time à better suited for tasks
- Dummy frequent source of error
- Only minimum time lags can be modelled
o AoN-networks:
+ most project management software uses AoN
+ do not need dummy activities
+ clearer diagrams
- not clearly show the timeline
- large networks require dedicated maintenance and analysis
- not easy to reproduce
¥ How can activity precedencies be depicted? What are the different possibilities to depict a project network?
o Finish to start o Start to finish
o Start to start o Project networks like CPM, PERT, GERT,
o Finish to finish MPM
¥ How can the critical path and its activities be characterized?
o Activities with no time buffers/floats before or after their planned schedule time
o Every delay on critical path leads to project delay
Find more resources on this topic on
, dmuwodmfdmuwodmfdmuwodmf-f49534e796c33dce4f7512cfc174abaf
¥ What are characteristics of cumulative resources?
o Limited capacity o Predefined minimum and maximum
o Used by activities in different degrees capacity
¥ What are the main characteristics of PERT networks?
o Multi valued (expected activity o All activities are performed
durations) o Directional graph
¥ What are pre-conditions to apply the label-correcting algorithm for project scheduling?
o No cycle of positive/negative length in case of longest/shortest path to be searched
¥ Discuss what happens, when the resource availability changes during project execution. What necessary or
potential measures might be applied?
o Execution of activities might not be o Prolongation of Project duration
possible anymore o Higher cost possible
o Measures:
à Reduction of dependencies
à Need to find replacing resource
à Shift of workload
¥ What are possible solution algorithms for project scheduling?
o Label correcting algorithm o Heuristics (Greedy heuristic, priority
o Branch & Bound rule heuristic, …)
o Simplex algorithm
¥ How can multiple modes of project activities be defined?
o Multiple ways to perform an activity à specific time, resource and cost demand
¥ What does MRCPSP mean? What are advantages of MRCPSP?
o Multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem
o More planning flexibility
¥ What are potential application cases for multi-mode resource scheduling?
o Dismantling of buildings
o Dismantling of nuclear power plants
o Batch Scheduling of paints
4. Cost management
¥ Which processes are included in cost management? Define the term.
o Estimate the costs o Monitor progress and control costs
o Develop the budget
¥ What is the difference between “cost estimation” and “budget development”?
o Costs are approximated for each activity as well as for the whole project
o Budget development determines where and when costs will be spent
o Close relation between both topics
¥ Give three possibilities to estimate costs.
o Order of magnitude estimates o Definitive estimates
o Study estimates o Detailed estimates
o Preliminary estimates
¥ Describe how to develop a budget.
o Top-down budgeting (hierarchical planning): Top manager issues global budget à passed to lower level
managers, who break down budget in specific components à passed to lower level …
o Bottom-up budgeting: detailed estimates with support of functional organizations included
àaggregation of estimates
¥ What does “time/cost trade-off” mean?
o Reduction of activity duration increases the costs and vice versa
¥ Why do we use multi-mode activities for modelling a time/cost trade-off?
o Modelling different approaches with modes (Mode = different possibility to work on an activity)
o Every mode has specific duration and costs
Save time with the right summary on
