Certification Insider

The following PMP® exam sample question is taken from the Free PMP Exam Simulator:

In your project, you can delay 'Activity 1' by three days without delaying its successor 'Activity 2'. However, delaying 'Activity 1' will delay the project by six days without delaying the overall project finish date. Which of the following statements is correct in this scenario?

A.) The Total Float is 6 days and the Free Float is 3 days.
B.) The Total Float is 3 days and the Free Float is 6 days.
C.) The Total Float is 3 days and the Free Float is zero.
D.) The Free Float is 3 days and the Total Float is zero.

Hint:

Don’t get confused with Free Float versus Total Float. Remember Total Float always applies to project and Free Float applies to individual activities.


All our questions are updated to the latest PMBOK® Guide standard. Stop by at http://free.pm-exam-simulator.com and try the PMP Exam Simulator free for 3 days. We also offer 110 free questions at http://www.free-pm-exam-questions.com. We are a PMI Registered Education Provider.

Please click here for the correct answer and explanation.

In project management, a schedule consists of a list of a project's tasks with intended start and finish dates. Tasks are the lowest element in a schedule; they are not further subdivided. Those items are estimated in terms of resource requirements, budget and duration, linked by dependencies and scheduled. Project Scheduling helps identify all of the tasks that are required to complete a project on time. It adds dependencies between tasks so that if one task slips, the tasks related to it slip.

[On a side note: As we mentioned in last weeks tip, in many organizations the terms "project management plan" and "project schedule" are often used interchangeably. If this is the case in your organization, then please make sure that you understand that for the PMP Exam, these are two distinctly different documents. Please refer back to last week's tip for the discussion of the project management plan.]

Before a project schedule can be created, a project manager will typically have a work breakdown structure (WBS), an effort estimate for each task, and a resource list with availability for each resource. If these are not yet available, it may be possible to create something that looks like a schedule, but it will essentially be a work of fiction. They can be created using various estimation methods. A good best practice is to include the people who will perform the actual work in the estimation process. The reason for this is that a schedule itself is an estimate: each date in the schedule is estimated, and if those dates do not have the buy-in of the people who are going to do the work, the schedule will be inaccurate.

In many industries, such as engineering and construction, the development and maintenance of the project schedule is the responsibility of a full time scheduler or team of schedulers, depending on the size of the project. And though the techniques of scheduling are well developed, they are inconsistently applied throughout industry. Standardization and promotion of scheduling best practices are being pursued by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE), the Project Management Institute (PMI). In some large corporations, scheduling, as well as cost, estimating, and risk management are organized under the department of project controls.

The PMBOK Guide 4th Edtion says the following about the Project Schedule: As a minimum, the project schedule includes a planned start date and planned finish date for each activity. Develop Schedule is the process of analyzing activity sequences. durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule.

Read more about Project Schedule in the PMBOK Guide 4th Edtion from 6.5.3 to 6.5.4

A PMP exam simulator will help you prepare for the PMP exam by showing you what to expect on the exam day. In this video we will show the 7 criteria to consider when choosing which PMP exam simulator to purchase:http://bit.ly/OiCF7Q

The following PMP® exam sample question is taken from the Free PMP Exam Simulator:

You are managing an insurance project. An executive steering committee meeting is scheduled for tomorrow and you are required to make a presentation on the project progress. Which of the following presentation formats is best used in this type of meeting?

A.) Hammock Diagram
B.) Network Diagram
C.) Milestone Chart
D.) Gantt Chart

 

Hint:

In management meetings you are looking for a chart that gives a high-level overview.


All our questions are updated to the latest PMBOK® Guide standard. Stop by at http://free.pm-exam-simulator.com and try the PMP Exam Simulator free for 3 days. We also offer 110 free questions at http://www.free-pm-exam-questions.com. We are a PMI Registered Education Provider.

Please click here for the correct answer and explanation.

Many PMP students have trouble understanding the difference between a planning package and a work package. Let’s turn first to the PMBOK® Guide to clear up any confusion:
 

Planning Package 

A work breakdown structure component below the control account with known work content but without detailed schedule activities (see also control account; control account [Tool] = A management control point where scope, budget (resource plans), actual cost, and schedule are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement)
 

Work Package

A deliverable or project work component at the lowest level of each branch of the work breakdown structure.

All clear? I thought so. Let’s try this…a planning package is created to describe or “hold” work that will be completed in the future. It is larger and more general than a work package in terms of time, scope, and budget. Although it lacks the detail of a work package, a planning package is still associated with specific project work scope. A planning package includes work that will be completed; it just hasn’t been scheduled or put on anyone’s plate yet.

A planning package may be converted to a work package when the lowest-level details of the work are defined, budgeted, and scheduled. Individual work packages are the building blocks of all project deliverables and form the basis by which the project is monitored, measured, and assessed. In sum, a planning package stores future work until the work can be broken down into specific tasks and assigned to actual resources, when it becomes part of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in the form of work breakdown packages.