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PGMP · Question #53

You are the program manager for your organization. Your current program, which has just started, has eight projects and many of the projects share resources such as equipment and people. Management…

The correct answer is C. The project managers will use the critical chain method for scheduling activities. The critical chain method addresses resource constraints and availability when scheduling project activities, making it the correct approach when management is concerned about idle or overscheduled shared resources. It builds resource dependencies directly into the schedule.

Program Life Cycle

Question

You are the program manager for your organization. Your current program, which has just started, has eight projects and many of the projects share resources such as equipment and people. Management has asked that you identify when the project resources will be utilized on each project within your program. They are worried some resources may be idle or overscheduled. What approach can you use to consider the availability of resources when the project managers begin sequencing their project activities?

Options

  • AThe project managers will use the critical path method for scheduling activities.
  • BThe project managers will use PERT to schedule all activities.
  • CThe project managers will use the critical chain method for scheduling activities.
  • DThe project managers will create Gantt charts to schedule all activities.

How the community answered

(26 responses)
  • A
    8% (2)
  • B
    4% (1)
  • C
    77% (20)
  • D
    12% (3)

Why each option

The critical chain method addresses resource constraints and availability when scheduling project activities, making it the correct approach when management is concerned about idle or overscheduled shared resources. It builds resource dependencies directly into the schedule.

AThe project managers will use the critical path method for scheduling activities.

The critical path method focuses on task logic and durations to find the longest path through the network but does not inherently account for resource availability or constraints.

BThe project managers will use PERT to schedule all activities.

PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) is a probabilistic duration estimating technique that uses optimistic, pessimistic, and most-likely estimates - it does not address resource scheduling constraints.

CThe project managers will use the critical chain method for scheduling activities.Correct

The critical chain method, developed from the Theory of Constraints, explicitly accounts for resource availability and resource dependencies when sequencing activities - not just logical task dependencies. It identifies the longest chain of resource-dependent tasks and uses resource buffers and project buffers to protect the schedule from uncertainty. This makes it uniquely suited when multiple projects share scarce resources within a program.

DThe project managers will create Gantt charts to schedule all activities.

Gantt charts are a visualization tool for displaying a schedule but are not a scheduling method that resolves resource conflicts or availability issues.

Concept tested: Critical chain method for resource-constrained scheduling

Source: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/critical-chain-project-management-7267

Topics

#Program Scheduling#Resource Management#Critical Chain Method#Multi-project Management

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