ISDS 3115 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED
ANSWERS
What types of decisions fall under operations management? - Answers - Design of
goods and services, managing quality and statistical process control, process and
capacity strategies, location strategies, layout strategies, human resources job design
and work measurement, supply chain management, inventory management,
scheduling, and maintenance.
What are goods and services? - Answers - Goods are tangible products, while services
are intangible.
What is productivity in the context of operations management? - Answers - A measure
of output that reflects efficiency in resource use.
How is labor productivity calculated? - Answers - Productivity = units produced/labor
hours
What challenges does productivity face in the service sector? - Answers - Typically
labor-intensive
What are the strategies for competitive advantage? - Answers - Differentiation, cost
leadership, and response.
What is the product life cycle? - Answers - Introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
What does PERT stand for and what is its purpose? - Answers - Program Evaluation
and Review Technique; it helps plan, schedule, monitor, and control projects.
What is the critical path in project management? - Answers - The longest time path
through the network, representing the shortest time to complete the project.
What are the phases of project management? - Answers - Planning, scheduling, and
controlling.
What are project scheduling techniques? - Answers - Gantt chart, critical path method
(CPM), program evaluation and review technique (PERT).
Ensures that all activities are planned for, their order of performance is documented, the
activity time estimates are recorded, and the overall project time is developed. -
Answers - gantt chart
, Earliest start - Answers - Earliest time at which an activity can start, assuming all
predecessors have been completed.
Earliest finish - Answers - Earliest time at which an activity can be finished.
Latest start - Answers - Latest time at which an activity can start so as to not delay the
completion time of the entire project.
Latest finish - Answers - Latest time by which an activity has to be finished so as to not
delay the completion time of the entire project.
Variance of activity of completion times - Answers - v = [(b-a)/6]^2
How is project variance computed? - Answers - By summing the variances of critical
activities.
Critical activities - Answers - Cannot be delayed without delaying the entire project, has
a slack of 0.
Forecasts tend to be better the longer they are; that's why its better to forecast
_______. - Answers - annually
What are forecasts based on? - Answers - past values
How do you select a forecasting model? - Answers - By choosing the one with the
lowest error according to MAD, MSE, or MAPE
How to calculate MAD - Answers - Sum |Actualt-Forecast|/n
How to calculate MSE - Answers - Sum (Actual-Forecast)^2/n-1
How to calculate MAPE - Answers - (100/actual) * actual - forecast/actual
What are the components of time series analysis? - Answers - Trends, cyclical
movements, seasonal patterns, and random variations.
Demand forecasts - Answers - Predict sales of existing products and services.
Naive approach - Answers - Assumes demand in the next period is the same as
demand in the most recent period.
Moving averages - Answers - a series of arithmetic means
Associative forecasting - Answers - Used when changes in one or more independent
variables can be used to predict the changes in the dependent variable.
ANSWERS
What types of decisions fall under operations management? - Answers - Design of
goods and services, managing quality and statistical process control, process and
capacity strategies, location strategies, layout strategies, human resources job design
and work measurement, supply chain management, inventory management,
scheduling, and maintenance.
What are goods and services? - Answers - Goods are tangible products, while services
are intangible.
What is productivity in the context of operations management? - Answers - A measure
of output that reflects efficiency in resource use.
How is labor productivity calculated? - Answers - Productivity = units produced/labor
hours
What challenges does productivity face in the service sector? - Answers - Typically
labor-intensive
What are the strategies for competitive advantage? - Answers - Differentiation, cost
leadership, and response.
What is the product life cycle? - Answers - Introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
What does PERT stand for and what is its purpose? - Answers - Program Evaluation
and Review Technique; it helps plan, schedule, monitor, and control projects.
What is the critical path in project management? - Answers - The longest time path
through the network, representing the shortest time to complete the project.
What are the phases of project management? - Answers - Planning, scheduling, and
controlling.
What are project scheduling techniques? - Answers - Gantt chart, critical path method
(CPM), program evaluation and review technique (PERT).
Ensures that all activities are planned for, their order of performance is documented, the
activity time estimates are recorded, and the overall project time is developed. -
Answers - gantt chart
, Earliest start - Answers - Earliest time at which an activity can start, assuming all
predecessors have been completed.
Earliest finish - Answers - Earliest time at which an activity can be finished.
Latest start - Answers - Latest time at which an activity can start so as to not delay the
completion time of the entire project.
Latest finish - Answers - Latest time by which an activity has to be finished so as to not
delay the completion time of the entire project.
Variance of activity of completion times - Answers - v = [(b-a)/6]^2
How is project variance computed? - Answers - By summing the variances of critical
activities.
Critical activities - Answers - Cannot be delayed without delaying the entire project, has
a slack of 0.
Forecasts tend to be better the longer they are; that's why its better to forecast
_______. - Answers - annually
What are forecasts based on? - Answers - past values
How do you select a forecasting model? - Answers - By choosing the one with the
lowest error according to MAD, MSE, or MAPE
How to calculate MAD - Answers - Sum |Actualt-Forecast|/n
How to calculate MSE - Answers - Sum (Actual-Forecast)^2/n-1
How to calculate MAPE - Answers - (100/actual) * actual - forecast/actual
What are the components of time series analysis? - Answers - Trends, cyclical
movements, seasonal patterns, and random variations.
Demand forecasts - Answers - Predict sales of existing products and services.
Naive approach - Answers - Assumes demand in the next period is the same as
demand in the most recent period.
Moving averages - Answers - a series of arithmetic means
Associative forecasting - Answers - Used when changes in one or more independent
variables can be used to predict the changes in the dependent variable.
