Exam Part 1

Question 1

tE = (tO + tM + tP) / 3 is the formula for Three-Point Estimating in which you estimate project duration with very little historical data to go on. In the equation, E represents the Estimate, O the Optimistic duration based on the best-case scenario and M is the Most Likely activity duration given a number of analyzed factors. What does the P represent?

1. Pessimistic
2. Purposeful
3. Pie-in-the-sky
4. Prescient

Answer 1

Answer: Pessimistic

Pessimistic is correct. The purpose of three-point estimation in order to determine your best activity duration is to identify the best-case (optimistic), worst-case (pessimistic) and most likely scenarios, and then essentially take the average of them by dividing the three numbers by 3. So if your best-case is 10 hours, your worst-case is 24 hours and your most likely duration is 17 hours, you add 10 + 24 + 17, which equals 51. And then 51 divided by 3 is 17 (and if you use the Excel AVERAGE formula, you’ll find you get the same answer). This method is beneficial if you are basing your activity durations on peoples’ judgments rather than known data. For example, if you know it takes 8 hours from start to finish to stand up a working server, then you don’t need three-point estimation because you already know that activity’s duration for a fact.

Question 2

Of the four categories of life cycles, which has the goal “Correctness of Solution?”

1. Iterative
2. Agile
3. Predictive
4. Incremental

Answer 2

Answer: Iterative

Agile Practice Guide Section 3.1 p.18 Table 3-1. Characteristics of Four Categories of Life Cycles states that the goal of Predictive is Manage Cost, the goal of incremental is speed, the goal of iterative is correctness of solution and the goal of agile is customer value via frequent deliveries and feedback.

Question 3

Your project sponsor asks why you’ve included a 15% contingency in your cost estimate. In which subsidiary plan would he have seen this?

1. Cost Management Plan
2. Project Charter
3. Risk Management Plan
4. Requirements Traceability Matrix

Answer 3

Answer: Cost Management Plan

Overall explanation

The Cost Management Plan contains cost estimates, which generally includes consideration of risk response planning, such as contingency plans. A Risk Management Plan would have defined the risk and even the mitigation strategy, but it would not have explicitly defined an associated contingency cost. The Requirements Traceability Matrix documents business requirements, while the project charter, completed in the Initiating phase, will generally not do much more with costs than provide a very high-level dollar amount, if any at all.

Question 4

Electric Light Bulbery has just entered into a contract with Brite Lite Chandeliers and Lamps to supply them with 5,000 specially made conical light bulbs per week for twelve weeks, totalling 60,000 light bulbs, for $350,000. However, if Electric Light Bulbery can deliver all 60,000 bulbs in only 10 weeks, they’ll get a $20,000 bonus and whatever it might cost to do so is on them. What type of contract did these two companies sign?

1. Cost plus incentive fee (CPIF)
2. Fixed price incentive fee (FPIF)
3. Firm fixed price (FFP)
4. Fixed price with economic price adjustments (FPEPA)

Answer 4

Answer: Fixed price incentive fee (FPIF)

Overall explanation
Electric Light Bulbery has a fixed price contract, in that they’ll be paid a certain amount for delivering all the light bulbs within the specific timeframe, but they’ll be rewarded if they can deliver the entire amount two weeks early. This is a fixed price ($350,000) with an incentive fee ($20,000). A firm fixed price would not have included the bonus (incentive). There is no mention of any economic price adjustments, so it’s not an FPEPA and the only reason the contract is not a CPIF is because Electric Light Bulbery has set a fixed price regardless of cost. If meeting the shorter 10-week timeframe costs them additional funds, that’s not something they’re going to get reimbursed for in this particular scenario.

Question 5

The defintion of project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the what?

1. Deadlines set forth by the Board of Directors
2. Project requirements
3. Sponsors’ and stakeholders’ expectations
4. Step by step outline of project management process found in the PMBOK

Answer 5

Answer: Project requirements

Overall explanation
Though expectations and deadlines are important to a project manager, first and foremost their duty is to meet project requirements, in whatever form those requirements take.

Question 6

When you think about how best to tailor project integration management to your project’s needs, which of the following items is NOT a question you will want to ask?

1. What is an appopriate project life cycle?
2. What are the project status reporting requirements?
3. What is the change management process going to be on this project?
4. How important is quality management going to be on this project?

Answer 6

Answer: How important is quality management going to be on this project?

Overall explanation
Even if your project is very small, or delivering something seemingly simple, there are still going to be acceptance criteria that will have to be met. The question is not about the importance, as quality management is always important. Responses B, C and D are good examples of questions that you can ask yourself and the team in order to help tailor the management of a project to more realistic parameters for the depth and breadth of each individual project. Other questions you can ask include how you’re going to manage knowledge, which management process will be most effective and how best can you collect lessons learned.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT part of the PMI Talent Triangle?

1.Strategic and Business Management
2. Leadership
3. Continuing Education
4. Technical Project Management

Answer 7

Answer: Continuing Education

Overall explanation
While continuing education is indeed one of the ways a project manager can increase his or her knowledge and/or effectiveness in any of the three project manager competencies, the competencies themselves are the other three answers shown here. The talent triangle focuses on three key skill sets: 1)Technical project management. The knowledge, skills, and behaviors related to specific domains of project, program, and portfolio management. The technical aspects of performing one’s role. 2)Leadership. The knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to guide, motivate, and direct a team, to help an organization achieve its business goals. 3)Strategic and business management. The knowledge of and expertise in the industry and organization that enhanced performance and better delivers business outcomes.

Question 8

The Plan Quality Management process exists within the Planning phase of a project. In the Monitoring & Controlling phase of a project, you Control Quality. What is the missing related process you undertake during the Executing phase of a project?

1. Prioritize Quality
2. Manage Quality
3. Define Quality
4. Categorize Quality

Answer 8

Answer: Manage Quality

Overall explanation
Manage Quality is the missing process, and it occurs during the Executing phase of a project, when your job is to manage the quality of whatever it is that’s being executed. The other three options are not PMBOK processes.

Question 9

What document should be completed before a project is consdidered, in order to assess the viability of continuing with an initiative into the project management processes?

1. project charter
2. Project Management Plan
3. Business Case
4. business requirements document

Answer 9

Answer: Business Case

Overall explanation
A Business Case is a documented economic feasibility study used to establish the validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as a basis for the authorization of further project management activities it lists the objectives and reasons for project initiation.

Question 10

How many interpersonal and team skills techniques are there?

1. 10
2. 17
3. 16
4. 15

Answer 10

Answer: 17

Overall explanation
There are 17. Active listening, communication styles assessment, conflict management, cultural awareness, decision making, emotional intelligence, facilitation, influencing, leadership, meeting management, motivation, negotiation, networking, nominal group technique, observation/conversation, political awareness and team building.

Question 11

Joni’s about to attend a meeting in which a very important decision on which part to use for the widget her project team is producing, will be made. She believes from what most of her team’s told her that Part A is the best choice but has no vote as it is a business and manufacturing decision. The project sponsor has agreed that he will abide by whatever the Majority Vote is at today’s meeting. If there are 18 people in attendance including Joni, how many must vote for Part A in order for it to be chosen?

1. 10
2. 17
3. 9
4. 18

Answer 11

Answer: 9

Overall explanation

Though there are 18 people at the meeting, one of them is Joni. But Joni is the project manager and as the problem tells us, she does not have a vote in which part is chosen since it’s a business and manufacturing decision. This leaves 17 people eligible to vote. The definition of a Majority Vote is that more than 50% of the members of the group have to vote a certain way for that to be the decision. 50% x 17 = 8.5. So if 9 people vote for Part A, then Part A will be chosen. (Of note: Had Joni also been allowed a vote, then Majority would have had to be 10 or more votes for Part A in order for it to win, as 50% x 18 = 9, and more than 50% automatically takes us to 10 votes.)

Question 12

Lindsey’s project involves a lot of people who work in shifts, rather than a “9 to 5” day. It’s going to be difficult for her to remember when each of the project team members is available, and how that availability affects their assigned tasks, without something to help manage that. What’s one output of the Acquire Resources process that will provide her with a tool she can use throughout the rest of the project to keep the resources organized?

1. Physical Resource Assignments
2. Project Team Assignments
3. Resource Calendar
4. Change Requests

Answer 12

Answer: Resource Calendar

Overall explanation

Of the choices presented, only the Resource Calendar meets Lindsey’s needs. A resource calendar identifies the working days, shifts, start and end of normal business hours, weekends, and public holidays when each specific resource is available. Information on which resources (such as team resource, equipment, and material) are potentially available during a planned activity period is used for estimating resource utilization. Resource calendars also specify when and for how long identified team and physical resources will be available during the project. This information may be at the activity or project level. This includes consideration of attributes such as resource experience and/or skill level, as well as various geographical locations.

Question 13

Kirstie’s project team is having fun designing a new coffee maker intended to easily mimic the fancy drinks made at major coffee houses around the world. As the team brainstorms what features and functions they want the coffee maker to have, Project Manager Kirstie and assigned Business Analyst Michelle are asking the Subject Matter Experts various questions to help them refine what they want the product to do and how they want it to work. This team is involved in which aspect of Define Scope?

1. Decision Making
2. Product Analysis
3. Expert Judgment
4. Data Analysis

Answer 13

Answer: Product Analysis

Overall explanation

While it may take bits and pieces of all four of these categories to make the best coffee maker possible, the clear winner here is Product Analysis because, as the PMBOK 6th Edition shares with us on p. 153: Product analysis can be used to define products and services. It includes asking questions about a product or service and forming answers to describe the use, characteristics, and other relevant aspects of what is going to be delivered. Each application area has one or more generally accepted methods for translating high-level product or service descriptions into meaningful deliverables. Requirements are captured at a high level and decomposed to the level of detail needed to design the final product. Examples of product analysis techniques include but are not limited to: J175Product breakdown, Requirements analysis, Systems analysis, Systems engineering, Value analysis, and Value engineering.

Question 14

How many potential financial measures that a project needs to meet, could be documented in the business case?

1. 20
2. 10
3. 15
4. 5

Answer 14

Answer: 15

Overall explanation

One of the project success criteria is meeting the agreed-upon financial measures documented in the business case. These financial measures may include but are not limited to: Net present value (NPV), Return on investment (ROI), Internal rate of return (IRR), Payback period (PBP), and Benefit-cost ratio (BCR). Meeting business case nonfinancial objectives; Completing movement of an organization from its current state to the desired future state; Fulfilling contract terms and conditions; Meeting organizational strategy, goals, and objectives; Achieving stakeholder satisfaction; Acceptable customer/end-user adoption; Integration of deliverables into the organization’s operating environment; Achieving agreed-upon quality of delivery; Meeting governance criteria; and Achieving other agreed-upon success measures or criteria (e.g., process throughput).

Question 15

How many personality characteristic does the PMBOK indicate an effective project needs to have some level of ability within, in order to be successful?

1. 8
2. 11
3. 10
4. 15

Answer 15

Answer: 11

Overall explanation

The correct answer is 11. Personality refers to the individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Personality characteristics or traits include but are not limited to: Authentic (e.g., accepts others for what and who they are, show open concern); Courteous (e.g., ability to apply appropriate behavior and etiquette); Creative (e.g., ability to think abstractly, to see things differently, to innovate); Cultural (e.g., measure of sensitivity to other cultures including values, norms, and beliefs); Emotional (e.g., ability to perceive emotions and the information they present and to manage them; measure of interpersonal skills); Intellectual (e.g., measure of human intelligence over multiple aptitudes); Managerial (e.g., measure of management practice and potential); Political (e.g., measure of political intelligence and making things happen); Service-oriented (e.g., evidence of willingness to serve other people); Social (e.g., ability to understand and manage people); and Systemic (e.g., drive to understand and build systems). An effective project manager will have some level of ability with each of these characteristics in order to be successful. Each project, organization, and situation requires that the project manager emphasize different aspects of personality.

Question 16

A few of the managers who were identified as Interested Stakeholders, have come to Lily, the project manager for a project to revamp a company’s Marketing website, and asked her to give them an updated project budget. Lily tells them it will take a little time, as she’ll have to evaluate the relationship between the consumption of project funds and the work being accomplished by those expenditures. The managers protest that she doesn’t need to do all that to control project costs; that all she needs to do is tell them how much of the budget has been spent. Lily stands her ground, arguing that only by monitoring work completed vs. money spent can she give them an accurate picture of where things stand. Which Project Cost Management process is Lily pulling these principles from?

1. Plan Cost Management
2. Determine Budget
3. Estimate Costs
4. Control Costs

Answer 16

Answer: Control Costs

Overall explanation

Updating the budget requires knowledge of the actual costs spent to date. Any increase to the authorized budget can only be approved through the Perform Integrated Change Control process. Monitoring the expenditure of funds without regard to the value of work being accomplished for such expenditures has little value to the project, other than to track the outflow of funds. Much of the effort of cost control involves analyzing the relationship between the consumption of project funds and the work being accomplished for such expenditures. The key to effective cost control is the management of the approved cost baseline

Question 17

The “Develop the project management plan” process achieves which of these goals?

1. It formally sets in stone an entire set of detailed business requirements, technical requirements and vendor requirements.
2. Copying and pasting what’s in the charter (output of Initiating) into a Planning phase document.
3. Defines, prepares and coordinates all subsidiary plans and integrates them into a comprehensive plan.
4. Defines an iterative and agile approach to the project to promote engagement of team members.

Answer 17

Answer: Defines, prepares and coordinates all subsidiary plans and integrates them into a comprehensive plan.

Overall explanation

The Project Management Plan integrates - sometimes at a high level - the components of the other plans developed during the Planning phase. From the Risk Management Plan to the Project Schedule to the Quality Management Plan and the project budget, the Project Management Plan becomes the “one-stop shop” outlining how the project will proceed to meet the its objectives. It doesn’t contain details down to the nth degree; it contains enough information to be the roadmap, and the subsidiary documents contain further detail for those times when it’s required.

Question 18

What are the two deliverables expected to be completed by the end of the Initiating phase of a project?

1. Business Requirements Document and Project Charter
2. Risk Management Plan and Procurement Plan
3. Stakeholder Registesr and Communication Plan
4. Stakeholder Register and Project Charter

Answer 18

Answer: Stakeholder Register and Project Charter

Overall explanation

When you’re initiating a project, you are making identifications and gathering data at a high level in order to obtain approval to proceed to the Planning phase. All of the other documents listed within the multiple choice answers besides Stakeholder Register and Project Charter, are deliverables developed during the Planning phase.

Question 19

Which of the following is not considered a decision-making technique when performing integrated change control?

1. Voting
2. Autocratic Decision-Making
3. Multicriteria Decision Analysis
4. Influencing Outcomes

Answer 19

Answer: Influencing Outcomes

Overall explanation

Influencing outcomes is not a decision-making technique. Rather, it’s a technique that anyone can use in an attempt to influence the outcome of a decision being made using one of the other three techniques listed here.

Question 20

What is the Closing process used to close out?

1. One project phase
2. All of these
3. The whole project
4. Contract

Answer 20

Answer: All of these

Overall explanation

The closing process group consists of the processes performed to formally complete or close a project, phase, or contract. This process group verifies that the defined processes are completed within all of the Process Groups to close the project or phase, as appropriate, and formally establishes that the project or project phase is complete.

Question 21

Which of the following does a cost management plan NOT establish?

1. Level of Accuracy
2. Level of Precision
3. Contract Costs
4. Units of Measure

Answer 21

Answer: Contract Costs

Overall explanation

The cost management plan is a component of the project management plan and describes how the project costs will be planned, structured, and controlled. The cost management processes and their associated tools and techniques are documented in the cost management plan. For example, the cost management plan can establish the following: -Units of measure. Each unit used in measurements (such as staff hours, staff days, or weeks for time measures; meters, liters, tons, kilometers, or cubic yards for quantity measures; or lump sum in currency form) is defined for each of the resources. -Level of precision. This is the degree to which cost estimates will be rounded up or down (e.g., US$995.59 to US$1,000), based on the scope of the activities and magnitude of the project. -Level of accuracy. The acceptable range (e.g., ±10%) used in determining realistic cost estimates is specified, and may include an amount for contingencies.

Question 22

During a contract life cycle, which of the following items can a seller NOT be considered as?

1. Contractor
2. Bidder
3. Selected Source
4. Supplier or Vendor

Answer 22

Answer: Contractor

Overall explanation
The seller can be viewed during the contract life cycle first as a bidder, then as the selected source, and then as the contracted supplier or vendor. The seller may very well be a contractor, but that does not apply across the board to all sellers.

Question 23

Which output from a previous process group should the Project Manager review to ensure that all project work is completed and that the project has met its objectives in order to close a project (or phase)?

1. Project Charter
2. Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
3. Project Management Plan
4. Project Scope

Answer 23

Answer: Project Management Plan

Overall explanation

The Project Management Plan integrates the components of the other plans developed during the Planning processes. It is therefore the Project Management Plan which contains all of the information needed for a Project Manager to assess whether or not it is valid to close a project or phase when the time comes. All of the other answers listed can be inputs to the Project Management Plan but do not contain enough information for this evaluation.

Question 24

Donna is a project manager for a large SaaS company who works from her home office. On her team is a business analyst who works out of the company’s headquarters in New York, a developer who works from his home in Southern California and a web designer who works in one of the company’s satellite offices in Seattle, Washington. What type of (physical) project team is Donna a part of?

1. Colocated
2. Dispersed
3. Distributed
4. Cohesive

Answer 24

Answer: Dispersed

Overall explanation

Some organizations have been able to create colocated, cross-functional teams; others have a different situation. Instead of having all team members colocated, some organizations have distributed or dispersed teams. Distributed teams have cross-functional teams in different locations. Dispersed teams may have each team member working in a completely different location, either in an office or from home. A colocated team is an agile team working together in a single space regardless of their function or role on the team, and cohesive describes how a team operates, not their physical location to in relation to one another.

Question 25

The PMBOK defines the project life cycle as having four phases, the first of which is “Starting the Project.” Which of the following is not one of the other three phases?

1. Carrying out the work
2. Organizing and Preparing
3. Ending the Project
4. Initiating

Answer 25

Answer: Initiating

Overall explanation
Project life cycle: The series of phases that a project passes through from its start to its completion. Initiating is a Project Management Process Group. It is not one of the phases of the project life cycle. It is important to note that Project Management Process Groups are not project phases, either.

Question 26

When the stakeholders on Quinton’s software development project became upset by seemingly unforeseen delays in the development of the user interface portion of the project, the project sponsor looked to Quinton, as the Project Manager, for understanding as to why the team had not realized that the one person needed to create that user interface would be unavailable due to his daily operational tasks. Quinton could look at the resource assumptions recorded on the assumption log that’s been kept since the creation of the project charter, but he suspects the overallocation of this particular resource is a systemic, larger issue the organization needs to address. Where might he investigate outside of his own project documents, to see if his hunch is correct?

1. Project Charter
2. Emails
3. Issues Log
4. Business Case

Answer 26

Answer: Business Case

Overall explanation
The key wording in this scenario involved the project resource’s operational obligations keeping him from completing the project work. High - level strategic and operational assumptions and constraints are normally identified in the business case before the project is initiated and will flow into the project charter. Chances are - in this case, at least - that the assumption was made during the business case that all resources required would be available as needed. That assumption would have then carried on through the project charter and if no one sought to validate it, would explain why the project suddenly finds itself without the one resource it needs to keep the project moving. If you assume a resource of any kind is available, and you schedule the project and make promises based on that information, then you may find yourself in Quinton’s unfortunate position where he now has to explain why he didn’t check to be certain during the Planning processes that the original business case assumptions were accurate.

Question 27

Herman’s project team is completely virtual. Which of the following is not an example of communication technology he should consider to address team development issues that can arise from a project team not working in the same physical location together?

1. Email
2. Fax Machines
3. Video Conferencing
4. Audio Conferencing

Answer 27

Answer: Fax Machines

Overall explanation

Communication technology is important in addressing the team development issues in colocated and virtual teams. It helps build a harmonious environment for the colocated team and a better understanding for the virtual team, especially those working in different time zones. Examples of communication technology that may be used are: -Shared portal. A shared repository for information sharing (e.g., website, collaboration software or intranet) is effective for virtual project teams. -Video conferencing. Video conferencing is an important technique for effective communication with virtual teams. -Audio conferencing. Communication within a team using audio conferencing is another technique to build rapport and confidence within virtual teams. -Email/chat. Regular communications using email and chat is also an effective technique.

Question 28

Helga is everyone’s favorite project manager because she allows any project team she leads to make their own decisions and establish their own goals. What is Helga’s leadership style?

1. Servant leader
2. Laissez-faire
3. Transactional
4. Interactional

Answer 28

Answer: Laissez-faire

Overall explanation

Research describes numerous leadership styles that a project manager can adopt. Some of the most common examples of these styles include but are not limited to: -Laissez-faire (e.g., allowing the team to make their own decisions and establish their own goals, also referred to as taking a hands-off style); -Transactional (e.g., focus on goals, feedback, and accomplishment to determine rewards; management by exception); -Servant leader (e.g., demonstrates commitment to serve and put other people first; focuses on other people’s growth, learning, development, autonomy, and well-being; concentrates on relationships, community and collaboration; leadership is secondary and emerges after service); -Transformational (e.g., empowering followers through idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational motivation, encouragement for innovation and creativity, and individual consideration); -Charismatic (e.g., able to inspire; is high-energy, enthusiastic, self-confident; holds strong convictions); and -Interactional (e.g., a combination of transactional, transformational, and charismatic).

Question 29

Amber and Aurora are both performing software development tasks on a project to develop a new medical software to help doctors tune hearing aids more accurately for an individual patient. As Amber continues her work, Aurora sees her code degrading right in front of her eyes and realizes that one of the risks she had voiced earlier on in the project is coming true: the more Aurora tells the software to fine-tune the higher decibel ranges, the less capable it becomes of accurately identifying the lower decibels. She brings it to Aurora’s attention and after a short discussion they decide they need to report it to the Project Manager, Nishan, who pulls out the Risk Management Plan and sees that the team had developed a risk response should this occur. What should Nishan do now that the risk has now come to pass?

1. Execute the previously defined risk response
2. Update the Risk Management Plan to say the risk happened
3. Check with the project sponsor
4. Tell Amber and Aurora not to worry about it

Answer 29

Answer: Execute the previously defined risk response

Overall explanation

Proper attention to the Implement Risk Responses process will ensure that agreed-upon risk responses are actually executed. A common problem with Project Risk Management is that project teams spend effort in identifying and analyzing risks and developing risk responses, then risk responses are agreed upon and documented in the risk register and risk report, but no action is taken to manage the risk. Only if risk owners give the required level of effort to implementing the agreed-upon responses will the overall risk exposure of the project and individual threats and opportunities be managed proactively.

Question 30

As you monitor project progress, you begin to realize that some of the assumptions the team made about resource availability at the time the Assumption Log was created may have been incorrect. Which of the following project documents might you need to update now, as an output to Monitoring and Controlling Project Work?

1. Issue Log
2. Milestone List
3. Issues log and risk register
4. Risk Register

Answer 30

Answer: Issues log and risk register

Overall explanation

Both the Issue Log and Risk Register are project documents that are outputs of the Monitoring and Controlling Project Work process, along with Cost Forecasts, Lessons Learned Register and Schedule Forecasts. The Milestone List is an Input only, while the others are both Inputs AND Outputs.

Question 31

Fill in the blank: Plan Stakeholder _________________ is the process of developing approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impact on the project.

1. Input
2. Communication
3. Engagement
4. Meetings

Answer 31

Answer: Engagement

Overall explanation

Plan Stakeholder Engagement is the process of developing approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impact on the project. The key benefit is that it provides an actionable plan to interact with stakeholders effectively. This process is performed periodically throughout the project as needed. Having meetings with stakeholders, communicating them and getting their input are all things that need to be done as part of engagement.

Question 32

Your project to overhaul your office’s temperature regulation system had an original, approved budget of $575,200. By the time you were halfway through project you had estimated the budget at completion would be $582,760. After all invoices had been paid, as you were performing the final checks in preparation for writing your project close report, your calculations indicated that the actual expenditure was $596,231. What is the Variance at Completion of this project?

1. ($13.47)
2. $13,471
3. $21,031
4. ($21,031)

Answer 32

Answer: $13,471

Overall explanation

To calculate the Variance at Completion (VAC) you use the following formula: VAC = BAC (Budget At Completion) - EAC (Estimate At Completion). Using the amounts provided in the question, then, BAC ($596,231) minus EAC ($582,760) = VAC ($13,471).

Question 33

Your organization contracts with a vendor to deliver their online banking software to you as part of your project to transform your customers’ digital experience. If the vendor doesn’t deliver the software with some functionality that you were expecting to receive, or the functionality works but not in the way you had wanted it to, what may you have to do as part of your duties during Monitoring and Controlling?

1. Adjust the Communication Plan
2. Create a Change Request
3. Analyze Data
4. Update the Project Management Plan

Answer 33

Answer: Create a Change Request

Overall explanation

During the Validate Scope process, you can use the tool & technique of inspection to determine if a deliverable has met your requirements. During that time, or perhaps later in a group meeting, it may be decided that a change request is needed if a deliverable cannot be accepted or the scope needs to change to accommodate what actually was delivered, if the project team deems it acceptable. If the scope is validated, the deliverable is accepted. If not, a change request may be required.

Question 34

This document is issued to prospective vendors when more information is needed on how they would satisfy the requirements and/or how much it will cost.

1. RFQ
2. RFI
3. SOW
4. RFP

Answer 34

Answer: RFQ

Overall explanation

Depending on the goods or services needed, the bidding documents can include a request for information, request for quotation, request for proposal, or other appropriate procurement documents. The conditions involving their use are presented below: 1) Request for information (RFI). An RFI is used when more information on the goods and services to be acquired is needed from the sellers. It will typically be followed by an RFQ or RFP. 2) Request for quotation (RFQ). An RFQ is commonly used when more information is needed on how vendors would satisfy the requirements and/or how much it will cost. 3) Request for proposal (RFP). An RFP is used when there is a problem in the project and the solution is not easy to determine. This is the most formal of the “request for” documents and has strict procurement rules for content, timeline, and seller responses.

Question 35

Your project is humming along through Execution without too many difficulties and then suddenly a key stakeholder leaves the company and someone who hasn’t been involved with the project takes over the role for the foreseeable future. What plan may you need to update - and then act upon - as a result?

1. Quality Management Plan
2. Communications Plan
3. Procurement Plan
4. Scope Management Plan

Answer 35

Answer: Communications Plan

Overall explanation

While monitoring communications on your project, you may find that the project communication plan may need to be adjusted from time to time if the project stakeholders change or if the engagement level calls for different strategies to keep communication open and working on the project.

Question 36

In agile, also called adaptive, project environments, the expectations of a project manager do not change. However, their focus changes to building a collaborative decision-making environment while control of detailed product planning and delivery is assigned to whom?

1. Program Manager
2. Project Team
3. Steering Committee
4. Project Sponsor

Answer 36

Answer: Project Team

Overall explanation

Iterative and agile approaches promote the engagement of team members as local domain experts in integration management. The team members determine how plans and components should integrate. The expectations of the project manager do not change in an adaptive environment, but control of the detailed product planning and delivery is delegated to the team.

Question 37

A directive PMO (Project Management Office) differs from a supportive PMO in that a directive PMO is responsible for providing which critical role/resource to a project, while the supportive PMO acts in consultative roles?

1. Software Systems Analyst
2. Risk Manager
3. Project Manager
4. Business Process Owner

Answer 37

Answer: Project Manager

Overall explanation

Directive PMOs take control of the projects by directly managing the projects. Project managers are assigned by and report to the PMO. The degree of control provided by the PMO is high.

Question 38

One of the techniques for managing quality is Data Representation. There are many ways this can be accomplished, including flowcharts, affinity diagrams, histograms, matrix diagrams and cause-and-effect diagrams. What is another technique that can be used in this area?

1. Data Tables
2. Scatter Diagrams
3. Project Schedules
4. Gantt Charts

Answer 38

Answer: Scatter Diagrams

Overall explanation

Data representation is meant to provide a look at data in a more visual graphical way than listing the data in columns, rows, tables or cells. Project schedules are word and number based data and while Gantt Charts do help give a more visual view into the schedule, the key in this question was that the listed techniques occur in conjunction with managing quality on a project, and a Gantt Chart is unrelated to Project Quality Management.

Question 39

What or who is the natural liaison between the organization’s portfolios, programs, projects, and the organizational measurement systems?

1. Portfolio Manager
2. Project Manager
3. Project Management Office
4. Program Manager

Answer 39

Answer: Project Management Office

Overall explanation

The PMO integrates data and information from organizational strategic projects and evaluates how higher-level strategic objectives are being fulfilled. The PMO is the natural liaison between the organization’s portfolios, programs, projects, and the organizational measurement systems (e.g., balanced scorecard). The projects supported or administered by the PMO may not be related other than by being managed together. The specific form, function, and structure of a PMO are dependent upon the needs of the organization that it supports.

Question 40

Scope, Time and Cost are three sides of what is sometimes called the Iron Triangle, Talent Triangle or Triple Constraints of a project. What’s important about these three things?

1. You have to track them separately without any connection among them.
2. Time and Cost provide you with what’s in the scope of the project.
3. Changing one of them will change both of the others in some way.
4. They are the responsibility of the project’s Executive Sponsor to monitor on a daily basis.

Answer 40

Answer: Changing one of them will change both of the others in some way.

Overall explanation

While the “Triple Constraint” model referred more to the the quality management of a project originally, it’s come to be used also as a tool for project managers to define how a change in schedule will affect the scope and/or the budget, how a change in scope will affect the schedule and or budget and how a change in budget will impact the schedule and/or scope.

Question 41

What does the emerging trend acronym PMIS stand for, keeping in mind it’s something referred to in the Monitoring & Controlling process group?

1. Process Management Information System
2. Project Management Information System
3. Portfolio Management Information System
4. Program Management Information System

Answer 41

Answer: Project Management Information System

Overall explanation

A PMIS or project management information system can provide continuous monitoring and insight into the health of projects and identify areas needing attention and focus. The PMIS is one of the tools and techniques of the Monitor and Control Project Work process.

Question 42

After some discussion with project team members, you discover that you know a lot more about details for near-term deliverables than you do about the more nebulous details further out.

What kind of planning would work well for your project?

1. Rolling Wave
2. Critical Path
3. Six Sigma
4. Waterfall

Answer 42

Answer: Rolling Wave

Overall explanation

Six Sigma focuses on business process improvements. Critical path determines the duration of longest path through the project. The waterfall methodology, also called predictive, is a plan-driven approach to project management and within the waterfall and agile methodologies both, can exist the Rolling Wave for scenarios such as this.

Rolling Wave is an iterative which allows more focus upon what is known near-term and less upon what happens further out in the project.

Question 43

Trevor is working to determine whether or not the next three deliverables of his marketing project will be as late as the three that have already put him behind schedule. Since they’re all being delivered by the same vendor, Trevor devises a calculation that becomes a mathematical model that he can input deliverable type, estimated duration and his new calculated factor of “lag time” into, and obtain what he feels is a good projection for how late - or not - the next three deliverables are likely to be. What type of analysis has Trevor just used to make this determination?

1. Cost-benefit analysis
2. Variance analysis
3. Trend Analysis
4. Earned value analysis

Answer 43

Answer: Trend Analysis

Overall explanation

Correct answer: Trend analysis is used to forecast future performance based on past results. It looks ahead in the project for expected slippages and warns the project manager ahead of time that there may be problems later in the schedule if established trends persist. This information is made available early enough in the project timeline to give the project team time to analyze and correct any anomalies. The results of trend analysis can be used to recommend preventive actions if necessary. Earned value provides an integrated perspective on scope, schedule, and cost performance. Variance analysis reviews the differences (or variance) between planned and actual performance. This can include duration estimates, cost estimates, resources utilization, resources rates, technical performance, and other metrics. And finally, Cost-benefit analysis helps to determine the best corrective action in terms of cost in case of project deviations.

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT one of the three dimensions of complexity within projects?

1. Human behavior
2. Ambiguity
3. System behavior
4. Processes

Answer 44

Answer: Processes

Overall explanation

Processes is the correct answer, as it is NOT one of the three dimensions. Complexity within projects is a result of the organization’s system behavior, human behavior, and the uncertainty at work in the organization or its environment. These three dimensions of complexity are defined as: System behavior. The interdependencies of components and systems. Human behavior. The interplay between diverse individuals and groups. Ambiguity. Uncertainty of emerging issues and lack of understanding or confusion.

Question 45

Garrett’s in charge of a robotics project where a prototype robot designed to enter buildings, provide live video feed and navigate using its own Artificial Intelligence has to be built so it can then be tested for how it can maneuver in a hostage negotiation situation. Which of the four dependency attributes is this an example of?

1. Mandatory
2. External
3. Dependency
4. Internal

Answer 45

Answer: Mandatory

Overall explanation

Mandatory dependencies often involve physical limitations, such as on a construction project, where it is impossible to erect the superstructure until after the foundation has been built, or on an electronics project, where a prototype has to be built before it can be tested. Discretionary dependencies are established based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or some unusual aspect of the project where a specific sequence is desired, even though there may be other acceptable sequences. External dependencies involve a relationship between project activities and nonproject activities, and internal dependencies involve a precedence relationship between project activities and are generally inside the project team’s control. Becuase the prototype is being built from several different contractors’ components, they are not all inside the project team’s control and that’s why this isn’t a “Mandatory Internal” dependency.

Question 46

Which of the following is a common type of responsibility assignment matrix that uses responsible, accountable, consult, and inform statuses to define the involvement of stakeholders in project activities?

1. Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)
2. Role-Responsibility-Authority Form
3. RACI Chart
4. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Answer 46

Answer: RACI Chart

Overall explanation

The key is in the definition here: responsible, accountable, consult, and inform - these provide the acronym RACI, so RACI Chart is the correct answer.

A Role-Responsibility-Authority Form can achieve the same result, but it’s done in a text format, usually looking somewhat like an outline.

Both the WBS and the RBS can be used to show positions and relationships in a graphical, top-down format, but these do not explicitly state the responsibilities of various roles to the level of detail that a RACI Chart does.

Question 47

Which of the following is not one of the three bidding documents used to solicit proposals from prospective sellers during the Plan Procurement Management process?

1. Request for Information (RFI)
2. Request for Proposal (RFP)
3. Statement of Work (SOW)
4. Request for Quotation (RFQ)

Answer 47

Answer: Statement of Work (SOW)

Overall explanation

The RFI, RFQ and RFP are bid documents. The statement of work (SOW) for each procurement is developed from the project scope baseline and defines only that portion of the project scope that is to be included within the related contract. The SOW describes the procurement item in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellers to determine if they are capable of providing the products, services, or results. It is a component of the three bid documents.

Question 48

How many processes are there in Project Integration Management?

1. 5
2. 9
3. 11
4. 7

Answer 48

Answer: 7

Overall explanation

The correct answer is 7, and the Project Integration Management processes are: Develop Project Charter—The process of developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. Develop Project Management Plan—The process of defining, preparing, and coordinating all plan components and consolidating them into an integrated project management plan. Direct and Manage Project Work—The process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan and implementing approved changes to achieve the project’s objectives. Manage Project Knowledge—The process of using existing knowledge and creating new knowledge to achieve the project’s objectives and contribute to organizational learning. Monitor and Control Project Work—The process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting overall progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan. Perform Integrated Change Control—The process of reviewing all change requests; approving changes and managing changes to deliverables, organizational process assets, project documents, and the project management plan; and communicating the decisions. Close Project or Phase—The process of finalizing all activities for the project, phase, or contract.

Question 49

When looking for someone to provide goods or services for a project, least cost, qualifications only, fixed budget and sole source are just four possibilities for which Plan Procurement Management tool or technique?

1. Source Selection Analysis
2. Data Analysis
3. Expert Judgment
4. Data Gathering

Answer 49

Answer: Source Selection Analysis

Overall explanation

It is necessary to review the prioritization of the competing demands for the project before deciding on the selection method. Since competitive selection methods may require sellers to invest a large amount of time and resources upfront, it is a good practice to include the evaluation method in the procurement documents so bidders know how they will be evaluated. Commonly used selection methods include the following: least cost, qualifications only, quality-based/highest technical proposal score, quality and cost-based, sole source and fixed budget.

Question 50

Billy and his team are embroiled in a five-year project that is both complex and at times, incredibly frustrating. Their efforts are all the more difficult by the fact that the 52 team members work in eight different locations around the globe. In an effort to help individual team members work together effectively by coming together face-to-face, he organizes a four-day retreat and starts the second day off by splitting everyone into teams of four for an all-day scavenger hunt meant to build relationships and cameraderie. What is this type of development activity an example of?

1. Motivation
2. Influencing
3. Negotiation
4. Team Building

Answer 50

Answer: Team Building

Overall explanation

Team building is conducting activities that enhance the team’s social relations and build a collaborative and cooperative working environment. Team building activities can vary from a 5-minute agenda item in a status review meeting to an offsite, professionally facilitated event designed to improve interpersonal relationships. The objective of team-building activities is to help individual team members work together effectively. Team-building strategies are particularly valuable when team members operate from remote locations without the benefit of face-to-face contact. Informal communication and activities can help in building trust and establishing good working relationships. While team building is essential during the initial stages of a project, it should be a continuous process.