KT Chapter Summaries Flashcards

Question

What are the responsibilities of a product owner?

Answer 1

"Responsibilities of a product owner include: • defining goals and creating vision for the operability of the project's outputs; • acting as the on-site customer for iterative or agile projects; • communicating with stakeholders to ensure the project remains aligned with business objectives; • providing feedback to the project team on iteration planning, constraints, priorities and progress in relation to business needs; • establishing priorities for scope, budget and time within iterations; • acting as the main communication link between stakeholders and teams; • evaluating progress and providing feedback to the team on delivery performance and advising if continuation is feasible. "

Answer 2

"Concept Phase PM may not even be appointed. At the latest, the sponsor appoints a project manager at the end of the concept phase. Sponsor focuses on developing a business case, and understanding the scope, deliverables, desired outcomes and expected benefits at a high level. Definition Phase PM focuses on planning and developing the project management plan (PMP) which includes a detailed definition, plans, budgets, schedules, requirements, justification for the work, and plans for managing risks, issues, changes, procurement, quality and communication with stakeholders. Sponsor focuses on developing a detailed business case to justify the investment. The sponsor leads gate reviews at the start and end of the definition phase. At the latter review, the sponsor approves the PMP and authorises the resources required to implement it. Deployment Phase PM implements the PMP. The focus of the project manager in this phase is on delivering the agreed scope within the agreed constraints of time, cost and quality documented in the agreed PMP. This is where the project manager allocates work to the team(s), monitors progress, deals with issues and risks, and reports progress to the sponsor and steering group, and escalates issues and risks when necessary. Sponsor assists the project manager when requested, ensures that resources are made available when needed, and takes decisions about escalated issues and risks. The sponsor reports progress to senior management. The sponsor also monitors key business risks and releases contingent funds when needed. The sponsor can also approve changes to the project scope after assessing the impact on the benefits in the business case. Transition Phase PM works with users to gain their acceptance and to ensure handover occurs. Sponsor is accountable for ensuring that the project's benefits are realised, when the project is handed over to operations. "

Answer 3

"1. Controls and reporting Controls and reporting involves collecting, analysing and presenting progress information and managing interdependencies. 2. Assurance Assurance involves audits, health checks and reviews to support decision gates and change control. 3. Centre of excellence Centre of excellence involves improving processes, tools and techniques; embedding best practice through training and support; and measuring capabilities to review progress and target higher levels of maturity. 4. Specialist support Specialist support involves provision of specialist skills such as risk; quality, planning or finance resources as role models to other project professionals. 5. Information management Information management involves document management and access to information, tools and services. "

Answer 4

"A PMO brings three main benefits to any project-based organisation: 1. Deployment support 2. Process improvement 3. Resource flexibility. Other benefits include the following: • It frees up time for the project manager by relieving part of the administrative burden from the project manager. • It enables the organisation to standardize on a common project management approach and governance. • It provides assurance to the project manager that work is going according to plan;"

Answer 5

``` "The aspects of project management governance include: • Policies • Regulations • Functions • Processes • Procedures • Delegated Responsibilities" ```

Answer 6

When effectively implemented, governance provides confidence to all stakeholders that projects are being managed well and that the most appropriate financial and technical controls are being exerted to ensure that the deployment of effort has the best chance of leading to a realisation of value.

Answer 7

"1. Linear life cycle A life cycle that aims to complete a project within a single pass through a set of distinct phases that are completed serially and span from the development of the initial concept to the deployment of an ultimate output, outcome or benefits. 2. Iterative life cycle A life cycle that repeats one or more of the phases of a project or programme before proceeding to the next one with the objective of managing uncertainty of scope by allowing objectives to evolve as learning and discovery takes place. 3. Hybrid life cycle A hybrid life cycle is a pragmatic approach to achieving beneficial change that combines a linear life cycle for some phases or activities with an iterative life cycle for others. "

Answer 8

"These are reasons for structuring projects as phases: 1. Improved planning of work - phases break down work into stages, work packages and activities. Work is more visible in this way, allowing better planning decisions to be made. 2. Clearer identification of priorities - stages enables focus to be maintained on important factors appropriate to the characteristics of each stage. 3. More effective risk assessment - thorough risk assessments can be conducted at the end of each stage which support 'go' or 'no go' decisions. 4. Greater estimating accuracy - near-term stages allow work to be viewed in more granular way which provides more accurate estimates. 5. More representative performance management - stages provide opportunities to review achievement and recognise success. 6. Greater adoption of continual improvement - as each unit of work or stage is delivered lessons can be learned about performance and effectiveness of processes. These can be fed into upcoming work. 7. Improved control - the sponsor and project manager can review objectives and tolerances and make appropriate changes to ensure effective control for exmaple by gate reviews. 8. More effective stakeholder communication - enables stakeholders to be updated on project status. "

Answer 9

"1. Adoption Adoption facilitates the use of project outputs to enable the acceptance and use of benefits. 2. Benefits realisation Benefits realisation is the practice of ensuring that benefits are derived from outputs and outcomes. "

Answer 10

"A life cycle is a framework comprising a series of distinct high-level stages required to transform an idea or concept into reality in an orderly and efficient manner. An extended life cycle, on the other hand, is a life cycle approach that adds an adoption phase with the purpose of ensuring the accountability and governance of the investment stays with the change teams until change is fully embedded. It also provides the missing connection to benefit realisation. "

Answer 11

"• Gate reviews - performed to review the project against the business case and project management plan to decide if the project should proceed to the next phase. • Stage reviews - evaluate the progress of the project against the agreed plans with the aim of identifying variance and corrective actions. • Post-project reviews - provides the organisation with assurance that the project has successfully met its success criteria (or not), to confirm that the project has actually finished, and provides a forum to learn lessons for future projects. • Benefits reviews - performed to understand whether the project was a success and delivered the necessary products that achieve the expected benefits. • Peer reviews - are intended to use colleagues of the project manager (or potentially the sponsor) to provide scrutiny of the way in which the role is being fulfilled and the manner in which the project is being run. • Audits — are external to the project and provide assurance to the organisation that the project is conforming to agreed procedures and has a good chance of success."

Answer 12

"1. They provide a basis for stakeholder management, communication and effective governance. 2. They help organisations assess how projects contribute to business objectives. These objectives and the metrics used to measure them should be stated in business and supporting strategies. 3. They generate lessons learned which should be fed into the organisation's project management processes and procedures for future projects. 4. They enhance project management performance and contributing to the long-term maturity of the organisation. 5. They can initiate changes to the way that the organisation and its people work. "

Answer 13

"Projects may close early when: • They are not able to achieve objectives. • There is no longer a viable business case. • They are no longer promising. "

Answer 14

"1. Communication targets - containing a list of stakeholders which the project needs to communicate with; 2. Information to be communicated - describes the information to be communicated into and out of the project (e.g. reports); 3. Communication channels - describe the different communication channels which will be used including formal and informal verbal, formal and informal written, and non-verbal channels; 4. Nature of the audience - this considers the nature of the audience and how it may wish to receive information; 5. Costs - this provides details on how much will be spent for each of the activities associated with communication on the project; 6. Feedback - this describes how feedback will be collected and what will be done as a result. "

Answer 15

"The benefits of a communication plan to a project are the following: • The most appropriate communication media is used. Choosing an appropriate media for delivering messages is vital to ensure the messages are received and understood by stakeholders. This increases the chance of stakeholder engagement. • More focused communication. Rather than swamping stakeholders with mass communication, much of which is irrelevant to some recipients, plan messages in a tailored and targeted way so the recipients receive only what is useful to them. These messages are more likely to be read by the recipients. • More consistent communication. With communications planned in advance, messages can be delivered using a framework that has been agreed and approved in advance. This ensures that stakeholders do not receive conflicting messages from different areas of the project. • Communication can be improved. By ensuring that feedback channels are planned into communication structures, barriers can be identified which allows improvements to be made. This enables more effective communication over the project life. • Greater adherence to governance and standards. A communication plan can take account of any organisation-wide standards for communication which will avoid errors or areas of conflict such as privacy, or security breaches. "

Answer 16

"The five factors that can positively or negatively affect communication are: 1. Use of technical terms (jargon) when communicating 2. Organisational culture and structural hierarchies 3. Time zones and geography 4. Physical and environmental aspects of the location (temperature, noise, safety) 5. Planning of communication. "

Answer 17

"• A project requires a communication plan that builds upon stakeholder analysis and is used to prioritise the project's communication efforts. • It outlines the who, what, when, why and how of two-way communication between the project and stakeholders. • Stakeholder analysis aims to establish the level of interest and power each stakeholder holds. • It should be updated throughout the project to reflect changes in stakeholder attitudes. • It allows interactions to motivate stakeholders to support the desired outcomes. • Stakeholder analysis helps to build understanding of issues and build positive relationships. "

Answer 18

"The different sources of conflict are the following: • Disagreements about times and dates. • Conflict about money and budgets. • Different and conflicting requirements from different users. • Conflict between time spent on the project and time spent on business-as-usual work. • Conflict between individuals. • Failing to gain acceptance of the project deliverables. • Consideration of stakeholders' views. • Having to balance between different project objectives. "

Answer 19

"1. The model is an assessment tool which ranks an individual on co-operativeness and assertiveness scales. 2. By using a self-assessment questionnaire, a candidate can determine which style of conflict resolution they would prefer in relation to the two axes in given circumstances. 3. For any given situation, it is possible to imagine 'opposing parties, who appear to be in some form of conflict, adopting greater or lesser degrees of co-operation and be more or less assertive. "

Answer 20

Competing - A highly assertive, but uncooperative person. When faced with this type of individual it might be best to adopt a manner that seeks to increase their level of co-operativeness. Collaborating - A highly assertive and highly cooperative person. This person will work with you to solve the problem. Avoiding - An individual demonstrating low co-operativeness and low assertiveness. They will not wish to become engaged in the discussions at all and simply avoid the issue. Accommodating - A highly cooperative person exerting little or no assertiveness. They will tend to just go along with the proposals. Compromising - An individual who is prepared to sacrifice some of what they have been striving for in order to make the deal.

Answer 21

"These are the three steps of the negotiation process: 1. Planning, which is about identifying objective criteria for what you want to achieve and an understanding of the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. 2. Negotiating, which is about coming up with a mutually acceptable outcome that is agreed by both parties (Win Win'). 3. Following up, which is about putting in place documentation that will make it clear to all parties of the deal that has been negotiated. This is important to try to minimise future conflict. "

Answer 22

``` "The role of leadership in a project is to: Promote the project objectives Encourage positive relationships Support effective teamwork Raise morale Empower and inspire individuals. " ```

Answer 23

"Project managers need to: • Demonstrate highly tuned leadership skills to get the team pointing in the right direction as soon as they can, but in a way that lasts. • Ensure that the staff who report to them are fully motivated so that the problems associated with poor motivation can be avoided. "

Answer 24

"The five tiers of motivational components of MasloWs Hierarchy of Needs are: 1. Self-actualization 2. Esteem 3. Belongingness and love 4. Safety 5. Physiological "

Answer 25

"Herbergs Two Factor theory hypothesised that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction were two independent factors. Herzberg argued that the presence of one set of job characteristics (true motivators) leads to worker satisfaction, while another and separate set of job characteristics (hygiene factors) leads to dissatisfaction at work. True Motivators: • Achievement • Recognition • Work itself • Responsibility • Advancement • Growth ``` Hygiene Factors: • Company policy • Supervision • Work conditions • Salary • Relationship with peers " ```

Answer 26

"Situational Leadership suggests that leaders should adapt their attempts to influence to meet the needs of their followers based on their readiness to perform each specific job, task or activity. Action-Centered leadership revolves around key activities undertaken by the leader, including achieving a task, building and maintaining a team, and developing individuals in order to hone talents and skills. "

Answer 27

"The four styles of leadership 1. Delegating: The leader is least involved with staff. Staff decide themselves the tasks and the direction to take. Staff know their role which requires less supervision. 2. Coaching: The leader is very involved in day-to-day activities. The leader still makes decisions, but staff provide input before the decision is taken. 3. Supporting: The leader provides some direction, but decisions are made by the followers. The leader provides praise and feedback for completed tasks to increase the follower's confidence and motivation. 4. Telling: The leader makes all the decisions and closely supervises the staff who do as they are told. Also known as 'micro-management'. "

Answer 28

"McGregor's two opposing views are: Theory X, Assumes that people are not motivated and dislike working. This view results in a very structural autocratic style of leadership. Theory Y, Assumes that employees are willing to work, self-motivated and creative, and happy to accept greater responsibility. It assumes that workers require a more participative style of leadership based on trust that is more decentralised. "

Answer 29

"It's important for leaders to adopt a leadership style that builds team and wider stakeholder commitment. Examples: • A leader needs to be directive to address an issue that threatens the achievement of objectives. • A mentoring or coaching style is appropriate when there is time to focus on development of the team as well as goal achievement. • For much of the time when the team is established and working well, the leader delegates responsibility for achieving activities to team members, only intervening if evidence arises to suggest that performance is not to agreed expectations. "

Answer 30

"The key benefits of effective teamwork include: • Team can deliver more than its members can do independently. • Coherent approach and effective hand offs between tasks and individuals improves the use of team members' time and reduces rework. • Work can be speeded by having efficient communication between team members who understand each other's behaviours. • Provides assurance to stakeholders through a unified, confident approach that the job is under control. • Provides a rewarding place for individuals to work by facilitating mutual support and respect which improves morale. • Helps to promote healthy, constructive discussion, enabling creativity to be applied during the development of solutions to problems. "

Answer 31

"• Developing a facilitative, virtual leadership mindset, approach and leadership style, and establishing how best to work with remote team colleagues and stakeholders. • It's important to know your team members' preferences and skills. • You have to figure out how trust can be built and maintained throughout the project or programme. • It is also important to agree norms for communication, taking everyone's preferences into account. • Technology, such as the pros and cons of audio and video, network security, availability of equipment and connectivity, the collaboration tools to be used, and the need for virtual meetings, should be considered. • It's also important to consider your team members' time zones and diversity of culture, mother tongue and generation. "

Answer 32

"1. The Belbin team roles model helps analyse individuals and their preferred style. 2. Within a team, one person's strengths balance another's weaknesses. 3. Individuals will perform better in a team context if they are given a role that plays to their strengths. "

Answer 33

"The Tuckman model recognises four stages of team development: 1. Forming - team members are brought together for the first time. They begin to understand the work. They each behave independently of each other so they can each understand their role in the project. 2. Storming - competition and confrontation occurs between team members. They each have their own view of how things should be done. 3. Norming- individuals are more accepting of other members. They begin operating as a unit to deliver products and support each other in the task. 4. Performing - the optimal state for a team to achieve. Team functions as a cohesive unit and can get work done with little or no supervision."

Answer 34

"1. The Margerison-McCann theory assumes that people are more motivated to perform the type of work that they prefer. 2. It consists of a Team Management Profile - a psychometric tool measuring things such as aptitude and personality. 3. It consists of 60 questions exploring how individuals at work prefer to: • Relate to others • Gather and use information • Make decisions • Organise themselves and others. • A profile is then built from the answers that highlights a person's role "

Answer 35

"1. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an assessment tool that measures psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. 2. The tool consists of a questionnaire, and an individual's answers determine their type of personality. 3. It also provides general assumptions about how their personality type is best suited for success in terms of careers, communication, etc. "

Answer 36

"• The Katzenbach and Smith model defines a team as a small group of people with complementary skills. • They are committed to common goals for which they are mutually accountable. • The model that they developed suggested that for a team to reach its goals, • There must be three necessary factors in play: 1. Commitment 2. Skills 3. Accountability. "

Answer 37

"The major topics in a business case are: • Reasons - The business problem or opportunity which this problem will resolve, or exploit. • Business options - This explains the different business options which have been considered for solving the business problem or exploiting the opportunity. • Benefits - What positive, measurable improvements will the project bring? Who will witness them, and when? • Costs - What is the total cost required to deliver the products that will realise the benefits (both project and operational costs)? • Timescales - The timescales over which the products will be delivered and the benefits will be realised. • Investment appraisal - This weighs up the costs, timescales and risks of doing the project against the benefits to be gained. • Risks - The risks a business case is concerned with are strategic ones for the business, i.e. what might go wrong with either the benefits, costs and timescales? "

Answer 38

"• The sponsor oversees the development of the business case in collaboration with the sponsoring group; • The sponsoring group oversees the development of the of the business case in collaboration with the sponsor and approves it. • The project manager may write the business case themself but can also employ others to write it. • The suppliers may have detailed technical knowledge which can be fed into the development of the business case; • The users must not only be involved in specifying the products, but also in helping to understand the expected benefits; • The subject matter experts can be co-opted onto the project to enable proper analysis and decisions to be made.; • External consultants are often hired to prepare the business case to help make the decision-making process more impartial. "

Answer 39

"A business case is important because: • It should be used throughout all phases of the project to decide whether the project should continue by monitoring the ongoing viability of the project output at the time of its completion. • A business case is a sort of contract between the project and the business. It clarifies to stakeholders what benefits they can expect after the project has delivered the outputs. "

Answer 40

"• Concept - an outline business case is developed by the project manager and contains the main reason for the project. • Definition - it is refined in more detail with forecasts for benefits, costs, timescales and risks. It is issued as a final baseline document after approval. • Deployment - the business case forms the basis of evaluating project progress, changes, issues and risks. • Transition - it forms the main reference to review how the benefits are being realised compared to what was expected by stakeholders in the approved business case. "

Answer 41

"The benefits management plan explains how benefits will be managed. It sets out policies for aspects such as benefits measurement, roles and responsibilities for benefits realisation, priorities and key performance indicators (KPls). "

Answer 42

"Steps of the benefits management process: 1. Identification: Benefits are recorded together with justification and outline measurement criteria. 2. Definition: Each benefit (and disbenefit) is documented in terms of priority, interdependencies, value, timescales and ownership. 3. Planning: Baseline measurements are captured and targets agreed. The benefits plan shows timelines and milestones for realising benefits, including dependencies on project outputs or interactions between benefits. 4. Tracking: The project manager and sponsor agree what benefits are tracked and how. This happens in early life cycle to enable the necessary baseline measures to be set up. 5. Realisation: Benefits are realised, which usually involves permanently changing attitudes and behaviours as well as physical changes. "

Answer 43

"The investment appraisal techniques that can be used to assess the viability of projects are: 1. Payback method - The project's projected income is compared with its initial cost to understand when (in years) the initial investment will be recovered. Advantages • Quick • Simple • Easy to understand Disadvantages • Assumes money is worth the same now as in the future. • Doesn't consider income earned after the payback period. • Doesn't consider the future value of money. 2. Net Present Value NPV - Uses discount rate allows for the value of money changing over time. Advantages • Considers the future value of money. • Considers the full project life cycle. • Gives a single predicted figure for profitability. Disadvantages • Can be complex to calculate. • Relies upon the percentage used as the discount rate. • Implies a greater level of certainty that is not justified. 3. Internal Rate of Return IRR - Is a measure of an investment's rate of return by setting the NPV to zero. Advantages • Considers the future value of money. • The choice of discount factor is not relevant. • Can be compared against the organisation's flat rate expectation of return, i.e. the minimum amount that can be achieved by any option. Disadvantages • Is complex to calculate. • Is difficult to calculate with accuracy. • Can sometimes have multiple results. "

Answer 44

"The stages of the information management process are: • Collection - The project manager decides how much information is collected, processed and retained. • Storage - This requires minimum standards for information access security, back-ups, version control and accessibility. • Curation - Order and sequence collected data in such a way that it meets future needs. • Dissemination - This stage is about ensuring that stakeholders needing information get it in a timely manner and in a format enabling them to make the necessary decisions • Archiving - This is about keeping information for a minimum time period. • Destruction - This is about ensuring information is securely removed, destroyed, or overwritten to an extent that the contents are unable to be viewed. "

Answer 45

"The factors that would typically be reported on to help ensure successful project outcomes are: • Performance status - Actual or forecast delivery date of outputs. • Schedule status - Actual expenditure and the committed expenditure to date for each task or work package. • Cost status - Actual expenditure and the committed expenditure to date for each task. • Quality status - Any changes that might affect the form or function of the task and deliverables. • Risk exposure - Changes in the status of any identified risks which threaten the achievement of the work, together with any new threats or opportunities. • Exception and variance reporting - Defined triggers require a task owner to report variations to time and cost forecasts at completion, and suggest appropriate recovery actions. "

Answer 46

"The role of knowledge management in the decision-making process is as follows: 1. Knowledge management requires processes, tools and techniques to build existing knowledge as organisational assets. 2. To enrich these assets, new knowledge is developed from experience. 3. Project reviews, workshops, knowledge portals and meetings can all play a role in knowledge management. 4. These activities are often performed in many organisations, but knowledge management seeks to formalise the process of harvesting knowledge, maintaining it and making it available to others in a form that allows them to make the best decisions. "

Answer 47

"1. The PMP is a 'living' document, which means that it is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the current situation and needs of the business case. 2. It acts as a communication tool to those who need it. 3. Each section of the PMP might link to standalone documents (e. a risk log), so these links must be updated to reflect the latest versions as necessary. 4. All changes must be conveyed to the audience. It is used as a basis for audits and reviews. "

Answer 48

"The culmination of all the work which goes into the PMP forms the deployment baseline. It forms an agreed reference point that can be communicated to all stakeholders. It is approved with the PMP at the decision gate associated with the approval of significant project costs. The PMP describes how that deployment will be managed. After approval of the PMP, the project can then proceed to the deployment phase where the deployment baseline is used to monitor progress and manage change control. "

Answer 49

"In a linear life cycle, a baseline can be established from which deployment can be managed and controlled, and the planned value is then understood for the whole project. In an iterative life cycle, the baseline resources and schedule are determined, but the achievement of scope and quality may vary from the plan as teams may have autonomy to re-prioritise tasks and act on new knowledge. "

Answer 50

"The categories of content of the PMP is divided into six sections: 1. The 'Why section answers the most important question about the project - 'why we should do it?' It explains the underlying business problem or opportunity that the project intends to solve, the costs, benefits, risks and timescales required, and how the project fits into the wider corporate strategy. It often links to a standalone business case. 2. The 'What' section describes the deliverables the project shall deliver to satisfy the project requirements. 3. The 'Who' section typically shows an organisation chart showing the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the project. 4. The 'How much' section contains a summary of the project budget, the mechanisms used for managing costs and how budget variances will be dealt with. 5. The 'When' section shows the project schedule. It may just contain a high-level Gantt chart showing the key milestones, phases and stages and supported by other scheduling information as required. 6. The 'How section describes the different plans and strategies used for managing the project. These plans and strategies are often separate documents. They are often based upon organisational templates. "

Answer 51

"The purpose of estimates include the following: 1. To conduct economic analysis for investment appraisals and option selection to support judgements about value for money. 2. As an essential input for creating a resourced schedule. 3. To enable budget setting and considerations of affordability. 4. As the starting point for risk analysis and contingency determination. "

Answer 52

"The approaches to producing estimates are the following: 1. Parametric - An estimating technique that uses a statistical relationship between historic data and other variables to calculate an estimate. 2. Analogous - An estimating technique based on the comparison with, and factoring from, the cost of similar, previous work. Also known as comparative estimating. 3. Analytical - An estimating technique that uses detailed specifications to estimate time and cost for each product or activity. Also known as bottom-up estimating. 4. Delphi - The generation of an estimate through individual expert judgement followed by facilitated team consensus. "

Answer 53

"The benefits of re-estimating throughout the project life cycle include: 1. Reduced contingency reserves 2. Greater involvement of the project team 3. Opportunity to incorporate lessons learned 4. Increased likelihood of adhering to overall estimate 5. Minimising effect of estimating error. "

Answer 54

"1. Stakeholder analysis contributes to the project by identifying the goals and roles of different stakeholder groups. It then helps to formulate appropriate forms of engagement with these groups. 2. Developing a good stakeholder engagement means understanding stakeholder needs, both perceived and in reality. 3. Influence relies on relationships being built and maintained which depend on factors such as respect, shared values and trust. Influence can also be achieved through an understanding of relationships between stakeholders and the politics that shapes those alliances. Stakeholders who support the project can be used to influence stakeholders who do not. "

Answer 55

"Fully managing stakeholder expectations results in better outcomes, including the following: 1. More effective risk management 2. Improved communications planning 3. Formation of a productive team 4. Effective engagement actions to be initiated 5. Increased likelihood of project being accepted. "

Answer 56

"The project manager would use EVM to help to monitor things such • achievement of planned scope to the quality required; • motivation and satisfaction of team members; • performance of contractors and the health of supply chain relationships; • committed costs and cash-flow; • changes to the risk profile and impact on time or cost contingency; • effectiveness of communication with stakeholders. "

Answer 57

"The correct interpretation of earned value data can provide the following benefits: 1. It enables objective measurement of project status to be compiled and communicated to stakeholders. 2. It establishes a basis for estimating final cost. 3. It enables a prediction for when the project will be complete. 4. It supports the effective management of resources. 5. It provides a means of managing and controlling change. "

Answer 58

"The four terms related to a project's scope are: • Projects, which are the efforts that will produce the deliverables/products; • Outputs, which are the products produced by the project; • Outcomes, which are the changes which result from using the outputs; and • Benefits, which are the positive results of the outcomes are measured in the form of benefits. Stakeholders may sometimes view some benefits as negative (dis-benefits). "

Answer 59

"1. WBS, is a tool for defining the hierarchical breakdown of work required to deliver the products of a project. 2. PBS provides a list of all interrelated products. The products on the PBS will have entries in the project's configuration management library. 3. CBS is derived from the WBS and shows the costs of each component or work package. A PBS is similar with the WBS, except that a WBS shows work and uses verbs whilst a PBS shows products and uses nouns. "

Answer 60

"The OBS shows contractors, departments, teams and sometimes individuals who are involved in the project. The OBS shows the structure of the project, the communication routes, and reporting links. Through the identification of work packages, an OBS can be combined with a WBS to produce a RAM. OBS + WBS = RAM RAM describes the participation of different roles in completing tasks on a project. It can also be especially useful for clarifying roles and responsibilities in matrix organisations (i.e. those with cross-functional/departmental projects and processes). It is sometimes called RACI or RASIC, which stands for: • Responsible • Accountable • Consulted • Informed • Support (additional role for RASIC) "

Answer 61

"1. Requirements management is an ongoing activity which is performed throughout the project life cycle. 2. Project outputs described within the requirements become the main project deliverables. Therefore, the requirements help to define the project scope. 3. Requirements enable the project team to understand the exact deliverables of the project and how the work will be structured to meet the requirements and deliver the scope. "

Answer 62

"The five steps of the requirements management process are: • Requirements capture, which is where the stakeholder requirements are captured. • Requirements analysis, which involves analysing how the requirements can be achieved, and identifying any overlaps or gaps between different requirements. • Requirements justification, which involves prioritising and justifying requirements. • Requirements documentation, which involves documenting the requirements in the project management plan (PMP). • Requirements testing which involves reviewing or testing requirements after they are first constructed, and as they get turned into products during the project."

Answer 63

"The following are techniques that can be used in requirements capture: • Brainstorming • Questionnaires and data collection • Analysis of pre-project documentation • Review of any relevant legislation • Contract requirements • Prototyping • Written requirements specification based on the outgoing system/product • A 'use case', which describes the use to which a product will be put • User forums and focus groups for new products "

Answer 64

"The four factors to consider when analysing requirements are: 1. Value 2. Priority 3. Time 4. Process "

Answer 65

"In the MoSCoW technique, each requirement can be prioritised using one of the following 4 criteria. The criteria may be assigned at the project level, work package level, release level or time-box level (e.g. an agile sprint): • Must have, a requirement which is vital to the acceptability of the product. • Should have, a requirement which is high priority that should be included if time and resources allow. If it's not possible, then a work around may be needed to compensate for its absence. • Could have, a requirement which is desirable but can be done without. It can wait for a later release. • Won't have, a requirement which will not be in the release and most likely no other releases. "

Answer 66

"1. After the requirements get approved in the PMP they form part of the project's baseline. They then get included in the project's configuration library. 2. Any subsequent request to change a baseline requirement must be assessed as part of a formal change control process. Thats because the impact of making a change later could be huge so it's wise to consider its impact prior to a decision e.g. enlarging a building after the foundations have been built. 3. Once documented, the requirements form a fundamental starting point for the development of more refined and detailed levels of requirement as the project progresses. "

Answer 67

"1. The V-model is commonly used on software projects, but similar models can be used in other industries e.g. engineering. The general principle is that each level of specification is tested and validated by a relevant user by applying a relevant test. 2. Starting at the top left of the V, functional requirements are tested, perhaps using a review of the documentation to check the requirement is well-specified requirement and reflects users' needs. 3. As the project progresses, testing of each requirement becomes more detailed. 4. At the top right of the V at the close of the project, testing becomes less specific and more focused on whether a functional requirement has been met. "

Answer 68

"The consequences of having a poor configuration management system are: • Individuals don't work together when they should • Quality of deliverables is poor • A lot of rework is needed • Staff get confused, leading to low morale • Unsafe products end up in operation • A large amount of warranty work and bug fixes • Suppliers have difficulty interfacing with the project. "

Answer 69

"The five activities in a configuration management process are: 1. Configuration planning which involves: • Ensuring an appropriate configuration management process is in place and being followed. • Ensuring that the process is documented and that stakeholders are aware of its implications. 2. Configuration identification, which involves: • Breaking down work into smaller, component deliverables (configuration items). • Creating a unique numbering system to identify every configuration item within each configuration item hierarchy. • Establishing configuration baselines. 3. Configuration control, which involves • Ensuring that all changes to configuration items are documented. 4. Configuration status accounting which involves • Recording and reporting of information within the configuration library. 5. Configuration verification and audit, which • Determines whether a deliverable conforms to its specifications and configuration information. • An audit is typically undertaken at the end of a phase or stage. "

Answer 70

"The five roles associated with configuration management are: 1. The configuration librarian, who is the custodian of the configuration library and responsible for its effective management. This role liaises with team members and project manager to ensure that the agreed procedures are followed. 2. The project manager, who is accountable for the execution of the configuration management process (they are accountable for all the processes in the PMP). This role prepares the team for a configuration audit. 3. The configuration item controller, who is owns the technical specifications of an individual configuration item. This role is responsible for producing a product that conforms to its specification. If changes are be made to a configuration item, is responsible for ensuring that all related items have been checked and updated as necessary. 4. The change control board, which is responsible for ensuring the entire scope of the change is understood, acknowledged, and approved, rejected or deferred. 5. The project team, which is responsible for following the configuration management process. "

Answer 71

"The six steps of the change control process are the following: 1. Log change request: • The stakeholder requests a change to be made; • Relevant information about the nature of the change is provided. • The request is entered into a change register (or log), which records information about all requests. 2. Initial evaluation • The change request is reviewed to determine its high-level impact on the project's products and benefits. • There's a need to decide whether a more detailed assessment is required. • The proposed change may be rejected without further assessment. In this case the reasons for rejection are recorded and the stakeholder informed. 3. Detailed evaluation: • The detailed impact is assessed on the baseline success criteria, benefits, scope, quality, time, resources, costs, risks, stakeholder engagement or any other criteria important to achieving the business case. • Options for implementing the change are captured and evaluated.. 4. Recommend and decide: • A recommendation is made to either approve, reject, or defer the change. • The request is forwarded for a decision by those with authority - the project manager, sponsor, or change authority. • Which management level takes the decision about a change depends upon its level of severity • The sponsor is accountable for ensuring a decision is made and communicated. • The decision is communicated to stakeholders as outlined in the communication management plan and the configuration management plan. 5. Update plans: • The work needed to implement the change is added into the plans and schedules, that is if the change was approved. Plans are updated prior to the work commencing. • The risk register is updated accordingly. • The configuration librarian is consulted to ensure correct product version numbers and configuration item records are updated. 6. Implement: • Implementation of the change happens after relevant plans, schedules and configuration management records have been updated. • Implementation activities are managed in exactly the same way as any of the other work on the project. "

Answer 72

"Change control and configuration management are intrinsically linked together. Whenever a change is considered, the impact on all other products in the project must be understood prior to a decision being made. The relationship between products is described in the configuration management library. Configuration management procedures can also lead to time overheads when making a change (e.g. the 'checking in' and 'checking out' of products from the library can sometimes cause conflicts between the staff making the changes to products and the configuration librarian). "

Answer 73

"The advantages of change control: • Uncontrolled change is avoided. Control is maintained because a clear baseline exists, against which to decide whether to make a change or not. • Since it's a formal process with record-keeping, everyone is clear about the state of the current baseline. • Adjustments to schedule, cost and quality can be made to expectation, ensuring that stakeholders are properly informed about what the project is delivering. The disadvantages of change control: • The change process takes time which results in frustration. • Conflict can occur between the project manager and users because the former is seen as blocking changes and hiding behind the process. • The change process incurs extra cost to implement. • It can be seen as bureaucratic and can lead some individuals to try to circumvent it to 'get things done'. "

Answer 74

"The steps for creating a project schedule are as follows: 1. Identify tasks - starting with the work breakdown structure (WBS), the lowest-level activities or work packages are identified. 2. Estimate duration - for each activity identified in step 1, estimate the duration (from start to finish) to complete the work. 3. Determine dependencies - decide the logical dependencies between the activities. These can be finish-to-start, start-to-start, start-to-finish, or finish-to-finish. 4. Create network diagram - using the activities from the WBS, place them into a network diagram with arrows in between the activities representing the logical dependencies. 5. Optimise the schedule - 'challenge' the assumptions underlying the estimmates and logical dependencies to try to optimise the overall duration, e.g. by seeking to have work done in parallel. The results of the optimisation are shown on a bar chart, or Gantt chart which shows all the activities and dependencies over time. 6. Assign resources - resources are assigned to the activities and the utilisation of resources is tracked using a resource histogram which shows the number of resources (people) being utilised over time. 7. Check schedule - the defined schedule is checked to see that it meets the target success criteria for cost and time for the project. If it doesn't then the schedule must be adjusted to meet those criteria. 8. Baseline schedule - the proposed schedule must be approved - usually by the sponsor and/or the steering committee. After approval it becomes the baseline against which the project manager shall monitor progress as the work proceeds. "

Answer 75

"• The critical path method emphasises the activities, and understanding the shortest time to complete all activities in a logical sequence. • It requires an understanding of the dependencies between the activities that forms the agreed scope of work. • The logic between the activities enables a network diagram to be determined. Estimates of duration can then be made. • From this, a critical path is identified. This is the sequence of activities through the network from start to finish, whose durations, when added together determines the overall duration. • The critical path is the longest path of activities. Other paths are shorter in duration and are said to have float. • If any activity on the critical path is delayed, then the project is delayed. • Non-critical tasks can be delayed up to their float amount before they start delaying the project. "

Answer 76

"• The critical chain method emphasises the resources (labour and non- labour) rather than the activities. • Skills, abilities and motivation of resources, and the tools they use can all affect the duration of an activity. • If an activity finishes early, the staff responsible tend not to report the fact and instead uses the available remaining time to 'gold plate', or 'over-deliver' the work. • If an activity is late it has an effect on the succeeding activities. • The benefit of finishing an activity early is lost to the project, but the downside of delays if an activity is late has to be absorbed into the project. • The critical chain method attempts to address this problem. • This method uses estimates which are optimistic (the best case in a three-point estimate). • Instead of holding time contingency within the estimate, it is stripped out and included as a buffer for a (critical) chain of activities. "

Answer 77

"Key differences between critical path and critical chain methods include: 1. Critical path method focuses on activities, whereas the critical chain method focuses on resources. 2. Critical path method uses a time contingency within each activity by setting an earliest start and latest finish date for an activity. Critical chain method strips out any time contingency from activities and places it into a buffer to be used in a critical chain of activities. 3. Critical path method can lead to 'gold plating' or over-delivery if an activity has float. Critical chain method uses zero float in activities and seeks to complete the work as soon as possible. 4. Critical path method monitors whether activities are starting and finishing on the expected dates. Critical chain method monitors the use of the buffer against project completeness. "

Answer 78

"What is the difference between cost planning: In a linear life cycle, funds may only be released at decision gates, when the costs spent to date are understood and costs forecasted for the future are approved through the updated business case. In an iterative life cycle, the release of funds may be more frequent due to the close interaction with the sponsor as work is completed in short intervals. "

Answer 79

"In a linear project life cycle, the assumption is that when the schedule is initially planned all resources will be made available when required. If, when reviewing the schedule, there are periods when resources are unavailable, resource management techniques such as levelling and smoothing can be applied. The aim would be to try to fit the scope of work into the available resource limits, whilst also trying to maintain schedule and quality objectives. Ultimately, after all possibilities have been considered and if resources are still insufficient, it is likely that activities will be delayed and the overall duration is increased. In an iterative project life cycle Requirements are prioritised and implemented within the pre-allocated resource limits. There is no possibility to extend the schedule since timeboxes have a fixed time period. Scope and quality targets therefore are variable within the timebox. Lower priority work tends to get dropped if there is a danger of not delivering the higher priority work within the timebox, and resources are re-allocated to the higher priority work. This can mean that lower priority work gets shifted to later iterations. "

Answer 80

"The purpose of a procurement strategy is to describe how the project will procure and manage services and goods. The project's procurement strategy must document how the project will conform to any corporate procurement policies and systems. It defines how procurement will take place on the project and must be developed when the project is being formulated, alongside the business case. "

Answer 81

"The contents of a procurement strategy include: • Make or buy decision, which justifies whether the goods should be made in-house or should be procured from outside the organisation at a lower cost or better quality . • Contractual relationship, which justifies if goods or services are to be acquired from a single supplier or many. • Reimbursement methods, which contains the mechanism that the project and the sponsoring organisation decided to use to pay for the goods procured under the contract. • Supplier selection, which describes how the project will select and/or engage the right supplier. It will normally describe a procedure for supplier selection. • Conditions and forms of contract, which sets out obligations of each party and the actions that can be taken if these are not met. • Single, integrated or multiple suppliers, which presents choices that a project can make for working with suppliers. A single (or preferred) supplier means one supplier is chosen to supply all products on a project. Multiple suppliers can be engaged to reduce the risk of working with a single supplier An integrated supply route often means a member of the supplier organisation sits in the project team and helps to deliver the work.so well. "

Answer 82

"The following are types of contractual relationships: • Single, which is the simplest form of contract. One client purchases from a single supplier in a single contract. • Parallel, which happens when a single client agrees a single contract with multiple suppliers at the same time. • Sequential, which happens when a single contract with a supplier covers one part of the work (e.g. design) and is then followed by another contract with another supplier to do the next bit of work (e.g. build). • Prime, which happens when the client enters a single contract with a 'prime supplier' who then subcontracts the work to multiple sub-contractors. • Turnkey, where the client enters a single contract with a supplier who agrees to provide everything needed to mee the requirements. The client simply 'turns the key and it works. • Partnering where 2 or more organisations with different skills and expertise agree to work together to deliver the contract. On their own they are unable to deliver, but collectively they can. • Internal, which is not really a legal contract. It is where the internal groups or departments within an organisation agree to provide goods or services to the project. Normally, this kind of work is covered by a service level agreement (SLA). "

Answer 83

"The following are the four types of reimbursement terms: • Time and materials (unit price), which is where a price is agreed for each cost unit (e.g. a working day, a ton of concrete etc). • Fixed price, which is where a fixed price is agreed for a fixed scope of work to be carried out by the supplier. • Cost plus, which is where the supplieffs costs are reimbursed but they also receive an additional amount to cover their profit which might be a fixed fee, or a percentage of their costs. • Target cost/price, which is where a target price (or cost) is agreed up front and the supplier and client both agree to try and achieve it. "

Answer 84

"Research the market - Research the market and ensure the scope of work is clearly defined. Pre-qualify suppliers - Pre-qualify suppliers and reduce the list of potential suppliers to a manageable number. Tender - Issue an invitation to tender (ITT). An ITT is also known as an invitation to bid, or a request for tender. Receive and evaluate bids - Once the bids are received, they must be evaluated against the criteria. Bids may contain 'extras' but should only be considered if they are in compliance with the minimum criteria. Award contract - Award the contract to the successful bidder and ensure the contract covers the scope outlined in the ITT and that all parties understand their obligations. Manage - Once a contract is awarded, the relationship between the project and the provider should be actively managed. Efforts to ensure the obligations in the contract are met should be done before resorting to legal means to resolve disputes. Close - Once the goods or services have been delivered and accepted, the contract will be closed. This involves ensuring that all financial arrangements have been honoured, and all changes to the contract have been accounted for. "

Answer 85

"• Enables better informed and more realistic plans, schedules and budgets - when planning risk management helps to identify risks to plans and schedules. By allocating contingencies, a more realistic set of plans, budgets and schedules can be provided. • Increases likelihood of a project delivering within agreed schedules and budgets - an unrealistic plan which hasn't considered risks is likely to de-motivate the team. A more realistic plan with achievable targets is more likely to motivate the team to meet targets. • Allows more meaningful assessment and justification of contingencies - risk management helps identify and quantify the contingency required to give an acceptable confidence level, and the risk budget can be actively managed as the project proceeds. Contingency funds can then be allocated to the main areas of risk. • Discourages acceptance of financially unsound projects - greater realism about a project can be gained when planning by assessing the impact of possible risks using risk analysis. When risk analysis shows that a project is not feasible, the organisation can decide not to proceed with the project. • Contributes to lessons learned to assist in better management of future projects - formal risk analysis, together with post-project reviews which seek to learn lessons about risk management, can provide vital information which can be used as a reference for risk management later on. • Helps develop the ability of staff to assess risks - individuals may benefit by being exposed to risk analysis by making them more aware that risks may, and do, exist in their area of influence. This risk awareness improves the competence of the people involved in preparing and executing plans. • Facilitates greater risk-taking. thus increasing the benefits gained - by applying formal risk management, and applying appropriate mitigation and fallback plans, an organisation can take greater levels of risk with lower levels of contingency which improves the overall return on investment. "

Answer 86

"The five stages of the risk management process are: 1. Initiate In this stage, the main output is the risk management plan. It includes the following key elements: • Scope • Objectives • Roles • Process • Tools 2. Identification In this stage, the main output is a risk register (risk log) containing all the risks identified through the risk identification techniques, such as Delphi, interviewing, and brainstorming. 3. Analysis In this stage, the output is the probability impact grid (PIG). This is a matrix showing how likely the risk event is to happen (probability) and what will happen if it does (impact). 4. Response In this stage, responses to the risks are identified, and the most appropriate response(s) are selected. Any chosen response must offer value for money. The actions performed for a response should then be added to plans and actively monitored and reported on. Any contingency plans are funded by contingency funds which are authorised by the project sponsor. 5. Closure This step is to ensure that all risks are closed either when they have occurred and been successfully mitigated, have been accepted or that there is no longer a possibility of them occurring. It is useful to document any lessons that can be learned about the risk or risk management process. When closing a risk there are valuable benefits in fully understanding a risk, the approach taken, how it was mitigated or what conditions have been met. When closing the project the project manager must ensure that any open risks are communicated to those involved in the adoption phase. "

Answer 87

"Proactive responses focus on the cause of the risk and take actions to address the likelihood of the risk occurring or the impact if it does occur. Examples are reducing a threat, or exploiting an opportunity. Reactive responses make provision for actions that will only be implemented if the risk occurs. Such responses accept the risk but with a contingent response if the risk occurs. "

Answer 88

"The 4 responses to threats are: Accept - No further action is taken. The risk is simply monitored for any changes. Avoid - Usually involves either changing the scope or approach (i.e. what we do, or how we do it) e.g. to avoid the risk of a supplier going bankrupt, bring the work in-house. Transfer - Usually involves removing the risk from the project's risk log and adding to someone else's e.g. by taking out insurance. Reduce - Reduce either probability, impact or both e.g. by training staff to use a new process, or test output so if a low-quality product is created, don't deliver it to the client. "

Answer 89

"The 4 responses to opportunities are: 1. Reject - Decide not to take advantage of the opportunity, perhaps because the return isn't good enough. 2. Enhance - Take steps to increase the probability so the opportunity can be enhanced e.g. finish the hotel refurbishment earlier so rooms can be sold earlier. 3. Exploit - This means force the opportunity to happen so that the benefits can be received. Normally possible to do this during the concept phase. 4. Share - Share both the gain and the pain with another party e.g. collaborate by setting up a joint venture. "

Answer 90

"• When an issue is detected, it is logged in an issue register and analysed to understand its nature, causes and impacts if not resolved. • The issue is prioritised based on the success criteria and benefits for the work taking into account its impact on Scope, Quality, Time, Cost and Benefits. SQTCB • Issues of sufficient severity are escalated to the sponsor, who may, in turn, escalate them to the governance board for resolution. • Actions are assigned to the person or group best placed to address the issue and identify and implement a resolution in a timely manner. • Issues resulting in changes to the baseline plan are progressed through change control. As part of integrated planning, the limits of delegated authority are established and formal change control is required when these tolerances are breached. • Management of issues is tracked from identification to resolution, including any change control and replanning of the deployment baseline and project management plan. "

Answer 91

"The following are the steps of the issue management process: 1. Recording - involves tracing the issue back to its origin, getting as much information and starting to record it in an issue log. 2. Assessing - involves evaluating the impact of the issue on your project, probably in consultation with others. 3. Planning - involves creating a plan of action for dealing with the issue. 4. Escalation - involves escalating the issue to those who can have the authority to decide what actions to take. 5. Resolution - involves approving the action plan, which can hopefully fix the problem. However the actions may also produce new risks or issues to your project, and these will also need to be dealt with. 6. Updating the log - is performed to show the issue's current status and notify the person who raised the issue that it has been resolved. "

Answer 92

"The benefits of issue management and escalation are the following: • If issues aren't tackled in a timely manner the number of outstanding issues grows and eventually submerges the project leading to failure. Dealing with them as they emerge, or decide how they will be resolved will avoid this happening. • Stakeholders will be properly involved in helping to deal with issues. • Contingencies allocated from the risk management process can be used to deal with issues. • There is a clear allocation of responsibilities about who has authority to take a decision about an issue. This means that the right person or group can resolve an issue. • It encourages open reporting, and enables active resolution of issues. • It ensures a sponsoring organisation invests in a project with a clear understanding of the risks. "

Answer 93

"• When dealing with the impact on schedule, contingency is expressed in time, or for impacts on cost or benefits, is expressed monetarily. • On iterative projects, contingency is normally expressed in terms of scope. Using prioritisation the most important products are delivered first, and lower priority products delivered at the end of the timebox if there is time left. • Contingency must be clearly identified within a plan, for example as a line in a budget, an additional timebox in a schedule or as a buffer to protect a critical chain of activity. • Contingency should he held at different levels to support management of the contingencies. • Contingency can be allocated between the project manager, sponsor or programme manager and the governance board to reflect desired levels of control. "