PMPPracticeExam1

Question 1

You are a construction project manager and have been recently hired in a well known company as the manager of a highly crucial project. The project is expected to be completed in 2 years. During the project initiation phase you realize that some regulatory and environmental requirements have not been considered in the contract.

Failure to meet the mentioned requirements will negatively affect your company’s reputation, but meeting them will require more time and cost, which will lead to budget and time overruns. In that case, there’s also a chance that the client decides to cancel the project. What would you do in that situation?

A. Your first and immediate action is to disclose your discovery to the project stakeholders and solicit their viewpoints.
B. This requires a scope change notification that should be written immediately.
C. Since this is only a probability it does not need an immediate action. Just try to gather more information as the project goes ahead and decide later on.
D. As a seasoned construction project manager, contact the regulatory body to find out some workarounds for your project.

Answer 1

A. Your first and immediate action is to disclose your discovery to the project stakeholders and solicit their viewpoints.

PMI’s Code of Ethics requires all project managers to comply with all laws and regulations. Failure to immediately and actively disclose that a regulatory requirement has not been addressed puts the company and the project manager in the position of breaking the law.

Question 2

Your sponsor will be leaving your project soon due to other obligations. She informs you that her role will be filled with two new people. She assures you that this should not affect the communication complexity of the team since you are only going from eleven to twelve members. Is your sponsor correct?

A. Yes, because the sponsor is always right.
B. Yes, adding one additional person adds only one more communication channel for an eleven-member team.
C. No, Agile teams should be as small as possible.
D. No, adding one more person adds more than one communication channel for an eleven-member team.

Answer 2

D. No, adding one more person adds more than one communication channel for an eleven-member team.

Adding one additional person to an eleven-member team adds 11 additional communication channels, which can increase complexity. Eleven members have 55 communication channels, and 12 members have 66 channels:

N ∗ (N − 1) / 2 = # of communication channels for the team where N = the number of members.

So there are 66 − 55 = 11 channels added.

Question 3

You are managing a software development project which should be completed in 18 months according to the project contract and schedule. Your customer has recently faced regulatory changes that require your project to be finished 2 months earlier and he asks you to do so. How will you approach this situation?

A. Inform the customer of the impacts of his requirement to project constraints and, after getting the required approvals, crash the project.
B. Accept the customer’s request and cut parts of the project scope to meet the new deadline.
C. Stick to your original schedule and tell the customer that once the contract is signed the project duration won’t change under any circumstances.
D. Cut the duration of all project activities across the board to meet the requirement.

Answer 3

A. Inform the customer of the impacts of his requirement to project constraints and, after getting the required approvals, crash the project.

Informing the customer of the impacts to project scope and other constraints, then crashing the cost and schedule is the best approach. Arbitrarily trimming estimates or scope without directly advising your customer is dishonest, while simply refusing to make a change is unprofessional.

Question 4

According to the contract, your customer has assigned one of his staff to your project office to attend the meetings and contribute to the decision making. However, this person is too confrontational and his behavior to your project team members is intimidating. What should be your action in this situation?

A. Ask the customer to replace the person.
B. You unilaterally decide to isolate the person and don’t let him in the project meetings.
C. Since the person is assigned by your client you don’t have any authority over him, so don’t do anything.
D. Confront the person about his behavior and its impact on the project. Also, inform the customer about the issue.

Answer 4

D. Confront the person about his behavior and its impact on the project. Also, inform the customer about the issue.

The best approach to deal with the problems is to confront them. In this situation you should respectfully confront the resource about this behavior, and notify the customer about the situation. Failing to confront the resource or intentionally excluding a required resource from a project is unprofessional, and could negatively impact the project.

Question 5

The majority of the project management software applications use the ——— method to build the project schedule network diagram.

A. Leads and Lags
B. Critical Diagramming
C. Precedence Diagramming
D. Activity-On-Arrows Diagramming

Answer 5

C. Precedence Diagramming

PDM, also called Activity-On-Node (AON), is the method used by most project management and project planning software packages.

Question 6

You have just been assigned to a new change-driven project. The team has never worked together before, but they are experienced with agile techniques. Which TWO of the following techniques would be most useful for promoting your team’s performance?

A. Creation of a detailed schedule with regular milestones.
B. Allow the team to collaboratively develop a plan to execute the project.
C. Expose and eliminate communication bottlenecks.
D. Creation of a change control procedure so that only needed changes are addressed and implemented.

Answer 6

B. Allow the team to collaboratively develop a plan to execute the project.
C. Expose and eliminate communication bottlenecks.

The key to this question is that it is a change-driven (i.e., Agile) project and the team has experience with this type. A servant leader style is most effective for this environment. Empowering a team to self-organize and work collaboratively and eliminating bottlenecks are characteristics of such a leadership style.

A detailed schedule with milestones will not benefit the team’s performance, particularly if the work will be accomplished via a product backlog. Similarly, a change control procedure is generally not needed for change-driven projects since change is built into the system between iterations or sprints.

Question 7

To formally authorize the project, which of the following documents is necessary?

A. Project Statement of Work (SOW)
B. Project Charter
C. Business Case
D. Project Contract

Answer 7

B. Project Charter

The project charter is the document that officially authorizes a project and gives the project manager the required authority to assign resources to the project.

Question 8

The photo transfer project will be starting in a few weeks, and it is up to you to decide which project methodology the team will use. You have some concerns about the project because the customer will not always be available, and the team has mixed experience in agile methods.

Also, even though the sponsor is quite supportive in allowing you to choose whichever approach is best, he has given you a warning. He suggests that you be prepared since this particular customer is known to be demanding and changes their mind frequently based on the latest market intelligence they’ve heard. After reviewing the situation, which method would be most appropriate?

A. Scrum
B. Predictive
C. Hybrid
D. Waterfall

Answer 8

C. Hybrid

Predictive and Waterfall are similar since waterfall is a type of predictive approach. The fact that there will be frequent change implies that this type of approach may not be suitable. Scrum is also risky since the customer will not always be available to the team and the team has mixed experience.

A hybrid approach is the best option. In a hybrid lifecycle, those well-known and fixed elements can follow a predictive life cycle, and those that are still evolving can be done with an adaptive approach. This may involve running two portions of the project in parallel or doing the change aspects first until the requirements are better known (i.e., the adaptive portion precedes the predictive portion). A hybrid approach is also ideal for training team members on Agile methods.

Question 9

You are a project manager and you are about to perform the risk management processes. Which one of the following documents evolves throughout the risk management processes?

A. Risk Mitigation Plan
B. Contingency Plan
C. Risk Profile
D. Risk Register

Answer 9

D. Risk Register

The risk register is the document that evolves throughout the risk management processes.

Question 10

As a project manager you are performing scope management processes. What is the function of the WBS Dictionary?

A. Used as a glossary to define the acronyms used in the project scope statement
B. It is used for the planning of the project resources
C. Used as a glossary to define the acronyms used in the project WBS
D. Describes the details of each component in the project WBS

Answer 10

D. Describes the details of each component in the project WBS

The WBS Dictionary is a detailed description of work packages and their attributes including any technical documentation for each WBS element.

Question 11

As the manager of a large project, you are performing the Control Procurements process. Which one of the following activities would you likely not be involved in?

A. Audits
B. Claims Administration
C. Inspection
D. Negotiation

Answer 11

D. Negotiation

Negotiation is used while performing the Conduct Procurements process. The other answer choices are performed during the Control Procurements process.

Question 12

Some projects have a comprehensive procurement phase that covers buying a huge number of items and for each item several suppliers are contacted to receive their bids. As a project manager in such projects, you need to make sure that every supplier has a clear understanding of the requirements of the project. Which one of the following techniques could be used for this purpose?

A. Communication Matrix
B. Formal Presentation
C. One-on-One discussion
D. Bidder Conferences

Answer 12

D. Bidder Conferences

Bidder Conferences (also called vendor conferences, contractor conferences, or pre-bid conferences) are meetings between buyers and all prospective sellers prior to the submittal of bids or proposals. They are used to ensure that all sellers have a clear and common understanding of the procurement and that no bidders receive preferential treatment. Responses to questions are incorporated as procurement document amendments. To be fair, buyers must ensure that all sellers hear every question from individual sellers and every answer from the buyer.

Question 13

You have just been given the responsibility to staff and oversee a new Scrum project. There are very limited resources, and you don’t have the budget to hire new people. One individual has been pre-assigned to the project, and she has asked to be the project’s scrum master. Although she has participated in Scrum projects previously, she has never had this role. What would be your best option in this situation?

A. Tell the team member that you need someone who is experienced in the role.
B. Ask the functional manager if they have anyone available who can serve as the scrum master.
C. Allow the team member the role but ask that she enroll in scrum master training right away.
D. Assign the team member a coach who has experience in being a scrum master.

Answer 13

D. Assign the team member a coach who has experience in being a scrum master

Without the budget to hire and with resources already being limited, it is not feasible to find someone who is already experienced. Scrum master training is a possibility but seeing as the team member has experience on Scrum projects, she is likely already familiar with what a scrum master role entails. Assigning her an agile coach who can work with her throughout the project is the most feasible option.

Question 14

As the project manager you are reviewing the earned value analysis report performed by your team. The SPI is 0.87. What does this figure mean to you?

A. Your project is running according to the budget.
B. The project is getting 87 cents out of each dollar spent.
C. You are ahead of schedule.
D. The progress of your project is only 87% of what it is planned, so you are behind the schedule.

Answer 14

D. The progress of your project is only 87% of what it is planned, so you are behind the schedule.

The Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is a measure of the project performance in terms of the time schedule. SPI < 1 shows that the project is behind schedule.

Question 15

As the project manager you wish to use a document that shows the work assigned to each project team member. What’s the title of the document that you will use?

A. Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
B. Project Resources Matrix (PRM)
C. Resource Planning Chart (RPC)
D. Project Schedule

Answer 15

A. Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

A Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) illustrates association between work packages/activities and team members. It makes it easy for team members to view all the project activities for which a particular person is assigned, and the level of their responsibility.

Question 16

You are managing a project in a highly cost sensitive company. Therefore, you need to reduce the costs to the extent possible. Which one of the following categories of cost would you consider as the first option for cost reduction?

A. Variable and fixed costs
B. Indirect and variable costs
C. Indirect and direct costs
D. Direct and variable costs

Answer 16

D. Direct and variable costs

Direct costs belong to project resources which can be scaled down or reduced. Variable costs depend on the amount of work performed by resources. Therefore, there is a higher opportunity to reduce it by reducing the scope and amount of work required.

Question 17

You are leading an Agile project for a new IT initiative in the company that will get a lot of visibility. You have been disappointed that the quality of the product delivered for the last several sprints has been poor. What is the best option that the team should take?

A. Ensure transparency of the work progress by displaying the KanBan board in the team war room.
B. Hold retrospectives more frequently
C. Ensure the team is using test-driven development
D. Remind the team about the importance of an agile mindset.

Answer 17

C. Ensure the team is using test-driven development

Test-driven development is a quality practice that drives defects down. Since this is a quality issue, this would be the best option. Transparency, more frequent retrospectives, and the agile mindset are important agile practices and attributes, but they will not help the quality issue.

Question 18

As a project manager you are involved in purchasing various items for the project. However, you suddenly receive an official letter from your client ordering the immediate termination of the project. What will be your best course of action?

A. Refer to Project Closure Guidelines in Organizational Process Assets
B. Perform Inspections & Audits
C. Perform Procurement Audits
D. Release the Project Team

Answer 18

A. Refer to Project Closure Guidelines in Organizational Process Assets

Since this is a case of project closure before its completion, as a project manager the BEST thing to do for you is to make sure the steps to close a project are followed. Project Closure Guidelines in Organizational Process Assets are the best source of information in such a situation.

Question 19

Frank has been meeting with stakeholders to flesh out and understand the requirements for his new project. Which activity would he likely not be engaged in?

A. Inspection
B.
C. Questionnaires & Surveys
D. Prototypes

Answer 19

A. Inspection

An inspection is a tool and technique for the Validate Scope process, while the other options are all the tools used for the Collect Requirements process.

Question 20

In an industrial project the equipment installation can be started 15 days after the equipment foundation is completed. What type of dependency is this?

A. Start-to-finish with a 15-day lead
B. Finish-to-start with a 15-day lag
C. Finish-to-start with a 15-day lead
D. Finish-to-finish with a 15-day lag

Answer 20

B. Finish-to-start with a 15-day lag

The dependency between the two activities is a Finish-to-Start (FS) type because the second activity can start only after the completion of the first one. There is also a time lag of 15 days before the second activity can start.

Question 21

According to Tuckman, which of the following is not one of the stages of team development?

A. Delegating
B. Performing
C. Forming
D. Norming

Answer 21

A. Delegating

According to Tuckman, the stages of team development are Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning.

Question 22

Ashley, the agile team’s product owner, recently hired Bill as a software developer for their team. Unfortunately, after Bill was hired, another product owner was able to reserve 50% of Bill’s time for their project. What is one of the key problems with not having Bill dedicated to Ashley’s team?

A. Bill may not have the skills for the other team since he was not hired with their project in mind.
B. Bill would become a generalist, or T-person, rather than a specialist.
C. Bill may become dissatisfied with having too much work to do.
D. The team’s productivity would be affected because of Bill’s task switching.

Answer 22

D. The team’s productivity would be affected because of Bill’s task switching.

The key problem with working 25–50% on a project is that multitasking from one project to another affects the whole team’s productivity. Bill likely has the skills needed, or the other product owner wouldn’t have asked for him. Generalists and T-shaped people are sought after for Agile teams, so this would not be a problem. We don’t know enough about Bill’s workload to know if he would be dissatisfied.

Question 23

Which TWO activities might a project manager be doing while acquiring resources for their project?

A. Comparing labor rates to what is allocated in the project budget.
B. Creating the staffing management plan.
C. Planning communication protocols for virtual team members.
D. Sending team members to the training needed for the project.

Answer 23

A. Comparing labor rates to what is allocated in the project budget.
C. Planning communication protocols for virtual team members.

Part of acquiring resources involves verifying if the costs of the selected team members will fit within the project budget. If virtual team members are an option, then special communication protocols will need to be put in place to minimize misunderstanding and conflict. Creating the staffing management plan would take place during the plan resource management process, and sending team members to training would occur during the develop team process.

Question 24

Your website development project is newly underway. The team appears to be in the “storming” stage, with several members insisting that the process occurs in a certain way and others unwilling to participate after their views were overruled. You recognize that cooperation and collaboration are imperative for the team to achieve the sponsor’s goal of a working prototype within the next few weeks. What is the most helpful action for you to take?

A. Enroll the team in a course on emotional intelligence so that they will learn to be sensitive to each other’s feelings.
B. Hold a team meeting and facilitate the creation of a team charter that includes ground rules.
C. Advise the sponsor that there may be a delay in the prototype delivery.
D. Hold a networking event so that team members can get to know each other better.

Answer 24

B. Hold a team meeting and facilitate the creation of a team charter that includes ground rules.

The key to this question is that a deliverable is due soon, and the team conflict is putting that goal in jeopardy. The most efficient action for you to take is to have the team agree on ground rules that they can then hold themselves to. A team charter typically includes operating guidelines, decision-making criteria, and communication expectations. Enrolling a team in training may be of use long-term, along with a networking event but will not help the immediate situation. It is never a good idea to inform the sponsor there may be a delay due to a situation that you, as the project manager, are ultimately accountable for.

Question 25

The new cloud computing project had been going well when Tammy, the project manager, received a call from an irate stakeholder that there were several issues on the project, and they were not being addressed or being given more visibility. Tammy knew that there was an issue log that had the current status information on these problems. Tammy was, therefore, not clear as to why the stakeholder was not aware of this. What would be the most appropriate action for Tammy?

A. Tammy should tell the stakeholder that they needed to review the issue log if they were interested in knowing the latest status on a given issue.
B. Tammy should forward the stakeholder a copy of the issue log.
C. Tammy should analyze whether there was an issue with the project management information system that was preventing people from accessing and interpreting the issue log effectively.
D. Tammy does not need to take action since she had executed everything correctly on her end.

Answer 25

C. Tammy should analyze whether there was an issue with the project management information system that was preventing people from accessing and interpreting the issue log effectively.

Just because there is a process in place for documenting and updating issues does not mean that it is an effective process. Tammy should analyze whether there are problems with the process and make any needed updates to it. Forwarding a copy of the log and telling the stakeholder to review it may work in the short run but would not fix the problem if there is truly an issue with the process. Taking no action would annoy the stakeholder further and not solve the problem.

Question 26

As a project manager involved in the Control Procurements process you are aware that early termination of a contract is a special case of procurement closure. The special cases of procurement closure can result from all of the following except?

A. Convenience of the buyer provided in the contract
B. Cause or convenience outside the terminations clause of the contract
C. Mutual agreement of both parties to terminate
D. Default of one party

Answer 26

B. Cause or convenience outside the terminations clause of the contract

Early termination of a contract is a special case of procurement closure that can result from a mutual agreement of both parties, from the default of one party, or for the convenience of the buyer if provided for in the contract. The rights and responsibilities of the parties in the event of an early termination are contained in a terminations clause of the contract.

Question 27

The cost baseline is developed during which process?

A. Develop schedule
B. Determine budget
C. Estimate costs
D. Monitor & control project work

Answer 27

B. Determine budget

The cost baseline or project budget is developed in the Determine Budget process which is a planning process in project cost management.

Question 28

Which statement about the project critical path is true?

A. The critical path always has zero total float, and it shows the earliest possible time to complete the project
B. The critical path can have zero, positive, or negative float.
C. A project can have only one critical path
D. The critical path consumes the biggest portion of the project budget compared to other paths

Answer 28

B. The critical path can have zero, positive, or negative float.

The critical path can have negative total float in the case that there is a constraint set on the project finish date or positive float in the case where the project is ahead of schedule. Typically, however, the critical path has zero float.

Question 29

While acquiring your project team you realize that according to the project charter a specific consultant is required to be on your team. This consultant has particular knowledge and your client has dictated that you hire him as a team member. This situation describes which one of the tools and techniques of the Acquire Resources process?

A. Multicriteria Decision Analysis
B. Negotiation
C. Pre-Assignment
D. Virtual Teams

Answer 29

C. Pre-Assignment

Pre-assignment involves selecting project team members in advance. It occurs when specific people were promised as part of the project proposal, the project is dependent on expertise of particular persons, or staff assignments are defined within the project charter.

Question 30

You are assigned as the manager of a huge multi-billion dollar infrastructure project with a time span of 3 years. You are working in the planning process group of your project and currently you are creating the project WBS. Due to lack of information you decide to create the WBS of the commissioning phase of the project (which is the last phase) in more details later on when you have more information. This approach to creating the WBS is also known as:

A. Agile planning
B. Progressive planning
C. Water fall planning
D. Rolling wave planning

Answer 30

D. Rolling wave planning

Rolling wave planning involves planning near-term items in greater detail than those that are further off in time.

Question 31

Your project is 4 weeks behind schedule and you have been asked to crash the project in order to make up the lost time. The tasks listed in the table below are all on the critical path. Which of the tasks below would you crash?

A. Save 3+1 weeks, Crash Cost 2k+3.5k
B. Save 2+2 weeks, Crash Cost 2.5k+3.5k
C. Save 4 weeks, Crash Cost 6.5k
D. Save 2+1+1 weeks, Crash Cost 3.5k+3.5k+4k

Answer 31

A. Save 3+1 weeks, Cost $25k + $15.5k

When crashing a project you will always crash those tasks that have the smallest crash cost. While all of these answers will give you a 4 week reduction in duration, crashing tasks C & E is the cheapest option:

Task A = 6,500
Tasks C & E = 2,000 + 3,500 = 5,500
Tasks B & D = 2,500 + 3,500 = 6,000
Tasks D & E & F = 3,500 + 3,500 + 4,000 = 11,000

Question 32

You are managing a project and one of your close friends is also a manager at the client organization. During the project execution, your friend asks for changes to be made in the project scope, and with the reasoning that the changes are critical to the success of the project, he asks you to handle them on an informal basis. He argues that if you want to follow the normal change procedures you will lose considerable time. What should you do in this situation?

A. Explain to the manager that the change should be handled through the formal change management process and it should be documented
B. Since what the manager has asked you is unethical you should refuse the changes.
C. Comply with the manager’s request since it is critical to the project success.
D. Perform the changes according to the manager’s request because they are crucial to the project success, but document them later on when the project is on track and there are no more changes to be made.

Answer 32

A. Explain to the manager that the change should be handled through the formal change management process and it should be documented

The correct response is that you would explain to the manager that you would need to formally document these as part of a project scope change and put it through the change management process. Complying with the manager’s request is incorrect and violates the code of ethics and professional responsibility that you have towards your organization. Refusing to take up the changes may be too drastic a step.

Question 33

As a project manager you are using a fishbone diagram to find the potential risks on your project. Which process are you in?

A. Plan Risk Response
B. Control Quality
C. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
D. Identify Risk

Answer 33

D. Identify Risk

A fishbone diagram (also called cause and effect analysis or Ishikawa diagram) is used in the Identify Risks process to determine the potential risks that might affect the project.

Question 34

As a project manager, you are currently involved in a Close Project or Phase process. In this situation which one of the following activities might possibly be unnecessary?

A. Finalizing all activities across all of the Project Management Process Groups.
B. Measuring the project scope against the project management plan.
C. Performing activities such as finalizing open claims, updating procurement records to reflect final results, and archiving such information for future use.
D. If a project is terminated before completion, starting procedures to investigate and document the reasons for this early termination.

Answer 34

C. Performing activities such as finalizing open claims, updating procurement records to reflect final results, and archiving such information for future use.

Closing out a contract involves administrative activities such as finalizing open claims, updating records to reflect final results, and archiving such information for future use. Procurement Close could be done at any stage of the project and is not associated only with Close Project or Phase process.

Question 35

You are the construction project manager of an important stadium which is going to be used for the Winter Olympics. The games start a month from now, and your project has faced some weather delays in pouring the concrete for the landscaping. You know that bad weather might affect the quality of the concrete, however since the deadline is closing you decide to not delay the project anymore and go ahead with the remaining concrete work. Which risk strategy are you undertaking?

A. Transfer
B. Exploit
C. Mitigate
D. Accept

Answer 35

D. Accept

In this situation your are taking the Acceptance strategy. Acceptance is adopted when there is no possibility to eliminate all threats from a project. This means the project team has decided not to change the project management plan to deal with a risk or is unable to identify a response strategy. This strategy can be active or passive acceptance. Passive Acceptance: No action except documenting the strategy and leave project team to deal with the risks as they occur. Active Acceptance: Establish a contingency reserve (time/money/resources).

Question 36

Rhonda is an IT Manager responsible for an important new project. The stakeholders are encouraging her to use Scrum; however, her team doesn’t have experience with it. What is the most important cultural factor Rhonda should ensure is in place for a successful change to this method?

A. A safe and transparent environment
B. A focus on speed over stability
C. An emphasis on flexibility over predictability
D. An atmosphere that encourages execution over exploration

Answer 36

A. A safe and transparent environment

While speed and flexibility are important qualities for an agile project, the most important cultural norm for change is a safe, honest, and transparent environment. Encouraging execution over exploration is more indicative of an environment suited towards predictive methods.

Question 37

Tom is managing a software development project in a large IT firm. According to the project essential requirements, he has written an email to one of the functional managers and requested a number of staff to be assigned to his project on a permanent basis for a 2-week period. The functional manager has rejected Tom’s request. What should Tom do in this situation?

A. Raise the issue to higher level managers who can decide on project priorities
B. Change the sequence of activities so that he can cope with the resource limitations
C. Record this as a risk in the risk register
D. Negotiate with the functional manager

Answer 37

D. Negotiate with the functional manager

Tom as the project manager has the ultimate responsibility of acquiring the resources on time. In this situation he should use the negotiation tools and techniques to acquire the project team. Of course other items might also be correct in some situations, but the first most responsible way is to do negotiation with the functional managers.

Question 38

You are managing a residential building construction project. Your client has just requested a change in the lighting system which may increase project risk and costs. What should be your first action?

A. Raise the issue to the project sponsor
B. Issue a Change Request
C. Update the project risk register
D. Analyze the impacts of the change

Answer 38

D. Analyze the impacts of the change

The first action after receiving any change request is to analyze the impacts. Then after comparing the impacts to the plan you may need to issue a change request to modify the project scope. Raising the issue to the project sponsor is also possible once you are aware of the impacts of the change.

Question 39

For the purpose of recording project lessons learned, you are analyzing the major delay in the project schedule. The root cause of the delay was a demonstration done by a group of green initiative supporters. They were unhappy because their representatives were not informed about all of the arrangements that you are taking to protect the environment. What could you and your team have done better to prevent this from happening?

A. A more accurate risk response planning
B. A more accurate stakeholder identification
C. A clearer communication management plan
D. A better project management plan

Answer 39

B. A more accurate stakeholder identification

Identifying stakeholders and understanding their relative degree of influence on a project is critical. Failure to do so can extend the timeline and raise costs substantially. An important part of a project manager’s responsibility is to manage stakeholder expectations and develop a strategy to keep them satisfied.

Question 40

In the Plan Quality Management process, which of the following is not attributable to the cost of non-conformance?

A. Rework
B. Quality measures
C. Warranty
D. Downtime

Answer 40

B. Quality measures

Quality measures are not an attribute of the cost of non-conformance. The cost of non-conformance result in some kind of a loss or rejection of the project’s output.

Question 41

Categorizing identified stakeholders can assist the project team in building valuable relationships with these stakeholders as the project progresses. All of the following techniques are useful for this purpose except for

A. Stakeholder cube
B. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix (SEAM)
C. Salience model
D. Power/Interest grid

Answer 41

B. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix (SEAM)

Stakeholder cube, the Salience model, and the Power/Interest grid are stakeholder mapping and categorization techniques and are used in the Identify Stakeholders process. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix allows the team to analyze the variance between what the existing and desired engagement levels of the stakeholders are and is used in Plan Stakeholder Engagement.

Question 42

Your company has a new product concept to replace its standalone customer relationship management software with a cloud-based version that has a number of new attractive features. The project is approximately two months underway, and you are receiving complaints from some of the team members that the information they need is not being readily shared by several of the team. Some of this information involves knowledge from past projects regarding how the old products were architected. What would be the most helpful action for you to take that will improve this situation?

A. Ask the more experienced team members to document their knowledge on the past products and then pass out a copy to the project team.
B. Ask the team to work out the situation on their own and then check back if they do not make progress.
C. Speak to the team members who are not sharing information and emphasize the importance of sharing.
D. Facilitate an in-person workshop event that allows team members to get to know each other and where you can present the vision and expectations for the project.

Answer 42

D. Facilitate an in-person workshop event that allows team members to get to know each other and where you can present the vision and expectations for the project.

Asking team members to write documentation on past products is an inefficient way to attain information. Asking team members to handle it on their own will likely not be successful since their reporting of the issue to you is an indication that this has not worked so far. Speaking to the team members who are not sharing the information may be necessary at some point.

However, the most important action for you now is to attempt to improve the culture. Informal and face-to-face interaction is the best way to begin to build trust so that people will be more willing to share information. Additionally, emphasizing the objectives and need for the project reinforces the shared vision that you are attempting to align everyone around.

Question 43

You are managing a small project in the context of a large organization. A strategic decision made in the organization was to shut down one of the operation units which was supposed to work a few days for your project. This might lead to missing a major milestone in your project so you need to do the required planning to acquire outside resources to get your project activity done. Which tools and techniques of the Plan Risk Response process will help you in this situation?

A. Strategies for positive risks or opportunities
B. Strategies for negative risks or threats
C. Contingent response strategies
D. Risk Reassessment

Answer 43

C. Contingent response strategies

This is the situation where the risk response happens after the trigger which is the sudden shut down of an operational unit in the company. Some responses are designed to use only if a specific event occurs. It is appropriate for the project team to make a response plan that will be executed only under certain predefined conditions (triggers like missing intermediate milestones). The risk response occurs BEFORE the risk and tries to alter the probability and/or impact while the contingency plan only occurs AFTER the trigger (usually the risk event) and focuses only on changing the impact.

Question 44

A project manager recently assessed the team’s performance using earned value metrics and found that the rate of deliverable completion has slowed. After some investigating, he determined that one of the team members is inexperienced in the technique that the team has chosen to develop the software for the current phase of the project. He meets with this team member and suggests that they take a two-day class that others on the team have taken previously. What should the project manager do next?

A. Check back with the team member to verify whether the training took place and was helpful.
B. Advise the team member’s supervisor that the team member was inexperienced and should be mentored.
C. Ask the client if the schedule can be extended since the project is no longer on pace.
D. Reassign the team member to tasks they are more familiar with.

Answer 44

A. Check back with the team member to verify whether the training took place and was helpful.

Checking back with the team member to verify the effectiveness of the training is the most appropriate next step. It is the job of the project manager to not only recommend training opportunities for their team but to ensure that the training was effective.

It may be a good idea to tell their supervisor that they will be taking the training. However, it is not clear that mentoring is needed until the project manager has had an opportunity to assess how well the training went. Additionally, it is the responsibility of the project manager, rather than the functional manager, to see to it that a mentor is assigned since the skills in question are needed for his project. Reassigning tasks and asking for a client extension would be premature and might be unnecessary. Although the pace has slowed, there is no indication from the question that the project is behind schedule.

Question 45

Projects, by definition, represent change since each one is unique. Some projects represent a greater change to the organization than others, such as when changing a project methodology from a predictive to an adaptive one if it is new to the organization. Fill in the blank regarding the most important cultural norm necessary to create organizational change.

The most important norm necessary to have in place while enacting change is one that enables a _________ work environment

Answer 45

The answer is safe. According to the APG, the most important cultural norm needed is one that enables a safe work environment.

Question 46

You are managing an airport construction company. In the middle of the project you realize that one of the subcontractors is not meeting the quality requirements as stipulated in their contract. This is a risk that may result in the final product of the project being rejected by your client. What is your first course of action?

A. Initiate a change request
B. Perform claim administration
C. Perform inspection & audit
D. Raise the risk to the Sponsor

Answer 46

C. Perform inspection & audit

According to the PMBOK® Guide (6th Edition), inspections and audits required by the buyer and supported by the seller as specified in the procurement contract can be conducted during execution of the project to verify compliance in the seller’s work processes or deliverable. If authorized by contract, some inspection and audit teams can include buyer procurement personnel.

Question 47

You are in charge of performing the financial analysis for a troubled project in your company. The project is currently on hold and based on the results of your work, top management will decide on continuing or dropping the project. Which category of costs should you not consider in your analysis?

A. Indirect costs
B. Fixed Costs
C. Variable Costs
D. Sunk Costs

Answer 47

D. Sunk Costs

Sunk costs are the costs that are expended in the past. Sunk costs should not be considered when deciding on continuing a project.

Question 48

As a project manager in a large organization with various projects similar to yours, you are responsible to report the project status to the top management in a way that quickly and easily gives them the required information. Which one of the following is the best type of report to provide the required information to senior management?

A. Project management plans
B. Project detailed schedules
C. Gantt Charts
D. Milestone reports

Answer 48

D. Milestone reports

The only report that best suits to the needs of senior management is the milestone report. The rest of the mentioned documents include a lot of redundant or detailed information for this purpose.

Question 49

Which of these is an output from the Acquire Resources process?

A. Organizational chart
B. Project team assignments
C. RAM
D. Staffing Management Plan

Answer 49

B. Project team assignments

After determining elements such as the roles and responsibilities, reviewing recruitment practices, and negotiating for staff, project team members are assigned to project activities as part of the Acquire Resources process.

Question 50

Which one of the following is not an input to the Develop Project Charter process?

A. Agreements
B. Business Case
C. Stakeholders Register
D. Organizational Process Assets

Answer 50

C. Stakeholders Register

Inputs of the Develop Project Charter process are:

Business Case
Agreements
Enterprise Environmental Factors
Organizational Process Assets