Processes Flashcards
According to the Project Management Institute (PMI)®, a good project manager spends how much time communicating?
90 percent
100 percent
75 percent
50 percent
90%
According to PMI, a good project manager spends up to 90 percent of their time communicating. Communication skills are essential for a successful project manager.
Status review meetings are an important tool for informing stakeholders (and others) of the status of the project. All of the following are true regarding status review meetings except for which one?
- They are a form of communication and include verbal and written material.
- Face-to-face meetings are more effective for team members than status review meetings because you’ll learn of potential risks and problems more quickly.
- You might have multiple status review meetings, each intended for different audiences.
- Verbally communicating at a status meeting is less complicated and more easily understood than written communication.
Face-to-face meetings are effective, but this statement is not true regarding status review meetings.
You are a project manager for Lightning Bolt Enterprises using a hybrid model to manage projects. Your new project involves the research and development of a new type of rechargeable battery. The project objectives should include which of the following?
- Quantifiable criteria, including elements such as cost, schedule, and quality measures
- A brief summary of the product description, including measurable, quantifiable product requirements that will help measure project success
- Quantifiable criteria derived from value engineering, value analysis, or function analysis
- A description of the business need that brought about this project
- Quantifiable criteria, including elements such as cost, schedule, and quality measures
The project objectives should include quantifiable criteria that can be used to help measure project success. Project objectives should include schedule, cost, and quality measurements.
You have decomposed the deliverables for your project as follows: Project Management, Design, Build, and Test. The Design deliverable is further decomposed to include these deliverables: product design document, blueprints, and prototype. Adequate cost and schedule estimates have been applied to all the deliverables. Which of the following has occurred?
Steps 1, 2, and 3 of decomposition have been performed for all the deliverables with the exception of the Design deliverable.
All the steps of decomposition have been performed.
Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 of decomposition have been performed for all the deliverables.
Steps 1, 2, and 3 of decomposition have been performed for the Design deliverable.
Steps 1, 2, and 3 of decomposition have been performed for the Design deliverable.
The five steps of decomposition are to identify major deliverables, organize the WBS, decompose the WBS components into lower-level components, assign identification codes, and validate the WBS. No mention was made in the question of assigning identification codes or validating the correctness of decomposition, so not all of the steps have been performed. The first three steps of the decomposition process for the Design deliverable have been performed
Which of the following statements are true? Select 3
A highly adaptive life cycle has continuous involvement and frequent feedback from stakeholders. A highly predictive life cycle has reduced risk and costs due to detailed plans. A highly predictive life cycle contains requirements that are ambiguous. A highly adaptive life cycle performs Initiating activities regularly throughout the project.
A highly predictive (waterfall) life cycle typically has detailed specifications, while a highly adaptive life cycle (Agile) has requirements that are progressively elaborated. All other statements are true.
You are a project manager for Community Trends, a nonprofit organization. Your project has come about because of a social need. You’re calculating performance measurements and using actual costs to date, and you assume that ETC work will be completed at the budgeted rate. You know the following information: BAC = 900, ETC = 65, PV = 500, EV = 475, and AC = 425. Which of the following is the correct expected total cost at completion, given this situation?
875 804 850 379
Since EAC is based on actual costs to date and assuming ETC work will be completed at the budgeted rate, the equation to use for EAC is EAC = AC + (BAC – EV). In this case, your formula looks like this: $425 + ($900 – $475) = $850.
Which of the following characteristics do all project life cycles share?
Degree of uncertainty
Degree of planning
Degree of work sequencing
Degree of unfinished work
Degree of planning
According to the Agile Practice Guide, all project life cycles share the element of planning. What differs across predictive, iterative, incremental, and Agile life cycles is the degree to which planning is done, and when.
You are using the critical chain method to construct your schedule, and there are variances in your critical path tasks. Which of the following is true?
Delays to the noncritical path tasks won’t cause any further issues for the critical path.
You should compare the amount of buffer needed to what’s remaining to help assess if the schedule is on track.
Your schedule is not at risk yet, but you should monitor both critical and noncritical path tasks for further delays or variances.
You should use preventive actions to get the project back on track.
If the critical path tasks have variances, your schedule is at risk. You will use corrective actions at this point (not preventive actions) to get the project back on track, such as adjusting the amount of buffer. Significant delays to noncritical-path tasks can make them become part of the critical path.
Midway through the delivery of development services, a customer requested that new requirements be incorporated. When asked to submit a change request to modify the terms of the contract, the customer refused and insisted that the changes be implemented at no cost. After multiple discussions, neither party changed their stance on the situation. What technique will the project manager likely use to address this situation?
Conflict management
Inspection
Claims administration
Alternative dispute resolution
Claims administration is a tool and technique of the Control Procurements process. Claims administration involves addressing contested changes between the buyer and seller, which then converts into a claim.
A project manager works with the project team to identify lessons learned. The information captured will then be archived and summarized within the project’s final report. What activity is the project team engaged in?
Conducting a project meeting Updating the lessons learned register Capturing work performance information Administrative closure
Administrative closure
The project team is performing administrative closure activities associated with the Close Project or Phase process. While information captured will be added to the lessons learned register, administrative closure is a broader choice that captures additional activities noted in the question, such as archiving information and creating the final report.
Which of the following describes who is responsible for the quality assurance of the project?
Project manager and project team members Project team members, project manager, and stakeholders Project manager Stakeholders
The project team members, project manager, and the stakeholders are all equally responsible for the quality assurance of the project.
A project manager for a software development project has collected the work performance data and used the requirements documentation and requirements traceability matrix to generate the work performance information regarding variances in the project work compared to the baseline. What process is the project manager performing?
Validate Scope Control Scope Direct and Manage Project Work Manage Quality
To answer this question correctly, it is important to understand how work performance data is transformed into work performance information. Work performance data is produced as a result of project execution. The work performance data can then be analyzed during various controlling processes to produce work performance information (see the image below). Work performance information is only produced as an output during the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group. In this scenario, the question suggests that a variance analysis has been performed using work performance data in order to produce work performance information. Thus, it can be concluded that the process underway is part of the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group, and the two answer choices representing executing processes can be eliminated.
Both the Validate Scope and Control Scope processes produce work performance information as an output. However, only the Control Scope process uses variance analysis to produce work performance information regarding variances in the project work compared to the scope baseline. Therefore, of the available choices, the project manager must be executing the Control Scope process.
What action can a project manager take if the selected risk response strategy turns out not to be fully effective?
Actively accept the risk
Develop and implement a fallback plan
Update the risk register with the outcome
Document and respond to a secondary risk
A fallback plan, also referred to as a contingency plan, is a risk response strategy that is used when the initial response is not fully effective.
How are quality improvements implemented?
By submitting a change request and/or taking a corrective action
By submitting a change request and/or implementing a preventive action
By completing quality audits
By completing a quality audit and identifying gaps or shortcomings in the process
By submitting a change request and/or taking a corrective action
Completing a quality audit may lead you to the conclusion that a change request is needed, but you must submit a change request and/or take corrective action to implement the quality improvement.
The characteristics of project life cycles vary and should be considered when determining which life cycle is the best fit for a project. Match the delivery life cycle approach based on where it falls on the continuum when considering frequency of delivery and degree of change.
Predictive and iterative life cycles tend to have low frequencies of delivery, whereas incremental and agile have a high frequency of finished deliverables; both predictive and incremental experience few changes, while iterative and Agile experience very frequent changes based on customer feedback.
Which of the following project management documents records challenges, problems, realized risks, and opportunities?
Risk register Project documents Issue log Lessons learned register
The lessons learned register, created out of the Manage Project Knowledge process, records information about situations that have occurred within the project, including recording challenges, problems, realized risks and opportunities, and other information relevant for future reference. While “project documents” is a technically accurate answer, “lessons learned register” is a more specific answer.
The project processes are iterative, are results oriented, and interact with each other. Shewhart and Deming developed a concept that reflects this idea. Which of the following is the name of this cycle?
Strategize-Justify-Choose-Execute-Control
Plan-Do-Check-Act
Initiate-Requirements-Execute-Close
Select-Plan-Monitor-Act
The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle was developed by Shewhart and later refined by Deming. It reflects the iterative, results-oriented, and interactive nature of the project process groups.
You are managing a project to develop a new robot for a mining rescue company. You are currently performing a monitoring and controlling project activity, and you have discovered that some of the project work has not been performed according to the plan. If these issues are not fixed before the next customer inspection, your project might be canceled. You have analyzed the situation, and the corrective action will only require a minor adjustment to a configuration element. What should you do first?
Implement the corrective actions
Delay the scheduled customer inspection
Submit a change request
Consult the project sponsor
All of the available answers seem like possible options in this scenario, but the question is specifically asking what you should do ‘first’. Although you have already analyzed the situation and you know what corrective actions are required, you must follow the proper change control procedure. A configuration element is a project artifact that has been placed under configuration control. Any change to a configuration element should be formally controlled and will require a change request. Since the question describes a situation requiring a change to a configuration element, the first thing you should do is submit a change request and have it approved before you can implement the changes.
The Project Integration Management Knowledge Area is concerned with which of the following?
- Identifying the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by the project to analyze stakeholder expectations and their impact on the project
- Ensuring timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and ultimate disposition of project information
- Identifying, combining, unifying, and coordinating the various processes and project management activities
- Ensuring the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully
The Project Integration Management Knowledge Area is the only Knowledge Area that has processes across all five process groups. It contains the high-level processes that bring the results of the remaining Knowledge Areas together, unifying and coordinating all project management activities.
Emma is a project manager working on a project that will require a specially engineered machine. Several manufacturers can make the machine to the specifications Emma needs. She will use purchase price as the sole criterion for choosing from among the vendors. Which of the following is true regarding this question?
Emma will include delivery and setup charges as part of the purchase price criterion. Emma must use purchase price alone as the sole criterion for evaluation because multiple vendors are involved. Emma will review the procurement documents and teaming agreements as some of the inputs to this process. Emma will use the advertising tool and technique of this process to let vendors know about this opportunity
When using price alone as a criterion for selection, there should be more than one vendor who can supply the goods or services you are procuring. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use additional criteria for source selection. You should include costs such as delivery and setup in the purchase price criterion.
Which of the following best describes overall project risk?
The effect of uncertainty on the project as a whole, arising from all sources of uncertainty.
An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a negative effect on one or more project objectives.
The effect of uncertainty on a project objective, arising from all sources of uncertainty.
An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives.
According to the PMBOK® Guide, there are two levels of risk: individual project risk and overall project risk. An overall project risk is the effect of uncertainty on the project as a whole, arising from all sources of uncertainty.
You work within a team that uses a feature-driven development approach to manage software projects. As the senior project manager on the team, you know from experience the criticality of communication. You often coach other project managers on the various elements of communication, which are incorporated within the models of communication exchange. Which of the following best explains these communication elements?
- The elements of communication include senders, receivers, and messages, and the communication model includes encode, transmit, acknowledge, and feedback/ response.
- The elements of communication include encode, transmit, acknowledge, and feedback/response, and the communication model includes verbal and written.
- The elements of communication include encode, transmit, acknowledge, and feedback/response, and the communication model includes senders, receivers, and messages.
- The elements of communication include senders, receivers, and messages, and the communication model includes verbal and written.
The elements of communication involve senders, receivers, and messages. The communication model, a tool and technique of the Manage Communications process, includes encoding, decoding, acknowledging, and feedback/response. Verbal and written are forms of communication.
Your project has kicked off, and you are beginning a series of overview sessions with key users to determine requirements for a new enterprise resource software implementation. One of your stakeholders is exceptionally contentious and throws obstacles up at every turn. One of the problems she has described does seem to be legitimate. There is an issue with the data from the legacy system that needs to be resolved before moving forward. The PMO you report to practices phase sequencing and requires closure of each phase before the next phase can begin. What is this process called?
Phase exit Stage review Gate exit Phase review
Remember that all questions on the exam will refer to specific terminology used in the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition. Although the other options presented may seem correct, the PMBOK® Guide calls this process by any of these names: stage gates, phase reviews, phase gates, phase exit, or kill points.
A project manager facilitated a meeting with the product manager and project team to discuss the results of the latest iteration. As part of the meeting, the project manager also reviewed the budget consumed to date on the project, highlighting appraisal costs. Which of the following best describes appraisal costs?
Costs expended to examine the product or process and make certain the requirements are being met
Costs associated with satisfying customer requirements by creating a product without defects
Costs when things don’t go according to plan
Costs that occur externally, when the customer determines that the requirements have not been met
Appraisal costs are associated with the cost of quality and are the costs expended to examine the product or process and make certain the requirements are being met. Inspection and testing are examples of appraisal costs.
You are the project manager for an outdoor concert event scheduled for one year from today. You’re working on the procurement documents for the computer software program that will control the lighting and screen projections during the concert. You’ve decided to contract with a professional services company that specializes in writing custom software programs. You want to minimize the risk to the organization and want a well-defined set of deliverables for a set price. You have agreed to pay the vendor a bonus if they complete the program at least 30 days earlier than scheduled, so you’ll opt for which contract type?
CPIF CPFF FFP FPIF
Fixed-price incentive fee contracts are the best option when you need a well-defined set of deliverables for a set price and are including a bonus or incentive for early completion or exceeding expectations.
Which quality theorist is responsible for the theory that promotes doing it right the first time?
W. Edwards Deming Joseph Juran Philip Crosby Walter Shewhart
Philip Crosby is the quality theorist behind the Zero Defects practice, which promotes doing it right the first time.
A sponsor meets with the project manager to better understand when the team will complete the project. The project manager notes that the team is completing an average of 40 story points per sprint, and as a result, they would complete the project within five iterations. She shows the sponsor a chart that reflects the projection and includes a date for each iteration. What chart is the project manager and sponsor reviewing?
Gantt chart Burndown chart Burnup chart Velocity chart
Velocity refers to the total story points that the team is completing on average per iteration. Velocity allows the team to forecast the rate at which they are burning down the work of the project. A velocity chart shows the sum of the estimates of work delivered across all iterations.
The project manager is trying to get sign off for a series of marketing materials. The work is rejected by the stakeholders responsible for sign off because of incorrect use of marketing standards. What should the project manager do before sending materials to the stakeholders again?
Validate the scope before performing quality control Validate scope before communicating the project status Perform quality control checks before validating the scope Create a work breakdown structure before validating the scope
The scenario involves two processes: the Validate Scope process and the Control Quality process. The two processes are “linked” by verified deliverables. Verified deliverables are an output from the Control Quality process and an input into the Validate Scope process. The Control Quality process ensures the project outputs are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations. The Validate Scope process formally accepts the completed project deliverables and results in accepted deliverables as its output. In the scenario, the work is being validated by the stakeholders, but there are quality concerns noted by the incorrect use of standards. Ideally, the Control Quality process should be completed before the scope can be validated. It is unclear from the scenario whether or not this process has been carried out at all. Regardless, now, when the issues have been found during scope validation, it is essential that before repeating the Validate Scope process for this work, the project manager and the project team conduct the Control Quality process to ensure correctness and proper adherence to the marketing quality standards. Then the scope can be validated based on both correctness and completeness.
You are managing the development of a new blood pressure cuff for a customer who provided you with the objectives and description of the cuff. You and your team are decomposing the customer’s high-level requirements to the level of detail needed to design the blood pressure cuff and therefore define the scope of the product. In what activity are you involved?
Define Activities Create WBS Product analysis Technical performance analysis
The scenario implies you are in the Define Scope process. Product analysis is among the tools and techniques of this process and can be used to define products and services. By asking questions about a product and forming answers to those questions, a description of the use, characteristics, and other relevant aspects can be determined about the product that is going to be delivered. In product analysis, requirements are captured at a high level and decomposed to the level of detail needed to design the final product which is what described by the scenario, making product analysis the best answer to the question asked. Examples of product analysis techniques include product breakdown, requirements analysis, systems analysis, systems engineering, value analysis, and value engineering.
You are the director of the PMO for your organization. Terri, an employee from another department, has approached you about a new project that is being talked about in her department. Terri would like the opportunity to head up this project and wants to convince you of her knowledge of project management and that she can do this job. Terri’s objective statement for the project says the following: “Convert all our distribution centers in the United States to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. This new technology will improve inventory management by giving us a real-time view of demand for the products we sell. It will also help reduce theft and reduce stock-outs. The electronic identification stored in the tags should be fixed. This new technology will require the installation of readers at each warehouse gate.” Which of the following statements are correct regarding Terri’s objective statement? Select 3
Objectives describe what it is the project is trying to produce or accomplish, and requirements are specifications of the objective or deliverable.
This statement describes the objectives of the project adequately; however, requirements have been added into the statement.
This statement describes an overview of the project, but it cannot be considered an objective statement because it’s missing some important elements.
Requirements have been mixed into the statement Terri wrote. One of the requirements in this statement is that “electronic identification stored in the tags should be fixed.”
This statement does describe some objectives but not adequately. Objectives are quantifiable criteria used to measure project success and should include schedule, cost, and quality metrics. There are no measures of time, cost, or quality mentioned in this statement. Requirements describe the specifications of the objectives and typically wouldn’t be mixed into an objective statement. The objective should be clear and concise.
Brad works as a project manager for a prominent law firm. His latest project involves an office move that will accommodate a 10 percent growth in staff over the next two years. Because of an unexpected increase in infrastructure costs, he calculates that he will be $2,000 over budget. What document can Brad reference to determine whether this falls within the allowable threshold for budget overages?
Cost baseline Project funding requirements Cost management plan Contingency reserve
The cost management plan contains the approved approach for determining the budget, managing it, and controlling it. It also captures additional key details, such as the rules of performance measurement, control thresholds, units of measure and levels of precision used, and so on.
Match the quality theorist with the theory they are responsible for.
W. Edwards Deming
Joseph Juran
Philip Crosby
Walter Shewhart
Philip Crosby is the quality theorist behind the Zero Defects practice, which promotes doing it right the first time;
Joseph Juran popularized the Pareto Principle, also referred to as the 80/20 principle;
W. Edwards Deming popularized the Shewhart Cycle, which he evolved into the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle.
Walter Shewhart is considered to be the grandfather of TQM; he developed statistical tools to examine when a corrective action must be applied to a process.
A risk manager convened with the project manager to discuss the progress of the project. The risk manager shared concerns about feedback received regarding the low likelihood that the team would achieve their go-live date successfully. What activity is the project manager likely to perform next?
Submit a change request in the form of preventive action.
Work with the risk manager to apply immediate changes to the plan.
Nothing, since a new issue or risk has not been officially raised.
Submit a change request in the form of corrective action.
Since an issue has not occurred as of yet, the project manager is likely to take preventive actions. Preventive actions are submitted through a change request, which is then evaluated and dispositioned through the project’s change control board.
Managing quality is sometimes called what
Quality assurance
Quality adherence
Quality management
Plan-Do-Check-Act
Quality assurance
A project manager is performing activities associated with the Plan Procurement Management process. He is attempting to determine, along with the relevant subjectmatter experts, whether it makes more sense to develop internally or purchase a deliverable. What tools or methods can he use to produce a successful outcome?
Make-or-buy analysis Market research Advertising Source selection analysis
Make-or-buy analysis
Marysil is an enterprise project manager for Cups on Fire. To date, she has identified risks, analyzed them, and developed risk responses for her project. Now, she and the team are executing the work and responding to risk triggers. What project management artifact will they need?
Contingency plan Risk report Fallback plan Risk register
Risk register
The risk register contains the list of identified risks and all information documented about them, including the risk response plans. As risk triggers occur, they will need to refer to the risk register for information about the risk response plans.
Roshoud is the VP of customer operations for Galactic Kidz and is the project sponsor of the latest project, called Project G. He sits down with Sally, the project manager, to discuss resource utilization on the project. He expresses concern after recently hearing that resources have been unavailable as planned. Sally admits that this has been the case and that it has set the project back unexpectedly. What action should Sally take to remedy the situation?
Procure additional resources to take the place of those who became unavailable after the project work began. Perform data analysis to determine what corrective action may be taken to get back on track with the plan. Talk to the functional managers to ensure the unavailable resources receive poor performance reviews. Review the schedule to identify what resource gaps currently exist within the project.
When performing activities relating to controlling resources, data analysis may be used to evaluate what alternatives exist to completing activities with resources, such as alternate resources. Data analysis also includes performing cost-benefit analysis, performance reviews, and trend analysis
Alyssa is a project manager tasked with managing an infrastructure project that will consolidate five data centers into one. She is currently facilitating the estimating process to calculate the duration of the project’s activities. Alyssa knows that she has reliable information and is therefore planning on using an estimating technique that will yield a highly accurate estimate with minimal effort expended. What estimating technique is she planning on using?
Top-down estimating Three-point estimating Parametric estimating Bottom-up estimating
Parametric estimating is a quantitatively based estimating method that multiplies the quantity of work by the rate or uses an algorithm in conjunction with historical data to determine cost, budget, or duration estimates. When the information is reliable, it yields an estimate that is high in accuracy.
Nicolas is the project manager of a project that has been described as revolutionizing the mobile fitness tracking industry. He recently finalized and published the scope. A key subject-matter expert on his team asks to see the list of acceptance criteria. What document will Nicolas reference to get this information?
Business case Scope management plan Project scope statement Requirements documentation
The project scope statement contains the project scope description, project deliverables, acceptance criteria, and project exclusions
Change-driven life cycles are also known by what other name?
Predictive life cycle Plan-driven life cycle Adaptive life cycle Hybrid life cycle
Adaptive life cycle
David is a project manager working for a prominent book publishing company. As part of his latest project, he uses an approach that yields frequent smaller deliverables throughout the span of the project. What type of project life cycle is David using?
Waterfall
Incremental
Predictive
Agile
Incremental
Incremental life cycles focus on speed of delivery as an optimization method. In this type of life cycle, the project yields frequent smaller deliverables to avoid waiting for everything to be completed before a solution exists. In other words, a subset of the overall solution becomes available sooner.
You use a predictive approach to managing projects and have just completed your cost baseline. Next, you begin working on determining funding requirements. Which of the following is true?
Funding requirements are derived from the activity costs. Management reserves are the difference between the funding requirements and the cost baseline. The management reserve is released in a lump sum at the beginning of the project. Funding requirements are an output of the Estimate Costs process.
Management reserves are the difference between the funding requirements and the cost baseline.
A project manager is performing closing activities and is getting ready to release project resources. What document can they reference for guidance on how resources are to be released?
Project documents
Project schedule
Project management plan
Release plan
The project management plan contains the resource management plan, which addresses how resources will be obtained, managed, and released.
You are a project manager for Lightning Bolt Enterprises. Your new project involves the research and development of a new type of rechargeable battery. One of your stakeholders requests a change to the product scope description. The stakeholder has filled out a change request form indicating that the change affects the project scope and that it’s essential for a successful project. The change request is approved, and the project scope statement is updated to reflect this change. Which of the following statements are true? Select 3
Change requests are evaluated against the project scope statement, and if a change request is outside the bounds of the original project scope, the change should be denied.
Product analysis converts the product description and objectives into deliverables and requirements.
The product scope description, which is also a component of the project charter, is used to define the project’s scope.
The project scope statement directs the project team’s work and is the basis for future project decisions.
- Change requests are evaluated against the project scope statement, and if a change request is outside the bounds of the original project scope, the change should be denied.
- Product analysis converts the product description and objectives into deliverables and requirements.
- The project scope statement directs the project team’s work and is the basis for future project decisions.
Contract phases are closely related to the Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area processes. Which of the following are true? Select 3
- Two of the outputs of the Plan Procurement Management process are inputs to the Conduct Procurements process.
- The requisition stage, where responses to procurement documents are reviewed, is related to the Conduct Procurements process.
- The requirement stage, which establishes the project and contract needs, is related to the Plan Procurement Management process.
- The award stage, where the contract is awarded, is related to the Conduct Procurements process.
Two of the outputs of the Plan Procurement Management process are inputs to the Conduct Procurements process.
The requirement stage, which establishes the project and contract needs, is related to the Plan Procurement Management process.
The award stage, where the contract is awarded, is related to the Conduct Procurements process.
A project manager performing Closing activities is currently focused on addressing the highest business value items first. What life cycle is she using to deliver her project?
Highly predictive
Waterfall
Highly adaptive
Adaptive
Highly adaptive
The project manager is using a highly adaptive (Agile) life cycle, where Closing activities involve addressing the highest business value items first versus closing out the project or phase as in a highly predictive life cycle
You are part of the project team designing a new type of subway car. You have completed the last work package for the braking system; however, you are not sure what the acceptance criteria are for this particular work package. Where can you find that information?
The project management plan The requirements documentation The project scope statement The WBS dictionary
The WBS dictionary
A work package is the lowest level of the WBS and typically provides a brief description of the work to be completed by this work package. The WBS dictionary supports the WBS by including more detailed information for each WBS work package or other WBS components. The WBS dictionary is an output of the Create WBS process and provides information such as the description of work, schedule milestones, quality requirements, and acceptance criteria for each work package. Therefore, if you are not sure of the acceptance criteria for the work package you just completed, you should look for that information at the WBS dictionary.
Contains the activities required to identify the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by the project, analyze them, and develop strategies for engaging them.
Contains the activities required to identify the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by the project, analyze them, and develop strategies for engaging them.
Project Resource Management Project Integration Management Project Stakeholder Management Project Schedule Management Project Procurement Management
Project Stakeholder Management
Contains the activities to identify, acquire, and manage the resources needed for the successful completion of the project
Project Resource Management Project Integration Management Project Stakeholder Management Project Schedule Management Project Procurement Management
Project Resource Management
Contains the activities to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the various process groups
Project Resource Management Project Integration Management Project Stakeholder Management Project Schedule Management Project Procurement Management
Project Integration Management
Contains the activities required to manage the timely completion of the project
Project Resource Management Project Integration Management Project Stakeholder Management Project Schedule Management Project Procurement Management
Project Schedule Management
Contains the activities necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team
Project Resource Management Project Integration Management Project Stakeholder Management Project Schedule Management Project Procurement Management
Project Procurement Management
Roshoud is the VP of customer operations for Galactic Kidz and project sponsor of the latest project, called Project G. He sits down with Sally, the project manager, to discuss the current budget estimate. Roshoud expresses his concerns to Sally over the budget being far greater than originally anticipated and asks her to course-correct. What produces the greatest expense on most projects?
Vendors Resources Materials Travel
The greatest expense for most projects is resources, both human and material and supplies.
While carrying out the Monitor and Control Project Work process, a project manager analyzes performance data to determine whether any corrective or preventive action is needed. Which of the following is a valid input that can assist the project manager in performing this activity?
Work performance information Variance analysis Expert judgment Work performance data
Work performance information
Work performance information is a key input that the project manager needs to evaluate performance against the plan (another key input in and of itself). Work performance data, on the other hand, represents raw data that is used in executing the work; it later becomes information as it is analyzed against baselines through other processes that belong to the Monitoring and Controlling process group. The remaining two options are tools and techniques of the process, not inputs.
A project manager has just closed out a procurement, which produced the final deliverable of the project. What is the project manager likely to do next?
Release the remaining project resources
Finalize any open claims
Celebrate
Perform administrative closure
Perform administrative closure
Since the scenario outlined that the final deliverable of the project was completed, it implies that closing activities would follow. Administrative closure, which occurs as part of the Close Project or Phase process, consists of activities such as ensuring that exit criteria have been met and contractual agreements were properly closed out, measuring stakeholder satisfaction, and ensuring that ongoing operational or sustainment activities are transferred to operations.
Roshoud is serving as the project sponsor for a high-visibility project within the Galactic Kidz corporation. During a weekly executive status meeting, he expresses concern regarding quality assurance and requests an update. Quality assurance is most concerned with what?
Documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements and/or standards
Monitoring and recording the results of executing the quality management activities to assess project performance
Identifying quality requirements and/or standards of the project and its deliverables
Using processes effectively and assuring stakeholders that the end result will meet their needs
According to the PMBOK® Guide, quality assurance is most concerned with using project processes effectively. This includes assuring stakeholders that the end result of the project will meet their needs and expectations.
Phase endings are characterized by which of the following?
Deliverables quality analysis and written sign-off
Deliverables review and written sign-off
Completion, quality analysis, and approval of deliverables
Completion, review, and approval of deliverables
Phase endings are characterized by the completion, review, and approval of a deliverable.
A new project manager is brought on the project. She wants to understand the process by which this particular project formally accepts deliverables. Which of the following will she have to reference?
The scope management plan
The requirements management plan
The quality management plan
The stakeholder management plan
The scope management plan is a component of the project management plan that contains information and guidance on how the scope and the scope-related processes are to be managed. What is included varies, but should contain procedures and processes specifying how the formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables will be obtained. Acceptance of project deliverables is influenced by other project management plans, such as the stakeholder management plan and the quality management plan. Nevertheless, the scope management plan is what specifies the process most directly.
You are working on the risk management plan for your current project and need to document how the risk activities will be recorded for the benefit of future projects. Which part of the risk management plan addresses these issues?
Tracking Reporting format Lessons learned Thresholds
Tracking
You have devised some proposal evaluation criteria based on past performance, contract compliance, and quality ratings to select a seller. Your organization has used two of the three vendors that bid on this project on previous projects, so you are comfortable using whichever one is selected. Which of the following is one of the most important criteria in evaluating the responses to your proposal?
Predefined performance criteria or a set of defined minimum requirements
Determining whether the vendor has a clear understanding of what you’re asking them to do
The financial records of the potential vendor to determine their fiscal ability to perform the services
Information about the seller such as past performance, delivery, contract compliance, and quality ratings
One of the most important criteria for evaluating sellers is to determine whether they have a clear understanding of what you’re asking them to do or perform. Information such as past performance, financial records, and predetermined performance criteria are also important, but only after you are sure they have a clear understanding of what you’re asking them to do.
You are a project manager working on manufacturing a new product. The operational process is very detailed. One of the components of the product must measure 1 centimeter by 1 centimeter. Reliability is measured using a machine that samples one part in every hundred to assure the measurements are correct. Which of the following does this question describe?
This is statistical sampling, which is a tool and technique of the Control Quality process. This is a prevention cost, which is a tool and technique of the Plan Quality Management process. This describes a quality audit, which is a tool and technique of the Plan Quality Management process. This describes a quality baseline, which is an output of the Plan Quality Management process
Statistical sampling involves taking a sample number of parts from the whole population and inspecting them to determine whether they fall within acceptable variances.
A visual representation of the work remaining versus the time left in a timebox
Burndown chart
A visual representation of the work completed toward the release of a produc
Burnup charts
When is a project considered successful?
When the project budget is consumed and the schedule milestones are achieved
When the project budget is consumed, the scope is developed, and the schedule milestones are achieved
When project benefits are realized and the stakeholder needs and expectations are met
When objectives are achieved and the stakeholder needs and expectations are met
When objectives are achieved and the stakeholder needs and expectations are met
A project manager has just wrapped up a successful project in an environment that uses a streamlined hybrid approach to project delivery. Who is responsible for writing the project’s final report?
Project sponsor
All stakeholders
Project manager
Executive sponsor
The project manager is typically responsible for authoring the final report. The project’s final report contains a summary of what occurred on the project and may include information on scope, cost, schedule/burn down of work, risk, and quality outcomes.
You are a project manager working in an organization that is considered to be a weak matrix organizational type. You are two months into a four-month project when the functional manager for half of your most critical resources announces that she will be reallocating them to another project. You explain to her that this will result in early closure of your project and that resources should not be redirected. If the functional manager succeeds in reallocating the resources, what type of ending will the project experience?
Addition Integration Starvation Extinction
Integration occurs when the resources of the project are distributed to other areas in the organization or are assigned to other projects. In this case, the functional manager is reassigning resources to another project.
Which of the following statements best describes the product scope?
The work performed to deliver a product, service, or results with the specified features and functions A description of the behaviors of the product, including actions and interactions that the product should execute The features and characteristics that describe the product, service, or result of the project The higher-level needs of the organization as a whole and the reasons why a project has been undertaken
The product scope defines the features and characteristics that describe the product, service, or result of the project.
With the start of project execution, a project manager needs to acquire the development team. However, the project sponsor indicates that of those developers who were planned for the project, one is unavailable as she is currently completing another project. What should the project manager do to understand the proposed team member’s future availability?
Contact the team member's functional manager Look at the project documents Review the resource requirements Examine the resource breakdown structure
The scenario implies that the project manager is about to start the Acquire Resources process and needs to understand the availability of the project team members. The project documents include the resource calendars which serve as an input to the Acquire Resources process. A resource calendar identifies the working days, shifts, start and end of normal business hours, weekends, and public holidays when each specific resource is available. Information on which resources are potentially available during a planned activity period is used for estimating resource utilization. Resource calendars also specify when and for how long identified team and physical resources will be available during the project. Of the available choices, looking at the project documents, which includes the resource calendars, provides the best source of information for the project manager about the availability of a particular team member to perform project work.
A project manager is leading the construction of a new office building. The project sponsor asks the project manager to email him a project document that was presented during the last project status meeting. The project sponsor states that he has forgotten the name of the document, but he remembers it contained the description, owner, source, priority, and status of product requirements. Which project document is the project sponsor requesting?
The requirements management plan The requirements traceability matrix The work breakdown structure (WBS) The scope management plan
In this scenario, the project sponsor requested a document that provides specific information about the product requirements of your current project. The requirements traceability matrix is a grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverable that satisfy them. Typical attributes used in the requirements traceability matrix may include a unique identifier, a textual description of the requirement, the rationale for inclusion, owner, source, priority, version, current status, and status date. Additional attributes to ensure that the requirement has met stakeholders’ satisfaction may include stability, complexity, and acceptance criteria.
What do functional requirements describe?
The behaviors of the product The higher-level needs of the organization as a whole The needs of a stakeholder or stakeholder group The environmental conditions or qualities required for the product to be effective
The behaviors of the product
You’ve gathered cost estimates for the activities of your current project. Most of the activities can be completed with existing staff resources. The summary cost estimate for existing resources is $535,000. You will also need to hire contractors to perform some of the activities that require specialized skills. You’ve received a bid from a local vendor for $137,000 for these services. Which of the following statements are true? Select 2
- You should use purchase price as the sole criterion for choosing among vendors when you have multiple qualified sellers from which to choose.
- The cost of the vendor services to your organization is considered pricing (from the buyer’s perspective), which is a business decision on their part.
- You’ve determined a quantitative estimate of the cost to the organization to perform the activities of the project.
- The procurement SOW can be prepared by either the buyer or the seller, and it should be as accurate as possible, as you will use this SOW in the contract award.
The procurement SOW can be prepared by either the buyer or the seller, but it is progressively elaborated throughout the procurement processes and will likely change prior to the contract award.
Which of the following best describes the purpose of carrying out activities associated with planning stakeholder engagement?
To identify project stakeholders regularly and analyze and document relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success
To monitor project stakeholder relationships and tailor strategies for engaging stakeholders through modification of engagement strategies and plans
To communicate and work with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, address issues, and foster appropriate stakeholder involvement
To develop approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impacts on the project
According to the PMBOK® Guide, the purpose of the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process is to develop approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impacts on the project. This is the second process of the Project Stakeholder Management Knowledge Area.
Kaylee is a risk manager working in collaboration with Alyssa, a project manager, and both work for a top healthcare company. They currently follow a feature-driven development approach to managing software-based projects. They work together to analyze risk, noting that of the 20 risks identified, 5 are deemed to be low priority. Where will these risks be documented?
The project management plan A watch list The risk management plan The risk report
Low-priority risks are added to a watch list within the risk register, where they will be monitored for possible changes.
A project manager is carrying out activities associated with the Manage Communications process. What result will these activities produce?
Ensuring timely and appropriate collection, distribution, and the ultimate disposition of project information Developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communication activities Communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations Ensuring that the information needs of the project and its stakeholders are met
The Manage Communications process is concerned with ensuring timely and appropriate collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information.
Risk strategy, methodology, and risk-related roles and responsibilities are all elements of what?
Risk register
Risk report
Project documents
Risk management plan
Risk strategy, methodology, and risk-related roles and responsibilities are all elements of the risk management plan. Other areas covered by the plan include the following: risk-related funding, timing, risk categories, stakeholder risk appetite, definitions of risk probability and impacts, probability and impact matrix, reporting formats, and tracking.
A project manager facilitates the voting process for decision-makers who have convened to review a major deliverable that has been completed. The intent of the meeting is to vote on whether to approve and accept the deliverable. What key input will the committee need to reference to vote?
Work performance information
Verified deliverables
Accepted deliverables
Deliverables
Verified deliverables
The project manager is performing the Validate Scope process in this scenario, where a key output is the accepted deliverables. To accept deliverables, the committee would need to confirm that they have been verified through quality control activities. Verified deliverables is an input of the process.
The project team recently participated in a working session to determine the costs associated with individual activities. To produce a more accurate estimate, they broke each activity down further into smaller chunks. What will this activity yield?
Cost baseline
Basis of estimates
Project budget
Cost estimates
The project team is participating in bottom-up estimating, which will produce activity cost estimates. This activity is associated with the Estimate Costs process. Basis of estimates may also be generated through this session; cost estimates, however, are the primary end outcome of the activity.
A project manager facilitates a meeting with the project team to review an assessment of risks recently completed. During this meeting, they evaluate options for responding to the risks. It is decided that two risks will not receive any action and that they will deal with the consequences at the time of occurrence, should they occur. What type of risk response is this?
Passive acceptance
Avoidance
Mitigation
Active acceptance
There are two types of risk acceptance in which no proactive risk response strategy is selected: passive and active acceptance. Passive acceptance means that no action will be taken other than to periodically monitor the risk.
As part of the process to develop the scope statement for the project you are leading, you specify the deliverables for the project, include the requirements under which the deliverables will be accepted, and explicitly state what is out of project scope. What should you do next?
Describe product scope in the scope statement
Obtain approval of the project scope statement
Include the acceptance criteria in the scope statement
Determine who decides the project is successful
The scenario describes the development of the project scope statement which is an output of the Define Scope process. The project scope statement is the description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. The entire scope, including project and product scope, is documented in the scope statement. The detailed project scope statement includes the following:
Product scope description which progressively elaborates the characteristics of the product, service, or result described in the project charter and requirements documentation.
Deliverables which describe any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.
Acceptance criteria which are a set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted.
Project exclusions which explicitly identify what is excluded from the project.
The product scope description is missing from the list of details you have included in the scope statement. Therefore, of the available choices, including product scope description, or in other words, describing product scope is what you should do next.
A project manager is performing quantitative risk analysis. What tangible result is likely to be produced?
A priority level for each individual project risk An assessment of overall project risk exposure An assessment of probability and impacts for each individual risk A list of potential risk responses
As part of carrying out the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process, updates are made to the risk register. Among the updates are an assessment of overall project risk exposure and detailed probabilistic analysis of the project.
Which of the following best describes the purpose of the Monitoring and Controlling process group?
Formulating and revising project goals and objectives and creating the project management plan
Bringing the project or phase to a formal, orderly end
Putting the project management plan into action
Measuring and analyzing project performance to determine whether the project is progressing according to the plan
Measuring and analyzing project performance to determine whether the project is progressing according to the plan
In a pharmaceutical project, human trials are to start soon. The CEO is thrilled about the success of the trials up to this point. She announces that the size of the patient pool for the trials should double from the one originally planned and results tracked in the new system launching this week. What should the project manager do first?
Communicate the change of direction with the stakeholders
Adjust the scope baseline to reflect the increased trial size
Ramp up production to match the demand of the CEO
Consider what might be included in a change request
Managing changes to the project by following the organization’s change control process established for the project is important in keeping the project under control and operating effectively. Changes to scope, like in the scenario of doubling the size of the patient pool as well as tracking the results in the new system, require evaluation, agreement, and approval. Who makes those approvals is up to the project organization and its change management plans. But before any changes are implemented or communicated, the change request must be submitted per the project’s procedure and approved by those authorized to do so. A CEO’s declaration of what should happen in the project does not substitute for the project’s change control procedures and the Perform Integrated Change Control process.
Which of the following best describes the purpose of the Monitoring and Controlling process group?
Select one Mark question
Measuring and analyzing project performance to determine whether the project is progressing according to the plan
Formulating and revising project goals and objectives and creating the project management plan
Bringing the project or phase to a formal, orderly end
Putting the project management plan into action
The Monitoring and Controlling process group is where project performance measurements are taken and analyzed to determine whether the project is progressing according to the plan.
You are part of the project team designing a new type of subway car. You have completed the last work package for the braking system; however, you are not sure what the acceptance criteria are for this particular work package. Where can you find that information? Select one Mark question The project management plan The WBS dictionary The requirements documentation The project scope statement
A work package is the lowest level of the WBS and typically provides a brief description of the work to be completed by this work package. The WBS dictionary supports the WBS by including more detailed information for each WBS work package or other WBS components. The WBS dictionary is an output of the Create WBS process and provides information such as the description of work, schedule milestones, quality requirements, and acceptance criteria for each work package. Therefore, if you are not sure of the acceptance criteria for the work package you just completed, you should look for that information at the WBS dictionary.
You are working on the communications management plan for your project and have considered the timing and need for updated information by you and your four stakeholders. Your organization has modern, up-to-date technology that your stakeholders and staff have used before, so you anticipate that supplying the information and updates to your stakeholders and team members will be a breeze. Which of the following is true?
Select one Mark question
There are 5 channels of communication, which should be considered when examining communications requirements.
There are 20 channels of communication, which should be considered when examining communications technology.
There are 10 channels of communication, which should be considered when examining communications requirements analysis.
There are 12 channels of communication, which should be considered when examining communications technology.
There are 10 channels of communication, which is taken into consideration when using the communications requirement analysis tool and technique of the Plan Communications Management process. The formula for this is 5(5 - 1) ÷ 2.
Yasmin is the project manager of a project that will produce a new line of widgets for the company. She guides the project team in defining the project requirements in detail before moving into production. Because of compliance requirements that must be met, she maintains a rigid change control process for changing requirements. What method is Yasmin using to manage the project? Select one Mark question Agile Waterfall Iterative Scrum
Yasmin is using a Waterfall approach, which involves a greater level of up-front planning during the early stages of the project life cycle. In this approach, changes to requirements tend to follow a change control process.
Yasmin is the project manager of a project that will produce a new line of widgets for the company. She guides the project team in defining the project requirements in detail before moving into production. Because of compliance requirements that must be met, she maintains a rigid change control process for changing requirements. What method is Yasmin using to manage the project? Select one Mark question Agile Waterfall Iterative Scrum
Yasmin is using a Waterfall approach, which involves a greater level of up-front planning during the early stages of the project life cycle. In this approach, changes to requirements tend to follow a change control process.
You are a project manager with a new company. You started less than 30 days ago. Your boss has told you it’s urgent that resources are obtained and assigned to the project as soon as possible. This is your top priority. In addition, the quality assurance team needs to be assembled. All of the following are true regarding this situation except for which one?
Select one Mark question
Project team members, the project manager, and stakeholders are responsible for the quality assurance of the project.
The project manager will have the greatest impact on quality during this process.
You should follow the Acquire Project Team processes to obtain the new resources.
Quality assurance is generally provided by a third party.
Quality assurance may be provided by a third party from outside the organization, by an internal QA department, or by the project team. There is no general rule that it is generally provided by outside sources. According to the PMBOK® Guide, project managers have the greatest impact on quality during this process.
Marysil is an enterprise project manager for Cups on Fire. To date, she has identified risks, analyzed them, and developed risk responses for her project. Now, she and the team are executing the work and responding to risk triggers. What project management artifact will they need? Select one Mark question Contingency plan Fallback plan Risk register Risk report
The risk register contains the list of identified risks and all information documented about them, including the risk response plans. As risk triggers occur, they will need to refer to the risk register for information about the risk response plans.
