Questions Dump 1 Flashcards
A project life cycle is a representation of the generally sequential and sometimes overlapping project phases that a project typically goes through. All of the following statements about the project life cycle are true EXCEPT:
A. Cost and staffing start low, increase toward the end, and drop rapidly near closing.
B. Project risk is highest at the beginning of the project and reduces as the project approaches its end.
C. Stakeholder influence is lowest at the start and increases as the project proceeds.
D. Cost of changes is low in the beginning but extremely high later in the project.
C
Explanation: Stakeholder influence is highest at the start and diminishes as the project proceeds.
Which one of the following is generally considered to be the characteristic of operational works?
A. It is a continuing endeavor that produces many identical or nearly identical products or provides repetition.
B. It is temporary in nature and has a definite beginning and ending.
C. It is completed when its goals and objectives have been met and signed off by the stakeholders.
D. It is a unique undertaking.
Answer: A
Explanation: Operational works are ongoing and support the day-to-day functions of an organization. Operational work differs from project work as operational work is any continuing endeavor that produces many identical or nearly identical products or provides repetitive services (e.g., frying burgers, manufacturing cars, and teaching algebra).
You are overseeing a project to implement a new video game console. Since everything is not known upfront, you take the approach of defining and developing the product by incremental steps and continually reviewing and adjusting processes, assumptions, requirements, and decisions throughout the project life cycle as the project progresses. You are engaged in which of the following?
A. Project selection
B. Monitoring & Controlling
C. Progressive elaboration
D. Decomposition
Answer: C
Explanation: Progressive elaboration is defined as moving forward in increments and adding more detail as the project progresses.
You are managing a group of related or unrelated projects or programs and other works to achieve specific strategic business objectives and goals. You are a:
A. Program owner
B. Project manager
C. Program manager
D. Portfolio manager
Answer: D
Explanation: A portfolio can be generally described as a group of projects or programs and other works to achieve a specific strategic business goal. The programs may not be related other than the fact that they are helping to achieve the common strategic goal. A portfolio manager is usually assigned to manage these groups of projects, programs, and other works. Portfolio management encompasses identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling the collection of projects, programs, other work, and sometimes other portfolios to achieve strategic business objectives. For example, a construction business has several business units such as retail, single and multifamily residential, and others. Collectively, all the programs, projects, and work within all of these business units make up the portfolio for this construction business.
You took over a software development project from another project manager who just left the company. You realize that the project is in a mess as there is a lack of management control and the previous project manager managed the project without much project organization. You decided to develop specific work plans for each of the 30 work packages and soon realize that the plan would help each phase, but would not control the integration of those phases into a cohesive whole. To your surprise, you also find out that there are no clearly defined project deliverables. You are in a desperate need to organize the project as soon as you can. What will be the BEST course of action?
A. Capture lessons learned as you progress and update organizational process assets.
B. Report the poor condition of the project to management.
C. Adapt a life cycle approach to the project.
D. Develop a detailed description of project deliverables.
Answer: C
Explanation: Adapting a life cycle approach to effectively run the project will ensure overall control and successful completion of the deliverables. You may want to report the situation to management, but it will not really solve the issue. Capturing lessons learned will certainly assist with the subsequent phases, but would not really help with controlling the project. Developing a detailed description of the project deliverables would not improve control.
What is the name of PMI’s organization maturity model for project management that helps to determine the level of ability of an organization to deliver the desired strategic outcomes in a reliable, controllable, and predictable manner?
A. ISO 9000
B. OPM3
C. Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM)
D. Six Sigma
Answer: B
Explanation: OPM3 is the PMI’s organizational project management maturity model. This model helps to determine the level of ability of an organization to deliver the desired strategic outcomes in a reliable, controllable, and predictable manner
Success in portfolio management, which can be generally described as a group of projects or programs and other works to achieve a specific strategic business goal, is generally defined as:
A. Aggregate performance of all components (projects, programs, and other related work).
B. Control of changes to specific products and services.
C. Compliance with schedule, budget, and specifications requirements.
D. Realization of the business benefits and financial objectives.
Answer: A
Explanation: Portfolio management encompasses identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling the collection of projects, programs, other work, and sometimes other portfolios to achieve strategic business objectives. It is generally associated with the relationships between components in the portfolio, effective resource management to protect priority components, and the aggregate results of the portfolio as they relate to strategic performance. The components may not be related other than the fact that they are helping to achieve the common strategic goal.
Which one of the following is a strategy execution framework that keeps the entire organization focused on the overall strategy and provides guidance on how to prioritize, manage, execute, and measure projects, programs, portfolios, and other organizational work and practices to achieve a better result, improved performance, and a substantial advantage over the competitors?
A. Organizational Project Management (OPM)
B. Portfolio management
C. Program management
D. Process management
Answer: A
Explanation: Organizational Project Management (OPM) is a strategy execution framework that keeps the entire organization focused on the overall strategy. It provides guidance on how to prioritize, manage, execute, and measure projects, programs, portfolios, and other organizational work and practices to achieve a better result, improved performance, and a substantial advantage over the competitors. A portfolio can be generally described as a group of projects or programs and other works to achieve a specific strategic business goal. The programs may not be related other than the fact that they are helping to achieve the common strategic goal. A program is a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to capitalize benefits and control what is not achievable by managing those projects individually. Program management is the centralized and coordinated management of a program to obtain the strategic objectives and benefits sought through the inception of the program. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to satisfy project requirements.
- Which one of the following is the logical breakdown of what needs to be done to produce the project deliverables and is sometimes referred to as the performing organization’s methodology for projects?
A. Product life cycle
B. Project life cycle
C. Feedback loop
D. Product development
Answer: B
Explanation: The project life cycle is the logical breakdown of what needs to be done to produce the project deliverables, and sometimes it is referred to as the performing organization’s methodology for projects. On the other hand, a product life cycle consists of generally sequential, nonoverlapping product phases determined by the manufacturing and control needs of the organization. For instance, as predicted by Moore’s law, each year a microprocessor company introduces new models of processors that are faster and more powerful than their predecessors. Microprocessors that are obsolete or do not sell well are quickly retired from production. This product life cycle begins in R and D, extends to manufacturing, and finally ends with phase out.
The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to satisfy the project needs by establishing project objectives, identifying project requirements, managing stakeholders, and balancing project constraints (i.e., cost, time, quality, scope, risk, and others) is referred to as:
A. Project management
B. Project administration
C. Project initiation
D. Project coordination
Answer: A
Explanation: Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to satisfy project requirements.
All of the following are examples of Organizational Process Assets EXCEPT:
A. Organizational policies, procedures, and guidelines for any area such as safety, ethics, risk, financial, change control, reporting, and others.
B. Existing facilities and infrastructure.
C. Templates for common project documents such as WBS, network diagram, SOW, and contract.
D. Historical information and past lessons learned.
Answer: B
Explanation: Enterprise Environmental Factors are things that impact the project but are not part of the project itself. Existing facilities and infrastructure are Enterprise Environmental Factors.
You are a team member working on a software application project. You realize that the project manager is choosing a project life cycle that has a predictive life cycle in which scope, schedule, and cost are determined in the early stage of the project prior to starting project work to produce the deliverables. This type of project life cycle is also known as:
A. Change-driven project life cycle
B. Adaptive project life cycle
C. Preferred project life cycle
D. Plan-driven project life cycle
Answer: D
Explanation: Plan-driven projects have a predictive life cycle in which scope, schedule, and cost are determined in the early stage of the project prior to starting project work to produce the deliverables. This predictive life cycle is also referred to as waterfall or traditional life cycle. For example, most construction projects are typically managed using this sort of predictive approach. A change-driven project life cycle usually has a varying level of initial planning for scope, schedule, and cost. An adaptive life cycle is a change-driven life cycle, and it is also referred to as an agile life cycle. An adaptive life cycle, as the name suggests, broadly defines the fixed scope, schedule, and cost with the clear understanding that they will be refined and adjusted as the project progresses. Preferred project life cycle is a made-up term.
All project phases conclude with a review of the deliverables and related work (phase exits or stage gates or kill points) for the purpose of:
A. Determining if the project should continue and the next phase should be initiated.
B. Detecting defects and correcting errors.
C. Assessing project risks.
D. Enforcing formal control procedure of the project.
Answer: A
Explanation: At the conclusion of a project phase, the project manager and team should assess the performance of the project and determine if acceptable conditions exist to support a decision to continue or terminate the project. If the decision is to move forward with the project, then the decision is also made about whether the next phase should be initiated or not. Risk levels will vary as the project progresses, and the end of a phase is generally considered to be a good point to reassess risk. Project control procedures should be enforced throughout the project life cycle.
You just completed a critical data center project for your organization. Currently the support team is conducting ongoing operations and maintenance to ensure that all routers, switches, firewalls, PCs, servers, and digital storage are operating as planned. A large portion of your project budget is allocated to maintenance and operations to run the data center smoothly. You will be sending out daily status updates and resolving issues but there is no need for planning or providing documentation. This ongoing operations and maintenance is extremely important to the products of your data center project and should be consider as:
A. Not a part of your project
B. An entirely separate project
C. A separate phase in your project life cycle
D. Activities in the closing process group
Answer: A
Explanation: Operations and maintenance are not considered to be temporary as they are ongoing. A project is always unique and temporary in nature. Thus, these activities should not be considered as a project or even part of a project.
You have been assigned as project manager to implement a new and innovative smartphone application in a balanced matrix organizational structure. You experience difficulties in obtaining and assigning project resources in your project due to which one of the following factors?
A. The power and authority are shared between you and the functional manager, and you do not have full authority over the project and its funding.
B. Your role is like a coordinator or expeditor (communication coordinator or staff assistant).
C. You have no real authority and power.
D. The project budget is fully controlled by the functional manager.
Answer: A
Explanation: In a balanced matrix organization, the project manager is assigned full time, and the authority of the project manager is usually at an equal level with the functional manager. This can result in conflict regarding resource assignments and priorities and in the general management of the project. The control of the budget is shared between the project manager and the functional manager.
You are managing a group of related or unrelated projects or programs and other works to achieve specific strategic business objectives and goals. You are a:
A. Program owner
B. Project manager
C. Program manager
D. Portfolio manager
Answer: D
Explanation: A portfolio can be generally described as a group of projects or programs and other works to achieve a specific strategic business goal. The programs may not be related other than the fact that they are helping to achieve the common strategic goal. A portfolio manager is usually assigned to manage these groups of projects, programs, and other works. Portfolio management encompasses identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling the collection of projects, programs, other work, and sometimes other portfolios to achieve strategic business objectives. For example, a construction business has several business units such as retail, single and multifamily residential, and others. Collectively, all the programs, projects, and work within all of these business units make up the portfolio for this construction business.
You are a member of a management team overseeing a critical construction project of constructing the tallest building in town. Your team, which is a subset of the project team, is responsible for project leadership and management activities. Which of the following statements is FALSE about your team?
A. Your team is responsible for managing people, which has been defined as being able to produce key results.
B. Your team is responsible for establishing mission and vision, aligning team members to the established direction, motivating individuals, and inspiring them.
C. Your team is responsible for project funding.
D. The management team should be aware of professional and ethical behaviors and ensure that team members are following them.
Answer: C
Explanation: The project sponsor usually assists with funding, not the project management team. The project management team is the subset of the project team responsible for project leadership and management activities. Project management is heavily dependent on managing people, which has been defined as being able to produce key results. On the other hand, leadership is all about establishing mission and vision, aligning team members to the established direction, motivating individuals, and inspiring them. The management team should be aware of professional and ethical behaviors and should ensure that team members are following them.
A project manager overseeing a data center deployment project just completed negotiation unsuccessfully for three additional resources and extra reserve money for her project. During the negotiation, two of the functional managers were very skeptical about the request for additional resources and were reluctant to assign their resources due to other priorities. In this case, the conflict will require the assistance of which of the following to reach a solution?
A. Functional manager
B. Contractor
C. Project sponsor
D. Key customer
Answer: C
Explanation: Customers and contractors should not be allowed to be involved in internal resource-related disputes in most cases. All efforts should be given to resolve the conflicts at the lowest levels or authority whenever possible. In some cases, conflict requires the involvement of the project sponsor or senior management, especially when there is a major concern regarding resource assignments.
A project manager is overseeing a complex custom CSM solution that has rigorous quality standards and tight schedule constraints. Since the project manager is working in a weak matrix environment, none of the resources are reporting to her functionally. She also does not have either the power or the budget to reward the team members to encourage and motivate them for their performance and contribution to the project. What kind of power should the project manager try to use in this type of situation?
A. Formal
B. Punishment
C. Referent
D. Expert
Answer: D
Explanation: Reward and Expert are the most effective forms of power, and Punishment/Penalty/Coercive should be used as the last resort only after all other forms have been exhausted. Since the project manager has no power or budget to reward the team members, she should use her expert power in this situation.
You were asked by management to identify the root cause behind a project not performing well in your organization. You find out that the project manager is hardly in contact with the team members and often places one of his team members in charge for days at a time. The project manager also allows the team members to act as per their preferences and only gets involved with them if requested. This style of management is generally considered to be:
A. Delegating
B. Democratic or participative
C. Bureaucratic
D. Laissez-Faire
Answer: D
Explanation: A manager with a “hands-off” attitude toward the project is considered “Laissez-Faire.” With this style, management is not directly involved but manages and consults as required. This French term means “allow to act” or “leave alone.”
You just got hired as a project manager in a software development project. What type of power can you use to gain the cooperation of others?
A. Punishment
B. Guilt-based
C. Pressure-based
D. Formal
Answer: D
Explanation: Reward and Expert are the most effective forms of power. Since you just hired, people may not know that you are an expert. Formal power is the only logical answer as the reward or expert power is not the option here.
You have 13 team members in your automation project. One of your team members is not performing as he is missing general job skills. Training of team members in general job skills is the responsibility of the:
A. Project manager
B. Functional manager
C. Training director
D. Sponsor
Answer: B
Explanation: The project manager is responsible for making sure that the team is getting training on project specific skills and on the other hand, the functional manager is responsible for training in general job skills.
A project manager is expected to use all kinds of ethical, interpersonal, managerial, and conceptual skills to analyze various situation and interact appropriately. Steve is a project manager for a project that is not going well. The project has a CPI of .83 and SPI of .78. The team members are not motivated and avoiding responsibilities whenever they can. Steve is trying to maintain his cool and be composed no matter what level of pressure he is under. Which of the following quality Steve mostly using in the situation?
A. Team building
B. Problem solving
C. Composure
D. Competence
Answer: C
Explanation: Steve has the composure quality as he can control his temper in kind of frustrating situations.
- Roger is very sensitive to ideas, customs, norms, believes, values, and social behavior of other cultures. What kind of personality does Roger have?
A. Courteous
B. Cultural
C. Emotional
D. Political
Answer: B
Explanation: Roger has a cultural personality as he is respectful to all kind of cultures. A courteous person is polite and considerate who applies appropriate behaviors and good manners. An emotional person is good at recognizing emotions. A political person has the ability to understand the significance of organizational politics and demonstrates political intelligence.
Amenda is transformational, consultative, participative, and innovative and doesn’t mind taking risks but Michael is dictatorial, authoritative, and administrative and likes to control risks. Which of the following statement is true?
A. Amenda is a manager and Michael is a leader
B. Amenda is a leader and Michael is a manager
C. Both of them are leaders
D. Both of them are managers
Answer: B
Explanation: A leader’s styles are transformational, consultative, participative, and innovative whereas a manager’s styles are dictatorial, authoritative, transactional, autocratic, consultative, democratic, and administrative. A leader takes risks but a manager likes to control risks.
Which statement is FALSE regarding the Initiating Process Group?
A. Cost and staffing start low, increase toward the end, and drop rapidly near closing.
B. Project risk is highest at the beginning of the project and reduces as the project approaches its end.
C. Stakeholder influence is highest at the start and diminishes as the project proceeds.
D. The project manager and team are always identified as part of the Initiating Process Group.
Answer: D
Explanation: The project manager is assigned during project initiating, but some of the team members will be acquired during Executing Process Group.
All of the following will occur during project initiating EXCEPT:
A. Creation of a Project Scope Statement.
B. Identification of internal and external stakeholders.
C. Development and review of the business case and a feasibility study.
D. Assignment of the project manager to lead a project.
Answer: A
Explanation: The project scope statement is an output of the Define Scope process and is part of the Planning Process Group.
Which of the following will occur only during the Planning Process Group?
A. Identify Stakeholders
B. Develop Schedule
C. Acquire Resources
D. Validate Scope
Answer: B
Explanation: Only Develop Schedule will occur during the Planning Process Group. Identify stakeholders occurs during initiating, Acquire Resources occurs during Executing, and validate Scope occurs during Monitoring & Controlling.
Which of the following process groups consists of the processes to complete the work defined in the Project Management Plan and ultimately satisfies the project specifications and objectives?
A. Planning Process Group
B. Executing Process Group
C. Initiating Process group
D. Closing Process Group
Answer: B
Explanation: The Executing Process Group is intended to ensure that the work defined in the project plan is performed.
A Knowledge Area represents a complete set of activities, concepts, and terms that make up an area of specialization, project management field, or professional field. Each project management Knowledge Area is subdivided into which of the following?
A. Best practices
B. Policies
C. Processes
D. Guidelines
Answer: C
Explanation: Each Project Management Knowledge Area is subdivided into specific processes, each of which is characterized by its inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs.
All of the following should be done during the Closing Process Group EXCEPT:
A. Formal sign-off and formal acceptance are received from the customers.
B. Customer acceptance criteria are determined.
C. Final versions of the lessons learned are compiled and made available for future projects.
D. Completed project deliverables are handed off to operations and maintenance.
Answer: B
Explanation: Customer acceptance criteria are determined during Initiating Process Group.
In which process group does the team track, measure, inspect, monitor, verify, review, compare, and regulate the progress and performance of the project; ensure that the plan is working; identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required; and initiate the corresponding changes?
A. Monitoring & Controlling
B. Closing
C. Initiating
D. Executing
Answer: A
Explanation: During the Monitoring & Controlling Process Group, project performance is measured and analyzed, and needed changes are identified and approved.
You are overseeing a project for your organization to implement a web-based application for accessing pay and tax information online. Currently, you are in the process of implementing approved changes, corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs in the project. You are in which of the following process groups?
A. Executing
B. Monitoring & Controlling
C. Planning
D. Closing
Answer: A
Explanation: Usually a project will enter the Executing Process Group when the planning is completed or the project management plan has been updated due to change requests, including defect repairs and corrective and preventive actions. The Executing Process Group involves coordinating people and resources as well as integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan. These approved change requests for corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs are implemented in the Executing Process Group.
Which one of the following statements is FALSE about the Executing Process Group?
A. This process group usually takes the most time and resources.
B. The processes in this process group measure and analyze the progress and performance of the project, ensure that the plan is working, identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required, and initiate the corresponding changes.
C. Corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs are implemented in this process group.
D. This process group consists of processes to complete the work defined in the project management plan and ultimately satisfies the project specifications and objectives.
Answer: B
Explanation: The processes in the Monitoring & Controlling Process Group track, measure, inspect, monitor, verify, review, compare, and regulate the progress and performance of the project; ensure that the plan is working; identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required; and initiate the corresponding changes.
The sponsor has just signed the project charter and assigned you as a project manager to oversee a project to implement a simulator for a local golf club. What should you do FIRST as the project manager?
A. Focus on identifying and classifying the stakeholders in the project.
B. Start working on the Project Management Plan.
C. Develop the project schedule
D. Create the WBS.
Answer: A
Explanation: The Project Charter is created and the project manager is assigned during the Initiating Process Group. Stakeholder identification is also started during initiating and carried on throughout the project life cycle. It is essential to classify stakeholders according to their level of interest, influence, importance, and expectation at the early stage of the project as much as possible. Prior to jumping on planning, creating the WBS, and developing the project schedule, the project manager should focus on identifying and classifying the internal and external stakeholders in the project.
You have been assigned to manage a project to design a new type of vinyl-based resilient floor material. You came up with a few orders of magnitude estimates, high-level risks, constraints, and assumptions for the project. What project Management Process Group are you in?
A. Monitoring & Controlling
B. Closing
C. Initiating
D. Planning
Answer: C
Explanation: High-level risks, constraints, and assumptions are identified in the Project Charter, which is created during project Initiating. Usually, orders of magnitude estimates are done during the Initiating Process Group when not much information is available about the project.
Which one of the following process groups consists of iterative and ongoing processes to establish the total scope of effort, to define the objectives, and to identify the course of action required to attain those objectives?
A. Planning
B. Executing
C. Initiating
D. Monitoring & Controlling
Answer: A
Explanation: The Planning Process Group consists of iterative and ongoing processes to establish the total scope of effort to define the objectives and to identify the course of action required to attain those objectives.
Which of the following process groups serve as inputs to each other?
A. Initiating, Planning
B. Initiating, Executing
C. Executing, Monitoring & Controlling
D. Monitoring & Controlling, Closing
Answer: C
Explanation: The Executing Process Group and the Monitoring & Controlling Process Group serve as inputs to each other. The Planning Process Group and the Executing Process Group also feed each other.
You are overseeing a construction project to construct a new fitness center at a local university. Currently, the team is working on collecting requirements and establishing estimates for the project. Which process group are you in?
A. Initiating
B. Executing
C. Monitoring & Controlling
D. Planning
Answer: D
Explanation: Requirements are collected from the customers and other stakeholders, and estimates on time, cost, resources, and other things are made during the Planning Process Group.
Which one of the following is not an outcome when a project is initiated properly in the Initiating Process Group?
A. Authorizing the project manager to manage the project
B. Defining the scope of the project
C. Identifying the key stakeholders
D. Understanding the goal, objective, and business need of the project
Answer: B
Explanation: Detailed Project Scope will be defined during the Planning Process Group. The success of subsequent processes and activities greatly depends on the way a project is initiated. If a project is initiated properly, it would have a clear business need and feasibility, a clear goal, objective reasons for selecting this project over other possibilities, a clear direction for the scope, a project manager assigned, and a list of stakeholders for the project. On the other hand, if a project is not initiated properly, it could result in limited or a total lack of authority for the project manager as well as ambiguous goals or uncertainties as to why the project was initiated.
You recently took over a project in the middle of executing from another project manager who left the organization. You became extremely worried to find out that a substantial amount of new change requests are coming from your key stakeholders, customers, and even from your manager. You are anxious that the changes will drastically increase the cost and time of the project, and you are not sure about how to process these incoming change requests. What should you refer to for any kind of help in this situation?
A. The previous project manager who can provide guidance and relevant information
B. The project charter to find out the key success criteria from the stakeholders
C. The project requirements document to know more about the project requirements
D. The Project Management Plan
Answer: D
Explanation: Only the Project Management Plan contains the details about how to process, monitor, and control changes in a project.
John, the project manager, is in the process of Develop Project Charter to develop a document to formally authorize a project or a phase and identify the business objectives and needs, current understanding of the stakeholders’ expectations, and the new product, service, or result that it is intended to satisfy. Which one of the following is NOT an input to this Develop Project Charter process?
A. Enterprise Environmental Factors
B. Business Documents – Business Case and Benefits Management Plan
C. Agreements
D. Project Management Plan
Answer: D
Explanation: The Project Management Plan is developed later in the Develop Project Management Plan process, not in the Develop Project Charter process.
Which one of the following is FALSE about change management in a project?
A. “Influencing the factors that affect change” means determining the source of changes and fixing the root causes.
B. Whenever there is a change request, the project manager should evaluate the impact on project objectives such as scope, time, cost, quality, risk, resources, and other factors.
C. The project manager should make all the effort to prevent unnecessary changes in the project.
D. The project manager should make the change happen as soon as possible to meet and exceed customer expectations.
Answer: D
Explanation: The project manager should not implement any change request prior to evaluating the impact of the change and receiving approval from the Change Control Board.
Your manager mentioned to you that the present value of a project is $350,000 and asked you to find out the future value that the project will have four years from now if the expected interest rate is 8 percent. What is the future value in this case?
A. $350,000
B. $400,000
C. $476,000
D. $257,352
Answer: C
Explanation: We know PV = FV/ (1 + r) n , FV = future value, r = interest rate, n = number of time periods. We can say that FV = PV ∗(1 + r) n. Thus, FV = $350,000 * (1+ .08) 4 = $350,000 *(1.08) 4 =$350,000 * 1.36 = $476,000
Which one of the following statements is NOT true about the Project Management Plan?
A. It is a single-approved document that defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled, and closed.
B. It is developed through a series of integrated processes.
C. It is progressively elaborated by updates and controlled and approved through the Perform Integrated Change Control process.
D. It provides project inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs to be used on the project for the purpose of managing the product of the project.
Answer: D
Explanation: The Project Management Plan, developed through a series of integrated processes, is a single-approved document that defines how the project is executed, how it is monitored and controlled, and how it is closed. Generally, the project plan is considered to be a guide that is expected to change throughout the project life cycle, and any such change should be controlled and approved through the Perform Integrated Change Control process.
You are a technical specialist and domain expert working on an IT project to implement a new console video game. There is a change control process in place, and the project scope is already signed off by the sponsor and key stakeholders. While having a casual conversation with one of the stakeholders, you realize that a simple change in the design will add a great feature to the project. Since there is no visible impact, you made the change to the project without informing the project manager. What kind of reaction should you expect from the project manager?
A. The project manager should simply ignore the change since it had no visible impact.
B. You should be informed that your action was inconsistent with the change management plan, and this kind of unauthorized action should not be repeated again.
C. The project manager should get the customer sign-off on the implemented change.
D. You should be recognized for exceeding customer expectations without affecting the project cost or schedule.
Answer: B
Explanation: It may seem like there is no visible impact on time and cost for a minor change, but it can result in significant scope creep and may impact other project constraints such as risk, customer satisfaction, quality, and other things. The change control process should be followed by everyone on the project team. A team member should consult with the project manager prior to making a design change to evaluate the possible impact on all the different constraints.
You are approaching the end of your project and have been asked to release the resources so that they can be assigned to other projects. Before releasing the resources, you want to make sure that you have completed the necessary actions. Which of the following is the correct order of actions that you take during the closing process?
A. Get formal acceptance, write lessons learned, release the team, and close the contract.
B. Get formal acceptance, release the team, write lessons learned, and close the contract.
C. Write lessons learned, release the team, get formal acceptance, and close the contract.
D. Release the team, get formal acceptance, close the contract, and write lessons learned.
Answer: A
Explanation: You should not release the team until the lessons learned are documented and added to the organizational process assets, as you need the team’s help with the lessons learned. Most contracts have payment terms that allow for some period of time before full payment is required; thus, the last thing you do on the project is close the contract.
While overseeing the implementation of a new computer infrastructure at the local hospital, you notice that a substantial amount of change requests have originated from one single key stakeholder. The stakeholder is also insisting that all of his requests should be implemented as soon as possible. What will be your BEST course of action?
A. Ask the sponsor to have a discussion with the key stakeholder and ask him not to request so many changes to the project.
B. Call the stakeholder and request him not to send any more change requests.
C. Have a meeting with the stakeholder to review the change process in the project and determine the causes of his changes.
D. Assign a team member to work solely with the stakeholder to understand his needs and expectations.
Answer: C
Explanation: The most appropriate action is to ensure that the stakeholder fully understands the project scope of work and the change control process. It is also very important to identify the root causes of his changes. You should have a meeting with the stakeholder first and get all the details prior to meeting with the sponsor about your concern.
Which one of the following statements is FALSE about the Project Management Information System (PMIS)?
A. It is incorporated as part of the Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) to several processes since it is part of the environment in which the project is performed.
B. It is an automated system that can serve as a repository for information and a tool to assist with communication and with tracking documents and deliverables.
C. It consists of the data sources and the tools & techniques used to gather, integrate, analyze, and disseminate the results of the combined outputs of the project management processes.
D. It defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled, and closed
Answer: D
Explanation: The Project Management Plan, not the Project Management Information System defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled, and closed. The Project Management Information System, which can be electronic or manual, is used to track project information and performance. Such information kept by these systems can include the tracking of time worked, project costs, and other factors that would be communicated to project stakeholders.
Ashley is overseeing an IT project to implement a payroll system for a local doctor’s office. The project has twelve team members and nine stakeholders, and it is supposed to be completed in six months. Ashley was unaware that a modification request to the product specifications by one of the stakeholders was immediately implemented by the project team. During the final testing, Ashley was surprised to find out that there was a major variance between the actual test results and the planned results. Which one of the following is a contribution to this kind of adverse consequence?
A. Poor Quality Management Plan
B. Lack of commitment to the change control process
C. Poor definition of the test plan
D. Lack of adherence to the communication plan
Answer: B
Explanation: There is no indication that there is anything wrong with the quality plan, test plan, or communication plan. The change control process was not properly followed in this case. Failure to follow the agreed-upon change control processes may create adverse risk situations and jeopardize the entire project.
You have just been assigned as a project manager to implement a web-based accounting software for one of your clients. You have chosen a specific change-driven product development life cycle for the implementation of your project. As you are expecting many changes during the course of the project, you want to establish a robust configuration management system to describe the different versions and characteristics of the product, service, or result of the project and to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the description. Which of the following statements is FALSE about configuration management?
A. It includes configuration identification, configuration status accounting, and configuration verification and audit
B. It focuses on establishing and maintaining consistency of a product’s requirements
C. It compares the actual project performance against the project management plan and determines whether any corrective or preventive actions are required
D. Its purpose is to maintain integrity of the work product.
Answer: C
Explanation: Comparing the actual project performance against the Project Management Plan and determine whether any corrective or preventive actions are required is done as a part of the Monitor and Control Project Work process. All the other statements are true regarding the configuration management process.
You just received a change request from the customer, which will require an additional $2,000 and will also delay the project by two weeks. The customer mentioned that they were OK with the delay and were willing to pay for the extra amount as the new change will drastically improve their business automation. As per your organizational policy, you are supposed to get the project office’s approval for any change that will extend the project duration by more than a week. What should you do in this situation?
A. Discuss the change with the project office.
B. Do not allow the change since it would extend the project duration by more than one week.
C. Allow the change and ask the team member to implement it since it will drastically help the customer and the customer is paying for the change anyway
D. Advise the customer to take the change request to the project office and explain to them the importance of the change and his/her willingness to pay for it
Answer: A
Explanation: Any kind of organizational policy, process, or guideline must be followed, and the project manager should discuss the change request with the project office. The project manager simply should not approve or deny a change request as the Change Control Board (CCB) is responsible for approving or denying a change request after evaluating it. The customer should not do the project manager’s job and take the change request to the project office.
The Project Management Information System (PMIS), such as any automated system that can be utilized during the Direct and Manage Project Work process, will include all of the following EXCEPT:
A. A tool & technique to identify the internal and external stakeholders.
B. An information collection and distribution system.
C. A configuration management system.
D. A scheduling software tool.
Answer: A
Explanation: Stakeholder identification is a continuous, complex, and manual process carried on by the project manager and the team members throughout the project. The Project Management Information System (PMIS) can be used for collecting and distributing information; describing the different versions and characteristics of the product, service, or result (Configuration Management System); and scheduling.
One of your colleagues recently took over a project and expressed her concern to you about the new changes that may be streaming in from various sources. What is the best piece of advice you can offer her regarding changes and where she should devote most of her attention?
A. Implementing changes as accurately as possible
B. Tracking and recording all changes as accurately as possible
C. Preventing unnecessary changes in the project as much as possible
D. Informing the sponsor about all changes
Answer: C
Explanation: The project manager should be focusing on all of these options, but he/she should be very proactive and always try to prevent the unnecessary changes as much as possible.
Which one of the following is a subset of the Project Management Information System (PMIS) that describes the different versions and characteristics of the product, service, or result of the project and ensures accuracy and completeness of the description?
A. Quality Control
B. Configuration Management
C. Scope Change Control
D. Product Change Control
Answer: B
Explanation: Configuration management system is a subset of the Project Management Information System (PMIS) and is specifically associated with changes to features, functions, and physical characteristics of a product or deliverable.
You have been assigned as the project manager for a web-based application project to automate the sales and marketing processes for one of your clients. You have decided to utilize a Data Gathering Technique to identify the project and product requirements during the Collect Requirements process. All of the following are valid group creativity techniques EXCEPT:
A. Focus Groups
B. Brainstorming
C. Questionnaires and Surveys
D. Tornado Diagram
Answer: D
Explanation: A Tornado diagram is not a component of the Group Creativity technique. It is mostly used during the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process to display the sensitivity analysis data in order to determine which risks have the most potential impact on a project. This diagram can be used to determine sensitivity in cost, time, and quality objectives and will be helpful to determine a detailed response plan for the elements with greater impacts.
The Project Scope Statement that describes project deliverables and the work required to create them in detail, enables the project team to perform more detailed planning, guides the project team’s work during execution, and provides the baseline for evaluating changes includes all of the following EXCEPT:
A. Detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
B. Project constraints
C. Project deliverables
D. Product acceptance criteria
Answer: A
Explanation: The detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is developed after the Project Scope Statement has been defined and accepted. The scope baseline consists of the Project Scope Statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary.
Which one of the following are the unapproved and undocumented changes and what occurs when changes to the scope are not detected early enough or are not managed?
A. Scope baseline
B. Residual risks
C. Scope creeps
D. Variances
Answer: C
Explanation: Scope creeps are the unapproved and undocumented changes, and they occur when changes to the scope are not detected early enough or managed. All these minor changes slowly add up and may have drastic impact on budget, schedule, and quality.
You are the project manager for a cashier system project to produce cashier applications and software for the retail industry. You have recently discovered that one of your key competitors is also working on a similar project, but their new applications will include a computer-aided program and a web-based interface that your project does not offer. You have implemented a change request to update your project in order to include these exciting missing features. This is an example of which of the following?
A. A change due to an error and omission in the business case
B. A change due to a legal requirement and constraint
C. A change due to an error or omission in the planning phase
D. A change due to an external event
Answer: D
Explanation: This is a change due to an external event mainly to remain competitive. The features that the competitors are offering were not included in the scope of the project; thus, they were never discussed during the initiation or planning phases. Due to the risk of losing a potential market, the project manager decided to include them in the project. Also, there was no legal requirement or constraint to include the missing features in this case.
While trying to obtain the formal acceptance of the completed project scope and associated deliverables, with whom should the project manager validate the product?
A. The sponsor, key stakeholders, and customers
B. The customers
C. The quality control team members
D. The change control board members
Answer: A
Explanation: The project manager should get the approval from the sponsor, key stakeholders, and the customers.
The Scope Baseline, which consists of the Project Scope Statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary, is used as an input in all of the following processes EXCEPT:
A. Determine Budget process
B. Plan Procurement Management process
C. Define Activities process
D. Develop Team
Answer: D
Explanation: Except for the Develop Team process, scope baseline is used as an input in all of the listed processes.
Determining if the project scope has been completed by describing project deliverables and the work required to create them in detail, enabling the project team to perform more detailed planning, guiding the project team’s work during execution, providing the baseline for evaluating changes, and other factors relies mostly upon the use of:
A. Statement of work
B. Project plan
C. Project charter
D. Project Scope Statement
Answer: D
Explanation: The statement of work generally precedes a contract and provides a narrative description of work to be completed. The project plan is derived from the Project Scope Statement. Once a project is selected or a contract is signed to perform a project, a project charter is created to formally authorize a project or a phase but is not a detailed plan. The scope statement answers the questions of what, why, who, where, and how and in combination with the work breakdown structure provides a detailed description of what must be accomplished.
You are working as a project manager for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application to automate the accounting and financial processes for one of your key customers. Due to a mismatch with the customer’s requirement, you have been forced to redesign one of the major components. This is a significant setback since a substantial amount of code that has already been developed will have to be recoded to match the updated design. This rework has caused huge expenses, and you noticed a sign of extremely low morale among team members. Which of the following is TRUE in this situation?
A. The team discovered this issue as a result of the Identify Risks process.
B. The team did a poor job while creating the WBS.
C. This problem was a result of poor scope definition
D. The team carried on a rigorous Control Quality process and discovered the issue.
Answer: C
Explanation: This problem was a direct result of scope misunderstanding due to poor scope definition. Obviously, the team did not utilize all the tools & techniques to collect requirements from the customers and also did not spend quality time defining and developing a detailed description of the project and product.
While overseeing a construction project, you discovered that one of the team members, on her own initiative, added extra windows to increase air circulation and light in the basement. The original plan did not include the cost of these extra windows, but the team member thought they were absolutely required due to poor air circulation and low light in the basement. This is an example of which of the following?
A. Value-added change
B. Self-motivated team member
C. Team member exceeding expectations
D. Inefficient change control
Answer: D
Explanation: This is an example of inefficient change control as the team should be focused on “all the work” and “only the work” needed to complete the project, not extra. The key objective should be to complete the project with the agreed- upon deliverables in time, with quality, and within budget. This kind of “gold plating” increases risk and uncertainties and introduces problems into the project and should be monitored and controlled by the project manager.
After a major milestone release, some of the key stakeholders are not happy and complain that their requirements are not met. The project manager should have involved them in which of the following processes to ensure their approval for the release?
A. Project Management Plan Development
B. Identifying Constraints
C. Validate Scope
D. Schedule Management
Answer: C
Explanation: Validate Scope is the process of formal acceptance of completed project scope and deliverables by stakeholders through a signature on paper or via an e-mail that specifically states project approval. Prior scope validation would have avoided the dissatisfaction of stakeholders after the milestone release.
Which one of the following mostly includes the product acceptance criteria that outline requirements a project must meet before stakeholders accept the final product or service?
A. Quality Management Plan
B. Project Scope Statement
C. Scope Management Plan
D. Requirements Management Plan
Answer: B
Explanation: The Project Scope Statement documents the characteristics and boundaries of the project and its associated products, results, and services in addition to the acceptance criteria.
ITPro Consultancy, LLC has been offering cable TV, Internet, and phone services to its East Coast customers for almost five years now. Recently, they have initiated a project to introduce their service to the West Coast and have assigned a project manager. The project manager left the company, and you took over the project, as per the instruction of the CEO, when the project is almost ready to enter in execution. While reviewing the existing documents, you discovered that the team had done a great job in developing the requirements document and the Project Scope Statement, but there was no WBS. What should you do FIRST in this situation?
A. Immediately inform management and provide them with relevant oversight.
B. Politely request to be excused from the project.
C. You should not enter execution until the WBS is created for the project.
D. You should refer to the WBS dictionary for the required detail needed to continue to execution.
Answer: C
Explanation: You should inform management and provide relevant oversight, but doing so will not resolve the issue immediately. You can refuse to manage a project in case there is a conflict of interest or an ethical concern but not in this kind of situation. A WBS dictionary is the detail of the work packages, so a WBS should be created first. You should always have a WBS since it is the foundational block to the initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, and closing phases. Creating the WBS should not be a lengthy process that will require a long time; thus, you should take the time to create it prior to entering the execution.
While discussing the scope in your project with the stakeholders and team members, you realized that all of the following statements are TRUE about scope EXCEPT:
A. Product scope describes the features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result.
B. Project Scope Management includes the processes concerned with “all the work” and “only the work” required to successfully deliver to the stakeholders’ expectations, manage changes, minimize surprises, and gain acceptance of the product in order to complete the project.
C. Project scope describes work needed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.
D. The project team should go above and beyond the defined scope and impress the customers by implementing extra features that will be beneficial for them.
Answer: D
Explanation: The project team should be concerned with “all the work” and “only the work” required to successfully complete the project and try to avoid extra work or gold plating in every way possible.
Which one of the following is NOT true about the Define Scope process?
A. It is the process of developing a comprehensive, detailed description of the project and product.
B. Data Analysis is used as a tool & technique in this process.
C. The requirements document is the key output in this process.
D. A detailed Project Scope Statement that is created in this process is critical to project success and builds upon the additional analysis of requirements, major deliverables, assumptions, constraints, and other factors that are documented earlier in the project.
Answer: C
Explanation: The requirements document is the output in the Collect Requirements process, not in the Define Scope process.
You have been assigned as the project manager for a web-based application project to automate the recruiting process for one of your clients. You have decided to utilize a Voting Technique to generate, classify, prioritize, and drive decisions forward. All of the following are valid Voting techniques EXCEPT:
A. The decision is based on the most influential block in a group even if a majority is not achieved.
B. The decision is based on a single course of action decided by everyone in the group.
C. The decision is based on the support from more than 50 percent of the members of the group.
D. The decision is based on the largest block in a group even if a majority is not achieved.
Answer: A
Explanation: The decision may be based on the largest block, not the most influential block in a group even if a majority is not achieved.
One of your team members working on the project informed you that a work package will most likely require ten weeks to complete. In the best-case scenario, if everything goes well and there are no surprises, it will take eight weeks. Since he is involved in more than two projects and has several pending deliverables, this specific work package may take eighteen weeks to complete. Based on this information, what is the range of the work package?
A. Eleven weeks to twelve weeks
B. Eight weeks to ten weeks
C. 9.34 weeks to 12.66 weeks
D. Ten weeks to eighteen weeks
Answer: C
Explanation: PERT allows the estimator to include three estimates: optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely, given by the equation: Expected Activity Duration (EAD) – Beta distribution = (O + M + P) / 6 = (8 + 4*10 + 18) / 6 = 11 weeks STD Dev = (P – O) / 6 = (18 – 8) / 6 = 1.66 Range = EAD – / + Std Dev Thus, the range is 11 – / + 1.66 = 9.34 to 12.66
Your project sponsor is extremely disappointed with the project as it is over budget by $15,000 and also behind schedule by several weeks. The sponsor has asked you to take care of the situation immediately and do whatever it takes. While exploring different options to shorten the project duration, you decide to put some of the noncritical activities on hold so that some of the resources working on these activities can be assigned to the activities with the most schedule risk. You also asked for a couple of additional external resources to be added to the project. The sponsor agrees to pay the additional cost since time is now a critical factor. This is an example of which of the following?
A. Crashing
B. Fast-tracking
C. Critical chain method
D. Resource leveling
Answer: A
Explanation: The best option here is to add additional resources to the project activities on the critical path to complete them quickly. Fast- tracking is the technique of doing critical path activities in parallel when they were originally planned in series. Resource leveling is used to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources, resource availability, and other resource constraints. The critical chain method is another way to develop an approved, realistic, and resource-limited formal schedule. It provides a way to view and manage uncertainty when building the project schedule.
A project manager is in the Sequence Activities process of identifying and documenting relationships among defined activities and arranging them in the order they must be performed. While in this process, the project manager decided to utilize a software tool to create a Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) network diagram. This network diagram creates a schematic display of the sequential and logical relationships, dependencies, and the order in which activities in a project must be performed. The project manager also added the duration of each activity in the network diagram to calculate the critical path. Which one of the following is FALSE about the critical path?
A. It is the longest duration path through a network diagram
B. It determines the shortest time to complete the project.
C. The activities on the critical path represent the highest schedule risk in the project.
D. The activities on the critical path represent critical functionality.
Answer: D
Explanation: The activities on the critical path do not necessarily represent the critical functionalities in the project. The critical path is the longest duration path in the network diagram, and this duration is the shortest time needed to complete the project. The activities on the critical path have no buffer, and any delay in the critical path activities will delay the project; thus, the critical path activities represent the highest schedule risk.
While reviewing your project resource histogram, you notice several peaks and valleys, as resources are not evenly distributed in your project. In order to evenly utilize resources as much as possible, you decide to move some activities from the week when you are using a lot of resources to the week when you are hardly using any. Which technique are you using in this case?
A. Resource leveling
B. Overtime
C. Schedule compression
D. Schedule control
Answer: A
Explanation: Resource leveling is used to produce a resource-limited schedule by letting the schedule slip and cost increase in order to deal with a limited amount of resources, resource availability, and other resource constraints. It can be used when shared or critically required resources are only available at certain times, are in limited quantities, or when resources have been over allocated. We may have several peaks and valleys in our resource histogram. In order to level the resources, evenly utilize them as much as possible, or to keep resource usage at a constant level, we can move some of our activities from the week when we are using a lot of resources to the week when we are hardly using any.
Which one of the following takes the progressive elaboration approach and plans the work in the near term in detail and future work in a higher level?
A. Scope definition
B. Rolling wave planning
C. Decomposition
D. SWOT analysis
Answer: B
Explanation: The rolling wave planning takes the progressive elaboration approach and plans the work in the near term in detail and future work in a higher level. During the early strategic planning phase, work packages may be decomposed into less-defined milestone levels since all details are not available, and later they are decomposed into detailed activities. This kind of planning is usually used in IT and research projects but is very unlikely in construction projects where any unknowns are extremely expensive and destructive.
Your team just finished the design activities for a software development project. You have ordered a server and a couple of PCs to set up the development environment and are waiting for the vendor to deliver to you so that the team can start the development work. The vendor informs you that it will take twelve days for the equipment delivery, set up, and configuration. The twelve days waiting time can be defined as:
A. Mandatory dependency
B. Lag
C. Lead
D. Internal dependency
Answer: B
Explanation: A lag is an inserted waiting time between activities.
Which one of the following estimating techniques uses mathematical models based on historical records from other projects and can produce higher levels of accuracy?
A. One-point estimating
B. Analogous estimating
C. Parametric estimating
D. Three-points estimating
Answer: C
Explanation: This estimate uses mathematical models based on historical records from other projects. It utilizes the statistical relationship that exists between a series of historical data and a particular delineated list of other variables. Depending upon the quality of the underlying data, this estimate can produce higher levels of accuracy and can be used in conjunction with other estimates to provide estimates for the entire project or for specific segments of the project. Measures such as time per line of code, time per installation, and time per linear meter are considered in this type of estimate.
One of your team members is always late completing his deliverables. In order to help him out with proper planning for his activities, you like to explore different options with him. You asked the team member to send you information about the total float and free float for all of his activities if there is any. How does free float differ from total float?
A. Total float and free float are the same thing.
B. Free float affects only the early start of the successor activities.
C. Total float is the accumulated amount of free float.
D. Subtracting the total float from the critical path duration will give the free float.
Answer: B
Explanation: Total float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the project completion date. Free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the early start of its successor.
You are managing a project that has the following activities:
Your sponsor is very disappointed that the project is taking longer than he expected and asked you to shorten the project duration by at least two weeks. You decided to shorten Activity A first as it is not a very critical activity in the project and has the longest duration. What will be the impact of your decision?
A. It will not shorten the duration of the project.
B. It will shorten the duration of the project.
C. It will create a new critical path.
D. The project duration will be eighteen weeks now.
Answer: A
Explanation: Shortening Activity A will have no impact on the project duration as it is not on the critical path. We have three paths here: Start, A, C, E, End = 16 wks Start, B, D, F, End = 15 wks Start, B, D, E, End = 20 wks We should not always look for the activity with the longest duration to cut as it will not shorten the duration of the project if the activity is not on the critical path. Shortening Activity A will not shorten the project duration as it is not on the critical path, and neither will a new critical path be created. To shorten the project duration, we should always try to shorten the duration of the activities on the critical path. Here the critical path is Start, B, D, E, End, which has a duration of twenty weeks. We can explore the option to shorten the duration of Activities B, D or E, but it is better to go for the first activity and shorten the duration of Activity B.
A project manager is managing a web-based application project to automate the accounting processes of his organization. The project has an estimated budget of $120,000 and a duration of nine months. While reviewing the project, the project manager notices that activities were scheduled in sequential order but coding work was initiated twelve days earlier than planned. What type of relationship represents the start of the coding work to the completion of the design work?
A. Finish-to-start relationship with a twelve-day lag
B. Finish-to-start relationship with a twelve-day lead
C. Start-to-finish with a twelve-day lag
D. Start-to-finish with a twelve-day lead
Answer: B
Explanation: A lead is an acceleration of the successor activity, or in other words, a successor activity getting a jump start. A lead may be added to start an activity before the predecessor activity is completed. There is a finish-to-start relationship between the design and coding, meaning that design work should be completed prior to starting coding. But in this case, coding work had a jump start as it was initiated twelve days before the design was completed. This can be shown as a finish-to-start relationship with twelve days lead.
