Mock Exam Question Log

Two key stakeholders met with the project manager to inform him that the new initiative to revamp the shipping and receiving in the company has been agreed upon. They asked him to get started with the work and that the charter will be issued sometime in future.What should the project manager be concerned about? A. Performing the project without authority to apply organizational resources B. Missing the details about high-level deliverables, risks, and objectives C. Not knowing where to start to identify stakeholders for the project D. Another PM may be assigned to the project in the future

Answer: A " A project charter is a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. B and C only follow after the proper authority has been bestowed on the PM."

The budget at completion for a project is $100,000. The actual cost to date is $10,000. The Earned Value is $7,000 and the Planned Value is $9,000.What is the Estimate at Completion? A. $128,571 B. $142,857 C. $111,111 D. $100,000

EAC = BAC/CPIBAC = 100,000CPI = EV/AC = 7000/10000 = 0.70EAC = 100,000/.070 = $142,857

A project manager has obtained the approval of scope with help from customers and the team. During brainstorming, as part of developing the schedule, the team recommends changing some of the deliverables for better quality and cadence. What should the project manager do next? A. Review the scope management plan and advise next steps to the team B. Review the quality management plan to ensure the deliverables are done correctly and in compliance C. Review the control accounts and the WBS dictionary to determine if the new features are already in the deliverables D. Refer to the project management plan

Answer: A " A scope management plan is a component of the project management plan or program management plan that describes how the project scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and validated. The scope management plan provides guidance to you on how you'll manage scope-related activities that range from collecting requirements, writing the scope statement, to breaking down the work that needs to be done."

A company chartered the project manager for a new document processing system for its legal department. As the project progresses, the project manager must find ways to increase efficiency and productivity. The project manager wants to do this by finding team members who lack certain skills and have them shadow other experts in the team with those skills. To which document would the project manager refer to find this information? A. SWOT analysis B. Resource histogram C. Project charter D. Control charts

Answer: A " a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis might be used to identify team strengths and weaknesses that may be addressed during the project."

For a project requiring an offsite celebration for employees of an army base division, the project manager has identified stakeholders and determined communication needs. What should the project manager do next? A. Evaluate and prioritize the information needs B. Begin communications with all stakeholders C. Prepare a stakeholder engagement plan D. Identify stakeholders

Answer: A "C, D are already completed. B begins after the communications plan is in place. A is the right answer since we have determined the communication needs, but have not prioritized them to ensure best communications to stakeholders."

The team is working on a problem related to a piece of equipment. The project manager worked with the team to generate possible solutions. What should the project manager do next? A. Implement the best solution B. Define the problem without ambiguity C. Evaluate the outcomes of implementation D. Generate potential alternatives

Answer: A "Decision making can be broken up into a series of phases, including:• Defining the problem• Generating potential solutions• Planning for solution actions• Putting ideas into action• Planning for solution evaluations• Evaluating the outcomes and processesSo, after generating potential solutions, the next thing to do is to determine the best solution and implement the idea. B: No - already occurred C: No - happens after the idea is put into action D: No - The question says the team already generated possible solutions."

For a construction project for a low income family, the carpenter contacted the window and door supplier and was able to secure half of the windows before the next regularly scheduled shipment. Based on your change control process, what further action, if any, should the project manager take? A. You should document the results of installing half the windows now and the remaining when the regular shipment arrives B. Inform the supplier to continue shipments are regular intervals C. Find a new supplier because this supplier violated an existing contract D. Bring the information to the stakeholders for evaluation and approval

Answer: A (the explanation is bad)

A team member informs the project manager that someone who is not interested in the project has suggested a change to the project. Some team members believe that a person with no interest in the project should not submit a change.What should the project manager do? A. Review the change management plan with the team members so everyone understands and follows the change management plan B. Submit the change to the change control board C. Address the issue with the sponsor and the change control board D. Approve the change and communicate to all team members

Answer: A A change management plan can answer the following questions:• Who can propose a change?• What exactly constitutes a change?• What is the impact of the change on the project's objectives?• What steps are necessary to evaluate the change request before approving or rejecting it?• When a change request is approved, what project documents must be amended to record the actions necessary to effect the change?

A supplier has successfully delivered all the defined outputs of a contract to procure electrical equipment.What should the project manager do next? A. Ask the procurement administrator to send acceptance and contract completion notice B. Reserve 15% of contract value to hold the supplier accountable for any repairs required later C. Engage an expert electrician to validate all the work provided D. Communicate that all procurements are closed and update OPAs

Answer: A A: Yes - formal closure must followB: No - question does not indicate such a clause in the contractC: No - They are already "successfully" delivered. So, they meet the contract.D: No - This occurs after closure

A project to centralize all cloud document sharing to a SharePoint server has been going well. Lately, there have been several complaints about some document versions missing or losing entered information.A project manager needs to understand if there are any flaws in the process and investigate.Which tool and technique can the project manager use for this task? A. Control chart B. Histogram C. Quality function deployment D. Correlation charts

Answer: A Control charts are used to determine whether or not a process is stable or has predictable performance.

A project is in execution. The project is using several third-party components. The company providing a component announces an upgrade to the component. This upgrade is not required for the project. A team member feels this would enhance team members' skills and prepares them for the future. What should the project manager do? A. Inform the team member that only changes that impact the project are admissible and to continue following the project management plan B. Applaud the team member for bringing a new idea to the table, pause the implementation, and ask the team member to implement the update C. Request a new training budget for all team members to learn and incorporate as part of the project D. Create a committee to investigate the issue

Answer: A During the life cycle of the project several components, ideas, and suggestions will be made. It is important for the team to stick to the project management plan unless an impact analysis shows that the new input is beneficial to the project.The question indicates the upgrade is not required to achieve the goals of the project.

In a requirements gathering meeting, the project manager discovers there are several user stories and there is confusion about which ones to include.What technique can the project manager use to resolve this situation? A. Paired comparisons B. Stakeholder analysis C. Retrospective reviews D. Iteration refinement

Answer: A One of the important features in agile approaches is the maintenance and management of the product backlog. The product backlog is owned by the customer. Project managers may be asked to help the customer prioritize this list, and may use a number of techniques to assist them in this work. one such technique is paired comparison analysis which involves looking at each pair of stories and prioritizing one over the others.

A diverse group of team members with deep expertise was able to work through their conflicts and achieve a set of common norms for teamwork. What should the project manager do next? A. Provide support for the team to work together B. Direct the team to high performance C. Help the team to interact with each other D. Manage conflict in a constructive manner

Answer: A Since the team seems to have come through storming, the project manager should help with norming. After storming, the team needs more support than direction. So, b is wrong. Additionally, they may not be ready for high performance yet. C is the right answer after forming. D occurs in storming which has already occurred.

A large team meeting is going on and the several groups including testing, design, development, 2nd level support are all trying to get their activities up on priority. But, the project manager suggests to everyone that they should focus on getting the product presentable for the upcoming all-hands town hall demonstration. What technique is the project manager putting to use? A. Accomodating B. Compromising C. Forcing D. Problem solving

Answer: A Smooth/Accommodate involves emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference and conceding your position to the needs of others to maintain harmony and relationships.

A project to execute an audit on behalf of a government agency to determine if a food item must be recalled. A sponsor would like to see a hierarchical representation of potential sources of risk so everyone can see the full range of sources. What does the project manager do next? A. Create a risk breakdown structure B. Develop a risk register C. Develop a risk management plan D. Identify risks

Answer: A The keyword is "hierarchical". Risk categories provide a means for grouping individual project risks. A common way to structure risk categories is with a risk breakdown structure (RBS), which is a hierarchical representation of potential sources of risk. An RBS helps the project team consider the full range of sources from which individual project risks may arise. This can be useful when identifying risks or when categorizing identi?ed risks.

A two million dollar project to renovate the floors of a building is going on. The sponsor informs the project manager the maximum risk the project can take is $450,000 in terms of monetary value. The project manager documents this as part of project risk management.What is the project manager doing, based on the activity? A. Documenting the risk tolerance B. Documenting the risk threshold C. Determining the risk expected monetary value D. Identifying the probability and impact on a specific risk

Answer: A The keyword is "maximum risk". Risk tolerance refers to the maximum amount of risk, and the potential impact of that risk occurring, that a project manager or key stakeholder is willing to accept.

A project to develop a detailed QA audit procedure has been awarded to a vendor who is well known for their expertise. The project manager formally sanctioned some of the sellers' work that has been completed. What should the project manager do next? A. Request performance reports to monitor seller cost, schedule, and technical performance B. Close the contract C. Begin preparing the procurement statement of work D. Select the supplier based on highest quality

Answer: A The project is in control procurements since the contract is already awarded.The Control Procurements process* is the process of managing procurement relationships, monitoring contract performance, making changes and corrections as appropriate, and closing out contracts.c, d are already completed b can only occur if all work is completed. By process of elimination, we select a.

A company is in the business of furnishing apartments. For another furnishing project, the project has a stakeholder who is coming across as difficult to deal with. It is early in the project and the project manager wants to get some insight into what strategies may work in involving the stakeholder. What should the project manager do next? A. Review the lessons-learned database and historical information B. Update the stakeholder engagement plan C. Conduct communications requirement analysis D. Ask a team member to engage the stakeholder

Answer: A The project is in early stages and the company does similar projects. So, review the lessons-learned database and historical information, as they provide insight on previous stakeholder engagement plans and their effectiveness. Once a strategy is determined, you can update the stakeholder engagement plan.

You have been using a preferred vendor to staff a few team positions. They have never missed a single requisition in the last 15 years. For the first time, they are not able to fill a position. This was unexpected. A new resource at a higher cost is available from another vendor.What is an appropriate step for the project manager to take? A. Request funding for management reserve and add it to the project budget if approved B. Request funding for contingency reserves and add it to the cost baseline if approved C. Request funding for management reserve and add it to the cost baseline if approved D. Request for contingency and management reserves to add to the project budget

Answer: A The risk was "unexpected". So, an unknown risk has occurred.Unknown risks are dealt with using management reserves. But, management reserves are not part of the cost baseline, instead they are part of the overall project budget. **So, here is what you want to remember: Cost Estimates + Contingency Reserves = Cost Baseline(Cost Estimates + Contingency Reserves) + Management Reserves = Project Budget

The team, project manager, sponsor, and the customers are in a closure meeting. They would like to ensure the project meets all the acceptance criteria. What documents would the project manager refer them to? A. Project charter and project management plan B. Project management plan and project scope baseline C. Project scope, schedule, and cost baseline D. Acceptance criteria from scope statement

Answer: A The sponsor and the customer have to agree that the exit criteria from the project charter and the acceptance criteria that has been documented in baselines and other acceptance criteria in the project management plan.

For a project to upgrade the accounting system, one of the stakeholders does not feel strongly about it and thinks it may not do any better than the old system they are trying to replace.How should the project manager classify this stakeholder? A. Resistant B. Neutral C. Supportive D. Unaware

Answer: A The stakeholder does not like the upgrades since the stakeholder does not see any benefits in upgrading. So, the stakeholder will impede the progress of the project.

A project to develop financial reporting in a project is near completion. A previous phase of the project had a lot of rework. So, the sponsor asked the project manager to confirm the activities on the project are complete. What documents should the project manager refer to? A. Project management plan, accepted deliverables, and OPAs B. OPAs, project charter, and scope baseline C. Accepted deliverables, scope statement, OPAs D. OPAs, project charter, and project management plan

Answer: A To verify and confirm all the activities are complete, the project manager needs:1) Accepted deliverables - we need to compete these2) project management plan - compare the deliverables to the 3 baselines, and all plans3) OPAs - follow the checklists and closeout procedures including audits.

For a project requiring an offsite celebration for employees of an army base division, the project manager has identified stakeholders and determined communication needs.What should the project manager do next? A. Evaluate and prioritize the information needs B. Begin communications with all stakeholders C. Prepare a stakeholder engagement plan D. Identify stakeholders

Answer: A c, d are already completed.B begins after the communications plan is in place.A is the right answer since we have determined the communication needs, but have not prioritized them to ensure best communications to stakeholders.

Mentoring and coaching relevant stakeholders can come in many forms. Which of the following would be forms of mentoring? (Choose three): A. Encouraging self-organized teams B. Leading formal training sessions C. Developing a project management plan D. Onboarding a new team member on the team process E. Ensuring effective meetings occur in the project

Answer: A, B, D " Mentoring and coaching relevant stakeholders can come in many forms. What is determined is who can benefit from mentoring activities relevant to the process, task, or circumstance. For instance:• When onboarding a new project team member, guiding her on the processes used by the team.• Encouraging self-organization and initiative• Leading formal training sessions• Demonstrating desired skills and best practices every day."

A project manager is updating the stakeholder register due to some changes in the roles of individuals.What should the project manager be aware of in this situation? Select all answers that apply. A. Sellers are external parties that provide a product or service B. Project staff work on the vendor payroll and create deliverables C. Project management staff helps with budgeting, scheduling, reporting, and communications D. If a stakeholder position has changed to a funding resource, change their role to a sponsor

Answer: A, C, D "Project staff performs work on the project to create the project deliverables but does not have to be necessarily on a vendor payroll. They are on the project payroll. Generally, the project team is internal to the organization and actively participates in doing the project work."

Creating a culture of urgency is important in a project. Which three strategies when implemented in the project achieve this goal? A. Project manager articulates vision of the project B. Team members taking a break using daily stand up meetings C. Having the voice of customer during backlog refinement D. A team implements a commitment journal for all team members

Answer: A, C, D Establishing and cultivating the appropriate project urgency culture is an ongoing task. The project manager can lead the way by articulating the project's importance and vision. Everyone involved can commit to and be accountable for striving towards that vision. Bringing in the voice of the customer, such as during backlog refinement sessions with Product Owners and requirement collection meetings, can express the desires and personalize the value.

The Scrum Master is discussing with the Product Owner various components of the Product Backlog. The Product Owner's organization has an expansive vision of the product. However, the budget and delivery dates are fixed. What should the project manager do in response to the product owner's request? (choose two): A. MoSCoW analysis B. Internal Rate of Return C. Net Present Value D. Kano model

Answer: A, D

As part of a project to construct a conference and ball room on an airforce base, the supplier team notices that the customer did not include some of the legal and regulatory requirements that must be met and will result in legal action if they are not met. The supplier submits a request to increase the payment on the contract with justification. What should the project manager do? A. Incorporate the new requirements and accept the change in pricing B. Incorporate the legal requirements into the SOW and submit the change to pricing to the change control board C. Approve the payment increase but only if the supplier can address the legal requirements as well as some additional work D. Prepare to switch to another supplier because the supplier is making too many requests for changes

Answer: B " It is important to adhere to legal and regulatory requirements. The price increase may need to go through a complete justification and adjustments may be made or negotiated. Constructive changes to a contract are changes that the buyer may have caused through action or inaction. As a result of constructive changes, a seller is required to change the way the contract is fulfilled. The seller may claim a payment adjustment as a result of constructive changes."

Two team members have a major difference on how to best implement a technical feature in which the project manager has little knowledge or experience. They are getting passionate and intense about their positions. You organize a meeting of both the team members. What should the project manager do in this situation? A. Force the senior team member to make a decision before the meeting is over B. Avoid becoming involved as a decision maker C. Halt the meeting and take control before things become more intense D. Side with your most trusted SME to finalize the decision

Answer: B " Notice the key word "technical" and further clarification that the PM is not qualified to make a decision. So, the first thing to do is to avoid making a decision. The project manager can still engage the stakeholders to act professionally and respectfully and deliver a solution best suited for the project but cannot make a technical decision."

A project team has to develop a product for a customer group which has a unique culture and rules of engagement. It was clear that the team needed to learn how the customer group operates. What should the project manager do next to ensure the team develops a product that will be a success in the customer environment? A. Allocate costs to train the team B. Understand the competencies needed for the team C. Create a complete training curriculum for the team D. Conduct the training in a unique but highly effective format

Answer: B " Team members themselves may require specific training on the customer's business, culture, desired outcomes, and the project's context in order to prepare themselves to successfully contribute to the project's outcomes. Understanding the needed competencies is a prerequisite to considering what elements of training might need to be provided."

A multi-phase project is in progress. The team lets the project manager know that the team is running behind schedule. They have exhausted crashing and fast-tracking options and have determined that the only option available is to request an extension to the project schedule.What should the project manager do to resolve this situation? A. Update the risk register B. Document and obtain approval of the risk avoidance strategy C. Update the risk register with the risk mitigation D. Request the team to continue working since getting the schedule extended is impossible

Answer: B Avoid risk strategy: Changing the project management plan to remove the risk entirely by extending the schedule, changing the strategy, increasing the funding, or reducing scope.

There have been performance issues with the deliverables in a project. The project manager brings together customers, team members, and subject matter experts. What action should the stakeholders, team, and SMEs take next? A. Create a solution and implement it B. Generate a list of alternatives, analyze them, and determine action items C. Submit solutions to the change control board D. Implement solutions generated

Answer: B " The team assembled to brainstorm solutions. Brainstorming is a simple technique used to generate a list of ideas; it should be led by a facilitator and the group tends to be a group of stakeholders, team members, or subject matter experts. After quickly generating a list of alternatives, the group performs an analysis of the alternatives and generally chooses a particular one for action. The list can be prioritized by combining brainstorming with dot voting to quickly have the team assess a list of alternatives, then quickly decide which ones to focus upon."

A few key stakeholders including the customer inform the project manager that their expectations are not met regarding some of the deliverables. How should the project manager address this issue? A. Create a change management plan B. Develop a stakeholder engagement plan C. Develop a communications management plan D. Create a scope statement

Answer: B "Notice the key word "expectations" in the question. To meet them, it has to be related to the stakeholder engagement plan - either developing one or updating it."

A project manager coordinates a meeting between the team and the customer as part of product planning. While the customer reviews the expected list of work to be completed to deliver the product, a key stakeholder wants to freeze it. The team expresses concern with this request. How should the project manager handle this concern? A. Explain to the team members to work with the customer to develop a complete scope baseline B. Explain to the stakeholder that the product backlog items will be groomed as the project evolves and so there is no need to freeze it C. As a servant leader, allow the customer and the team members to investigate the features required before freezing it D. There is very little time to get started before the iteration, so reject the customer's request

Answer: B (The explanation is just a definition of a product backlog)

A project to develop a digital marketing campaign has individuals from the Philippines, India, Pakistan, the United States, The United Kingdom, and Canada. The project manager is not able to find a time when everyone is able to meet for a strategic meeting.What should the project manager do? A. Force a meeting time on everyone B. Attempt a compromise C. Withdraw from the situation D. Ask the managers of team members for advice

Answer: B A compromise is what is required to make sure the meeting works for at least the vast majority so there is a temporary or partial resolution of the conflict.

A project manager is working in a commercial shipping firm. The project manager has to constantly seek input from the functional manager to encourage stakeholders to get work done.What organization structure is the project manager working in? A. Projectized B. Matrix C. War room D. Functional

Answer: B A matrix is a blend of functional and projectized structures in which individuals report upward in the functional hierarchy, but they also report horizontally to one or more project managers. This structure may be characterized as weak, balanced, or strong, depending on the relative authority of the project manager to the functional manager. In environments of low authority, the project manager has to influence the stakeholders and team through persuasion, articulating points, and influencing through lead by example model.

In a project to develop an oil pipeline segment requiring Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) approvals at the end of the project, the sponsor advises the project manager that the EPA will have different requirements for different segments due to state laws.What should the project manager do in this situation to meet these requirements? A. Create a pipeline specification and regularly ensure the team is aligning with this specification B. Arrange for a periodic review of approval guidelines and recommend remediation if non-compliance is found C. Ask the pipeline developers to submit documentation of compliance and steps taken to correct items that do not meet the specifications D. Add a quality assurance specialist resource to the team who will be responsible for monitoring the pipeline quality of the project

Answer: B A periodic review allows us to not only monitor compliance with specific laws, but also changes to the laws.As the project team produces deliverables, quality assurance (QA) will review the deliverable, verify that it meets both functional and nonfunctional requirements, and often identify and suggest potential improvements. QA will validate whether the deliverables align with compliance requirements, and provide feedback on any variances identified and potential approaches to cure any defects or other noncompliances.

For a project to create a brand new team for a national furniture chain, it was envisioned to include innovative methods of organizing the people on the project. The first step was to collect requirements for this project. What should the project manager do to ensure the team considers unique ways of building the new team for the company? A. Seek expert opinion B. Conduct alternatives analysis C. Adopt progressive elaboration D. Prevent scope creep

Answer: B Alternatives analysis is a data analysis technique used to identify different ways of collecting requirements, elaborating the project and product scope, creating the product, and validating and controlling the scope.

During the project, there were a few situations where the customer complained the deliverables did not meet the quality and some had to be completely scrapped and built from ground up. At the closure, the deliverables were, however, fully accepted and signed-off. The customer indicated it was a success.What should the project manager and team do as they collect lessons learned? A. Document only the successes the customer praised B. Include what the project team did well and what needs to be improved upon C. Create a new team to investigate the previous problems, resolve them, and document the resolutions in the lessons learned D. Include what the project team has done wrong and how they fixed it

Answer: B At the end of the project, you have gathered all of the relevant information about the work done in a project or a project phase and documented it in the lessons-learned register. It's important to include both what the project team did well and what needs to be improved on. When the project is closed and the lessons-learned register is complete, the register content needs to be added to the lessons-learned repository so future project teams can benefit from this knowledge.

A project manager who is well known for resolving conflicts takes over from a previous project manager who found it difficult to manage the team. The new project manager believes in a give and take attitude and an open dialogue to resolve conflicts. What technique of conflict management would the project manager utilize? A. Smooth B. Problem solve C. Compromise D. Force E. Direct

Answer: B Collaborate/Problem Solve involves incorporating multiple viewpoints and insight from differing perspectives and enabling cooperative attitudes and open dialogue to reach consensus and commitment.

A customer has received a new floor cleaning equipment. A customer representative calls and reports a problem. The project management team determines this issue must be covered under the warranty of the project. Which category of COQ should the project manager have used? A. Prevention costs B. External failure costs C. Appraisal costs D. Sunk cost

Answer: B Cost of Quality: All costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing nonconformance to requirements, appraisal of the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failure to meet requirements. External failure costs in COQ include liabilities, warranty work, lost business, and lost reputation.

The testing team has received several deliverables and are inspecting them. The team found a few defects that must be fixed and reported them to the project manager.What should the project manager do next? A. Submit them to the change control board B. Determine the impact on cost, schedule, and other parameters C. Implement the repairs D. Create a risk response plan to address the repairs to fix the defects

Answer: B Defect repairs are a type of change requests. Before they are submitted to the change control board, their impact must be evaluated against other constraints such as cost, schedule, risk, etc. and the solutions along with the impacts must be presented to the change control board.

A project manager who is respected across the company for achieving the goals of the project has also received complaints of being a micromanager.What approach should the project manager take to address this complaint? A. Manage by objectives B. Manage by exception C. Manage by cost D. Manage by charter

Answer: B Develop a set of metrics for each project to measure team performance. Establish tolerances for each so that corrective actions can be taken when needed. Use a management-by-exception approach to avoid micromanaging the team. Manage by objectives will closely follow and track the objectives to the team performance which could result in micromanagement. The other two terms are made up. Management by exception typically 'expects' process performance to be normal, and that only exceptions need to be highlighted and reported etc.

A project to conduct future elections with as little confusion as possible has been chartered. As part of collecting the requirements, the project manager has to gain detailed information and clarification from subject matter experts. What should the project manager utilize to accomplish this? A. Brainstorming B. Focus groups C. Interviews D. Nominal group technique

Answer: B Focus groups are an elicitation technique that brings together pre-qualified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result. Project managers will use focus groups to bring together SMEs and other stakeholders to gain further information and clarification on specific project requirements. These events are typically conducted by a trained moderator who will propose pre-selected questions and keep the discussions on track.

An agile project is addressing high business value deliverables, which requires frequent and continuous communication with the customer.What should the project manager do? A. Hire generalized specialists who have core competencies in at least one area B. Ensure a dedicated team working on the project full-time C. Provide a team directory with team member emails and phone numbers to the customer D. Advise the customer that they will receive a summary once every week

Answer: B Having dedicated team members working on the project full-time can ensure updated communications with the customer. Generalized specialists prevent single-points-of-failure but not ensure continuous communications. It is not the customer's job to try all team members from the directory. Providing a summary once a week to the customer does not satisfy the continuous communications requirement.

A project manager and their teams have completed the project deliverables and have moved on to another project. The project manager continues to receive requests for making minor adjustments to the deliverables.What should the project manager do to fix this situation? A. Ensure the project deliverables are validated and accepted B. Ensure the project is transferred to operations for support and maintenance C. Let the team know these changes are for the upcoming phase D. Allocate the work to team members and ensure the product meets the customer needs

Answer: B If the team and project manager have moved on and continue to get change requests, it implies there is a gap in proper operation support transition.

A few key stakeholders including the customer inform the project manager that their expectations are not met regarding some of the deliverables.How should the project manager address this issue? A. Create a change management plan B. Develop a stakeholder engagement plan C. Develop a communications management plan D. Create a scope statement

Answer: B Notice the key word "expectations" in the question. To meet them, it has to be related to the stakeholder engagement plan - either developing one or updating it.

A project manager has received a charter to execute a soccer field upgrade project. All the stakeholders were identified. What should the project manager do next? A. Identify stakeholders. B. Collect requirements C. Start defining the deliverable D. Acquire the team to execute the plan

Answer: B Now that you have the stakeholders identified, you should start collecting requirements. C and D occur after collecting requirements. A has already occurred as stated in the question.

A project is being implemented.The team is working hard to develop reward and recognition strategies for bringing performance improvement in the company. The business analysis group informs that the requirements have changed. These changes were not anticipated and may increase the scope and the project budget. What is the appropriate action for the project manager to take? A. Use the contingency reserve to address the change B. Update the risk register and anticipate developing responses C. Use earned value analysis D. Evaluate project performance

Answer: B These new requirements may pose additional risks. These risks need to be documented and appropriate responses need to be identified.

At a project close out, the customer is happy that the project is acceptable, but requests that the project should cover the cost of maintenance. A previous project has had a lot of maintenance issues and caused tremendous grievance. What should the project manager do next? A. Submit a change request to the sponsor to allocate funds for the maintenance component of the project B. Inform the customer that maintenance costs are not part of project costs C. Organize the team to begin conducting a bottom-up estimation for the maintenance effort D. Provide the customer a top-level analogous estimate

Answer: B Projects are unique and tangible efforts that are implemented within a finite period of time. They have definite beginning and end. Maintenance follows projects and are on-going, repetitive, and are of indefinite duration. Since the project has been completed, the next step is to transition the deliverables. But, answer the question from the customer and move to the transition.

Three hundred risks were identified and analyzed for subjective probability and impact on a project. The stakeholders were happy and asked the project manager to continue with a quantitative assessment of all the risks. How should the project manager proceed? A. Advice the team to work on risks recommended by the project manager B. Ask the stakeholders and the team to perform quantitative assessments on only the prioritized risks C. Inform the stakeholders quantitative assessments is only for mission-critical risks D. Accept and document the suggestion and ask the team to begin quantitative assessment on all risks

Answer: B Quantitative assessment should not be performed on all risks, only on those that are prioritized already through the effort of qualitative risk analysis. Quantitative risk analysis is expensive, time-consuming, and required only for large projects.

A team member has completed a difficult activity on a project in record time. How should the project manager appreciate the effort by the team member? A. Reward the team member for a consistent excellence in behavior B. Provide a tangible reward to the team member for meeting a goal C. Recognize the team member for achieving the outcome as expected D. Recognize the team member for a consistent excellence in behavior

Answer: B Rewards are tangible, consumable items that are given to a person based on a specific outcome or an achievement. Recognition is a more personalized, intangible, and experiential event that focuses on behavior rather than outcome.

An equipment management system that is very popular in the company is live and is being used by over 250 users. The company wants to enhance the software through incremental increase in value that benefits the business. However, they do not want the feature improvements effort to be disruptive to the users and business. What approach of feature development should the project manager recommend? A. Minimum viable product B. Minimum business increment C. Minimum business value D. Planned development product

Answer: B Some projects are improving or revising products that are live and in-use. As such, an MVP with minimal features and functionality may be disruptive to the users and business, especially when a basic preliminary product to gauge interest is not necessary. Utilizing the concept of a Minimum Business Increment (MBI) is more viable.An MBI works best when:* The product and functions are understood.* An incremental increase of value can be pinpointed.* The delivery of some of that value benefits the business.

A company has branches in 4 different states and has teams working from these states on a new fulfillment center project. The team has just formed.What should the team consider doing first? A. Identify the video conferencing tool and message chat tools B. Develop a team charter first C. Wait until the project has gone through norming and then create a resource management plan D. Request the company for their HR policies

Answer: B Team planning and teaming agreements should precede decisions about specific tools. In short, the team should produce its team charter first, and identify key issues related to collaboration that will be exacerbated by not being co-located.

As the project team begins the planning process, several key stakeholders concerned about risks requested the project manager and the team to develop a complete project risk register for review. What should the project manager do? A. Implement risk analysis and develop risk resources B. Follow the project risk management plan and implement identify risks, qualitative and quantitative analyses, and develop risk responses C. Develop a risk management plan D. Develop and create a scope management plan, schedule management plan, cost management plan, and create the scope, schedule, and cost baselines

Answer: B The Risk Register is developed initially as an output of identify risks and subsequently the results of the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis, and Plan Risk Responses are added to the register. It details all identified risks, including description, category, cause, probability of occurring, impact on objectives such as scope, schedule, cost, proposed responses, owners, and current status.

During the execution of a project, the project manager found several conflicts during meetings among team members. They do not seem to share common values or have an agreed-upon decision-making process. How could the project manager avoid having this situation occur in the future? A. Create a team charter as the team starts executing the project B. Encourage teams to develop team norms at the beginning of the project C. Have the sponsor provide a rule book for team behavior as part of initiating D. Although not required, the project manager should create team ground rules

Answer: B The goal of the team charter is to establish team norms or expected behaviors of the team. By taking the time to establish these norms at the beginning of the project, the team is more likely to be able to handle challenges as the project progresses.

A project has completed the deliverables which are accepted and need to close the project. Your key customer is out of the country.What should the project manager do to obtain a sign-off for the project? A. Obtain sign-off from the legal group B. Obtain sign-off from the sponsor C. Request the functional manager to sign-off after the team is released D. Wait until the customer is back in the country

Answer: B The project was authorized by the sponsor so the sponsor signs off on the project.

The project manager is working to develop appropriate ways to engage project stakeholders. The project manager is looking for information about the power, interest, and influence of various stakeholders.What document should the project manager refer to? A. Stakeholder engagement plan B. Stakeholder register C. Communications management plan D. Project management plan

Answer: B The stakeholder register contains the classification, identification, and assessment information about various stakeholders.

A stakeholder submits a change request that is within the tolerance of the baseline. The impact analysis uncovers that it will change the project cost by 3%.What should the project manager do next? A. Submit to a committee of change control approvers B. Approve and implement the change C. Escalate to the sponsor because the funding is getting impacted D. Ask the stakeholder to resubmit the change request with modifications

Answer: B Tolerance is defined as the quantified description of acceptable variation for a quality requirement. Areas of tolerance might include budget, time, quality, and nonfunctional requirements. For example, you as the project manager can control issues with a budget or time variance of less than 5%, and then be required to escalate any variances that exceed that threshold.

For a project requiring a brand update across the marketing collateral and website, the project manager engages the team with stakeholders to help document the deliverables. The team developed a hierarchical work breakdown structure, identified activities and developed a network diagram.What should the project manager do next? A. Define the dependencies between the activities B. Determine how long each activity takes C. Develop a formal project schedule D. Estimate activity costs

Answer: B Typically, once you have completed your activities and sequenced them you would want to determine project activity durations before proceeding to develop a project schedule.Determining activity duration estimates involves the quantitative assessment of the likely number of time periods that are required to complete an activity.

A customer meeting with the project manager and the team is in progress. The customer has presented the overarching vision of the project. Over time, the stakeholders met to progressively elaborate the roadmaps. What would the stakeholders do next? A. Develop features and feature sets B. Develop themes C. Develop tasks D. Create a roadmap

Answer: B Typically, product roadmaps start with the overarching vision of the product. From there, project stakeholders can paint broad strokes. Themes emerge. The themes give narrative to features, feature sets (user stories). User stories are broken down to tasks.

A project manager in charge of developing and launching a food facility was informed the facility would not be allowed to open due to not meeting the compliance. The customer is very concerned with this development.What risk response should the project manager adopt in this situation? A. Transfer/Sharing B. Avoidance C. Mitigation D. Acceptance

Answer: B When to use what response: Avoidance: Customer determines that risk is too high relative to the value.Transfer/Sharing: For financial risks, customers might consider sharing the risk with a third party.Mitigation: Responding to risks to reduce the likelihood, the impact of a realized risk, or the potential vulnerability.Acceptance: After risk responses are implemented, the remaining residual risk is accepted and managed. If they go ahead and launch the facility, they would violate the law. They have to avoid this situation.

During a procurement negotiation, one of the key stakeholders from your team suggests there might be an issue with the deliverable milestones for two deliverables on the schedule.What should the project manager do next? A. Escalate the issue to the procurement director B. Begin negotiations with the seller for a more agreeable delivery schedule C. Organize a team brainstorm session to withdraw from the procurement and bring the project in-house D. Make sure the inability of the vendor to deliver is fully documented

Answer: B While negotiations of a contract are generally handled by the procurement manager, project managers and project team members will often be engaged throughout the negotiations process. At various points the project team may be able to suggest or identify various issues. In this case, the team should first attempt to overcome the issue through negotiations.A: No - does not resolve the situationC: No - This is recourse only after the current negotiations failD: No - Does not resolve the issue.

A project manager is coordinating a project to inventory the items in all of the company's warehouses in the state of California. A key stakeholder is meeting the project manager to discuss project risks. While reviewing the risks, the stakeholder presents some preventive actions.What should the project manager do next? A. Reject the preventive actions submitted B. Initiate a change request C. Update the risk register with the preventive actions D. Implement the preventive actions

Answer: B While the change control process may vary from project to project, the first step to take when a change request (corrective actions, preventive actions, requested changes, or defect repairs) is received is to initiate the change request and follow the formal change control process.

After a project charter was created for a dosage study project in a pharmaceutical company, the project manager and the team were meeting the key stakeholders to develop a scope statement. Which of the following would be part of the scope statement (choose two)? A. Scope creep B. Acceptance criteria C. Budget D. Scope description E. Schedule

Answer: B,D The scope statement includes the definition of scope in the form of deliverables description, acceptance criteria, constraints, and assumptions.

The company has received a contract to update a cloud-based point of sale product. The team members want to understand what is included and what is excluded in the components the customer would expect to see when the product is complete. What document should the project manager provide? A. Work breakdown structure B. Project charter C. Deliverables agreement D. RACI matrix

Answer: C " A deliverables agreement contains the bounds of what the project will deliver to satisfy the acceptance criteria of the project."

A new less-experienced technical architect replaced an experienced one due to her illness. Confusion increases. Team members are arguing about timing and expectations of the transition activities. As the project manager, what can you do to mitigate the negative effects of a staffing change? A. Put the project on hold until the experienced team member returns from sick leave B. Rebuild the schedule to include additional time for the new team member to complete his tasks C. Closely monitor the new architect's work to assess any possible risk D. Require all decisions to go through you until the experienced team member returns

Answer: C " Because the new architect is new and less experienced, they would require greater oversight. So, monitor them closely to reduce friction."

A project manager has been assigned to lead a virtual team in migrating a sales automation system. The entire team is virtual and is working in multiple time zones. The project manager needs to ensure the availability of the team members for assigned tasks. How can the project manager achieve this goal? A. Maintain a RACI chart B. Adapt the project OBS to adjust to multiple time zones C. Set up team calendars D. Create a resource management plan for the multiple time zones

Answer: C " The resource calendar identifies working days, shifts, and when specific resources are made available to the project. The calendar will be used to determine which resources (people, equipment, material, etc.) are available during a planned activity period. RACI does not have availability information.

A non-profit organization embarks on a project to improve neighborhood housing services for low income families. Due to the tight budget constraints, the project manager must ensure the project budget is not exceeded. What should the project manager do to maintain this control? A. Hold daily stand-up meetings with the team B. Ask all the team to prepare detailed requirements C. Ensure any change with or without impact on costs follow a formal approval process D. Disallow any stakeholders from directly interacting with the teams

Answer: C " Unauthorized or unapproved changes to the budget can be avoided by adhering to a formal change control process so no changes are processed without due consideration of all aspects of the project."

A team receives several statements from a key stakeholder in the format of "As a name of a role, I want to do something so that I get the result I want." They provide this document to the project manager.What should the project manager do? A. Identify them as approved requirements B. Include them in the scope statement C. Document them as user stories in a product backlog D. Map them to items in the project management plan

Answer: C " User stories—whether for initial requirements or for changes—use the following pattern: "As a name of role, I want to do something so that I get a result I want." Notice that the user story approach focuses on the stakeholder, the need, and the desired outcome and not on a particular solution approach. Generally it is best practice to give the project team discretion to consider the change and identify potential solution options."

MBM Management Consulting is evaluating the following projects: SAP-MFG Implementation Project, which will take one year to complete with an NPV of US $55,000; SAP-AC Project, which will take two years to complete with an NPV of US $24,000; and SAP-HR and SAP-MRP Projects, which will take six years to complete with an NPV of $56,000 and $54,000 respectively. The project manager has to make a recommendation. What should the project manager recommend in this situation? A. SAP-MRP B. SAP-AC C. SAP-HR D. SAP-MFG

Answer: C "One of the models in the Benefit Measurement Method is the Economic Model. Net Present Value (NPV) allows you to calculate an accurate rate value for the project in today's dollars irrespective of time period of the project. The project with the highest NPV is the best option. Net Present Value calculations do not consider yearly calculations."

The project team is assigned to complete the work for Phase 3 of Project Blue. The work is extraordinarily complex, and includes coordinating the delivery of the software, deployment to 1,546 of the customer's users and training the customer's users. The project also requires the coordination of several external contractors as well as consultants that are working on site with the project team.What document does the project manager use to understand who is accountable and when the work is scheduled to be complete? A. Maintain a spreadsheet with names and dates B. Leave it to the project team to do their work when it is scheduled to be performed C. A Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary D. A Work Breakdown Structure

Answer: C "The WBS dictionary is a document that provides detailed narrative information regarding the delivery, activity, resource requirements, and scheduling information about each component in the WBS."

A project manager and the team are examining several changes to work specifications on a project where the previous project manager had decided to leave. The PM wants to get this moving quickly and has to determine the process for making this happen.How would the project manager accomplish this goal? A. Develop a stakeholder engagement matrix B. Conduct a sprint review with the product owner C. Ensure there is an approved scope management plan D. The team has t-shaped skills. Let them figure it out.

Answer: C A scope management plan documents how the project and product scope will be defined, validated and controlled. Having this document helps the project manager find how to manage changes to the scope.

A project manager is meeting key stakeholders to provide an update. Some of the stakeholders are checking and responding to texts and a few others are responding to emails on laptops in the meeting. What should the project manager do next to resolve this issue? A. Include lunch and food in the meeting B. Include open discussion and random questions during the meeting C. Conduct a meeting on ground rules on active listening D. Provide the stakeholders a PMI code of conduct handout

Answer: C Active listening is a communication technique that involves acknowledging what you hear and clarifying the message to confirm that what you heard matches the message that the sender intended. This includes reflecting, attending, and following. When stakeholders are not attentive, they are not listening actively.

During the project's execution, some team members complain that no one is assigned to some project tasks, causing delays and last-minute negotiations for team members. How could the project manager have avoided this situation? A. Advise the team members to communicate resource allocation issues with the functional manager directly B. Ask the team members to collaborate and assign tasks among themselves C. Estimate, acquire, and manage teams proactively as a part of project resource management D. Track team member performance, create and execute team improvements based on this feedback

Answer: C As part of Project Resource Management, the project manager has to estimate, acquire, and manage people. Not doing this will result in the inadequate or inappropriate allocation of team members to project activities.

A stakeholder submits a change request that will impact the project schedule.What should the project manager do next? A. Approve the change B. Submit the change to the change control board C. Evaluate the impact on other baselines D. Ask the team to start working on solutions

Answer: C As part of the monitor schedule, the project manager and the Change Control Board (CCB) monitors, coordinates, and implements changes to the project schedule and evaluates the impact of those changes on other performance baselines and the original scope definition. Although schedule impact is known a complete impact analysis must be completed before evaluating alternatives and submitting the relevant stakeholders for review.

For a complex project to replace the standard cable with a fiber network in a city, the project manager is organizing and categorizing risks based on their impact on time, cost, quality, and/or scope.What approach is the project manager using? A. Using a risk-breakdown structure B. Using prompt lists C. Using effect-based risk classification D. Using source-based risk classification

Answer: C Effect-based risk classification is a method of analyzing the way that risks to a project could impact its success. A risk can have an effect on time, cost, quality, and scope. All these effects are interrelated; therefore, any changes to one element will affect all the others.

The mortgage application payment tracking tool was completed by the supplier. All claims have been resolved and a procurement audit has been successfully concluded without any outstanding issues.What should the project manager do next? A. Communicate that all procurements are closed B. Updated organizational process assets C. Address any outstanding invoices and payments D. Request the seller to conduct quality control

Answer: C Here is the order of closing procurements: - Ensure that all required products or services were provided by the seller. - Settle any outstanding contracting issues and claims. - Conduct a procurement audit to evaluate the performance of the seller. - Address any outstanding invoices and payments. - Archive the complete contract file with the project archives. - Provide the seller with formal written notice that the contract has been completed. - Communicate that all procurements are closed and update OPA documents as needed

During a sprint execution, two team members express they have confusion regarding what technology to use although other team members believe they have clarity and believe the discussion will delay the project. The project manager assessed and evaluated the situation with help from the team. What should the team do next? A. The team should relay the impediment to the product owner B. Follow up and communicate agreements with the product owner C. The team should discuss the impact and develop solutions D. Document the resolution and lessons learned for future reference

Answer: C Impediments emerge from the internal project team, but also from external sources. Here are guidelines to work with external stakeholders.• Discuss with the team to assess and evaluate the impediment.• Review efforts previously attempted or considered.• Discuss impact and solutions.• Relay the impediment to the external source.• Establish a single point of contact (SPOC) within the team, typically the project manager or person with the most subject matter knowledge. Shield the rest of the team as appropriate so they may focus on other work.• Create an action plan and schedule.• Follow up and communicate per agreements.• Document resolution and lessons learned for future reference.

A project manager acting as a facilitator is trying to identify and prioritize options for addressing ground rules issues with the team members. The project manager is careful to not qualify the ideas as good, mediocre, or bad and only focused on assisting the team in selecting the most appropriate alternatives. What tool or technique is the project manager using? A. Negotiating B. Conflict resolution C. Brainstorming D. Sensitivity analysis

Answer: C Many techniques can help a team identify and prioritize options for how to address ground rules issues. A common approach is brainstorming. A facilitator works with the team to identify a series of potential solutions to a given problem and then perform various types of analysis to select the most appropriate alternatives.

A project manager was asked to respond to a business initiative designed to transform the company from a generic homogenous culture to include members from different cultural backgrounds, industry experiences and languages.What should the project manager do? A. Use pre-assignment tools B. Adjust the RACI chart C. Allow the team to develop a project "team language" D. Update the resource management plan

Answer: C Project managers are often asked to work on projects with a global scope, or at least a broadly diverse project team, with members from different cultural backgrounds, industry experiences, or who even speak in different languages. The project team may adopt a project "team language" that is different from their native language.

A new project to modernize and expand the reporting system of an organization has started with the sponsor's support. The project gets input from sales and distribution, logistics, supply chain, customer service support, and other internal groups. It would also have to supply data and reports to the systems within these organizations. To determine the needs of this organization, what would be the best technique to use? A. Let the stakeholder submit their needs and accept them as voice of the customer B. Implement an online survey C. Use a context diagram in stakeholder meetings D. Perform a variance analysis

Answer: C Since the software to be developed has a lot of interaction with other systems and groups, context diagrams as a tool fits well. A context diagram* is a visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.), and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it. The diagram includes the business process, equipment, or computer system and what roles interact with those systems. The diagrams depict specific business and actor inputs to the business system, as well as the business and actor outputs of the system.

A new project to modernize and expand the reporting system of an organization has started with the sponsor's support. The project gets input from sales and distribution, logistics, supply chain, customer service support, and other internal groups. It would also have to supply data and reports to the systems within these organizations. To determine the needs of this organization, what would be the best technique to use? A. Let the stakeholder submit their needs and accept them as voice of the customer B. Implement an online survey C. Use a context diagram in stakeholder meetings D. Perform a variance analysis

Answer: C Since the software to be developed has a lot of interaction with other systems and groups, context diagrams as a tool fits well.A context diagram* is a visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc.), and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it. The diagram includes the business process, equipment, or computer system and what roles interact with those systems. The diagrams depict specific business and actor inputs to the business system, as well as the business and actor outputs of the system.

While arranging a project meeting, the project manager learns that one of the key stakeholders required to sign-off on key aspects of the project is not in the country. A team member suggests that the team get in touch with the stakeholder delegate or substitute.In what document would the project manager find this information? A. Stakeholder engagement plan B. Communications engagement plan C. Stakeholder register D. Team charter

Answer: C Stakeholder involvement and management are often documented in a stakeholder register. The stakeholder register is a project document including the identification, assessment, and classification of project stakeholders. Some registers might also include additional stakeholder information such as potential influence over the project or a specific phase of the project, and their classification based on stakeholder analysis completed during the identification process.

A team member from another country lets the project manager know that due to an event in the family she will be taking a 30-day foreign trip break in the month of December. This was not part of the plan. This would affect when the tasks on the project are delivered and how the committed dates to the customer will be affected.To which sources does the project manager refer to determine the impact? A. Schedule management plan B. Project management plan C. Gantt chart D. Communications management plan

Answer: C The first document to check is the Gantt chart. The Gantt chart is a bar chart of schedule information where activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates are shown on the horizontal axis, and the activity durations are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates.By reviewing the dates and experimenting with activity start and end date changes, the project manager can simulate the impact on committed dates.

Team members disagree on some technical aspects related to deliverables described in the scope statement.What tool or technique should the team members use to bring alignment? A. Expert judgment B. 80/20 rule C. Conflict management D. Product analysis

Answer: C The keyword in the question is "disagree". Conflict management is the application of one or more strategies for dealing with disagreements that may be detrimental to team performance. Effective conflict management can lead to improved understanding, performance, and productivity.

An agile team is collaborating with the product owner and the scrum master to develop a process to manage changes to the agile project.Which one of the following order of activities represents a reasonable process to incorporate in this situation? A. Place the submitted changes on the project backlog, write user stories, set the product owner as the funnel for changes B. Establish the product owner as a POC, place the items on product backlog, groom and refine the changes, write the user stories C. Set the product owner as the POC for changes, write user stories and address them in grooming and refinement sessions, team estimates, and finally place them on the product backlog D. Let the team and the product owner be agile with the change control process and change it as they please with each change

Answer: C The order is important. The first step is to make the PO the point of contact.Agile change management plan can but should include identification of the product owner as a funnel for requested changes from customer and user stakeholders, writing the change's user stories, scoping the change during backlog grooming and refinement sessions, team estimation of the change, and ultimately placement of the change in the prioritized product backlog. This may also affect some other project artifacts like project roadmaps.

During an iteration, the team encounters a technical problem that becomes an impediment in completing a user story.What should the project manager do? A. Ask the technical fellow of the company to determine a permanent solution to the problem B. Work with the product owner to postpone the requirement to the next iteration to identify a solution C. Ask the lead developer to step in, identify a solution, and share with the team D. Create a competitive game to reward the team member who comes out with the solution first

Answer: C This is an impediment and the project manager has to protect the team from distractions. So, the project manager or the scrum master has to reassign the tasks to another team member who is qualified to resolve the solution.

For a project work that needs to be outsourced, the sponsor recommends hiring a group of experts. The team has indicated it would be difficult to generate a precise statement of work. The existing team will not be affected. What would be the best way for the project manager to approach this situation? A. Prepare a cost reimbursable contract B. Recommend a fixed price with an incentive contract C. Recommend a time and material contract D. Generate a purchase order to approve the contract

Answer: C Time and material is a type of contract that is a hybrid contractual arrangement containing aspects of both cost-reimbursable and fixed-price contracts. The buyer pays the seller a negotiated hourly rate and full reimbursement for materials used to complete the project. This contract is used for staff augmentation, acquisition of experts, and any outside support when a precise statement of work (SOW) cannot be quickly prescribed.

During a project meeting, stakeholders mentioned that the project finish date that has been identified cannot be changed and asked the PM to present activities that have some flexibility. What should the project manager do? A. Provide a network diagram and present tasks with zero float B. Show tasks with maximum float on the network diagram C. Show tasks that are not on the critical path D. Provide a milestone chart

Answer: C To understand schedule flexibility, the project manager and stakeholders must be looking at the network diagram. Schedule flexibility is presented as "float" on the network diagram. "Float" is also called "slack". It is known as the amount of time an activity can be delayed from its ES without delaying the project finish date or the consecutive activities. Float occurs only in activities that are not on the critical path.

The deliverables for a project are complete, the performance measurement and product documentation have been collected to share with the customer. What should the project manager do before obtaining formal acceptance from the sponsor to officially complete the project? A. Release team resources B. Document project conflicts C. Prepare a final project report D. Review the project charter

Answer: C You should prepare a final project report. You should also complete a lessons-learned report.

Three of the team members need to get training as part of the project to upgrade the software system to manage inventory and stockrooms. The approval process goes through four individuals before being presented to the sponsor for approval. This is in spite of their desire to not be included in the redundant process. What should the project manager do next? A. Follow the project management best practices which are designed for producing the results B. Take the request directly up to the sponsor C. Validate the process value by challenging the way things are done D. Complain to the sponsor that the four individuals are delaying the approval

Answer: C " Questioning and challenging the way things are done may validate its importance and value in which case the project can produce or enable more value. Or the status quo may be continuing unnecessary effort that produces no value (waste), in which case the project can remove inefficiencies or non-value efforts."

A project manager is hired to transition the entire company from a desktop based project management software to a fully online cloud based system. The customer team provided a sequence of steps with branching and decision points to the team. During an audit, a customer indicates that some of the items are missing since the team did not follow the steps provided by the customer team. How should the project manager address this issue? A. Review the control chart for variability in the process and project activity over time B. Use the Pareto diagram to focus on corrective actions having the greatest effect C. Conduct inspections to detect quality errors as project work is going on D. Review the flowchart to identify any part of it that the team did not implement or follow

Answer: D " Guidelines to control quality: Conduct inspections to detect quality errors as project work is ongoing. Use Pareto diagrams to focus corrective actions on the problems having the greatest effect on overall quality performance. Use control charts to analyze and communicate the variability of a process or project activity over time. **Use flowcharts to identify redundancies, missed steps, or the source of quality performance problems. Flowcharts are also referred to as process maps because they display the sequence of steps and the branching possibilities that exist for a process that transforms one or more inputs into one or more outputs. Flowcharts show the activities, decision points, branching loops, parallel paths, and the overall order of processing by mapping the operational details of procedures that exist within a horizontal value chain.

A new project manager has been assigned to a Scrum development project. The first activity is to address the selection of user stories to develop in the upcoming sprint. To accomplish this, the project manager needs to understand the requirements. The project manager is calling for a meeting. Who should the project manager primarily invite to the meeting to address this situation? A. Project team B. Scrum master C. Stakeholders D. Product owner and project team

Answer: D "The Product Owner represents all the stakeholders and customers allowing the Scrum team to have a single point of contact for all requirements. Stakeholders and customers can offer suggestions during the demonstration that could be implemented in a later sprint.The team addresses the relevance and practical implementation aspects. In other words, a sprint planning that facilitates communication and collaboration between a customer (referred to in Scrum as a Product Owner) and the project team."

A project missed a deliverable. The project manager realized there was no one responsible for the deliverable in the RACI chart. What should the project manager do to fix it? A. Ensure there are back-up team members for every task B. Create a large group of informed stakeholders so everyone knows what's going on C. Ensure there are multiple individuals accountable for the deliverable D. Ensure only one point person is accountable for the deliverable

Answer: D "The issue to fix here is the accountability. Having more than one person accountable will cause issues in final authority. Ideally, only one person must be accountable."

As part of a 75,000 sq. ft project expansion, the senior management asked the project manager to keep the focus on critical issues following a company guideline based on historical information that 80% of the problems usually came from 20 percent of the causes. What should the project manager do to address this request? A. Provide a document with the number of issues per category B. Conduct statistical sampling of potential issues C. Breakdown the cause of the defects by branching on categories D. Prepare a chart with defects rank-ordered by frequency of occurances

Answer: D A Pareto chart is a histogram that is used to rank causes of problems in a hierarchical format. The goal is to narrow down the primary causes of variance on a project and focus the energy and efforts on tackling the most significant sources of variance. The variables in the chart are ordered by the frequency of occurrences. Pareto charts are based on Pareto's law, also known as the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule is a general guideline with many applications; in terms of controlling processes, it contends that a relatively large number of problems or defects, typically 80%, are commonly due to a relatively small number of causes, typically 20%.

As the project is coming to a close, the customer decided to arrange live online training using a video conferencing tool so the instructor can share the training documents. At the last minute, the customer requested the training to be changed to in-person class.What additional costs should the project manager consider? A. Cost to create new content and editing B. Instructor costs C. Courseware printing and distribution costs D. Venue costs

Answer: D As part of the schedule and budget, consider the costs associated with training the project team and customer stakeholders.The cost might include:Content creation and editing costsContent hosting and delivery costsInstructional costsCourseware printing and distributionVenue costsLogistics costsWhen you switch from online live to in-person, you need to consider what it might cost to host it at a venue.

An online trading company is moving their entire office from a commercial building to "work from home (WFM)" remote environment. The project manager is going to lead the next project of moving the accounts payable and receivable department next. The sponsor indicated that there should be as few complaints as possible and asked the PM to adopt best practices from the previous move, generate new ideas of improvement so mistakes are not repeated.What technique should the project manager utilize to accomplish this? A. Questionnaires B. Mindmaps C. Focus groups D. Benchmarking

Answer: D Benchmarking is the comparison of actual or planned products, processes, and practices to those of comparable organizations to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance.

In a project designed to increase the graduation rates of a high school, the institution proposes a software to track student progress and the local educators group gets involved. The project manager needs to develop and understand the needs of this group. What should the project manager do? A. Provide the benefits management plan to the stakeholders B. Update the stakeholder engagement plan C. Request the educators group be approved by the sponsor to participate D. Meet the SMEs in the educator group with your team

Answer: D Facilitated workshops are organized working sessions held by project managers to determine what a project's requirements are and to get all stakeholders together to agree on the project's outcomes. There are different types of workshops used depending on the industry you are working in. Joint application design/development (JAD) workshops bring SMEs and the development team together to discuss and improve on the software development process.

In a project to upgrade a purchasing system, there are several stakeholders who have low levels of interest and power. How should the project manager engage these stakeholders? A. Manage them closely B. Keep the stakeholders satisfied with the project progress C. Keep the stakeholders informed D. Monitor the stakeholders for their interest and power

Answer: D High power/high interest: manage them closely High power/low interest: keep them satisfied Low power/high interest: keep them informed Low power/low interest: monitor them.

For a project to translate manual data entry to automation, the project manager has completed the communications management plan.After integrating the communications management plan into the overall project plan, what would be the next logical step? A. Determining whether there will be changes to the proposed technology before the project is over B. Creating a schedule for the production of each type of communication C. Creating a description of stakeholder communication requirements D. Distributing the plan to all stakeholders

Answer: D It is not enough to generate the various plans in the project management plan. It is essential to communicate and ensure stakeholders "understood" the plans. Otherwise, issues will occur when least expected - during execution.

A project manager who joined the project after another one left notices that the team has completed sequencing the activities. In order to determine the project durations, the project manager organizes meetings with the team members. The team members go through it and express concern that they do not have enough documentation on the type and quantities of people and equipment required to perform the work.What should the project manager do to address this issue? A. Ensure the activities are properly sequenced B. Ask the team to define the activities and their attributes fully C. Ask the functional manager to provide updated resource requirements D. Ensure accurate resource requirements are estimated before estimating activity durations

Answer: D One of the guidelines to estimating activity durations is to review the resource requirements for each activity which includes the type and the quantities required to perform the activity.

A key project resource working on developing the machine learning algorithm for the project has left the company. The algorithm is part of the company's core competency development. Hiring a new resource will take additional time and will push the project behind schedule. What should the project manager do next? A. Conduct a quality assessment and submit the audit report B. Provide a risk assessment to the sponsor C. Reach out to the previous employee with a more lucrative offer D. Initiate the integrated change control process

Answer: D Perform Integrated Change Control is the process of reviewing all change requests; approving changes and managing changes to deliverables, project documents, and the project management plan; and communicating the decisions.

A key stakeholder approaches a project manager with a change duly filled out in a change request form. This change was previously rejected by the change control board but there is new and updated information now. The key stakeholder is insisting that the board must approve it this time. What should the project manager do next? A. Submit to the change control board B. Rebalance the project C. Develop an impact analysis and submit the impact statement to stakeholders D. Update the change log and do impact analysis

Answer: D The first step is to enter the change into the change log otherwise it is not formal. Then, it is appropriate to conduct impact analysis and develop alternatives.

A project sponsor who typically required summary details was replaced by another sponsor in a project who would like to meet frequently and receive detailed reports weekly. What document should the project manager update first? A. Stakeholder engagement plan B. Communications management plan C. Risk register D. Stakeholder register

Answer: D The first thing to recognize is that the stakeholder register has changed. Update it with the new stakeholder information including power, influence, impact, urgency, etc.

Management and leadership are two facets of project manager's ability to produce project results. Which one of the following would the project manager have to do to be a good leader? A. Get things done through people B. Use various types of power such as Laissez Faire C. Use charismatic power to motivate others D. Develop vision and strategy to motivate people to achieve objectives

Answer: D There is no one in the project better suited to convey the vision and goals of the project, while also speaking about the team's progress toward those goals, than the project manager. A project manager serves as a visionary leader who helps by educating the team and other stakeholders of the value achieved or targeted, promoting teamwork and collaboration, assisting with project management tools and techniques, removing roadblocks, and articulating the project's mission. Answer A is management.

Due to a pandemic situation and the city stipulations, your company decided to make it mandatory for all employees to work from home working virtually. Previously a virtual environment has caused a few risks.What risks must the project manager anticipate? A. Team members will not be able to have flexible schedules B. It is hard to accommodate people who cannot travel C. Tools and technology to simplify communications may not be available D. Misunderstandings may arise among team members

Answer: D Virtual team building is more difficult for several reasons. Because roles, reporting, and performance can be harder to track on a dispersed team, individual contributions may be overlooked.

A stakeholder who used to be fully supportive of the project's goals has suddenly started sending emails suggesting the project must be canceled. The project manager is surprised. What should the project manager do next? A. Discuss changes in engagement with the stakeholder and update the stakeholder register with new information B. Meet with the stakeholder's superiors and ask them to replace the stakeholder with a more friendly stakeholder C. Block the stakeholder from receiving any project information D. Discuss change in engagement with the stakeholder and update the engagement plan with new strategies

Answer: D " The stakeholder engagement plan is a component of the project management plan that identifies the strategies and actions required to promote productive involvement of stakeholders in project or program decision making and execution. Keeping stakeholders engaged is crucial to the success of your project. As engagement levels change the project manager identifies the management strategies required to effectively engage stakeholders."

A project manager is reviewing the entire project management plan with the team and stakeholders in interviews and brainstorming sessions conducting SWOT analysis, document analysis, root cause analysis to determine the level of uncertainty in the project. Where should the project manager document next? A. Risk management plan B. Risk mitigation plan C. Lessons learned register D. Risk register and risk report

Answer: D The risk register captures details of identified individual project risks. The results of Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, Plan Risk Responses, Implement Risk Responses, and Monitor Risks are recorded in the risk register as those processes are conducted throughout the project. It includes identified risks, potential risk owners, and a list of potential risk responses.

A supplier received requests for proposals for two projects. Project A is complex and has a 55% return on investment for the supplier. Project B has a 25% return on investment. The project manager realizes they do not have the required skill set to perform project A but can immediately staff project B without jeopardizing project outcomes. What should the project manager recommend? A. The supplier should not bid on either of the projects B. The supplie should bid on both the porjects C. The supplier should bid on Project A because the ROI is higher D. The supplier should bid on project B because the organization has the required skills

Answer: D (Bad explanation) The supplier is obligated to bid only on projects that they can deliver on. This is only Project A. They are not stopped from bidding on it.