26. PMP Mock Exam (LITE) - 13
a. To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) The to-complete performance index (TCPI) is the calculated projection of cost performance that must be achieved on the remaining work to meet a specified goal such as the BAC or EAC. It is defined as the work remaining divided by the funds remaining. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 266]
20 percent of the work was completed in a project. At this stage, the project manager determined that the budget at completion (BAC) was no longer viable and developed a forecasted estimate at completion (EAC). What index can the project manager use to look at the calculated projection of cost performance that must be achieved on the remaining work? a. To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) b. Schedule Performance Index (SPI) c. Cost Variance (CV) d. Cost Performance Index (CPI)
a. David was asked to analyze the business requirements but he focused on the solution requirements. David was asked to analyze the business requirements but he focused on the solution requirements. Business requirements describe the higher-level needs of the organization as a whole, such as the business issues or opportunities. While the solution requirements describes in detail the features, functions and characteristics of the product that will meet the business and stakeholder requirements. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 148]
David was required to investigate a business problem and describe the higher-level needs of the business as a whole. David's final reports describes in detail the features, functions and characteristics of the product that will meet the business and stakeholder requirements. What is wrong with David's report? a. David was asked to analyze the business requirements but he focused on the solution requirements. b. David was asked to analyze the solution requirements but he focused on the business requirements. c. David was asked to analyze the non-functional requirements but he focused on the functional requirements. d. David was asked to analyze the functional requirements but he focused on the non-functional requirements.
b. Investigate the root cause and identify the required corrective action. If any stakeholder—resisting or supporting—identifies any issue, it must be addressed. The defects have already been identified and fixed. The scenario is talking about an action that would bring the future project performance in line with the approved quality requirements, this is a corrective action. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 96]
During a project update meeting, one of the key stakeholders expressed his displeasure over the project management approach. One percent of the produced deliverables had minor defects which required a rework. This stakeholder has been a resisting stakeholder so far. What must the project manager do to bring the future project performance in line with the approved quality requirements? a. Ignore the complaint from the resisting stakeholder. b. Investigate the root cause and identify the required corrective action. c. Investigate the root cause and identify the required defect repair. d. Investigate the root cause and identify the required preventive action.
d. Early in the project lifecycle Team Building Activities should take place throughout the project life cycle, but have greater benefit when conducted early in the project life cycle. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 341]
As part of the Develop Team process, the project manager has planned for some Team Building activities. Team Building Activities should take place throughout the project lifecycle but will have greater benefit when conducted: a. On a need basis b. In the middle of the project lifecycle c. At the end of the project lifecycle d. Early in the project lifecycle
c. Procurement administrator In order to realize economies of scope, many organizations treat contract administration as an administrative function separate from the project organization. This is usually true if the performing organization is also the seller of the project to an external customer. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 494]
A company manages SBG contracting bids for government tenders and all successful bids as a separate project. The structure of the company is mainly projectized for a dedicated project team to manage each project. However, to realize economies of scale, there are some central departments that serve all projects. Which of the following role is most likely to be working in a central department instead of directly working with a project team? a. Project planner b. Quality control inspector c. Procurement administrator d. Construction manager
d. Invite external Agile coaches to help the team. Initially, many organizations invite external Agile coaches to help them when their internal coaching capability is not fully developed. Product owners might have a different skillset and are not necessarily Agile coaches. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 41]
A fast food retailer has recently hired a team to develop a bespoke inventory management system. The team has never worked with each other in the past. Further, the team requires coaching on Agile approaches. If the firm does not have in-house Agile coaches, what should be done? a. Product owner should provide the required coaching. b. Select the senior-most team member to provide the required coaching. c. Nothing needs to be done; an Agile team is self-managed. d. Invite external Agile coaches to help the team.
a. Virtual teams Virtual teams overcome the hurdle of high travel expenses by forming teams of people based in different geographical areas. It might appear that management sign-off or co-location may also permit the project to move forward. However, those approaches will not be as cost-efficient as virtual teams. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 340]
A key project in an organization has been ignored, due to high travel expenses associated with the movement of subject matter experts and other specialists across various project locations. Which of the following might allow such a project to be undertaken in a cost-efficient manner? a. Virtual teams b. Negotiation c. Co-location d. Management sign-off
c. Decomposition of the deliverables into smaller more manageable components has been done excessively. It is most likely that excessive decomposition was done. This typically leads to non-productive management effort, inefficient use of resources, and decreased efficiency in performing the work. The project team needs to seek a balance between too little and too much in the level of WBS planning detail. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 160]
A project manager found that unnecessary management time was being spent on a project. In addition, the resources were being used ineffectively, and there was decreased efficiency in performing the work. The likely problem is that: a. The team is co-located instead of being geographically dispersed. b. A Project WBS was developed during the planning phase. c. Decomposition of the deliverables into smaller more manageable components has been done excessively. d. The project charter was developed during the project initiation phase.
d. Analogous estimating Analogous duration estimating is used when there is limited information available about a project. This is especially true in the early phases of a project. In such instances, a previous similar project is used as a basis for estimating. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 200]
A project manager is estimating the project duration and finds that the only information available to him is a previous project that was quite different from the current one. However, some portions of the previous project were similar to the current one. Which of the following tools is the project manager likely to use to compare current project's activity durations with the similar previous activities? a. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) b. Three-point estimates c. Parametric estimating d. Analogous estimating
b. Re-visit project planning processes and re-plan the project. If the project plan is flawed and invalid, you must re-plan the project. It appears that not only the project scope was incorrectly defined; the project risks and assumptions were ignored as well. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 107]
A project manager that has been managing an airport hangar refurbishment project has recently been fired and you have been appointed as the new project manager. The project is way behind schedule and over budget. When you analyzed the project's issue register, you realized that a number of project activities have external dependencies that were not considered during project planning. How should you resolve this issue? a. Ask other senior project managers for support. b. Re-visit project planning processes and re-plan the project. c. Seek the sponsor's guidance. d. Kill the project and request initiating a new one.
c. Risk breakdown structure This is an example of a risk breakdown structure. Risk Breakdown structure (RBS) is a hierarchical representation of risks according to their risk categories. [PMBOK® Guide, 6th edition, Page 406]
A project team has recently developed the following diagram illustrating the uncertainties around their project. What is this diagram called? a. Risk tolerance assessment b. Work breakdown structure c. Risk breakdown structure d. Risk impact assessment
a. No; the team members are not 100% dedicated to the project. Agile teams are cross-functional and they do follow Agile approaches, but they are also supposed to be 100% dedicated to the project work. In this scenario, the project team is not 100% dedicated, which is not representative of a typical Agile team. However, it must be noted that while this condition is desirable, it sometimes cannot be met. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 43]
A project team was assembled to develop organizational policies and procedures using an Agile approach. The team members were selected from various departments in order to form a cross-functional team. The members coming from operations were responsible for the development, while the members coming from support were responsible for the validation of the policies and procedures. The team members were assigned to work part-time on this project, while they continued to work in their respective departments for the rest of the time. Is this team representative of a typical Agile team? a. No; the team members are not 100% dedicated to the project. b. Yes; the team is following an Agile approach. c. Yes; the team is cross-functional. d. No; the team members are not specialists in policies and procedures development.
b. Duration of the iteration. Duration of the iteration should not have any effect on the variation as iterations with both shorter and longer iterations can face variations. Variations can occur due to either underestimation or waste. Multi-tasking, and team unavailability can cause waste. Large and complex stories can be underestimated. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 63]
A variation between story points completed and the story points planned on a burndown chart can indicate a number of things. Which of the following is usually not a cause of such variations? a. Effect of large stories. b. Duration of the iteration. c. Team members out of the office. d. Effect of team members multi-tasking.
a. Smoothing Smoothing is the method that was most likely used to resolve the conflict that arose at the status meeting. Smoothing is a temporary way to resolve conflict. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 349]
As project manager, you scheduled a status update meeting. During the meeting, a problem developed, and the group discussed it. The day after the meeting, Kevin approached you and expressed his concern that the problem was not truly resolved. After thinking about it, he felt that his concerns were still valid and should be addressed. What conflict resolution method was likely used at the status meeting? a. Smoothing b. Collaboration c. Withdrawal d. Forcing
b. Add it to the organizational process assets The feedback must not be discarded. Successful ideas and implemented recommendations need to be stored in the organizational process assets library during the Manage Project Knowledge process. Sending it back to the stakeholder does not make any sense. There is no restriction in publishing it, but updating the organizational process assets should be the project manager's priority. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 105]
Bill is managing a website development project. He has recently received feedback from one of the key project stakeholders. The feedback is positive overall, but it contains some recommendations. After analyzing the recommendations, Bill accepts them, gets them approved, and incorporates them into the project management plan. The recommendations were then implemented and the new ideas were found to be successful. What needs to be done with this feedback now? a. Publish it on the corporate intranet b. Add it to the organizational process assets c. Send it back to the stakeholder d. Discard it since it is no longer required
d. Decomposing the scope into fixed-price micro-deliverables. A fixed price contract will hedge the buyer's risk but will not limit the supplier's financial risk. On the other hand, a time & materials or a cost-reimbursable arrangement will not give the buyer any control over the cost. The recommended approach is to decompose the project scope into fixed-price micro-deliverables, such as user stories. For the buyer, this gives more control over how the money is spent. For the supplier, it limits the financial risk of over-commitment to a single feature or deliverable. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 77]
For a complex project with a loosely defined scope, which of the following contracting approaches can help an Agile team define a contractual relationship in a way that the team gets control over the expenditure while at the same time limiting the supplier's financial risk of over-commitment? a. Aggregating the scope into a time & materials contract. b. Decomposing the scope into cost-reimbursable macro-deliverables. c. Aggregating the scope into a fixed-price contract. d. Decomposing the scope into fixed-price micro-deliverables.
d. Decomposition The manager requested the team to divide the work packages into more manageable components for estimating the resources. The Define Activities process is used to divide the work packages into more manageable activities for estimating, scheduling, and executing the project work. Decomposition is the technique used during this process to divide the work packages into activities. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 185]
In a textile manufacturing project, a team divided the project work into 35 work packages and assigned a few work packages to the design department for review. After the review, the manager of the design department requested that the team further divide the work packages into more manageable work components for estimating and scheduling resources. Which of the following techniques should the team use to satisfy the manager's request? a. The precedence diagramming method b. The bottom-up estimating c. The parametric estimating d. Decomposition
a. Product owner This role is equivalent to the product owner's role on Agile teams. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 154]
In your organization the Service Request Manager role is responsible for ordering service requests to maximize value in a continuous flow or Kanban environment. This role is equivalent to which Agile role? a. Product owner b. Servant-leader c. Scrum master d. Project manager
b. Required additional coordination Increasing the number of resources in order to crash a project schedule does not always cut the time by the same factor. In worst cases, too many resources to the activity may actually increase the duration due to required additional coordination. Other choices are either not applicable or do not directly influence the project schedule. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 197]
Increasing the number of resources in order to crash a project schedule does not always cut the time by the same factor. In worst cases, too many resources assigned to an activity may actually increase the activity duration. This is because: a. Decrease in cost budget b. Required additional coordination c. Additional risk introduced due to crashing d. Funding limit reconciliation
d. Make changes as early in the project as possible. Changes should be made as early as possible in the project to avoid additional cost and delays. The influence of stakeholders is high at the start of the project and low towards the end. In contrast, the cost of making changes in a project is low at the start of a project and high towards the end. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 549]
Many project managers have seen a graph that shows "Influence of Stakeholders" starting out high and declining as the project progresses. In contrast, it also shows the "Cost of Changes" starting out low and increasing as the project progresses. What is the key insight a project manager should gain from this graph? a. Set aside money for expected changes at the end of the project. b. Place the project on hold until all changes are made. c. Stakeholder influence is not important at the end of the project. d. Make changes as early in the project as possible.
d. Retrospectives Retrospectives are used by Agile teams to reflect upon their way of working and to continuously improve it. Daily standups on the other hand, are used to communicate and make team commitments. Backlog refinement and chartering activities do not have a focus on continuous improvement. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 98]
One of the 12 Agile principles requires that, "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly". Which of the following Agile techniques help achieve this? a. Chartering the project and the team b. Backlog refinement c. Daily standups d. Retrospectives
c. Prior experience Stakeholder expectations, interests and influence are the key factors that are considered during stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder prior experience might be a consideration but that is not as important as the rest of the choices given for this question. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 512]
Project stakeholder management is an integral part of project management. The effectiveness of stakeholder analysis carried out early in a project can decide its fate. Which of the following is the least important consideration during stakeholder analysis, especially when analyzing stakeholders who are also decision-makers? a. Expectations b. Interests c. Prior experience d. Influence
c. Conducting retrospectives and following up on possible improvement areas when the vendor is still engaged. Agile techniques such as retrospectives and follow up on possible improvement areas when the vendor is still engaged can help mitigate loss of product knowledge. Make or buy analysis helps in the contracting decisions and this doesn't mitigate the risk of loss of product knowledge. The rest of the choices are not collaborative techniques. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 83]
Some organizations choose to implement projects primarily through vendors. The major issue with this approach is the loss of project knowledge once vendors complete their obligations and leave the engagement. Which of the following can help mitigate this issue? a. Including a three-year product support requirement in the contract. b. The risk is inherent in contracting and can only be mitigated through conducting make or buy analysis. c. Conducting retrospectives and following up on possible improvement areas when the vendor is still engaged. d. Mandating the vendors to document daily progress and submitting the documentation with the final deliverable.
26. PMP Mock Exam (LITE) - 13
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a. Hire an outside consultant to provide the necessary expertise to evaluate the request The project manager's best option is to hire an outside consultant to provide the necessary expertise to evaluate the request. Once the project manager has a better understanding of the feasibility of the request, he or she can bring it to the project stakeholders for discussion. PMI requires project managers to work within the realm of their experience and skills. Forming a recommendation to accept or reject the change without consulting an expert would be a violation of the PMI code. [PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct]
The manager of a project to design a new device is an electronics engineer but is not an expert in the technology used for this device. The client has requested a specification change in the design. The project manager brings the request to the project's design leader. After reviewing the request's details, the design leader states there are no experts in this technology in your organization. As a result, your team cannot assess the full impact of the requested change on the project. What should the project manager do? a. Hire an outside consultant to provide the necessary expertise to evaluate the request b. Reject the change, because it was not included in the project specifications c. Accept the change and note the lack of expertise as risk to the project d. Consult the sponsor
c. Yes, unless there is no Economic Price Adjustment provision in the contract. Unless there is no provision for economic price adjustment due to inflation, a fixed price contract's value cannot be changed. Usually fixed price contracts spanning over one year in duration have this provision built into the contract. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 471]
Three years back, your organization awarded a fixed price contract to a reputable local contractor to construct a new airport terminal in the city. A few days back, you received a change request from the contractor requesting to adjust the contract's price. The contractor is claiming that as a result of the recent national recession, the prices of raw materials have gone up and he cannot complete the rest of the project at the contract price. Is the contactor's request legitimate? a. No, the price of the contract is fixed and cannot be changed. b. No, the price hike due to recession must be adjusted against the contractor's profit. c. Yes, unless there is no Economic Price Adjustment provision in the contract. d. Yes, you cannot penalize the contactor for price escalations due to force majeure.
b. Review the RFP specifications and requirements Review the RFP requirements and specifications. Such a wide range of quotes indicates that there may be elements that are not stated clearly or correctly. Because there is no evidence of collusion between the consultant and the lowest bidder, the RFP review is the best choice. [PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct]
To assist with the selection of a supplier for a large procurement on your project, you have hired a consultant. The consultant has prepared an independent estimate to be used as a benchmark while reviewing bids on the RFP. The independent estimate is confidential and is not shared with any bidders. When the sealed bids are opened, you discover that only one supplier has submitted a quote lower than the independent estimate. All other quotes are 45 percent to 70 percent higher than the benchmark. While discussing this development with members of the project team, you learn a distant relative of the consultant owns the company with the lowest bids. What is the best course of action? a. Disqualify the lowest bidder b. Review the RFP specifications and requirements c. Confirm the lowest bidder has understood the requirements and award them the contract d. Since one of the suppliers knows more than others, you must disclose the independent estimate to all others to be fair
d. Conflict is inevitable in a project environment. Conflict is inevitable in a project environment. The other statements are incorrect. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 348]
Two of your expert team members have been in a heated argument over the use of a new software product for your research project. Recently, you noticed that the argument, instead of increasing creativity, is causing conflict between the team members. To prevent the conflict from escalating, you want to resolve it by open dialogue and evaluating alternatives. All the following statements about conflict are false except: a. Personal work style cannot be a source of a conflict. b. Scarce resources cannot be a source of a conflict. c. Reducing the amount of conflict is not desirable. d. Conflict is inevitable in a project environment.
c. There is no way to compare teams or add velocity across teams. When Agile teams provide their own units of measure for story points, teams are better able to assess and estimate and deliver their work. However, the downside of relative estimation is that there is no way to compare teams or add velocity across teams. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 67]
When Agile teams provide their own units of measure for story points, teams are better able to assess and estimate and deliver their work. However, the downside of relative estimation is that: a. Project risk is increased due to indigenously crafted units. b. Various tools such as burndown charts and Kanban boards cannot be used. c. There is no way to compare teams or add velocity across teams. d. This is a violation of the Agile Manifesto.
c. Notify the project stakeholders of the situation immediately and take responsibility for the error Notify project stakeholders immediately and accept responsibility for the error. PMI's code of ethics requires project managers to provide accurate and timely project information—including bad news—and to take full responsibility for all errors and omissions. Whenever there is an impact to cost, scope, or schedule, the project manager must notify the project stakeholders; once they have been notified, analysis of options to deal with the impact can be undertaken. [PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct]
When reviewing quarterly expenses for your project with the finance department, it becomes clear there is a discrepancy between the projected, budgeted, and actual costs incurred for equipment procured from a specific vendor. This cost variance puts the project over budget by 2 percent, inclusive of reserves. After reviewing and comparing the quotes with the invoices, it is discovered that the quotes were issued in Canadian dollars while the invoices were issued in US dollars. Which of the following is the best option? a. Dispute the charges with the vendor b. Do not notify project stakeholders and crash the project scope and schedule c. Notify the project stakeholders of the situation immediately and take responsibility for the error d. Renegotiate the contract
c. Communication, simplicity, feedback, courage, and respect. XP's foundational core values are communication, simplicity, feedback, courage and respect. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 102]
XP's evolution was the result of designing and adopting techniques through the filter of core values and informed by key principles. Which of the following are the core values of XP? a. Planning, executing, monitoring and controlling. b. Collaboration, complexity, communication, faith and discipline. c. Communication, simplicity, feedback, courage, and respect. d. Unity, faith, agility and discipline.
d. Expert judgment Expert judgment involves the stakeholders on a change control board using past project experience to help them make decisions about whether to approve or reject requested changes. This is one of the tools and techniques of the Perform Integrated Change Control process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 113]
You are a project manager who is in charge of an important project for your company. A number of changes and corrective actions have been recommended. The company uses a change control board to make decisions on its existing projects. Which of the following tools and techniques can be used to determine which change requests should be approved? a. Change log b. Project management information system c. Inspection d. Expert judgment
a. Create a seller performance evaluation A seller performance evaluation is created by the buyer and provides information about the seller's performance. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 501]
You are about to deliver a mega construction project to your client. The project, in its three-year life, went through a number of ups and downs and there were many lessons that the team learned. A number of scope components were outsourced and you got a mixed experience working with a number of vendors. If you had an experience with a particularly well or poorly performing vendor, what is the correct way to document this experience for future projects? a. Create a seller performance evaluation b. Tell all your friends about it c. Vow to only work with that vendor from now on d. Call the vendor and talk to them about the experience
d. Technical Performance Analysis Technical performance analysis, a tool and technique of the Monitor Risks process, is used to compare the planned and actual technical achievements, schedules, and other performance criteria. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 456]
You are aware that cost and schedule risks are prevalent in your project. You want to compare the technical accomplishments during the project to the schedule of technical achievements and identify the deviations. What should you perform to provide this information? a. Risk reassessment b. Risk audit c. Reserve analysis d. Technical Performance Analysis
c. Decision tree A decision tree is a decision support tool that uses a tree-like model of decisions and their possible consequences. We can also use a flow chart or a decision table to model the given procurement scenario. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 435]
You are conducting a requirements collection workshop and currently discussing a procurement process that needs to be digitized as a part of your project. The procurement manager gives you the following information on the procurement process: "If a procurement request only requires procuring materials then the department issues a purchase order. On the other hand, if a procurement request requires procuring services then the department has to negotiate a contract with the vendor. All purchase orders less than $10,000 in value can be authorized by the procurement manager. Purchase orders greater than $10,000 in value have to be authorized by the chief procurement officer. Similarly, for contracts less than $25,000 in value, all negotiations and contract authorizations are done by the procurement manager, while higher value contracts are negotiated and authorized by the chief procurement officer." Which of the following is the most suitable tool to document this process? a. Sensitivity diagram b. Use case c. Decision tree d. Pareto diagram
b. Building a foundational trust, a safe work environment and an Agile Mindset. The top most challenge for you is to build a foundational trust, a safe work environment and an Agile Mindset - all other challenges and risks can be mitigated. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 47]
You are forming the first Agile team in your company that will deliver a complex human resources management system. Which of the following should be your top most challenge? a. Acquire a cross-functional team that is 100% dedicated to the project. b. Building a foundational trust, a safe work environment and an Agile Mindset. c. Prioritizing system features based on strategic value. d. Establishing efficient communication and collaboration tools for a geographically dispersed team.
a. Formal and upward Since this will be an official project document, it should be formal. Additionally, since you are requesting money from someone higher up in the organization, you are creating an upward communication. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 361]
You are halfway through the execution of an ERP implementation project. You realize that the original cost baseline is not valid anymore and you would require additional funding to complete the project. You are now writing a proposal for additional required funding. Which communication style should you choose? a. Formal and upward b. Informal and downward c. Informal and horizontal d. Formal and horizontal
a. Fishbone diagram Cause-and-effect diagrams, also known as fishbone diagrams, why-why diagrams, or Ishikawa diagrams, break down the causes of the problem statement into discrete branches, helping to identify the main or root cause of the problem. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 293]
You are in charge of a troubled project. The project includes producing widgets for your customer. You collected production data to help identify the causes of defects in the overall process. Which technique should you use to analyze this data to determine the main source of defects? a. Fishbone diagram b. Defect repair review c. Kaizen d. Statistical sampling
c. Communications management plan As part of communications planning, stakeholder communication requirements are gathered and documented in the communications management plan. This forms part of the project management plan. [PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition, Page 377]
You are just starting on a project as project manager. The project sponsor asks you for weekly status updates by email and monthly project status meetings to review the project's progress. These requirements are documented in the: a. Organizational plan b. Project charter c. Communications management plan d. Scope statement
b. The control limits are determined using statistical calculations. The control limits are determined using statistical calculations. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 304]
You are leading a micro-component fabrication project. The project requires delivery of a number of components that need to be tightly quality controlled. Control charts are being used to determine the stability of the manufacturing process. Which of the following best describes the range of the control limits applied on a control chart? a. The control limits are based on cost tolerance. b. The control limits are determined using statistical calculations. c. The control limits are provided by the customer. d. The control limits are determined using design for X.
a. The expected velocity for the third sprint is 45 story points. Since the team has planned to complete 45 story points in the third iteration (i.e. 15 x 3), the team is expecting to achieve a velocity of 45 story points in the third iteration. The team would have already considered their past performance when planning for the next sprint and the historic information provided is irrelevant if the sprint has already been planned. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 61]
You are leading an Agile project heading into its third sprint. The third sprint contains 15 stories with an average story size of 3 points. The observed velocities for the first and second sprints were 30 and 35 story points respectively. Based on this information, which of the following statements is correct? a. The expected velocity for the third sprint is 45 story points. b. The expected velocity for the third sprint is 32.5 story points. c. The expected velocity for the third sprint is 30 story points. d. The expected velocity for the third sprint is 35 story points.
b. Analyze the vulnerability, determine the root case, identify the fix and issue a change request. There is no point issuing a change request unless the fix has been identified. Similarly, the fix cannot be identified unless the root case is identified. The root cause can only be identified when you have analyzed the reported vulnerability. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 292]
You are managing the development of a product that is of high value to the business. The product launch has already been announced and everything has progressed smoothly so far. Days before the launch, a serious security vulnerability is discovered in the product. Which of the following is the correct order of activities that needs to happen next? a. Identify the fix, issue a change request, analyze the vulnerability and determine the root cause. b. Analyze the vulnerability, determine the root case, identify the fix and issue a change request. c. Issue a change request, analyze the vulnerability, determine the root cause and identify the fix. d. Determine the root cause, issue a change request, identify the fix and analyze the vulnerability.
b. Logical data model Logical data models give a visual representation of an organization's data, described in business language and independent of any specific technology. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 284]
You are managing the development of an information system that will monitor and report on core operational processes. The vendor supplying the underlying database management system has asked you to supply the architecture of the data that need to be managed. Which of the following tools gives a visual representation of an organization's data, described in business language that is independent of any specific technology? a. Flowcharts b. Logical data model c. Mind maps d. Matrix diagrams
d. There is no cost variance CV = EV - AC. If the EV is equal to the AC, then there is no cost variance on the project. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 262]
You are peer-reviewing a project for a fellow project manager. The latest project status report mentions that the project EV is equal to the project's AC. You found it interesting since this situation doesn't happen very frequently on a project. What does it mean if the Earned Value is equal to Actual Cost? a. Schedule Variance Index is 1 b. There is no schedule variance c. Project is on budget and on schedule d. There is no cost variance
b. Revise cost estimates, schedule dates, resource requirements, and planning documents Approved change requests require changes to cost estimates, resource requirements, schedule dates and activity sequences. You should incorporate these revisions first before asking your team to implement the changes. Stakeholders can be updated after making the changes. Therefore, your first step is revising the estimates and baselines. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 120]
You are working on an information technology project as a project manager to develop a shopping website for your customers. Some key stakeholders in the project suggested scope changes to improve the website's look and feel. Your team has analyzed the impact of these changes and presented the analysis to the Change Control Board (CCB) for approval. What should be your next step if the CCB accepts all proposed changes? a. Review change control board decisions and inform stakeholders for their input b. Revise cost estimates, schedule dates, resource requirements, and planning documents c. Implement the change request and update stakeholders d. Conduct a team status meeting to update the progress on change requests
b. Sending the deliverables to the customer for acceptance Sending the deliverables to the customer for acceptance is an activity of the Validate Scope process. The other choices are activities related to the Close Project or Phase process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 123]
You have been hired into an organization that has recently established a central PMO to standardize its project management processes and increase the overall success rates of all projects. You soon find out that the project teams have historically paid less than required attention on project closing activities and hence new projects do not benefit much from previously completed projects. All the following activities are performed in the Close Project or Phase process except: a. Activities that are needed to transfer the completed products to operations b. Sending the deliverables to the customer for acceptance c. Activities that fulfill the exit criteria of the project d. Documenting the reasons for terminating the projects early
b. Lessons learned from previous similar projects The lessons learned from the previous similar projects are used throughout the project. These are already part of the organizational process assets and are not recorded in the final project report. The rest of the choices are valid sections of a final project report. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 127]
You have recently completed a major data center upgrade project. The project delivery has been accepted by the IT group and you are now finalizing the administrative closure activities. One of the requirements is the development of the project's final report. Which information would you NOT include in this report? a. Cost objectives b. Lessons learned from previous similar projects c. Risk summaries d. Scope objectives
c. $5,500 Since this is a CPIF (Cost plus incentive fee) contract, the fee is calculated as a percentage of the actual cost provided that the CPI is greater than 1. In this case CPI is greater than one (i.e. CPI = 1.25) and hence 10% fee is applicable on the total cost reimbursable. AC is $40k out of which $35k has already been reimbursed. Hence total cost reimbursable is $5k. The total payable in this case is $5k x 1.1 = $5,500. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 472]
You have recently joined an organization as the procurements manager. You have just received an invoice from a contractor. Some of the items from the invoice are as follows: EV of work completed to date: $50,000. AC of work completed to date: $40,000. Total costs reimbursed by the buyer to date: $35,000. If the contract between the buyer and the contractor is a CPIF contract, what is the total value payable to this contractor? (Assume that the contract allows for a 10 percent fee over net payable whenever CPI > 1). a. $55,000 b. $44,000 c. $5,500 d. $500
d. Encourage team members to facilitate the stand-ups in a round-robin fashion. Encouraging team members to facilitate the stand-ups instead of the project manager or the leader ensures the stand-ups do not turn into status meetings, but instead are used as a time for the team to self-organize and make commitments to each other. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 54]
You have recently noticed that many of the daily team stand-ups are turning into a status meeting and swaying away from the stand-up principles. You think this is more of a facilitation issue than a team issue. Which of the following might help you in this situation? a. Encourage the project manager to facilitate the stand-ups. b. Encourage the scrum master to facilitate the stand-ups. c. Encourage the product owner to facilitate the stand-ups. d. Encourage team members to facilitate the stand-ups in a round-robin fashion.
a. Flowchart A flowchart is a visual representation of the sequence of steps and decisions needed to perform a process. From the given choices, this is the only tool you can use to model the current and future state processes. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 284]
You need to model a number of business processes so that these can be automated by your developers. A number of stakeholders are involved in the execution of these end-to-end processes and most of them only have knowledge around a specific section of the process. Unless you model the current state process in a way that all stakeholders easily understand, developing and obtaining sign off on the future state model will be a big challenge. Which of the following tools should you use to model the current and future state processes? a. Flowchart b. PERT c. Decision table d. Fishbone diagram
d. Acceptance When risks cannot be handled or managed in a project, it is advisable to accept them. In this scenario, your team is unable to devise a suitable response strategy. Hence, risk acceptance is the correct strategy to employ. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 443]
Your project team has recently identified a risk in the software development project and decided not to change the project management plan to deal with the risk. The risk response strategy that your team used in this scenario is an example of: a. Avoid b. Transfer c. Mitigate d. Acceptance
