32. PMP Mock Exam (LITE) - 17
c. Statistical calculations The upper / lower control limits are statistically calculated (normally set at + / - 3 sigma). [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 304]
A control chart is used to determine whether a process is stable or has predictable performance. When a process is within acceptable limits, the process does not need adjustment. How are these upper and lower control limits determined? a. Variance analysis b. Pareto chart c. Statistical calculations d. ROM estimate
b. This is fine. Different deliverables can have different levels of decomposition, depending on the work involved. This is acceptable. Deliverables need not all have the same level of decomposition. This will depend on the work involved and degree of control required. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 158]
A first-time project manager in your organization has recently created a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) where the deliverables had different levels of decomposition. You have been asked to review this and provide feedback. What would your comment on this be? a. This is incorrect. All deliverables need to have the same level of decomposition. b. This is fine. Different deliverables can have different levels of decomposition, depending on the work involved. c. This is fine. The focus of the WBS is not the deliverables but the tasks involved. d. This is incorrect. Only deliverables under different branches can have different levels of decomposition.
b. The project's earned value decreases. The risk of delaying the lessons learned gathering exercise till the very end of the project is that the gathered information might not be complete because the project manager will not have the whole team available rather than those working on the closing phase. Further, this exercise might seem boring and bureaucratic effort. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 100]
A good project manager always gathers and documents lessons learned throughout the project lifecycle rather than delaying the effort until the project closure. Which of the following is not a risk associated with postponing the lessons-learned gathering effort until the very end of the project? a. The effort might seem boring and non-value-adding. b. The project's earned value decreases. c. Not all lessons learned might get captured. d. The project manager has fewer resources available.
d. Review the change request handling procedure as documented in the contract itself The first step should be to gather enough information so that the right decision and course of action can be determined. The second step should be to issue a change request and follow its approval. The project manager must first review the change request handling procedure specific to the contract and that can be found in the procurement contract itself. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 489]
A project manager feels the need of updating one of the project supplier contracts to meet the project's current needs. However, before any change requests, the project manager must know the right process to incorporate a change into this specific contract. What should he do first? a. Issue the change request and get it approved through Integrated Change Control process b. Update the project procurements management plan c. Review alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures in the contract d. Review the change request handling procedure as documented in the contract itself
d. Analogous estimating When there is a limited amount of information available about a project, analogous estimating is used to estimate the activity durations. This estimating technique uses parameters such as budget, complexity and size from previous projects to estimate the duration. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 200]
A project manager has just started planning his project. If he has only limited information about the project, he should use the following technique to estimate the duration for each activity using historical data from a similar project: a. Parametric estimating b. Three-point estimating c. Four-point estimating d. Analogous estimating
d. Exploit, share, enhance The project can capitalize on positive risks by using one of these five techniques: Escalate, exploit, share, enhance, or accept. [PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition, Page 444]
A project team has historically considered all project risks as unwanted negative events. You are helping the team change this mindset and coaching them on contemporary risk management approaches. You tell them that risks can be negative as well as positive. Which of the following are potential responses to positive risks: a. Share, mitigate, avoid b. Exploit, enhance, mitigate c. Exploit, share, extend d. Exploit, share, enhance
c. 150 points We can see that the Actual Remaining Work line stops at the 6th day. This means the team is reviewing the progress on the 6th day of the iteration. At this point, we can see that the difference between the actual remaining work and the ideal remaining work is 150 points. [PMBOK® Guide, 6th edition, Page 226]
A project team is currently analyzing its current iteration progress and reviewing the following chart. What is the current gap between the actual remaining work and the ideal remaining work? a. 50 points b. 15 days c. 150 points d. 4 days
c. Consult the coach. The project manager is the servant- leader. The product owner can clarify requirements but usually cannot remove technical impediments. Consulting the HR department will be insane. It is recommended to consult a coach at this stage. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 58]
A project team is struggling with a number of technical obstacles and impediments on the project. The servant-leader was able to remove some of the initial obstacles, but now some of these need to be escalated. What is recommended next? a. Consult the project manager. b. Consult the HR department. c. Consult the coach. d. Consult the product owner.
c. Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) contract This is likely to be a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) contract. In such a contract, the seller is reimbursed for all legitimate costs, but the fee is based on the satisfaction of certain broad subjective performance criteria defined in the contract. It is generally not subject to appeals. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 472]
A seller entered into a contract with a buyer. At the end of the project, the seller was reimbursed for the cost of the project but received a low fee based on certain subjective criteria that were specified in the contract. What type of contract is this likely to be? a. Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) contract b. Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) contract c. Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) contract d. Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) contract
a. Require all bidders to sign a nondisclosure agreement. You may then send the information to each company that signed the NDA. The best choice is to require all bidders to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before sending them this additional information, and then provide the additional information to each bidder that has signed an NDA. Project managers are required to act fairly and provide equal access to information to all authorized parties. Sending the information to only some of the bidding companies would represent a violation of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. [PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct]
After conducting a bidder conference, you receive an email from one of the bidders requesting additional information. The information was neither included in your request for proposal, nor did anyone ask for it during the bidder conference. You realize the answer to this question is critical to understanding the scope of the project. If the answer is not communicated to bidders, they cannot size their teams accurately or estimate the total duration of the project. The answer also greatly affects cost. However, the answer contains some proprietary information that, if disclosed to a competitor, may reveal the future product strategy of your company. Such a disclosure could be disastrous for a major product launch you are planning next year. You decide to send the answer to all the bidders, but you realize one of the bidders is also working closely with one of your competitors on a similar project. What should you do? a. Require all bidders to sign a nondisclosure agreement. You may then send the information to each company that signed the NDA. b. Send this information to all bidders except the bidder working with your competitor. c. Don't send this information in writing; instead, telephone each bidding company. d. Send this information to only the supplier who requested it.
a. Not-to-exceed time and materials arrangement. Customers incur unwanted risk from a traditional time and material or cost reimbursable arrangement. On the other hand, suppliers incur unwanted risk from a fixed-price arrangement. One alternative is to limit the overall budget to a fixed amount using a not-to-exceed time and materials contract. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 78]
An Agile team wants to contract out part of the project's scope of work. A fixed-price contract hedges their financial risk but doesn't provide the required agility in the relationship. A time and material contract provides the required agility but doesn't hedge the financial risk. Due to the complexity of the project, agility is required but the team wants some degree of control over the costs. What do you recommend? a. Not-to-exceed time and materials arrangement. b. Contracting is not recommended in this complex situation. c. Firm fixed-price arrangement. d. Cost reimbursable arrangement.
c. Scrum Board A Scrum Board is an information radiator that is utilized to manage the product and sprint backlogs and show the flow of work and its bottlenecks. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 154]
An Agile team wants to setup an information radiator that will be utilized to manage the product and sprints backlog and show the flow of work and its bottlenecks. Which Agile tool would you recommend to achieve this objective? a. Kaizen Events b. War Room c. Scrum Board d. Daily Standup
c. Increasing the duration might increase the velocity but this doesn't increase the performance. Velocity is the number of story points completed per iteration. If the iteration size is increased, the team should be able to deliver more story points, which will increase the velocity. But the increase in velocity through this approach will just be a wash as this approach doesn't increase the team's performance. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 61]
An Agile team's average velocity for the first couple of iterations is 20 story points per iteration. Since the team wanted to increase the velocity, it decided to increase the iteration duration from 3 week to 4 weeks. What is your view on this? a. Velocity doesn't depend on iteration duration. b. Increasing the duration can actually decrease the velocity. c. Increasing the duration might increase the velocity but this doesn't increase the performance. d. Increasing the duration doesn't increase the velocity.
a. Expert Judgment The facilities manager would be considered an expert on the A/C system; thus, this is an example of Expert Judgment. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 118]
During the weekly change control board meeting, you invited the facilities manager to speak about the change request to increase the BTUs of the air conditioning system in the new data center. This is an example of what type of tool and technique in the Perform Integrated Change Control process? a. Expert Judgment b. Project Management Methodology c. Variance Analysis d. Project Management Information System
b. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix Both the communications and stakeholder management plans are detailed textual documents. They are not presentation tools. On the other hand, both the stakeholder register and the stakeholders engagement assessment matrix contain the required information. However, the stakeholders engagement assessment is the best tool to be selected in this situation since it presents the information required by the project sponsor in a tabular format. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 521]
Greg's project is in the initiating stage. The sponsor of the project has asked Greg to present a list of the identified project stakeholders at the next project update meeting. The sponsor has also asked Greg to present the project stakeholders' current and desired engagement levels so they can brainstorm on the stakeholder engagement strategy. Which of the following is a presentation tool that can help Greg summarize all this information in a tabular format? a. Communications management plan b. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix c. Stakeholder engagement plan d. Stakeholder register
c. 34 days A critical path has a zero total float. This means that any delay in the critical path activity delays the project finish date. In other words, the critical path gives the minimum time required to complete a project. In this case, adding the durations for all critical path activities gives the minimum time required as 33 days. If activity iii is delayed by one day, then the minimum time required to complete the project will also be delayed by one day, so the minimum time becomes 34 days. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 210]
In a small office construction project, the following activities are scheduled in sequence. i) Digging and pouring footings: five days. ii) Working on the slab and pouring: three days. iii) Framing the floor: five days. iv) Wall framing: four days. v) Roof framing: six days. vi) Insulation and drywall: seven days. vii) Interior doors and trim: three days. viii) Hardware and fixtures: two days. What is the minimum time to complete the project if all activities are on a critical path except activity viii, and activity iii is delayed by one day? a. 33 days b. 35 days c. 34 days d. 32 days
c. Select the projects that maximize the business value Project should never be prioritized based on their budgets. Selecting the projects that maximize organizational revenue or selecting the projects that maximize the business value seem good options. However, adding to business value takes precedence over adding the organizational revenue, since there can be projects that add more to the revenue but add less to the business value. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 7]
Jane is currently reviewing a list of project proposals. All the proposed projects achieve some of the organizational strategic objectives and their expected costs are known. However, Jane cannot execute all the projects due to the funding limitation. How shall Jane determine which projects she needs to execute this year? a. Select the high-budget projects and drop the low-budget projects b. Select the low-budget projects and drop the high-budget projects c. Select the projects that maximize the business value d. Select the projects that maximize organizational revenue
d. Peter should have used adaptive project management approaches. Adaptive and Agile methods are more suited to projects with a huge amount of uncertainties. As the project scope wasn't defined at the start and the requirements were expected to change throughout the project lifecycle, this is the kind of project that benefits the most from adaptive approaches. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 665]
Peter is leading a knowledge work project. Since the scope of work was not clear at the start of the project and the project requirements were expected to change throughout the project execution, Peter chose to apply predictive management approaches to the project. During the first month into project execution, most of the completed tasks took more than twice the amount of time that was allotted for them. Where did Peter go wrong? a. Peter should have involved team members while estimating time durations. b. Peter should have stressed on early definition of detailed requirements. c. Peter should have allotted more time for the activities. d. Peter should have used adaptive project management approaches.
b. Ishikawa diagrams Cause and Effect diagrams are also called Ishikawa diagrams. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 293]
Recently some of your major project deliverables have been rejected by the customer. Although these deliverables were produced according to the specifications, they failed the load test during the acceptance testing. You and the team have now decided to do a cause-and-effect analysis of this situation. Cause-and-Effect diagrams are used to illustrate how various factors might link to potential problems or effects. They are also called: a. Taguchi diagrams b. Ishikawa diagrams c. Pareto diagrams d. Process diagrams
c. Active management of stakeholders Changes are inevitable. Acquiring more than required resources will put a strain on the budget and might compromise the project's financial goals. Fast-tracking always introduces risk to the project. However, active management of stakeholders almost always guarantees a decrease in project risk. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Pages 504-506]
Regardless of the type, complexity and nature of a project, all projects may benefit from application of some golden project management principles. For example, the following action decreases the risk of a project failing to meet its goals and objectives: a. Fast-tacking the project schedule to finish the project before deadline b. Discouraging changes to the initial project scope c. Active management of stakeholders d. Acquiring more than required resources
c. Project status review meetings The phase gates and the kill points are the project reviews that are done at the closure of each phase of the project. Managing stakeholder engagement levels should be a continuous process that does not wait for a project phase to complete. Information management systems can be used for the exchange of project information, but project status review meetings are interactive communication sessions among the project team members. A project status review meeting provides the best platform to discuss the current engagement levels of the project stakeholders. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 535]
Robert's project is a high-priority project for his organization. Project stakeholder engagement is crucial for the project's success. Robert needs to discuss the project stakeholder engagement levels with his project team on a regular basis. Which of the following is the best platform where Robert can review this with his team? a. Information management system b. Kill points c. Project status review meetings d. Phase gates
b. Funding limit reconciliation This is known as funding limit reconciliation. It can be accomplished by placing imposed date constraints for work into the project schedule. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 253]
Sally, a project manager, was reconciling expenditure of funds with funding limits on the commitment of funds for the project. She found a large variance between the funding limits and planned expenditures. As a result, she decided to reschedule work to level out the rate of expenditures. This is: a. Funding limit appropriation b. Funding limit reconciliation c. Funding limit constraints d. Funding limit expenditure
a. Start the development of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan The project management plan cannot be finalized until all the other subsidiary plans, including the stakeholder engagement plan, are finalized. Since the first version of stakeholder register has been developed, this implies that the first run of the Identity Stakeholders process has been completed and the project manager is now all set to kick start the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 516]
Sam's project has successfully been initiated, and all the major roadblocks are removed. The senior stakeholders have now switched from a leading role to a supportive role. What is Sam's next step once the first version of the project stakeholder register is developed? a. Start the development of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan b. Finalize the project management plan before developing the stakeholder engagement strategy c. Execute the stakeholder engagement strategy as laid out in the stakeholder register d. Start the stakeholder identification process
32. PMP Mock Exam (LITE) - 17
Start
b. Re-evaluate the costs and issue a change request. If the costs were not accurately estimated at the start of the project, these need to be re-evaluated and a change request issued. Utilizing the contingency reserves or transferring funds from other activities is not recommended. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, pages 83, 245]
The cloud service that you have acquired for your project is costing you $2700 a month instead of the budgeted $1500 per month as per the project management plan. The contingency reserve can only fund this for a few months before it is fully consumed. What should you do? a. Transfer funds from underutilized activities. b. Re-evaluate the costs and issue a change request. c. Transfer funds from future activities such as handover and training. d. Utilize the management reserve once the contingency reserve is fully consumed.
a. eXtreme Programming eXtreme programming focuses on the activities of a single, small, usually collocated, cross-functional team. The rest of the choices provide guidance for initiatives that require collaboration of multiple Agile teams in a program or portfolio. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 80]
Which of the following Agile methods focus on the activities of a single, small, usually collocated, cross-functional team rather than for initiative that requires collaboration of multiple Agile teams in a program or portfolio? a. eXtreme Programming b. Disciplined Agile c. Scaled Agile Framework d. Large Scale Scrum
d. The rewards program; the servant-leadership model encourages creating an environment where everyone can succeed. The servant-leadership model encourages creating an environment where everyone can succeed. The rewards program will create a competing environment which doesn't help in ensuring everyone succeeds. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 33]
The project sponsor has requested a project to be delivered using Agile methods. She has strongly encouraged the use of a product backlog, daily stand-ups, and using Kanban boards for WIP management. She has also designed an "Agile-compliance rewards" program that is supposed to handsomely reward the top performing team members. According to the servant-leadership mindset, what is wrong with this approach? a. WIP management; the servant-leader is responsible for the WIP management. b. Use of Kanban boards; Scrum and Kanban methods are being blended. c. Daily stand-ups; this will introduce management overhead. d. The rewards program; the servant-leadership model encourages creating an environment where everyone can succeed.
b. 0.75 Since the 25% schedule milestone has been achieved, the project's earned schedule (ES) is 25%. Further the project is in its fourth month of execution so the actual time is 33.33% (i.e. 4 months / 12 months). SPI = ES/AT = 25% / 33.33% = 0.75. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 233]
Tim is the project manager for a shopping mall construction project which is in its fourth month of execution. According to the project contract, Tim can only issue project invoices when the project is 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% complete in terms of the approved project schedule. Recently the 25% milestone has been reached and Tim is ready to issue his first invoice. According to the contract, the project must be completed in 12 months. What is the project's SPI? a. 0.25 b. 0.75 c. 1.33 d. 0.33
b. Expert judgment The technique can be called anything but according to the PMBOK® Guide jargon, this technique is called Expert Judgement. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 520]
To develop a project stakeholder engagement plan, seek knowledge from groups or individuals with specialized training or subject matter insight into the relationships within the organization. In PMBOK® Guide jargon, what is this technique called? a. Professional verdict b. Expert judgment c. Sage opinion d. Consultation
c. Agile team In an Agile setting, the team member determines how plans and components should integrate. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 91]
Traditional project management stresses the importance of project integration management and expects the project manager to be in control of the detailed product planning and integrating different aspects of project integration with each other. In an Agile setting who is primarily responsible for integration management? a. Product owner b. Servant-leader c. Agile team d. Agile coach
a. Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD). Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD) requires the entire team to get together and discuss the acceptance criteria for a work product. The team then creates the tests and writes enough code and automated tests to meet the criteria. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 56]
Which of the following Agile techniques requires the entire team to get together and discuss the acceptance criteria for a work product (The team then creates the tests and writes enough code and automated tests to meet the criteria)? a. Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD). b. Test at all levels. c. Continuous integration. d. Behavior Driven Development (BDD).
d. The objective of team-building activities is to help team members work individually and effectively. The objective of team-building activities is to help team members work together and not individually. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 341]
You are auditing the project management processes of an internal project and found out that although the processes are properly defined and being followed, the reason for the team's poor performance is inappropriate team coordination and lack of communication. Which of the following statements about team-building activities is incorrect? a. It can be a five-minute agenda item in a status review meeting. b. It can be a professionally facilitated experience designed to improve interpersonal relationships. c. Informal communication and activities help in building trust and establishing good working relationships. d. The objective of team-building activities is to help team members work individually and effectively.
a. Arrange for the local authorities to handle the disposal Arrange for the local authorities to handle the disposal. Fees paid to a local government for a standard service that government provides is not a bribe. Abandoning the chemical in the warehouse, with or without notifying the property owner is inappropriate. Project managers are required to follow all rules, regulations, policies, and processes, and failure to do so is a violation of the PMI Code of Ethics and responsibility. [PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct]
You are closing out a project you have run in a foreign company and are vacating the warehouses and offices you occupied during the project. One of the warehouses contains a large amount of a particular chemical used to manufacture the product that was a project deliverable. This chemical is on a local toxic and hazardous materials list, and as such, cannot be shipped back to your corporate headquarters in your home country. The warehouse manager informs you that a local government agency will handle disposal for a small fee and will even provide expedited service for a larger fee. What should you do? a. Arrange for the local authorities to handle the disposal b. Fees paid to local governments for services are bribes, and should not be paid c. Advise the warehouse officer to leave the material d. Request that the owner of the property dispose it on their own
b. The resulting late start and finish dates will be the project schedule baseline. The critical path method is a technique that calculates the earliest and latest possible start and finish times for work activities in a project. It uses the estimated duration of activities and the dependencies among them to determine limits for when each activity can be performed. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 210]
You are leading a massive construction project. Once the project schedule was developed and optimized, you found that the project has multiple critical paths. The critical path method is being used for the first time in your organization. Which of the following is NOT a valid statement regarding the critical path method? a. The early start and finish dates and late start and finish dates are calculated without factoring in resource limitations. b. The resulting late start and finish dates will be the project schedule baseline. c. The flexibility of the schedule is measured by the difference between early and late dates. d. A forward pass and backward pass are performed through the project network paths.
c. Scope creep Uncontrolled project scope changes are often referred to as scope creep. Scope creep is often viewed negatively, but can be managed using a change control process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 168]
You are managing a Transportation Management System development project for a major courier service in your country. The project has a big number of stakeholders, who have so far struggled with defining the project requirements in a level of detail required for system development. As a result, you have decided to try Agile approaches for system development. With the detailed system requirement not defined, which of the following is one of the major risks on your project? a. Scope control b. Scope verification c. Scope creep d. Value Added Scope
b. When seeking critical project decisions, provide solution options and supporting data. As a project manager, you need to resolve such issues and manage stakeholder engagement. If the stakeholders are not confident with making project decisions, you can help them by providing them solution options as well as any supporting data and information that can help them make the right decisions. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 523]
You are managing a complex Agile project which requires stakeholders to make multiple decisions at various stages of the project. You have noticed that the stakeholders have a tendency to make ambiguous decisions in order avoid liability for making a wrong decision. How should you deal with these stakeholders? a. Ask the stakeholders to provide their decisions in writing so that you can challenge them. b. When seeking critical project decisions, provide solution options and supporting data. c. Ask the sponsor to provide clarification on the decisions. d. Remove the stakeholders providing ambiguous decisions from the group.
d. Meet with both parties and try to understand their points of view. Doing nothing is never recommended. You need to meet both parties and try to understand their positions, that way you will be able to facilitate an agreement. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 523; PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility]
You are managing a complex industrial automation project. During the system design phase, the technical architect has raised a number of concerns with the business requirements. This has quickly transformed into a major conflict with your business analyst who has a totally different opinion regarding these requirements. Both are senior team members and have vast experience in delivering similar systems in the past. How should you address this issue? a. Vote in favor of the technical architect as it is her responsibility to deliver the design. b. Vote in favor of the business analyst as it is her authority to manage the business requirements. c. Do nothing and let both parties reach an agreement. d. Meet with both parties and try to understand their points of view.
c. Transference The use of insurance to shift the negative impact of a risk—in this case, the payment of $1,000,000—is an example of risk transference. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 443]
You are managing a fund-raising golf tournament that has a hole-in-one contest. However, your company cannot afford to pay the $1,000,000 award if someone does get a hole in one, so it has elected to take out an insurance policy in the event someone does get lucky. This is an example of: a. Mitigation b. Avoidance c. Transference d. Sharing
a. Cost-reimbursable Cost plus contracts are suitable when the work is evolving, likely to change, or not well-defined. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 476]
You are managing a process re-engineering project. Due to the nature of the project, you feel that the project scope will continue to change throughout project execution. You need to outsource the technology provision component to an outside vendor. If you are working on a project with constantly changing scope, which type of contract would work best when hiring an outside vendor to complete a portion of the work? a. Cost-reimbursable b. Fixed price c. Lump sum d. Time and material
d. Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) The Cost Performance Index (CPI) and the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) are two efficiency indicators that reflect the cost and schedule performance of the project. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 263]
You are managing a project for a client on a cost-plus contract. During the last project status meeting, the client has requested you to include some project performance metrics in your weekly reporting. Which of the following two efficiency indicators should you use to reflect the cost and schedule performance of the project? a. Cost Pricing Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) b. Cost Projection Index (CPI) and Schedule Projection Index (SPI) c. Actual Cost (AC) and Planned Value (PV) d. Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
b. Work Performance Reports Work Performance Reports are inputs to the Monitor Risks process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 453]
You are managing a software development project for your organization and currently tailoring risk management processes to be applied on this project. You are using PMBOK® Guide as a base framework for your processes. Which of these is an input to the Monitor Risks process? a. Change requests b. Work Performance Reports c. Risk audits d. Work performance information
c. Scope definition, WBS creation, Activity definition, and Activity sequencing must be done before estimating durations. Estimating activity durations is done during the planning phase of a project. Since you have just developed the requirements, the scope must be defined and the WBS must be created immediately. Based on the WBS, activities must be defined and sequenced. After sequencing, resources and duration for each activity must be estimated. Therefore, explain to your team member which activities must be done before estimating durations: Scope definition, WBS creation, activity definition, and activity sequencing. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Pages 129, 173]
You are working as a project manager for a wind-powered vehicle manufacturing project which is in its planning phase. You carefully gathered all your requirements from your key stakeholders and prepared a system requirements specification and project requirements specification. While presenting your specifications to the project team, an enthusiastic project team member started talking about the duration estimates for each activity. Which of the following statements indicates your response to your team member? a. WBS creation and Schedule development must be done after estimating durations. b. Schedule development and Costs estimation must be done before estimating durations. c. Scope definition, WBS creation, Activity definition, and Activity sequencing must be done before estimating durations. d. Scope definition, WBS creation, Quality planning, and Communication planning must be done before estimating durations.
a. Create the project charter Once a project's business case is approved, the project can be initiated. The Develop Project Charter process launches the project. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 77]
You are working for an automobile manufacturer. Your firm specializes in sports utility vehicles. There is a growing demand of electric vehicles in the market and it is in your firm's strategic interest to have this capability before its competitors. The CEO has recently initiated a project that will deliver the manufacturing capability of electric sports utility vehicles. The project's business case has been approved, what should be done next? a. Create the project charter b. Identify market demand c. Conduct and cost-benefit analysis d. Identify and analyze project stakeholders and associated risks
b. Negotiations Pre-assignment, virtual teams or negotiations as tools or techniques for acquiring project resources. However, negotiation is the tool used to acquire the project team from functional managers to ensure that the project receives appropriate staff in the required time frame. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 332]
You are working in a matrix project environment where functional managers have control over the resources. You are well aware that not acquiring the project team soon enough for your project could result in changes to the schedule, cost, and quality. To acquire the project team from functional managers, the best technique for you to use is: a. Virtual teams b. Negotiations c. Acquisition d. Pre-assignment
d. You look at the option of moving ahead with the project by using a virtual team. The use of virtual teams has created possibilities of having teams in different global locations who are working towards a common goal. The availability of email and videoconferencing has made such teams possible. Virtual teams do present additional challenges, but these can be managed in most cases. The other choices are not valid. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 311]
You have been assigned as a project manager of a new project to be executed out of New York. However, you determine the project requires a Global Positioning Systems expert who is not available within the company in New York. After doing a little checking, you determine that the company has an expert based in London who is suitable for the project. However, the London-based employee is not willing to relocate to New York for the project. In such a case: a. Co-location of resources is a key factor for the success of projects. As per PMI guidelines, you cannot proceed with the project since the resources are not available in New York. b. Write to the manager of the London-based employee and inform him that the employee needs to be convinced to relocate to New York due to project requirements. c. Manage the project without the key resource and flag this as a risk. d. You look at the option of moving ahead with the project by using a virtual team.
a. Rupesh is wrong, while responding to change is valued more than following a plan, that doesn't mean Agile projects do not require any planning effort. Rupesh is not correct, but the statement that he is always wrong is just too harsh. We don't have enough information to claim that. Although according to the Agile Manifesto, responding to change is valued more than following a plan, that doesn't mean that Agile projects do not require any planning effort. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 8]
You have been recently hired in an organization as an Agile Coach. The organization has recently recognized the benefits of the Agile approach to project management and have also successfully piloted a couple of projects using the approach. You have overheard Rupesh, a project manager at the organization, claiming that an Agile project doesn't need to be planned and the project team should always be ready to accommodate all sort of changes. What is your view about this? a. Rupesh is wrong, while responding to change is valued more than following a plan, that doesn't mean Agile projects do not require any planning effort. b. Rupesh is correct; he has recently completed a couple of Agile projects. c. Rupesh is correct, the Agile Manifesto mandates responding to change over following a plan. d. Rupesh is always wrong, further he's is not PMI certified.
a. Questionnaires Questionnaires offer a quick way of obtaining responses from a big group of people especially when the specific questions are known in advance. Interviews, phone conversations and focus groups are more time consuming techniques. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 143]
You have recently been assigned to a research project. Although there is a limited number of key stakeholders, there is a big number of other stakeholders involved in this project, especially the ones who will be using the research's outcome. You have some specific questions. Which of the following is the best way to quickly obtain responses from a big group of stakeholders? a. Questionnaires b. Focus groups c. Interviews d. Phone calls
d. Identify both the positive and negative stakeholders and address their concerns Project stakeholders are people, organizations, or groups whose interests are positively or negatively impacted by the project. A project manager must identify both the positive and negative stakeholders for successful completion of the project. Eliminating the negative stakeholders or keeping them away from the project will jeopardize the objectives of the project and may cause the project to fail. One of the mandatory standards for a project manager is to show fairness and disclose potential conflicts of interest to stakeholders. He or she should escalate issues to the sponsor only when he or she fails in influencing negative term-32stakeholders. Thus, the correct answer is to identify both the positive and negative stakeholders and address their concerns. [PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility]
You have started a project to establish a railroad between two neighboring cities. The state agency that sponsors this project is heavily committed to completing this project on time and within budget. In support of the agency's commitment, you have completed the charter and started identifying stakeholders who would support the project. You would like to gather as many stakeholders as possible and move on to the planning phase. What should a project manager do while identifying stakeholders in a project? a. Identify positive stakeholders and ask negative stakeholders to leave the project b. Notify the negative stakeholders to talk to the sponsor c. Identify positive stakeholders and eliminate negative stakeholders to gather maximum support for the project d. Identify both the positive and negative stakeholders and address their concerns
a. Escalate the issue to the client through the procedure defined in the contract. You have a risk that can delay the entire project. You need to be proactive, manage it immediately and escalate this to the client according to the agreed escalation process. Waiting for the risk to actually turn into an issue is not recommended. Similarly, overburdening the project team and issuing a change request unless a baseline change is necessary is not recommended. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, pages 83, 379]
Your client is slow with communication. As a result, you are facing delays on your scheduled activities. So far, all the individual task delays haven't impacted the overall project due to the floats available in the schedule. However, if this trend continues, there is a serious risk that the project will get delayed. What should you do immediately? a. Escalate the issue to the client through the procedure defined in the contract. b. Do nothing until the issue starts impacting the project schedule. c. Ask the project team to complete activities earlier so that you get more time for obtaining client feedback. d. Submit a change request to the client asking for more time on the project.
c. Resource Leveling can cause the project's critical path to change, while Resource Smoothing doesn't alter the project's critical path. Resource Leveling can cause the project's critical path to change, while Resource Smoothing doesn't alter the project's critical path. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 211]
Your current software development project is seriously lagging behind schedule. Your recent change request for the extension of time has been turned down and you are being pressured to deliver on time. At this stage, you are left with the option of crashing the project. You are concerned that crashing the project might over-allocate resources and want to apply resource leveling and smoothing to the crashed schedule. Which of the following statements regarding Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing is correct? a. Resource Smoothing can cause the original critical path to change, while Resource Leveling doesn't alter the project's critical path. b. Neither Resource Leveling nor Resource Smoothing alters the project's critical path. c. Resource Leveling can cause the project's critical path to change, while Resource Smoothing doesn't alter the project's critical path. d. Both Resource Leveling and Resource Smoothing can alter the project's critical path.
c. Determine problems, identify business needs and viable solutions Typical business analyst's responsibilities would include determining problems, identifying business needs, and recommending viable solutions for meeting those needs. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 132]
Your organization requires a comprehensive business analysis activity to precede project initiation for all complex and high value projects. In complex and high value projects, which of the following activities will typically be performed by a business analyst prior to the project initiation? a. Establish the project's scope baseline b. Finalize the project scope statement and the WBS dictionary c. Determine problems, identify business needs and viable solutions d. Define project scope and develop WBS