Practice Questions

Assume the following cost data is available to you: warranty costs, $150,000; inspection costs, $250,000; design costs, $450,000; employee education costs, $350,000; rework costs, $750,000. What is the cost of conformance?

$1,050,000 - Correct answer is (B) $1,050,000. Three categories of cost of quality are prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs. Prevention and appraisal costs are costs of conformance. Warranty costs and rework costs are failure costs (costs of non-conformance). Design costs and employee education costs are costs of prevention and inspection costs are costs of appraisal. Therefore, the sum of design, education, and inspection costs ($1,050,000) represents the cost of conformance.

A work package scheduled for week 12 of a project requires two people each for 40 hours at $30 per hour and a third person for 30 hours at $50 per hour. The PV or budgeted value of the work planned for that week would be:

$3,900 - 40 hours @ $30 per hour x 2 people = $2,400. 30 hours x $50 per hour = $1,500. PV is $2,400 plus $1,500 = $3,900

Which one of the costs estimates below represents a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate

-25% to 75% Cost estimates should be reviewed and re?ned during the course of the project to re?ect additional detail as it becomes available and assumptions are tested. The accuracy of a project estimate will increase as the project progresses through the project life cycle. For example, a project in the initiation phase may have a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate in the range of -25% to +75%. Later in the project, as more information is known, de?nitive estimates could narrow the range of accuracy to -5% to +10%.

You, as the project manager, have assembled a project team. Three of your team members came from the engineering department, two from the accounting department, and one from the business analysis. How many communication channels exist?

21 - Comm. channel = n* (n-1)/2; n =You+3+2+1= 7; Comm. Channels = 7*(7-1)/2 = 42/2 = 21. You are part of the team!

A Project Manager is using PERT technique to estimate activity durations in a project. For Activity-A, if the optimistic estimate is two weeks, the pessimistic estimate is three times the optimistic estimate, and most-likely estimate is four weeks, what should be the duration project manager should consider for Activity-A?

4 weeks - O = 2, M = 4, P = 6 (3 times optimistic). Calculate PERT estimate using the formula (O+4M+P)/6 = (2+16+6)/6 = 4 weeks.

A condition or capability that is required to be present in a product, service, or result to satisfy an agreement or other formally imposed specification is called?

A requirement - The question is defining a requirement. A constraint is a limiting factor. An assumption is a factor considered true, real, and certain for the the sake of planning. A risk is an uncertainty that would result in a positive or negative outcome.

Mark is the project manager on a large construction project. There are some rumors that a potential union strike could cause some delays. The PM and the project team discuss the issue and conclude there is no action they can take to minimize the impact of a union strike. This would be an example of what type of risk response strategy:

Accept - There are some risks that you cannot avoid or mitigate. When this situation occurs all you can do is accept the risk and inform key stakeholders about their potential. The accept strategy indicates that the project team has decided not to change the project management plan to deal with a risk or is unable to identify any other suitable response strategy.

In Agile Project Management, utilized in rapidly changing environments, this type of phase to phase lifecycle will generally be used for part if not the entire project

Adaptive - Adaptive project life cycle utilizes a phase to phase relationship characterized by release management with short time frames. This is also a characteristic of agile project management that is used in fast moving project environments with on-going changes such as information technology, telecommunications, and in manufacturing industry as lean methodology.

LOI, LOA, SLA are types of

Agreements - LOI, LOA, SLA, MoU are types of agreements and are inputs to Develop Project Charter

Which one of the following tools, typically specified as part of a contract, is employed in settling claims that contractual parties are not able to resolve themselves and may include negotiated procedures such as arbitration or mediation?

Alternative dispute resolution - Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is typically employed as part of negotiated settlements to resolve claims that the buyer and seller are unable to resolve among themselves. This includes using a third party through mediation (neutral 3rd party attempts compromise between parties) or arbitration (3rd party makes a decision regarding the claim). Records management system is used by the project manager to manage contract and procurement documents and records. Procurement audits are structured reviews of the procurement process. Appealing a court judgment is not an ADR process, but a legal process that occurs after a court judgment has been delivered.

A code of accounts is

Any numbering system used to uniquely identify each WBS component - In a WBS, a code of account is a unique identified assigned to each item decomposed to facilitate hierarchical summation of costs, time, and resources.

A project manager in a weak matrix organization is engulfed in disagreements with various stakeholders. The PM knows that the CPI of the project is 0.8. The team members are submitting technical modifications. The sponsor presented a new proposal. The PM determines that these proposals and modifications must be submitted to the change control board because, in this situation the purpose of the change control board is to

Approve changes - The purpose of the change control board is to review and approve the results of each change request and accept or reject changes. The project management team provides expert judgment and joins stakeholders with special expertise in the change control meetings. A PM is required to guide and influence the changes before submitting it to the change control board with options for approval or rejection. So, A or D (affect or influence) or B (guide) are not valid answers.

Which one of the following statements is most true regarding assumptions?

Assumptions need to be validated and updated throughout the project lifecycle - Assumptions are factors considered to be true, real or certain for planning purposes. Since they are a consideration, they must be revalidated throughout the project lifecycle to ensure they have not become causes of potential risks. The assumption itself is not a risk, so it would not be mitigated nor classified as a high risk. Assumptions are generally tracked in a scope statement and in project documents, not in subsidiary plans.

This project has been a nightmare. It was hard enough to get qualified team members. Due to lack of hygiene factors, the team went through severe attrition. As a result, the project was behind schedule. The only option left was to outsource the majority of the project work to a vendor. The project manager worked through a lengthy, but productive, process of Conduct Procurements. At the end of this process, the project was successfully able to

Award a procurement contract agreement - Conduct Procurements results in successfully selecting sellers and settling a procurement contract award with the seller(s). Source selection criteria, A, is developed in Plan Procurement Management. Bottlenecks affecting seller performance are identified in Control Procurements, and open issues before closing a contract are listed in Close Procurements.

You have industry-wide test results for the past four years on automobile bumper quality. You are comparing the quality of your project's automobile bumper to the bumpers rated the best in the industry. This is an example of:

Benchmarking - Benchmarking involves comparing actual or planned project practices or the project's quality standards to those of comparable projects to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance. Benchmarked projects may exist within the performing organization or outside of it, or can be within the same application area or other application area. Benchmarking allows for analogies from projects in a different application area or different industries to be made. A baseline (A) is an approved plan against which variances are measured. A reference (B) means a standard.

Which one of the following defines processes for creating, maximizing, and sustaining project benefits and must include target benefits, strategic alignment, timeframe, and metrics?

Benefit management plan - The project benefits management plan is the document that describes how and when the benefits of the project will be delivered and describes the mechanisms that should be in place to measure those benefits. The benefits management plan describes key elements of the benefits and may include but is not limited to documenting the following: target benefits, strategic alignment, timeframe for realizing benefits, benefits owner, metrics, assumptions, and risks

All of the following are true about the basic model of communication in this scenario except

Besides acknowledging, receiver agrees with the sender's message - Reviewing the basic communications model, it is evident C is true and that B is true. One of the noise that affects the project is A. However, while all messages must be acknowledged, there is no need for the receiver to agree with the message.

Your project sponsor has requested a cost estimate from you for your IT project. She would like the cost estimate to be as accurate as possible. Your best decision would be to use

Bottom-up estimating technique - Bottom-Up Estimating is a method of estimating a component of work. The cost of individual activities is estimated with the greatest level of specified detail. The detailed cost is then summarized or "rolled up" to higher levels for subsequent reporting and tracking purposes.

Which one of the following is part of the 5Cs of communications?

Clear purpose and expression directed to the needs of the reader - Misunderstandings can be reduced but not eliminated through using the 5Cs of written communications in composing a traditional (non-social media) written or spoken message. It includes: correct grammar and spelling, concise expression and elimination of excess words, clear purpose and expression directed to the needs of the reader, coherent logical flow of ideas, and controlling flow of words and ideas.

Which one of the following is an output of Control Procurements process?

Closed Procurements - Closed procurements is a key output of control procurements. Bid documents and source selection criteria are outputs of plan procurement management and agreements are an output of conduct procurements.

You are writing a communication management plan, addressing topics such as project meetings, project status reports, and newsletter issues. In writing the communications management plan, you develop an understanding of the needs and requirements of everyone involved in the project so as to develop a logical, and a methodical document describing their information needs. The technique used to develop this document is called:

Communications requirements analysis - An analysis of communications requirements determines the information needs of the project stakeholders. These requirements are defined by combining the type and format of information needed with an analysis of the value of that information. B, C, and D are unrelated terms.

A project manager intends to take the product vision, generate a release plan from it, develop an iteration plan from the release plan describing the number of iterations or sprints, and determining which user stories or features will be completed in each iteration. What would the project manager do next?

Conduct agile release planning - Agile release planning provides a high-level summary timeline of the release schedule (typically 3 to 6 months) based on the product roadmap and the product vision for the product's evolution. Agile release planning also determines the number of iterations or sprints in the release and allows the product owner and team to decide how much needs to be developed and how long it will take to have a releasable product based on business goals, dependencies, and impediments.

A project coordinator / coach working in an agile environment needs to look at the root causes of issues occurring in the project, develop trials of new approaches, evaluate and recommend adjustments if needed. What would the coach do next?

Conduct retrospective reviews - Recurring retrospectives regularly check on the effectiveness of the quality processes. They look for the root cause of issues then suggest trials of new approaches to improve quality. Subsequent retrospectives evaluate any trial processes to determine if they are working and should be continued or new adjusting or should be dropped from use. It is a meeting held by a project team to discuss: successful elements in the project/phase, what could be improved, what to incorporate in the ongoing project and what in future projects, and what to add to the organization process assets.

In a project with a diverse team, one of the best strategies to create a win-win result and resolve conflicts is to consider differing perspectives and incorporate multiple points of view and insights by generating consensus and commitment. This method is called

Confronting - Problem-Solve or confronting method takes a democratic approach to incorporating multiple points of view through consensus generation. It is time-consuming but produces a long-term solution and a win-win output. Asserting or directing pushes one's viewpoint at the expense of others. Accommodating or smoothing emphasizes commonalities and de-emphasizes differences. Reconcile, or compromise involves conceding the position to maintain harmony.

You are in charge of a 30-million-dollar new hybrid car project for Fitnestla, an electric car manufacturing company. You want to ensure optimal information flow exists among all participants at any moment in time. What does the project manager do next?

Control Communications - Adding communications may or may not make the information flow optimal. It may enhance or deteriorate. Control Communications is the process of monitoring and controlling communications throughout the entire project lifecycle to ensure the information needs of the project stakeholders are met. This ensures optimal information flow. Identify Stakeholders is the process of identifying the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project. Manage Stakeholder Engagement—The process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs/expectations, address issues as they occur, and foster appropriate stakeholder engagement.

A project team is working hard to complete the deliverables. The team is monitoring and recording the results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend any necessary changes. What activity is the team engaged in?

Control Quality - Quality control, the correct answer, is about the team monitoring the results of executing quality activities. Quality assurance refers to a QA team or client auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure the proper processes are followed. Quality management includes the processes of the performing organization that determines quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It includes all the three processes. So, A and D are easily eliminated. Between B and C the key phrases "team," "monitoring," "recommend changes" gives away the answer B.

In earned value analysis, the question "how efficiently are we using our resources?" is best answered by which one of the following metrics?

Cost Performance Index (CPI) - Practice Standard for Earned Value Management; Principles of Quality Costs, Jack Campanella; The correct answer is B. Both A (SPI), and B (CPI) appear to be logical answers. CPI is the better of the two answers. Efficiency refers to how wisely you are managing your money. CPI is the best measure of efficiency since it tells you if you are tracking over budget or under budget.

With regards to cost baseline and project budget, which one of the following statements is false?

Cost baseline includes activity cost estimates, contingency reserves, and management reserves - Cost baseline = cost estimates + contingency Projec budget = cost baseline + mgmt reserves = cost estimates + contingency + mgmt reserves

Self-funding, funding with equity, or funding with debt - these are the options currently being evaluated for a project by Cramer, a project manager for Worchester Minerals, L.P. He is developing a document that details the many ways of financing project resources such as making, purchasing, renting, or leasing and outlining financial techniques to be used including ROI, IRR, NPV, and discounted cash flow. What document is Cramer developing?

Cost management plan - A data analysis technique that can be used for plan cost management process includes but is not limited to alternatives analysis. Alternatives analysis can include reviewing strategic funding options such as: self-funding, funding with equity, or funding with debt. It can also include consideration of ways to acquire project resources such as making, purchasing, renting, or leasing.

The total cost incurred over the life of the product to achieve quality and includes prevention costs, appraisal costs, failure costs is called

Cost of quality - The cost of quality (COQ) refers to the total cost of conformance and non-conformance work done as a compensatory effort due to incorrect first attempt to do that work. CoQ includes design/training costs, rework, scrap, etc.

Which one of the following measures the value of the work completed compared to the actual cost or progress made on the project and is considered the most critical EVM metric

Cost performance index - A cost performance index gives a measure of the cost efficiency. As it is with many projects, budget or money is the most limited constraint; therefore, CPI is considered the most important EVM metric. A CPI value less than 1.0 indicates a cost overrun for work completed. A CPI value greater than 1.0 implies a cost underrun of performance to date. Either result may require immediate corrective action.

The buyer assumes more risk in which one of the following contracts

Cost-reimbursable contract - In a cost-reimbursable contract, the buyer has more risk than the seller. Read the highlighted column in bluebook page referred above carefully!

Which of the following represent useful schedule compression techniques?

Crashing and fast tracking - Crashing and fast tracking are two ways to shorten the schedule without changing the scope. Leads and lags are activity sequencing techniques. Total and free float show the flexibility in a network diagram. Mandatory and discretionary dependencies are related to sequencing activities and not schedule compression or develop schedule techniques.

A project manager got her subordinates reporting to her together and had them come up with values they will live and work by, guidelines for communications amongst themselves, process for resolving conflicts, guidelines on how they will conduct meetings, and how decisions will be made. What would the PM do next?

Create a team charter based on those skills - Team Charter is a document that establishes team values, agreements, and operating guidelines for clear expectations & acceptable behavior such as team values, communication guidelines, decision-making criteria, conflict resolution process, meeting guidelines, and team agreements. A is a "how to". A Resource Management Plan Guides how resources must be allocated, managed, and released Includes team management plan and resource management plan. C is clearly not taking next step from. D has to do with conflict management and there are no suggestions related to conflicts in the question.

You are working through the Direct and Manage Project Work process. Which one of the following activities would you do?

Create deliverables and submit change requests - A is project reporting, a tool & technique of the process of "Manage Communications". C is the monitoring and controlling process group. D is also Manage Communications. Direct and Manage Project Work is the process of performing the work defined in the project management plan to achieve the project's objectives. This results in the outputs of deliverables and change requests.

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. An example of a project is

Creating a website - A, B and C are examples of ongoing operations, not projects. Only D represents a time-bound effort resulting in a project.

The EVM schedule variance is a useful metric in that it can indicate if the project is falling behind. It is best used in conjunction with which type of scheduling methodology?

Critical path method - Schedule variance is a metric which indicates if the project is behind or ahead of schedule. Since Critical path method is fundamentally based on managing the specific activity start and end dates, the variance is best used with critical path method. Critical chain method manages schedule buffers to protect target finish dates, but not start dates. Resource leveling is a technique used to examine and resolve resource constraints by adjusting start and end dates. Monte Carlo simulation is a technique that analyzes what-if scenarios such as delaying a major component delivery, a strike, or a major change.

Which one of the following includes discussions on the achievements and issues of the previous day, and plans for the current day's work with the project team and key stakeholders?

Daily standup meetings - Project meetings should include stakeholders from outside the project and even the organization, where appropriate. Practices inherent in the agile approaches can be applied to all types of projects. Practices often include short, daily standup meetings, where the achievements and issues of the previous day, and plans for the current day's work, are discussed with the project team and key stakeholders.

The technique used to divide and subdivide project deliverables into smaller, more manageable parts in order to provide better management control is called:

Decomposition - Decomposition is the subdivision of project deliverables into smaller, more manageable components until the work and deliverables are defined to the work package level. It is a technique to create WBS which is described as the process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components.

Which one of the following optimizes one specific aspect at a time such as reliability, deployment, cost, service, usability, etc.?

Design for X - Design for X (DfX) is a set of technical guidelines that may be applied during the design of a product for the optimization of a specific aspect of the design. DfX can control or even improve the product's final characteristics. The X in DfX can be different aspects of product development, such as reliability, deployment, assembly, manufacturing, cost, service usability, safety, and quality. Using the DfX may result in cost reduction, quality improvement, better performance, and customer satisfaction.

You have completed a two-week feasibility study and presented your observations to the client. The client realizes the value of your study and approves the business case for the project. This business case document is used as an input to which process?

Develop Project Charter - A business case, agreements, and benefit management plan are key inputs to the process of developing a project charter. A project does not happen out of thin air. It is carefully studied for economic feasibility and a formal business case is made before initiating.

______ is a process which defines, integrates and coordinates all subsidiary plans into a coherent document. Although this document contains outputs from the planning process group only it guides how a project will be executed, monitored and controlled, and closed. This document is called:

Develop Project Management Plan - Develop Project Management Plan [Process]. The process of documenting the actions necessary to define, prepare, integrate, and coordinate all subsidiary plans.

A project manager is using interpersonal skills, sending team members to training as needed, conducting team building activities, establishing and enforcing team charter for acceptable team behavior, and ensuring appropriate team members are colocated. Which one of the following processes is being performed?

Develop team - To develop the project team, the project manager uses all of the above tools mentioned in the question. Managing project team resources involves tracking team member performance, resolving team issues and providing feedback. Responding to change involves identifying change and related factors, working them through the change management process.

Which one of the following conflict resolution techniques involves a win-lose situation?

Direct - Directing or asserting or forcing one point of view for another is a win-lose situation. Collaborate is win-win; compromise is lose-lose, and Manage team is a process and not a technique to resolve conflicts.

Changes could occur anytime on a project and they could be submitted by any stakeholder. It is the job of the project manager to ensure that none of the changes circumvent Integrated Change Control. Approved changes are implemented in which of the following processes?

Direct and manage project work - All implementations of project work or changes that are approved are done in Direct and Manage Project Work

Which one of the following is not an agile life cycle artifact that is displayed in a transparent fashion for all stakeholders?

Earned Value Analysis - Posting project artifacts in a transparent fashion, and holding regular stakeholder reviews are intended to promote communication with management and stakeholders. This includes making Kanban boards, burn up charts, and burn down charts.

Manage Stakeholder Engagement involves activities such as

Engaging stakeholders at appropriate project stages - A is done in manage stakeholder engagement, B is done in manage quality, C is done in manage team, and D is an aspect of sender-receiver model

In agile environments, which one of the following represents decomposition

Epics are decomposed into user stories - In Agile, product backlog goes through iteration planning to produce an iteration backlog which in turn is decomposed to user stories. Epics are big user stories that are done over multiple iterations and are broken down into descriptions of required functionality called user stories.

The communications management plan describes stakeholders' communications requirements. It is a subsidiary plan of the project management plan. This communications management plan would include

Escalation processes and management chain for escalating issues - The Communications Management Plan contains, among other things, an escalation process with names along the management chain that the escalation needs to follow. Risks, resource requirements or strategic plan are not part of it.

The process of estimating team resources and the type and quantities of material, equipment, and supplies necessary to perform project work is called:

Estimate Activity Resources - Estimate Activity Resources is the process of estimating team resources and the type and quantities of materials, equipment, and supplies necessary to perform project work. The key benefit of this process is that it identifies the type, quantity, and characteristics of resources required to complete the project. This process is performed periodically throughout the project as needed.

It is your job to communicate to the customer that their project is currently more than three weeks behind schedule. This message should be

Formal and written - You may call to soften the blow, but status on slippage should be formal and documented.

You are a project manager working in a weak matrix organization. One of your team members is not performing well on this project. The only solution to the problem is to remove the team member from the project. In this situation, who has the authority to do this?

Functional manager - The initiator/sponsor is responsible for funding the project and approving the project charter. The PMOs function in an organization may be an advisory position, limited to the recommendation of specific policies and procedures on the individual project. PMOs usually do not have any direct influence on the project staff. The project manager should have control over the project and the project team, but in a weak matrix organization the functional manager controls both the staff and the project manager. In this type of organization, the project manager does not have much power.

In which one of the following organizational structures does the project manager act as a project expediter?

Functional organization - In a functional organization, the project manager plays the role of expediter or coordinator.

In a project, sometimes a project manager may have to plan to reschedule work to reconcile planned expenditures vs. funding limits. This is accomplished with imposed date constraints such as "do not start earlier than" on specific activities for which funding has not been scheduled yet. This is referred to as

Funding limit reconciliation - Funding limit reconciliation: Expenditure of funds is reconciled with the funding limits set by the customer or performing organization. A variance between the funding limits and the planned expenditures will sometimes necessitate the rescheduling of work to level out the rate of expenditures. This can be accomplished by placing imposed date constraints for work elements into the project schedule.

Successful self organizing teams usually consist of:

Generalized Specialists - Successful self-organizing teams usually consist of generalized specialists, instead of subject matter experts, who continuously adapt to the changing environment and embrace constructive feedback.

A project manager who has recently been brought in to deal with an influx of a large stakeholder group is spending a lot of time on specific sections of the power/interest grid. The project manager decided that he has to manage closely those stakeholders who have

High power and high interest - Stakeholders who need to be watched and managed closely are those who are extremely important i.e. those who have a high interest, but also wield a high level of authority (power). C is incorrect since we are talking about a power/interest grid.

Which of the following statements is true regarding the results of achieving higher quality

Higher productivity, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, and less rework - Quality results in all the items mentioned in C. A, B, and D have one or more factor stated incorrectly. Answer B is incorrect since the alternative to not spending money on Quality is much higher costs. So, it results in lower costs. See Cost-Benefit Analysis

Which one of the following is not an example of a source of resource risk for successful completion of a project?

Hiring a talented team resource for tasks on critical path - Failing to manage and control resources efficiently is a source of risk for successful project completion. D represents a strategy that should be in line with acceptable PMI practices.

A project manager has completed developing the project charter. What does he do next?

Identify stakeholders - Identify Stakeholders, Plan Cost Management, and Collect Requirements all have project charter as an input. Identify Stakeholders must be done before any of the other processes because knowing your stakeholders helps collect requirements or plan cost management immensely. Create WBS, the other answer is an easy throwaway since it is further way down in the process after Define Scope.

Which one of the following is a life cycle where deliverables are produced through a series of iterations that successively add functionality?

Incremental life cycle - In an incremental life cycle, the deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successively add functionality within a predetermined time frame. The deliverable contains the necessary and sufficient capability to be considered complete only after the ?nal iteration. In an iterative life cycle, the project scope is generally determined early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified. In a predictive life cycle, the project scope, time, and cost are determined in the early phases of the life cycle. A product life cycle is the series of phases that represent the evolution of a product, from concept through delivery, growth, maturity, and to retirement.

What type of communications is most appropriate for initially communicating performance issues to an underperforming team member?

Informal verbal - Performance issues should first be addressed face-to-face and in private. Informal communication and activities can help in building trust and establishing good working relationships.

In agile environments which one of the following is true:

Less time is spent on defining scope and more time is spent on discovery and refinement - In projects with evolving requirements, high risk, or significant uncertainty, the scope is often not understood at the beginning of the project or it evolves during the project. Agile methods deliberately spend less time trying to define and agree on scope in the early stage of the project and spend more time establishing the process for its ongoing discovery and refinement. Many environments with emerging requirements find that there is often a gap between the real business requirements and the business requirements that were originally stated.

The Critical Path is the sequence of activities that represents the __________________ in the network diagram.

Longest path - The critical path is the sequence of activities that represents the longest path through a project, which determines the shortest possible project duration. The longest path has the least total ?oat—usually zero.

Which one of the following refers to a work package?

Lowest level in a work breakdowns structure - Work packages are the lowest level components in a WBS

Which one of the following results in a decision on whether the work can be best done by the team in-house or needs to be purchased from external resources?

Make-buy analysis - Make-or-buy analysis results in a decision of whether particular work can best be accomplished by the project team or needs to be purchased from outside sources. Conduct procurements is the process of selecting a seller.

Your project team is using electronic project management tools such as project management software, virtual office support software, electronics communications such as email, fax, voice mail, web conferences social media management such as websites, blogs, employing communication skills incorporating communications competence, feedback, non-verbal communications, making presentations etc. Which one of the following processes is occurring?

Manage Communications - Tools of manage communications include interpersonal and team skills, PMIS (electronic PM tools, electronic communications management, social media management), communications skills, communication technology and communication method. The question is clearly showing communications is occurring which is implementing the communications plan and is done in Manage Communications.

Tracking team member performance, resolving issues, and managing team changes are done in

Manage Team - Manage Team is the process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing team changes to optimize project performance. The key benefit of this process is that it influences team behavior, manages conflict, and resolves issues. This process is performed throughout the project.

Which one of the following processes addresses concerns, resolves issues, and fosters stakeholder engagement?

Manage stakeholder engagement - Notice the keywords "stakeholder engagement" in the question. The words "resolve," "address" etc. refer to the "manage" part of the process name.

Taking action early to reduce the probability of a risk occurring and its impact on the project is more effective than trying to repair the consequences after the risk has occurred. Which one of the following risk response approaches uses this strategy?

Mitigation - Reducing the probability or impact of adverse risks to bring them within acceptable threshold limits is risk mitigation. The key word in the question is "reduce" (not eliminate or accept or transfer to a 3rd party)

_________ involves monitoring the implementation of agreed-upon risk response plans, tracking identified risks, identifying and analyzing new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness throughout the project.

Monitor Risks - Monitor Risks is the process of monitoring the implementation of agreed-upon risk response plans, tracking identified risks, identifying and analyzing new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness throughout the project. The key benefit of this process is that it enables project decisions to be based on current information about overall project risk exposure and individual project risks. This process is performed throughout the project.

Which one of the following is the process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the overall progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan?

Monitor and control project work - Monitor and Control Project Work is the process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting the overall progress to meet the performance objectives de?ned in the project management plan. The key bene?ts of this process are that it allows stakeholders to understand the current state of the project, to recognize the actions taken to address any performance issues, and to have visibility into the future project status with cost and schedule forecasts. This process is performed throughout the project. Monitoring and Controlling process group is a process group and not a process.

Which one of the following processes provides the benefit of maintaining or increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of stakeholder engagement activities as the project evolves and its environment changes by tailoring engagement strategies and plans?

Monitor stakeholder engagement - Monitor Stakeholder Engagement is the process of monitoring project stakeholder relationships and tailoring strategies for engaging stakeholders through modi?cation of engagement strategies and plans. The key benefit of this process is that it maintains or increases the efficiency and effectiveness of stakeholder engagement activities as the project evolves and its environment changes. This process is performed throughout the project.

As the project is accomplishing work, it may slip in its spending if it is not monitored carefully. Control costs involves:

Monitoring the status of project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline - A is a function of integrated change control. B aligns with the definition of control costs which is to monitor and manage authorized project budget (or cost performance baseline) and manage changes to this baseline. C is only a partial definition since controlling costs ensures all aspects of a project are managed while keeping the costs within approved levels. D is obviously not a correct strategy in controlling costs.

An exuberant team helped a project manager complete project scope statement and WBS ahead of schedule. The team has now started working together, adjusting their behavior to support the team, and demonstrating early signs of mutual trust and agreement with established procedures. The PM is hoping that they will soon work like a well-organized unit for a very high productive environment? The team is going through

Norming - In forming, the team is polite, guarded, getting to know each other and understanding their roles and responsibilities. They are independent and business-like. In forming, the team is addressing project work, technical decisions, and PM approach. If the team is not open to conflicting ideas, it could be destructive in this stage. Norming is where there is a resolution in the team. They are now organized, working together, being supportive, and showing mutual acceptance and agreement with ground rules. So, this is the right answer. The PM is hoping for them to move to performing - where they work like a well-organized unit with high performance and productivity. So, D has not occurred yet.

When developing the project charter and subsequent project documentation, a PM may utilize historical information, lessons learned, templates, standards & guidelines, policies & procedures. These are all part of

Operational assets

Cary's job involves taking the project handed off to him after the completion of the project and provides long term support to sustain the company. Cary is the

Operations manager - Key stakeholders on every project include: the project manager, the project team, the sponsor, the functional manager, the operations manager, the performing organization and the PMO. The functional manager is different from operations manager in that they assign staff to the project, but do not get handed off a project for long-term support. Operations manager gets the project handed off to them. They continue to maintain and support it. Operations sustain the business.

A project manager has to find an appropriate balance for investing in the cost of prevention and appraisal to avoid failure costs. What is this concept called

Optimal Cost of Quality - The optimal COQ is one that reflects the appropriate balance for investing in the cost of prevention and appraisal to avoid failure costs. Models show that there is an optimal quality cost for projects, where investing in additional prevention/appraisal costs is neither beneficial nor cost effective. Total quality management or TQM believes in Organization wide management of quality. Lean six-sigma aims to eliminate waste. D is not talking about striking a balance between prevention & inspection

A large construction organization set up to build a bridge is organized into departments such as electrical, plumbing, roofing, paint and décor, etc. You are a PM for this construction organization and would like to use a tool for each department to clearly see their duties and responsibilities. You would use which one of the following:

Organization breakdown structure - An OBS is arranged according to an organization's existing departments, units, or teams, with the project activities or work packages listed under each department. An operational department, such as information technology or purchasing, can see all of its project responsibilities by looking at its portion of the OBS.

Control Procurements has a financial management component that involves monitoring payments to the seller. This ensures:

Payment terms were met and compensation paid is linked to sellers progress - Control Procurements has a ?nancial management component that involves monitoring payments to the seller. This ensures that payment terms de?ned within the contract are met and that compensation is linked to the seller's progress as de?ned in the contract. A principal concern when making payments is to ensure there is a close relationship of payments made to the work accomplished. A contract that requires payments linked to project output and deliverables rather than inputs such as labor hours has better controls.

A project manager is managing procurement relationships and is using claims administration and contract change control systems. What does the PM do next?

Perform integrated change control - The results from Control Procurements include closed procurements and change requests which are inputs to Perform Integrated Change Control. In Plan Procurement Management, no contract agreement exists. The contract agreement is an output of Conduct Procurements. Validate Scope, which involves formally accepting verified project deliverables, is a process conducted by the performing organization.

All of the following statements are true about overall risk except

Perform integrated change control addresses only individual risks and not overall project risk - As referenced in the pages above, A, B, C are all true. Integrated change control addresses both individual risk and overall project risk.

A project manager is conducting subjective risk probability and impact assessment and correcting these assessments for urgencies if required. What process is the project manager in?

Perform qualitative risk analysis - There are several keywords in the question that give away the answer - "subjective," "probability and impact," urgencies. Perform quantitative risk analysis is the process of subjectively analyzing the risks using the tools of the probability-impact matrix, probability-impact assessment, risk urgency assessment, and risk data quality assessment.

Which one of the following represents an integrated scope-schedule-cost plan for the project work against which project execution is compared?

Performance measurement baseline - Performance measurement baseline is an integrated scope-schedule-cost plan for project work. Project execution is compared to the PMB to measure and monitor deviations.

Holland Technology Partners (HTP) summer picnic is the best annual party in the area. HTP invites all of their customers, clients, partners, investors, and employees to this event. As the HR director, you must make sure that the picnic goes smoothly, so you have decided to give the picnic contract to a third party. This decision is an example of risk transference and is completed during which process?

Plan Risk Responses - Plan Risk Responses involve developing options and determining actions to reduce threats as in the above example. The risk has already been identified. Remember, in Plan Risk Management, no risks or responses are identified; only an approach to risk management is developed.

The project manager needs to keep Jim Rodriguez informed and involved in high-level meetings. Jim's group acts as a project selection panel and provides high-level governance to a collection of projects and programs. Jim and his group's role in this project is that of a/an

Portfolio manager - Definition: Portfolio managers/portfolio review board. Portfolio managers are responsible for the high-level governance of a collection of projects or programs, which may or may not be interdependent. Portfolio review boards are committees usually made up of the organization's executives who act as a project selection panel. They review each project for its return on investment, the value of the project, risks associated with taking on the project, and other attributes of the project. Stakeholder, one of the confusing answers is too generic. A specific correct answer is always preferred over generic less correct answer.

A project manager is trying to bring a schedule back in line with expected performance. He reviews his network diagram for opportunities and realizes he has the flexibility to use finish-to-finish, finish-to-start, start-to-start, and start-to-finish relationships. What type of network diagramming method is he using?

Precedence diagramming method - PDM includes four types of dependencies or logical relationships. A predecessor activity is an activity that logically comes before a dependent activity in a schedule. A successor activity is a dependent activity that logically comes after another activity in a schedule. These relationships are: finish-to-start (FS) - A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has finished. For example, installing the operating system on a PC (successor) cannot start until the PC hardware is assembled (predecessor); finish-to-finish (FF) - A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished. For example, writing a document (predecessor) is required to finish before editing the document (successor) can finish. start-to-start (SS) - A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has started. For example, level concrete (successor) cannot begin until pour foundation (predecessor) begins; start-to-finish (SF) - A logical relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has started. For example, a new accounts payable system (successor) has to start before the old accounts payable system can be shut down (predecessor).In PDM, FS is the most commonly used type of precedence relationship. The SF relationship is very rarely used, but is included to present a complete list of the PDM relationship types.

Which one of the following statements is not true about the project management process groups?

Process groups are same as project lifecycle phases - Process Groups are not project phases. If the project is divided into phases, the processes in the Process Groups interact within each phase. It is possible that all Process Groups could be represented within a phase. As projects are separated into distinct phases, such as concept development, feasibility study, design, prototype, build, or test, etc., processes in each of the Process Groups are repeated as necessary in each phase until the completion criteria for that phase have been satisfied.

Which one of the following provides information on the activities to be performed during the control procurement process?

Procurement Management Plan - The procurement management plan contains the activities to be performed during the Control Procurement process.

An important output of Sequence Activities is

Project schedule network diagram - Project schedule network diagrams are an output of Sequence Activities process. Activity list is an output of Define Activities process. Correction actions are actions performed to realign performance with the project management plan. They are reactive responses. Schedule management plan is an output of Plan Schedule Management.

The work that has been completed to develop the features and functions of a product and services is called:

Project scope - Project scope refers to the work completed to deliver the product or service or result with the specified features and functions. It is measured against the project management plan.

Which of the following organizational process assets influences Close Project or Phase?

Project/phase closure guidelines - The organizational process assets that can influence the Close Project or Phase process include but are not limited to: project or phase closure guidelines or requirements (e.g., lessons learned, final project audits, project evaluations, product validations, acceptance criteria, contract closure, resource reassignment, team performance appraisals, and knowledge transfer), configuration management knowledge base containing the versions and baselines of all official organizational standards, policies, procedures, and any project documents.

Which of the following describes the processes for incorporating the organization's policy regarding planning, managing, and controlling project and product quality requirements, in order to meet stakeholders' expectations?

Quality Management - Project Quality Management includes the processes for incorporating the organization's quality policy regarding planning, managing, and controlling project and product quality requirements in order to meet stakeholders' objectives. Project Quality Management also supports continuous process improvement activities as undertaken on behalf of the performing organization.

As part of the procurement process, a project manager has worked through a detailed set of meetings to proceed with a plan for a fixed price plus incentive contract with potential buyer-seller ratios and incentive clauses. She created a procurement plan to manage the entire procurement process without hurdles. Finally, she used standard forms from organizational process assets, expert judgment, and a procurement statement of work to develop RFPs, RFQs, and evaluation criteria. What would the project manager do next?

Request proposals from vendors - The PM has completed Plan Procurement Management. The logical next step is to obtain seller responses in Conduct Procurements

Sara is a project manager who is concerned about achieving all of the stakeholder requirements in her project. What document will help Sara ensure that all approved requirements are delivered at the end of the project and which process will she use to see that this objective is achieved?

Requirements traceability matrix, control scope - The requirements traceability matrix is a document generated in collect requirements. It provides the means to track requirements to ensure they are delivered at the end of the project. This document links requirements to the project goals, origin, deliverables, WBS, product design, and test scenarios. The control scope process then manages any changes to the product scope to see this objective is achieved.

Although Develop Team is an on-going effort throughout the project life cycle, it can be done only when project team resources are available and can participate in team development activities. This availability information is derived from:

Resource Calendars - Resource calendars identify times when the project team members can participate in team development activities. The resource management plan provides guidance on providing project team member rewards, feedback, additional training, and disciplinary actions as a result of team performance assessments and other forms of project team management. The resource management plan may include also the team performance assessment criteria.

Which of the following describes the type and quantities of resources required for each schedule activity in a work package?

Resource requirements - Definition of resource requirements, an output of Estimate Activity Resources. Resource requirements identify the types and quantities of resources required for each work package or activity in a work package and can be aggregated to determine the estimated resources for each work package, each WBS branch, and the project as a whole. The amount of detail and the level of specificity of the resource requirement descriptions can vary by application area. The resource requirements' documentation can include assumptions that were made in determining which types of resources are applied, their availability, and what quantities are needed.

Which one of the following is a data analysis tool & technique used to identify risks?

SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis. This information gathering technique examines the project from the perspective of each project's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to increase the breadth of the risks considered by risk management.

A project has gone through a massive cost reduction and in the process lost the existing project manager. When a new project manager was chartered to this project, one of the first steps she took was to review a document that depicted the stakeholders visually. She used a Venn diagram showing their power (ability to impose their will), urgency (need for immediate attention), and legitimacy (their involvement is appropriate). As a result, she was able to identify dominant, forceful, and respected stakeholders whose expectations need to be managed. Which tool or document was she reviewing?

Salience model - A salience model describes classes of stakeholders based on their ability to impose their will (power), need for immediate action (urgency), and level of involvement (legitimacy) in the form of a Venn diagram. It is a tool and technique in Identify Stakeholders and is used for stakeholder analysis.

Which of the following would likely be used in the process that identifies people, groups, their interests, expectations, involvement and their impact by and on the project?

Salience model and power/influence grid - Identify Stakeholders is the process of identifying all people or organizations impacted by the project, and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, and impact on project success. This is done by conducting stakeholder analysis through tools such as salience model, power/impact grid, and power/influence grid.

While executing the work as defined in the project plan of the project, you are most likely to do which one of the following

Schedule and implement approved change requests - A is part of Direct and Manage Project Work after changes have been approved and fed into the process. B is part of Sequence activities, C is part of Close Project or Phase, and D is part of Perform Integrated Change Control.

An adept project manager was planning a time-sensitive project. After receiving the PERT estimates from the team members while performing Estimate Activity Durations, the project team chose to incorporate additional time into the estimate to account for schedule uncertainty. This time is called

Schedule reserves - Duration estimates may include contingency reserves, sometimes referred to as schedule reserves, to account for schedule uncertainty. Contingency reserves are the estimated duration within the schedule baseline, which is allocated for identified risks that are accepted. Contingency reserves are associated with the known-unknowns, which may be estimated to account for this unknown amount of rework. The contingency reserve may be a percentage of the estimated activity duration or a fixed number of work periods. Contingency reserves may be separated from the individual activities and aggregated. As more precise information about the project becomes available, the contingency reserve may be used, reduced, or eliminated. Contingency should be clearly identified in the schedule documentation.

Which one of the following is an example of a project management information system?

Scheduling software tool - Examples of PMIS include an automated tool, such as a scheduling software tool, a configuration management system, an information collection and distribution system, or web interfaces to other online automated systems

Because of a specification modification request from a project stakeholder, you have gone through the change control process. After approving these changes, you need to update the

Scope Baseline - The scope statement describes deliverables and product. So, it does not include the details of the scope. The WBS breaks down the deliverables into components. The WBS dictionary has the key details of all the work under each work package. Together, the three of these represent the entire scope or the work of the project. So, scope statement may change only if it is big enough to affect the deliverables and/or product, but the scope baseline (scope statement, WBS, dictionary) will always change with a specification change. Cost baseline and project charter may change if this change influences cost or has a major influence. The question does not indicate either of these situations.

Which of the following outputs from other knowledge areas are inputs to Estimate Costs process?

Scope baseline, risk register - Scope baseline is required as an input since we are estimating costs for each activity and work package. Risk register allows us to estimate the additional cost to incorporate as reserves. A and B are not right since they contain aspects of cost management knowledge areas. C is wrong since they are not inputs to the Estimate Costs process.

__________________ is the term used to describe uncontrolled expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources i.e. adding features and functionality to scope without addressing the effects on time, costs, or resources or without customer approval?

Scope creep - Controlling the project scope ensures all requested changes and recommended corrective or preventive actions are processed through the Perform Integrated Change Control process. Control Scope is also used to manage the actual changes when they occur and is integrated with the other control processes. The uncontrolled expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources is referred to as scope creep. Change is inevitable; therefore, some type of change control process is mandatory for every project.

Project management in the PMBOK® Guide is described in terms of ten knowledge areas. Collectively, these ten knowledge areas provide the wherewithal for the project manager to effectively manage the project to its success. In this context, ___________ describes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work and only the work required

Scope management - Scope management involves processes that are required to ensure that the project includes all of the work and only the work required to achieve the project outcome. Project management is a much bigger animal that includes the ten knowledge areas and not just "work" related processes. Procurement management deals with acquiring products and services from outside. Stakeholder management is about identifying stakeholders, engaging them, and managing their expectations.

Your project team has just finished implementing a risk response on your project. A new risk occurred as a direct outcome of implementing the risk response. This new risk would be referred to as

Secondary Risk - Secondary risks are risks that arise as a direct outcome of implementing a risk response. Residual risks are those that are expected to remain after planned responses have been taken. Cumulative and follow-up risk are fictitious terms.

A project manager has an effort where the project scope was easy to determine early in the project life cycle, but cost and time estimates can change frequently. What does the PM do next?

Select an iterative life cycle to implement the project - CD is true of A, B, C. So, it is too generic an answer. In a predictive life cycle, the project scope, time, and cost are determined in the early phases of the life cycle. Any changes to the scope are carefully managed. Predictive life cycles may also be referred to as waterfall life cycles. In an iterative life cycle, the project scope is generally determined early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team's understanding of the product increases. Iterations develop the product through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the functionality of the product. In an incremental life cycle, the deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successively add functionality within a predetermined time frame. The deliverable contains the necessary and sufficient capability to be considered complete only after the final iteration. Adaptive life cycles are agile, iterative, or incremental. The detailed scope is defined and approved before the start of an iteration. Adaptive life cycles are also referred to as agile or change-driven life cycles.

Decision tree analysis involves evaluation of various decision options available to evaluate the implications of a chain of multiple options in the presence of uncertainty. It involves calculated the expected monetary value of each branch allowing the optimal path to be selected. Its purpose is to:

Select the best of several alternative courses of action available - Decision trees are used to support selection of the best of several alternative courses of action. Alternative paths through the project are shown in the decision tree using branches representing different decisions or events, each of which can have associated costs and related individual project risks (including both threats and opportunities). The end-points of branches in the decision tree represent the outcome from following that particular path, which can be negative or positive. The decision tree is evaluated by calculating the expected monetary value of each branch, allowing the optimal path to be selected.

Which one of the following represents a team which is characterized by an absence of centralized control?

Self-organizing teams - Self-organizing teams: The increase in using agile approaches mainly for the execution of IT projects has given rise to the self-organizing team, where the team functions with an absence of centralized control. In projects that have self-organizing teams, the project manager (who may not be called a project manager) role provides the team with the environment and support needed and trusts the team to get the job done. Successful self-organizing teams usually consist of generalized specialists, instead of subject matter experts, who continuously adapt to the changing environment and embrace constructive feedback.

Crashing, a schedule compression technique is used to

Shorten the schedule without changing the scope - The goal of crashing is to attain the highest compression for the lowest incremental cost. It is done by adding resources or time. Regardless of whether you use crashing or fast tracking, scope remains the same. D is incorrect since "schedule compression" equals changing project duration.

Which of the following quality standards is the highest?

Six sigma quality - 1 sigma = 68.26% 2 sigma = 95.46% 3 sigma = 99.73% 6 sigma = 99.999% 6 sigma is better than 99% quality. So, the correct answer is 6 sigma.

__________ is the the amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed or extended from its early start date without delaying the project finish date or violating a schedule constraint

Slack - On any network path, the total float or schedule flexibility is measured by the amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed or extended from its early start date without delaying the project finish date or violating a schedule constraint. A critical path is normally characterized by zero total ?oat on the critical path. As implemented with the precedence diagramming method sequencing, critical paths may have positive, zero, or negative total ?oat depending on the constraints applied.

Plan Communications Management is the process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications activities based on the information needs of each stakeholder or group, available organizational assets, and the needs of the project. It does not include:

Stakeholder analysis - Communications requirements analysis involves determining project communications requirements as part of Plan Communications Management. It needs A, B, and D to determine communications requirements. Stakeholder analysis is a tool and technique of the identify stakeholders process and is not an information artifact. TIP: Most inputs are nouns or names of artifacts, and most tools and techniques are verbs or action words. The term "Analysis" should stand out as an exception since it refers to an action and must be a tool and technique and not information or document or input.

Which one of the following is a 3-dimensional grid model that assists in stakeholder analysis?

Stakeholder cube - A stakeholder cube a refinement of the grid models previously mentioned. This model combines the grid elements into a three-dimensional model that can be useful to project managers and teams in identifying and engaging their stakeholder community. It provides a model with multiple dimensions that improves the depiction of the stakeholder community as a multidimensional entity and assists with the development of communication strategies.

A project manager has been put in charge of leading a large technology project that requires changing underlying technology to enable implementing a more advanced environment. Which one of the following is a characteristic the project manager will notice in this project:

Stakeholder influence, risk, and uncertainty are high in the beginning - The generic life cycle structure generally displays the following characteristics: Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, peak as the work is carried out, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a close. Stakeholder influences, risk, and uncertainty, (as illustrated in Figure 2-2) are greatest at the start of the project. These factors decrease over the life of the project. In this context, it is good to know that execution is the most expensive and planning is the most important among the process groups.

A project manager has a large list of stakeholders in his stakeholder register. He wants to document the current and desired stakeholder engagement level as - unaware, resistant, neutral, supportive, or leading. The PM decided to ask the PMO for a template. What did the PM ask the PMO to provide a template of:

Stakeholders engagement assessment matrix - As part of data analysis techniques, a tool and technique for the process, Plan Stakeholder Management, the project management team uses a SEAM - Stakeholders Engagement Assessment Matrix to document the current and desired stakeholder engagement levels as - unaware (of impacts), resistant (to change), neutral, supportive and leading.

Project managers influence is least on

Stakeholders, suppliers, customers, and end users

The project manager knows that some team members may apply themselves at the last possible moment before the deadline. In order to avoid having these situations, what should the PM do next?

Take actions to minimize Student Syndrome - The project manager also needs to be aware of Student Syndrome—or procrastination—when people start to apply themselves only at the last possible moment before the deadline, and Parkinson's Law where work expands to ?ll the time available for its completion. Doing nothing when there is a known issue is not professional. Rewarding performing and non-performing team members equally does not resolve this issue.

Which of the following would you do first as part of closing a project or phase when the project is terminated?

Take actions to satisfy product and project acceptance or exit criteria - This is a difficult question. While A, C, D are also completed as part of the closing process. However, here is the order of things to do in close project or phase process: 1) Get customer acceptance on project/product (B) 2) Transfer the project's product (A) 3) Audit project success/failure (lessons learned) (C) 4) Gather these lessons learned etc. and archive (D) See the order of things to do in Administrative Closure.

According to PMI's perspective on quality management, all of the following are correct except:

The cost of quality refers to sunk costs incurred in the project - A and B refer to customer satisfaction, which is derived from conformance to requirements and fitness for use. Answer C to the characteristic of "prevention over inspection." D may or may not be true for every project.

The number of phases in a project life cycle is determined by:

The management and control desired by the organization - The Project life cycle is a collection of phases that take a project from beginning to end. A project life cycle is the series of phases that a project passes through from its initiation to its closure. The phases are generally sequential, and their names and numbers are determined by the management and control needs of the organization or organizations involved in the project, the nature of the project itself, and its area of application. Phases are generally time bounded, with a start and ending or control point. While A and C are possible inputs, they are not complete and accurate responses. The main reason to divide a project into phases is to provide the management and control at the desired level for the organization.

Functional managers in a project are complaining that their employees cannot cope with the new requirements that keep cropping up. Which of the following is the most likely cause of your project's problems?

The project management team missed identifying some project stakeholders - The project management team must identify the project stakeholders, determine their requirements, interest, and expectations, and manage their influence as much as possible about those requirements to ensure a successful project. Options A, B & D are not root causes of the problem. The main issue is not identifying the stakeholders and the resulting unidentified requirements. D is too broad a statement. Nothing in the question indicates a charter was not approved. More alarming in answer D is "other PM processes were not followed" without qualifying which ones. So, D is the less correct answer.

Which one of the following statements is true at the beginning of a project?

The risk is highest & the probability of completing the project is very low - Risk is high and probability of completing the project is low at the beginning of the project. A generic life cycle structure typically displays the following characteristics: Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, increase as the work is carried out, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a close. Risk is greatest at the start of the project. These factors decrease over the life cycle of the project as decisions are reached and as deliverables are accepted. The ability of stakeholders to influence the final characteristics of the project's product, without significantly impacting cost and schedule, is highest at the start of the project and decreases as the project progresses toward completion. The cost of making changes and correcting errors typically increases substantially as the project approaches completion.

A project management team that is short on staff is planning to augment it by procuring outside resources. However, the team is struggling to come up with a precise statement of work for the procurement. In this situation, the purchasing department recommended to the PM team that it is best to go for the ________________ contract type which has features of both cost reimbursable and fixed price contract types and is perfectly suited for these type of needs:

Time and material - See contract types. There is no such contract type as cost reimbursable with fixed price. There is, however, on called cost reimbursable with fixed fee which is not listed here and is not the best contract type in this situation.

All of the following are part of Conduct Procurements except

Track changes to contract agreement - A, B, and C are performed in Conduct Procurements. D is, however, implemented in Control Procurements.

When there are uncertainties about characteristics such as productivity may be below or above target or errors may be more or less, it is referred to as:

Variability Risk - Variability risk is uncertainty about characteristics and is addressed with Monte Carlo E.g.: productivity may be be low or above target; errors may be more/less. Ambiguity risk is uncertainty about what might happen in future. It is addressed through incremental development, prototyping, simulation E.g.: elements of technical solution, future regulations, inherent systemic complexity. Emergent risk is one that is recognized only after they have occurred. Overall project risk is the uncertainty on the whole project from all sources of uncertainty.

Which one of the following is part of control quality process?

Verify deliverables - Deliverables are verified in Control Quality process.

In most projects, detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about each component in the WBS are part of the project management plan. These details are in:

WBS Dictionary - The WBS dictionary is a document that provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about each component in the WBS. The WBS dictionary is a document that supports the WBS. Most of the information included in the WBS dictionary is created by other processes and added to this document at a later stage. Information in the WBS dictionary may include but is not limited to: code of account identifier, description of work, assumptions and constraints, responsible organization, schedule milestones, associated schedule activities, resources required, cost estimates, quality requirements, acceptance criteria, technical references, and agreement information.

At a project team meeting, Bruce and Karen are two team members who have conflicting opinions on a particular issue. They are in a heated exchange and push their points of view. After approximately 20 minutes, the project manager says "you both make good points, but I am going to go with Karen's point of view, and this is my final decision, so I do not want to hear any more about it." This is an example of:

Win Lose - Win Lose is a result of Force/Assert/Direct method of conflict resolution. It involves selecting one person's point of view and making a final decision. Although this ends the conflict, one person's point of view wins, and the other point of view loses. In a lose-yield or smooth/accommodate situation commonalities are emphasized, and differences are deemphasized. In a win-win or collaborate/problem-solve on a situation, root causes are determined, and solutions are rated to determine the most useful solution, in a lose-leave situation or withdrawal technique, one person leaves, generally with no solution determined for the conflict.