Project management chapter 14

The "To-Complete Performance Index" (TCPI) is a measure of the cost performance required in order to finish the outstanding work within the remaining budget. The formula for this index is: _________

(BAC - EV) / (BAC - AC)

If your sponsor asks for an estimate as to how much more money your team needs to complete all project work as scheduled, what formulas might you use?

(BAC - EV)/CPI

What is a visual cue on the Gantt Chart that a task has been completed?

A checkmark in the Indicators column

Cost performance index (CPI)

A cost performance measure expressed as the ratio of earn value (EV) to actual cost (AC)

To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI)

A measure of the cost performance required to complete the remaining project work within the remaining budget

Change control

A process where in change puzzles to various project planning elements are acknowledged, formally documented, and either approved or declined after review

Schedule performance index (SPI)

A schedule performance measure expressed as the ratio of earned value (EV) to plan to value (PV)

How does the Gantt Chart visually show how much work is completed up to the Status Date?

A solid dark line appears in the duration graph

Control scope

Act of closely monitoring the project and product scope status and only allowing necessary changes to the scope baseline

Manage communications

All the work connected with the project communications plan, starting with planning for it; generating it; organizing and sharing it; &, finally, storing and disposing of it

Scope change

Any change to the project work activities or deliverable

Control

Assessing actual performance obtained from monitoring a work element and comparing it with planned performance, determining variances, analyzing trends to identify and implement process improvements, evaluating possible alternatives, and finally recommending appropriate corrective action as needed

A _____________ is useful to Scrum Masters as it provides a graphical representation of work effort remaining in an iteration (or similar), versus the days left in an iteration.

Burndown chart

This Agile project reporting tool is useful to Scrum Masters as it projects how close to plan the team is within a given time box, by providing a graphical representation of work effort remaining in an iteration versus the days left in an iteration.

Burndown chart

Work performance reports

Compilation of work performance information in some physical or electronic form that are presented as project documents intended to generate awareness, discussions, decision making or other suitable actions

Change control board

Consists of a formal group authorized and responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, delaying, or rejecting any changes to any aspect of the project plan by following a formal communication method of documenting the decision process

Good project management practice suggests a need to include a _______ within the cost baseline in order to cover identified risks that are accepted, and for which responses have been developed.

Contingency reserve

What is NOT one of the five aspects of project determination?

Control

Julie and her team are carrying out the activities needed to verify that deliverables are of acceptable quality and that they are complete and correct. What project management process are they currently performing?

Control Quality

What is one way to report progress on the Gantt Chart?

Create a new column for recording performance update text

Cost variance (CV)

Difference between earned value (EV) And actual cost (easy), which reflects cost performance

Schedule variance (SV)

Difference between the earned value (EV) and the plan value (PV), and denotes schedule performance

Earned value management

Disciplined, structure, objective, and quantitive methods to integrate technical workscope, cost, and schedule objects into a single cohesive contract baseline plan called a performance measurement baseline for tracking contract performance

What formulas represents the schedule performance index (SPI)?

EV/PV

The "methodology that combines scope, schedule, and resource measurements to assess project performance and progress" is called ______________.

Earned value management (EVM)

What is NOT one of the Currently Known Values that are used in all Earned Value calculations (variances, indexes and estimates)?

Estimate to Complete (ETC)

Estimate to complete (ETC)

Expected budget required to complete all the remaining project work

The balanced scorecard approach evaluates the organization from four perspectives, what is not one of them?

External threats

(T/F) Control quality is the forward-looking process of using and improving the quality plan and policy to perform tasks that will most likely lead to creating project outputs to customers' satisfaction.

F

(T/F) Earned Value (EV) is the approved value of the work to be completed in a given time.

F

(T/F) The Cost Variance (CV) is a cost performance measure expressed as the ratio of earned value (EV) to actual cost (AC).

F

(T/F) The purpose of a check sheet is to quickly understand the primary causes of a particular problem using the 80/20 rule.

F

Monitor and control project work

Hey series of activities such as identifying work packages for tracking, reviewing, and documenting the progress to ensure that the project execution meets performance objectives as defined in the project plan

Variance

Immeasurable departure from a plant base line or expected value

Work performance __________ is/are comprised of the raw data and measurements that have been collected during project execution, analyzed in context and integrated.

Information

What quality control tool is sometimes referred to as a "fishbone diagram" because it places a problem statement at the head of the fishbone and uses each "big bone" in the fish's skeleton as a category of probable cause, in order to determine the root cause of the problem?

Ishikawa diagram

What does not accurately describe earned value management?

It is good for performance reporting but not for forecasting

What is the final step in the Perform Integrated Change Control process?

Manage changes to deliverables and Project Management Plan

In regard to Project Work, which activity refers to "reviewing the progress and capturing project performance data with reference to the project pan, developing performance measures, and communicating performance information?"

Monitoring

Monitor communications

Monitoring and controlling communications throughout the project lifecycle to make certain that the information needs of all the projects stakeholders are met

This Quality Management and Control tool is used to analyze and quickly understand the primary sources of a problem using the 80/20 rule.

Pareto Chart

What quality control tool is a special type of vertical bar chart that is used to identify the primary (vital few) sources that are responsible for causing most of a problem's effects, often referred to as the 80/20 rule?

Pareto Diagram

Juan is a project manager for a project that has been baselined and is now under way. When a customer approaches Juan and asks him to increase the project's scope, Juan's response should be to __________.

Perform integrated change control

This is the process of reviewing all change proposals, estimating their impact on project goals wherever appropriate, approving or declining changes, and managing changes to deliverables, schedules, budgets and the project management plan:

Perform integrated change control.

Work performance information

Performance data collected from these processes, analyzed in context, and then integrated, considering relations across areas

Direct and manage project work

Performing the work as defined in various components of the project management plan, including approved changes with an intent to accomplish project objectives

Control resources

Process by which all the physical resources needed to perform the project are planned and monitored and changes are made if needed

Monitor risk

Process of adhering to the risk response plan of tracking identified risks, identifying new risks, monitoring residual risks, and evaluating the effectiveness of the risk response process throughout the project

Variance analysis

Process of determining both the cause and the amount of difference between planned and actual performance

Manage quality

Process of using and improving the quality plan and policy to perform tasks that will most likely lead to creating project outputs to customers satisfaction

Implement risk responses

Process where when a risk event occurs or it is quite likely to occur soon, the person assigned to that risk executes the strategy identified in the risk management plan

All of these are changes a project manager may recommend in order to help the project get back on track EXCEPT:

Re-baselining the project plan every time there's a cost or schedule issue

Monitor

Refers to reviewing the progress in capturing project performance data with reference to the project plan; developing performance measures; and communicating performance information

Perform integrated change control

Reviewing all change proposals, estimating their impact on project goals wherever appropriate, approving or declining changes, and managing changes to deliverables, schedules, budgets, and the project management plan

What measure is best suited for determining whether the project is on, ahead or behind schedule?

Schedule Variance (SV)

Cost, schedule and ________ are often so closely intertwined that they are monitored and controlled simultaneously, and a change in one of them impacts the others.

Scope

With the three sets of data, comparisons can be made between any two of the sets to understand future impacts of all of the following issues EXCEPT:

Scope creep

(T/F) A quality audit is a project management and quality tool that is a structured process to ensure project activities comply with organizational policies.

T

(T/F) In a control chart, a point that occurs above the upper control limit typically means that some sort of special cause is creating the variation and requires a specific intervention.

T

(T/F) Monitoring and controlling project work refers to the processes of tracking, reviewing and reporting progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project plan.

T

(T/F) On agile projects, because communication is frequent and rapid, a directional indicator showing that things are getting better or worse in some manner is more valuable than a more detailed and polished report.

T

(T/F) Self-directed teams on agile projects are largely empowered to decide what work to do and when to do it, consistent with the prioritizing of deliverables by the product owner.

T

(T/F) When reporting performance to sponsors and management, it is often helpful to organize the information in terms of three time horizons: past, current and future.

T

Which button click records that performance is going according to schedule?

The "Mark On Track" button

To be useful, three sets of schedule data must exist for comparison purposes. What is NOT one of the three sets of schedule data?

The Ideal Set

Control Quality

The activities used to verify that deliverables are of acceptable quality and that they are complete and correct

Work performance data

The actual and raw observations and measurements during execution of project activities

Planned value (PV)

The approved value of the work to be completed in a given time. It is the value that should have been earned as per the schedule

Budget at completion (BAC)

Total amount budgeted for the entire project

Estimate at completion (EAC)

Total cost of completing all the project work expressed as the sum of actual cost to date and the estimate to complete

Actual cost (AC)

Total of costs and curd in accomplishing work on the activity during a given period

What is the first thing to do when recording performance in MS Project?

Update the Status Date

Earned value (EV)

Value of the work actually completed to date

With respect to performance reporting, which of these are the actual and raw observations and measurements gathered during execution of project activities?

Work performance data

One useful method of process improvement involves consideration of how another organization performs a process, identifying and analyzing best practices for improvement ideas. This method is known as:

benchmarking

Some organizations rely upon a formal group authorized and responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, delaying, or rejecting any changes to any aspect of the project plan by following a formal communication method of documenting the decision process. This group is typically known as a:

change control board.

During schedule and cost control, when comparing performance to the schedule and cost baselines, if schedule or budget has changed these changes should be:

formally recommended and managed through the integrated change control system

In an agile project, within a (n) ___________, once the replanning is complete, very little additional change is allowed.

iteration

The Budget at Completion (BAC) is the sum of all budgets established for the work to be performed on a project. As such it is equivalent to:

the total planned value of the project.