PMP Questions

You are the project manager for a highway construction project. Your sponsor has asked for an updated project forecast. The project has spent $100,000 of the total budget of $400,000 and has a CPI of .85. The variances you have experienced thus far are expected to continue. How much more money will you spend on your project?

$370,588 Monitoring - Cost Management This question is asking you to calculate estimate to complete (ETC). The formula for ETC is EAC - AC. So you must first calculate EAC by using the formula BAC / CPI. $400,000 / .85 = $470,588. Now you can calculate ETC as EAC - AC = $470,588 - $100,000 = $370,588

Which of these represents the range of a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate if the base point is $100,000?

$75,000 to $175,000 Planning - Cost Management According to the PMBOK 5th edition, page 201, a rough order of magnitude (ROM) is a range of -25% to + 75%.

Your project has the following schedule network paths: A-D-F-H, B-D-F-H, C-E-F-H, and C-E-G-H. Tasks have the following durations: A=10, B=8, C=6, D=4, E=12, F=6, G=3, H=4. What is duration of the critical path?

28 Planning - Time Management The critical path is the chain of activities with the longest combined duration. In this case it is path C-E-F-H, with a duration of 28 days.

Which of the following best defines high quality?

A product that satisfies the quality requirements Planning - Quality Management The definition of high quality is a product that meets the agreed upon quality requirements and standards.

An important aspect of success criteria is that it should be quantifiable. Which of the following is an example of quantifiable success criteria?

A ten percent reduction in production costs Initiating - Framework Quantifiable means measurable, and thus is typically numeric. The only answer choice that can be accurately measured is choice B, because it has a number in it. All of the other answer choices are subjective.

You are managing a construction project and there is a chance of a strike at one of your subcontractors which would delay your project. The following are correct statement about risk response strategies?

A. You decide not to use that vendor and do the work yourself, which would be an example of avoidance. B. If the strike happens, your team will work overtime once the delivery arrives to make up for the lost time. This is an example of mitigation. D. You decide to do nothing, which would be an example of acceptance. Monitoring - Risk Management The risk in this question is a negative risk. Sharing only takes place with a positive risk. Choices A, B, and D are all accurate statements about risk response strategies

You are in the process of installing a new heating and air system in your office building when you realize that because of the way the exhaust fan is situated, winds of over 30 MPH will cause the AC unit to not vent or work properly. You decide to not change anything and continue as planned. What strategy did you choose?

Accept Executing - Integration Management Since you have chosen to not do anything different, you have decided to accept the risk

You are working on a project for a non-profit organization and are putting together the schedule. You have managed 3 similar projects in the past, and decide to base your time estimates on the actual durations from the most recent project. What scheduling tool and technique are you using?

Analogous estimating Planning - Time Management The question describes analogous estimating, which is used during the Estimate Activity Durations process to help create duration estimates. Here you will essentially plug in the number from the past similar project (making adjustments for known differences as needed). This is a quick and easy method, but it yields the least accurate estimate.

A key stakeholder comes to you with what you believe to be a major change to the project. You only have one week of buffer in your plan and your project absolutely cannot be late. What should you do?

Analyze the impact of the change Planning - Quality Management The first thing you should do in this case is analyze the impact of the change. You must always analyze the impact before you issue a change request.

When should you identify the stakeholders?

At the start of the project and the start of each phase Initiating - Stakeholder Management Remember you should perform the PMBOK processes for each phase. Technically choice A is also correct, but choice C is a better answer because it includes choice A. Remember to choose the more inclusive answer when faced with this type of situation.

You are working on a large construction project as a project manager and have just found an opportunity to save a lot of money on your project. Which of the following is an example of exploiting the opportunity?

By changing your project approach to ensure that you achieve the full benefits of the opportunity Planning - Risk Management Exploiting means you actively go after the opportunity. Choice A is describing sharing. Choice C is using the term exploit in its typical, day-to-day meaning, which is not generally how you should answer terminology - driven questions on the PMP exam. Choice D is describing transferring, which is a negative risk strategy and should not be used for opportunities.

You are the project manager for an accounting project. You have requested 2 senior-level auditors to assist you on your project, but the accounting director assigns 2 very junior team members that lack the necessary skills to complete the work. How should you respond?

Call a meeting with the accounting director, so that you can explain more clearly the need for senior resources on your project. Executing - Human Resources Management The appropriate course of action is always to try to resolve the issue directly with the person you have the problem. First, try to resolve the issue yourself.

You are the project manager at a healthcare services company. Two of your team members are having a disagreement that they cannot resolve, and it is beginning to affect the entire project team's performance. Which technique should you use to handle the conflict?

Collaborating Executing - Human Resources Management As a project manager you should use collaboration whenever possible - this will allow you to resolve the argument and work your way through the issues. Avoiding just puts the problem off until later. Smoothing is where you make everyone feel good, but dodge the real issue.

In which of the following processes would it be most helpful for you as a project manager to employ information gathering techniques?

Collect Requirements and Identify Risk Planning - Scope Management Collecting requirements and identifying risk both rely heavily on information gathering techniques. In both processes, it is important to extract as much information as possible (to ensure that all necessary requirements are captured, and to ensure all potential risks are identified).

Your team is reviewing the entire procurement process to look for successes and failures. What are you doing?

Conducting a procurement audit Closing - Procurement Management The process of reviewing the entire procurement process to look for successes and failures is the book definition for Procurement Audits.

You are working as a project manager for an advertising project. Your inputs include deliverables, work performance data, checklists, and approved change requests. What PMBOK process are you working on?

Control Quality Monitoring - Quality Management Based on the list of inputs provided the only possible answer is Control Quality. The checklists should have tipped you off that it involved quality. Plus we need the deliverables and approved change requests during Control Quality so that we can perform tests on them to make sure they were completed correctly.

You are taking measurements and plotting the results on a control chart. What process are you performing?

Control Quality Monitoring - Quality Management Remember that Control Quality is when you do the actual testing and measurement. Quality assurance is when you audit the process to make sure you are following the correct quality policies and procedures. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the types of charts and graphs you would use in both of these processes - sometimes that is your only clue.

You are managing a database design project and just realized that there is a major flaw in your design. Your team determines that fixing the design flaw will result in two additional weeks of work, along with a 10% increase in costs, but has no significant impacts on other project constraints. Not fixing the flaw, however, would result in a major security vulnerability that is unacceptable to the customer. What should you do next?

Create a change request Monitoring - Integration Management In this question you have already identified the change and documented the impact. Thus, the next step is to create a change request. You should not begin fixing the problem, as suggested in choice A, until you get approval. Choice B is also inappropriate, because it is not the next step. You should get the change approved first, and then inform the customer of the new plan. The steps in the change process are 1) identify the change, 2) create the change request, 3) determine the impact, 4) perform integrated change control (ask the CCB for approval), 5) update the project documents, 6) manage stakeholder expectations, and 7) manage the project per the new plan

Your project team does not understand the fundamentals of project management. You feel this has the potential to harm your project. You decide to put together a half-day training session to teach PMBOK basics. Which of the following have you achieved by having this training?

Develop your project team Executing - Human Resources Management This is an example of developing your project team because you are enhancing the team's overall competencies and skills. Note that B is incorrect because avoiding a risk means taking it off the table completely, but project failures could still occur notwithstanding the training

What is the purpose of a RACI matrix?

Displays the relationship between work packages and team members Planning - Human Resources Management RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. It is a type of Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM). The purpose of a RACI matrix is to show the relationship between work packages (or activities) and team members

Your company has won a contract to oversee the expansion of a major highway in your area. The project had been discussed for several years, and due to constant changes in the political climate, the controversial project was hard to get off the ground. The project has drawn criticism from nearby residential landowners, environmental groups, and taxpayers who deem it too expensive. Moreover, some environmental studies suggest that the subsurface in some areas may be inadequate to sustain the road, which may result in expensive detours being built around those spots. You are working on your Risk Management Plan. What is the best way to proceed?

Document each category of risk in the Risk Management Plan to help ensure all risks are properly identified Planning - Risk Management The Risk Management Plan should contain risk categories, which will help you systematically identify risks as you move through risk planning. A risk breakdown structure may be used to show risk categories, and this would be part of the Risk Management Plan. Remember, since you are working on the Risk Management Plan, you have not yet documented specific risks.

You are managing a project and a team member comes across a major risk. Based on the team member's assessment the risk has a fairly high probability of occurring and carries a big impact. What should you do first?

Document the risk in the risk register. Monitoring - Integration Management The first thing you should always do when you identify a new risk is add it to the risk register. You may very well want to call a meeting quickly, but the first thing you should do is document that the risk exists by putting it in the risk register. You would not transfer the risk, as suggested in choice B, until you had documented it and done some analysis. Obviously choice C is not correct - you always want an open policy for identifying risks.

When working as a project manager there are many things around you that can impact the project's ability to be successful, including the corporate culture, infrastructure, marketplace conditions, the number and type of resources available, workplace attitudes, etc. These are referred to as?

Enterprise environmental factors Initiating - Framework The question lists just a few of the many enterprise environmental factors listed in the PMBOK.

Which of the following is included in the Communication Management Plan?

Escalation path for resolving issues; Stakeholder communication requirements; reasons for information distribution

Which of the following types of conflict resolution is considered a win-lose?

Executing - Human Resources Management Forcing is a win-lose, because one party forces their view onto another party. The party doing the forcing gets exactly what they want, but the other party gets none of what they want. This is a bad way to handle conflicts. Smoothing is a lose-lose, because the issue is simply avoided and will likely come back up later. Punishment is not a conflict resolution technique, but is merely a form of power. Collaborating is where you problem solve the issue to find a solution that works best for the parties and the project as a whole (this is the best way to handle conflict).

McClelland's Theory of Needs states that people fit into categories and are motivated by three types of needs. Managers should determine which of the 3 categories an employee fits into and manage

Executing - Human Resources Management McClelland's Theory of Needs states that people are either motivated by power, affiliation, or achievement. Managers should determine which category an employee falls into and manage them accordingly.

Defects found late in the project are _____ ?

Executing - Integration Management As time passes in a project, defects become more expensive to repair. Also remember that stakeholder influence and risk decrease as time passes.

Jeff is a senior engineer on your project. During a progress review meeting you come across a potentially disastrous risk to your project. Jeff tells the team that he has a fix to avoid the risk and ensure everything goes smoothly. Everyone trusts Jeff's advice, because he has a lot of experience handling these types of technical risks. What kind of power does Jeff have?

Expert Executing - Human Resources Management There are 5 types of power: formal/legitimate, expert, reward, referent, and punishment/penalty. Jeff derives his power from his vast amount of experience, thus he is using Expert power. Formal /Legitimate power is derived from your position or title. Referent power is derived from your charisma or how well others like you

You are putting together a plan to handle procurements on your project. Your organization typically prefers to do as much work as possible in-house, in part because procurements on some past projects ran well over budget and the stakeholders are especially cost conscious. Your schedule will not allow you to perform all of the necessary work in house, however. Generally speaking, which of the following contract types should you use?

Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Executing - Procurement Management The seller has the most risk under a Firm Fixed price (FFP) contract. In this type of contract the seller is required to do all of the work for a set price. Regardless of what happens with materials costs, delays, etc., the seller must complete the work for the fixed price in the contract. This is appropriate here because the stakeholders will not want to accept the cost risk associated with other types of contracts, and this gives them security in knowing exactly what they will spend.

You are using the risk register and trying to find the risk score for each identified risk.

First, you must know what process this question is referring to, which is Qualitative Risk Analysis. The keyword Risk Score should have tipped you off. Choice B, Expected Monetary Value (EMV) analysis, is not part of Qualitative Risk Analysis. EMV is done during Quantitative Risk Analysis. The other answer choices are tools and techniques of Qualitative Risk Analysis (along with risk probability and impact assessment, risk urgency assessment and expert judgment).

Pareto Diagrams help the project manager to:

Focus their attention on the primary causes of quality issues Monitoring - Quality Management Pareto Diagrams are a combined bar chart (ordered by frequency) and line chart (showing cumulative defects). Pareto Diagrams help the project manager see which variables are causing the most defects. You may also hear the term 80/20 rule, which is often reflected in Pareto Diagrams, and holds that 80% of the defects are typically caused by only 20% of the variables. Choice A is irrelevant to the question. Choice C is referring to run charts. For choice D you would use a simple bar chart (aka histogram).

You are managing a project and one of your vendors submits a deliverable that you feel is incomplete. He disagrees and insists that his work is done and refuses to do any further work on it. How should you handle this situation?

Follow the claims administration procedures for resolving such conflicts Closing - Procurement Management This is a conflict related to a contract. The appropriate course of action is to use the claims administration procedures set forth in the contract, which define how to handle these types of conflicts.

You are submitting a status report to your external customer. Which form of communication should you use?

Formal written Monitoring - Communications Management All project reports and any procurement-related communications should be Formal Written.

Tuckman's 5 Stages of Team Development

Forming - team is initially brought together Storming - where the team has disagreements Norming - where the team begins to work together Performing - where the team reaches optimal performance Adjourning - where the team disbands

You are six months in to a project expected to take one year. Your stakeholders are asking for certain performance measurements to be provided, such as CPI and SPI. You must set aside a week of your time to gather the information needed to produce these measures, which has caused you to postpone other important meetings and work you needed to accomplish during this time. How might you have avoided this?

Gathering and organizing the work performance information as it becomes available Executing - Quality Management The correct course of action when you identify a possible change is to analyze the impact of the change and then present a change request to the change control board. Choice B might very well be the end result of this, but it's important to take your change request to the change control board for approval. Choice D is obviously not a good way to handle this (even though it might be your first instinct).

You are managing a project to develop a new mobile phone. Even though it's not in the requirements, you decide to add a feature allowing the phone to be used in any country without changing the SIM card. Which of the following best describes what has occurred?

Gold plating Planning - Scope Management Adding undocumented features to a product is called gold plating. Scope creep is where stakeholders or customers continuously add requirements to the project. Prototypes are a technique used in collect requirements. Alternatives identification is the process of identifying different ways to complete the work on a project.

You are managing a project that will move your 200 person office across the country. You are currently sitting in a meeting with several key stakeholders performing documentation reviews, assumptions analysis, and information gathering techniques. Which process are you performing?

Identify risk Planning - Risk Management The 3 tools listed in the question are from the identify risk process. During this process you usually sit down with stakeholders and try to find risks. The tools and techniques for the identify risk process are Documentation Reviews, Information Gathering Techniques, Checklist Analysis, Assumptions Analysis, Diagramming Techniques, SWOT Analysis and Expert Judgment.

You have just received formal authorization to start your project. What should you do next?

Identify the stakeholders Initiating - Stakeholder Management If you just received formal authorization, then that means you already have a project charter and it has been approved. The next step would be to identify the stakeholders. Collecting requirements would come later in planning and you wouldn't start work (i.e. executing) until you have finished planning.

You are managing a project to create a nativity scene for a grade school Christmas play. You are told that one of the requirements is that you must deliver the nativity scene by December 15 - the date the Christmas play will take place. Where would you document the December 15 deadline?

In the constraints log, because it is a constraint Planning - Time Management Deadlines are always considered constraints. A constraint is any limitation put on the project team. A feature of the nativity scene would be a requirement. Deliverables are typically things that you would actually hand over to the customer, such as part of the nativity scene. A risk would be the possibility of not completing the project on time, which was not mentioned in this question

You are managing a complex project to overhaul a water treatment plant. You are trying to report key information to the stakeholders, but are having trouble compiling all of the relevant data. You have multiple budget reports in various formats, some of which are out of date, and they are housed in various locations. The work performance data is similarly scattered amongst various documents, and is difficult to interpret. Which of the following would best assist you in communicating the key information to the stakeholders?

Information Management Systems Monitoring - Stakeholder Management Information Management Systems, which are a tool and technique of Manage Communications, are used to record, store and distribute information about the project. In this case, they would help you organize the information so that it can be readily provided to stakeholders.

Formal approval has been provided for your project, and you are asking around to see who else might be impacted by your project. What process group are you in?

Initiating Initiating - Integration Management The question is describing the Identify Stakeholders process, which is part of the Initiating process group.

You are performing quality control on a project. Which of the following would you not use in this process?

Inspection; Cause and effect diagram; Pareto diagram (photo) Executing - Quality Management

You are analyzing quality results looking for a relationship between defects and their causes. Which of the following is the appropriate tool you should use?

Ishikawa diagram Monitoring - Quality Management The question is describing cause and effect analysis, for which you would use an Ishikawa diagram (also known as a fishbone diagram or cause and effect diagram).

What is the Work Authorization System?

It assigns work to individual team members

Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of the project charter?

It authorizes work to begin on the project Initiating - Integration Management The main purpose of the project charter is to grant formal authority for work to begin on a project.

What is the main purpose of the WBS dictionary?

It contains additional information about each WBS component Planning - Scope Management The main purpose of the WBS dictionary is to store additional information about each WBS component. This can include things like work package name, ID, responsible organization, schedule milestones, quality requirements, cost estimates, required resources, code of accounts identifier, etc.

What is the Project Scope Statement?

It describes in detail the project's deliverables

Which of the following best describes the Scope Validation process?

It involves formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables. Monitoring - Scope Management Scope Validation typically occurs near the end of the project, and involves formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables. In other words, it ensures the project deliverables meet the documented project requirements.

Which of the following best describes the purpose of the WBS?

It makes the project easier to estimate and manage Planning - Scope Management The correct answer is choice C. The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the work to be completed on a project and the main purpose is to make time and costs easier to estimate. Choice A describes the purpose of a project organization chart. Choice B describes a Work Authorization System. Choice D describes the Project Scope Statement.

What is KanBan?

KanBan is a method for managing knowledge work with an emphasis on just-in-time (JIT) delivery (current work) while not overloading the team members (all of the work), using visual components such as white boards.

What is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology to improve results by eliminating the seven kinds of waste. The 7 wastes consist of: 1. Defects 2. Overproduction 3. Transportation 4. Waiting 5. Inventory 6. Motion 7. Processing (DOT WIMP)

You just delivered a product to your customer when you receive an email informing you that the end result is unacceptable. The customer says that a crucial component is missing, but you know that component was not in the original plan. Also, the product passed all quality tests. How should you respond?

Meet with the customer to document the missing component, and then issue a change request to complete the required work Executing - Integration Management The correct answer in this situation is choice C. Before you do anything that involves a deviation from the original plan, you should document the change and issue a change request. Only after the change request has been approved should you begin working on it. Because of this, choices A and B are clearly incorrect. Choice D is also incorrect. Just because a product passed the quality and scope verification processes does not mean the product will meet the customer's approval. Something clearly was missed here and thus you should work to try and resolve it

You are managing a large software project for a bank and are about 50% done with the work when a new stakeholder is identified. It turns out the stakeholder will be highly impacted by the new software project. You have a tight deadline and the requirements are already firmly set. What should you do?

Meet with the stakeholder to gather her requirements Initiating - Stakeholder Management The correct course of action would be to meet with the stakeholder and document her requirements. You might get lucky and already have all of her requirements taken into consideration. If time permits and the change is approved, you may still be able to incorporate her requirements. At the very least, you have engaged the stakeholder and attempted to satisfy her needs. Simply informing the stakeholder of your project and not gathering her requirements, as suggested in choice B, would not be appropriate either.

The project team is using a white board with post-it notes showing the activities being worked on for the near term activities only. What is being used?

Monitoring - Quality Management KanBan is a method for managing knowledge work with an emphasis on just-in-time (JIT) delivery (current work) while not overloading the team members (all of the work), using visual components such as white boards. Lean Six Sigma is a methodology to improve results by eliminating the seven kinds of waste. CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a process improvement framework to help organizations build capability in their people and processes, with five maturity levels. Status board is not a PMI term.

In which of the following team-building stages does the team begin to work together and build good working relationships?

Norming Executing - Human Resources Management Tuckman's 5 stages of team development are Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. Forming is where the team is initially brought together; Storming is where the team has disagreements; Norming is where the team begins to work together; Performing is where the team reaches optimal performance; and Adjourning is where the team disbands.

Which of the following should be done during the Develop Project Charter process?

Perform a benefit analysis to validate project alignment with the organization’s strategy and ensure the expected business value is doable Initiating - Integration Management

You are a project manager overseeing the construction of a new shopping mall. Your team had compiled and reviewed zoning and building regulations to help ensure that your project would not be interrupted by any regulatory bodies, however, the information reviewed was out of date. As it turns out, you have unknowingly exceeded the new maximum height restrictions for structures in that area. You must now seek a variance from the local government authorities, and if it is refused, your project could be shut down. Which of the following could have helped avoid this situation?

Performing better risk data quality assessment Planning - Risk Management Risk data quality assessment helps ensure that the underlying information used to evaluate risk is valid, and in this case the information used (the out-dated regulations) were no longer valid. Without solid information, risk planning is useless. Had the reliability of the regulations been examined more thoroughly, this would not have happened.

Parts of the project closure process?

Phase exit criteria Transfer the deliverables to operations Gather lessons learned Closing - Integration Management Verification that the requirements were met would be part of the Validate Scope process, which is done in Monitoring and Controlling. The output of that process, Accepted Deliverables, would then become an input to the closing process.

You are managing the manufacture of a new line of cars. The cars must be tested in many ways, but one especially important test is the crashworthiness test. The cars your team put through the tests performed well and met all requirements. Because you had to crash so many cars, however, your project came in well over budget. Which of the following items did you likely fail to consider fully?

Planning - Quality Management Cost of Quality considers the money needed to ensure the quality objectives are met, and it is therefore a tool and technique of Plan Quality. Here, the Quality Management Plan would have designated that a particular number of cars be crash tested (statistical sampling), however, the associated costs were not fully included in the budget.

Who theorized that quality was a management issue 85% of the time and by the time things got down to the line employee it was too late?

Planning - Quality Management W. Edwards Deming theorized that quality was a management issue 85% of the time and by the time things got down to the line employee it was too late. He is also the father of Total Quality Management (TQM). Kaizen is the Japanese word for continuous improvement. Pareto is a type of chart. Philip Crosby believed in conformance by design and zero defects.

You are managing a graphic design and print project. There is a 30% chance that the paper you are using will be too thin and you'll have to reprint the presentation, which will cost you an extra $5,000. There is also a 20% chance that the high capacity ink cartridges you are using will last you longer than you expect, which will save you $1,000. What is your Expected Monetary Value (EMV)?

Planning - Risk Management EMV is calculated by taking event #1 with a loss of $5,000 and multiplying it by the 30% probability to get negative $1,500. For event #2, you multiply the savings of $1,000 times the 20% probability to get positive $200. Add the two events and you get -$1,300

You have two key stakeholders on your project that are always arguing. If one makes a suggestion, the other disagrees even if it's a good idea. Which group decision-making technique should you use?

Planning - Stakeholder Management The best way to handle this situation would be to utilize the Delphi Technique, which is where you separate the two parties and gather their requirements individually. This is also known as blind requirements gathering, because neither party knows what the other is saying and thus cannot disagree. This can also be useful if you feel that team members are not willing to share their honest opinions in an open forum.

You are managing a project which is wrapping up. One of your team members, Michael, comes to you to voice some frustrations about his role in the project. He feels that his role was never clearly established, and that he was never provided with any concrete goals, expectations or feedback. If this is true, you may have done a poor job with which of the following?

Project Performance Appraisals Executing - Human Resources Management Project Performance Appraisals are used to provide individual feedback, constructive critique, clarification of roles and expectations, etc. Team Performance Assessments, on the other hand, evaluate how the team performs as a whole. Project Performance Appraisals are a tool and technique of Manage Project Team while Team Performance Assessments are an output of Develop Project Team

You are the project manager overseeing the construction of a new aircraft carrier. The construction involves fitting various components together at the shipyard, and it must be done in a particular order. Unfortunately, certain components have been assembled at the shipyard, but your project team cannot install them because other necessary tasks have not yet been completed, and because you currently lack the resources needed to install them. The components cannot be kept at the shipyard, and thus, you will incur substantial costs for moving and storing them until they can be installed. You want to ensure that this doesn't occur again on this project, so you should carefully review which of the following?

Project Schedule Network Diagram Planning - Time Management The problem here is one of sequencing activities. The components should not have been assembled so soon, as they cannot be installed nor can they be stored where they are. The Project Schedule Network Diagram - an output of Sequence Activities - should be re-visited to verify that future activities are properly sequenced so this problem does not re-occur.

Who is responsible for creating a Project Management Plan?

Project manager, sponsor and key stakeholders Planning - Integration Management The Project Management Plan is the master plan from which the project will be executed. It is the responsibility of all parties (project manager, sponsor, and key stakeholders) to approve the Project Management Plan.

A major problem with your organizational structure is that when the project is finished, the team often has no other work to do and must be let go. What type of organization structure does this refer to?

Projectized Executing - Framework In a Projectized organizational structure the project team reports to only one boss and is tasked with working solely on the one project. One major problem with this type of structure is what to do with the team members when the project is completed. One way this is handled is to terminate the employment of all team members.

You are managing the construction of a new underwater pipeline, and you must hire pipe-fitters to perform large pieces of work. You have received responses from various companies to your procurement documents, which you are analyzing. You are interested in one company in particular, because it offered a price which was lower than most. You are unfamiliar with this company, so you obtain from it a list of references and follow up with them. They all have excellent things to say about this company, and so you award it the contract. Which of the following best describes your contact with the references?

Proposal Evaluation Technique Executing - Procurement Management Obtaining references and following up on them would be an example of a Proposal Evaluation Technique - it helps you evaluate the proposal and select the seller. It is a tool and technique of Conduct Procurements.

Which of the following is a how-to document describing how you will go about collecting/handling requirements - but does not contain the actual requirements?

Requirements management plan Initiating - Scope Management Remember that a management plan is a how-to document. The requirements management plan describes how you will go about collecting/handling requirements, but it does not contain actual requirements. The project statement of work contains information about the characteristics of the product, the project charter includes high-level requirements, and the requirements documentation contains the detailed requirements.

You are managing a large software upgrade project and your team has moved beyond planning and is now performing the work. You only have one team member capable of performing the necessary system testing, and she is being temporarily diverted from your project to another. You have therefore adjusted the schedule so that all testing will be done at once, when she returns, rather than at scheduled intervals as previously planned. What tool and technique have you used?

Resource Leveling Executing - Time Management Resource Leveling is used where a resource is over-allocated or where a critical resource will only be available for a certain time period. Here, your schedule activities need to change in light of the limited availability of this team member. Note that Resource Leveling may cause the original schedule to be extended.

You are working as a project manager and are currently looking at a chart that shows you the type and number of resources that you need over a period of time. Your goal is to smooth out your resources so you can avoid the peaks and valleys. What type of chart are you looking at?

Resource histogram Planning - Time Management The question is describing resource leveling, which is the process of smoothing out resource utilization over time. You would use a resource histogram (bar chart) to do resource leveling.

As time passes in a project, which of the following happens?

Risk decreases Monitoring - Framework As time passes in a project the cost of change increases, risk decreases, and stakeholder influence decreases. Cost of change increases because as time passes if you make a change it will likely require rework. Risk decreases because as time passes you complete more work and thus your uncertainty goes down. Stakeholder influence decreases, because you gather information from stakeholders at the beginning of the project and as you go forward you are executing according to the plan rather than according to the whims of the stakeholders.

You are a project manager producing several identical components for an aerospace project. You are supposed to be producing 2 units per month worth $250,000 per unit. After 3 months you have only produced an average of 1.2 units per month. You use a formula to determine what the difference is between what you planned to do and what you actually got done. What is the formula you used?

SV Monitoring - Cost Management The questions is talking about calculating a schedule variance (SV), which is the difference between what you produced (your Earned Value) and what you were supposed to complete (Planned Value).

You are managing a project that will produce the next new supercomputer. As each new unit is produced your team is taking measurements and recording them in a control chart. Which of the following results should you be least concerned with?

Several data points falling well above and below the mean, but within the control limits Monitoring - Quality Management Choice D is describing a random pattern of measurements that fall on either side of the mean. This is not a cause for concern to the project manager. When 7 points fall consecutively on one side of the mean, should be of concern since this means your process is out of control.

You are a project manager and are having a disagreement about an important design issue with another colleague. Before you can seriously discuss the issue your colleague says: "Forget about it. We'll just do it your way." What is the best way to describe how the colleague handled this situation?

She withdrew Executing - Human Resources Management In this question we are looking for the PMBOK term, which would be Withdrawal. Withdrawal is when someone just gives up and shuts down emotionally, or sometimes they even physically leave the room. This is generally not an appropriate way to respond to conflict. You should collaborate whenever possible.

Two of your team members are arguing over a technical issue on your project. You suggest that they put their differences aside and offer to take them both to lunch. Which conflict resolution technique did you use?

Smoothing Executing - Human Resources Management This is an example of smoothing, which occurs when you try to gloss over the issue or change the subject. As a good project manager this is not your best option, because the problem still exists and will likely come up again. The better option would have been to collaborate, which would involve sitting down, discussing options, and trying to solve the problem. Withdrawal is where one party shuts down or walks away from the conversation. Compromise is where both parties give something up and meet in the middle.

The following are involved in the Staffing Management Plan:

Staff acquisition and release; Compliance and safety; Rewards and recognition Planning - Human Resources Management The Human Resource Plan includes 3 major things: the project organization chart, roles and responsibilities, and the Staffing Management Plan. The Staffing Management Plan addresses staff acquisition, staff release, compliance, safety, rewards & recognition and training needs

Your project was suddenly terminated after a major design flaw was found in one of the components that you delivered to the customer. What should you do next?

Stop work, document the lessons learned, and then release the team Closing - Integration Management If your project gets terminated early you should immediately stop work and document the lessons learned. After the lessons learned are documented you can release the team. Choice B is suggesting a bribe, which is not appropriate. Choice C is not correct either; you should not work on the project if it is canceled. You need your team to document the lessons learned so choice D is incorrect.

Susan has just been appointed as the project manager for a software project and realizes that no WBS has been created and the project is entering the construction phase. What should she do?

The WBS should be created first and then construction work started Planning - Scope Management The problem here is that the WBS had not been prepared. The correct choice C states that she should first create a WBS and then start the construction phase. Choice A talks about reporting the matter to senior management but that does not solve the problem. Choice B talks about finding information from the WBS Dictionary, but the WBS dictionary is dependent on the WBS. Choice D is also wrong as it talks about refusing to manage the project, which does not solve the problem. Moreover, the role of project manager is one of a proactive problem solver.

The maturity levels of CMMI are:

The five maturity levels are Initial, Managed, Defined, Quantitatively managed, and Optimizing. Monitoring - Quality Management

You are working on a fixed price contract and have spent $120,000 so far out of a budget of $120,000. You estimate there is still another $20,000 of work to complete the project. Because you are under contract, your company will have to pay all remaining costs to complete the project, without any further contribution from the buyer. Which of the following best describes this situation?

The project has reached the point of total assumption. Executing - Procurement Management This is the book definition of point of total assumption. All of the other answer choices might be true, but the question asks for the BEST choice and the PMBOK answer is what you should choose. Note that Answer A is included within Answer B, making B more inclusive and therefore the "best" answer.

You are managing a project with the following EVM metrics: AC = $24,000, EV = $30,000 and PV = $28,000. Which of the following statements is true?

The project is within budget and ahead of schedule Monitoring - Cost Management For this question you need to calculate CPI and SPI, which will tell you if you are over/under budget and if you are within/behind schedule respectively. CPI = EV / AC = $30,000 / $24,000 = 1.25 thus your project is within budget. SPI = EV / PV = $30,000 / $28,000 = 1.07 thus your project is ahead of schedule.

Grace is a project manager for Cosmic Systems. When Grace is out of the office she doesn't trust her employees to get work done and when she is in the office, she is always looking over their shoulders. What type of manager is Grace?

Theory X Executing - Human Resources Management Theory X managers believe that workers are lazy and don't naturally want to work and thus must be watched constantly. Theory Y managers believe that workers naturally work hard and thus can be left alone to do their jobs. While choice A may be true, it's not a PMBOK definition and we'll leave it to the medical professionals to make that diagnosis.

You are looking at data points on a control chart in real time and notice 7 consecutive points above the mean, but within the control limits. What is this called and what does it mean?

This is called the Rule of 7 and it indicates a process is out of control Executing - Quality Management If you identify 7 consecutive data points on a control chart that are above the mean and within the control limits, then that indicates your process is out of control. The same is true of 7 consecutive data points below the mean and within the control limits. This is called the Rule of Seven.

Which of the following best describes the purpose of integrated change control on a project?

To provide a framework to approve, reject, and manage changes

Which of the following is a result of performing stakeholder analysis?

Understanding who might impact or might be impacted by the project Initiating - Stakeholder Management Remember stakeholder analysis is done at the beginning of a project - at that point we don't know what work is required yet, so how could we assign responsibility?

Your change control board (CCB) has just approved a change request. What is the next thing you should do?

Update the project plan to reflect the change Initiating - Integration Management The first thing you should do after a change request is approved is update the project documents. Once the documents are updated, then you can inform the stakeholders. After that you can go back to work and manage the project based on the approved change. Always analyze the impact of a change prior to submitting a change request (that is likely the first question you will be asked by the CCB - what's the impact to your project?).

Parametric estimating is best described as which of the following?

Using a statistical relationship to a past project (such as cost per unit) to calculate the cost or duration Planning - Cost Management Parametric estimating is when you use a statistical relationship (such as cost per unit) to calculate the cost or duration.

The assurance that a product, service, or systems meets the needs of the customer is?

Validation Monitoring - Quality Management Verification is the evaluation of whether or not a product, service, or system complies with a regulation, requirement, specification, or imposed condition. Justification would be the support and reason for doing the project.

A function of the Control Quality process:

Verifying the correctness of the deliverables

You are managing a highway construction project and you are trying to determine if the project is ahead of or behind schedule. Which of the following would be most helpful?

Work performance information Monitoring - Time Management Work performance information, which includes key schedule performance indicators such as SV and SPI, would be most helpful because it provides performance information relative to established baselines.

You are meeting with the quality assurance (QA) manager to discuss the results of the quality audit of your project. The QA manager informs you that your team has been following quality procedures that are not particularly helpful, and as a result might be increasing the likelihood for defects. The QA manager recommends revisions to the quality procedures. You feel that the team is following the quality policies that were originally set forth, and they are doing a good job. How should you handle this situation?

You should analyze the suggested procedures, then submit a change request Executing - Quality Management The correct course of action when you identify a possible change is to analyze the impact of the change and then present a change request to the change control board. Choice B might very well be the end result of this, but it's important to take your change request to the change control board for approval. Choice D is obviously not a good way to handle this (even though it might be your first instinct).

You are managing a datacenter infrastructure project. You have spent $250,000 out of a total budget of $600,000. You have completed 30% of the work thus far, but according to the schedule you should have completed 40% of the work. All work items carry the same value. Which of the following best describes the situation?

Your project is over budget and behind schedule Monitoring - Cost Management This is an EVM question. The amount spent is the Actual Cost (AC). The work completed (30%) is the same as Earned Value (EV). The work you were supposed to complete (40%) is the Planned Value (PV). To answer this question you simply need to plug in the numbers and calculate CV and SV. CV = EV - AC or $180,000 - $250,000 = ($70,000), which means your project is over budget. SV = EV - PV or $180,000 - $240,000 = ($60,000), which means your project is also behind schedule.

Prototypes

are a technique used in the collect requirements.

Quality Audits are performed

during the Perform Quality Assurance process.

Alternatives identification

is the process of identifying different ways to complete the work on a project

Scope Creep

where stakeholders or customer continuously add requirements to the project.