Final Exam

One of the project managers in the program that you manage is presenting her project's progress report. According to that report, the earned value (EV) is $8,793, the cost variance is $793, and the Planned Value (PV) is $9,793. What is the actual cost of the project?

+$8000 CV = EV - AC; Hence, AC=EV-CV = $8,793 - $793 = $8000

Sandy is a Project Manager in SuperInfra Services Limited, a multinational infrastructure services company. The current project she is managing is running behind on schedule with a cumulative SPI of 0.78 and a cumulative CPI of 1.02. To recover from the project delays, she hired two subject matter experts from Australia. If the initial team included three virtual team members and two in-house programmers excluding Sandy and the Sponsor, what is the number of communication channels for the Project?

36 - 5 team members + 2 new SMEs from Australia + 1 Project Manager + 1 Sponsor = 9. So, the # of communications channel is 9 (9-1) / 2 = 9x8/2 = 9x4 = 36. Remember, the size WAS (past) 5 excluding PM and Sponsor and is now 7 plus PM and sponsor. Don't forget to include all those who need to be. Remember all team members - virtual or otherwise are treated same for communication channels purposes.

A self-organizing team is:

A team formation where the team functions with an absence of centralized control. - 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.

A project manager is using a method of conflict resolution where areas of agreement are emphasized, and areas of differences are de-emphasized. This is a lose-yield method and is called:

Accommodate - Give and take, an attitude required in collaborating or problem-solving, treats conflict as a problem by examining alternatives. Collaborating is incorporating multiple viewpoints and insights from different perspectives leading to consensus and commitment. Accommodating, also called smoothing, emphasizes commonalities and de-emphasizes differences.

Projects experiencing a high degree of change require:

Active engagement and participation with project stakeholders - Projects experiencing a high degree of change require active engagement and participation with project stakeholders. Regular interactions with the stakeholder community throughout the project mitigate risk, build trust, and support adjustments earlier in the project cycle, thus reducing costs and increasing the likelihood of success for the project.

A project manager is executing an information technology project whose scope was difficult to define upfront. Since the project had high levels of change, success was achieved by breaking the effort down into rapid short iterations called sprints of 2 to 4 weeks. The method adopted by the project manager is called:

Adaptive life cycle or change driven life cycle - The project manager is executing the project using adaptive or change driven life cycle, specifically, Agile where rapid iterations of 2-4 weeks allow a high degree of change even though the scope is not well defined in advance. Fast tracking is overlapping phases or activities. Discretionary dependencies are logical relationships between activities that the project team has decided to impose and are subject to modifications. Portfolio management refers to the management of the strategic objectives of an organization in by combining programs, sub-portfolios, projects, and operations.

Which one of the following is an approach that is both iterative and incremental to refine work items and deliver frequently?

Agile life cycle - Definition of agile life cycle

A project team is collecting data on defects and recording them by making marks to organize facts by type, location or by cause using which one of the following tools?

Check sheets - A Check sheet or tally sheet organizes facts to allow useful data collection to identify problems. It used to organize facts in a manner that will facilitate the effective collection of useful data about a potential quality problem. A SIPOC model organizes data to provide a high-level overview in the form of suppliers, input, process, outputs, and customer. Control charts represent time-based charts of a process.

Storming stage is characterized by:

Conflict in the team if the members are not open to new ideas - A team goes through five stages of development, called Tuckman ladder of team development. A occurs in performing stage, B happens in adjourning, C happens in storming, and D happens in forming stage.

Which one of the following process uses claims administration, procurement performance reviews, audits, inspections and results in closed procurements and updates to procurement documentation?

Control Procurements - Control Procurements is the process of managing procurement relationships; monitoring contract performance, and making changes and corrections as appropriate; and closing out contracts. The question is stating the various tools and techniques and outputs of the control procurements process.

The project team is inspecting the output of the team member's work before shipping the output to the customer for formal acceptance. As part of this entire process, the goal is to determine the compliance of and verify the deliverables. The activity that the project team is performing is referred to as:

Control Quality - Check MQ Vs. QC! - PEACE Vs. EDICT. Control Quality involves utilizing the inputs of quality metrics, checklists, work performance information, and the deliverables produced by the project team through the tools and techniques of inspection, and various Control Quality tools to ensure the deliverables are produced in compliance and thereby verify them. Validate Scope is the process of formally accepting the deliverables. Manage Quality is the process of translating the quality management plan into executable quality activities. Direct and Manage Project Work is the process of performing the work defined in the project management plan.

Data points on one of the following graphical representations show random fluctuating values, sudden process jumps, or a gradual trend in increased variations. It answers the question, "Is this process variance within acceptable limits?" Which one of the following graphical illustrations is it?

Control chart - A scatter diagram helps identify the possible relationship between a dependent and an independent variable. A SIPOC model is a type of flowchart that summarizes the inputs and outputs of one or more processes in table form. A tallysheet or a checksheet organizes facts to allow useful data collection to identify problems. A control chart, the right answer, helps do what is stated in the question i.e. determine if the process variance is within acceptable limits.

Which one of the following describes the process of ensuring that the physical resources assigned and allocated to the project are available as planned, as well as monitoring the planned versus actual utilization of resources and taking corrective action as necessary?

Control resources - Control Resources is the process of ensuring that the physical resources assigned and allocated to the project are available as planned, as well as monitoring the planned versus actual utilization of resources and taking corrective action as necessary. The key benefit of this process is ensuring that the assigned resources are available to the project at the right time and in the right place and are released when no longer needed. This process is performed throughout the project.

While conducting an analysis to arrive at the best alternative, the project manager is using the input of a scenario's probability and the reward possible if it occurs to generate an output of net path value. This is typically done at a point called a "chance node." What technique is the project manager using?

Decision tree analysis - In a decision tree analysis, the analysis goes through a process of 1. Decision definition, 2. Decision node, 3. Chance node, 4. Net path value. At the chance node, the analyst combines the probability and impact (reward) to develop an EMV (net path value) to decide the best alternative.

Which one of the following is true regarding assumptions?

Documenting assumptions is to help identify true, real, or certain factors for the sake of planning. The team identifies them - Assumption is a factor in the planning process that is considered to be true, real, or certain, without proof or demonstration. High-level strategic and operational assumptions and constraints are normally identified in the business case before the project is initiated and will ?ow into the project charter. Lower-level activity and task assumptions are generated throughout the project such as defining technical specifications, estimates, the schedule, risks, etc. The assumption log is used to record all assumptions and constraints throughout the project life cycle.

Which strategy may be selected for risks with positive impacts when the organization wants to make sure that the opportunity is realized?

Exploit - Among risk response strategies for opportunities, exploit strategy ensures that opportunity occurs

A project manager needs to meet a few key stakeholders to discuss key performance indicators. In this situation which of the following is the most effective communication mode to Manage Stakeholder Engagement?

Face-to-face meetings - A face-to-face meeting which is part of interactive (multidirectional) communications, is the best mode since it eliminates many communication barriers.

In this technique, the project manager asks the team to show their level of support for a decision by holding up a closed fist (indicating no support) up to five fingers (indicating full support). If a team member holds up fewer than three fingers, the team member is given the opportunity to discuss any objections with the team. The project manager continues this process until the team achieves consensus. What is this process called?

Fist of five - Decision-making techniques that can be used in this process include but are not limited to voting. One variation of the voting method that is often used in agile-based projects is called the fist of five (also called fist to five). The question is describing this method/process.

Which one of the following is not a true statement regarding tools used in the manage quality process?

Flowcharts can show the number of defects per deliverable or a ranking of the cause of defects - B is describing histograms, not flowcharts. All the tools described are data representation techniques used in Manage Quality process.

Develop Team is done:

From project inception through the entire project lifecycle - Developing the team is conducted throughout the project life cycle. Stopping it is likely to impact project efficiency.

Which one of the following is a directive PMO?

Group that directly manages projects - A is a project manager who is authorized to use organizational resources to achieve the goals of a project charter. Supportive PMOs provide a consultative role to projects by supplying templates, best practices, training, access to information and lessons learned from other projects. Controlling PMOs provide support and require compliance through various means. Directive PMOs take control of the projects by directly managing the projects. The degree of control provided by the PMO is high.

A project manager is documenting risks and the root causes of risks. What is the project manager doing?

Identify Risks - Risks and root causes of risks are identified during risk identification and continually throughout the project as part of risk monitoring and controlling.

A project manager is identifying all people or groups impacted by the project and documenting their interests, involvement, and impact on project success. The project manager is:

Identifying stakeholders - Identify Stakeholders is the process of identifying project stakeholders regularly and analyzing and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success. The key benefit of this process is that it enables the project team to identify the appropriate focus for engagement of each stakeholder or group of stakeholders. This process is performed periodically throughout the project as needed

Documenting high-level risks, assumptions, and constraints using historical data and expert judgment leads to a better understanding of project limitations and boundaries. During which one of the following processes are these activities conducted?

Initiating processes - The key word is high-level. High-level risks, assumptions, and constraints are documented as part of the Initiating processes. They will be elaborated and analyzed in Define Scope.

Which one of the following is a tool and technique of Validate Scope process?

Inspection - The customer conducts Validate Scope to inspect and accept the validated deliverables.

The process, Validate Scope:

Is completed after or in parallel with Control Quality - Quality control is completed before Validate Scope, but it could also be done in parallel.

Which one of the following represents explicit knowledge?

Knowledge that can be codified using symbols such as words, numbers, and pictures - A is describing explicit knowledge, B is describing emotions, B is knowledge as in a bigger picture, and D is tacit knowledge. B is a partially correct answer, but, A is more correct.

You have been recently hired as a project manager at an IT company. John is the vice president. He tells you that your project is over budget and that you need to reduce salary expenses by $100K. Which type of power is John using to influence your decisions?

Legitimate power - John is using formal or legitimate power - one that comes due to his position.

The result of using withdrawal to resolve a conflict between two people is referred to as:

Lose-leave - Withdrawal technique also called avoiding is retreating from the conflicting situation and is a lose-leave method. Confronting is win-win; compromising is lose-lose, and smoothing is lose-yield.

Which one of the following describes 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.

Which one of the following is the key purpose of Validate Deliverables process?

Obtain formal acceptance of deliverables - The purpose of Validate Scope is to obtain formal acceptance of deliverables from the customer after each phase and at the end of the project.

Which one of the following network diagrams represents activities as nodes, dependencies as arrows, and can make use of any of the four types of activity relationships (FF, FS, SF, SS)?

PDM (Precedence Diagramming Method) - A and B are made up terms. PDM or AON represents activities on nodes and dependencies as arrows. PDM includes four types of activity relationships: Finish-to-start (FS) - The initiation of the successor activity depends upon the completion of the predecessor activity. Finish-to-Finish (FF) - The completion of the successor activity depends upon the completion of the predecessor activity. Start-to-start (SS). The initiation of the successor activity depends upon the initiation of the predecessor activity. Start-to-Finish (SF). The completion of the successor activity depends upon the initiation of the predecessor activity. In PDM, finish-to-start is the most commonly used type of precedence relationship. The start-to-finish relationship is rarely used but is included here for a complete list of the PDM relationship types.

A project manager knows that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. This is called:

Parkinson's law - 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.

Which one of the following describes the process of reviewing all change requests; approving changes and managing changes to deliverables, project documents, and the project management plan; and communicating the decisions?

Perform Integrated Change Control - Integrated Change Control involves all the activities mentioned in the question. Monitor and Control Project Work is the process of tracking, reviewing and regulating progress to meet performance objectives. Control Scope involves monitoring status of the project and project scope and managing changes to the scope baseline. Validate Scope involves formalizing acceptance of completed deliverables.

A decision-making technique where the suggestions made by the largest block of the group is accepted even if a majority is not achieved is called:

Plurality - Plurality is when the largest block decides. It may or may not be the majority. In a majority situation, the decision is supported by more than 50% of the members. In autocratic, it is one individual's decision. Expert judgment is an opinion by someone who is an authority in the field.

A visual chart that shows the level of authority and level of concern of stakeholders to determine how to manage their expectations is a/an:

Power/interest grid - A power/interest grid is used to classify and rank the stakeholders based on their level of authority ("power") and their level of concern ("interest") regarding the project outcomes

When project team members are selected in advance as part of a competitive proposal or a charter as required staff, they are considered:

Pre-assigned resources - When resources are promised as part of a competitive proposal, or because the project is dependent upon the expertise of particular persons, or if staff assignments are defined within the charter, the team members who are selected in advance are considered pre-assigned. In this case, it is a better answer than external resources. Keywords: required staff, hired, team members

Which one of the following tools and techniques ensures that no bidders receive preferential treatment and that all prospective sellers have a clear and common understanding of the procurement?

Pre-bid conference - Bidder conferences (also called contractor conferences, vendor conferences, and pre-bid conferences) are meetings between the buyer and prospective sellers prior to proposal submittal. They are used to ensure that all prospective bidders have a clear and common understanding of the procurement and no bidders receive preferential treatment. The buyer answers and clarifies questions submitted by sellers before or during the meeting.

Projects with adaptive life cycles are intended to respond to high levels of change and require ongoing stakeholder engagement. The overall scope of an adaptive project will be decomposed into a set of requirements and work to be performed which is sometimes referred to as:

Product backlog - The question is describing product backlog. At the beginning of an iteration, the team will work to determine how many of the highest-priority items (called iteration or spring backlog) on the backlog list can be delivered within the next iteration. The rest of the terms are not formal terms.

Which one of the following contains target benefits, strategic alignment, timeframe for realizing benefits, owner information, metrics, assumptions, and risks?

Project Benefits Management Plan - The benefits management plan describes key elements of the benefits and may include but is not limited to documenting the following: Target benefits (e.g., the expected tangible and intangible value to be gained by the implementation of the project; financial value is expressed as net present value); Strategic alignment (e.g., how well the project benefits align to the business strategies of the organization); Timeframe for realizing benefits (e.g., benefits by phase, short-term, long-term, and ongoing); Benefits owner (e.g., the accountable person to monitor, record, and report realized benefits throughout the timeframe established in the plan); Metrics (e.g., the measures to be used to show benefits realized, direct measures, and indirect measures); Assumptions (e.g., factors expected to be in place or to be in evidence); and Risks (e.g., risks for realization of benefits).

The Perform Integrated Change Control process is conducted from project start through completion. Who is ultimately responsible for this process?

Project manager - The Perform Integrated Change Control process is conducted from project start through completion and is the ultimate responsibility of the project manager. Change requests can impact the project scope and the product scope, as well as any project management plan component or any project document. Changes may be requested by any stakeholder involved with the project and may occur at any time throughout the project life cycle.

During closing project process group, which one of the stakeholders is in charge?

Project manager - The project manager is identified early in the project usually as part of the develop project charter process. The PM is in-charge of the project through the entire lifecycle including the close project process group.

Which one of the following is updated first when team resources are hired into the project?

Project staff assignments - When Acquire Resources is implemented at any time in the project, appropriate people are added through various means including negotiation with functional managers/other PMs and acquiring new hires or contractors. The project team assignments (an output of Acquire Resources) are updated.

Which one of the following tools and techniques is used during the manage quality process to identify good practices, nonconformity, gaps, shortcomings, and identify lessons learned that could improve project performance?

Quality Audit - All of these tools can be used in manage quality, but only a quality audit identifies lessons learned, good and bad practices, nonconformity, gaps, and shortcomings. Affinity diagrams organize large amounts of disorganized data into groupings.

A project manager collected the needs of the stakeholder referring to them as the voice of the customer, sorted the needs, and prioritized them using a house of quality, finally setting goals to achieve them. The project manager was using:

Quality Function Deployment - Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a facilitated workshop technique that helps determine critical characteristics for new product development. QFD starts by collecting customer needs, also known as Voice of the Customer (VOC). These needs are then objectively sorted and prioritized using QFD house of quality, and goals are set for achieving them. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a facilitated workshop technique that helps determine critical characteristics for new product development. QFD starts by collecting customer needs, also known as Voice of the Customer (VOC). These needs are then objectively sorted and prioritized using QFD house of quality, and goals are set for achieving them.

Which one of the following documents links requirements to their origin, tracks them throughout the project life cycle, and tracks them in relation to goals and objectives?

Requirements traceability matrix - Requirements traceability matrix does the tracking stated in the question.

You are planning your staffing needs and trying to figure out the number of people that will be needed in each role over time (each month). You display that information in a chart as part of your resource management plan. What is that chart called?

Resource histogram - A resource histogram is a way to visualize the number of hours in each role that will be needed over the course of your project. Both B and C show duration in hours for roles (or individuals), but a resource histogram shows overload whereas a Gantt chart shows only the number of hours.

Which of the following tools and techniques involves evaluating the usefulness of data collected as part of perform qualitative risk analysis process?

Risk data quality assessment - Risk data quality assessment evaluates the degree to which the data about individual project risks is accurate and reliable as a basis for qualitative risk analysis. The use of low-quality risk data may lead to a qualitative risk analysis that is of little use to the project. If data quality is unacceptable, it may be necessary to gather better data.

Examining the effectiveness of the risk responses is part of:

Risk review meetings - Risk reviews are scheduled regularly and should examine and document the effectiveness of risk responses in dealing with overall project risk and with identified individual project risks. Risk audits are a type of audit that may be used to consider the effectiveness of the risk management process. Reserve analysis compares the amount of the contingency reserves remaining to the amount of risk remaining at any time in the project in order to determine if the remaining reserve is adequate. Technical performance analysis compares technical accomplishments during project execution to the schedule of technical achievement.

A project manager is reviewing the relationships between two separate variables - one independent and the other dependent. This relationship shows the age of project equipment vs. the price of the equipment. He sees a relationship pattern of the price decreasing linearly with the age of the equipment. He recognizes that in the tool he is using the closer the points are to a diagonal line the more closely they are related. What tool is the project manager using?

Scatter plots or correlation charts - A scatter plot shows relationships as scattered points between two variables. This tool allows the quality team, generally during Control Quality, to study and identify possible relationships between changes observed in two variables.

A project manager is looking for a document that describes how the schedule will be developed, managed, executed and controlled. Which one of the following document provides this information?

Schedule management plan - The keyword to look for is "how." A schedule baseline is used to compare with actual results to determine if a change or a corrective action is necessary. A scope baseline is not relevant here unless changes impact the schedule. The schedule management plan describes how the schedule will be managed and controlled. EVM system is a performance measurement system integrating scope, schedule, and cost.

The Monitoring and Controlling process group is best described as?

Tracking, reviewing, and regulating the progress and performance of the project, identifying and approving changes - Definition of Monitoring & Controlling process group.

You were asked to explore less costly methods for developing a product without sacrificing the detailed requirements or the quality of the product. You are likely to use:

Value analysis - Value Analysis involves providing the lowest cost of product or service without loss of quality and performance. Also called value engineering

A project manager is assessing the magnitude of variation from the original scope baseline. What activity is the project manager performing?

Variance analysis - Value analysis determines ways to achieve the lowest cost of a product without losing quality or performance and without a change in scope. Variance analysis is as defined in the question. Vendor analysis is analyzing project or procurement cost based on vendor bids. Funnel analysis is progressively interviewing stakeholders through generic to specific questions.

Which one of the following communication methods is used in a virtual team environment?

Web-based meetings - Virtual teams can be defined as groups of people with a shared goal who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face. The availability of electronic communication such as e-mail, audio conferencing, web-based meetings and video conferencing has made such teams feasible.

Control charts are used to determine if the process is stable, capable, or predictable for performance. For repetitive processes, upper control limits (UCL) and lower control limits (LCL) in control charts represent points at which corrective actions may need to be taken since the process is said to be out of control. These are usually set at:

± 3 Sigma using statistical calculations and principles - In a control chart, the upper control limit and the lower control limit is usually set at ±3σ, where 1σ is one standard deviation.

A stakeholder cube is a:

A 3-dimensional model with power, influence, impact etc. - Stakeholder cube is a refinement of the grid models previously mentioned. This model combines the stakeholder grid elements (power, influence, impact, etc.) 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.

The document that establishes a partnership between the requesting and performing organizations is called:

A project charter - The project charter establishes a partnership between the performing and requesting organizations. In the case of external projects, a formal contract is typically the preferred way to establish an agreement. A project charter may still be used to establish internal agreements within an organization to ensure proper delivery under the contract. The approved project charter formally initiates the project.

When a contract is a major required input to a project charter, the PM mainly dealing with:

An external customer - Agreements are used to define initial intentions for a project. Agreements may take the form of contracts, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), service level agreements (SLA), letters of agreement, letters of intent, verbal agreements, email, or other written agreements. Typically, a contract is used when a project is being performed for an external customer.

All of the following may be agreements except:

Letter of Acceptance (LOA) - All of the following are forms of agreements: MOU—Memorandum of Understanding; SLA—Service Level Agreement;LOI—Letter of Intent;LOA—Letter of Agreement;Written, verbal, email agreements;Contract—for external projects. Letter of Acceptance is not an agreement.

Lessons learned register should contain:

Challenges, problems, realized risks and opportunities - The lessons learned register can include the category and description of the situation. The lessons learned register may also include the impact, recommendations, and proposed actions associated with the situation. The lessons learned register may record challenges, problems, realized risks and opportunities, or other content as appropriate. The lessons learned register is created as an output of manage project knowledge process early in the project. Thereafter it is used as an input and updated as an output in many processes throughout the project. The persons or teams involved in the work are also involved in capturing the lessons learned.

Closed procurements are an output of:

Control procurements - There is no process called close procurements in the sixth edition of PMBOK Guide. Closed procurements are an output of control procurements.

The contract types that bear the highest and the lowest risk for the buyer respectively are?

Cost plus percentage of cost (CPPC) and fixed price (FP) - See risk vs. contract types chart

A project manager is continuously improving the team competencies, team interaction, and the overall team environment to enhance project performance. Which process is the project manager performing?

Develop Team - Develop Team is the process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and the overall team environment to enhance project performance. The key benefit of this process is that it results in improved teamwork, enhanced interpersonal skills and competencies, motivated employees, reduced attrition, and improved overall project performance. This process is performed throughout the project.

An organization's business needs can be based on a training requirement, a market demand, a technological advance, a legal requirement, or a government standard. Typically, the business need and the cost-benefit analysis are contained in the business case to justify and establish boundaries for the project which is an input to:

Develop project charter - The business case and the benefits management plan are sources of information about the project´s objectives and how the project will contribute to the business goals. The approved business case, or similar, is the business document most commonly used to create the project charter. The business case describes the necessary information from a business standpoint to determine whether the expected outcomes of the project justify the required investment. This is an input to the Develop Project Charter 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.

You are a project manager. You are in the planning phase and decide to use project risk management techniques. As a result of this, you develop strategies that do all of the following except:

Eliminate all project risks - You cannot eliminate all project risk; at best you can only reduce the impact of the project risk by applying risk response techniques; i.e., maximize opportunities and minimize threats

Due to lack of demand an iTablet manufacturing company has trimmed the costs for all projects that don't meet certain criteria. As part of this effort, your project has been targeted. You are trying to determine the areas where you can reduce costs. Your research shows that most of the budget (BAC) will be spent in one of the following project management process groups:

Executing - At the beginning of the project, cost and staffing levels are low. BAC is Budget At Completion. In general, most of this budget is spent while executing the project since you hire most of your resources and procure material and equipment in this stage.

Management may impose a target completion date for some projects. This constraint is usually documented in the project charter and may result in all of the following except:

Extend project timeline - Processes in project management consider constraints of the project and manage the competing demands of cost, scope, time, and quality to achieve the results. When constraints of imposed deadline exist, planning is done backward from this deadline.

A company has decided to outsource part of a new effort, which is well defined, to a preferred vendor. What type of contract would be appropriate?

Fixed price

Which one of the following organization structure type has work groups arranged by job being done such as engineering, manufacturing, where PM has little or no authority, and the budget is managed by the functional manager?

Functional (centralized) - The question is describing functional organization. The key phrase is - budget is managed by the functional manager.

During which process group would you consider referring to previous documents of similar projects?

Initiating - In the Process of Develop Project Charter is the input Organizational Process Assets (includes historical information and lessons learned knowledge base). Initiating is where you would consider referring to previous project documents for similar projects. Although many of the planning processes consider historical information as well, it is most pertinent in Initiating.

Which of these are data representation tools?

Logical data model, mind mapping, and hierarchical charts - Influence diagrams, performance reviews, and regression analysis are data analysis techniques. Logical data model, mind mapping, and hierarchical charts are data representation techniques. multi-criteria decision analysis, voting, and unanimity are decision making techniques. Market research, interviews, check sheets, and statistical sampling are data gathering techniques.

After team members create the WBS, additional team members may be acquired for further decomposition. When new team members join the team, additional risks are incurred and must be considered. As new information is gathered, analyzed and added to the plan, It is clear that:

Planning is iterative in nature and must be repeated as needed - The nature of a project may require the use of repeated feedback loops for additional analysis. As more project information or characteristics are gathered and understood, additional planning will likely be required. Significant changes that occur throughout the project life cycle may initiate a need to revisit one or more of the planning processes and, possibly, one or both of the Initiating processes. This ongoing refinement of the project management plan is called progressive elaboration, indicating that planning and documentation are iterative or ongoing activities.

During Plan Procurement Management, the client or customer:

Prepares bid documents such as RFP, RFQ, and RFI - A, B and D are used in Conduct Procurements. The buyer (a.k.a. client or customer) structures bid documents to facilitate an accurate and complete response from the seller in Plan Procurement Management.

The good, the bad, and the ugly aspects need to be documented throughout the project. The lessons learned document is developed by the ___________.

Project team & key stakeholders - According to the PMBOK® guide, the project team and key stakeholders conduct the lessons learned process during the project life cycle to collect technical, managerial, and process related successes, failures, and recommendations.

According to your project management plan, it will take 150 days to complete a project. You need an electric saw for the duration of the project and are trying to decide whether it is better to lease or buy it. Leasing will cost you $50 per day, as opposed to purchasing the saw at $2,000 with a daily maintenance cost of $20 (the lease option has no daily maintenance cost). Based on this, should you lease it or buy it?

Purchase it because it would save $2,500

A project manager wants to know the engagement levels of stakeholders on a certain module of the project and the management strategy to effectively engage them. He can expect to find this information in the:

Stakeholder Management Plan - Projects are undertaken to fulfill objectives by producing deliverables. AA deliverable is defined as any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project. Deliverables may be tangible or intangible. Cause and effect diagram helps determine the root causes of a problem. Influence diagram shows causal influence and time ordering of events. Risk register provides the list of risks, the results of risk analysis and risk response planning.

Which one of the following is a prototyping technique showing sequence or navigation through a series of images or illustrations.

Story boards - Storyboarding is a prototyping technique showing sequence or navigation through a series of images or illustrations. Storyboards are used on a variety of projects in a variety of industries, such as ?lm, advertising, instructional design, and on agile and other software development projects. In software development, storyboards use mock-ups to show navigation paths through web pages, screens, or other user interfaces.

Which one of the following helps reduce the number of team conflicts?

Team charter - The team charter is a document that establishes the team values, agreements, and operating guidelines for the team. The team charter may include but is not limited to: Team values, Communication guidelines, Decision-making criteria and process, Conflict resolution process, Meeting guidelines, and Team agreements. The team charter establishes clear expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members. Early commitment to clear guidelines decreases misunderstandings and increases productivity.

Which one of the following is true regarding projects and changes?

The later in the project, the costlier the change - The diagram on this page shows that as the project progresses the cost of changes increases. Changes could occur anytime in the project and could be frequent early, in the middle, or late in the project.

Your project is behind schedule. You have received the okay to use crashing techniques on your project by adding two additional senior programmers at the cost of $70.00 per hour each. The senior programmers will work on the project until it finishes. What type of contract is being described?

Time & material - Time and Material contract is a hybrid of fixed price and cost reimbursable contract. When values such as engineers at a specific rate per hour or materials at rates per unit it mentioned, it will typically be a time and material contract.

Which one of the following is an important input for the "close project or phase" process?

Accepted deliverables - Inputs to "close project or phase" process are - project management plan, accepted deliverables, and OPA (project closure audit guidelines)

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.

Which one of the following represents an accurate way to deal with known unknowns and unknown unknowns?

Allocate contingency reserves to known threats and management reserves to unknown risks - Contingency reserves are the budget within the cost baseline that is allocated for identified risks. Contingency reserves are part of the budget intended to address the "known unknowns." As more precise information about the project becomes available, the contingency reserve may be used, reduced, or eliminated. Management reserves are an amount of the project budget withheld for management control purposes and are reserved for unforeseen work. The management reserve is not included in the cost baseline but is part of the overall project budget and funding requirements.

A project manager requested management reserve for a change resulting from an unknown. What happens next?

Change control process is used to obtain approval and to move the funds to cost baseline - Changes requested for management reserve are not considered to become part of the contingency reserve. Management reserves are added to the cost baseline to produce the project budget. As changes arise that warrant the use of management reserves, the change control process is used to obtain approval to move the applicable management reserve funds into the cost baseline.

The scope baseline is input to the control scope process because it is used to:

Compare actual results with the baseline to determine if change is necessary - The S-curve is a representation of the cost performance baseline. Determining cause and effect is done with an Ishikawa diagram in Identify Risks and Control Quality. The 5-why method is a quality tool used in root cause analysis. The scope baseline documents the basis for comparison of the approved scope against actual results to allow a project management team to determine if a corrective action needs to be recommended.

Project management life cycle is best represented as:

Concept, planning, executing, controlling, and closing - Project management life cycle is another term for project management process groups. Concept is an alternate term for initiating. A includes close procurements which is only a part of the close process group. A is an incorrect statement whereas C uses a synonym for initiation but is not wrong.

A servant leader coordinating a team of self-governing team members needs to prioritize product backlog items called user stories. What would the leader do next?

Conduct sprint or iteration planning meeting - Daily stand up meetings are short meetings review achievements of previous day, plans for current day, issues or roadblocks. Kanban is a pull-based on-demand scheduling system that pulls work from a backlog as resources become available. Sprint or iteration planning meetings prioritize product backlog items (user stories). A kick-off meeting is conducted at the end of planning. It communicates project objectives, gains team commitment, and explains stakeholder roles and responsibilities.

The control of the multiple versions or editions of a deliverable (e.g., documents, software, and building blocks) is supported by

Configuration management system - A deliverable is any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project. Deliverables are typically the outcomes of the project and can include components of the project management plan. Change control should be applied once the first version of a deliverable has been completed. The control of the multiple versions or editions of a deliverable (e.g., documents, software, and building blocks) is supported by configuration management tools and procedures.

Which one of the following is used to depict a system by showing inputs, actors providing input, outputs, and actors providing output visually?

Context diagrams - The question describes a context diagram. Prioritization matrices identify key issues and alternatives to be prioritized as a set. Criteria are prioritized and weighted, then applied to the alternatives, which results in a score for each alternative. These are then, ranked. A decision tree shows how to make a decision between alternative strategies when the environment contains uncertain elements. A multi-criteria decision matrix involves utilizing a decision matrix that provides a systematic analytical approach for establishing criteria such as risk levels, uncertainty, and valuation thus enabling evaluation and ranking of many ideas.

Your team analyzes deliverables as part of a scheduled inspection and decide the defects that need to be corrected are relatively minor. In which process are you involved?

Control Quality - This question refers to a physical inspection of the work results by team members. This is done in Control Quality. See PEACE (QA) vs. EDICT (QC). Plan Quality Management identifies the standards using which such inspections must be done. Perform Quality Assurance ensures appropriate quality standards and metrics are used for conducting quality audits. Quality Management is the entire process group and is a less correct answer than Control Quality. An inspection is the examination of a work product to determine if it conforms to documented standards. The results of inspections generally include measurements and may be conducted at any level. The results of a single activity can be inspected, or the final product of the project can be inspected.

While developing project cost estimates, the project management team is least likely to consider which one of the following?

Cost of acquiring future project contracts from client - A is typically a cost of doing business. B, C, and D relate to costs of resources (people, material, and equipment) and are inputs to Estimate Costs process.

A project manager has developed the scope statement but expects more changes to the scope. Which one of the following contract types would the PM pick when the scope of the work is not well defined:

Cost plus fixed fee - Cost reimbursable (a.k.a. cost plus fixed fee) is the best form of contract for projects with a nebulous scope.

Networking, communities of practice, meetings, work shadowing, reverse shadowing, discussion forums, storytelling, training, seminars, and conferences all assist in:

Create new knowledge, share tacit knowledge, and integrate it with diverse teams - Knowledge management tools and techniques connect people so they can work together to create new knowledge, share tacit knowledge, and integrate the knowledge of diverse team members. Tools and techniques include but are not limited to: Networking, including informal social interaction and online social networking. Online forums where people can ask open questions ("What does anyone know about...?") are useful for starting knowledge-sharing conversations with specialists; Communities of practice (sometimes called communities of interest or just communities) and special interest groups; Meetings, including virtual meetings where participants can interact using communications technology; Work shadowing and reverse shadowing; Discussion forums such as focus groups; Knowledge-sharing events such as seminars and conferences; Workshops, including problem-solving sessions and learning reviews designed to identify lessons learned; Storytelling; Creativity and ideas management techniques; Knowledge fairs and cafés; and Training that involves interaction between learners.

______ is any unique and verifiable product, result or capability to perform a service that must be produced to complete the project, phase, or a process.

Deliverable - Projects are undertaken to fulfill objectives by producing deliverables. AA deliverable is defined as any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project. Deliverables may be tangible or intangible.

You are assisting the sponsoring team document high-level requirements, high-level risks, a summary schedule, and a summary budget. You and the sponsoring team are conducting:

Develop Project Charter - As part of developing a project charter, your sponsoring team, and you are documenting the information that goes into a project charter. A charter contains "high-level" requirements, risks, schedule, budget, and is generally "broad-based." Program management is managing a collection of related projects (not indicated in the question), project management is a much bigger animal that involves 42 processes, and integration management is a process group part of which includes Develop Project Charter. So, D is a less correct answer.

Your project will take another year to complete. You know that the type of technology you are currently using has changed and that if you continue to use this old technology, it will impact the outcome of your project. Your best response is to:

Discuss the situation with your project management team and develop alternatives to the problem - Establishing an alternative solution before discussing with senior management or your client would be the most proactive solution. PMI's guidelines expect proactive responses and not reactive responses. Remember, do not run to the senior management or the change control board without thinking through the available options.

Which one of these is not a valid decision-making style:

Fait accompli - Decision-making techniques that can be used for this process include but are not limited to: Voting - Voting can take the form of unanimity, majority, or plurality to decide on whether to accept, defer, or reject change requests. Autocratic decision making. In this decision-making technique, one individual takes the responsibility for making the decision for the entire group. Multi criteria decision analysis - This technique uses a decision matrix to provide a systematic analytical approach to evaluate the requested changes according to a set of predefined criteria. Fait Accompli is a negotiating technique.

A project sponsor has given the project manager approval to begin the next phase of a project even as the team is executing the current phase. This practice of overlapping phases is known as:

Fast tracking - Doing activities in parallel is fast tracking. It increases rework and risk.

Work completion is reported using a milestone schedule, a summary schedule, or a detailed schedule with logical relationships. In a summary schedule, a comprehensive aggregate of activities is used between milestones or across multiple work packages. This is called a:

Hammock or summary activity - A summary activity, also called a hammock activity, displays deliverables and work packages at a summary or aggregated level.

"A room cannot be built without foundation." This type of dependency is called:

Hard logic - Hard logic is a dependency that is inherent in the work being done or contractually required such as the example described. Other examples are physical limitations. Other examples are: you cannot test a deliverable until it is completed; you cannot start work until a team member is acquired. They should not be confused with assigning schedule constraints in the scheduling tool.

The Monitor Risks process involves which one of the following?

Identifying and analyzing new risks, tracking identified risks and evaluating risk process effectiveness - 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.

Two team members are presenting conflicting thoughts on what information must be documented in a WBS dictionary and how to organize it within the document. This could happen when the team members are:

In storming stage - A is irrelevant and conjecture. Professional team members do not engage in vengeance or settling scores. In early stages, the team members are in forming stage and are reserved and independent and will not present ideas yet. They are in a high productivity mode in performing stage of the team development, and this does not occur until they moved from Storming to Norming to Performing. The situation in the question represents conflicting approaches to project management and technical work. This can be healthy as long as the team members have an open mind.

Joe is the PM on a project. His team developed the following list of risk events, and they are in the process of moving into project quality control tests. Which one of the following events will have the most impact financially on the project?

Integration testing - Calculate the EMV for all events: 15% of $14,000 = $2,100; 22% of $18,800 = $4,136; 10% of $16,000 = $1,600; 5% of $12,000= $600: The largest amount among all these activities is $4,136, which occurs during integration testing

What communication method is preferable when you need to get several key stakeholders to approve avoidance risk strategies for some critical risks:

Interactive - Interactive is the preferable way since for a high risk you want complete communications - body, voice, and words. Conversational is not a communications method. Keywords: key stakeholders, avoidance strategies, critical risks

A team member looked at a schedule and corrected it, stating, "testing by team members can only be completed after the module software development." What is this called?.

Internal mandatory dependency - A constraint is a limiting factor such as a limited budget or an imposed deadline. Dependencies attributes include internal or external; mandatory or discretionary. This dependency is mandatory. The word "only" should alert you to this. The only answer with mandatory is C.

In response to a change request presented by a stakeholder, an increase to the authorized project budget has become required. Which one of the following statements is true regarding this change?

It must be approved through the integrated change control process - Changes that warrant an increase in the project budget must be approved through integrated change control. They may go through the Control Costs process or Monitor and Control Project Work; however, they are not approved in either of those processes.

Which one of the following facilitated skills is used in bringing business subject matter experts and the development team together to gather requirements and improve the software development process?

Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions - Joint application design/development (JAD) - JAD sessions are used in the software development industry. These facilitated sessions focus on bringing business subject matter experts and the development team together to gather requirements and improve the software development process.

All the following are different types of activity dependencies except?

Lead logic - Dependency attributes can be internal or external; mandatory or discretionary. Mandatory dependency is also called hard logic. Discretionary dependency is also called preferred, preferential or soft logic. So, you can play around with words. Lead as a term implies the next activity is advanced. However, the term "lead logic" is made up.

The process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues and managing team changes to optimize project performance is called:

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 is likely to be included in a project charter:

Measurable project objectives and related success criteria - Project charter as an output document in Initiating must include: (1) project purpose or justification, (2) measurable project objectives and success criteria, (3) high-level requirements, (4) high-level project description, (5) high-level risks, (6) summary milestone schedule, (7) summary budget, (8) project approval requirements, 99) assigned project manager, and the (10) name and authority of the sponsor authorizing the project. Although a list of high-level deliverables may be there in Charter A, a complete list of deliverables with their details is an output of Define Scope (scope statement), B is an output of Create WBS (WBS), C is an output of Risk Analysis.

Which one of the following charts shows major deliverables and their start or completion dates:

Milestone charts - Definition: Milestone Charts: These charts are similar to bar charts, but only identify the scheduled start or completion of major deliverables and key external interfaces. Bar charts show individual activities (not major deliverables) on the vertical axis, durations with start and end dates on the horizontal axis.

Plane manufacturers were advancing solar-powered planes. As part of collecting requirements, the project management team is using a group creativity technique that involves utilizing a decision matrix that provides a systematic analytical approach for establishing criteria such as risk levels, uncertainty, and valuation thus enabling evaluation and ranking of many ideas. What technique is the team using?

Multi-criteria decision analysis - A technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified for review and analysis. Influence diagrams are graphical representations of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes. Nominal group technique is a technique that enhances brainstorming with a voting process used to rank the most useful ideas for further brainstorming or prioritization

Which one of the following approach, typically used in a Kanban system, is based on the theory-of-constraints and pull-based scheduling concepts from lean manufacturing to limit a team's work in progress in order to balance demand against the team's delivery throughput? It does not rely on a schedule that was developed previously for the development of the product or product increments, but rather pulls work from a backlog or intermediate queue of work to be done immediately as resources become available.

On-demand scheduling - On-demand scheduling is an approach, typically used in a Kanban system, is based on the theory-of-constraints and pull-based scheduling concepts. . On-demand scheduling is often used for projects that evolve the product incrementally in operational or sustainment environments, and where tasks may be made relatively similar in size and scope or can be bundled by size and scope.

A milestone list is completed as part of activity definition. When they are based on historical information, they are classified as:

Optional milestones - A milestone is a significant point or event in a project. A milestone list identifies all project milestones and indicates whether the milestone is mandatory, such as those required by contract, or optional, such as those based on historical information. Milestones have zero duration because they represent a significant point or event.

Which one of the following structures provides a hierarchically organized depiction of the project organization? It is usually arranged so that work packages can be related to the performing organizational units.

Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) - Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) is a hierarchical representation of the project organization, which illustrates the relationship between project activities and the organizational units that will perform those activities.While the WBS shows a breakdown of project deliverables, 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.

Gordon has been put in charge of a project that has been advancing with an SPI of 1.2. The team is currently working on five different tasks. Task one has a lag of 5 days and is about to start the next day. The team is distributed across the entire state. With the spread of the corporation to different parts of the country and world, several team members were hired in these countries, and the use of virtual teams has developed at a rapid rate in the project. Using these team members has most likely increased the importance of:

Plan Communications Management - The globalization of projects has promoted the need for virtual teams that work on the same project, but are not colocated at the same site. The availability of communication technology such as email, audio conferencing, social media, web-based meetings, and video conferencing has made virtual teams feasible. Managing virtual teams has unique advantages, such as being able to use special expertise on a project team even when the expert is not in the same geographic area, incorporating employees who work from home offices, and including people with mobility limitations or disabilities. The challenges of managing virtual teams are mainly in the communication domain, including a possible feeling of isolation, gaps in sharing knowledge and experience between team members, and difficulties in tracking progress and productivity, possible time zone difference and cultural differences.

You are the project manager for a large project. You and your project team are trying to determine if a portion of the project should be contracted out, and if so, how, how much, and when. Which process are you in?

Plan Procurement Management - The question is describing the process of Plan Procurement Management. C is a made-up term.

Which one of the following is the process of developing options, selecting strategies, and agreeing on actions to address overall project risk exposure, as well as to treat individual project risks?

Plan Risk Responses - Plan Risk Responses is the process of developing options, selecting strategies, and agreeing on actions to address overall project risk exposure, as well as to treat individual project risks. The key benefit of this process is that it identifies appropriate ways to address overall project risk and individual project risks. This process also allocates resources and inserts activities into project documents and the project management plan as needed. This process is performed throughout the project.

The scope management plan is a component of the project or program management plan that describes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled, and validated. Scope management plan describes:

Process to manage project scope - The project scope management plan describes how the project scope will be defined, developed, and verified, how the WBS will be created and defined, and how the project scope will be managed and controlled by the PM team. A is used in cost and resource estimating, B is inclusive of all changes, not just scope changes, and C is part of cost management plan.

Which one of the following is input to close project or phase?

Project Management Plan - The project management plan becomes the agreement between the project manager and project sponsor, defining what constitutes project completion. The PM will review the entire project management plan to ensure completion before considering the project to be closed. The scope statement contains a subset of the information, specifically, a description of deliverables and the related assumptions and constraints.

A project manager organized and finished the kick-off meeting for the project. During which process group did this occur?

Project Planning - The project kick-off meeting is usually associated with the end of planning and the start of executing. Its purpose is to communicate the objectives of the project, gain the commitment of the team for the project, and explain the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. The kick-off may occur at different points in time depending on the characteristics of the project: For small projects, there is usually only one team that performs the planning and the execution. In this case, the kick-off occurs shortly after initiation, in the Planning Process Group, because the team is involved in planning. In large projects, a project management team normally does the majority of the planning, and the remainder of the project team is brought on when the initial planning is complete, at the start of the development/implementation. In this instance, the kick-off meeting takes place with processes in the Executing Process Group. Multiphase projects will typically include a kick-off meeting at the beginning of each phase.

Which one of the following documents is used as an important input to define scope?

Project charter - Define Scope is the process of developing a detailed description of project and product. This is done by creating a detailed project scope statement that is critical to project success. The project charter is an important input to Define Scope. It provides a high-level project description and product characteristics. WBS is an output of a subsequent process, Create WBS. Work performance data is input to the scope control process. Although, enterprise environmental factors are inputs define scope process, it is not as important as project charter.

An eight-month, million-dollar project has been chartered and is being progressively elaborated to document the description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. This document is:

Project scope statement - The project scope statement is the description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, and constraints. The project scope statement documents the entire scope, including project and product scope. It describes the project's deliverables in detail. It also provides a common understanding of the project scope among project stakeholders. It may contain explicit scope exclusions that can assist in managing stakeholder expectations.

The document that contains the project title, key deliverables summary schedule, and budget, and the project's goals and objectives and is used to authorized a project is issued by:

Project sponsor - The key words are "issued by" and "authorized." The document described is the project charter. A project charter may be developed by the PM, but issued by the initiator, sponsor, or authority such as PMO, portfolio manager or a program manager external to the project. Project stakeholder is a less correct answer because it may include anyone on the project, not just the sponsor.

Which of the following organizational process assets is part of 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.

Stakeholders in the project have been requesting the project manager to keep them updated with the required information. The PM insisted that he sent out letters, emails, faxes, voicemails, and reports to them. These types of communications fall under the category of ____________ and cannot necessarily ensure that it reached or was understood by the intended audience:

Push communications - Push communication - Sent to specific recipients who need to know the information. This ensures that the information is distributed but does not certify that it reached or was understood by the intended audience. Push communication includes letters, memos, reports, emails, faxes, voice mails, press releases, etc.

A project manager decided to fast track a project. The objective of fast-tracking a project is to:

Reduce project duration - Fast tracking is doing activities in parallel to reduce the duration of the project, not the activity. Be sure to read the question and all answers carefully; the word activity makes answer A incorrect. If you are torn between 2 answers, reread the question.

Using processes, tools, and techniques that define how to estimate, acquire, manage, and use team and physical resources including developing the resource management plan, a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), and Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS) are part of:

Resource Management - Plan Resource Management is the process of defining how to estimate, acquire, manage, and use team and physical resources. Key tools and techniques used in this process are hierarchical charts such as OBS and RBS, responsibility assignment matrix, and meetings to output a resource management plan.

Joey, the functional manager, advised Peter, the project manager that while Tim, the team member is available for all the 40 days needed over the year, he is not available more than five days a month. In this situation, what does the project manager do next?

Resource smoothing - Note that the limitation on the team member availability per time period is a constraint and not an assumption. Resource leveling and critical chain scheduling are used when the resource is not available for the needed 40 days. However, in this case, the resource is available, but there are resource limits. This allows splitting the schedule of the 40 days into a maximum of 5 days a month i.e. smooth the resource availability. A resource leveling situation would occur if the resource were not available for the 40 days this calendar year resulting in an increase in the critical path.

Which one of the following document shows project roles and responsibilities closely tied to the project scope?

Responsible, Accountable, Consult and Inform chart (RACI) - A RACI chart shows how scope (deliverables, work packages, and activities) are related to stakeholders regarding their responsibilities (Responsible, Accountable, Consult, and Inform). Resource histogram may show resources and when they are part of the project, but, it does not show their roles and responsibilities. WBS and WAS are unrelated to what is asked in the question.

A Resource Management Plan is an essential input to acquiring the project team because it provides the following information:

Roles and responsibilities and the team management plan - Resource Management Plans contains RACI or RAM charts, project organization charts, and a team management plan to provide guidance on how team members should be identified, staffed, managed, controlled, and eventually released.

Which one of the following is not part of the team charter?

Team recognition plan - The team charter is a document that establishes the team values, agreements, and operating guidelines for the team. The team charter may include but is not limited to: Team values, Communication guidelines, Decision-making criteria and process, Conflict resolution process, Meeting guidelines, and Team agreements. The team charter establishes clear expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members.

While a programmer was conducting an investigation of the completed software code, a senior team leader in the project found several bugs that needed to be fixed. The senior team leader is conducting:

Testing - Testing is an organized and constructed investigation conducted to provide objective information about the quality of the product or service under test in accordance with the project requirements. The intent of testing is to find errors, defects, bugs, or other nonconformance problems in the product or service. For example, software testing may include unit testing, integration testing, black-box, white-box, interface testing, regression testing, Alpha testing, etc.

A training company is conducting classes across the entire country. The company allocated $1000 contingency reserve anticipating storms in coastal areas. Fortunately, the storm did not occur. What happens next?

The contingency reserve may be removed from the project - During cost control, reserve analysis is used to monitor the status of contingency and management reserves for the project to determine if these reserves are still needed or if additional reserves need to be requested. As work on the project progresses, these reserves may be used as planned. Or, if the probable risk events do not occur, the unused contingency reserves may be removed from the project budget to free up resources for other projects or operations. Additional risk analysis during the project may reveal a need to request that additional reserves be added to the project budget. The question does not indicate if the additional analysis has been done or if additional reserves are needed for other risks. B is unethical.

A project manager who is adept at managing the costs of the project must ensure that the project team is staying within the authorized budget. The purpose of control costs is to ensure:

The project spending is generating appropriate value in the work being accomplished - Monitoring the expenditure of funds without regard to the value of work being accomplished provides only a partial picture of project status. Monitoring the expenditure of funds without regard to the value of work being accomplished for such expenditures has little value to the project, other than to track the outflow of funds. Much of the effort of cost control involves analyzing the relationship between the consumption of project funds and the work being accomplished for such expenditures. The key to effective cost control is the management of the approved cost baseline. B looks only at the budget. Approved budget levels (C) are not set by the project manager, but by the sponsor and approving boards. If quality and risk are compromised (D), a change request would address any increase to the budget.

A project team is working through brainstorming sessions to collect the project requirements. They are developing a mind map that consolidates all ideas generated through brainstorming into a single map to reflect a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank landscape page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words, and parts of words are added. Which one of the following best describes what they are doing?

The project team is using a data representation technique - Mind mapping is a data representation technique

A team is going through infighting, some conflict, and competition. This implies:

The team is in a storming phase and with proper guidance will evolve into the norming stage - The storming stage follows forming and is characterized by the above-listed work and behaviors. B may not be true since the team has been hired recently. C implies the project manager is unprofessional in managing the team, and D cannot be right since performing follows norming and is characterized by high productivity and mutual trust.

Bill Murray is spending a lot of time reviewing the Resource Gantt chart and the RAM/RACI matrix. What does a Resource Gantt chart show that a RAM/RACI matrix does not?

Time - RACI shows connections between work packages and team members. It is not associated with time. A Gantt chart will, however, show when a team member is assigned to a task.

A project manager decides to crash a project schedule with augmented staff. Which contract type is suitable?

Time and material - The contract type best suited to augment staff during is T & M. Purchase order is simply an order to purchase - not a contract type. Keywords: crash, augmented staff

Which one of the following is the difference between early finish date and late finish date and helps to determine schedule flexibility in a schedule network?

Total float or total slack - Total Float is 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. Calculated using the critical path method technique and determining the difference between the early finish dates and late finish dates.

Jessica Smith is an exceptional management consultant. She bills at $175 per hour. She would use this compensation measure in what type of contract:

Unit price contract - Time & Material contracts also known as unit price contracts are a hybrid type of contractual arrangement that contains aspects of both cost-reimbursable and fixed-price contracts. Examples are hourly billing of consultants (ex: $175/hour), or unit pricing of materials ($30/yard)

Directions of influence classifies stakeholders according to their influence on the work of the project or the project team itself. The classification can be represented as:

Upward, downward, outward, and sideward - Directions of influence. Classifies stakeholders according to their influence on the work of the project or the project team itself. Stakeholders can be classified in the following ways: Upward (seniormanagement of the performing organization or customer organization, sponsor, and steering committee), Downward (the team or specialists contributing knowledge or skills in a temporary capacity), Outward (stakeholder groups and their representatives outside the project team, such as suppliers, government departments, the public, end-users, and regulators), or Sideward (the peers of the project manager, such as other project managers or middle managers who are in competition for scarce project resources or who collaborate with the project manager in sharing resources or information).

Emerald who works for SolarLogic, Inc. is managing the quality of a large project. This is resulting in a large volume of information including reports, documents, plans, meeting minutes, analysis, etc. She also knows that there are a large number of users who would like to view this information at their discretion. What is the best way for her to provide this information to stakeholders?

Use pull communications such as an intranet - A communications management plan must have been already created since information is being generated as part of manage communications. However, due to the large volume of information, the best method to use is a pull communication method such as an intranet, a knowledge repository, an electronic or physical library where users can access at their discretion.

In agile and adaptive environments, all of the following are characteristics of a servant leader except:

Using charm and attraction to gain power - The following characteristics of servant leadership enable project leaders to become more agile and facilitate the team's success: Promoting self-awareness; Listening; Serving those on the team; Helping people grow; Coaching vs. controlling; Promoting safety, respect, and trust; and Promoting the energy and intelligence of others. Servant leadership is not unique to agile. But once having practiced it, servant leaders can usually see how well servant leadership integrates into the agile mindset and value. When leaders develop their servant leadership or facilitative skills, they are more likely to become agile. As a result, servant leaders can help their teams collaborate to deliver value faster.

A project manager who is fixing a golf course landscape is classifying the work into several categories of repair as - very high, high, medium, low, very low categories. The project manager is using:

Variable sampling - Cause and effect diagrams illustrate how various factors might be linked to potential problems or effects. Scatter diagram shows how two variables - one dependent and one independent are related. Variable sampling classifies categories on a scale. Attribute sampling classifies a sample as conforming or non-conforming (yes/no) basis.

A project manager assigned to manage a large trade show is deconstructing project scope. As part of this effort, she is recording the code of account identifier, description of work, responsible organization, resources required, the cost of doing work, and a list of milestones into a document. This document is called:

WBS Dictionary - WBS Dictionary is a document that describes each component in the work breakdown structure (WBS). Information in the WBS dictionary includes, but is not limited to, code of account identifier, description of work, responsible organization, a list of schedule milestones, associated schedule activities, resources required, cost estimates, quality requirements, acceptance criteria, technical references, and contract information.

When would a Gantt chart be more appropriate to use than a milestone chart?

When meeting with middle management - Milestone charts show high-level targets or goals to be achieved and are typically used by senior management as well as customers. Also known as Gantt charts, bar charts represent schedule information where activities are listed on the vertical axis, dates are shown on the horizontal axis, and activity durations are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates. Bar charts are relatively easy to read and are commonly used. Gantt charts/bar charts are typically used by lower and middle management.

One of the computer servers supporting the information to the corporate financial system in development has failed. The testing team, the customer, and the development group are pointing the finger at the computer infrastructure team even as the infrastructure team kept insisting that this is not due to their fault. When the discussions reached a heated moment, the infrastructure team leader along with the team walked out of the meeting. This can be described as:

Withdraw / Avoid - Withdraw or avoid the type of conflict management technique is a situation where a team member(s) or stakeholder(s) escape from a conflict or withdraws completely. A team member concedes to maintain harmony or to provide a cooling off period. It results In a lose-leave effect. Mediation is a legal technique for negotiation. Collaborate is to consider multiple viewpoints.