MG 485 Module 4 In-Depth Questions - Chapter Assignments

Closing

Relative to the project life cycle, when is the cost per risk discovered typically highest? a. Initiating b. Planning c. Executing d. Closing

Transferring

A Fortune 100 company is about to undertake a $50 million construction project to build a new office building. As a condition of hiring a general contractor for the construction, they require the contractor to secure a performance bond to guarantee their work and performance under this contract. This is an example of __________ project risk. a. avoiding b. mitigating c. transferring d. accepting

Deterministic

A __________ estimate is also referred to as a single-point estimate. a. deterministic b. probabilistic c. definitive d. order of magnitude

Root cause analysis

A __________ is an analytical technique to ascertain the fundamental or causal reason or reasons that affect one or more variances, defects, or risks. a. SWOT analysis b. Root cause analysis c. Delphi technique d. Brainstorming technique

Common cause variation

A __________ variation is the result of the product design and the method of making it, and is exhibited by a random pattern within predictable limits. a. Six Sigma variation b. Special cause variation c. Root cause variation d. Common cause variation

Remains the same regardless of the size or volume of work

A fixed cost is described as a cost that __________. a. is necessary to keep the organization running, but is not associated with one specific project b. only occurs because of the project and is often classified as direct labor or other direct costs c. remains the same regardless of the size or volume of work d. varies with the volume of use

Trigger condition

A key supplier of materials for your project has not been returning your calls or responding to your e-mails. This is an example of a __________, which indicates that a risk is likely to occur. a. bad business relationship b. trigger condition c. risk avoidance d. risk transfer

Implement activity-based costing (ABC)

A manufacturing company will be purchasing two sophisticated pieces of equipment for the factory floor. The project manager for this procurement has distributed the detailed specifications to a number of vendors and is waiting for the bid responses. When analyzing the vendor's bids, the PM can do a number of things to determine if the vendor's bid prices appear to be reasonable. Which of these actions would NOT be appropriate for the vendor bid analysis? a. Compare the bids and assume that the lowest responsible offer is fair. b. Review business publications and industry websites to determine if the prices are in line with industry standards. c. Select one of the lower-priced vendors with a good reputation and negotiate with them for the best price. d. Implement activity-based costing (ABC).

Threat, opportunity

A project risk is anything that may impact the project team's ability to achieve the general project success measures and the specific project stakeholder's priorities. A negative impact is known as a(n) __________, while a positive impact is known as a(n) __________. a. issue, benefit b. issue, opportunity c. threat, opportunity d. threat, benefit

Who identified the risk

All of these are ways to categorize project risks EXCEPT: a. when they occur in the project life cycle. b. who identified the risk. c. what project objective may be impacted (scope, time, cost, etc.). d. whether the risk is internal or external to the organization.

developing a design that, once approved, guides the team

An example of a nonrecurring cost is __________. a. cost of writing code b. cost of laying bricks c. developing a design that, once approved, guides the team d. cost of running an assembly line in a factory

Ask the manager questions about the new office space to understand the departments that will be located there, the level of finishes desired, etc...

An experienced project manager has successfully managed many new office build-outs for their East Coast company. The company just announced that they will be expanding operations to the Midwest, and a lease has been signed for 5,000 square feet of space in Cincinnati. The new office has to be up and running in 3 months, and leadership has asked for a construction estimate by the end of the day. How can the project manager come up with a credible estimate for the new space quickly? a. Tell the manager that you can't come up with an estimate in a few hours. b. Ask the manager questions about the new office space to understand the departments that will be located there, the level of finishes desired, etc. Then base the new budget on previous, similar projects. c. Create a work breakdown structure by using another previous project and generate a bottom-up estimate for each work package. d. Go through all office buildouts for the past five years. Calculate an average construction cost per square foot and multiply the 5,000 square feet by this historical cost per square foot to calculate the budget.

Is necessary to keep the organization running, but it is not associated with one specific project

An indirect cost is described as a cost that __________. a. is necessary to keep the organization running, but is not associated with one specific project. b. only occurs because of the project and is often classified as direct labor or other direct costs. c. repeats as the project work continues d. occurs when the project must be conducted faster than normal

Quality audits

Control quality is the activities used to verify that deliverables are of acceptable quality and that they are complete and correct. All of these are quality control activities EXCEPT: a. inspection. b. deliverable peer reviews. c. quality audits. d. testing process.

Wants to work exclusively on verifying a specific approach to lessen risk

During Agile project estimating, a "spike" is undertaken when the team __________. a. wants to develop a definitive cost estimate for the entire project b. wants to work exclusively on verifying a specific approach to lessen risk c. agrees to "shift left." d. agrees to do value engineering

Executing

During which phase of a project life cycle do recurring costs typically occur? a. Planning b. Selecting and initiating c. Closing and realizing d. Executing

Perform qualitative risk analysis

During which risk planning process is each risk assigned a probability and impact score? a. Plan risk management b. Identify risks c. Perform qualitative risk analysis d. Perform quantitative risk analysis

Forecasts to predict trends

Effective metrics help enable project teams to keep performance acceptable and to ultimately deliver outcomes that generate business value. Which of these is NOT a lagging indicator used to measure deliverables and reflect past performance? a. Defects b. Forecasts to predict trends c. Work in progress d. Performance measures

Project quality management

In the United States, government, business, consulting, and academic specialists in quality worked together to develop a common means of describing Total Quality Management (TQM). Which of these is NOT one of the key TQM areas that form the core values of the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Award? a. Visionary leadership b. Customer focused excellence c. Agility and resilience d. Project quality management

So that they can be responsible for determining if it's about to be triggered, and implementing the strategy

In the risk register, why should one person be designated as the "owner" of the risk? a. So that they can be congratulated when the risk is mitigated b. So that they can be blamed if the risk is triggered and causes major project problems c. So that they can be responsible for determining if it's about to be triggered, and implementing the strategy d. So that they will be responsible for administering the management reserves

Document the lessons learned for the project

Project kickoff meetings are conducted for many reasons. All of these are reasons for conducting a project kickoff meeting EXCEPT to: a. allow all project stakeholders to express their legitimate needs and desires. b. enable the project manager to use their influence to get everyone excited about the project. c. document the lessons learned for the project. d. allow all key stakeholders to see how all the pieces of the project fit together.

Lessons learned from previous projects

Project managers want to avoid two extremes: the extreme of not measuring anything since there is not enough time, and the extreme of measuring too many things. Project teams can often seek useful measures when they study __________. a. sources of variation b. quality management plan c. the work of quality gurus d. lessons learned from previous projects

Initiating, planning, executing, and closing

Risks are typically discovered during which stage(s) of a project? a. Initiating b. Initiating and planning c. Initiating, planning, and executing d. Initiating, planning, executing, and closing

DMAIC

Six Sigma uses a 15-step disciplined process called the __________ process to plan and manage improvement projects. a. SIPOC b. TQM c. DMAIC d. ISO 9001:2015

5; 10

The amount of money placed into contingency reserve is calculated during risk analysis and is often in the range of __________ to __________ percent of the total project. a. 5; 10 b. 10; 15 c. 15; 20 d. 25; 30

Resource roles and responsibilities

The cost management plan includes forecasting and refining cost estimates of all the project activities throughout the duration of the project, and it is integral to the cost management planning process. This plan contains descriptions, procedures, and responsibilities for all of these EXCEPT: a. cost estimating. b. budget determination. c. resource roles and responsibilities. d. cost control.

Date risk identified

The primary output of risk identification is the risk register. All of these information is typically contained in the risk register EXCEPT: a. risk response strategy. b. risk owner. c. probability of occurrence. d. date risk identified.

Analogous

The project manager at a software company predicts a project's costs based on previous projects that were similar to the current project. What type of cost estimating are they using? a. Parametric b. Analogous c. Bottom-up d. Rolling wave

Project quality

The term __________ is defined as "the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs." a. value b. Six Sigma c. customer satisfaction d. project quality

Discounting the value of future revenue and cost streams enables better project decisions.

The time value of money is relevant to project management because: a. the project manager must balance the timing of project cash inflows and outflows. b. discounting the value of future revenue and cost streams enables better project decisions. c. it is important to understand how to calculate the cost of regular and overtime labor. d. as time passes on a project, money is spent.

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

What does a SWOT analysis examine?

Teams work exclusively on verifying a specific approach, and adjust their thinking by testing as early as practical in the project...

What does the Agile term "shift left" mean? a. Teams work exclusively on verifying a specific approach, and adjust their thinking by testing as early as practical in the project anything that will need to be tested at a later stage. b. Move stories from In Progress status on the Kanban board to the left, back to Product Backlog. c. Remove decimal places from estimates. d. Move from various locations to a co-located team environment.

It is the point beyond which corrective action is taken

What is the purpose of identifying a threshold for project metrics? a. It indicates stakeholder tolerance for quality defects. b. It will become the trigger event for a risk response. c. It is the point beyond which corrective action is taken. d. It is the point at which the defect gets into the customer's hands.

Cost baseline

What is used to compare actual project spending with planned expenditures to determine if corrective action is needed? a. Cost baseline b. Critical path c. Cost estimate d. Cost management plan

Fixed costs

What type of costs do NOT depend on the size of the project? a. Variable costs b. Direct costs c. Fixed costs d. Indirect costs

Quantitative risk analysis

What type of risk analysis is NOT required on all projects? a. Identify risks b. Qualitative risk analysis c. Quantitative risk analysis d. Risk response planning

Task costs

Which of the answers below is NOT one of the three types of data that Microsoft Project uses to compute each assignment's cost value? a. Assignment work hours b. Task costs c. Resource standard rate d. Resource overtime rate

Because assumptions reflect problems that will definitely happen during the course of the project

Which of these is NOT a reason for listing assumptions in the cost estimate? a. Two people from different backgrounds may view a situation differently. b. Assumptions that are not true often cause more work or manifest as risks. c. As more details are available, a project manager may review assumptions to uncover those that have now proven to be false. d. Because assumptions reflect problems that will definitely happen during the course of the project.

Mitigate opportunity

Which of these is NOT a risk strategy that is used specifically for dealing with opportunities? a. Mitigate opportunity b. Enhance opportunity c. Exploit opportunity d. Share opportunity

Corrective action

Which of these is NOT a way that value is delivered on Agile projects? a. Corrective action b. Make processes explicit c. Inspection and testing d. Continuous integration

Functional areas with the organization

Which of these is NOT an example of an external stakeholder? a. The public b. Functional areas within the organization c. Customers d. Suppliers

Schedule milestones

Which of these is NOT an example of supporting detail pertaining to cost estimates? a. Description of the project scope b. Method used to create the estimate c. Assumptions and constraints d. Schedule milestones

Vendor satisfaction

Which of these is NOT one of the four core project quality concepts? a. Vendor satisfaction b. Process management c. Fact-based management d. Empowered performance

Quality improvements

Which of these is NOT one of the general categories of typical project success measures? a. Meeting project agreements b. Quality improvements c. Project outcome met the customers' needs d. Project helped the performing organization

The saying that the team should meet expectations but exceed requirements

Which of these is NOT one of the reasons that it is better to design quality into a process than to find problems upon inspection? a. It costs more to make junk and then remake it to obtain good outputs. b. Having to do rework aggravates schedule pressure on projects. c. The saying that the team should meet expectations but exceed requirements. d. Even the best inspectors do not find every mistake.

Deliver

Which of these is NOT one of the steps of the PDCA model? a. Plan b. Deliver c. Check d. Act

Production work is halted in the factory due to lack of inventory, and management pays extra for rapid delivery of additional material

Which of these is an example of an expedited cost? a. The team completes a major deliverable within the normal 40-hour work week. b. New computers are delivered per the agreed dates in the executed purchasing agreement. c. Production work is halted in the factory due to lack of inventory, and management pays extra for rapid delivery of additional material. d. Summer months are slow for the company so management establishes summer hours, where everyone gets Friday afternoons off.

Bottom-up

Which of these methods of estimating can produce the most accurate estimate? a. Parametric b. Analogous c. Bottom-up d. Rolling wave

Everyone

Who should be involved in identifying potential risks for a project? a. Sponsor b. Project manager c. Team d. Everyone

Only high-scoring risks require a contingency plan

With respect to creating a contingency plan for risks, __________. a. risks do not require a contingency plan b. all risks require a contingency plan c. only high-scoring risks require a contingency plan d. only positive risks or opportunities require a contingency plan

Order of magnitude

__________ estimates are often used to seek initial project charter approval. a. Budget b. Order of magnitude c. Definitive d. Parametric

Plan quality management

__________ is "the process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with quality requirements and/or standards." a. Fact-based management b. Plan quality management c. ISO 9001:2015 d. Manage quality

Juran

__________ is best known for creating the Quality Trilogy. a. Juran b. Ishikawa c. Harrington d. Senge

Value engineering

__________ is defined as a formal and structured approach to reducing cost without decreasing the quality or performance. a. Vendor bid analysis b. Life cycle costing c. Value engineering d. Time value of money

Perform quality assurance

__________ is defined as a practice, primarily concerned with overall process improvements to ensure that every deliverable produced is error free. a. Manage quality b. Control quality c. Perform quality assurance d. Plan quality management

Baselined project management plan

__________ marks the transition between the planning and executing project phases. a. Baselined project management plan b. Quality management plan c. Quality baseline d. Process improvement plan

Deming

__________ was the influential thought leader in the area of quality who created the Profound Knowledge System. a. Juran b. Deming c. Taguchi d. Crosby