PM final

Which of the following is not one of the driving forces behind the increasing demand for project management? Compression of the product life cycle. Knowledge explosion. Declining need for product customization. Triple bottom line (People, Planet, Profit). Increased customer focus.

Declining need for product customization.

In the _____________ stage of the project life cycle, the project's schedule and budget will be determined. Identifying. Defining. Planning. Executing. Closing.

During the planning stage, the level of effort increases, and plans are developed to determine what the project will entail, when it will be scheduled, whom it will benefit, what quality level should be maintained, and what the budget will be.

As the number of small projects increase within an organization's portfolio, what is a challenge an organization faces? Sharing resources. Measuring efficiency Managing risk. Prioritizing projects. All of the above.

All of the above.

In a matrix management arrangement, the relative input of functional managers over key project decisions includes: How will it be done? How will project involvement impact normal functional activities? How well has the functional input been integrated? All of the above.

All of the above.

Project Priority Systems can resolve: lack of consensus and understanding among top and middlemanagers. internal political issues. oversharing of resources. All of the above. None of the above.

All of the above.

Having a project communication plan can go a long way toward mitigating problems. A communication plan should address all of the following except: when the information will be communicated. how information should be communicated and to whom. which methods will be used to gather and store information. what information needs to be collected and when. All of these should be addressed in a communication plan

All of these should be addressed in a communication plan

Which of the following should be included in a detailed request for proposal (RFP)? Statement of work (SOW) detailing the scope and major deliverables, Responsibilities—vendor and customer, Costs and payment schedule, Type of contract, All of the above

All.

After your team has successfully identified potential risks that could affect the project, what is the next step?

Assess identified risks. After risks have been identified, not all of them deserve attention. Managers have to develop methods for sifting through the list of risks, eliminating inconsequential or redundant ones and stratifying worthy ones in terms of importance and need for attention. This is risk assessment.

Which of the following methods will measure the schedule variance (SV) of the work accomplished to date?

Earned value - planned value (EV - PV).

Which of the following is a good condition for top-down estimating?

Internal, small project. Good conditions for top-down estimating are when there is high uncertainty involved in the project, when the project is small and internal, when the scope is unstable, and when it involves strategic decision making.

Which of the following is not a reason to have a best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA)?

It increases the chance that you will win the negotiation.

During which stage of team development is the team fully functional and accomplishing project goals? Forming. Storming. Norming. Performing. Adjourning.

Performing.

Which of the following would be the best method for projects where the final product is not known and the uncertainty is very large?

Phase estimating.

Which of these is not part of the "technical dimension" of project management? WBS. Budgets. Dealing with politics. Schedules. Status reports.

Politics. The technical dimension includes developing the WBS, budgets, schedules, and status reports.

Which of the following activities is not considered a project? Developing a new software program. Designing a space station. Preparing the site for the Olympic Games. Production of automobile tires. Developing a new advertising program.

Production of automobile tires.

Which of the following is not true about organizational politics? Project managers should not engage in organizational politics. Politics can have a significant influence on which projects receive funding. Politics exist in every organization. Politics can influence project selection.

Project managers should not engage in organizational politics.

An activity is an element in the project that always requires time.

True

Contingency funding is made up of budget reserves and management reserves.

True

Disagreements and conflicts naturally emerge within a project team. Project managers need to encourage functional conflict and manage dysfunctional conflict.

True

Estimates are supposed to be based on normal conditions. While this is a good starting point, it rarely holds true in real life.

True

Networks provide the project schedule by identifying dependencies, sequencing, and timing of activities

True

Once an organization decides to outsource project work, a request for proposal (RFP) is usually developed. In practice, the most common error is to offer an RFP that lacks sufficient detail.

True

One approach to organizing projects is to simply manage them within the existing functional hierarchy of the organization. At the other end of the structural spectrum is the creation of dedicated project teams.

True

The assessment of the external and internal environments is called the SWOT analysis.

True

The first project team meeting sets the tone for how the team will work together.

True

The first step in creating a project control system for measuring and evaluating project performance is to set a baseline plan.

True

The ideal approach to estimating project time and costs is to use both the topdown and the bottom-up approach.

True

Two multicriteria selection models for project portfolio management are the checklist model and the multiweighted scoring model.

True

A hammock activity is frequently used to identify the use of fixed resources or costs over a segment of the project.

True.

Creating a project communication plan typically follows a process that begins with a stakeholder analysis.

True.

Working in outsourcing teams, projects can be completed faster and more cheaply.

True. Working in outsourcing teams, not only can work be done more cheaply, but it can also be done faster. Competitive pricing means more resources for the dollar.

Which of the following is not one of the items that would appear on a project scope definition or checklist? Deliverables. Milestones. Technical requirements. Reviews with customer. Work breakdown structure.

Work breakdown structure.

Project budgets are developed by time-phasing which of the following?

Work packages. Using your project schedule, you can time phase

A project monitoring system involves all of the following except:

adjusting the data

Which of the following is one of the stages of a project life cycle? Defining. Planning. Executing. Closing. All of the above.

all of the above

A project selection process that is strongly linked to strategy results in: better utilization of the organization's resources. the most profit. more projects. a larger and more diverse organization. stronger core competencies.

better utilization of the organization's resources.

Of the following costs, which are not included in baseline (i.e., PV)?

budget reserves

Managing a project and leading a project are two different things. Project leadership is about: formulating plans and objectives. monitoring results against plans. coping with change. taking corrective action when necessary. designing structures and procedures.

coping with change.

As a project is crashed and project duration is reduced, indirect costs typically __________.

decrease

In a Project Cost Duration Graph, total project costs are a sum of:

direct and indirect cost

The backward pass in project network calculations determines all of the following except

earliest time an activity can finish.

Taking advantage of opportunities to reduce costs or accelerate the schedule are examples of project criteria classified as ___________. constrained. enhanced. accepted. scoped.

enhanced.

The process of forecasting or approximating the time and cost of completing project deliverables is called __________.

estimating

In order to be even moderately successful at managing relations, a project manager needs to be skilled at managing customer __________ and __________.

expectations; perceptions.

A project involves daily operations which are routine or repetitive work.

false

A project priority system linked to strategy creates problems with implementation of projects.

false

Activities that must occur immediately before a given activity are called successor activities.

false

After averaging out the underestimates and overestimates, a long duration project is more likely to be on target than a short-term, small project.

false

All scope changes that result in increased costs should be avoided.

false

Crashing activities on a project network that is sensitive should reduce the risk of the project being late.

false

Cultural differences are not challenging for virtual project teams because the team members are geographically situated so that they may seldom, if ever, meet face to face.

false

Gantt charts (bar charts) are not typically used for communicating project schedule status.

false

Project management structure and organizational culture have little influence on project success

false

Resource leveling or smoothing is only used on projects which are resource constrained

false

Scope creep occurs when your project is completed overbudget.

false

Selection and management of projects must be independent from the strategic plan of the org

false

Splitting is a scheduling technique used to get a better schedule or better resource utilization and should be used without hesitation.

false

The most difficult way to reduce cost on a project is to reduce the scope of a project.

false

Two dimensions within the project management process are unique and reoccurring

false, There are two dimensions within the actual execution of projects. These include the technical dimension and the sociocultural dimension.

One common mistake made early in the risk identification process is to:

focus on consequences and not on the events that could produce consequences.

Which of the following can be used without coordinating with managers of succeeding activities?

free slack

Learning curves are more likely to be applied in situations where most of the costs are__________.

labor

In a resource-constrained project, the first priority in assigning resources is usually given to activities with the:

least slack

When considering risk response development, reducing the likelihood that an event will occur and/or reducing the impact that an adverse event would have on a project is known as __________ the risk.

mitigating.

The financial model that measures the current value of all cash inflows and outflows using management's minimum desired rate of return is known as the _________ model. net present value (NPV). payback. checklist. multiweighted scoring. None of the above.

net present value (NPV).

A cost performance index (CPI) or schedule performance index (SPI) value less than one indicates that the project is:

over cost or behind schedule.

Activities which can take place at the same time are called __________.

parallel activity.

A shortage of programmers to write software is an example of a(n) __________ type of resource constraint.

people

Typically, project __________ reports are designed and communicated in written or oral form, and include the following topics: Progress since last report. Current status of project. Cumulative trends. Problems and issues since last report. Corrective action planned

progress

Advantages of outsourcing project work may likely include all of the following except:

reduced conflict

The metaphor used to describe the relationship between organizational culture and project management is a riverboat trip, where culture is the river and the project is the boat. Organizing and completing a project within an organization in which the culture is conducive to project management: necessitates greater project authority and time. require less formal authority and fewer dedicated resources. needs a stronger, more rigid project management structure. All of the above. None of the above.

require less formal authority and fewer dedicated resources.

The likelihood the original critical path(s) will change once the project is initiated is referred to as

sensitivity

Best practices in outsourcing project work include all the following except:

short-term, no-pressure outsourcing relationships.

Reducing project duration:

tends to increase network sensitivity.

Experience and research indicate that high performance project teams are much more likely to develop under all the following conditions except when: there are more than 10 members per team. members serve on the project from beginning to end. members are assigned to the project full time. members report solely to the project manager. members are located within conversational distance of each other.

there are more than 10 members per team.

the new product would be classified as a __________constrained project.

time

Customer satisfaction is measured by the ratio of perceived performance to expected performance.

true

Principled negotiation emphasizes developing win/win solutions while protecting yourself against those who would take advantage of your forthrightness.

true

Resource dependency takes priority over technological dependency but it does not violate it.

true

Sometimes very high overhead costs are recognized before a project begins and reducing these costs through shorter project duration becomes a high priority.

true

The 0/100 rule assumes credit is earned for having performed the work once it is completed. This rule is usually used for work packages having very short durations.

true

When resource constraints are added to technical constraints the original project network may change as well as the completion date.

true

The lowest element in the hierarchical breakdown of the work breakdown structure (WBS) is ___________. a deliverable. a lowest subdeliverable. a cost account. a work package.

work package

On a project network, the activity times are derived from the __________.

work packages

Baseline project budgets are derived prior to time-phasing the work packages.

False

It is not a good idea to add a penalty clause to an outsourcing agreement in order to ensure that work is completed on time.

False

The best way to improve estimates on future projects is to establish an estimating training course for all employees.

False

Objectives should be specific, marketable, assignable, realistic, and thoughtful.

False Objectives should be specific in targeting an objective. They should establish a measurable indicator(s) of progress. Make the objective assignable to one person for completion and state what can realistically be done with available resources. It should also be stated when the objective can be achieved (timerelated).

A merge activity is one that merges with other activities into a succeeding activity.

False. Merge activity is an activity that has more than one activity immediately preceding it

Responses to all identifiable risks should be a top priority for the project manager.

False. Risk identification produces a list of potential risks. Not all of these risks deserve attention. Some risks are trivial and can be ignored, while others pose serious threats to the welfare of the project. Risk assessment will assess the risk identified and help determine which risks need an immediate response.

A process breakdown structure (PBS) is a replacement for the work breakdown structure (WBS) for projects with tangible outcomes.

False. The WBS is best suited for projects that have a tangible outcome. A PBS is used when the final outcome of the project is less tangible or is a product of a series of steps or phases. Process projects are driven by performance requirements and not plans or blueprints.

The work package is used to assist in making project tradeoffs among cost, time, and performance objectives.

False. The project priority matrix is used to assist in making project tradeoffs among cost, time, and performance objectives.

Successful project managers tend to adopt a hands-on approach to managing projects.

False. Too often when new project managers do find time to work directly on the project, they adopt a hands-on approach to managing the project. They choose this style not because they are power hungry egomaniacs but because they are eager to achieve results. Then they quickly become frustrated by how slowly things are operated, the number of people that have to be brought on board, and the difficulty of gaining cooperation. Unfortunately, as this frustration builds, the natural temptation is to exert more pressure and get more heavily involved in the project. These project managers quickly earn the reputation of "micromanaging" and begin to lose sight of the real role they play in guiding a project.

Accounting would be an example of which of the following costs typically found in a project?

General and administrative (G&A) overhead