APMQ Study Guide Exam Flashcards
“Describe two ways in which a project management office can assist a project manager to successfully deliver a project.”
“1. The PMO frees up time for the project manager by relieving part of the administrative burden from the PM.
2. The PMO provides assurance to the PM that work is going to plan; and that any deviations from the plan are properly understood.”
"Select three of the project roles below and describe their responsibilities throughout the project. ■ Product owner ■ Project manager ■ Project sponsor ■ Project steering group"
“1) Project Manager-Develops and takes responsibility of the PMP, once approved the PM implements the PMP to monitor project costs, time, quality, issues, and risks, reports progress reports to sponsor and steering group. In transition the PM works with users to gain acceptance of PM and its handover.
2) Project sponsor-Develops the business case and appoints the PM, Leads gate reviews, approves the PMP, and authorises the resources needed, assists the PM during deployment and monitors risks, meets with starring group and provides progress reports, approves or denies changes to project scope and can stop project if benefits are not being realised according to the business, works with PM during transition to users for acceptance and handover, Is responsible insuring that all benefits have been realised at handover.
3) Project steering group-Is responsible for business issues associated with the project to ensure delivery of the project outputs and outcomes by approving budgetary stratify, defining, and realising risks, quality and timelines, making policy and resourcing decisions, and accessing requests for changes to project scope that impact the business case.
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“Explain two differences between the responsibilities of the project sponsor and
project manager throughout the life cycle of the project.”
“Explain three characteristics of a matrix organisation structure when used by an organisation to deliver a change initiative.”
“1) In a matrix organisation , staff work for a line manager and report to them daily.
2) Project work is managed by the PM using staff across the business on an as needs basis.
3) As a mix of both functional and project organisations it can optimise resource utilisation and retain organsiation capability.”
“Select two phases of the project life cycle and describe a specific activity the
project manager would perform in each of the two phases.”
“Explain three steps in the creation of a responsibility assignment matrix. In each step explain who might be involved.”
“A.) Through the identification of work packages an organisational breakdown structure (OBS) can be combined with a work breakdown structure (WBS) to produce a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)
B) Work Packages are ensured, allocated and the responsibilities identified by the PM. The OBS is valuable for communicating the reporting structure for the project to all stakeholders. The functional line managers in the delivery organisation would also consult the RAM to confirm the work that has been assigned to their people.”
“Describe two characteristics of a functional organisation structure when used to deliver a change initiative.”
“The head of the functional area would take overall responsibility for project delivery. A member of the department would be assigned to deliver the project, acting as the project manager.”
“Explain three ways in which a project would be influenced by the implementation of governance.”
“Governance implementation will influence a project by:
1) Enforcing a relevant business case to secure funding and assess feasibility.
2) Provides clearly defined processes and documentation, maintained throughout the delivery of the project.
3) Effective quality management ensuring the effective use of quality assurance and independent audit.”
“Describe two characteristics of a functional organisation structure when used to deliver a change initiative.”
“The head of the functional area would take overall responsibility for project delivery. A member of the department would be assigned to deliver the project, acting as the project manager.”
“Explain three ways in which a project would be influenced by the implementation of governance.”
“Governance implementation will influence a project by:
1) Enforcing a relevant business case to secure funding and assess feasibility.
2) Provides clearly defined processes and documentation, maintained throughout the delivery of the project.
3) Effective quality management ensuring the effective use of quality assurance and independent audit.”
“Describe two activities that would occur in the extended life cycle and not in the project life cycle. For each activity state who might be involved.”
“1) Adoption – operations and sustainment required to utilise the new project and enable the acceptance and use of the benefits. (PM & Users)
2) Benefits realisation – realisation of the required business benefits. (Sponsor & User)”
“Explain three reasons why a project might be structured in phases, following a linear life cycle.”
“1) Allows for a highly structured, predictable and stable project management.
2) Provides a transparent format for managing contracts and governance over the process.
3) Deployment of well-understood and clearly defined outputs trading time, cost and risk to achieve the right scope and quality.”
Describe two knowledge management activities that should be built into the day-to-day management of the project
“1) Project Reviews, ensuring that outputs of such reviews are fully documented and distributed throughout the organisation;
2) Workshops with facilitated activity focused on areas of the project such as risk, scope and quality performance.”
Explain three reasons why an iterative life cycle might be used to deliver a project rather than a linear life cycle option.
“1) When a life cycle must repeat one or more of the phases of a project or programme before proceeding to the next one.
2) When the objective of managing uncertainty of scope by allowing objectives to evolve as learning and discovery takes place.”
Explain two differences between a linear life cycle and iterative life cycle.
“1) A linear life cycle is best for evolving projects, whereas
an iterative life cycle is better for more structured projects.
2) A linear life cycle is sequential, whereas an iterative life cycle repeats one or more phases.”
Describe three different types of review that may be carried out during a project and their main purpose.
“1) Gate Reviews - to conduct a review and confirm viability of the work across the chosen life cycle.
2) Benefits Reviews - carried out during benefits realisation and is a formal review of a programme or project, typically
conducted 6–12 months after handover and commissioning of the deliverables.
3) Audits - This is normally undertaken independent from the project to provide assurance to the sponsor that the project is being managed using the agreed governance and process.”
Explain two reasons why a project might close early.
“1) When a project no longer meets the business objectives as per the business case.
2) When the project is no longer financially viable to where the benefits are outweighed by the cost.”
Explain three benefits of conducting reviews throughout the life cycle of a project.
“1) Reviews are essential to good project management practice. They provide the basis for stakeholder management, communication and effective governance.
2) Reviews help organisations to assess the contribution of projects to business objectives.
3) Reviews will generate learned lessons, feeding them into the organisation’s project management processes and procedures for future projects.”
Describe two ways in which programme management is different from project management.
“1) Programmes typically combine new deployment with some elements of business-as-usual.
2) Programmes utilise capital expenditure to acquire assets, services, products and capability, alongside operating expense incurred as a result of performing normal business operations.”
Explain three key differences between projects and business-as-usual (BAU).
“1) Projects are created to develop change and achieving a goal then terminate. BAU is the daily operation of an organisation.
2) Projects have teams who may be only together until the project is completed or move on to another project. BAU teams are built into the company doing the same work under the same departments day in and day out.
3) Projects provide a unique service or product. BAU provides a repetitive “
Explain two purposes of carrying out a SWOT analysis for a project option.
“1) Analysis breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in a project’s circumstances that give rise to opportunities and threats
2) Useful in risk planning by considering how the strengths and
opportunities can be used to reduce the weaknesses and threats.”
Describe three situations where the use of portfolio management may be considered appropriate.
“1) Where there is a need for the organisation’s projects and programmes to be more aligned with its key business objectives.
2) When the organisation’s financial controls, financial planning and expenditure review processes need to be applied to both individual projects and the portfolio as a whole.
3) When assurance is required of how the mix of projects continues to support strategy and take account of changes to external factors.”
Explain two ways in which VUCA analysis could be used to assess a project context.
“1) Volatility - Projects may be exposed to high levels of unexpected change.
2) Complexity - Many projects being delivered with inique charactersitics and technical requirements.”
Describe three aspects of the legal and regulatory environment of a project that the project manager should be aware in assessing a project’s context.
“1) Working conditions - Employees’ working conditions are set out in the basic foundation of employment law.
2) Management of risk in the workplace -The focal point for health and safety in the project will be the health, safety and environmental management plan.
3) Governance - The project manager must understand the governance framework required and how the resulting management approach must be tailored to provide confidence to stakeholders that the project is being managed in a compliant manner.”
“Explain two reasons why an organisation might consider programme management as an appropriate approach to deliver projects.”
“1) The programme level view will look for synergies between individual project business cases in order to yield a greater return from the projects as a programme rather than if each project had delivered independently.
2) If risk contingencies are applied at a programme level, the overall contingency amount may be reduced as common responses made at this level may influence several projects simultaneously.”
Explain three ways in which projects and programmes can help an organisation.
“1) Projects deliver outputs, programmes deliver outcomes and portfolios make sure that everything that is delivered is delivered in the most efficient way and prioritised in relation to the strategic objectives of the whole organisation.
2) Programmes deliver strategic benefits, but they are only able to do that if each project within the programme yields the benefits as stated in the business case for that project.”
Explain two benefits of a communication plan to a project.
“1) The most appropriate communication media is used – choosing the most appropriate media for delivery of a message is vital to that message being received and understood by stakeholders.
2) More focused communication to stakeholders – Communication messages are planned and tailored to convey the communicator’s meaning as accurately as possible to the target audience.”
“Explain three common causes of conflict arising in the following phases of the project life cycle (one cause of conflict from each phase).
■ Concept
■ Definition
■ Deployment”
