Exam Part 4

Question 1

What two things have to be defined before you can accurately estimate resources?

1. The project scope and the business requirements.
2. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and data analysis.
3. The project schedule and all possible risk responses.
4. The project scope and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Answer 1

Answer: The project scope and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Overall explanation

Though the project charter and stakeholder register are outputs of the initiating phase, they are not the reason the phase is done. The purpose of this phase is to obtain someone’s (or a group of someones’) authorization to start a project. The business case doesn’t work here because that’s a precursor to the initiating phase, allowing a company to decide whether there’s enough of a case to even begin writing a charter, for example. And finally, the planning phase isn’t kicked off by the intiating phase. The planning phase simply begins once signoff on the initiating phase is obtained.

Question 2

Which is the overarching project management process that must be done at all times no matter which part of the project lifecycle you’re in?

1. Controlling & Monitoring
2. Executing
3. Planning
4. Initiating

Answer 2

Answer: Controlling & Monitoring

Overall explanation

No matter whether you’re just starting a project, deep in the planning phase, executing on your solution or closing up the project, a project manager is expected to control and monitor what’s happening at every step of the way, and is therefore the only process that overarches all the others.

Question 3

After lessons learned are gathered from all those involved in the project, what can you then do with the project resources to help complete the closing processes?

1. Celebrate with them
2. Put them back into storage (if they are “things” such as computers, calculators or extra materials)
3. Say good-bye
4. Release them to be reassigned

Answer 3

Answer: Release them to be reassigned

Overall explanation

Those Responses A and C are kind things to do, and Response D is very practical, releasing the resources so they can be reassigned elsewhere - whether those resources are people, facilities or materials - are the most beneficial to the organization, because this act ensures that if those resources are needed elsewhere, you’ve freed them for that needed reassignent.

Question 4

Which of the following project processes are not repeated at the beginning of each iterative phase of a project using an agile (or adaptive) life cycle?

1. Create Work Breakdown Structure
2. Define Scope
3. Manage Project Knowledge
4. Collect Requirements

Answer 4

Answer: Manage Project Knowledge

Overall explanation

Managing project knowledge is something a project manager should be doing throughout the entire life cycle of a project regardless of what phase or iteration a project is in.

Three processes (Collect Requirements, Define Scope, and Create WBS) are repeated for each iteration.

On the contrary, in a predictive project, these processes are performed toward the beginning of the project and updated as necessary, using the integrated change control process.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a possible output to the Validate Scope process?

1. Change Requests
2. Project Management Plan
3. Accepted Deliverables
4. Work Performance Information

Answer 5

Answer: Project Management Plan

Overall explanation

The Project Management Plan is one of the inputs to the Validate Scope process. The other three are possible outputs. Deliverables that meet the acceptance criteria are formally signed off and approved by the customer or sponsor. Formal documentation received from the customer or sponsor acknowledging formal stakeholder acceptance of the project’s deliverables is forwarded to the Close Project or Phase process. Work performance information includes information about project progress, such as which deliverables have been accepted and which have not been accepted and the reasons why. And finally, the completed deliverables that have not been formally accepted are documented, along with the reasons for non-acceptance of those deliverables. Those deliverables may require a change request for defect repair. The change requests are processed for review and disposition through the Perform Integrated Change Control process.

Question 6

Which of the following risk parameters is defined by the degree to which a risk is perceived to matter by one or more stakeholders?

1. Controllability
2. Detectability
3. Dormancy
4. Propinquity

Answer 6

Answer: Propinquity

Overall explanation

In addition to assessing the likelihood and impact of a risk upon the project, there are nine other characteristics that the PMBOK advises may help you evaluate and develop other risks and risk mitigation strategies, including all of the answers here. But the one defined in the question is propinquity, which means that if a risk is perceived as being high then it’s high even if the reality of the risk may not be as impactful as perception indicates.

Question 7

Dorian’s managing a project to refresh all servers for a global organization with more than 60 offices worldwide. It’s had a lot of ups, downs and unexpected changes to both scope and schedule, and as the project team completes server refreshes for the sixteenth office, the project steering committee asks to understand the project’s cost performance. What formula should Dorian apply in order to provide them with this information?

1. SPI = EV/PV
2. SV = EV – PV
3. EAC = AC + New ETC
4. CV = EV - AC

Answer 7

Answer: CV = EV - AC

Overall explanation

CV, which stands for Cost Variance, is the amount of budget deficit or surplus at a given point in time. It is a measure of cost performance on a project and is achieved by subtracting the actual costs (AC) of the project from the earned value (EV). However, in order to use this equation you have to first calculate Earned Value, which shows how much of the budget and time should have been spent, considering the amount of work done. So if you have spent 3/4 of your budget but you’re only supposed to have spent 1/4 of it, then your EV is not at all good. Conversely, if you’re halfway through the project and have only spent 1/4 of your estimated spend, then you are ahead of the game. EV = Total Project Budget x (times) Percent (%) of project completion. The EAC formula is to calculate the estimate at completion, which is not what the steering committee asked for. SV is the schedule variance, which has nothing to do with the cost variance equation. And finally the SPI is the schedule performance index which also does not help in determining the cost variance of a project at a given point in time.

Question 8

Nadia works for a construction firm in a Canadian company. The construction season is so short due to inclement weather during the winter months that much of the outdoor construction has to be done during June, July and August. As she and her project team evaluate proposals from brick vendors for material that will be used in building a remotely located school, they realize that each of their three top choices come with their own set of potential problems that will have to be monitored closely if they’re chosen. Once the team selects a vendor, where should Nadia record these things which may put their project’s scope, schedule or budget in jeopardy?

1. Risk Register
2. Assumption Log
3. Requirements Traceability Matrix
4. Issue Log

Answer 8

Answer: Risk Register

Overall explanation

Each approved seller comes with its own unique set of risks, depending on the seller’s organization, the duration of the contract, the external environment, the project delivery method, the type of contracting vehicle chosen, and the final agreed-upon price. A Risk Register will help Nadia and her team ensure that their chosen vendor’s known risks are monitored, and that mitigation strategies are identified and agreed upon with the vendor.

Question 9

There are three potential solutions for Travel Trucks Unlimited’s project which aims to refresh their fleet of delivery trucks to ensure they’re getting the best gas mileage and are as safe as possible for their drivers. They could replace the entire fleet of 20 trucks with brand-new vehicles, they could simply do an overhaul on each of their existing trucks or they could choose the best 10 and overhaul those, while completely replacing the worst 10 trucks. What form of analysis should they do now to support selection of the best of several alternative courses of action?

1. Sensitivity Analysis
2. Decision Tree Analysis
3. Simulation
4. Influence Diagram

Answer 9

Answer: Decision Tree Analysis

Overall explanation

Decision trees are used to support selection of the best of several alternative courses of action. Alternative paths through the project are shown in the decision tree using branches representing different decisions or events, each of which can have associated costs and related individual project risks (including both threats and opportunities). The end-points of branches in the decision tree represent the outcome from following that particular path, which can be negative or positive. The decision tree is evaluated by calculating the expected monetary value of each branch, allowing the optimal path to be selected.

Question 10

Cara works for a company that sells multi-functional furniture and she’s tasked with a project to produce one new ten-page “how to” pamphlet every two weeks for sixteen weeks, in order to provide customers with quick and easy reference guides for their new multi-functional line of beds. Cara’s team gained a little ground during the recent holiday season because none of them took vacations. At next week’s steering committee meeting she is going to use a new EVM technique to explain to project stakeholders how far ahead of schedule the project is based on what they’ve accomplished versus when they originally meant to have accomplished that goal. What emerging Project Cost Management technique is Cara going to use?

1. Earned Schedule (ES)
2. Schedule Performance Index (SPI)
3. Actual Time (AT)
4. Planned Value (PV)

Answer 10

Answer: Earned Schedule (ES)

Overall explanation

ES (Earned Schedule) is an extension to the theory and practice of EVM (Earned Value Management). Earned schedule theory replaces the schedule variance measures used in traditional EVM (earned value − planned value) with ES and actual time (AT). Using the alternate equation for calculating schedule variance ES − AT, if the amount of earned schedule is greater than 0, then the project is considered ahead of schedule.

Question 11

Eva’s just taken a position in the engineering department of her local phone company. Part of her job description includes the fact that she may be called upon to participate in various engineering work groups while in the role and eventually she may even wind up leading some of those projects herself but that if she does she’ll have little to no authority and her manager would be managing the budget rather than her. What type of organizational structure does Eva’s new employer have?

1. Functional (centralized)
2. Matrix (balanced)
3. Virtual
4. Project-oriented (composite, hybrid)

Answer 11

Answer: Functional (centralized)

Overall explanation

Page 47 of the PMBOK contains Table 2-1. Influences of Organizational Structures on Projects and this is where you will find and must learn the various characteristics that describe all of these types of organizations. In Eva’s case, while the work group described could have placed her organization into either Matrix (balanced) or Functional (centralized), the deciding factor for Functional (centralized) was the little to no authority for the project manager and the fact that the functional manager is the one who manages the budget.

Question 12

The PMBOK lists many different components that can comprise a project management plan including a Quality Management Plan, a Scope Baseline and a Development Approach. How many total components does the PMBOK state is possible to have in your project management plan?

1. 18
2. 16
3. 10
4. 15

Answer 12

Answer: 18

Overall explanation

Table 1-2. Project Management Plan and Project Documents on page 559 of PMBOK 6th Edition lists 18 possible components to the Project Management Plan.

Question 13

Dana is in the midst of facilitating a workshop that her project stakeholders are attending, in which she has asked them to write down one project risk per Post-It Note and identify where on a four-quadrant diagram the risk should be placed by judging whether it’s high or low impact and high or low probability. What type of analysis is Dana facilitating?

1. Quantitative Risk Analysis
2. Plan Risk Responses
3. Identify Risks
4. Qualitative Risk Analysis

Answer 13

Answer: Qualitative Risk Analysis

Overall explanation

Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis is the process of prioritizing individual project risks for further analysis or action by assessing their probability of occurrence and impact as well as other characteristics. The key benefit of this process is that it focuses efforts on high-priority risks. 1. Identify Risks. 2. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis. 3. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis. 4. Plan Risk Responses.

Question 14

Which of the following pairs are Tools & Techniques for Managing Quality?

1. Decision-Making and Audits
2. Problem-Solving and Quality Improvement Methods
3. All of these
4. Data Gathering and Data Analysis

Answer 14

Answer: All of these

Overall explanation

External risks are: Regulatory, Competitors, Suppliers, Customer and Acts of God. Technology is one of the sub-categories under the Technical type of risk.

Question 15

George is tasked with standing up a new retail store for a medical marijuana business in a state where medicinal use has been legalized. However, the state requires any organization who’s opening up a medical marijuana dispensary to adhere to some very strict guidelines, many of which must occur in a very specific order, such as obtaining certain licenses and passing several inspections before the company can begin construction on their new building. Which input to “Sequencing Activities” do all of these government regulations he must abide by fall under?

1. Organizational Process Assets
2. Activity List
3. Project Management Plan
4. Enterprise Environmental Factors

Answer 15

Answer: Enterprise Environmental Factors

Overall explanation

The enterprise environmental factors that can influence the Sequence Activities process include but are not limited to: -Government or industry standards, -Project management information system (PMIS), -Scheduling tools, and -Organization work authorization systems.

Question 16

As Walter reviews the Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) for his project, he realizeds that all of them describe the higher-level needs of the organization as a whole, such as the business issues or opportunities, and reasons why a project has been undertaken. What category of requirements have been gathered?

1. Functional requirements
2. Technical requirements
3. Business requirements
4. Stakeholder requirements

Answer 16

Answer: Business requirements

Overall explanation

Though entirely possible that all the requirements are stakeholder and/or functional requirements, the definition provided in the question leads to Business requirements being the correct answer, as the question did not indicate where the requirements came from or what precisely they were for.

Question 17

How many communication skills techniques are there?

1. 10
2. 5
3. 1
4. 2

Answer 17

Answer: 2

Overall explanation

There are 2. Feedback and presentations.

Question 18

Augustin attends a steering committee one day where he, as the project manager of a multi-million dollar construction project, is celebrated and praised by all the steering committee members for finding a flaw in the original architect’s blueprints that could have cost the city nearly one million dollars if it had been discovered after the building was already under construction. However, Augustin wasn’t the one who actually discovered the error; he was merely the one who brought it to the architect’s attention, and he tells the committee members as much. In being honest and forthright about who the credit should really go to, which leadership quality has Augustin displayed?

1. Accepting feedback graciously
2. Giving credit to others where due
3. Giving feedback constructively
4. Managing expectations

Answer 18

Answer: Giving credit to others where due

Overall explanation

Augustin demonstrated several leadership qualities, and all of the options presented are ones all project managers, as leaders, should display. However, for the particular scenario presented, “Giving credit to others where due” is the correct answer. A leader proves him or herself a leader by not taking credit for something that wasn’t entirely their doing. Even if the Project Manager did have a part in what occurred, they should still always give credit to all involved parties. This behavior goes a long way toward solidifying loyalty and operating with integrity and in an ethical manner.

Question 19

Who does the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) say is responsible for what the project team produces?

1. Project Business Owner
2. Executive Sponsor
3. Project Sponsor
4. Project Manager

Answer 19

Answer: Project Manager

Overall explanation

Project Management Institute explains the role of a project manager as being similar to that of an orchestra’s conductor, stating, “The project manager and conductor are both responsible for what their teams produce—the project outcome or the orchestra concert, respectively. The two leaders need to take a holistic view of their team’s products in order to plan, coordinate, and complete them.”

Question 20

Joan is working through the various activities required to build a virtual server environment onsite for the software development project she’s managing. Very quickly she realizes that the tasks related to the IT Network resource assigned to the project, need more time than what was originally allocated. She thinks there may be some other conflicts with resources who are already working on other projects, that she may need for tasks on hers. What is a visual method Joan can use to show potential resource conflicts or issues, that is considered one potential output to the Develop Schedule process?

1. Resource Histogram
2. Alternative Schedule
3. Project Callendar
4. Applied Schedule Reserve

Answer 20

Answer: Resource Histogram

Overall explanation

The schedule data for the project schedule model is the collection of information for describing and controlling the schedule. The schedule data includes, at a minimum, the schedule milestones, schedule activities, activity attributes, and documentation of all identified assumptions and constraints. The amount of additional data varies by application area. Information frequently supplied as supporting detail includes but is not limited to: Resource requirements by time period, often in the form of a resource histogram; Alternative schedules, such as best-case or worst-case, not resource-leveled or resource-leveled, or with or without imposed dates; and uu Applied schedule reserves. Schedule data could also include such items as resource histograms, cash-flow projections, order and delivery schedules, or other relevant information.

Question 21

Harry’s been tasked with being the project manager on one country’s side of a commercial venture. His counterpart at the company his firm has entered into a manufacturing agreement with, a man called Qammar, has asked for the two of them to meet soon for a discussion about the politics between their countries and the differences culture within their companies, both of which may pose risks to the project. Within the Plan Communications Management process group, which interpersonal and team skill are both Harry and Qammar demonstrating they understand the importance of here?

1. Communication style assessment
2. Cultural awareness
3. Political awareness
4. Both Political awareness and Cultural awareness

Answer 21

Answer: Both Political awareness and Cultural awareness

Overall explanation

Operating from two different countries, especially if those countries have fundamental differences in culture and a contentious political relationship, is a challenge for any project manager and is a risk to any project. Qammar and Harry hope to mitigate both political and cultural risks by discussing openly and honestly those things that may need mitigation strategies or require different ways of communicating outward and upward, as a result.

Question 22

The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct includes both aspirational standards and mandatory standards for project managers. The Code was created to instill confidence in the project management profession and to help an individual in making wise decisions, particularly when faced with difficult situations where the individual may be asked to compromise his or her ___________ or values.

1. Integrity
2. Beliefs
3. Knowledge
4. PMP Designation

Answer 22

Answer: Integrity

Overall explanation

PMI publishes the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct [5] to instill confidence in the project management profession and to help an individual in making wise decisions, particularly when faced with difficult situations where the individual may be asked to compromise his or her integrity or values. The values that the global project management community defined as most important were responsibility, respect, fairness, and honesty. The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct affirms these four values as its foundation.

Question 23

What must be resolved prior to formally closing a project, phase or contract?

1. Risks
2. Issues
3. Requirements
4. Group Conflicts

Answer 23

Answer: Issues

Overall explanation

If risks still needed to be resolved, you wouldn’t not be ready to close the project. If requirements are determined to not have been met, the project team can still agree to close the project with those caveats or other mitigation strategies in place. Although it’s nice to want to remove group conflicts prior to disbanding the project team, that’s not always possible nor is it required by the process. The only items which must be resolved - or assigned for resolution post-completion - are issues which are still outstanding post-implementation.

Question 24

Project management is divided into how many knowledge areas?

1. 10
2. 5
3. 6
4. 7

Answer 24

Answer: 10

Overall explanation

Project Management Divided into 10 Knowledge Areas (Integration, Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Resource, Communication, Risk, Procurement and Stakeholder Management)

Question 25

When she was assigned to a project to add one more flight between Honolulu and Tokyo to her airline’s daily scheduled flights, Xia was told by the portfolio steering committee exactly how many passengers they expected to be traveling this route by 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months after implementation. Into which project document did Xia record this information?

1. Marketing Plan
2. Business Case
3. Benefits Management Plan
4. Project Charter

Answer 25

Answer: Benefits Management Plan

Overall explanation

The benefits management plan is used to measure whether the benefits of the project were achieved as planned. And while Xia is a project manager, she was actually assigned the project prior to its official initiation, by helming the effort to do the research that led up to the formation of a business case and benefits management plan, which is how she and her team were able to get the steering committee to agree to initiate the project.

Question 26

How many Data Analysis techniques are there?

1. 30
2. 27
3. 21
4. 25

Answer 26

Answer: 27

Overall explanation

There are 27. Alternatives analysis, Assessment of other risk parameters, Assumption and constraint analysis, Cost of quality, Cost-benefit analysis, Decision tree analysis, Document analysis, Earned value analysis, Influence diagrams, Iteration burndown chart, Make-or-buy analysis, Performance reviews, Process analysis, Proposal evaluation, Regression analysis, Reserve analysis, Risk data quality assessment, Root cause analysis, Sensitivity analysis, Simulation, Stakeholder analysis, SWOT analysis, Technical performance analysis, Trend analysis, Variance analysis and What-if scenario analysis.

Question 27

Jayanthi worked for a large manufacturing company and has just been assigned to a project to upgrade each manufacturing facility’s equipment. This is a project that is undertaken every ten years, and the company keeps good Organizational Process Assets and project artificats on file. What project artifact or place should she look at first to learn the pitfalls, successes and challenges the project team encountered the last time this upgrade project was done?

1. Project Management Plan
2. Change Management Documentation
3. Lessons Learned Repository
4. Customer Acceptance Documentation

Answer 27

Answer: Lessons Learned Repository

Overall explanation

While it’s true that Jayanthi may find the other resources useful, the first place to look is the Lessons Learned Repository. Lessons learned and knowledge gained throughout the previous project may save Jayanthi and her team a lot of time, money and trouble if accounted for - or at least identified as potential risks - from the moment she receives the assignment.

Question 28

Which of the following is considered an input to Directing & Managing project work?

1. Project Management Plan
2. Meetings
3. Issues Log
4. Deliverables

Answer 28

Answer: Project Management Plan

Overall explanation

Meetings are part of a Project Manager’s Tools & Techniques for managing the project through the Executing phase. An Issues Log and Deliverables are both Outputs of the Executing phase. The inputs to Executing are: Project Management Plan, Project Documents, Approved Change Requests, Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) and Organizational Process Assets (OPAs)

Question 29

Saheed’s General Contractor has just finsihed laying the foundation for the first of seven houses being built within a new subdivision project he’s managing. He’s about to meet with the person leading the GC’s team so they can perform a walkthrough of the site together to ensure a mutual understanding of the work in progress. What is this walkthrough an example of, within the context of monitoring and controlling vendor work?

1. Inspection
2. Audit
3. Data Analysis
4. Claims Administration

Answer 29

Answer: Inspection

Overall explanation

An inspection is a structured review of the work being performed by the contractor. This may involve a simple review of the deliverables or an actual physical review of the work itself. On a construction/engineering/infrastructure project, inspections involve walkthroughs of the site by both the buyer and the contractor to ensure a mutual understanding of the work in progress.

Question 30

This two-word item is held at the end of a phase and is alternatively known as phase review, stage gate, kill point, and phase entrance or phase exit.

1. process end
2. phase gate
3. phase conclusion
4. process phase

Answer 30

Answer: phase gate

Overall explanation

A phase gate, is held at the end of a phase. The project’s performance and progress are compared to project and business documents including but not limited to project business case, project charter, project management plan and benefits management plan.

Question 31

When first looking at writing a project charter, where should you be drawing critical success factors for you project, including financial success factors?

1. Basis of Estimates
2. Project Management Plan
3. Benefits Management Plan
4. Business Case

Answer 31

Answer: Business Case

Overall explanation

Described in Section 1.2.6 of the PMBOK, the business documents that can be considered as inputs for the Determine Budget process include but are not limited to: Business case: The business case identifies the critical success factors for the project, including financial success factors; and Benefits management plan, which includes the target benefits, such as net present value calculations, timeframe for realizing benefits, and the metrics associated with the benefits. Theoretically, the project would not have proceeded to the initiating processes unless it had been approved to proceed as a project, and one of the factors leading to that decision should have been critical success factors.

Question 32

Power can originate with traits exhibited by the individual or the organization. Power is often supported by other people’s perception of the leader. It is essential for project managers to be aware of their relationships with other people. Relationships enable project managers to get things done on the project. There are numerous forms of power at the disposal of project managers. How many are there?

1. 12
2. 14
3. 9
4. 10

Answer 32

Answer: 14

Overall explanation

Power and its use can be complex given its nature and the various factors at play in a project. Various forms of power include but are not limited to: Positional (sometimes called formal, authoritative, legitimate) (e.g., formal position granted in the organization or team); Informational (e.g., control of gathering or distribution); Referent (e.g., respect or admiration others hold for the individual, credibility gained); Situational (e.g., gained due to unique situation such as a specific crisis); Personal or charismatic (e.g., charm, attraction); Relational (e.g., participates in networking, connections, and alliances); Expert (e.g., skill, information possessed; experience, training, education, certification); Reward-oriented (e.g., ability to give praise, monetary or other desired items); Punitive or coercive (e.g., ability to invoke discipline or negative consequences); Ingratiating (e.g., application of flattery or other common ground to win favor or cooperation); Pressure-based (e.g., limit freedom of choice or movement for the purpose of gaining compliance to desired action); Guilt-based (e.g., imposition of obligation or sense of duty); uu Persuasive (e.g., ability to provide arguments that move people to a desired course of action); and Avoiding (e.g., refusing to participate). Top project managers are proactive and intentional when it comes to power. These project managers will work to acquire the power and authority they need within the boundaries of organizational policies, protocols, and procedures rather than wait for it to be granted.

Question 33

A project is underway for a team of toy makers to create by hand as many toy reindeer as possible. Their noses have to glow and their antlers have to be covered with glitter. In addition, all four of their legs have to move and they have to be painted pale brown. The team builds up a good rhythm and over time they begin to average completing 20 reindeer toys per hour. By the time 3 weeks have passed their boss wants to know how many reindeer are left to be made and how that compares to the amount of time left to complete them. What is a graphical way that Adam can show this information to the team’s boss?

1. Milestone Chart
2. Burndown Chart Only
3. Burnup Chart Only
4. Burndown Chart or Burnup Chart

Answer 33

Answer: Burndown Chart or Burnup Chart

Overall explanation

Some iteration-based projects use burndown charts to see where the project is going over time. Some project teams prefer burnup charts. Burnup charts show the work completed. The charts are based on the same data but displayed in two different ways. Teams may prefer how to see their data.

Question 34

Benjamin is an IT project manager in the aerospace industry, where technology and functionality of equipment are changing daily. He knows that the project manager stays informed about current industry trends. He takes this information and sees how it may impact or apply to the current projects. How many trends does he need to keep on top of in his industry in order to meet these demands upon his expertise?

1. 6
2. 10
3. 12
4. 7

Answer 34

Answer: 7

Overall explanation

The correct answer is 7. The project manager stays informed about current industry trends. The project manager takes this information and sees how it may impact or apply to the current projects. These trends include but are not limited to: Product and technology development; New and changing market niches; Standards (e.g., project management, quality management, information security management); Technical support tools; Economic forces that impact the immediate project; Influences affecting the project management discipline; and Process improvement and sustainability strategies.

Question 35

Bonita’s just been assigned as the project manager for a project in which she’ll be responsible for replacing the entire HVAC system in one of her health care network’s medical buildings. Bonita doesn’t really know what an HVAC system is, so she does some research and finds an online forum where she finds out not only what the acronym stands for, but is able to post questions about it that experts in the field are happy to answer. This Networking Bonita is doing is a Tool and Technique of which process?

1. Direct and Manage Project Work
2. Develop Project Management Plan
3. Develop Project Charter
4. Manage Project Knowledge

Answer 35

Answer: Manage Project Knowledge

Overall explanation

Manage Project Knowledge is the process of using existing knowledge and creating new knowledge to achieve the project’s objectives and contribute to organizational learning. 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. The tools and techniques appropriate in a project depend on the nature of the project, especially the degree of innovation involved, the project complexity, and the level of diversity (including diversity of disciplines) among team members.

Question 36

There are three main goals for a project manager with respect to their responsibilies during Project Resource Management. The PM has to both acquire and manage project team resources. But what is the third responsibility a project manager has to their project’s team members?

1. Develop Team
2. Do Personality Assessments of Project Team Members
3. Celebrate Victories with Team
4. Meet With Team Regularly

Answer 36

Answer: Develop Team

Overall explanation

Though celebrating victories with the project team is strongly encouraged, meeting with the project team regularly is considered a best practice and doing personality assessments of project team members may foster better communication within the project as a whole, the third responsibility of a project manager to his or her team is to develop them. This will help both them and the project by improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance

Question 37

Your organization may have processes or procedures specific to the Closing process group, including contract closure, deliverable acceptance and resource reassignment. Which of the following could also be required by your organization with a certain process or procedure?

1. Project Audit
2. Time Reporting
3. Project Evaluation
4. Project evaluation and project audit

Answer 37

Answer: Project evaluation and project audit

Overall explanation

Responses A and C are correct. Though your organization may also have processes or procedures surrounding time reporting, that is not relevant to the Closing process group.

Question 38

You’ve engaged a contractor to deliver a specifc number of plexiglass display cases for a merchandise display in the new store you’re building as Construction Project Manager for a retail business. They are on a CPFF contract and you as the Project Manager are responsible for monitoring payments to them as well as their adherence to the schedule and quality. What two kinds of payments are you making to this vendor?

1. All allowable costs plus a fixed fee that was calculated as a percentage of the initial estimated project costs
2. All legitimate costs, but mostly coming from an assessment of how well they met the pre-agreed-upon criteria for what constitutes satisfactory deliverables
3. A fixed price with additional agreed-upon incentives if they exceed performance expectations
4. The actual time they work and the materials they purchase in order to complete the work

Answer 38

Answer: All allowable costs plus a fixed fee that was calculated as a percentage of the initial estimated project costs

Overall explanation

The definition contained within Response A is T&M or Time and Materials. The defintion contained within Response C is for Cost plus award fee (CPAF). The definition contained within Response D is Fixed price incentive fee (FPIF). The correct definition to CPFF is Response B, because CPFF = Cost plus fixed fee.

Question 39

All of the following are Tools and Techniques of the Close Phase, Project or Contract process group EXCEPT:

1. Stakeholder Analysis
2. Data Analysis
3. Expert Judgments
4. Meetings

Answer 39

Answer: Stakeholder Analysis

Question 40

Mickey is the project manager for a team largely comprised of individuals who work remotely from their own home offices. There are several tasks that would be completed more efficiently if the team could be gathered into a single room together for at least two weeks, which means Mickey needs to factor into his Project Management Plan an estimation of travel costs and lodging for these team members. In which Project Management Plan component should Mickey document that information?

1. Project Management Plan
2. Cost Management Plan
3. Resource Management Plan
4. Scope Baseline

Answer 40

Answer: Resource Management Plan

Overall explanation

The Resource Management Plan, described in Section 9.1.3.1 of the PMBOK, is the correct answer. The resource management plan provides information on rates (personnel and other resources), estimation of travel costs, and other foreseen costs that are necessary to estimate the overall project budget. It is one of the components of the Project Management Plan.

Question 41

Tabitha’s halfway finished with her project initiation tasks and is contemplating when she should hold her project kick-off meeting. The project is small, involving only two departments and their mutual processes and the same team is handling both the initiation and the planning processes. By this criteria, when should Tabitha schedule her kick-off meeting to occur?

1. at the end of the Planning process group, at the start of the development/implementation in the Executing process group
2. she should have conducted it before she started the Initiating processes
3. at the beginning of each project phase
4. shortly after Initiation, in the Planning process group

Answer 41

Answer: shortly after Initiation, in the Planning process group

Overall explanation

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. Only multiphase projects will typically include a kick-off meeting at the beginning of each phase.

Question 42

How many decision-making techniques are there?

1. 3
2. 5
3. 2
4. 1

Answer 42

Answer: 2

Overall explanation

There are 2. Multicriteria decision analysis and voting.

Question 43

The lessons learned register is created as an output of which process early in the project?

1. Direct and Manage Project Work
2. Manage Project Knowledge
3. Develop Project Management Plan
4. Monitor and Control Project Work

Answer 43

Answer: Manage Project Knowledge

Overall explanation

The lessons learned register is created as an output of this 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. Knowledge can be documented using videos, pictures, audios, or other suitable means that ensure the efficiency of the lessons captured. At the end of a project or phase, the information is transferred to an organizational process asset called a lessons learned repository.

Question 44

Andrei has gained a reputation during his decade as a project manager, of being the one who can negotiate with even the toughest of vendors and project team members. He’s also highly skilled at problem solving and is known for his interpersonal skills. No matter the conflicts that arise, Andrei is always given consistently high praise from his project team members, stakeholders and external customers and vendors alike. Which of the three project manager competencies from the Talent Triangle does Andrei demonstrate?

1. Strategic and Business Management
2. Dealing With Difficult People
3. Leadership
4. Technical Project Management

Answer 44

Answer: Leadership

Overall explanation

Leadership skills involve the ability to guide, motivate, and direct a team. These skills may include demonstrating essential capabilities such as negotiation, resilience, communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills. Projects are becoming increasingly more complicated with more and more businesses executing their strategy through projects. Project management is more than just working with numbers, templates, charts, graphs, and computing systems. A common denominator in all projects is people. People can be counted, but they are not numbers.

Question 45

Kalani works for an airline and has been asked to update the Project Sponsor, and the sponsor’s peer managers, on how the project team is going to ensure the new passenger jet he’s introducing into the fleet meets the airline’s documented quality standards. What Input to the Project Management Plan could Kalani create to both answer their questions and help him manage quality throughout the project life cycle?

1. Scope Management Plan
2. Stakeholder Engagement Plan
3. Assumption Log
4. Quality Management Plan

Answer 45

Answer: Quality Management Plan

Overall explanation

One of the outputs to the Plan Quality Management process group is the Quality Management Plan. The quality management plan is a component of the project management plan that describes how applicable policies, procedures, and guidelines will be implemented to achieve the quality objectives. It describes the activities and resources necessary for the project management team to achieve the quality objectives set for the project.

Question 46

Methodology is a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline which project manager apply in their management. (PMBOK is NOT a methodology, but a recommended reference for what practice?

1. tailoring
2. project management
3. product management
4. program management

Answer 46

Answer: tailoring

Overall explanation

Methodology is a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline which project manager apply in their management. (PMBOK is NOT a methodology, but a recommended reference for tailoring). Tailoring is necessary because each project is unique.

Question 47

Which subsidiary plan developed in the Planning phase describes how goods or services will be obtained?

1. Process Improvement Plan
2. Procurement Management Plan
3. Resource Management Plan
4. Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Answer 47

Answer: Procurement Management Plan

Overall explanation

The Procurement Management Plan includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team. The Resource Management Plan focuses on the process of defining how to estimate, acquire, manage, and use team and physical resources. The Stakeholder Engagement plan contains detailed plans on how effective stakeholder engagement can be realized. And finally, the Process Improvement Plan supports continuous process improvement activities as undertaken on behalf of the performing organization and falls under Project Quality Management.

Question 48

How many project characteristics are there that you can assess to determine the organizational structure of the company you’re working with or for?

1. 6
2. 10
3. 8
4. 4

Answer 48

Answer: 6

Overall explanation

There are six, as demonstrated in page 47 of PMBOK, Table 2-1. Influences of Organizational Structures on Projects. The six are: how work groups are arranged, a project manager’s authority, a project manager’s role, resource availability, who’s managing the project budget and how many (and what type) of project management administrative staff an organization has.

Question 49

Which of the following processes is NOT part of Project Schedule Management?

1. Develop schedule
2. Estimate costs
3. Define Activities Sequence
4. Estimate Activity Durations

Answer 49

Answer: Estimate costs

Overall explanation

Project schedule management contains the following processes within the Planning phase: Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Durations and Develop Schedule. Estimate costs is its own separate and distinct knowledge area with its own inputs, tools & techniques and outputs.

Question 50

What is the most fundamental characteristic of a project team in a projectized organization?

1. They move from one project to the next as a whole unit.
2. They work together to manage the project rather than having a single project manager.
   3 They work together in a business or operations unit as well as being on the same project team together.
3. They don’t need to follow all of the steps in the project management process.

Answer 50

Answer: They move from one project to the next as a whole unit.

Overall explanation

The project manager and the staff work together as a unit, and are co-located from one project to the next. Project managers have a great deal of independence and authority. They functionally own the project team members like a manager has staff.