Term
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Definition
| A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result |
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Term
| Similarities between Operations and Projects |
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Definition
1. Performed by people
2. Constrained by limited resources
3. Planned, executed, monitored, and controlled
4. Ultimate goal is to achieve organizational objectives or strategic plans |
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Term
| Differences between Operations and Project |
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Definition
1. Operations do not have any timelines. Projects are temporary and have finite time duration.
2. Operation’s objective is usually to sustain the business. Project’s objective is to achieve the target and close the project. |
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Term
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Definition
| Application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. |
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Term
| Project Integration Management |
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Definition
| Describes the processes required to ensure that the various elements of the project are properly coordinated. It includes developing the project plan, managing the execution of the project plan, monitoring & controlling work, integrating the change and finally closing the project. |
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Term
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Definition
| Describes the processes required to ensure that the project includes only the essential work required to complete the project successfully. It includes collecting the requirements, defining the scope, verifying the scope and controlling the scope of the project. |
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Term
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Definition
| Describes the processes required to ensure timely completion of the project. It includes defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating activity resources, estimating activity durations, developing the schedule, and controlling the schedule. |
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Term
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Definition
| Describes the processes required to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget. It includes estimating the cost, determining the budget, and controlling the costs. |
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Term
| Project Quality Management |
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Definition
| Describes the processes required to ensure that the project satisfies the needs for which it is undertaken. It includes quality planning, performing quality assurance and control. |
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Term
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Definition
| Describes the processes concerned with identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. It includes planning risk management, identifying risks, performing qualitative risk analysis, performing quantitative risk analysis, planning risk responses, monitoring and controlling risks. |
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Term
| Project Procurement Management |
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Definition
| Describes the processes required to acquire goods and services from outside the project team. It includes planning procurements, conducting procurements, administering procurements, and closing procurements. |
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Term
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Definition
| Group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain control and benefits that are not available if managed individually. |
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Term
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Definition
| A deliverable is a unique, tangible and verifiable work/product. Each project phase is marked by the completion of one or more deliverables. |
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Term
| Phase Exits/ Stage Gates/ Kill Points |
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Definition
| The conclusion of a project phase is marked by a review of both key deliverables and project performance till date to determine if the project should continue into its next phase and detect and correct errors cost-effectively. These phase end reviews are often called phase exits, milestones, phase gates, decision gates, stage gates, or kill points. |
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Term
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Definition
| A subsequent phase of a project is sometimes begun prior to approval of the previous phase deliverables when the risks involved are deemed acceptable. This practice of overlapping phases is often called fast tracking |
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Term
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Definition
| Persons or organizations who are actively involved in the project or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected by the performance or completion of the project. They may also exert influence over the project, its deliverables, and the project team members. |
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Term
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Definition
| A functional organization has a hierarchy in which every employee has one clear superior. Staff members are grouped by areas of specialization. Functional organizations may still have projects, but the perceived scope of the project is defined by the boundaries of the function. |
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Term
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Definition
| In a projectized organization, most of the organization’s resources are involved in project work, and Project Managers have a great deal of independence and authority. |
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Term
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Definition
| They possess a blend of functional and projectized characteristics. Weak matrices maintain many of the characteristics of a functional organization, and the Project Manager’s role is more that of a coordinator or expediter than that of a manager. Similarly, strong matrices have many of the characteristics of the projectized organization—full-time project managers with considerable authority, full-time project administrative staff, etc. |
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Term
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Definition
| A requirement imposed by a governmental body and its compliance is mandatory. |
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Term
| The five process groups are |
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Definition
| Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. |
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Term
| You have reached the end of the design phase of your project. You decide to call a "phase end review" for obtaining authorization to close the design phase and initiate the next phase (i.e., execution phase) of your project. Your manager disagrees with your suggestion. He wants a "kill point" to formally end the design phase of the project. In this context, you should: |
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Definition
| Agree with your manager. A phase-end represents a natural point to reassess the effort underway and to change or terminate the project if necessary. These points are referred to as phase exits, milestones, phase gates, decision gates, stage gates, decision gates, stage gates or kill points. |
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Term
| Matrix organizations exhibit features of both projectized and functional organizations. In a weak matrix organization, the role of a project manager may be that of a: |
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Definition
| Coordinator. Weak matrices maintain many of the characteristics of a functional organization, and the role of a project manager is more of a coordinator or expediter than that of a true project manager. |
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Term
A project manager has to manage different stakeholder expectations. Project sponsor and customer are two very important stakeholders in any project. In this context, the project sponsor and the customer do all the following EXCEPT
1. Take into account risk tolerance
2. Provide key events, milestones, and deliverable due dates
3. Formally accept the product of the project
4. Provide financial resources for the project |
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Definition
Statements 1, 2, and 3 are correct.
Statement 4 is incorrect - A sponsor is the person or group that provides the financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project... The customer/users are the persons or organizations that will use the project`s product or service or result. |
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Term
You are one of the ten full-time project managers in your organization. All of you share two administrative resources. Normally, around 30 - 40 projects are executed per year involving about 30% of the employees of the organization. However, all of them do not report to you, although you are their project manager. Your organization can best be classified as:
1. Projectized
2. Balanced Matrix
3. Strong Matrix
4. Weak Matrix |
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Definition
The answer is 2 balanced.
Option 1(Projectized Organization) is incorrect because resources in a projectized organization are not shared with the functional manager. Option 3(Strong Matrix) is incorrect because only 30% of the employees work on projects and the remaining work in functional activities. Option 4(Weak Matrix) is incorrect because full-time project managers do not exist in Weak Matrix, which have project coordinators and/or expeditors. |
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Term
| Your project sponsor has specified that you have to complete your project within 3 months with a funding limit of $ 250,000. This is an example of: |
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Definition
| constraint Project constraints are those constraints associated with the project scope that limit the team`s options. For example, a predefined budget or any imposed dates or schedule milestones that are issued by the customer or performing organization constitute constraints. |
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Term
You are the project manager of a new project, tasked with construction of a bridge on the River Nile in Egypt. While initiating the project, you should:
1. Create a scope management plan to document project scope definition, verification, and control
2. Develop a project management plan
3. Determine specific activities that need to be performed to produce various project deliverables
4. Develop a project charter |
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Definition
| The answer is 4. Option 1 refers to Define Scope, Verify Scope, and Control Scope; Option 2 refers to Develop Project Plan; and Option 3 refers to Define Activities. All these are processes are related to the Planning Process Group and are performed after the processes related to the Initiating Process Group. Project Charter, however, constitutes the document that formally authorizes a project. |
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Term
| Your construction company recently secured a project to build a new overpass on Interstate 10. You have been appointed as project manager for the assignment. Your company has successfully executed similar projects in the past, and you would like to refer to the past project documents. At what stage of the project should this be done FIRST? |
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Definition
| Initiating. Documentation about previous projects is included in the organizational process assets. In the Initiating process group, documents about similar past projects would help the project team in getting a better understanding of the project. |
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Term
| What are the basic types of phase-to-phase relationships? |
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Definition
| There are three basic types of phase to phase relationships. They are sequential relationships, overlapping relationships, and iterative relationships. |
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Term
| You are in the process of developing the project charter. Which of the following forms the basis for the Develop Project Charter process? |
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Definition
| Project Statement of Work is a narrative description of products or services to be delivered by the project. It is an input to Develop Project Charter process. |
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Term
| In your project, you are formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables. This is done during: |
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Definition
| Verify Scope is the process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables |
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Term
| You have acquired a team and assigned tasks for the selected team members of your project. This activity is performed during: |
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Definition
| executing phase. Acquire Project Team is the process of confirming human resource availability and obtaining the team necessary to complete project assignments. Project staff assignments is an output of "Acquire Project Team" process, which is a part of executing process group. |
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Term
| You have created a risk management plan to decide how to approach, plan, and execute the risk management activities for your project. Thereafter, you are involved with Identify Risks process to determine which risks might affect your project. What should you do NEXT? |
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Definition
| Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis follows Identify Risks. This is a process of prioritizing risks for further analysis or action by assessing and combining their probability of occurrence and impact. |
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Term
| Your project is complete and you are performing project closure activities. In this context, what should you do LAST? |
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Definition
| Releasing project resources working on the project. Final product, service, or result transition, organizational process assets updates are outputs of the Close Project or Phase and accepted deliverables are its inputs. However, even Close Project will need resources (e.g. people, equipment, etc). Hence, releasing of project resources should happen at the very end of the Close Project or Phase. |
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Term
| Improving competencies and interaction of team members helps in improving project performance. This activity is performed as part of which project process group? |
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Definition
| Executing. Develop Project Team is the process of improving competencies, team interaction, and the overall team environment to enhance project performance. (this happens in Executing Process Group) |
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Term
| In your project, you are in the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities. These details will be included in which of the following processes? |
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Definition
| Sequence Activities is the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities. |
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Term
| Projects are typically authorized as a result of one or more of the following strategic considerations: |
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Definition
1. Market Demand ex a car company authorizes a project to build more fuel-efficient cars in response to a gas shortage
2. Strategic/business need example a training company authorizing a project to create a new course to increase revenue
3. Customer request example utility company authorizing a project to build a new substation to serve a new industrial park
4. Technological advance - example Dell authorized a new project to build a ultrathin laptop after advanced in technology
5. Legal requirements - example is a chemical manuf authorizes a project to establish guidelines for handing toxic materials |
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Term
You are planning for your project. In this context, which of the following processes should you consider?
1. Define Scope, Develop Schedule, Plan Risk Management, Plan Communications
2 Plan Quality, Plan Procurements, Plan Risk Responses, Control Costs
3 Perform Quality Assurance, Develop Project Team, Distribute Information, Plan Risk Management
4 Verify Scope, Perform Quality Control, Control Schedule, Control Costs |
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Definition
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Term
| Name the components of scope baseline |
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Definition
| 1. Project scope statement 2. WBS 3. WBS dictionary |
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Term
| What is contained in the project scope statement? |
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Definition
| The project scope statement includes the product scope description, project deliverables, and defines the product user acceptance criteria. |
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Term
| What should be included in the project scope? |
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Definition
1. Product Scope Description
2. Product Acceptance Criteria
3. Project Deliverables
4. Project exclusions
5. Project Contraintes |
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Term
| What is included in the detailed project scope statement? |
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Definition
| The detailed project scope statement includes, either directly, or by reference to other documents, the following: product scope description, product acceptance criteria, project deliverables, project exclusions, project constraints, and project assumptions. However, it does not include WBS, which is created in the Create WBS process. |
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Term
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Definition
| Items at the lowest level of a Work Breakdown Structure |
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Term
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Definition
| PERT allows for looping, branching, and multiple project end results. |
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Term
| How do you calculate critical path? |
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Definition
| You add the longest path because the longest path is the critical path. |
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Term
| How do you calculate slack? |
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Definition
| Slack can be calculated by subtracting the time in your path from the time in the critical path. The difference is your slack. |
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Term
| How to determine the project time using six sigma. |
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Definition
| You get the average of all estimates then add 6 to get the long range. Then you take the average and subtract 6 to get the short range. |
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Term
| How do you calculate a project timeframe using PERT |
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Definition
{Pessimistic + (4* Most Likely) + Optimistic}/6
The PERT estimate can only be calculated for the critical path of the project. |
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Term
| Bar Chart vs Milestone Chart |
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Definition
| Milestone charts are similar to bar charts, but they only identify the scheduled start or completion of major deliverable and key external interfaces. Usually, milestone charts are used for presentations to senior management but bar charts are used for presentations to middle and junior management. |
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Term
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Definition
| also known as rule of thumb, such as allocation of scarce resources to the critical path first, can be applied to develop a schedule. |
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Term
| What are the different types of estimates? |
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Definition
Order of Magnitude: -50% to +50%
Budget Estimates: -15% to +25%
Definitive Estimates: -5% to +10% |
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Term
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Definition
| Critical path method (CPM) calculates a single, deterministic early and late start and finish dates for each activity based on specified sequential network logic and a single duration estimate. |
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Term
| If a task is on the critical path can it have slack? |
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Definition
| No it cannot have slack if it is on a critical path. |
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Term
| As a project manager, in approximating costs, you consider the possible causes of variation of the cost estimates, including risks. For your project, which is in the initiation phase, your team has suggested a rough order of magnitude estimate. This could be in the range of: |
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Definition
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Term
| Are Historical relationships used when estimating costs? |
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Definition
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Term
The company is considering three projects:
Project A has an NPV of $ 500,000
Project B has an NPV of $ 300,000
Project C has an NPV of $ 200,000
What is the opportunity cost if project A is selected?
$ 500,000
$ 200,000
$ 300,000
0 |
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Definition
| Opportunity cost is the cost of passing up the next best option. The opportunity cost of choosing project A (over project B, which is the next best option) is equal to NPV of the next best available option. Net present value of project B is chosen = $ 300,000 |
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Term
Which cost estimating technique costs the least and saves the most time?
Parametric estimating
Bottom-up estimating
Analogous estimating
Three-point estimates |
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Definition
| Analogous cost estimating is generally less costly and time consuming than other techniques, but it is also generally less accurate. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Determine Budget is the process of aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized cost baseline. Cost aggregation, expert judgment, and historical relationships are some of the tools used in this process. |
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Term
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Definition
| :Discount Rate: The interest rate used to calculate present value of expected yearly benefits and costs. |
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Term
You are creating a cost management plan for your Six-Sigma project. In this context, which of the following statements relating to creation of the cost management plan is inaccurate?
Specifies the precision level to which the schedule activity cost estimates will adhere
Establishes variance thresholds for costs
Defines formats for various cost reports
Uses preferred tools for cost estimating |
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Definition
| #4Cost management plan does not include cost estimation, i.e., tools for cost estimating are not used for creation of cost management plan. These tools will be used in the Estimate Costs process. |
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Term
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Definition
| When asked a question about selecting a question make sure you pick the project with the higher internal rate of return |
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Term
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Definition
| Benefit Cost Ratio. If asked to select a project based upon BCR pick a project greater than one because that means the beenfit of the project outways the cost. |
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Term
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Definition
EAC or estimate at completion equals
EAC = AC + ETC |
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Term
As a project manager, you have selected Project A that has an initial budget of $1,000 out of which $800 has already been spent. To complete this project, you need an additional $500. Project B will require $1,200 only for completion. Which project would you prefer to manage and what will be its ETC?
Project A, ETC of $800
Project A, ETC of $1,000
Project A, ETC of $500
Project B, ETC of $1,200 |
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Definition
| #3 Since $800 is the sunk cost, we ignore it for calculating ETC of Project A, which means that ETC (Estimate to Complete) for Project A will be $500, whereas ETC for Project B is higher at $1,200. So, it is beneficial to select Project A. |
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Term
Here are three projects:
Project A has a payback period of 3 years and NPV of $ 300,000
Project B has a payback period of 2 years and NPV of $ 200,000
Project C has a payback period of 1 year and NPV of $ 100,000
Which project should be selected if NPV criterion is used?
Project A
Project B
Project C
Project A, B, or C can be selected, because all of them have equal value |
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Definition
| Project A has highest NPV of $ 300,000, hence it is selected. Please note that the time value of money is already taken into account in the NPV calculation. |
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Term
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Definition
| Scheduled performance index. Progress as a percentage of the planned progress. The formula is EV/PV |
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Term
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Definition
| Benefit Cost Ratio = Benefits or Payback or Revenue divided by project cost |
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Term
| Using payback period which project should you select? Project A has an initial investment of $500,000 and a payback period of 3 years. Project B has an initial investment of $300,000 and a payback period of 5 years. Which one should you pick? |
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Definition
| Project a. Even though the initial investment is smaller you are using payback period so it is the correct choice since the payback period is shorter. |
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Term
As the project manager in a software company, you are determining the possible costs to complete project activities. This is done as part of:
Variance analysis
Estimate Costs
Determine Budget
Control Costs |
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Definition
| Estimate Costs is the process of developing an approximation of the monetary resources needed to complete project activities. Cost trade-offs and risks must be considered, such as make versus buy, buy versus lease, and the sharing of resources in order to achieve optimal costs for the project. |
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Term
In your project, you have determined the planned quantity of work to be performed. Luckily, a similar project was successfully completed three months ago, and historical information from that project is readily available. To get a cost estimate for your project, you multiply the planned quantity of work in your project with the cost per unit obtained from the previous project. This is a classic example of:
Analogous estimating
Determining resource cost rates
Bottom-up estimating
Parametric estimating |
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Definition
Parametric estimating uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables to calculate an estimate for activity parameters, such as cost, budget, and duration.
An example for the cost parameter is multiplying the planned quantity of work to be performed by the historical cost per unit to obtain the estimated cost. |
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Term
Your project is in the execution stage. NPV of your project is -$200,000 and IRR is 5%. CPI is 1.2 and SPI is 0.8. What is the recommended action?
Cancel the project since NPV is negative
Cancel the project since IRR is very low
Crash your project
Try to improve the NPV |
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Definition
Option 3 is the most recommended action. CPI is greater than 1 and SPI is less than 1. Since SPI is less than 1, this means that project is behind schedule; hence it is recommended to crash the project to bring it on schedule. Please note that crashing may increase costs. Since your project has CPI greater than 1, cost will not be a concern.
Options1, 2, and 4 are not recommended actions. NPV and IRR are project selection criteria (selection of projects is done in the initiation stage). Since this project is already in the execution phase, NPV and IRR should not be considered. |
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Term
In your project, you use a hierarchical structure of resources by resource category and resource type to develop resource-limited schedules. This hierarchical structure is also called as:
Project hierarchy
Organization hierarchy
Resource breakdown structure
Project breakdown structure |
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Definition
| Resource breakdown structure (RBS) is a hierarchical structure of resources by resource category and resource type used in resource leveling schedules and to develop resource-limited schedules, and which may be used to identify and analyze project human resource assignments. |
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Term
n your project, if the benefit cost ratio is greater than 1, it means that
The ratio of profits to cost is greater than 1.
The ratio of revenue to cost is greater than 1.
You should select this project from all other competing alternatives.
You should not select this project from all other competing alternatives. |
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Definition
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Term
While performing variance analysis for your project, you refer to your status reports which show the following information:
Planned value = $ 100,000
Actual cost = $ 125,000
Earned value = $ 90,000
In this context, all the following statements are true EXCEPT:
Schedule variance is - $ 10,000 and you are behind schedule
Cost variance is - $ 35,000 and you are over-budget
CPI is 0.5 and you are over-budget
SPI is 0.9 and you are behind schedule |
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Definition
#3
CV (Cost Variance) = EV - AC = $ 90,000 - $ 125,000 = - $ 35,000 (since this is negative, you are over-budget)
CPI (Cost Performance Index) = EV/AC = $ 90,000 / $ 125,000 = 0.72 (since this is <1, you are over-budget)
SV (Schedule Variance) = EV - PV = $ 90,000 - $ 100,000 = - $ 10,000 (since this is negative, you are behind schedule)
SPI (Schedule Performance Index) = EV/ PV = $ 90,000 / $ 100,000 = 0.9 (since this is <1, you are behind schedule)
The above calculations show that all options except option 3 are correct .
Hence, option 3 is the right answer. |
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Term
| If your numbers read the following are you ahead of of behind schedule and budget = SPI < 1 and CPI>1 |
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Definition
| SPI < 1 (i.e., behind schedule) and CPI>1 (i.e., under-budget) |
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Term
The company is considering three projects:
Project A has an NPV of $ 500,000
Project B has an NPV of $ 300,000
Project C has an NPV of $ 200,000
What is the opportunity cost if project A is selected?
1 $ 500,000
2 $ 200,000
3 $ 300,000
4 0 |
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Definition
#3
Opportunity cost is the cost of passing up the next best option. The opportunity cost of choosing project A (over project B, which is the next best option) is equal to NPV of the next best available option. Net present value of project B is chosen = $ 300,000 |
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Term
Your company primarily uses benefit cost ratio as a project selection criterion. All the following statements related to benefit cost ratio (BCR) are correct EXCEPT:
1 Projects with BCR > 1 should be considered for selection
2 BCR is the ratio of payback to costs
3 If two projects have positive BCR, select the project with higher BCR
4 For any project, benefits = profits |
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Definition
| #4 Benefits are not profits, benefits = revenues/payback. |
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Term
You are working for a semi-conductor company. There have been several instances in the past week when a few circuits have not been giving accurate results. You have been assigned the task of determining the probable cause for the variations. Which tool would you use?
Control Chart
Ishikawa Diagrams
Pareto Diagrams
Inspection |
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Definition
| Ishikawa diagrams or cause and effect diagrams or fishbone diagrams illustrate how various factors might be linked to potential problem or effects |
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Term
You are managing the tools/spare parts section for an aircraft manufacturing company. Your team members have discovered some defective tools/spare parts. The probable cause for these could be materials used, defective measurement systems, inaccurate tolerances in the machines, or other factors. To determine what caused the defect, you will:
Use a control chart
Draw an Ishikawa diagram
Create a flowchart
Draw a Pareto chart |
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Definition
| Ishikawa or fishbone diagrams (also called cause and effect diagrams) illustrate how various factors might be linked to potential problems or effects (please refer to figures 8-12 and 8-13 on page 209). |
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Term
Your company has developed a software product. While performing beta testing with a small sample of users, you notice that the product has defects because of the following reasons:
- Non-compatibility with the operating system (20%)
- Bugs in the software (22%)
- Difficulty in understanding instruction manuals (20%)
- Non-availability of desired features (15%)
- Others (23%)
To illustrate the causes of these problems, you could use a:
Flowchart
Quality Checklist
Pareto Chart
Histogram |
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Definition
| A histogram is a vertical bar chart showing how often a particular variable state occurs. Each column represents an attribute or characteristic of a problem/situation. The height of each column represents the relative frequency of the characteristic. This tool helps illustrate the most common cause of problems in a process by the number and relative heights of the bars. |
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Term
Your quality process did not meet the four sigma requirements desired by your customer. So, some of your products were rejected and there is a possibility that you would not receive repeat business from the customer. From a quality perspective, the costs associated with the rejected products can also be categorized as:
Cost of conformance
Customer retention costs
Failure costs
Performance costs |
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Definition
| Failure costs (cost of non-conformance) include costs to rework products, components, or processes that are non-compliant; costs of warranty work and waste; and costs due to loss of reputation. |
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Term
ccording to the 80/20 rule, 80 percent of the problems are because of 20 percent of the causes. To identify the most probable defects and to evaluate nonconformities, you do a rank ordering of the defects using:
Statistical sampling
Control chart
Pareto diagrams
Inspection |
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Definition
| A Pareto chart (also referred to as a Pareto diagram) is a specific type of histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence. It shows how many defects are generated by type or category of identified cause. Rank ordering is used to focus on corrective action. |
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Term
erform Quality Control is the process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes. To evaluate quality control outputs, the project team should definitely have a working knowledge of:
Prevention and inspection
Sampling and probability
Special causes and random causes
Tolerances and control limits |
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Definition
Number 2
Prevention and inspection
Sampling and probability
Special causes and random causes
Tolerances and control limits |
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Term
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Definition
| the result either conforms or does not conform |
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Term
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Definition
| the result is rated on a continuous scale that measures the degree of conformity. |
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Term
After quality planning, you have created a component-specific tool to verify that the required steps have been performed to test your product. This can also be referred to as:
Checklist
Operational definition
Quality management plan
Design of experiments (DOE) |
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Definition
| A checklist is a structured tool, usually component-specific, used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed. |
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Term
You are preparing a quality management plan for your project. Which of the following will you NOT use in this process?
Cost-benefit analysis
Quality checklists
Cost of quality
Benchmarking |
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Definition
#2
Quality management plan and quality checklists are outputs of Plan Quality process. Quality checklists are used in the quality control process, and the rest are used as tools and techniques for Plan Quality process. |
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Term
| What's the difference between the quality management plan and quality checklists? |
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Definition
| Quality management plan is an output from Plan Quality process and quality metrics. Quality checklists are the inputs to Perform Quality Control process. |
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Term
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Definition
| Standard deviation is a distance of measurement from the mean or, the square root of the average of the squares of deviations (about) the mean of a set of data. Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. |
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Term
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Definition
| Benchmarking involves comparing actual or planned project practices to those of comparable projects to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a basis for measuring performance. These other projects can be within or outside of the performing organization and can be within the same or in another application area. |
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Term
| What is included in the process improvement plan? |
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Definition
| The areas to be considered in the process improvement plan include process boundaries, process configuration, process metrics, and targets for improved performance. |
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Term
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Definition
| Process configuration is a graphic depiction of processes, with identified interfaces, used to facilitate analysis. |
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Term
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Definition
| Trend analysis is performed using run charts and involves mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on historical results. Trend analysis is often used to monitor technical performance - how many errors or defects have been corrected and how many remain uncorrected. |
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Term
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Definition
| Control charts are used to determine whether or not a process is stable or has predictable performance. In this process, the appropriate data is collected and analyzed to indicate the quality status of project processes and products. Control charts illustrate how a process behaves over time and when a process is subject to special cause variation, resulting in an out-of-control condition. |
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Term
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Definition
| A scatter diagram shows the relationship between two variables. This tool allows the quality team to study and identify the possible relationship between changes observed in two variables. Dependent variables versus independent variables are plotted. The closer the points are to a diagonal line, the more closely they are related. |
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Term
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Definition
| Legitimate Power: The ability to gain support, because project personnel perceive the project manager as being officially empowered to issue orders. |
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Term
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Definition
| The ability to gain support, because project personnel perceive the project manager as capable of directly or indirectly dispensing valued organizational rewards such as salary, promotion, bonus, and future work assignments. |
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Term
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Definition
| The ability to gain support, because the project personnel perceive the project manager as capable of directly or indirectly dispensing penalties that they wish to avoid. Penalty power usually derives from the same source as reward power, with one being a necessary condition for the other. |
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Term
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Definition
| The ability to gain support, because personnel perceive the project manager as possessing special knowledge or expertise. |
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Term
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Definition
| The ability to gain support, because project personnel feel personally attracted to the project manager or her project. |
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Term
In your project, you are in the process of determining the project roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships for your team members. Which of the following is not used for this process?
Activity resource requirements
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets
Team performance assessments |
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Definition
| #4 Team performance assessments are the output of develop project team process. |
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Term
To get the work done, the supervisor threatens punishment and strictly supervises the work. The supervisor believes in:
Theory Y (McGregor Model)
Theory X (McGregor Model)
Maslow`s hierarchy of needs
Referent power |
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Definition
#2 Douglas McGregor advocates that most workers can be categorized according to two theories:
Theory X: This assumes that the workers are inherently lazy and require supervision
Theory Y: The average worker finds physical and mental effort on the job satisfying. |
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Term
What is the factor that helps a project manager gain maximum support from the assigned project personnel?
Expertise
Work challenge
Authority of the project manager to penalize team members
Authority of the project manager to recommend promotions to team members on the basis of their performance |
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Definition
| #1 Expertise of the project manager is the most important factor that gets him support from the project personnel. |
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Term
As part of your staffing management plan, you are creating a chart to illustrate the number of hours that a person, department, or entire project team will need each week or month over the course of the project. This chart is also known as:
Resource control chart
Resource breakdown structure
Resource histogram
Resource run chart |
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Definition
| #3 The staffing management plan, a subset of the project management plan, describes when and how human resource requirements will be met. The staffing management plan can be formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed, based on the needs of the project. One tool for charting human resources is a resource histogram. |
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Term
You are the project sponsor for a reputed company, and you work with the project management team in certain matters concerned with the project. Which of the following is an area where you would NOT assist?
Project funding
Creating activity list
Clarifying scope
Monitoring progress |
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Definition
| The project sponsor works with the project management team, typically assisting with matters such as project funding, clarifying scope, monitoring progress, and influencing others in order to benefit the project. roject sponsor is not involved in detailed tasks like creating activity list which should be done by project team. |
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Term
In your project, you invest a lot of time in team development to increase the team`s performance, which in turn increases the likelihood of meeting project objectives. Which of the following indicators will you NOT use to evaluate your team`s effectiveness?
Improvement in skills of team members
Improvement in competencies and morale that help the team to perform better as a group
Decrease in staff-attrition (i.e., fewer people leaving the project team)
Delivery of project deliverables before time |
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Definition
| #4 To evaluate the team`s effectiveness, we do not consider the project delivery parameters like scope, time or cost. In this process, the emphasis is on developing the skills of individual team members, and their ability to function as a team. |
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Term
According to Herzberg`s theory, the absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create satisfaction. Which of the following can be categorized as a hygiene factor?
Recognition
Responsibility
Advancement in career
Interpersonal relations |
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Definition
| #4 Interpersonal relations |
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Term
Which of the following does not refer to power derived from the position of the project manager in the organization?
Penalty
Expert
Legitimate
Reward |
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Definition
| #2 Expert and Referent power are examples of personal power that comes from personal qualities to which team members are attracted. Legitimate, Reward, and Penalty power are often referred to as examples of position power, which is directly related to one’s position within the organization. The five interpersonal influences are: |
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Term
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Definition
| Project team directory is a documented list of project team members, their project roles, and communication information. |
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Term
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Definition
| The communication management plan provides stakeholder communications requirements, information that needs to be communicated, including language, format, content, level of detail, methods or technologies, etc. |
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Term
In your project, you are collecting baseline data and distributing it to appropriate stakeholders as required. The information provided includes how resources are used to achieve project objectives. This is done through:
Plan Communication process
Report Performance process
Distribute Information process
Earned value management |
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Definition
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Term
ou have eight people in your project, and one more person will be joining next week. Once the new person joins, the number of communication channels will increase by:
0
8
12
20 |
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Definition
#2 n (n-1)/2
number of people times the number of people minus 1 divided by 2 |
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Term
You are in the execution stage of your project. For the information of the stakeholders, you have documents to highlight project status, lessons learned, issue logs, and outputs from other knowledge areas. These documents should be included in:
Project reports
Change logs
Lessons learned documentation
Performance Reports |
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Definition
| #1 Project reports include formal and informal project reports that describe project status, documents like lessons learned, issue logs, project closure reports, and outputs from other knowledge areas. |
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Term
You are managing a critical project with virtual teams located in eight countries. At times, team members find it difficult to understand and interpret what others are communicating via tele-conferencing. From a communication management point of view, this difficulty in transmitting and understanding messages can also be referred to as:
Disturbance
Noise
Interference
Breakdown in encode-decode model |
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Definition
| #2 Noise is anything that interferes with the transmission and understanding of the message (e.g., distance). |
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Term
Two project team members have
resigned from your company. However, you are able to negotiate with functional managers in your organization to get two resources quickly as substitutes. From a stakeholder management point of view, this can be referred to as:
Pre-assignment
Corrective action
Approved change request
Resolved issue |
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Definition
| #4 Unavailability of resources is an issue, and by getting two appropriate resources you are able to resolve the issue. |
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Term
You have completed the Distribute Information process and are now in a position to make the required information available to the project stakeholders in a timely manner. Which of the following is NOT an output from Distribute Information process?
Performance reports
Project reports and presentations
Stakeholder notifications
Project records |
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Definition
| #1 Performance reports are the output from the Report Performance process and not from Distribute Information process. All the remaining stated in the other options are included in organizational process assets updates, which is the only output from the Distribute Information process. |
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Term
During critical negotiations on outstanding issues arising out of a contract, you should pay close attention to which form of communication?
Oral formal
Oral informal
Non-verbal
Written formal |
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Definition
| #3 Non-verbal communication forms more than 55% of the total communication and is important to pay attention to while negotiations are being conducted. |
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Term
As part of Project Communications Management, you are collecting and disseminating information to stakeholders about resources used to achieve project objectives. This is done as part of:
Plan Communications
Distribute Information
Report Performance
Administrative closure |
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Definition
#3
Report Performance is a process of collecting and distributing performance information, including status report, progress measurements, and forecasts.
Report Performance process involves periodic collection and analysis of baseline versus actual data to understand and communicate project progress and performance, as well as to forecast the project results. |
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Term
In your project, you would like to conduct a lessons learned session to identify project successes and failures, as well as make recommendations to improve future project performance. This is done during:
Project closure
Project initiation
Project life cycle
Project execution and project closure |
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Definition
#3 project life cycle
During the project life cycle, the project team and key stakeholders identify lessons learned concerning all aspects of the project. The lessons learned are compiled, documented, and distributed so that they become part of the historical database. However, most of the organizations prefer post-implementation meetings and case studies to document lessons learned. |
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Term
You are the project manager with seven team members. One more member will be joining the team after a week. What will be the number of communication channels once the new member joins your team?
28
21
18
36 |
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Definition
#4
here will be 9 people in your team (this includes 8 team members and you, the project manager). So, the number of communication channels = 9 * (9 - 1) / 2 = 9*8/2 = 36. |
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Term
| Please give examples of written informal communication: |
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Definition
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Term
Performance reports organize and summarize the information gathered and present the results of any analysis as a comparison with the performance measurement baseline. Which of the following is NOT a common format for performance reports?
S-curves
Control charts
Tables
Histograms |
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Definition
#2 Control Charts
Common formats for performance reports include bar charts, S-curves, histograms, and tables. |
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Term
Organizational process assets that can influence the Report Performance process include all the following EXCEPT:
Report templates
Policies and procedures that define the measures and indicators to be used
Organizationally defined variance limits
The project`s budget |
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Definition
| #4The project`s budget is a constraint, and not part of organizational process assets. (Please note that scope, cost and time are the triple constraints for any project.) |
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Term
| The processes used in Project Communications Management are: |
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Definition
| Identify Stakeholders, Plan Communications, Distribute Information, Manage Stakeholder Expectations, and Report Performance are the processes used in Project Communications Management. |
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Term
In your project, you are creating a diagram that describes the decision under consideration and implications of choosing one or another of the available alternatives. This will help to:
Get a qualitative analysis of the risk
Determine which risks may have the most impact on the project
Translate the uncertainties at a detailed level into potential impact on objectives expressed at the level of the total project
Determine which decision yields the greatest expected value |
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Definition
| #4 Solving the decision tree indicates which decision yields the greatest expected value to the decision-maker when all the uncertain implications, costs, rewards, and subsequent decisions are quantified. |
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Term
As a project manager, you are concerned with determining which risks may affect the project. What is the process by which such risks are determined?
Plan Risk Management
Identify Risks
Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
Plan Risk Responses |
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Definition
| #2 Identify Risks is the process of determining which risks may affect the project and documenting their characteristics. |
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Term
In your project, you have identified important risks and planned appropriate responses to the risks. Some risks - e.g. possibility of natural disasters impacting the project - have been documented and accepted in your risk management plan. What are the remaining risks called?
Unidentifiable Risks
Residual Risks
Secondary Risks
Accepted Risks |
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Definition
#2
Components of the risk register...include:...Residual risks that are expected to remain after planned responses have been taken, as well as those that have been deliberately accepted. |
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Term
In your project, probabilities are estimated and the alternatives are expected to be as follows:
25% probability for $ 25,000 profit
50% probability for $ 40,000 profit
25% probability for $ 100,000 profit
What is the expected profit in your project?
$ 40,000
$ 50,000
$ 51,250
$ 53,750 |
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Definition
#3
Expected Profit = Sum of the products of Probability and Profit for all alternatives i.e. [Sum of (Probability X Profit)] for all the three alternatives
=(0.25 x $ 25,000) + (0.50 x $ 40,000) + (0.25 x $ 100,000)
= $ 6250 + $ 20,000 + $ 25,000
= $ 51,250 |
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Term
In your project, you are performing the Monitor and Control Risks process. So, you are always on the lookout for indications that a risk has occurred or is about to occur. These indications can also be referred to as:
Triggers
Warning signs
Risk symptoms
Triggers, warning signs and risk symptoms |
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Definition
#4
Triggers. Indications that a risk has occurred or is about to occur. Triggers may be discovered in the risk identification process and watched in the risk monitoring and control process. Triggers are sometimes called risk symptoms or warning signs. |
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Term
You are in the process of creating a risk management plan for your project. This plan will describe how risk management will be structured and performed on the project. Your risk management plan may include:
Avoided, transferred, mitigated, and accepted risks
Risk audits, reserve analysis, and technical performance measurement
Risk audits, triggers, and inputs to other processes
Budgeting, timing, and risk categories |
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Definition
| #4 The risk management plan includes the following: methodology, roles and responsibilities, budgeting, timing, and risk categories. |
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Term
You have geographically dispersed team members, from whom you would like to anonymously obtain expert opinion on the project you are managing. Which information gathering technique should you use?
Brainstorming
Delphi technique
SWOT analysis
Checklists |
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Definition
#2
The Delphi technique is a way to reach consensus of experts. Project risk experts participate in this technique anonymously. |
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Term
Graphical representations of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes are also referred to as:
Cause-and-effect diagrams
System flow charts
Influence diagrams
Simulation diagrams |
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Definition
#3
nfluence diagrams. These are graphical representations of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes. |
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Term
You are in the build phase of a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project, which has run into several unanticipated problems. Several risks have surfaced which you had not anticipated earlier. The project is over-budget and significantly behind schedule. What should you do?
Create updates to risk response plan
Create a revised project plan
Perform risk audits
Perform updated risk identification and analysis |
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Definition
#4
Results from earned value analysis may indicate potential deviation of the project at completion from cost and schedule targets. When a project deviates significantly from the baseline, updated risk identification and analysis should be performed. |
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Term
While managing a project, you decide to create a prototype of your product first to ensure that it is acceptable to stakeholders before moving on to build your product. This is an example of:
Risk mitigation
Risk avoidance
Simulation
Project assumptions testing |
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Definition
#1
Mitigation may require prototype development to reduce the risk of scaling up from a bench-scale model of a process or product. |
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Term
During Plan Risk Responses process, you realize that there is a critical risk which may have a high impact on the project completion. So, you create a fallback plan which could include any of the following conditions EXCEPT:
Subcontracting the project to an outside vendor
Developing fallback options
Allocating contingency reserves
Reviewing risks driven by strategies |
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Definition
#1
Subcontracting the project to an outside vendor is a risk transference technique. It simply transfers the responsibility of managing the risk to the other party but does not eliminate the risk. So, we should not subcontract a critical risk unless it is explicitly mentioned that the seller has expertise in handling such risks. |
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Term
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Definition
| Risk audits examine and document the effectiveness of risk responses in dealing with identified risks and their root causes, as well as the effectiveness of the risk management process. |
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Term
Since you know the importance of risk management, you always include it as an agenda item in your weekly status meetings and spend ten minutes discussing the risks. Some of your project team members complain that since none of the risks are actually happening, discussing risk management issues in status meetings is a waste of time. What should you do?
Talk to your team members about the importance of risk management and why the project team needs to be aware of all risks at all points of time.
Agree with your team members and mention to them that henceforth, no more time would be spent on discussing risks in the project status meetings unless required in the future.
Call a meeting with your project sponsor and project management team to discuss potential training requirements for your project team members so that they can appreciate the benefits of risk management.
Escalate to your management that some of your team members do not agree with your risk management practices. |
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Definition
#2
There is no need to spend a fixed amount of time in all the status meetings to discuss risk management issues. |
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