Term
| In what organizational structure is a project manager often referred to as project coordinator or expeditor? |
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Definition
| Weak matrix structures are similar to functional structures; project managers are often called project coordinators or expeditors |
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Term
| You're manager of the NGHQ project for your organization. Your project team has 21 members dispersed throughout the US. You've created some ground rules regarding work performance, communications, and working hours for the project team to follow. Who's responsible for enforcing the ground rules once they're established? |
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Definition
| Once ground rules are established, it's up to a project manager and project team to enforce them. |
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Term
| A feasibility test was performed to determine whether a critical project could be successfully completed. The test indicated that there are insufficient human resources to complete the project. What should the project manager suggest in this case? |
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Definition
| Raise the budget to hire contactors. |
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Term
| Which of the process involves monitoring project progress to identify any variances in a project plan? |
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Definition
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Term
| What's the name of the resource requirement tool that denotes the types of skills required in your project team and the members needed. |
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Definition
| A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) allows you to denote the types of skills required in your project team, how many members you'll require for each, and the project tasks for which they'll be needed. |
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Term
| What component of a project's documentation do team members typically want to keep out of project archives? |
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Definition
| Lessons learned are something that project team members don't typically want to include in project archives for fear of being perceived as not having performed adequately. It's important to document lessons learned without placing blame. It can be very helpful to review project archives and pick up some pointers on what not to do. |
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Term
| According to industry rules and regulations, an organization should retain all its project-related documents for a minimum of seven years. Which of the following policies should the project manager implement to best address this action? |
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Definition
| Document retention policy. A document retention policy provides systematic review, retention, and eventual destruction of documents received or created in the course of doing business. It identifies such documents and provides guidelines for how long certain documents should be kept and how they should be destroyed. |
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Term
| Based on a project management plan, a closure meeting involves gathering and centralizing a project document, performing a post-project review, and writing a final project close report. After what events would a project manager conduct a closure meeting? |
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Definition
| Stage completion, Project cancellation and Project completion |
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Term
| As a project manager for uCertify, Inc., you are currently working on some high-level project milestones and timelines. One of your team members wants to know the purpose of high-level milestones and timelines. How will you reply? |
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Definition
| The purpose of high-level milestones and timelines is to: Provide measurement, showing that tangible progress has been made on the project, Ensure validation and allow the project to move on to the next step if the milestone is met, or take corrective actions if it is not met and, Provide support for staff resource planning and budget preparation. |
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Term
| When should the project kickoff meeting ideally occur? |
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Definition
| After a project charter is signed |
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Term
| Which tasks performed by a work breakdown structure (WBS)? |
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Definition
| The WBS structure describes work activities, not staff or other work resources. Distribute major project deliverables into smaller components to improve accuracy of cost estimates. Provide a mechanism for collecting and organizing actual costs. Provide a mechanism for performance measurement and control. |
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Term
| Which items are included in a staffing management plan? |
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Definition
| A staffing management plan is not a project resource; it's a subsidiary of an overall project management plan and defines when project team members will be brought onto and released from the project. It describes when and how human resource requirements will be met. Depending on project needs, it can be formal or informal, highly detailed, or broadly framed. The staffing management plan can include staff acquisition, resource calendars, a staff release plan, training needs, recognition and rewards, compliance, and safety. |
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Term
| You're manager of a complex IT project that's well underway. A current team member was once a star performer but has now begun to slack off. As a result, the tasks she's been working on are behind schedule; thus, you're now concerned. How will you deal with this issue? |
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Definition
| Ask the team member why her work is falling behind schedule. Ask her whether you can help her return to her former level of productivity, or whether there are other unresolved issues of which you should be aware. |
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Term
| What is the schedule baseline? |
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Definition
| The schedule baseline is the final, approved version of the schedule and is signed by stakeholders, sponsor, and functional managers. Having a schedule baseline will not prevent future schedule risk. |
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Term
| What's the most important reason why you should immediately deal with a disgruntled employee when in the executing process of a project? |
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Definition
| Because you run the risk of that person bringing the entire team's morale down |
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Term
| Which statement best defines quantitative risk analysis? |
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Definition
| Quantitative risk analysis is the process of numerically analyzing the effect of identified risks on overall project objectives. It's performed on risk that has been prioritized through qualitative risk analysis. |
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Term
| You would use this type of analysis during procurement planning to determine cost effectiveness. |
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Definition
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Term
| Roberta is manager of the KJL project for her company. She's creating a chart that will help categorize problems discovered during the quality control inspection process. She wants to categorize the number of instances of problems and rank by frequency of occurrence. Which chart should Roberta create? |
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Definition
| A Pareto chart is a histogram used to ranks problems, defects, or issues by their frequency of occurrence. It helps show where the majority of project effort should be applied, as well as identify smaller problems that can be addressed later. A Pareto chart is both bar chart and line graph: it uses bars to plot values in descending order and a line to graph cumulative totals for each category from left to right. The chart is named after Vilfredo Pareto; its use in quality assurance was popularized by Joseph M. Juran and Kaoru Ishikawa. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Ishikawa diagram displays causes of a certain event. A common use of this diagram is to identify causal factors that result in an overall effect and their root causes. It is sometimes called a fishbone diagram because of its resemblance to a fish skeleton. It's considered a basic tool of quality management. |
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Term
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Definition
| A scatter chart is a type of display using Cartesian coordinates to display values for two variables for a set of data. The data are displayed as a collection of points: one variable determines the position on the horizontal axis; the other variable determines the position on the vertical axis. A scatter diagram shows the relationship pattern between two variables. This tool allows the quality team to study and identify the possible relationship between changes observed in two variables. It plots the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The closer the points are to a diagonal line, the more closely related the variables. |
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Term
| You've created a network diagram for the ABC project. You're exploring total float and free float for it. Martin, a project team member, wants to know the difference between total float and free float. What will you tell him? |
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Definition
| Total float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project completion date, whereas free float is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying project successors. You calculate float using the critical path method technique. |
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Term
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Definition
| The amount of time a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediately following schedule activities. |
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Term
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Definition
| The total amount of time a schedule activity can be delayed from its early start date without delaying the project finish date or violating schedule constraint. |
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Term
| Risk identification is an ongoing project activity for identifying and documenting project risks. What is involved in risk identification? |
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Definition
| Brainstorming is a technique for gathering general data. It can also be used to identify risks, ideas, or solutions to issues from team members or subject matter experts. |
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Term
| Who is responsible for signing off on project closure documents? |
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Definition
| A sponsor is responsible for signing off on project closure documents. |
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Term
| Which step should a project manager take to ensure that product quality matches stakeholder expectations? |
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Definition
| Managing stakeholder expectations means satisfying their needs by managing communications with them, resolving issues, improving project performance through implementation of requested changes and management of concerns in anticipation of potential problems. It's the project manager's responsibility to manage stakeholder expectations, and thus mitigate the risk of project failure and increase the chances of meeting project goals. Thus, to ensure that product quality matches stakeholder expectations, the project manager must monitor team members' work performance. |
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Term
| Given the following values: PV = 85, AC = 89, EV = 85, BAC = 90, ETC = 2, what's the TCPI? |
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Definition
| The formula for TCPI is (BAC – EV) / (BAC – AC), so the formula looks like this: (90 – 85) / (90 – 89) = 5. |
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Term
| Who is responsible for designing and implementing potential solutions and providing specialist expertise? |
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Definition
| The implementation SME is responsible for designing and implementing potential solutions and providing specialist expertise. Subsets of the implementation SME role include developers, software engineers, organizational change management professionals, system architects, trainers, and usability professionals. |
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Term
| You're working on a project to launch a new product line for your client. Incorporating market research, you're required to increase your project's scope. Which factors are most likely affected if your project's completion date can't be changed? |
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Definition
| As you know, the project completion date is its deadline. Thus, to increase its scope without changing its completion date, its cost and quality will likely be affected. This is because increasing project scope without changing its target date involves additional resources, thus requiring additional funding. Likewise, adding requirements in the allotted time will adversely affect work quality. |
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Term
| Your project's concluded, and you're now conducting a lessons-learned session with your team. Which of these techniques will you use to get the information you need? |
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Definition
| You're trying to figure out what went well and what did not on the project, so it's important to meet formally with all team members and keep them focused during the lessons-learned session. It's not practical to simply solicit email input without putting together a formal meeting; likewise, a report that you write alone might miss some of the high points. Meeting with all team members creates the potential for one comment to lead to another, and so on, and thereby benefit future projects. |
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Term
| Which of the following is not true of cost estimating? -You should average all cost estimates. -Cost estimates are provided by team members. -Cost estimates make up the project budget. -Cost estimates have a quality factor built into them. |
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Definition
| Cost estimates don't make up a project budget; they act as an input to the budget. They're provided by team members who will perform the cost-estimated task. |
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Term
| This element of the executing process group encompasses standards compliance, internal process compliance, decision oversight, and phase-gate approval. |
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Definition
| Organizational governance includes standards compliance, internal process compliance, decision oversight, and phase-gate approval |
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Term
| In which of the following type of contracts does the seller bear the most risk? -Cost-reimbursable -Time-and-materials -Cost-reimbursable plus incentive -Fixed-price |
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Definition
| Fixed-price contracts are riskiest to the seller. Every contract has two most important driving factors: the price and the scope of work. Also, the price "hits" the buyer, whereas the scope of work hits the seller. Since the price is fixed in the fixed-price contract, the "uncertainty" is not with regard to price, so the buyer has no such uncertainty about it. If the scope of work has not been studied in greater detail earlier in the process, and at any point more effort is required to complete the contracted work, this would affect the seller, who would bear the uncertainty. Hence, fixed price contracts are more risky for the seller. |
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Term
| This process defines what people or groups need project information, when and how often it should be distributed, and its format. |
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Definition
| Communications planning defines the type of project information, as well as the frequency, format, and method of its distribution to project stakeholders throughout its duration |
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Term
| You're project manager for your organization and currently working on a project to create a Web-based order form for clients. Clients will place their orders through your company website, any time of day or night. Larry, your company's CIO, isn't the project sponsor, but he is a key stakeholder, and he's demanded that you add extra website features. How will you handle Larry's request for implementation of the additional features? |
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Definition
| All change requests must be documented. Even though Larry's the CIO, his change request should first be documented to follow established change control procedures, which always determine the total impact of change on the project. Ideally, Larry would complete the change request form to provide a complete audit of the request. |
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Term
| During the monitoring and controlling process, a quality manager indicates that certain project requirements can't be fulfilled during quality testing. Thus, to keep the project on schedule, some requirements will have to be modified. Which type of action will this be? |
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Definition
| Risk avoidance is an action taken to mitigate threat. This is done by altering a project management plan to either eliminate risk completely or protect project objectives from its impact. You can remove the risk event entirely by either adding steps to do so or reducing project scope requirements. |
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Term
| Management wants Beth to create a project scope baseline as part of her project management plan. Beth reports that there's already a project scope baseline and it's comprised of three documents in the project plan. All of the following are part of the project scope baseline except for which one? -Project scope statement -Project work breakdown structure dictionary -Project work breakdown structure -Project statement of work |
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Definition
| A project statement of work is often used during project initiation, especially when the project is part of a contractual relationship. The project statement of work is not, however, one of the three documents that create the scope baseline. |
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Term
| You're a project manager at uCertify, Inc. You have to describe ownership of project deliverables and authorize someone for their maintenance and upkeep. Which plan will you use to accomplish the above task? |
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Definition
| Transition plan: Transition dates: There needs to be a definite date for deliverables to be transferred to the organization, and an account of conditions for deliverables to be moved from project management to operations management. Ownership: When you've completed a project and created a set of deliverables, someone must now be responsible for management of deliverables. The transition plan describes ownership of project deliverables and designates someone responsible for maintenance and upkeep of deliverables. Training: The project team needs to train recipients of deliverables and define their use and maintenance through training manuals, train-the-trainer sessions, hands-on exercises, or a combination of knowledge transfer events. Extended support: It's important to provide some extended support, depending on the type of project and the deliverables. Extended support requires the project team and operations team to work together as the new technology is applied, so that the operations team can learn about the deliverables and their implementation. Warranties: There must be some warranty information about project deliverables if the project was completed by a vendor for a client. The warranty must be detailed in the project contract and discussed during the operations transfer. |
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Term
| A quality audit is the process of an audit team systematically inspecting product quality. During which is a quality audit implemented? |
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Definition
| Quality assurance is a prevention-driven process of systematically inspecting project activities to reduce error yet meet all project requirements. |
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Term
| Which two options describe the role of project sponsor? |
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Definition
| A project sponsor approves and signs a project charter and serves as a project's final decision maker. |
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Term
| During the planning process, a project scope document provides a description of the work necessary to complete a project. Which components would be included in the project scope document? |
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Definition
| The project scope documents product description, key deliverables, success and acceptance criteria, key performance indicators, exclusions, assumptions, and constraints. The scope statement is used as a baseline for future project decisions. |
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Term
| What's the purpose of a project manager issuing an RFP? |
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Definition
| An RFP (request for proposal) is a type of procurement document used to request proposals from prospective sellers of products or services. It invites vendors to create a proposal, which can include project ideas, suggestions, and more. In some application areas, it can have a narrower or more specific meaning. |
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Term
| Who is responsible for assembling a project's team members? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| The critical path method is used to estimate minimum project duration and determine the amount of scheduling flexibility on logical network paths within the schedule model. |
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Term
| What is the most commonly used form of network diagramming? |
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Definition
| Precedence diagramming is the most-used diagramming method. PDM uses boxes to represent project activities and arrows to connect the boxes and show dependencies. |
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Term
| You work as a project manager for uCertify, Inc. You're working with your team to validate a project. A new team member wants to know the steps involved in validating a project. How will you reply? |
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Definition
| The steps involved in validating a project are as follows: Validate the business case, which includes feasibility analysis, justification for the project, and alignment to the strategic plan. Identify and analyze the stakeholders. |
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Term
| You are coaching Mark, a junior project manager, on project management processes. What statement best defines the process of creating a work breakdown structure (WBS)? |
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Definition
| A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a visual decomposition of project scope. Project scope is further broken down into smaller, more manageable units, each of which can be broken down further to arrive at the "work package," the smallest item in the WBS. Project groups and its discrete work elements are defined in a way that helps organize and define the project's total work scope. A WBS element can be a product, data, a service, or any combination thereof. WBS also provides the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control, along with guidance for schedule development and control. |
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Term
| A project manager needs to know costs incurred and steps introduced by a third party to complete certain deliverables. What should the project manager do to get this information from the third party? |
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Definition
| A project manager should issue a request for proposal (RFP). An RFP is a procurement document that asks the third party to provide solutions, ideas, price, and detailed information about the outsourced function. |
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Term
| You're a project manager at uCertify, Inc. You and your team are working on your project's executing process group. There are several actions that occur during executing processes, including managing project quality, managing risks, preparing performance reports and information, and more. Which actions start in earnest during this phase? |
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Definition
| The various actions that start in earnest during the executing process group are as follows: Scheduling meetings, Managing costs within the budget, Following a communications plan and, Managing scope. |
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Term
| You're manager of the TRT project, now in its execution phase. Rick, a team member, has complained that other team members are isolating him, and that this isolation is bothering him. Which of the following is not a recommended step to resolve the issue? -Apply team building measures to improve team effectiveness. -Solicit more feedback from Rick. -Shift Rick to another project. -Solicit feedback on Rick from other team members. |
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Definition
| Shifting Rick to another project is not the way to resolve this issue. Rick is a part of the team, and you owe it to all team members to solicit more information from all of those involved before making any decision. |
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Term
| Which term refers to a project team comprised of people from different cultures? |
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Definition
| A heterogeneous project team is comprised of team members from different cultures. |
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Term
| Gary is project manager for his company. He's working with project stakeholders on its requirements, and examining how risks might affect their project. One of the stakeholders is confused about what constitutes project risk. Which event is the most accurate definition of project risk? |
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Definition
| Risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has an effect on at least one project objective. Project risk is concerned with expected value of one or more results of one or more future project events. Objectives can be scope, schedule, cost, or quality. Project risk is always projected into the future. |
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Term
| Which processes describes both tangible and intangible benefits to an organization for undertaking a project, as well as reasons for bringing it about? |
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Definition
| Justification for a project defines the advantages to an organization for undertaking a project. It includes tangible and intangible benefits, and reasons for bringing about the project. |
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Term
| You are working on a large software development project for your organization. Due to some problems, the project was cancelled before completion. You now need to finalize a meeting on what went wrong in the project. What is this meeting typically called? |
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Definition
| This is a project post-mortem to review the project's successes and failures. The findings of the meeting are documented as part of the project's historical information and lessons learned. |
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Term
| What represents the value of the work completed to date as compared to the budget? |
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Definition
| EV (earned value) is the value of the work completed to date as compared to the budget (AC is actual cost, PV is planned value, and BAC is budget at completion). |
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Term
| You're preparing a project scope for a new project and need to establish boundaries for what the project is capable of delivering, given an estimated time and cost. What is the best example of a project boundary? |
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Definition
| A boundary defines where a project scope will end. In this example, a project team will create software but its distribution lies outside the project scope. Boundaries clarify expectations and help remove assumptions. Project scope defines what will or will not be included in a project. Therefore, project scope is the number and complexity of tasks to be performed by a software solution. It consists of overall project requirements and incorporates constraints imposed on the project by resources, time, and other limiting factors. |
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Term
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Definition
| A RACI chart is a responsibility assignment matrix that details tasks and resources and indicates whether they are responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed about a task. |
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Term
| You're manager of an IT project that's currently in its monitoring and controlling phase. A user approaches you with a change request that you evaluate and find necessary, even though the change will result in a large impact to scope. What's your next step? |
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Definition
| The best alternative in cases in which there would be large impacts to scope is to determine whether there's a trade-off or alternative that would meet stakeholder needs while reducing impact to project scope. |
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Term
| You and your project team are about to create a WBS for your project. You'll need three components as inputs to WBS creation. What is not an input you'll need for the creation of your project's WBS? |
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Definition
| A requirements traceability matrix is a table that maps requirements to project stakeholders and actual creation of project deliverables. A project scope statement is a narrative description of project scope. It includes major deliverables, project assumptions, project constraints, and a description of work. It also helps develop a common understanding of project scope among stakeholders. It's a documented description of the project intended to answer questions such as: What's being produced? How is it being produced? and What's included? |
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Term
| What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)? |
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Definition
| In project management and systems engineering, a work breakdown structure (WBS) is a tool that defines a project and groups its discrete work elements in a way that helps to organize and define its total work scope. A WBS element can be a product, data, service, or any combination thereof, and it provides the necessary framework for detailed cost estimating and control, along with providing guidance for schedule development and control. Additionally, the WBS is a dynamic tool that can be revised and updated, as needed, by the project manager. |
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Term
| Your project is running late, and management has asked that you remove elements from the project scope that aren't core requirements. This removal of project deliverables will allow your project to reach its predetermined deadline. What document should you update to reflect this decision? |
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Definition
| Whenever project scope changes, the scope baseline should be updated to reflect the change. Recall that the scope baseline includes the project scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary. |
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Term
| You work as a project manager for uCertify, Inc. You have to implement cost-effective controls and allocate resources and organizations after you identify all likely controls and evaluate their feasibility and usefulness. what process will you use to accomplish your task? |
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Definition
| Cost-benefit analysis is a technique related to the cost effectiveness of different alternatives to assess whether a project's benefits outweigh its costs. Its aim is to gauge the efficiency of intervention in relation to maintaining a status quo. |
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Term
| Use the avoidance conflict resolution method under these conditions: |
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Definition
| Stakes are low, Stakes are high, but you're not prepared, To maintain neutrality and To gain time |
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Term
| You have $400,000 for the budget at completion (BAC). The estimate at completion (EAC) is $200,000. What is the variance at completion (VAC)? |
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Definition
| You calculate the variance at completion using the formula VAC = BAC – EAC. Therefore, the BAC is $400,000, the EAC is $200,000, and the VAC is $200,000 ($400,000 – $200,000). |
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Term
| Your project is nine months into the executing process. While preparing to review your team members' performance, what review feedback is not acceptable? |
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Definition
| Performance feedback, particularly when negative, is best given in a timely fashion. This project has been underway for nine months. Addressing a situation that occurred earlier in the project for the first time after some time has elapsed is not an effective way to help team members correct their behaviors. |
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Term
| By basing your cost estimates for the project on previous projects similar in size and scope to this one, which type of estimating are you using? |
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Definition
| Analogous estimation involves looking at previous projects to obtain a high-level picture of potential project cost. |
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Term
| Holly is business analyst for her organization. She encourages teamwork and open communication among her business analysis team and stakeholders. She invites stakeholders to drop by her office and freely discuss project requirements, a solution scope, and other issues regarding the solution she's working on. Although Holly prefers informal communication, what is its potential risk? |
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Definition
| Informal communication is fine in some cases, but it can result in stakeholders missing information or requirements becoming ambiguous. |
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Term
| You're a new project manager for your company. The previous project manager left abruptly. While reviewing your predecessor's last project, you find that the project scope document is poorly formulated and missing several key requirements. What's your next step? |
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Definition
| The first and most important step whenever there are problems or issues (including missing documentation, additional requirements, and so on) is to notify and meet with your project sponsor. It's a good idea to take your ideas for next steps to the meeting, but you will want direction from the sponsor before doing anything further. |
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Term
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Definition
| Integration occurs when resources are distributed to other areas of an organization, and addition occurs when projects evolve into ongoing operations. Starvation is a project ending caused by project resources being cut off. Extinction occurs when project work is completed and accepted by its stakeholders. |
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Term
| Which of the following documents will you prepare at last during scope definition? |
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Definition
| WBS is a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines all project work and is completed after a scope management plan and scope statements are completed |
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Term
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Definition
| Tasks with zero float are critical path tasks; if delayed, they'll delay the project completion date. |
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Term
| Barriers such as cultural differences, geographical locations, and technology, along with time-zone differences and hierarchical barriers are taken into account when |
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Definition
| when managing project teams |
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Term
| Calculate the contingency reserve |
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Definition
| To calculate the contingency reserve to be used at the project manager's discretion to deal with anticipated, but uncertain, events. These events are "known unknowns" and are part of the project scope and cost baselines. The contingency reserve is calculated by multiplying the probability and the impact for the risk event value for each risk event. The sum of risk events equals the project's contingency reserve |
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Term
| What indicates whether costs are higher or lower than budgeted? |
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Definition
| Cost variance (CV) is a measure of project cost performance. A variance is used to determine if costs are higher or lower than budgeted. Cost variance is calculated by the following formula: CV = Earned value (EV) – Actual cost (AC) |
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Term
| When preparing a project charter, which three elements should you always include |
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Definition
| A project charter should include three elements: the key project deliverables, a list of stakeholders, and a description of your general project approach. |
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Term
| According to CompTIA, what are the three constraints common to all projects? |
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Definition
| According to CompTIA, the triple constraints are cost, time, and quality. Other publications and project management professionals believe they are scope, time, and cost; however, for the CompTIA exam, you should know the constraints as described by CompTIA. |
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Term
| You're a new project manager entrusted with a project to develop a machine that produces auto components. The machine has been developed, but is consistently producing defective parts. You suspect a small set of reasons for the majority of defects. Which of the following would you use to analyze and validate your suspicion? |
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Definition
| A Pareto chart is a type of histogram ordered by the frequency of occurrence. It's related to the Pareto law, which holds that a relatively small number of causes will typically produce a majority of problems or defects. It's also called the 80/20 principle. |
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Term
| You're manager of the GHG project, which has a budget at completion of $456,000 and is expected to last one year. You're currently at month six of the project, though you've only completed 40 percent of the work. The actual project cost to date is $175,000. What's the project's cost variance? |
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Definition
| The cost variance is a positive value in this scenario, as the project has spent less than what it's worth. The cost variance is found by subtracting the actual costs from the earned value; in this instance, it's $182,400 minus $175,000. CV = Earned value (EV) – Actual cost (AC) |
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Term
| As we know, there are several techniques of detecting and resolving conflict. One such technique is withdrawal, which occurs when a party refuses to discuss the conflict. What statements is true about withdrawal? |
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Definition
| Withdrawal—when one party refuses to discuss the conflict—is an avoidance technique; thus, it never results in resolution. It's probably the worst of all conflict resolution techniques because nothing gets resolved, resulting in a "lose-lose" solution. |
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Term
| Tom works as a project manager for BlueWell, Inc. He's determining which risks can affect his project. What input of the "identify risks" process is useful in doing so and provides a quantitative assessment of likely cost to complete scheduled activities? |
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Definition
| An activity-cost-estimates review is valuable in identifying risks, as it provides a quantitative assessment of expected cost to complete scheduled activities and is expressed as a range, with range width indicating degrees of risk. |
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Term
| The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines a project's total work. What directly utilizes WBS? |
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Definition
| The final element of scope planning is a WBS. The WBS is a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines all project work. Each WBS level is a further breakdown of the levels above it. Once work is broken down to its lowest level, one can establish time estimates, resource assignments, and cost estimates that directly utilize the WBS. |
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Term
| You're manager of a small project in its closing phase. You've prepared closure documents and taken them to the project sponsor for sign-off. The project sponsor has said that these documents aren't necessary because the project is so small. What should you tell the sponsor? |
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Definition
| The sponsor must sign off on the project's completion, whether it's been successful or unsuccessful. Just as the sponsor is authorized to expend resources to produce the project's deliverables, the sponsor must also close the project and sign off on it |
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Term
| A table of risks, their probability of occurrence, their impact, and a number representing an overall risk score is called a ____. |
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Definition
| A risk matrix is a tool used in the risk assessment process. It allows the severity of a risk event to be determined. In a risk matrix, a table of risks, their probability, and their impact equate to a risk score. |
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Term
| What tool lists all project tasks on the vertical axis with units of time on the horizontal axis? |
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Definition
| A Gantt chart is a very useful tool for visualizing project tasks over time, as all project tasks are listed on the vertical axis with units of time on the horizontal axis. Markers are used to note estimated and actual start and end times. Gantt chart is a bar chart that represents duration of activities on a calendar, in which bar length represents activity length; bar order represents activity order. Its format aids in planning, coordinating, and tracking specific project tasks. Its horizontal axis represents the project's total time span broken down into increments (e.g., days, weeks, months), and its vertical axis representing project tasks |
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Term
| What project documents created during its closing process describes what went well and what went poorly on the project? |
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Definition
| Lessons learned describe what went well and what went poorly on a project. They're included in a project close report, post-mortem report, and post-project review |
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Term
| To maintain product quality, there are several tools and techniques that address quality defects. Which of the following tools is a sequential visual representation of process activities and decision points? |
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Definition
| A flowchart is a sequential visual representation of process activities and decision points that's used during quality control. It also shows how individual system elements interrelate. |
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Term
| Who makes "go/no-go" decisions during phase-gate review? |
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Definition
| "Go/no-go" decisions are commonly made by a program governance board and included in a performance report. They're made during phase-gate reviews and are the signal to move to the next phase. |
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Term
| You're a project manager at uCertify, Inc. You want to reduce affective conflict at all levels, and attain and maintain a reasonable amount of substantive conflict. Which process will you use to accomplish this task? |
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Definition
| Conflict management involves implementation of strategies to reduce negative aspects of conflict and to increase its positive ones, at a level equal to or higher than its current level. Conflict management involves activities to reduce affective conflicts at all levels, attain and maintain a reasonable amount of substantive conflict, and use an appropriate conflict management strategy to do so, as well as to match the status and concerns of the two parties in conflict. |
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Term
| When analyzing an effect of a scope change, what other project element will require changes? |
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Definition
| A change in scope requires corresponding schedule changes. It's possible—though not inevitable—for new risks to develop and additional costs to be incurred as a result of the scope change. Regardless, scope changes always bring about schedule changes. |
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Term
| A project manager is currently working on an important project. Most of her team members work remotely and each of them must regularly submit a weekly status report at a designated time. However, one team member never submits his status reports on time. To assess this situation, what should the project manager consider first? |
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Definition
| The project manager should first consider the time zones of team members' work locations to properly monitor the status reports of each team member working remotely. As her team members are working in different time zones, it's important for her to keep that in mind, to ensure that her team members are submitting reports on time. The question states that a team member never submits his weekly status report at the designated time, and that most of the team members work remotely. It's possible that the person in question is located at a different time zone than the others. Hence, it's important for the project manager to consider the time-zone differences of team members' work locations. |
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Term
| What's the best way to prevent "scope creep"? |
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Definition
| The best way to avoid scope creep is to make sure that project requirements have been thoroughly defined and documented |
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Term
| Mike's manager of the WAM project, which has a budget at completion of $295,000. The project is currently 40 percent complete; however, it should have been 50 percent complete by now. Mike's spent $125,000 on the project, and management has asked him about its schedule performance. What value best represents its schedule performance? |
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Definition
| In this scenario, the schedule performance index (SPI) is .80. Find the SPI by dividing earned value by planned value (in this case, $118,000 divided by $147,500). Schedule performance index (SPI) is the measure of project schedule efficiency. It s used in trend analysis to predict future performance. SPI is the ratio of earned value to planned value and is calculated using the formula: SPI = Earned value (EV) / Planned value (PV) |
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Term
| Which of the following project management process groups utilizes the most project time? |
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Definition
| The executing process group is a stage or phase of a project. It starts after the planning phase of a project is completed, and consists of the processes used to complete the work defined in the project management plan and thereby accomplish the project's requirements. The execution process involves coordinating people and resources, as well as integrating and performing project activities in accordance with the project management plan. The deliverables are produced as outputs from the processes performed, as defined in the project management plan. The executing process group utilizes the most project time and resources. |
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Term
| What are the three types of matrix organizations? |
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Definition
| The three types of matrix structures are: Balanced matrix: Shares equal emphasis between projects and functional work. The project manager and the functional manager share power. Strong matrix: Emphasizes project work over functional duties. The project manager has most of the power. Weak matrix: Emphasizes functional work over project work and operates more like a functional hierarchy. The functional mangers have most of the power. |
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Term
| You're project manager for your organization. A vendor has told you that the cost of resources you'll use in your project will increase by 40 percent, but they can deliver the product within 10 days. Another vendor has a substantially lower price, but they can only deliver the product in 21 days. How should you document the increase in price? |
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Definition
| The best solution is to consider which is more important in your context—cost or schedule. Cost change and schedule change control systems can help you determine the driving factor for your project. A change control system is a collection of formal documented procedures that define how project deliverables and documentation will be controlled, changed, and approved. Change control is a part of the configuration management system. |
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Term
| What is the least precise cash-flow technique |
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Definition
| The payback period is a cash-flow technique for identifying the length of time it takes for the organization to recover all the costs of producing the project. It compares the initial investment to the expected cash inflows over the life of the project and determines how many time periods elapse before the project pays for itself. Payback period is the least precise of all cash-flow techniques. |
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Term
| Your company's IT staff has started a project that was requested by a customer, but they have now found that the project's scope is larger than they'd originally anticipated and requires the assistance of a project manager. No formal project documents have been created. You've been asked to take up the role of project manager. What is the first step you'll take in assuming responsibility for this project? |
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Definition
| First, you need to determine what the customer actually requested that precipitated the project in the first place. You can't put any documentation or personnel into place until you're sure that the efforts the IT team is making are in line with those requirements. |
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Term
| Which document are you working on when you're decomposing project deliverables? |
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Definition
| A work breakdown structure is created by decomposing deliverables to a level at which cost and time estimates can be performed. |
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Term
| You've been assigned as manager for a major IT project. Brett is the functional manager who will provide human resources for your development team; however, he's also supplying resources to other concurrent projects. You have a "dream-team" list of people you want on your team, but you're worried that other project managers may want these same people. What's the best way to approach Brett regarding the assignment of people to your project? |
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Definition
| Obtaining the right resources for your project will require good planning and skillful negotiating skills. The best approach is to set up a meeting with each functional manager and negotiate the resources you need and their availability. |
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Term
| While creating a new project, what contains final project acceptance criteria? |
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Definition
| A project scope document should be of most interest to a new project manager. The scope statement describes the product, key deliverables, success and acceptance criteria, key performance indicators, exclusions, assumptions, and constraints, and thus contains final project acceptance criteria. |
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Term
| During the executing process, a project manager has been asked to create an issue log. What components are included in an issue log? |
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Definition
| The following components are included in an issue log: -The description of the issue -The date the issue was submitted -The name of the person who raised the issue -A priority rating assigned to each issue |
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Term
| Jeff is manager of a project to install 8,000 editions of a software package onto computers in his company. He's estimated that with the cost of the software license, the time to install and verify the software, and the software training for each user, the total cost of the software license per recipient is $450. He estimates the total cost of the project will be $3,600,000. What type of cost estimation is Jeff using in this example? |
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Definition
| This is an example of a parametric estimate, as the parameter is $450 per recipient of software. A parametric estimate uses a parameter to predict project costs, such as cost per network drop or cost per software license. Parametric estimation utilizes the statistical relationship between a series of historical data and a particular delineated list of other variables. |
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Term
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Definition
| Bottom-up estimating is a cost estimating technique that estimates the cost of individual work packages or schedule activities to the finest level of detail. The detailed cost is rolled up (or summarized) to higher levels to arrive at a total project estimate. The summarized data are very useful for reporting and tracking purposes. Bottom-up estimating provides a higher degree of accuracy, provided the estimates at the work package level are accurate. |
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Term
| One of the most common and necessary activities performed during the closing process is project closure. What's the advantage of formal project closure? |
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Definition
| The advantage of formally closing a project is the collection of historical information that describes what went well and what went poorly on the project. This information is used to analyze project management's strengths and weaknesses. Thus, it provides a reference used to improve future project performance. |
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Term
| Risk analysis includes all of the following? |
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Definition
| includes: -Probability and impact -Quantitative risk analysis -Qualitative risk analysis |
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Term
| Avoid, transfer, mitigate, and accept |
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Definition
| are negative risk strategies used in risk response process |
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Term
| What can convey the completion of an interim key deliverable? |
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Definition
| Milestones signal the completion of key project deliverables |
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