Q4

1. Q4. Regulations are mandatory but Standards are not mandatory Q6: A phase end review can be held with the explicit goals of obtaining authorization to close the current phase and to initiate the subsequent one... Phase end reviews are also called phase exits, phase gates, or kill points. Q7: A Project Management Office (PMO) is an organizational unit to centralize and coordinate the management of projects under its domain. A PMO can also be referred to as ... "project office." PMOs can operate in a continuum from providing project management support functions in the form of training, software, standardized policies and procedures, to actual direct management and responsibility for achieving the project objectives. Q10: Weak matrix organizations maintain many of the features of a functional organization and the project manager role is more that of a coordinator or expediter than that of a manager. Q14: Project managers or the organization can divide projects into phases to provide better management control with appropriate links to the ongoing operations of the performing organization. Collectively, these phases are known as the project life cycle. Many organizations identify a specific set of life cycles for use on all of their projects Q17: The terms "Facilitating Processes" and "Core Processes" are no longer used. These terms have been eliminated to ensure that all project management processes and project management process groups have the same level of importance. Q18: Justification: If the project will affect the physical surroundings, some team members should be knowledgeable about the local ecology and physical geography that could affect the project or be affected by the project. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 14 pmstudy notes: Look out for words like "Always", "All the time", "Never" etc. which suggest that there cannot be any exceptions - try to find out whether exceptions are applicable to the particular situation. In this context, please note that several projects do not impact physical surroundings (e.g. several IT projects may not have any impact on physical surroundings) Q28: A PMO oversees the management of projects, programs, or a combination of both. The projects supported or administered by the PMO may not be related other than by being managed together. Some PMOs, however, do coordinate and manage related projects.... PMOs can operate in a continuum, from providing project management support functions in the form of training, software, standardized policies, and procedures, to actual direct management and responsibility for achieving the project objectives.

Q 45: A portfolio is a collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 16 pmstudy.com comments: Project Portfolio Management refers to the selection and support of projects or program investments. These investments in projects and programs are guided by the organization`s strategic plan and available resources Question: You have created a collection of formal documented procedures that define how project deliverables will be documented, changed and approved. This can also be referred to as: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Project Management Methodology Configuration Management System Change Control System Scope Definition Document

Configuration Management System: ... The configuration management system is also a collection of formal documented procedures used to apply technical and administrative direction and surveillance to:... Supports the audit of the products or components to verify conformance to requirements Q54: The different steps that should be followed when a change is requested are as follows: a) Evaluate the impact of the change within the team b) Be proactive - if the change can have negative impact on the project, try to influence the factors that cause change so that only approved changes are implemented c) Communicate the impact of the change to the project sponsor and the customer d) Take the project through the change control process by getting approval from the project customer, project sponsor and other stakeholders. Also, please note that additional funding is always provided by the project sponsor (not the project customer), and that changes are usually approved or rejected by the change control board e) Get adequate resources required for the change as required f) Implement the changes Depending on options available in the question, you will have to make evaluate which of the above steps you are currently following and evaluate the impact of the change. Reference: pmstudy.com notes as mentioned above Please note that you have completed the first step i.e. you have evaluated that impact

of the change. Option 1: Crashing or fast-tracking are not recommended because project schedule is not impacted by the change. Crashing or fast-tracking may decrease the project schedule but increase costs which is not desirable Option 2: The project manager cannot stop the customer from requesting or making changes Option 3: You should inform the customer about the changes but cannot ask for additional funding because funding is provided by the customer. Option 4 is the best choice in the given situation Chapter 3: Scope Justification: Present Value is the future value of a payment discounted at a discount rate for the delay in payment. This rate is also called the "Cost of Capital" Reference: pmstudy.com notes as mentioned above

Q4: Time Management 1. Project Schedule Development, an iterative process, determines planned start and finish dates for project activities 2. Question: All the following are advantages of GERT (Graphical Evaluation and Review Techniques) as compared with PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) EXCEPT: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Allows looping Allows for dummy tasks Allows branching Allows multiple project end results

Justification: Graphical Evaluation and Review techniques are similar to PERT but

have the distinct advantages of allowing for looping, branching, and multiple project end results. 2. Question: An activity has an optimistic estimate of 10 days, pessimistic estimate of 16 days, most likely estimate of 13 days. If your company has a quality requirement of six sigma, what is the duration within which this task must be completed? 1. 2. 3. 4.

10 days to 16 days 7 days to 19 days 12 days to 14 days 11 days to 15 days

Justification: In a Normal Distribution, the PERT duration (also called mean) = (Pessimistic + 4* (Most Likely) + Optimistic)/6 = (10 + 4 * 13 + 16)/6 = 13 1 Standard Deviation (sigma) = (Pessimistic - Optimistic) / 6 = (16 - 10) / 6 =1 So, if the the comany has a quality requirement of six sigma, Mean - 6 Sigma = 13 - 6 * 1 = 7 Mean + 6 Sigma = 13 + 6 * 1 = 19 So, the task can be completed within 7 days to 19 days. Reference: pmstudy.com notes as mentioned above To know more about 6 sigma calculations, please refer to Project Management - A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, Page 693 - Page 695 Q6: resource leveling? Question: You have prepared the preliminary project schedule - but when you did resource leveling, the duration required for your project increased substantially. To bring the schedule back to the originally intended overall duration, you should use: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Reverse Resource Allocation Schedule Updates Resource Reallocation Critical Chain Technique

Justification: Resource leveling often results in a project duration longer than the preliminary schedule.... Resource reallocation from non critical to critical activities is a common way to bring the schedule back, or as close as possible to its originally intended duration. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 147 Q9: Simulation involves calculating multiple project durations with different sets of activity assumptions. The most common technique is called Monte Carlo Analysis, in which a distribution of probable results is defined for each activity and is used to calculate a distribution of probable results for the whole project. Q10:Activity attributes can also include the person responsible for executing the work, geographic area or place where the work has to be performed, and the schedule type activity such as level of effort, discrete effort and apportioned effort. These attributes are used for project schedule development and for selecting, ordering, and sorting the planned schedule activities in various ways within reports. Q17: Since the tasks are not on the critical path of the project, we cannot determine the PERT estimate for the duration of the project. The PERT estimate can only be calculated for the critical path of the project. Q20Heuristics (or rule of thumb), such as allocation of scarce resources to the critical path first, can be applied to develop a schedule Q24: Question: You are in the test phase of your software project, and the project sponsor has requested a definitive measure of when your project will be completed. The estimated duration (most likely) is 30 days. What will be an appropriate estimate to give your sponsor? 1. 2. 3. 4.

29 - 31 days 24 - 36 day 20 - 40 days 15 - 45 days

Justification: The different classes of estimates are: * Definitive: + 5% * Capital Cost: + 10-15% * Appropriation: + 15 - 25% * Feasibility: + 25 - 35% * Order of Magnitude > + 35% So, if + 5% variation is allowable, only 29 - 31 days fits that criteria

Question: If you are calculating an early start and early finish for each task, you are using: (choose the best answer) 1. 2. 3. 4.

PERT CPM GERT PDM

Justification: The critical path method calculates the theoretical early start and finish dates, and the late start and finish dates, for all schedule activities without regard for any resource limitations, by performing a forward pass analysis and a backward pass analysis through the project schedule network paths. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 145 pmstudy.com comments: Critical Path Method(CPM) calculates a single, deterministic early and late start and finish date for each activity based on specified, sequential network logic and a single duration estimate. Q Page 146 Justification: A project in the initiation phase could have a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate in the range of -50 to 100%

Justification: Since current variances are atypical, Estimate at Complete, EAC = AC + (BAC - EV) = $ 100,000 + ($ 300,000 - $ 150,000) = $ 250,000

Justification: Life cycle costs include the cost of operations, which is beyond the scope of the project.

Reference: pmstudy.com notes as mentioned above Question: In your project, you are trying to estimate schedule activity costs by determining the unit cost rates e.g. staff cost per hour. All the following could be used to determine resource cost rates EXCEPT: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Statistical relationship between historical data and other variables Gathering quotes Standard rates with escalation factors (for contracts) Commercial databases or seller published price lists

Justification: Parametric estimating is a technique that uses statistical relationship between historical data and other variables - all the other options are valid ways to determine unit cost rates

Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 165 Question: If there is a change to the approved cost baseline, the project manager must: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Issue a Revised Cost Estimate Perform Rebaselining Issue a Budget Update Take Corrective Action

Justification: Budget updates are changes to an approved cost baseline. These values are generally revised only in response to approved changes in project scope. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 177 Justification: In some cases, cost variances can be so severe that a revised cost baseline is needed to provide a realistic basis for performance measurement. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 177

Question: Your business partner is ready to invest $ 112,000 in your company one year from now. The interest rate used in your company to calculate Present

Value of expected yearly benefits and costs is 12%. What is the Present Value of this investment? 1. 2. 3. 4.

$ 112,000 $ 100,000 $ 80,000 $ 80,000

Justification: The interest rate (r) used to calculate Present Value of expected yearly benefits and costs is the discount rate i.e. 12% in this example PV = 120,000 / (1 + 12/100) = 100,000

Reference: pmstudy.com notes as mentioned above

Justification:

Question: As a project manager, you are interested in the personal activities of team-members. Other than working with you on the project, the team members love to go out with you for lunch or an occasional game of golf. The power that you have over the team members is: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Penalty Expert Legitimate Referent

Justification: The five interpersonal influences are: * Legitimate Power: The ability to gain support because project personnel perceive the project manager as being officially empowered to issue orders. * Reward Power: 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, future work assignments. * Penalty Power: 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. * Expert Power:The ability to gain support because personnel perceive the project manager as possessing special knowledge or expertise. * Referent power:The ability to gain support because project personnel feel personally attracted to the project manager or project. Reference: Project Management - A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, Page Number: 246-247 pmstudy.com comments: Referent power is because team members like the manner in which project manager treats them. Question: In a project life cycle, the least number of conflicts occur over: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Priorities Schedules Personality Conflict Cost

Justification:

Justification:

Justification:

Justification:

Reference: pmstudy.com notes as mentioned above Justification: The Delphi Technique is a way to reach a consensus of experts on a subject. Project risk experts participate in this technique anonymously Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 248 Justification: Influence diagrams: These are graphical representations of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes. Reference: PMBOK Third Edition, Page Number: 248 Question: Being a diligent project manager, you understand the importance of identifying all project risks – which can then be prioritized using Qualitative and Quantitative Risk Analysis. In this context, which of the following tools can be used for Risk Identification? 1. Documentation Reviews, Brainstorming, Root Cause Identification and Checklist Analysis 2. Assumptions Analysis, Probability and Impact Matrix, Interviewing and Delphi Technique 3. Expected Monetary Value, Root Cause Analysis, Influence Diagrams and Documentation Reviews 4. Risk Exploitation, Assumptions Analysis, Influence Diagrams and Delphi Technique Justification: Justification: Option 1 has all the tools which are used for Risk Identification Option 2 has Probability and Impact Matrix – this is used for Qualitative Risk Analysis Option 3 has Expected Monetary Value – this is used for Quantitative Risk Analysis Option 4 has Risk Exploitation – this is a strategy for Risk Response Planning