Having finished the Schedule Network Diagram for a supersonic state-of-the-art jet project, you realized the WIND TUNNEL is the critical path meanwhile the Tail of the jet is another critical path whose duration is close with other paths also having substantial timing left. Your team comprises both experienced and inexperienced staff, how would you assign the staff to each path?
The critical paths should never be delayed; therefore, using only the best staff members to do the job is the logical choice. This makes options A and C incorrect. Choosing B would be wrong as well because putting skilled staff on the tunnel and leaving the inexperienced staff to handle the near-critical path is very irresponsible and can jeopardize the project. Meanwhile, using the experienced staff on both critical paths ensures that the time and quality of work are maintained while the unskilled staff works on other less critical tasks.
Being the head of the engineering department in a company, you realize deliveries have recently been coming late. You soon point out a specific member who is responsible for these late deliveries. After speaking with the member, you got to know a different directive comes from the project manager and clashes with yours, hence the confusion and delay in delivery. What kind of an organizational structure can this happen?
Functional and Projectized organizations usually have their authorities clearly defined. Meanwhile, a Weak Matrix organization closely resembles a Functional Organization. The answer is clearly D – Balanced Matrix where authority is equally distributed between the project manager and functional manager.
You decide to hold a meeting with your team members as you have noticed a recent schedule and budget overrun in your freeway project. You realize your team members have been taking directives from the clients and making changes to the project, which are not initially in the scope of the project. This is an example of?
The answer is scope creep! Scope creep deals with changes in projects or products that cannot be controlled due to hindrances from clients. Fast tracking is a schedule-based project, Gold Plating is a change done willingly to achieve a purpose. While Integrated Change Control occurs when a change is formally accepted or rejected before being used in a project.
You are asked to deliver the Cost of Quality of a recently concluded project by the senior management. As a project manager, which of these costs would you not calculate?
Hiring costs don’t relate to the Cost of Quality at all, while Appraisal costs are money spent during the execution of a project to avoid failure. Internal and external failure costs are costs as a result of failures in a project.
As a project manager, what process would you use to improve teamwork, competency, and skills among your staff, which will then tell on the project?
To develop the team is to enhance the team’s cooperation and project performance. Under team development, the benefits are motivation, competencies, teamwork, and the absence of friction.
On inspection of your ongoing freeway project, you notice that the project is running below budget leading to excess funds. You decide to add reflector strips at every mile. These efforts do not affect your budget or duration of the project and the addition may even get you more projects in the future. This scenario is a perfect example of?
Gold Plating is an intentional/strategic change. By including a few attributes here, it could improve the chances of the organization to get more jobs in the future. Fast tracking deals with the compression of schedule, Scope Creep involves changes that are uncontrollable, and Integrated Change Control is a refusal of changes.
An extravagant 18-hole golf course is your latest project, meaning you have many contractors to work with and 10 stakeholders whom you need to communicate with. However, due to restructuring from the end of the client, three new stakeholders are brought in and need to be communicated with as well. You also had to drop one of your contractors. As an experienced manager, how many communication channels do you have now?
Initially, the 10 stakeholders will be calculated as 10 × (10-1) ÷ 2 = 45. But with the inclusion of 3 stakeholders, we now have 10 + 3 – 1 = 12. Therefore, the total number of channels will be (12 × (12-1) ÷ 2 = 66. The correct option is D.
You are currently in the fourth month of your project, which is on track with budget and duration. Having held a monthly meeting with stakeholders, they have currently expressed dissatisfaction towards the project, and to change the project would mean a delay in the due date. What process do you think could have prevented this from happening?
Proper planning is done in the Scope Planning stage, thus if it had been done, it would have prevented the issues.
After completing a project, how do you communicate with all contractors about the completion of the project?
Contracts are formal agreements that need proper documentation. Hence, communicating using Formal written is the logical choice.
Your company has won numerous contracts from the government; among them is the construction of roads and bridges. Considering the magnitude of the project, your risk analysis points at a series of flooding during August and July. You then use this analysis to plan your schedule accordingly… what is this strategy called?
A transfer would be wrong as no other person is taking responsibility for handling the risk. Exploit would also be wrong as it makes use of a good/positive situation. Mitigation is the process of reducing risks or their effects. Accept, on the other hand, means you have no choice, as you are not in control.
The process of defining activities which are tagged in unique code, after WBS has been separated into different individual activities is called…
Identity Identifier, done during Activity list is the correct answer, it stipulates uniquely, each identified activity.
As an experienced manager, you are working on a project with your team located across the world, how would you properly communicate with the team knowing fully well-being in various locations is a huge advantage to the project and bad communication will lead to disaster.
Formal and written communication would be best due to diversities in location and cultures.
You are confident that your current project requires a total cost of $108,000. You estimate $90,000 as the best-case estimate while $138,000 is the worst-case estimate. You have decided to use the Beta Distribution instead of a Triangular Distribution in your Three Point Estimation. What would the cost estimate be, considering you are using a Beta Distribution…?
Beta distribution uses the formula; 4a + b + c / 6. A= most likely estimate, B= best case scenario estimates and C= Worst case estimates, therefore 4(108000) + 90000 + 138000 / 6 = $110000.
A project you are managing is three quarter done when due to complexities and new changes to be made; you were told the project’s due date would be delayed. After analyzing the cost with your site engineer, you write a letter to the change control board for approval of the new date. The board agrees to the change, what would you do as soon as the approval is gotten...
As enforcing this will help you track the work done against the new scope and timing and not the former metric. So immediately, modify the baseline.
As the manager of a racing car simulation software development, you have gotten a report of several issues with the air tunneling modeling modules – you then found out after analyzing that a simple code review checklist was neglected, you then prepare a code checklist to correct the issues – what have you done in this scenario...
Corrective Action. This action is based on disagreement. In this question, the issues began during Quality Control where there was said to be lack of a standard. While other options like Preventive Action are taken in response to an occurrence and hence a preventive measure not corrective.
A recent project you are taking over from another project manager has shown to be disturbing, the former project manager has signed many contracts, which are Cost plus fixed fee types of contracts. Being the new project manager, why is this disturbing?
As the buyer, you would be paying the seller both in percentage and real costs, this means the seller will be more likely to increase costs as it suits them better, therefore you need to be worried as there is no cost control. Note that T and M or fixed price is not the only option in a project and options A is wrong as the risk is now transferred to the buyer not seller.
You are in charge of a software development project for a banking product, which is in its second month of development. The team is, however, divided on whether malfunctions should undergo change control or not… which of these is correct?
Every statement here is true except option B. Every other option needs to undergo change control.
Being the project manager, you were in charge of updating the WBS during Define activities…, which is commonly called___
Refinements usually occur during the Work Base Schedule when activities are being defined especially for projects with high risks.
What process must a Quality Management Project adhere to?
Project Quality Management process includes every option above.
A customer requests additional work on a project that is already in execution. The addition will affect the budget but not the scheduled delivery date. Being the project manager what would be your next course of action?
Asking for a change and explaining the process it will take is the best choice.
Being the project manager, you decide to outsource your project to a vendor, promising a bonus if work is finished in 2 months. This is an example of ____.
This scenario describes a project incentive, which is a reward given to motivate the vendor to complete the project within a specified timeframe.
What would you be calculating if after calculating the critical path, you decide to do a backward pass budget and schedule estimate for a project that you and your team have just created a schedule Network Diagram?
Network Diagram calculations include Late Start and Late Finish. A backward pass is used to calculate the latest start and finish dates without affecting the project schedule. Therefore, the correct answer is 'Start and Finish the activities late.'
A seller has a higher risk in which of these contracts?
A Firm Fixed Price Contract (FFP) places the highest risk on the seller because they must deliver the project within the agreed budget and timeframe, regardless of any changes or unforeseen issues.
What is a Work Authorization System best used for?
A Work Authorization System is best used for managing the duration and arrangement of activity performance. It ensures that the right work is done at the right time in the correct sequence.
Your team delivers the first part of a project to the client, however, the client found issues with the project, you decide to look into the issues to avoid them in the remaining parts of the project. What method would you use to accomplish this?
Process analysis is used to identify problems, causes, and preventive measures. Quality Audits are typically used to check adherence to quality processes, but Process Analysis is more focused on identifying and resolving issues.
You are approached by fellow staff; she asks you for advice about a large turn over a project for a chemical plant whose client has asked for changes in the project, which will affect cost and delivery time and not willing to pay the extra charges – what will be your advice for her?
It would be best to try to understand the client, to know why they want the changes, and to discuss the possibilities with them. Taking legal action or starting the project without client approval would be reckless. Refusing the client without understanding their needs is also not advisable.
Your clients without warning decide to have you add a sandpit to the new community play area project. After analysis, you notice that this change will affect both cost, scope, and date of delivery. You immediately send a request for a change to the Change Control Board. You now have approval, what will be your next move?
Once your letter of change request has been submitted for approval, do not jump straight into the project. Updating the baseline of the project should be your priority.
Being the project manager what cost will you choose when asked to calculate the Cost of Poor Quality?
Cost of Poor Quality is also known as Failure Cost. Therefore, External and Internal Failure costs are the only viable option here. Costs like Prevention and Appraisal are used to prevent failures, not to calculate the costs after failure.
Knowing your current project will be in its critical stage in the next two months, your company however always employs welders for critical works such as Arc welding of stiffener plate, but you doubt if they would be available for the duration (two months). What should you check to know if these welders would be available for the two months?
A resource calendar provides data on resources available, and how long they are available for, so this should be the document you should turn to.
A colleague of yours named Joe has brought up a method of correctly identifying stakeholders during one of the project managers’ meetings. He suggests the Stakeholders Engagement Assessment Matrix, which do you consider the best choice?
The Stakeholders Engagement Assessment Matrix is used to list all the stakeholders along with their current engagement and desired engagement. It helps in understanding how active stakeholders are on a project and what changes are needed to ensure they are engaged appropriately.
After gifting a customer more than the company’s stipulated limits, what should you do?
Requesting assistance from the organization’s senior management is the logical choice. It’s important to follow company policies and seek guidance when such situations arise.
What performance is Earned Value Analysis used to measure?
Earned Value Analysis is used to measure Scope, Cost, and Schedule performance. It provides a comprehensive view of the project’s progress by comparing the planned work with the completed work and the costs associated with it.
In scope Validation, one of these is not true
Scope Validation is used to get formal sign-off from clients, determine if results meet requirements, and involve conducting inspections, reviews, and audits. It is not related to determining schedule variance.
Fishbone Diagram functions as _____
A Fishbone diagram, also known as a cause-and-effect diagram, is used to illustrate how various factors may be linked to potential problems or effects.
Vroom's Expectancy Theory is best described as____
Vroom's Expectancy Theory states that staff will put in efforts dependent on their anticipation, valence, and instrumentality, which relate to their expectations of performance leading to rewards.
After a hard bargain, your company wins a project that you are now in charge of. Of the eight-month, the project is expected to be finished you are now left with four months. You are troubled as the project is now in its 'Point of total Assumption' - what do you understand by this?
At the 'Point of total Assumption,' the seller is said to have taken all fees and will pay for costs. This means the company has a fixed price contract, and any additional costs beyond the contract amount will be the responsibility of the seller.
You have been advised by your team during Quality Assurance test to not wholly depend on Blackbox testing but also include the White Box, believing it will give quality to your aeronautic domain software project that you are currently the manager of. What is to be done as the project manager?
As a project manager, you should compare the effects of the change to scope, schedule, and cost, and then write a Change Request. This ensures that the impact of the change is properly assessed before proceeding.
The Scope Baseline has ______
The Scope Baseline consists of the Approved Project Scope Statement, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and WBS Dictionary.
How will a vendor update an agreement once he finds issues that can affect cost and schedule?
A contract supplement needs to be endorsed by your organization as well as the vendor to update the agreement when issues arise that affect cost and schedule.
What is it called when you, as the manager of a project, reschedule task allocation to ensure a staff member who is meant to work on a critical path and now asking for a two-month break during their period of activities does not appear on this activity anymore?
Mitigation would be wrong as there is no backup in play here, and the job wasn’t transferred to another but rescheduled. By exchanging tasks for the staff going on a long vacation, they do not have to work on the critical path.
As the manager in charge of a project for laying out electrical cables between cities, what document would you refer to when trying to find out if the unplanned breaks which the majority of your staff are going on are acceptable, as it is affecting the project negatively?
Schedule variances are clearly stated in the Schedule Management Plan document.
You don’t do one of these in a Project Closure. Which following action is not executed as a part of Project Closure?
Verify Scope is used for monitoring and controlling the process group. While every other option is considerable, they aren’t correct as they are activities that occur in project closure.
Which of these contracts has the highest risk for buyers?
The cost-plus fixed fee has the highest risk for a buyer mainly because of the type of contract that is cost-reimbursable (unknown total costs). Since the scope is not well explained, the cost-plus fixed fee is risky as the price and the project's duration could change.
What would be the initial cause of an issue, if after demonstrating software for the stakeholders of the project, you are told that one of the stakeholders is not satisfied and radical changes which will affect cost and timing are to be made?
This question does not tackle an unhappy client whose demands are not achieved. Stakeholders analysis is all about pinpointing stakeholders, their expectations, and their power. Therefore, the fact that the client’s expectations are not met here shows incorrect stakeholder analysis and identification.
Another name for top-down estimating is ______ estimating
Another name for Top-Down is Analogous estimating.
______ influences the standards of quality
ISO is responsible for maintaining standards for quality.
What is it called when your senior management effectively anticipates a client’s need for additional capabilities in the derivatives segment and effectively uses important managers from the derivative segment to show the company’s capability in the derivative vertical due to experiences from the past?
This is a positive risk that by inviting other managers improves your probability of getting more funds. Also, the client being happy with the progression of the job will agree to the derivative segment, boosting your opportunity of getting better jobs.
When sub-plans are made in a project plan, this is called _____
The management plan is sub-plans for each task in a project.
Your senior manager has advised you to utilize the management reserve while working on a mall makeover which you forgot to estimate ceiling repairs and only found out after the approval for the project had been granted. What do you do?
Management reserves are used for unprecedented situations and are usually part of the project scope. As this particular work is in scope, the management reserves serve as a contingency or backup.
