Chapter 2 of the PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition, “The Environment in Which Projects Operate,” accounts for 6 percent (18) of the questions on the CAPM exam.

Projects are not completed in a vacuum, devoid of influence by organizational process assets (OPAs) and enterprise environmental factors (EEFs), structure types (matrix, projectized, hybrid, etc.), and governance framework (e.g., PMO). It is important for a project manager to recognize that each of these elements can positively or negatively influence the outcome of a project.

The environment in which a project operates is a direct reflection of the level of maturity of the organization.

The 18 practice questions in this chapter are mapped to the style and frequency of question types you will see on the CAPM exam.

Q QUESTIONS

1.   What is the best role for a project management office in an organization with a low level of project management maturity?

A.   Directive

B.   Controlling

C.   Supportive

D.   Enabling

2.   The CEO of your organization is considering the strategic reasons the company has for approving your project proposal. At times he seems confused about what exactly a strategic consideration is. Which of the following is not a strategic consideration for authorizing a project?

A.   Strategic opportunity

B.   Return on investment

C.   Customer demand

D.   Market demand

3.   The team or function assigned responsibility for the centralized and coordinated management of projects within an organization is known as what?

A.   Project headquarters

B.   Program management office

C.   Project management office

D.   War room

4.   Which of the following is not a primary function of a project management office?

A.   Providing a project manager with daily progress reports on a specific project

B.   Managing shared resources across several projects

C.   Identifying and developing project management methodologies, best practices, and standards

D.   Coordinating communication across projects

5.   Which of the following examples would not be considered an enterprise environmental factor?

A.   Government or industry standards or regulations

B.   Political climate

C.   Net present value of investment

D.   Organizational structure

6.   The internal and external environmental factors that both surround and influence, and sometimes constrain, a project are known as what?

A.   Enterprise organizational assets

B.   Environmental process assets

C.   Environmental enterprise constraints

D.   Enterprise environmental factors

7.   The type of organization where the functional manager controls the project budget and resource availability is commonly referred to as what?

A.   Projectized

B.   Strong matrix

C.   Functional

D.   Weak matrix

8.   In an organization where staff members are grouped according to their specialty, such as production, engineering, and accounting, and projects are generally undertaken within these respective groupings, what is the organizational structure known as?

A.   Projectized

B.   Weak matrix

C.   Strong matrix

D.   Functional

9.   All the following are examples of organizational process assets (OPAs) that can assist your project except?

A.   Government regulations

B.   Lessons learned from previous projects

C.   A template for a work breakdown structure

D.   Configuration management knowledge bases

10.   Your organization has implemented best practices in project management processes. One function that has been set up is the project management office (PMO). What is the function of the PMO?

A.   Provide hot-desk facilities for all project managers

B.   Coordinate the management of projects

C.   Close project accounts at the end of the projects

D.   Provide standard stationery for project paperwork

11.   Which of the following organizational structures can complicate the management of the project team?

A.   Functional

B.   Matrix

C.   Project

D.   Hierarchical

12.   To be successful in a weak matrix environment, you need to:

A.   Get commitments in writing that the functional manager will allocate the team member to your project for two years

B.   Encourage the project team to collaborate/problem-solve to build consensus and commitment

C.   Give certificates of appreciation to the functional team members at key milestone points to influence them to stay on the project

D.   Have each team member sign a letter of intent stating that he or she will stay on the project until completion

13.   When a project is established, which of the following is least likely to be involved in developing governance for project tracking and updating?

A.   Project board

B.   Project managers

C.   Project office

D.   Project management office (PMO)

14.   You are a project manager and are periodically verifying that team leaders are adhering to established project management methodologies and delivering products that meet business and technical requirements. What major project management theme do these activities most support?

A.   Manage quality

B.   Stakeholder engagement

C.   Project governance

D.   Benefits delivery

15.   Which process group or process provides the most primary interface with the project governance structure?

A.   Executing

B.   Monitoring and Controlling

C.   Direct and Manage Project Work

D.   Monitor and Control Project Work

16.   You have issued a change request, and because it requires corrective action beyond your approval level, your next step is to:

A.   Schedule a meeting with your PMO

B.   Receive governance approval to proceed

C.   Set up a change control board to see if the change should be implemented

D.   Use your project management information system (PMIS)

17.   Awareness of the diverse population in your project will benefit least from which of the following?

A.   Describing the organization’s culture

B.   Describing the team structure and individual cultures

C.   Maintaining cohesiveness among all teams

D.   Establishing workgroups that consist of individual cultural groups

18.   You are leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan. Which of the following actions would be least helpful to you?

A.   Allocate available resources

B.   Manage organizational interfaces

C.   Analyze work performance data

D.   Leverage prior organizational knowledge

QUICK ANSWER KEY

1. C

2. B

3. C

4. A

5. C

6. D

7. D

8. D

9. A

10. B

11. B

12. B

13. B

14. C

15. B

16. B

17. D

18. D

ANSWERS A

1.   What is the best role for a project management office in an organization with a low level of project management maturity?

A.   Directive

B.   Controlling

C.   Supportive

D.   Enabling

  C. Supportive project management offices are generally a sign of a low level of project management maturity, because they do not support a lot of complexity.

  A, B, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because directive project management offices are generally best in an organization with a high level of project management maturity. B is incorrect because controlling project management offices are generally a sign of an organization improving its organizational project management maturity. D is incorrect because this is a made-up term and is not from the PMBOK Guide.

2.   The CEO of your organization is considering the strategic reasons the company has for approving your project proposal. At times he seems confused about what exactly a strategic consideration is. Which of the following is not a strategic consideration for authorizing a project?

A.   Strategic opportunity

B.   Return on investment

C.   Customer demand

D.   Market demand

  B. Return on investment is not a strategic consideration. It is a method of calculating whether a project should proceed from a financial rather than a strategic point of view.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because the chance to achieve a strategic opportunity is a clear strategic consideration for authorizing a project. C is incorrect because customer demand is a strategic consideration because it is a forecast of what the customer will want in the future, and the company’s strategic goals should include the desire to fulfill this demand. D is incorrect because market demand is a strategic consideration because it is a forecast of how the market will be behaving in the future, and the company’s strategic goals should include the desire to fulfill this demand.

3.   The team or function assigned responsibility for the centralized and coordinated management of projects within an organization is known as what?

A.   Project headquarters

B.   Program management office

C.   Project management office

D.   War room

  C. A project management office (PMO) takes responsibility for providing organization-wide project management support functions, including common standards, templates, and processes. It is also directly responsible for project delivery.

  A, B, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because project headquarters is not correct; although the term may be used by some organizations, it is not part of the standardized terminology offered by the PMBOK Guide. B is incorrect because although sometimes the acronym PMO does stand for program management office, it is more commonly used to refer to a project management office, which is the more correct answer in this instance. D is incorrect because a war room is a specific meeting room for project team members to be co-located and focus on doing the project work.

4.   Which of the following is not a primary function of a project management office?

A.   Providing a project manager with daily progress reports on a specific project

B.   Managing shared resources across several projects

C.   Identifying and developing project management methodologies, best practices, and standards

D.   Coordinating communication across projects

  A. A PMO provides high-level support across several projects. It does not provide lower-level detail to a single project but would instead provide a rolled-up summary report of the project.

  B, C, and D are incorrect. B is incorrect because a clear role of a mature PMO would be to oversee and manage shared resources across several projects. C is incorrect because one role of a PMO is to develop and improve an organization’s project management methodology. D is incorrect because one very clear role of any sort of PMO is to ensure communications across projects is done effectively.

5.   Which of the following examples would not be considered an enterprise environmental factor?

A.   Government or industry standards or regulations

B.   Political climate

C.   Net present value of investment

D.   Organizational structure

  C. Net present value of investment is a tool for project selection.

  A, B, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because government standards and industry regulations are a great example of enterprise environmental factors, as they can affect a project. B is incorrect because the political climate that a project operates in is an enterprise environmental factor. D is incorrect because organizational structure is an example of internal enterprise environmental factors.

6.   The internal and external environmental factors that both surround and influence, and sometimes constrain, a project are known as what?

A.   Enterprise organizational assets

B.   Environmental process assets

C.   Environmental enterprise constraints

D.   Enterprise environmental factors

  D. Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) are a fairly constant input into many of the processes. They can be thought of as the environment in which the project must operate and by which it will be influenced.

  A, B, and C are incorrect. The answers are not terms referenced within the PMBOK Guide.

7.   The type of organization where the functional manager controls the project budget and resource availability is commonly referred to as what?

A.   Projectized

B.   Strong matrix

C.   Functional

D.   Weak matrix

  D. This situation describes a matrix organization where the functional manager retains most of the power. Therefore, it is a weak matrix, reflecting the small amount of power the project manager has to influence resources and budget on the project.

  A, B, and C are incorrect. A is incorrect because in a projectized structure the project manager would have full responsibility and authority. B is incorrect because in a strong matrix, the project manager, not the functional manager, would have the most power. C is incorrect because this question refers to some staff working for you, implying there are other staff from other functional areas working for you, which indicates a matrix form of organization—specifically a weak matrix.

8.   In an organization where staff members are grouped according to their specialty, such as production, engineering, and accounting, and projects are generally undertaken within these respective groupings, what is the organizational structure known as?

A.   Projectized

B.   Weak matrix

C.   Strong matrix

D.   Functional

  D. This situation describes an organization divided into its functional responsibilities. A project manager will often have to deal with staff and resources from different areas across the organization that are ultimately controlled by the functional manager. As such, the project manager has little or no power in this type of organization.

  A, B, and C are incorrect. A is incorrect because in a projectized structure, the project manager would have full responsibility and authority. B is incorrect because a weak matrix would be a matrix organization where the project manager has less power than a functional manager but still has some. C is incorrect because a strong matrix would be a matrix organization where the project manager has more power than the functional manager.

9.   All the following are examples of organizational process assets (OPAs) that can assist your project except?

A.   Government regulations

B.   Lessons learned from previous projects

C.   A template for a work breakdown structure

D.   Configuration management knowledge bases

  A. Government regulations are an example of enterprise environmental factors. The other three are examples of organizational process assets, which belong to the company, are the property of the company, and reflect the organizational culture.

  B, C, and D are incorrect. B is incorrect because lessons learned are an example of organizational process assets, owned by the organization and used to assist projects. C is incorrect because any template used to assist projects is an example of organizational process assets. D is incorrect because configuration management knowledge bases are an example of organizational process assets.

10.   Your organization has implemented best practices in project management processes. One function that has been set up is the project management office (PMO). What is the function of the PMO?

A.   Provide hot-desk facilities for all project managers

B.   Coordinate the management of projects

C.   Close project accounts at the end of the projects

D.   Provide standard stationery for project paperwork

  B. One of the functions of the PMO is to coordinate the management of projects.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because the PMO is not responsible for hot-desk implementation. C is incorrect because the project manager is responsible for closure of all project accounts. D is incorrect because items like stationery are project resources, not a function of a PMO.

11.   Which of the following organizational structures can complicate the management of the project team?

A.   Functional

B.   Matrix

C.   Project

D.   Hierarchical

  B. Management of the project team is complicated when team members are accountable to both a functional and a project manager, as in a matrix organization.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. Functional and project organizations have clear accountability. Hierarchical organizations are the norm.

12.   To be successful in a weak matrix environment, you need to:

A.   Get commitments in writing that the functional manager will allocate the team member to your project for two years

B.   Encourage the project team to collaborate/problem-solve to build consensus and commitment

C.   Give certificates of appreciation to the functional team members at key milestone points to influence them to stay on the project

D.   Have each team member sign a letter of intent stating that he or she will stay on the project until completion

  B. Encouraging collaborative problem solving improves consensus and commitment to the team. It also creates a cohesive team culture.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because even if the functional manager commits in writing to allocating the team member to your project, there is still no guarantee the commitment would be honored when business/strategy changes. C is incorrect because certificates of appreciation will only be effective if they satisfy a need that is valued by that individual. D is incorrect because a letter of intent (LOI) is a document outlining the general plans of an agreement between two or more parties before a legal agreement is finalized. A letter of intent is not a contract and cannot be legally enforced. However, it can signify a serious commitment from one involved party to another.

13.   When a project is established, which of the following is least likely to be involved in developing governance for project tracking and updating?

A.   Project board

B.   Project managers

C.   Project office

D.   Project management office (PMO)

  B. When you are establishing a management infrastructure, you must set up governance for all projects within the organization. This normally includes a project board, project management office, and project teams. Project managers are not normally involved directly with setting up governance for the project. Project managers execute and apply project governance as defined by the project management office.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because the project board is part of organizational governance. C and D are incorrect because both refer to the project management office, which is involved in organizational governance for projects.

14.   You are a project manager and are periodically verifying that team leaders are adhering to established project management methodologies and delivering products that meet business and technical requirements. What major project management theme do these activities most support?

A.   Manage quality

B.   Stakeholder engagement

C.   Project governance

D.   Benefits delivery

  C. Project governance focuses on oversight of the project. This is carried out through phase gate reviews to aid in project control and provides an objective check against exit criteria.

  A, B, and D are incorrect. Each is unrelated to verifying that team leaders are following project management methodologies.

15.   Which process group or process provides the most primary interface with the project governance structure?

A.   Executing

B.   Monitoring and Controlling

C.   Direct and Manage Project Work

D.   Monitor and Control Project Work

  B. The Monitoring and Controlling process group is where the project manager obtains and consolidates status and progress data from project work packages, interfaces with the project governance structure, and reports on project performance.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because project governance is most prevalent in the Monitoring and Controlling process group. C is incorrect because Direct and Manage Project Work is the process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan and implementing approved changes to achieve the project’s objectives. D is incorrect because the proper name is Monitor and Control Project Work.

16.   You have issued a change request, and because it requires corrective action beyond your approval level, your next step is to:

A.   Schedule a meeting with your PMO

B.   Receive governance approval to proceed

C.   Set up a change control board to see if the change should be implemented

D.   Use your project management information system (PMIS)

  B. Governance is the framework within which authority is exercised in organizations. This framework includes policies, procedures, and approval levels.

  A, C, and D are incorrect. A is incorrect because the PMO standardizes the project-related governance processes. C is incorrect because the change control board is responsible for deciding what to do with change requests. D is incorrect because the PMIS is used for the outputs of project management processes.

17.   Awareness of the diverse population in your project will benefit least from which of the following?

A.   Describing the organization’s culture

B.   Describing the team structure and individual cultures

C.   Maintaining cohesiveness among all teams

D.   Establishing workgroups that consist of individual cultural groups

  D. Motivating the team using appropriate tools and techniques to increase commitment to the project deliverables requires you to have knowledge of diversity awareness and be able to describe the organization’s culture, describe the team structure and individual cultures, establish a safe and secure work environment, and maintain cohesiveness among all teams.

  A, B, and C are incorrect because they are each components of creating an awareness of the diverse population.

18.   You are leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan. Which of the following actions would be least helpful to you?

A.   Allocate available resources

B.   Manage organizational interfaces

C.   Analyze work performance data

D.   Leverage prior organizational knowledge

  D. The question is asking about the Direct and Manage Project Work process. Leveraging prior organizational knowledge is considered part of the expert judgment technique.

  A, B, and C are incorrect. They are all project activities to complete project deliverables and accomplish established objectives.