Appendix A Answers to Review Questions

Chapter 1: What Is a Project?

1. C. The Project Management Institute (PMI^®) is the industry-recognized standard for project management practices.

2. B. Projects exist to create a unique product, service, or result. The logon screen in this question is not a unique product. A minor change has been requested, indicating that this is an ongoing operations function. Some of the criteria for projects are that they are unique, temporary with definitive start and end dates, and considered complete when the project goals are achieved.

3. A. This is a project. The product line is new, which implies that this is a unique product—it hasn’t been done before. You can discern a definite start and end date by the fact that the new appliances must be ready by the spring catalog release.

4. D. Progressive elaboration is the process of determining the characteristics and features of the product of the project. Progressive elaboration is carried out via steps in detailed fashion.

5. D. A project is considered successful when stakeholder needs and expectations are met.

6. B. Conflicts between stakeholders should always be resolved in favor of the customer. This question emphasizes the importance of identifying your stakeholders and their needs as early as possible in the project.

7. C. Project management brings together a set of tools and techniques to organize project activities. Project managers are the ones responsible for managing the project management processes.

8. B. Phase-end reviews can occur for all phase-to-phase relationships. Handoffs are typical of a sequentially phased project, not an overlapping phased project. Fast tracking occurs in an overlapping relationship.

9. D. Portfolios are collections of projects and/or programs. The projects or programs do not have to be directly related or interdependent to reside within the portfolio.

10. A. Negotiation and influencing skills are needed to convince Jack’s boss and come to an agreement concerning his assignment.

11. A. The storyboard is a deliverable. Because the phases are performed sequentially, the deliverable must be approved before the next phase of the project can begin.

12. C. The best answer to this question according to the PMBOK^® Guide is to negotiate with the functional manager to participate in the business analyst’s annual performance review. D is an appropriate response but doesn’t include the direction that the project manager should participate in the performance review.

13. B. The level of authority the project manager has is determined by the organizational structure, interactions with various management levels, and the project management maturity level of the organization.

14. A. Advantages for employees in a functional organization are that they have only one supervisor and a clear chain of command exists.

15. D. Employees in a balanced matrix often report to two or more managers. Functional managers and project managers share authority and responsibility for projects. There is a balance of power between the functional managers and project managers.

16. C. Projectized organizations are focused on the project itself. One issue with this type of structure is determining what to do with project team members when they are not actively involved in the project. One alternative is to release them when they are no longer needed.

17. D. Remember the acronym that that sounds like syrup of ipecac: IPECC (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing).

18. B. An overlapping phase-to-phase relationship allows you to begin the next phase before the phase you’re working on is completed.

19. C. The Initiating process group is where stakeholders have the greatest ability to influence outcomes of the project. Risk is highest during this stage because of the high degree of unknown factors.

20. D. The three types of PMOs are supportive, controlling, and directive.

Chapter 2: Creating the Project Charter

1. A. The buyer provides the SOW when projects are performed under contract.

2. B. This came about because of a strategic opportunity/business need. Staff members were spending unproductive hours producing information for the management report that wasn’t consistent or meaningful.

3. A. Develop Project Charter has five inputs, and they are project SOW, business case, agreements, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets.

4. C. The most correct answer is to perform a feasibility study. Because this project is taking the company into a new, unknown market, there’s lots of potential for error and failure. A feasibility study would help the stakeholders determine whether the project is viable and cost effective and whether it has a high potential for success.

5. D. Project Time Management involves the following processes: Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Resources, Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedule, and Control Schedule.

6. B. The project SOW should contain the business need for the project and the product scope description and should support the organization’s strategic plan.

7. B. Historical information on projects of a similar nature can be helpful when initiating new projects. They can help in formulating project deliverables and identifying constraints and assumptions and will be helpful later in the project Planning processes as well.

8. B. The Project Integration Management Knowledge Area consists of the following processes: Develop Project Charter, Develop Project Management Plan, Direct and Manage Project Work, Monitor and Control Project Work, Perform Integrated Change Control, and Close Project or Phase.

9. A. Benefit measurement methods include comparative methods, scoring methods, and cash flow analysis. They are used as project selection tools to determine which project to proceed with or to determine which project among a list of projects should be undertaken.

10. B. Projects with NPV greater than 0 should be given an accept recommendation.

11. B. Projects with the highest IRR value are favored over projects with lower IRR values.

12. A. Net present value (NPV) assumes reinvestment is made at the cost of capital.

13. C. Year 1 and 2 inflows are each $100,000 for a total of $200,000. Year 3 inflows are an additional $300,000. Add one more quarter to this total, and the $575,000 is reached in three years and three months, or 39 months.

14. D. IRR assumes reinvestment at the IRR rate and is the discount rate when NPV is equal to 0.

15. C. The purpose of the business case is to understand the business need for the project and determine whether the investment in the project is worthwhile. This may include analysis using mathematical models and/or benefit measurement methods, but that is not the primary purpose of the business case.

16. A. Stakeholder analysis involves three steps including: identifying stakeholders, analyzing potential impact, and assessing how stakeholders are likely to react to given situations.

17. B. Project B has a payback period of 21 months; $50,000 is received in the first 12 months, with another $75,000 coming in over each of the next three quarters, or nine months.

18. C. Payback period does not consider the time value of money and is, therefore, the least precise of all the cash flow analysis techniques.

19. C. The project should be kicked off with a project charter that authorizes the project to begin, assigns the project manager, and describes the project objectives and purpose for the project. Doing so ensures that everyone is working with the same purposes in mind.

20. D. According to the PMBOK^® Guide, the project charter should be issued by the project sponsor or the project initiator. Once approved, the charter formalizes the authority assigned to the project manager and ensures commitment and acceptance of the project by the stakeholders as well as ensuring a common understanding of the key deliverables, milestones, and roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders.

Chapter 3: Developing the Project Scope Statement

1. A. The PMIS is one of the elements of the enterprise environmental factors, which is an input to the Develop Project Management Plan process.

2. C. The project management plan describes the processes you’ll use to perform the project and describes how the project will be executed, monitored, and controlled and how the work of the project will be executed to meet the objectives.

3. B. The scope management plan describes how project scope will be defined and validated, how the scope statement will be developed, how the WBS will be created and defined, and how project scope will be managed and controlled. Project scope is measured against the project management plan, whereas product scope is measured against the product requirements. It is based on the approved project scope.

4. D. These four decision-making techniques belong to the Collect Requirements process and are part of the group decision-making tool and technique in this process.

5. B. The project scope statement further elaborates the project deliverables and documents the constraints and assumptions for the project. It serves as a basis for future project decisions.

6. D. The requirements traceability matrix links requirements to their origin and traces them throughout the project. Option A describes the requirements management plan, not the requirements document. Option B is partially true with the exception of the first statement. Requirements documents do not have to be formal or complex. Option C refers to the project scope statement, not the requirements.

7. C. The scope baseline consists of the approved project scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary.

8. D. Alternatives generation is a tool and technique of the Define Scope process that includes brainstorming and lateral thinking techniques.

9. C. You could use each product as a level-one entry on the WBS so option A is correct, but you may choose to construct the WBS differently. Option C is not correct because rolling wave planning is the process of fully elaborating near-term WBS work packages and elaborating others, like the third product in this question, at a later time when all information is known.

10. D. Option A might seem like a correct answer, but option D is more correct. There isn’t enough information to determine whether stakeholders will require overtime. We do know that poor scope definition might lead to cost increases, rework, schedule delays, and poor morale.

11. D. Each element in the WBS is assigned a unique identifier (a numbering system). These are collectively known as the code of accounts. Typically, these codes are associated with a corporate chart of accounts and are used to track the costs of the individual work elements in the WBS.

12. A. The work package level is the lowest level in the WBS and facilitates resource assignment and cost and time estimates. In this question, the work package level contains four subprojects, so it would not be used to create the activity list. The activity list will be created from the work package level for each WBS created for each subproject.

13. C. The primary constraint is time. Since the trade show demos depend on project completion and the trade show is in late September, the date cannot be moved. The budget is the secondary constraint in this example.

14. A. Decomposition subdivides the major deliverables into smaller components. It is a tool and technique of the Create WBS process and is used to create a WBS. Level-two components might be deliverables, phases, subprojects, or some combination.

15. B. Product analysis includes techniques such as value engineering, value analysis, systems analysis, systems engineering, product breakdown, and functional analysis.

16. D. The primary constraint is quality. If you made the assumption as stated in options A, B and C, you assumed incorrectly. Clarify these assumptions with your stakeholders and project sponsors.

17. C. This is an example of an assumption. You’ve used this vendor before and haven’t had any problems. You’re assuming there will be no problems with this delivery based on your past experience.

18. B. Constraints restrict the actions of the project team.

19. A. The project came about because of a business need. The phones have to be answered because that’s the core business. Upgrading the system to handle more volume is a business need. An assumption has been made regarding vendor availability. Always validate your assumptions.

20. B. The steps of decomposition include identify major deliverables, organize and determine the structure, identify lower-level components, assign identification codes, and verify correctness of decomposition.

Chapter 4: Creating the Project Schedule

1. C. The tools and techniques for Estimate Activity Durations are expert judgment, analogous estimating, parametric estimating, three-point estimating, group decision-making techniques, and reserve analysis.

2. B. The Sequence Activities process produces project schedule network diagrams and project documents updates, which may include updating activity attributes. The purpose of this process is to identify all activity dependencies.

3. C. Reserve analysis takes schedule risk into consideration and adds a percentage of time or additional work periods to the estimate to prevent schedule delays.

4. A. Parametric estimating uses an algorithm or formula that multiplies a known element—such as the quantity of materials needed—by the time it takes to install or complete one unit of materials. The result is a total estimate for the activity. In this case, 10 servers multiplied by 16 hours per server gives you a 160-hour total duration estimate.

5. C. The activity list is a component of the project schedule, not the WBS. The activity list includes all the project activities, an identifier, and a description of the activity. The activity list is an output of the Define Activities process.

6. D. This is an example of a mandatory dependency, also known as hard logic. Mandatory dependencies are inherent in the nature of the work. Discretionary dependencies, also called preferred logic, preferential logic, and soft logic, are defined by the project management team.

7. A. The precedence diagramming method is also known as the activity on node (AON) diagramming method. GERT stands for Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique, a diagramming method that allows for conditions, branches, and loops.

8. B. The arrow diagramming method uses only finish-to-start dependencies.

9. D. Finish-to-start (FS) is the most commonly used logical relationship in PDM and the default relationship in most project management software packages.

10. C. CPM calculates a single early and late start date and a single early and late finish date for each activity. Once these dates are known, float time is calculated for each activity to determine the critical path. The other answers contain elements of PERT calculations.

11. B. The only information you have for this example is activity duration; therefore, the critical path is the path with the longest duration. Path A-D-E-H with a duration of 34 days is the critical path.

12. D. The only information you have for this example is activity duration, so you must calculate the critical path based on the durations given. The duration of A-B-C-E-H increased by 3 days, for a total of 35 days. The duration of A-F-G-H and A-F-G-E-H each increased by 3 days. A-F-G-E-H totals 36 days and becomes the new critical path.

13. D. You calculate the critical path by adding together the durations of all the tasks with zero or negative float. The critical path can be compressed using crashing techniques.

14. C. The calculation for PERT is the sum of optimistic time plus pessimistic time plus four times the most likely time divided by 6. The calculation for this example is as follows: (48 + 72 + (4 × 60)) / 6 = 60.

15. D. You calculate the standard deviation by subtracting the optimistic time from the pessimistic time and dividing the result by 6. The calculation for this example is as follows: (72 – 48) / 6 = 4.

16. D. There is a 95 percent probability that the work will finish within plus or minus two standard deviations. The expected value is 500, and the standard deviation times 2 is 24, so the activity will take from 476 to 524 days.

17. B. A 68 percent probability is calculated using plus or minus one standard deviation, a 95 percent probability uses plus or minus two standard deviations, and a 99 percent probability uses plus or minus three standard deviations.

18. A. Crashing the schedule includes tasks such as adding resources to the critical path tasks or speeding up deliveries of materials and resources.

19. C. Resource leveling is used for overallocated resources and allows for changes to the schedule completion dates. Crashing and fast tracking are schedule compression techniques that shorten the schedule. Resource smoothing techniques will not allow for changes to the critical path or project end date, and since you are concerned about not overusing this resource, lengthening the schedule is a better option.

20. A. Project management software is a useful tool for the project manager, and it automates project scheduling, allowing for what-if analysis and easy changes. But if you focus too much on the tool and ignore the project, the tool becomes a hindrance.

Chapter 5: Developing the Project Budget and Communicating the Plan

1. A. The inputs for the Estimate Costs Process are the cost management plan, human resource management plan, scope baseline, project schedule, risk register, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets.

2. D. The cost management plan, an output of the Plan Cost Management process, is used to establish the criteria for planning, estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs. It is based on the approved project charter, project scope, schedule, resources, and other information in order to manage project costs.

3. D. Control thresholds are variance thresholds (typically stated as a percentage of deviation from the baseline) used for monitoring cost performance.

4. C. A control account can be placed at any level of the WBS and is used for earned value measurement calculations regarding project costs.

5. A. The inputs of Estimate Costs are cost management plan, human resource management plan, scope baseline, project schedule, risk register, enterprise environmental factors, and organizational process assets.

6. B. Three-point estimating can improve activity cost estimates because they factor in estimation uncertainty and risk.

7. A. Reserve analysis accounts for cost uncertainty by including a contingency reserve, usually expressed as a percentage of the estimated cost.

8. C. The expected activity cost using the three-point beta distribution formula (also known as PERT) is calculated this way: ((4 × most likely) + optimistic + pessimistic) / 6. Therefore, the answer is ((4 × 42) + 35 + 54) / 6 = 43.

9. C. Future period operating costs are considered ongoing costs and are not part of project costs.

10. B. Bottom-up techniques are the most time-consuming and generally the most accurate estimates you can use. With bottom-up estimating, each work item is estimated and rolled up to a project total.

11. A. Funding limit reconciliation concerns reconciling the funds to be spent on the project with funding limits placed on the funding commitments for the project.

12. B. The cost baseline is displayed as an S curve because of the way project spending occurs. Spending begins slowly, picks up speed until the spending peak is reached, and then tapers off as the project winds down.

13. D. Cost of quality is a tool and technique of Estimate Costs. The tools and techniques of Determine Budget are cost aggregation, reserve analysis, expert judgment, historical relationships, and funding limit reconciliation.

14. A. Analogous—or top-down—estimating techniques are a form of expert judgment. Because this project is similar to another recent project, you can use the cost estimates from the previous project to help you quickly determine estimates for the current project.

15. D. There are 36 channels of communication, yourself plus 8 stakeholders. The formula is 9 (9 – 1) / 2 = 36. Lines of communication are considered when using the communications requirements analysis tool and technique.

16. D. Communications requirements analysis, communication technology, communication models, communication methods, and meetings are the tools and techniques of the Plan Communications Management process.

17. C. Acknowledgment means the receiver has received the message but does not mean they agree with the message.

18. A. Push communication assures that information is distributed to specific recipients but does not certify that it was understood by the intended recipients.

19. B. This describes interactive communication. It is a communication method, which is a tool and technique of Plan Communications Management.

20. C. Reasons for the distribution of information belong in the communications management plan.

Chapter 6: Risk Planning

1. B. The cause-and-effect flowcharts—also called fishbone diagrams or Ishikawa diagrams—show the relationships between the causes and effects of problems.

2. C. The purpose of Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis is to determine what impact the identified risk events will have on the project and the probability they’ll occur. It also puts risks in priority order according to their effects on the project objectives and assigns a risk score for the project.

3. B. The risk management plan details how risk management processes will be implemented, monitored, and controlled throughout the life of the project. The risk management plan does not include responses to risks or triggers. Responses to risks are documented in the risk register as part of the Plan Risk Responses process.

4. C. Distributions graphically display the probability of risk to the project objectives as well as the time or cost elements.

5. D. The information-gathering techniques in the Identify Risks process are brainstorming, the Delphi technique, interviewing, and root cause analysis.

6. C. Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis analyzes the probability of risks and their consequences using a numerical rating. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis might use numeric ratings but can use a high-medium-low scale as well.

7. C. Probability of achieving time and cost estimates is an update that is produced from the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process.

8. B. This risk event has the potential to save money on project costs, so it’s an opportunity, and the appropriate strategy to use in this case is the exploit strategy.

9. D. This risk event has the potential to save money on project costs. Sharing involves using a third party to help assure that the opportunity occurs.

10. A. The best answer is A. Triggers are warning signs of an impending risk event.

11. C. The probability and impact matrix multiplies the probability and impact to determine a risk score. Using this score and a predetermined matrix, you determine if the score is a high, medium, or low designation.

12. B. Monte Carlo analysis is a simulation technique that computes project costs many times in an iterative fashion.

13. C. Mitigation attempts to reduce the impact of a risk event should it occur. Making plans to arrange for the leased equipment reduces the consequences of the risk.

14. C. Risk appetite, risk tolerance, and risk threshold are the components of risk attitude.

15. A. This question describes risk tolerance levels of the stakeholders. Risk triggers are recorded in the risk register during the Plan Risk Responses process. The risk of buying a machine from a new supplier would pose a threat to the project, not an opportunity. Interviewing might have been used, but this question wasn’t describing the Identify Risks process.

16. B. The question describes sensitivity analysis, which is a tool and technique of the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process. Tornado diagrams are often used to display sensitivity analysis data.

17. B. Decision tree diagrams are used during the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process. All the other options are diagramming techniques used in the Identify Risks process.

18. D. The RBS describes risk categories, and the lowest level can be used as a checklist to help identify risks. Risk owners are not assigned from the RBS but typically are assigned as soon as the risk is identified.

19. D. This is a response strategy known as passive acceptance because the team has decided to take no action and make no plans for the risk. This is a strategy that can be used for either positive or negative risks.

20. C. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis is a fast and easy method of determining probability and impact.

Chapter 7: Planning Project Resources

1. D. Make-or-buy analysis is determining whether it’s more cost effective to purchase the goods or services needed for the project or more cost effective for the organization to produce them internally.

2. C. Firm fixed-price contracts have the highest risk to the seller and the least amount of risk to the buyer. However, the price the vendor charges for the product or service will compensate for the amount of risk they’re assuming.

3. B. Either the buyer or the seller can write the SOW. Sometimes the buyer will write the SOW and the seller might modify it and send it back to the buyer for verification and approval.

4. A. The cost plus incentive fee contract reimburses the seller for the seller’s allowable costs and includes an incentive or bonus for exceeding the performance criteria laid out in the contract.

5. D. The RAM and RACI charts are tools and techniques of this process.

6. C. Source selection criteria can be based on price alone when there are many vendors who can readily supply the goods or services. The question states that only three vendors make the machine, which means source selection criteria should be based on more than price.

7. A. A constraint can be anything that limits the option of the project team. Organizational structures, collective bargaining agreements, and economic conditions are all constraints that you might encounter during this process.

8. C. Fixed-price contracts can include incentives for meeting performance criteria, but the question states the vendor helping with the programming task will be reimbursed for their costs and, depending on your satisfaction with their results, may receive an additional award. This describes a cost plus award fee contract, not a fixed price incentive fee contract.

9. A. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consult, and inform.

10. B. Plan Procurement Management can directly influence the project schedule, and the project schedule can directly influence this process.

11. B. This is a cost-reimbursable contract that includes a fee as a percentage of allowable costs. This type of contract is known as a cost plus percentage of cost (CPPC) contract.

12. A. Design of experiments is a tool and technique of the Plan Quality Management process that provides statistical analysis for changing key product or process elements all at once (not one at a time) to optimize the process.

13. C. Philip Crosby devised the zero defects theory, meaning do it right the first time. Proper Plan Quality Management leads to less rework and higher productivity. Joseph Juran’s fitness for use says that stakeholders’ and customers’ expectations are met or exceeded.

14. A. W. Edwards Deming conjectured that the cost of quality is a management problem 85 percent of the time and that once the problem trickles down to the workers, it is outside their control.

15. C. The benefits of meeting quality requirements are increased stakeholder satisfaction, lower costs, higher productivity, and less rework.

16. A. Internal failure costs are costs associated with not meeting the customer’s expectations while you still had control over the product. This results in rework, scrapping, and downtime.

17. B. Quality metrics are an output of the Plan Quality Management process and not part of the quality management plan.

18. D. This is an example of design of experiments.

19. B. Six Sigma is a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction by applying Six Sigma methodologies to the project.

20. C. Teaming agreements are not a named input of the Plan Procurement Management process, but they are an input to all of the Planning processes collectively.

Chapter 8: Developing the Project Team

1. B. Corrective action brings anticipated future project outcomes back into alignment with the project management plan. Because an important deadline that depends on a positive outcome of this test is looming, the equipment is exchanged so that the project plan and project schedule are not impacted.

2. A. The most difficult aspect of the Direct and Manage Project Work process is coordinating and integrating all the project elements. The clue to this question is in the next-to-last sentence.

3. A. The Executing process group and Monitoring and Controlling process group serve as inputs to each other.

4. B. This question describes the deliverable output. Deliverables can be intangibles, such as the completion of training.

5. D. Work performance data includes elements such as schedule status, the status of deliverables completion, lessons learned, and resource utilization.

6. C. The enterprise environmental factors input of the Acquire Project Team process considers elements such as prior experience, interest in working on the project, cost rates, and availability of potential team members.

7. A. This question describes a defect repair that was discovered and implemented. Defect repairs come about as a result of approved changes. Approved changes are implemented in the Direct and Manage Project Work process. The question implies that the change request was approved because the problem was corrected and the rest of the production run went smoothly.

8. B. Teams in the norming stage of team development exhibit affection and familiarity with one another and make joint decisions.

9. C. The introduction of a new team member will start the formation and development of the team all over again with the forming stage.

10. D. Delegating is a situational leadership style that is used when team members have performed the task before and need little to no input from the manager. The supporting style requires some input from the leader. An autocratic manager makes all the decisions with no input from the team, and the laissez-faire leader lets the team make all the decisions and has little involvement with the team. Neither the autocratic nor laissez-faire leadership style is a named style in the Blanchard Situational Leadership II Model.

11. B. The Expectancy Theory says that people are motivated by the expectation of good outcomes. The outcome must be reasonable and attainable.

12. B. Co-location would bring your team members together in the same location and allow them to function more efficiently as a team. At a minimum, meeting in a common room, such as a war room, for all team meetings would bring the team closer together.

13. B. Collaborate/problem solve is a problem-solving technique that seeks to determine the facts and find solutions based on the facts. It involves hearing multiple viewpoints and examining several perspectives. This results in a win-win resolution for all parties.

14. A. Referent power is power that is conferred on a leader by their subordinates as a result of the high level of respect for the leader.

15. B. Theory Y managers believe that people will perform their best if they’re provided with the proper motivation and the right expectations.

16. A. Improving competencies, team interactions, and the team environment are characteristics of the Develop Project Team process, not the Manage Project Team process.

17. D. This technique is called 360-degree feedback. It’s part of the project performance appraisals tool and technique of the Manage Project Team process.

18. C. This question refers to preassignments, which are a tool and technique of the Acquire Project Team process. The other tools and techniques of this process are negotiation, acquisition, virtual teams, and multi-criteria decision analysis.

19. B. Smoothing (also known as accommodating) and withdrawal (also known as avoidance) are both lose-lose techniques. Forcing is a win-lose technique. Compromise and reconcile is where neither side wins or loses.

20. D. Theory Z encourages employee loyalty because jobs are offered for life. This leads to increased productivity and morale and high employee satisfaction.

Chapter 9: Conducting Procurements and Sharing Information

1. D. Procurement documents include bids, quotations, RFIs, IFBs, RFPs, RFQs, and so on as you learned in the Plan Procurement Management process. They are an input of the Conduct Procurements process.

2. C. Receivers filter information through cultural considerations, knowledge of the subject matter, language abilities, geographic location, emotions, and attitudes.

3. A. Project reports describe project status and are an item that is distributed, not a distribution tool.

4. B. Groups of 5 to 11 participants make the most accurate decisions.

5. B. Lessons learned (which is what this question describes) are useful for activities and processes for the current project as well as future projects.

6. A. Weighted systems are a type of proposal evaluation technique, which is one of the tools and techniques of this process used to evaluate vendors based on selection criteria defined by the organization.

7. D. Bidder conferences are also known as vendor conferences, prebid conferences, and contractor conferences, according to the PMBOK^® Guide.

8. D. Qualified seller lists are a component of the organizational assets input of Conduct Procurements. Their purpose is to provide information about the sellers.

9. C. Independent estimates, also called should cost estimates, are a way to check proposed pricing.

10. C. Fait accompli is a tactic used during contract negotiations where one party convinces the other that the particular issue is no longer relevant or cannot be changed.

11. B. Market research is a tool and technique of the Plan Procurement Management process. The tools and techniques of Conduct Procurements are bidder conference, proposal evaluation techniques, independent estimates, expert judgment, advertising, analytical techniques, and procurement negotiations.

12. B. The acceptance of work results happens later during the Validate Scope process, not during a quality audit.

13. A. The process analysis tool and technique in the Perform Quality Assurance process includes root cause analysis to analyze a problem and solution and to create preventive actions.

14. C. Tree diagrams allow you to establish expected values for dependent relationship in the hierarchy. Quality Management and Control Tools includes affinity diagrams, process decision program charts, interrelationship digraphs, tree diagrams, prioritization matrices, activity network diagrams, and matrix diagrams.

15. C. Face-to-face meetings are the most effective means for resolving stakeholder issues, provided these meetings are practical.

16. B. Status meetings are to report on the progress of the project. They are not for demos or show-and-tell. Option C is not correct because stakeholders are not concerned about the content of the technical documentation; they need to know that a qualified technician has reviewed the technical documentation and that the documentation task is accurate and complete.

17. D. The selected sellers output requires a negotiated contract.

18. A. The project manager alone is responsible for managing stakeholder expectations.

19. B. Procurement negotiations, a tool and technique of Conduct Procurements, can become its own process with inputs and outputs for large or complex projects.

20. C. The requirements phase is where the SOW is prepared. The fourth phase is where the contract is awarded. The solicitation phase is where bids and proposals are prepared. However, evaluation criteria is not applied and reviewed until the award phase. The requisition phase is where the RFP is prepared.

Chapter 10: Measuring and Controlling Project Performance

1. D. Work authorization systems are a tool used during Project Executing processes and are a subset of the project management information system considered part of the enterprise environmental factors input of the Monitor and Control Project Work process. They formally initiate the work of each work package and clarify the assignments.

2. B. You are in the Monitor and Control Project Work process and should recommend a change request that can take the form of a corrective action. Preventive actions reduce the possibility of negative impacts from risk events and do not apply to this situation.

3. D. Negotiation is the preferred method of settling claims or disputes in the Control Procurements process.

4. D. The tools and techniques of the Control Procurements process are contract change control system, procurement performance reviews, inspection and audits, performance reporting, payment systems, claims administration, and records management system.

5. C. The contract change control system describes the processes you’ll use to make changes to the contract; it is not a means of communication. The changes might include contract term changes, date changes, and termination of a contract.

6. B. According to the PMBOK^® Guide, the Control Procurements process is closely coordinated with the Direct and Manage Project Work, Control Quality, Perform Integrated Change Control, and Control Risks processes.

7. A. Communication methods are a tool and technique of the Manage Communications process.

8. A. This question describes the Control Communications process, which is concerned with collecting and reporting information regarding project progress and project accomplishments to the stakeholders.

9. A. The tools and techniques of the Control Communications process are information management systems, expert judgment, and meetings. Records management systems are a tool and technique of the Control Procurements and Close Procurements processes.

10. B. The Delphi method, technology forecasting, scenario building, and forecast by analogy are all in the judgmental methods category of forecasting.

11. B. This question describes the issue log input of the Control Communications process. It is used to track issues, assign owners, track due dates, and more. Options A and C are tools and techniques of this process, and option D is an input.

12. B. When you are dealing with contested changes, the PMBOK^® Guide says that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is the technique you should use to try to reach resolution. The other options are alternatives after you’ve tried ADR.

13. B. Change requests are submitted through other processes like the Monitor and Control Project Work process, and they are reviewed, tracked, managed, analyzed, and documented in this process.

14. D. Change control systems are documented procedures that describe how to submit change requests. They track the status of the change requests, document the management impacts of change, track the change approval status, and define the level of authority needed to approve changes. Change control systems do not approve or deny the changes—that’s the responsibility of the change control board (CCB).

15. C. The key to this question was that the characteristics of the product were documented with this tool. Configuration management documents the physical characteristics and the functionality of the product of the project.

16. C. Change control boards (CCBs) review change requests and have the authority to approve or deny them. Their authority is defined by the configuration control and change control process.

17. A. The three activities associated with configuration management are configuration identification, configuration status accounting, and configuration verification and auditing.

18. D. Configuration management systems are a way to manage approved changes to the specifications of the deliverables or the project management processes.

19. C. These are elements with which the Monitor and Control Project Work process is concerned.

20. C. The other names for CCBs may include TAB, which stands for technical assessment board; TRB, which is a technical review board; and ERB, which is an engineering review board.

Chapter 11: Controlling Work Results

1. A. Changes to product scope should be reflected in the project scope.

2. D. Scatter diagrams display the relationship between an independent and dependent variable over time.

3. C. WBS element changes are scope changes. According to the PMBOK^® Guide, schedule revisions are often required as a result of scope changes.

4. C. The Validate Scope process is concerned with the acceptance of work results. It also formalizes the acceptance of the project scope.

5. B. Validate Scope should document the level and degree of completion of the project given the circumstances in this question. If you come back at a later date and restart this project, Validate Scope will describe how far the project progressed and give you an idea of where to start.

6. B. Schedule variances will sometimes—but not always—impact the schedule. Changes to noncritical path tasks will not likely impact the schedule, but changes to critical path tasks will always impact the schedule.

7. C. To-complete performance index determines the cost performance that must be realized for the remaining work of the project to meet a goal such as BAC or EAC.

8. D. Budget updates might require cost re-baselining.

9. A. Schedule variance is (EV – PV) and schedule performance index is (EV / PV).

10. C. Earned value is referred to as the value of the work that’s been completed to date compared to the budget.

11. D. The CV is a positive number and is calculated by subtracting AC from EV as follows: 250 – 200 = 50. A positive CV means the project is coming in under budget, meaning you’ve spent less than you planned as of the measurement date.

12. A. The SV calculation is EV – PV. If PV is a higher number than EV, you’ll get a negative number as a result.

13. B. CPI is calculated as follows: EV / AC. In this case, 250 / 200 = 1.25.

14. B. When you accept project performance to date and assume future ETC work will be performed at the budgeted rate, EAC is calculated as follows: AC + (BAC – EV). Therefore, the calculation for this question looks like this: 200 + (800 – 250) = 750.

15. C. The correct formula for ETC for this question is as follows: EAC – AC. Therefore, ETC is as follows: 375 – 200 = 175.

16. A. When project performance is expected to behave like past performance, EAC is calculated as follows: EAC = BAC / CPI. Therefore, the calculation for this question looks like this: 800 / 1.25 = 640.

17. D. You first have to calculate EAC in order to calculate VAC. EAC for variances that are atypical is AC + (BAC – EV). So, our numbers are 275 + (500 – 250) = 525. VAC is calculated this way: BAC – EAC. Therefore, 500 – 525 = –25. Our costs are not doing as well as anticipated.

18. C. You must first calculate CPI in order to calculate ETC. CPI is EV / AC. We have 1150 / 1275 = 0.90. ETC with typical cost variances is (BAC –EV) / CPI. Our numbers are (2500 – 1150) / 0.90 = 1500.

19. B. Workarounds are unplanned responses. They deal with negative risk events as they occur. As the name implies, workarounds were not previously known to the project team. The risk event was unplanned, so no contingency plan existed to deal with the risk event, and thus it required a workaround.

20. A. CPI is considered the most critical EVM metric. It measures the cost efficiency of the project work completed at the measuring date.

Chapter 12: Closing the Project and Applying Professional Responsibility

1. D. Integration occurs when resources, equipment, or property are reassigned or redeployed back to the organization or to another project.

2. A. Starvation occurs because the project no longer receives the resources needed to continue. Resources include people, equipment, money, and the like.

3. A. Extinction is the best type of project end because it means the project was completed successfully and accepted by the sponsor or customer. And, although the film was added to the catalogue, it isn’t an addition because it doesn’t add new operations to the company.

4. C. According to The PMBOK^® Guide, the project manager is responsible for documenting the formal acceptance of the work of the contract. This should be done during Close Procurements when projects are performed under contract or during Close Project or Phase if no work was performed under contract. In cases where part of the work was performed under contract and part with in-house staff, formal acceptance should occur in both of these processes. While the PMBOK^® Guide doesn’t specifically note that the project manager should document the administrative closure procedures, contract closure procedures, and product verification, you would wise to do so.

5. A. Procurement audits are used to review the procurement process and identify and document any lessons learned during the procurement process for future reference.

6. A. Lessons learned document the experiences, successes, and failures that occurred during this project for future reference. There isn’t enough information in the question to determine whether option B or D is correct. Option C is not correct because the project was completed.

7. A. According to the PMBOK^® Guide, the procurement audit examines the procurement processes from Plan Procurement Management through Close Procurements.

8. A. You are not responsible for the personal integrity of others, but as project manager you do have influence over others, such as your project team members. You are also responsible for reporting any issues that are considered a violation of the PMI^® Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

9. C. Integrity means you’ll honestly report project outcomes and status. Your personal gain should not be placed above the satisfaction of the customer.

10. D. The best answer to this problem is to develop alternative solutions to address the design error. Reducing technical requirements might be an alternative solution, but it’s not one you’d implement without looking at all the alternatives. Ignoring the error and going forward with production will result in an unsatisfactory product for the customer.

11. A. A luncheon date could be considered a conflict of interest prior to awarding a contract to a vendor. Consider what a competitor of this vendor would think if they spotted you having lunch together. Generally speaking, a single lunch invitation from a vendor is not considered personal gain. If they offered to buy you lunch for the entire year, or even some portion of the year, it could be considered personal gain and your integrity could be called into question.

12. B. The best response to this situation is to thank the vendor and decline based on the fact that this could be considered personal gain on your part. Option D might seem correct, but remember, you’re not responsible for the integrity of others. It’s often common business practice for vendors to offer gifts to potential customers.

13. D. The best response in this case is to accept the gift because it would cause great offense to the other party if you were to decline. Report the gift and the circumstances as soon as possible to the appropriate parties at your company.

14. D. This is a conflict of interest situation, and you should report it as a violation of the PMI^® Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. Even though your friend may decide to return the gifts, as stated in option B, you still have an obligation to report this violation.

15. A. Documenting the requirements and meeting them is one of the key things you can do to ensure customer satisfaction. The requirements describe what the customer is looking for, and the final product is compared against them to determine whether all of the requirements were met.

16. A. The most correct response is to first provide training to your team members to educate them regarding how to respect and work with others from different cultures. Co-location might not be possible when you’re working with team members from two different countries. Team-building exercises are a good idea as well but are not your first course of action.

17. B. The situation presented here requires you to put the interest of the company and the confidentiality of the data above your own personal interests or those of your stakeholders. Option D is not the most correct response because it says you believe the information is public. This implies you haven’t verified whether the data is private or public. Until you know, treat the data as confidential. In this case, the information is confidential and should be shared only with those who have a valid reason for using it.

18. C. As project manager, it’s your responsibility to make sure the people you will be sharing data with have the proper permissions to see the data; this question indicated that you did that. In this case, option D is not correct because it implies that you did not verify ahead of time that the stakeholder had the proper levels of approval to use the data.

19. D. Culture shock is the disoriented feeling that people might experience when working in a foreign country.

20. A. The most appropriate response is to deny the request. Software is considered intellectual property and should not be used for personal gain or given to others without prior consent from the organization. This question states that the release of the beta software is handled through the marketing department, so you should not give your friend a copy of the software outside of this process.