Communications Management ◾ 95
Practice Questions
INSTRUCTIONS: Note the most suitable answer for each multiple- choice
question in the appropriate space on the answer sheet.
1. Working for a government regulatory agency, there is a focus on govern-
ment in the “sunshine” meaning regulatory meetings are open to anyone
who wants to attend. As the portfolio manager in this area, you want the
communications process to be a transparent one so consistent messages
regarding portfolio management are provided. As well, transparent commu-
nications promote:
a. Benets realization
b. An emphasis on sustainability
c. Optimal resource allocation
d. Effective prioritization
2. During your stakeholder analysis, you put stakeholders into groups and rst
determined if they were internal or external. You then focused on determin-
ing their level of interest and inuence concerning the portfolio. You asked
questions such as:
a. What are the needed benets?
b. What is their stance on change?
c. Do they want to be informed of all developments?
d. Are they concerned about updates on key risks?
3. Assume you have been reviewing the various reports you provide to your
stakeholders and realized some were not meeting their needs now that
portfolio management has been implemented in the organization. You have
an automated PMIS and can use it to quickly consolidate data from compo-
nents. You met with some key stakeholders and updated three reports and
realized two others were no longer of interest. Now you need to:
a. Update your PMIS
b. Update component reports
c. Update the portfolio management plan
d. Update the portfolio performance plan
96 ◾ PfMP® Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide
4. Your executives recently attended a conference and learned that your com-
pany is lacking because its portfolio management practices and resources
are inadequate. The executives learned that research reports showed an
effective portfolio management program leads to completing programs and
projects on time and under budget and increases ROI. However, in setting
up a portfolio process, a key item is:
a. A benets realization plan
b. A communications model
c. Information on progress and results
d. Managing scope
5. You set up a stakeholder matrix to show inuence and interest. Recently,
the director of manufacturing and also the director of human resources have
shown an interest in the portfolio, the Portfolio Oversight Group, how often
decisions are made, and how prioritization is done. You classied them in
your matrix as people to inform on an occasional basis but ones with a high
level of possible interest. This example shows:
a. It is necessary to provide more information consistently to those in this
category
b. The portfolio manager requires continual engagement with stakeholders
c. They should receive information on all portfolio decisions
d. They should be considered for openings on the Portfolio Oversight
Group if an existing member leaves
6. As the portfolio manager, most of your time is spent in communications
with stakeholders. You are concerned you may not be meeting their needs
as they seem to be requesting a number of ad hoc reports. You decided to
meet with representatives from each stakeholder group to assess lessons
learned for communications effectiveness. You next should:
a. Use the results from these sessions to revise the communication manage-
ment plan
b. Update portfolio process assets
c. Consider more effective ways to provide stakeholders with needed
information
d. Revisit roles and responsibilities for communications to increase timeli-
ness in responding to requests
Communications Management ◾ 97
7. Working as a portfolio manager, you realize you are spending even more
time communicating than when you were a program and project manager
especially since portfolio management is a new function in your state gov-
ernment agency. In order to realize the full value of each component in the
portfolio, you need to:
a. Ensure it is representative of the investments in it made by the Steering
Committee
b. Has the needed resources to be able to realize its business benets
c. Manage interfaces with operations
d. Ensure each project in the portfolio is set up to create deliverables to sup-
port organizational objectives
8. In your liqueed natural gas company, portfolio management has been
implemented for eight years. As a result, the company has found it to be
benecial in many ways especially in terms of investment decisions and
resource allocation. The company has a large number of portfolio process
assets based on its eight years of work in this area, and one used in commu-
nications is:
a. Security requirements
b. Knowledge management
c. Open issues
d. Vision and mission statements
9. Assume you are a staff member in the recently established Portfolio
Management Ofce in your non- prot organization. The Portfolio Manager
reports to the CEO. Your role is to prepare a communications strategy. To
do so, you surveyed stakeholders at all levels to meet important information
needs. An objective of this strategy is to:
a. Meet requirements set forth in the portfolio charter
b. Provide information that leads to effective decisions
c. Set the stage for a detailed communications plan
d. Ensure people in the organization are committed to portfolio
management
10. Assume you are the portfolio manager in your pharmaceutical company, and
you also are the director of the Portfolio Management Ofce. You report to
the CEO of the company. Your responsibilities are varied, and one that may
be overlooked is:
a. Lessons learned
b. Financial standing
c. Benets and outcomes
d. Risks and issues
98 ◾ PfMP® Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide
11. Assume you are in the process of determining how to best collect, analyze,
deliver, and store information about the portfolio to stakeholders. You want
to set up the most effective approach to best manage portfolio information.
As you do so, you want to make sure all communication action plans are
aligned with the:
a. Strategic goals and objectives
b. Portfolio management plan
c. Portfolio strategic plan
d. Portfolio performance plan
12. Your company hired an OPM3
®
Certied Professional to conduct an assess-
ment of its portfolio management processes against the best practices in the
OPM3
®
model. The consultant found only 10 of the possible portfolio man-
agement best practices were being followed and put together a prioritized
improvement plan to focus on a sequence of initiatives to follow to achieve
desired outcomes and other best practices. It was evident by the few best
practices that were in place was that there is a/an:
a. Need to address misinformation regarding portfolio management and its
purpose
b. Requirement to review the existing portfolio reporting processes and
procedures
c. Over emphasis on program and project management versus portfolio
management in the company
d. Requirement to assess the resources devoted to portfolio management
13. A goal in portfolio communications and in managing information is to pro-
mote informed decision making. There are many ways to ensure that data to
be provided to stakeholders are meaningful. One approach is to:
a. Establish a PMIS
b. Determine communications constraints
c. Conduct lessons learned sessions
d. Select data to share on a web portal
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