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262 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the activities and tasks for a project?
C.1 P.2 |
Have a specific objective to be completed within certain specifications. Have defined start and end dates. Have funding limits. Consume human and nonhuman resources. Are multifunctional |
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Project management involves project planning and project monitoring. List the items associated with each.
C.1 P3 |
Project planning: definition of the work requirements, definition of the quality and quantity of work, definition of the resources needed, scheduling the activies, evaluation of the various risks
Project Monitoring and control: tracking progress, comparing actual outcome to predicted outcome, analyzing variances and impacts, making adjustments |
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Identify the potential benefits of and obstacles to project management.
C.1 P.3 |
Benefits: identification of functional responsibilities to ensure that all activities are accounted for, regardless of personnel turnover, minimizing the need for continuous reporting, identification of time limits for scheduling, identification of a methodology for trade-off analysis, measurement of accomplishment against plans, early identification of problems, improved estimating capabilities for future planning, knowing when objectives cannot be met
Obstacles: project complexity, customer's special requirements and scope changes, organizational restructuring, project risks, changes in technology, forward planning and pricing |
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Which of the following must be held to a minimum during a project? A. Cost B. Time C. Scope changes D. A&B only |
Scope Changes |
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Who is responsible for coordinating and integrating activities across multiple functional lines? A. Project Manager B. Functional Manager C. Functional Employee D. Executive |
A. Project Manager |
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What are the 3 elements of a functional manager's role?
C.1 P.14 |
1.) The functional manager has responsibility to define how the task will be done and where the task will be done. 2.) The functional manager has the responsibility to provide sufficient resources to accomplish the objective within the project's constraints 3.) The functional manager has the responsibility for deliverable. |
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The functional employee is expected to accomplish a number of activities when assigned to a project. Which of the following are those activities? A. Complete the work at the earliest possible time B. Define how the task will be done and where the task will be done C. Bring problems to the surface quickly D. A and C only |
Complete the work at the earliest possible time, and Bring problems to the surface quickly for resolution |
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Which of the following people prefers to work individually, is committed to their profession, seeks perfection, and manages things? A. Project managers B. Project sponsors C. Project Champions D. Fucntional managers |
C. Project Champions |
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What statement describes concurrent or simultaneous engineering the best? A. It requires that marketing, R&D, engineering and productions are all actively involved in the later project phases. B. This concept will de-accelerate product development C. It contains no risk of rework D. It is an attempt to accomplish work in parallel rather than in series |
It is an attempt to accomplish work in parallel rather than in series |
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What type of company would find project management mandatory? A. Complex tasks in a dynamic environment B. Simple tasks in a dynamic environment C. Simple tasks in a static environment D. Complex tasks in a static environment |
Complex tasks in a dynamic environment |
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In order, the 5 life-cycle phases for project management maturity are:
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Embryonic, executive management, line management, growth, maturity |
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Which one of the following was a contributing factor in the resistance to change towards project management? A. Mergers and acquisitions created more multinational companies B. Intranet status reporting came of age C. The recessions of 1979-1983 and 1989-1993 D. Senior management's preference for the status quo |
Seniors management's preference for the status quo |
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Identify the correct order from largest to smallest A. project, program, system B. Program, project, system C. System, program, project D. System, project, program |
System, program, project |
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what is the number of years it typically takes to achieve maturity and excellence?
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Maturity 2+ years, excellence 5+ years |
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Perceived failure is ? |
The net sum of actual failure and planning failure. |
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Which of the following is not a theoretical definition of the life-cycle phases of a project? A. Conceptual B. Hybrid C. Planning D. Implementation |
Hybrid |
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During the 1990's which of the following processes were integrated into a single methodology? A. Project management and total quality management B. Concurrent engineering and scope change control C. Risk management D . All of the above |
All of the above |
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Which of the following is the change process pattern? A. Denial, Resistance, exploration, support B. Resisteance, exploration, denial, support C. Resistance, denial, resistance, exploration, support D. Denial, resistance, exploration, resistance, support |
Denial, resistance, exploration, resistance, support |
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Identify at least 3 key point in the role of systems development in contemporary business |
Need for new operating principles, business reengineering, The need for an innovative systems perspective, the need for involvement from senior business management, evolution of a process |
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A common example of a commercial application in the 1960s involved processing insurance polices. What was one activity related to policy issuance that was automated at most insurance companies? A. Policy underwriting B. Producing policy documents C. Premium billing and collection D. Producing sales promotion materal |
Premium billing and collection |
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Identify at least 3 developments of the 1970s |
Mini Computer Establishment of IS organization Use of prototypes Hierarchial organization Waterfall Model |
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One of the events in the 1980s that had significant effect on systems development was the introduction of PCs into the business organization. What was one way in which this affected systems development? |
Users began to develop their own solutions to business |
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Users began to develop their own solutions to business |
it lost in the categories of system maintainability and scope creep. Spaghetti scope |
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What are some of the components of Architected evolution? |
Vision and strategy, business area architecture, process modeling, application planning |
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What is one of the newer roles seen on project development teams? A. Business Technician B. Application caseworker C. Technical specialist D. Technical analyst |
Application caseworker |
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Which of the following best describes what a business process is? A. The rethinking and radical redesign to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance B. The activity that supports a business function C. The sequence of activities that brings value to a customer D. The change in one component that can trigger a change in others |
The sequence of activities that brings value to a customer |
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Identify the 3 types of activities that business processes typically contain. |
Value adding work, non-value adding work, and waste. |
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What is the focus and goal of business process redesign? |
The goal of business process redesign is major performance improvement |
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The purpose of business process redesign is to achieve improvements in which of the following measures of performance? A. Cost, quality, service, speed B. Quality, Efficiency, speed, service C. Speed, service, efficiency, cost D. Cost, Quality, efficiency, service |
Cost, quality, service, speed |
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What is a goal of business process redesign? |
A gain of a competitive advantage |
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List the key participants in process redesign and describe their primary roles and responsibilities |
Senior management as champions and sustaining sponsors Middle management as change agents and designers, staff for information, ideas, insight, and design Outsiders for information, benchmarks, and the "alternate view", New role for IS, |
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List some of the advantages and desirable outcomes that one would expect as an end result of a process redesign effort. |
Task integration elimination of waste and lost time cost reduction greater customer satisfaction inventory reductions |
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Identify the 4 major factors causing the organizational revolution. |
The technology revolution competition and the profit squeeze the high cost of marketing |
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Accountability can be defined as which of the following? A. The power granted to individuals to make decisions B. The state of being totally answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific project C. Authority plus responsibility D. B&C |
The state of being totally answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific project AND Authority plus responsibility |
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What are the advantages and disadvantages of the traditional/classical functional organizational form? (all) |
ADVANTAGES: easier budgeting and cost control are possible, better technical control is possible, flexibility in the use of manpower, a broad manpower base to work with, continuity in the functional disciplines; polices, procedures, and line of responsibilities are easily defined and understandable, admits mass production activities within established specifications, good control over personnel, since each employee has one and only one person to report to, communication channels are vertical and well established, quick reaction capability exists but may be dependent upon the priorities of the functional managers.
DISADVANTAGES: No one individual is directly responsible for the total project, does not provide the project-oriented emphasis necessary to accomplish the project tasks, coordination becomes complex, and additional lead time is required for approval of decisions, decisions normally favor the strongest functional groups, no customer focal point, response to customer needs to slow, difficulty in pinpointing responsibility; this is the result of little or no direct project reporting, very little project oriented planning, and no project authority, motivation and innovation are decreased, ideas tend to be functionally oriented with little regard for ongoing projects. |
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Early attempts to restructure organizations toward better project management were designed to keep the project manager, then called "project leader": A. As low as possible in the organization B. At the same level C. Above the first level of supervision D. At the middle management |
As low as possible in the organization |
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Give 2 reasons why departmental project management works best in small organizations |
The other department managers know that they may have to supply the project leader on the next activity and there are only 3 functional boundaries or departments involved. |
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Which organizational structure depends on continuous flow of projects for work to be stable and conflicts minimized? A. line-staff B. Pure product/project C. Matrix D. Traditional |
Pure Product/Project |
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Most people consider a benefit of matrix management to be: A. Project cost minimization by allowing employees to share their time on multiple projects B. Allowing employees to be dedicated to one and only one project C. Giving project managers wage and salary administration responsibility D. All of the above |
Project cost minimization by allowing employees to share their time on multiple projects |
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Which of the following organizational forms would be likely to have an individual with the title of Director of Project Management? A. Classical/traditional B. Pure product/project C. Matrix D. Line-Staff |
Matrix |
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The basic factors that influence the selection of a project organizational form include: A. Size of project B. Length of the project C. Available resources D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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Who is the person with the greatest influence during the staffing phase? |
Project Manager |
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What do the major responsibilities of the project manager include? |
1. Produce the end-item with the available resources and within the constraints of time, cost, and performance/technology 2. To meet contractual profit objectives 3. To make all required decisions whether they be for alternatives or termination 4. To act as the customer and upper-level and functional management communications focal point 5. To "negoiate" with all functional disciplines for accomplishment of the necessary work packages within the constraints of time, cost, performance/technology 6. To resolve all conflicts |
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Explain what skills project managers must demonstrate in order to fulfill their responsibilities successfully |
interface resource planning and control management |
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Which one of the ten program manager skills involves a whole spectrum of management skills required to identify, commit, and integrate various task groups from the traditional functional organization into a single program management system? A. Organizational skills B. Planning skills C. Leadership Skills D. Team-building Skills |
Team-Building Skills |
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Which of the following are the primary skills needed to be an effective project manager in the 21st century? A. Knowledge of the business, risk management, integration skills B. Technical expertise, risk management, leadership skills C. Team-building, leadership skills, technical expertise D. Leadership skills, knowledge of the business, integration skills |
Knowledge of the business, risk management, integration skills |
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Define project office and explain what the responsibilities of the project office include |
Project office is an organization developed to support the project manager in carrying out his duties Responsibilities: Acting as the focal point of information for both in-house control and customer reporting, controlling time, cost, and performance to adhere to contractual requirements, ensuring that all work required is documented and distributed to all key personnel, ensuring that all work performed is both authorized and funded by contractual documentation |
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What is the most common cause of project failure? |
The lack of proper integration of these functional units is most common cause of project failure |
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List and define the 7 destructive roles that can undermine a project? |
The aggressor, the dominator, the devil's advocate (finds faults in all areas of project, refuses to support project management, act more of a devil than an advocate), the topic jumper, the recognition seeker, The withdrawer, The blocker |
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Which one of the destructive roles must be the first one with a new idea/approach to project management? |
the topic jumper |
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Which one of the supportive roles would use the words "let's try this" |
The initiator |
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List and explain the 5 management school philosophies (empirical school) |
. Classical/traditional management school - management is the process of getting things done (i.e., achieving objectives) by working both with and through people operating in organized groups. Emphasis is placed on the end-item or objective, with little regard for the people involved. |
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Which 2 of the 5 management schools are utilized by project managers? A. Empirical/behavioral B. Behavioral/decision theory C. Decision theory/management systems D. Management systems/traditional |
Decision theory/management system |
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Define the 3 steps associated with the "controlling" function |
Measuring-determining through formal and informal reports the degree to which progress toward objectives is being made
Evaluating-determining cause of and possible ways to act on significant deviations from planned performance, and correcting
Taking control action to correct an unfavorable trend or to take advantage of an unusually favoratable trend |
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The "directing" functional involves which of the following steps? A. staffing, training, evaluating B. supervising, delegating, measuring C. measuring, evaluating, corrective D. motivating, counseling, coordinating |
D. motivating, counseling, coordinating |
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Which of the following is viewd as the critical stage of a project? A. planning B. organizing C. directing D. controlling |
Planning |
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List and define the 5 interpersonal influences that project managers use (*referent power) |
Legitimate power, reward power, penalty power, expert power, referent power.
-Legitimate power - The ability to gain support because project personnel perceive the project manager as being officially empowered to issue orders. |
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What barriers are typical for many project environments? |
Differing outlooks, priorities and interested role conflicts project objectives/outcomes not clear dynamic project environments competition over team leadership lack of team definition and structure team personnel selection credibility of project leader lack of team member commitment communication problems lack of senior management |
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Which one is NOT a barrier to effective team building? A. Dynamic project environment B. Team personnel Selection C. Cost allocation issues D. Credibility of project leader |
Cost allocation issues |
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List the 5 most common dysfunctions of a team |
1. Absence of trust 2. Fear of conflict 3. lack of commitment 4. avoidance of accountability 5. inattention to results |
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Leadership emphasis is best seen by who? |
Contributions from people organizational order employee performance performance of the project manager. |
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The two most common problem areas in the project environment are: A. task assignment and evaluation process B. Training and development C. Job descriptions and salary grades D. Authority and responsibility |
Authority and responsibility |
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What are the 9 techniques that can be used to improve communications? |
1. Obtaining feedback 2. Establishing multiple communications channels 3. Using face-to-face communications is possible 4. determining how sensitive the receiver is to your communications 5. being aware of symbolic meaning such as expressions on people's faces 6. communicating at the proper time 7. reinforcing words with actions 8. using simple language 9. using redundancy |
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Which one of the following is a barrier associated with communications? A. reinforcing words with actions B. using redundancy C. Receiver evaluating the source before accepting the communications D. Words meaning the same things to different people |
Receiver evaluating the source before accepting the communications |
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Between what relationships do communication traps occur most frequently? A. Customer-contractor B. Project office - line managers C. Project manager - customer D. None of the above |
A. Customer-contractor |
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What questions can be asked of project managers to help them realize that a time management problem may exist? Assignment 7 C6 pg 286 |
1. Do you have trouble completing work within deadlines? 2. how many interruptions are there each day? 3. Do you have a procedure for handling interruptions 4. If you need a large block of interrupted time, is it available? with or without overtime 5. How do you handle drop-in visitors and phone calls? 6. How is incoming mail handled? 7. Do you have est procedures for routine work? 8. Are you accomplishing more or less than you were 3 months ago? 6 months ago? 9. How difficult is it for you to say no? 10. How do you approach detail work? 11. Do you perform work that should be handled by your subordinates? 12. Do you have sufficient time each day for personal interests? 13. Do you still think about your job when away from the office? 14. Do you make a list of things to do? If yes, is the list prioritized? 15. Does your schedule have some degree of flexibility? |
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Which of the following are time robbers? A. Incomplete work B. Desire for perfection C. Too many meetings D. All of the above Assignment 7 |
All of the above |
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List the steps (in chronological order) to follow when using a "to do" pad and a daily calendar log. Assignment 7 |
-Prepare the list of things to do |
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List the techniques that project managers can practice in order to make better use of their time. assignment 7 |
Delegate follow the schedule decide fast decide who should attend learn to say no start now do the tough part first travel light work at travel spots avoid useless memos refuse to do the unimportant look ahead, ask: is this trip necessary know your energy cycle control telephone and email send out the meeting agenda overcome procrastination manage exception |
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Identify the rules for time management that all project managers must establish in order to be effective
Assignment 7 p. 290 |
Rules for time management: conduct a time analysis(time log) plan solid blocks for important things classify your activities establish priorities establish opportunity cost on activities train your system practice delegation practice calculated neglect practice management by exception focus on opportunities - not on problems |
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List the factors that can make an occupation stressful, all of which are common in a project manager's job
assignment 7 p 290 |
responsibility without the authority or ability to exert control a necessity for perfection the pressure of deadlines role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload the crossing of organizational boundaries responsibility for the actions of subordinates and the necessity to keep up with the information explosions or technological breakthroughs. |
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One of the manifestations of stress for a project manager is "feeling trapped". Identify the most common situation in which project managers feel trapped, and provide a suggestion for how to remedy the situation
Assignment 7 |
The most common situation where PM's feel trapped is when they have no control over the assigned resources on the project and feel as though they are at the mercy of the line managers. Providing the project manager with some type of direct reward power can remedy the situation. |
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What invites conflict to occur? Assignment 8 |
The objectives of the project must be made known to all the project personnel and managers at every level of the organization. If this information is not communicated accurately, then it is entirely possible that upper level managers , project managers, and functional managers may all have a different interpretation of the ultimate objective, a situation that invites conflicts. |
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Projects are established with objective in mind. Which of the following is NOT characteristic of what a project objective should be? A. General in nature B. Not overly complex C. Established within resource bounds D. None of the above
Assignment 8 |
General in nature |
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The most common types of conflicts involve: A manpower resources, capital expenditures, costs B. priorities, personality clashes, scheduling, technical opinions, and performance trade-offs C. responsibilities, administrative procedures, equipment and facilities D. All of the above
Assignment 8 |
All of the above |
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What are the 4 most common methods for resolving conflict?
Assignment 8 |
1. Development of company-wide conflict resolution policies and procedures 2. the establishment of project conflict resolution procedures during the early planning activities 3. Use of hierarchical referral 4. Requirement of direct contact |
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Which one of the 4 conflict resolution methods is often very effective?
Assignment 8 |
the establishment of project conflict resolution procedures during the early planning activities. "Plan" for conflicts during the planning activities. |
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What statement best describes direct contact? A. Conflicting parties meet face-to-face and resolve their disagreement B. project and functional manager agree that their common superior must resolve conflict Managers prefer to resolve conflicts in their own fashion D. Penalty power is the best resolution to conflict
Assignment 8 |
Conflicting parties meet face-to-face and resolve their disagreement |
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What is needed for a project manager to be effective? A. Develop a company wide conflict resolution policies and procedures B. Set strict completion dates and deadlines for projects C. Understand how to work with the various employees who interface with the project D. Ignore personality conflicts and hope they will go away on their own
Assignment 8 |
Understand how to work with the various employees who interface with the project |
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Which is NOT a logical step or sequence of events that should be taken if a confrontation meeting is necessary? A. Collecting the information B. Dictating the information C. Sharing the information D. Organizing the group E. Setting the climate F. Analyzing the images G. Defining the problem H. Setting priorities I. Problem-solving J. Developing an action plan K. Implementing the work L. Following up |
Dictating the information |
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Which of the following is a conflict minimization procedure? A. not pausing and thinking before reacting B. not educating others on your views C. not acting as a superman and leveling the discussion only once in a while D. none of the above
Assignment 8 |
Not acting as a superman and leveling the discussion only once in a while |
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Which conflict resolution mode should be used to maintain your relationship with your opponent? A. Confronting B. Compromising C. Smoothing/accommodating D. Avoiding/withdrawing
Assignment 8 |
Compromising |
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Which conflict resolution mode is used as an attempt to reduce the emotions that exist in a conflict? A. Confronting B. Compromising C. Smoothing/accommodating D. Avoiding/withdrawing
Assignment 8 |
Smoothing/accommodating |
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Which of the conflict resolution modes is often regarded as a temporary solution/ Explain why.
Assignment 8 |
Avoiding (or withdrawing) The problem and the resulting conflict can come up again and again |
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The "Defining of a start and end date" is an activity or task of which of the following? A. Plan B. Program C. Performance D. Project |
Project |
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Which of the following must be held to a minimum during a project? A. Cost B. Scope Changes C. Time D. Staff |
Scope changes |
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Who has the responsibility for coordinating and integrating activities across multiple, functional lines? |
Project manager |
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Who has the responsibility for providing sufficient resources to accomplish the objective within the projects constraints? A. Project manager B. Project Planner C. Functional Manager D. Executive |
Functional Manager |
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Which of the following people prefers to :work in groups; is committed to their managerial and technical responsibilities; are willing to take risks; manages people? A. Project manager B. Project sponsor C. Functional Manager D. Project Champion |
Project manager |
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What statement describes concurrent or simultaneous engineering the best? A. It requires that marketing R&D, engineering and production are all actively involved in the later project phases B. It is an attempt to accomplish work in parallel rather than in series C. This concept will de-accelerate product development D. It contains no risk or rework |
It is an attempt to accomplish work in parallel rather than in series |
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Companies can be characterized by the types of their tasks (simple or complex) and environment (Dynamic or static). A company with what combo of these finds project management mandatory? A. Simple tasks in dynamic environment B. Complex tasks in a dynamic environment C. Simple tasks in a static environment D. Complete tasks in a static environment
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Complex Tasks in a dynamic environment |
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Lists in correct order the 5 life-cycle phases for project management maturity
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Embryonic Executive management Line management Growth Maturity |
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What was the principle cause of early resistance to project management? A. Intranet statue reporting came to age B. Mergers and acquisitions created multinational companies C. The recessions of 1979-1983 and 1989-1993 D. Seniors management's preference for the status quo |
Seniors management's preference for the status quo |
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Identify the correct order of these from SMALLEST to LARGEST A. project, program, system B. program, project, system C. system, program, project D. system, project, program |
Project Program System |
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Which of the following is one of the theoretical definitions of the lift-cycle phases of a project? A. Hybrid B. Conceptual C. Matrix D. Layered |
Conceptual |
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Which of the following is the change process pattern? A. Denial, resistance, exploration, support B. Resistance, denial, exploration, support C. Resistance, exploration, denial, support D. Denial, resistance, exploration, resistance, support |
Denial Resistance Exploration Resistance Support |
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Perceived failure is....... |
The net sum of actual failure and planning failure |
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What was the major problem with the evolutionary development model? A. System maintainability B. Scope creep C. Spaghetti Code D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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Which is not a component of the Architected Evolution: A. Process modeling B. Business areas architecture C. Application project D. Vision and Strategy
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Application Project |
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One of the events in the 1980s that had a significant effect on systems development was the introduction of PCs into the business organization. What was one way in which this affected systems development? A. The waterfall method of systems developed was adopted by some users B. It required a centralized IS organization to support new hardware and software C. Users began to develop their own solutions to business D. It introduced the Evolutionary Development Model |
Users began to develop their own solutions to business |
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The purpose of business process redesign is to achieve improvements in which of the following measures of performance? A. Cost, Quality, Efficiency, Service B. Quality, Efficiency, Speed, Service C. Speed, Service, Efficiency, Cost D. Cost, Quality, Service, Speed |
Cost Quality Service Speed |
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What is one of the newer roles seen on project development ? A. Business technician B. Application case worker C. Technical specialist D. Application specialist |
Application case worker |
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Who are key participants in the process redesign? A. Senior management B. Staff C. A only D. A and B |
Senior management and staff |
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What is a goal of business process redesign? A. reorganization of human resources B. a reduction in cost C. a gain of a competitive advantage D. adaptation of existing assumptions to current conditions |
a gain of a competitive advantage |
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What is NOT an advantage you would expect as an end result of a process redesign effort? A. Elimination of waste and lost time B. Inventory reductions C. Greater customer satisfaction D. Additional Costs |
Additional Costs |
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Accountability can be defined as which of the following? A. The power granted to individuals to make decisions B. The state of being totally answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific project C. Authority plus responsibility |
The state of being totally answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific project & Authority plus responsibility |
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Which of the following is a disadvantage of the traditional structure? A. No customer focal point B. Too much direct project reporting C. Too much formal authority for the project leader D. Budgeting and cost control are very challenging |
No customer focal point |
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Early attempts to restructure organizations toward better project management were designed to keep the project manager, then called ‘project leader’, at what level of the organization? |
As low as possible in the organization |
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Which organizational structure depends on a continuous flow of projects for work to be stable and conflicts minimized? A. Pure Product/ Project B. Line Staff C. Matrix D. Traditional |
Pure Product/ Project |
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Provides complete line authority over the project, provides participants work directly for the project manager, personnel demonstrate loyalty to the project are all advantages of which of the following organizational forms? A. Pure Product/ Project B. Line Staff C. Matrix D. Traditional
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Pure Product/ Project |
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Most people consider a benefit of matrix management to be: A. project cost minimization by allowing employees to share their time on multiple projects B. Allowing employees to be dedicated to one and only one project C. Giving project managers wage and salary administration responsibility D. All of the above |
project cost minimization by allowing employees to share their time on multiple projects |
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The basic factor(s) that influence(s) the selection of a project organizational form include which of the following? A. size and nature of the project B. Length of the project C. Available resources D. All of these choices |
All of these choices |
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What skills do project managers need to fulfill their responsibilities successfully? A. Interface management, and resource management B. Interface management, resource management and planning and control management C. Interface management, and planning and controlling D. Resource management, and planning and controlling |
Interface management, resource management and planning and control management |
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Who is the person with the greatest influence during the staffing phase of a project? |
Project Manager |
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Which one of the ten program manager skills involves a whole spectrum of management skills required to identify, commit, and integrate various task groups from the traditional functional organization into a single program management system? A. Organizational Skills B. Planning skills C. Leadership Skills C. Team building Skills |
Team building skills |
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Which of the following is NOT a primary skill needed to be an effective project manager in the 21st century? A. Leadership skills B. Integration skills C. Risk Management skills D. Knowledge of business |
leadership skills |
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Which of the following is NOT a responsibility of the Project Office? A. ensuring that all work required is documented and distributed to all key personnel B. Act as the focal point of information for both in-house control and customer reporting performance C. Making all the required decisions whether they be for alternatives or termination D. Controlling time, cost and performance to adhere to contractual requirements |
Making all the required decisions whether they be for alternatives or termination |
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What is NOT one of the four major activities that indicate the need for using full-time people? A. Integration of activities B. In-House and Out-of-house communication C. Scheduling with risk and uncertainty C. Budgeting Controls |
Budgeting controls
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Which one of the destructive roles finds fault in all area’s of project management? A. The aggressor B. The devil's Advocate C. The dominator C. The recognition seeker |
The devil's advocate |
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Which one of the supportive roles would use the words “Lets try this”? A. The encouragers B. The harmonizers C. The gatekeepers D. None |
None |
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The “Controlling” function involves three steps, which of the following is NOT one of those steps? A. Measuring B. Correcting C. Evaluating D. Delegating |
Delegating |
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The “Directing” function involves which of the following steps? A. Staffing, training, evaluating B. Supervising, delegating, measuring C. Motivating, counseling, coordinating D. Measuring, evaluating, correcting |
Motivating Counseling Coordinating |
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Which of the following is viewed as the critical stage of a project? A. Controlling B. Organizing C. Directing D. Planning |
Planning |
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Leadership emphasis is best seen by which of the following? A. management problem solving, organizational order, employee performance and performance of the project manager B. Contributions from people, organizational order, employee performance and performance of the project manager C. Contributions from the people, organizational order, performance of the project manager and management problem solving D. None |
Contributions from people, organizational order, employee performance and performance of the project manager |
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Which one is NOT a barrier to effective team building? A. Dynamic project environments B. Team personnel selection C. Credibility of project leaser D. Cost allocation issues |
Cost allocation issues |
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Which of the following are the two most common problem areas in the project environment are? A. Task assignment and evaluation B. Task assignment and personal values C. Evaluation process and conflits D. Authority and responsiblity |
Authority and responsibility |
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Between what relationships do communication traps occur most frequently? A. project office - line managers B. Customer - contractor C. Project manager - customer D. None of the above |
Customer - contractor |
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Which of the following are considered time robbers? A. Incomplete work B. Desire for perfection C. Too many meetings D. All of the above |
All the above |
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The most common situation where project managers feel trapped is when they have no control over the assigned resources on a project. How can they overcome this situation? A. They can do the work themselves rather than delegate B. They should keep their door open for questions C. They should focus on methods D. The project manager should have some type of direct reward power |
The project manager should have some type of direct reward power |
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What question is NOT asked of project manager to help them realize that a time management problem may exist? A. Do you have a procedure for handling interruptions? C. How difficult is it to say no? D. How do you handle drop-in visitors and phone calls?
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How easy is it for you to say yes? |
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Which of the following are techniques that project managers can practice in order to make better use of their time? A. Delegate B. Follow schedule C. Manage by exception, delegate, start now D. All of these choices |
All of these choices |
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Which of the steps below is NOT a step used when using a “To do” pad? A. Prepare the list of things to do B. Assign the appropriate priorities C. Transfer the highest priorities to the daily calendar log D. Calculate the risks associated with not doing something |
Calculate the risk associated with not doing something |
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What factors can make an occupation stressful for a project manager's job? A. Responsibility with the authority or ability to exert control B. Established delegation C. Responsibility for the actions of top management D. Responsibility for the actions of subordinates |
Responsibility for the actions of subordinates |
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What are the four key attributes shared by all successful project plans? |
1. Systematic 2. Flexible 3. Disciplined 4. Multifunctional |
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Basic reasons for project planning include all except A.) Eliminate or reduce uncertainty B.) Define tasks C.) Promote better understanding of objectives D.) Provide basis for monitoring and controlling work E.) Improve efficiency of the operation |
Define tasks |
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Project management/project planning is most closely aligned with: A. Strategic planning (5 yrs or more) B. Tactical planning (1-5 yr) C. Operational planning (6 mnths to 1 yr) D. Procedural planning (1 mnth-6 mnths) |
C. Operational Planning - 6 months to 1 year |
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Operational planning is generally for how long? |
6mnths - 1 year |
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In order to keep planning on target, project managers should: A. stay flexible B. Let functional managers do their own planning C. Test the assumptions behind the forecasts D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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During which phase of the project is it best to approach to choose and document project objectives? |
3rd life cycle: Preliminary planning or defining the requirments |
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The conceptualization phase includes brainstorming and common sense and involves which 2 critical factors? A. Identify and define the problem B. Feasibility C. Identify and define potential solutions D. A & C only |
Identify and define the problem and identify and define potential solutions |
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Up to ____% of the direct labor hours and dollars can be spend before execution begins: A. 25 B. 50 C 75 D. None of the above |
50% |
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What is the preferred method for project proposal preparation? |
Proposal manager prepares proposal but is assisted by a project manager |
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What two characteristics are common to project objectives? |
They are interrelated both implicitly and explicitly |
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Problems can occur in trying to properly define a project because: A. Project goals may not be agreeable to all parties B. The plan was too loose, thus allowing priororities to change C. Turnover of project personnel is low D. There is too much communication between the client and project personnel |
Project goals may not be agreeable to all parties |
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Effective total program planning must include: |
The Statement of work |
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A work-breakdown structure can best be defined as a: |
Product-oriented family tree of activities |
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List four considerations for preparation of the WBS |
1. Scheduling 2. configuration management 3. contract funding 4. technical performance parameters |
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Why is the WBS the single most important element in planning? A. provides project start date B. Provides a common framework C. Provides project requirements D. provides ground rules |
Provides a common framework |
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What are the purposes and characteristics for each level in the WBS? |
Level 1: Is generally used for the authorization and release of all work Level 2: prepare budgets Level 3: prepare schedules |
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Which of the following is a characteristic of a work package? A. Represent units of work at a level where work is performed B. Clearly distinguish one set of tasks from all others assigned to a single functional group C. Limit the work to be performed to relatively short periods of time D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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If the contractor is required to develop a WBS, name the guideline(s) that must be considered. |
Complexity and technical requirements of the program |
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What is a narrative description of the effort to be performed by the cost center? A. MCCS B. CWBS C. SWD D. SOW |
SWD - Subdivided work description |
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Give the reasons project plans fail. |
Corporate goals are not understood at the lower organizational levels |
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How does one stop a project? |
The "Hachet" |
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What are some of the personnel issues that might arise that are associated with the closing (final phase) of a project? |
If job assignments beyond the current project look undesirable or uncertain to project team members, a great deal of anxiety and conflict may develop that diverts needed energy to job hunting, foot dragging, or even sabotage. |
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What is the question that should be considered before preparing a schedule? A. How much of a detailed technical breakdown should be included? B. How many interruptions are there each day? C. What is the impact of overtime? D. All of the above |
How much of a detailed technical breakdown should be included? |
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Describe what a hedge position is on a schedule |
Situation in which the contractor may not be able to meet a customer's milestone date without incurring risks, or may not be able to meet activity requirements following a milestone date because of contractual requirements |
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What is the definition of a master production schedule? List its objectives |
Is a statement of what will be made, how many units will be made, and when they will be made (production plan not a sales plan). |
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What are the most common reasons for revising a project plan? A. "Crashing" activities to meet end dates B. Trade-off decisions involving manpower, scheduling, and performance C. Adjusting and leveling manpower requests D. all of the above |
All of the above |
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What are the 4 main sections of a project plan? |
1. Introduction 2. Summary and conclusions 3. Management 4. Technical |
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Why might documenting the project manager's authority be necessary? |
The project manager must have the authority to "force" functional managers to depart from existing standards and possibly incur risk |
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Today, the project charter is an internal legal document that includes what? |
Manager's authority and responsibility |
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What risks are associated with fast-tracking a project? |
Completion date |
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What question should the configuration control committee answer? A. When will the task be done? B. Who will do the task? C. What is the cost of the change? D. Why will the task be done? |
What is the cost of the change |
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What benefits does effective configuration control give? |
Better communication among staff |
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The most common types of schedules are Gantt charts, milestone charts, line of balance, and which of the following? A. Networks B. Time phased events C. Calendar integrated activities D. B and C |
Networks |
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Basic requirements of the PERT/time method include all except which of the following? A. Events and activities must be sequenced B. Time estimates must be made for all activities C. Critical path and slack times are computed D. Cut time required for routine decisions |
Cut time required for routine decisions |
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The advantages of network-based schedules include which of the following? A. Reveals interdependencies B. Facilitates "what-if" exercises C. Identifies critical activities D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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What is the work required to proceed from one event or point in time to another called? |
Activity |
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PERT is used for: |
PERT is used for projects where the risks in calculating time durations have variability. CPM is used for projects that are resource dependent and based on accurate time estimates |
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List the 3 basic types of interrelationships/dependencies. |
Mandatory |
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Activities with zero time duration are referred to as which of the following? A. Critical path actives B. Slack time activities C. Dummy Activities D. Events |
Dummy Activities |
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Slack is defined as the difference between the latest allowable date and the earliest expected date based on which of the following ? A. TE B. ES C. TL D. Both A & C |
TE TL |
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When does negative slack normally occur? |
When the forward pass extends beyond the customer's end date |
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Methods for reducing expected project time include all except which of the following? A. Addition of more resources B. Parallelization of activities C. Calculating slack D. Shortening early activities |
Calculating slack |
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In step 4 of the PERT scheduling process the functional manager converts the arrow diagram to a PERT chart using time estimates that assume which of the following? A. Optimum schedules B. Unlimited resources C. Management approvals D. Least cost |
Unlimited resources |
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What is the term used for considering speeding up certain portions of a project? |
Crashing |
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Which is not an advantage to PERT/time? A. Trade-off studies for resource control B. Visually tracking up to date performance C. Demonstrating integrated planning D. Providing contingency planning in the later stages of the project |
Providing contingency planning in the later stages of the project |
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The time period between the early start/finish of one activity and the early start/finish of another activity in the sequential chain is referred to as which of the following? A. Slack B. Free Float C. Lag D. Level Float |
Lag - the time period between the early start or finish of one activity and the early start or finish of another activity in sequential change. |
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List the 3 categories of project management software and give a brief description of each. |
Level 1 software, Level 2 software Level 3 software*
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Which type of capital budgeting method tends to be more conservative in its approach? A. Internal rate of return (IRR) B. Pay back period C. Time value of money D. Net Present value (NPV) Assignment 12 |
Net present value (NPV) |
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Which type of capital budgeting method tends to be the least precise in its approach? A. Internal rate of return (IRR) B. Pay back period C. Time value of money D. Net Present value (NPV) |
Pay back period |
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Using the net present value (NPV) approach, when would you accept a project? A. If the NPV is greater than 0 dollars B. If the NPV is less than zero dollars C. If the NPV is greater than or equal to zero dollars D. If the NPV is equal to zero dollars |
If the NPV is greater than or equal to zero dollars |
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Which type of capital budgeting method tends to be the most sophisticated approach? A. IRR B. NPV C. Paypack period D. Time value money |
Internal rate of return (IRR) |
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Which is not a phase of the operating cycle? A. Cost analysis B. Planning C. Work authorization and release D. Customer and management reporting E. Cost data collection and reporting |
Planning |
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What are the 4 categories of cost data that are normally collected?
A. Labor, material, other direct charges, and overhead B. Labor, material, accounts payable, and overhead C. Material, overtime, other expenses, and overhead D. none of the above |
Labor, Material, Other direct charges, Overhead |
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Which of the following is a common cause of cost problems? A. All of the answers listed B. Inadequate work breakdown structure C. Poor comparison of actual and planned costs D. Schedule delays that require overtime or idle time costing |
All of the answers listed |
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In which phases of project development can cost overruns occur? A. Planning and negotiation B. Contractual and design C. Design and production D. All phases of project development |
Cost overruns can occur in any phase of project development |
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Identify the 2 primary components of risk for a given event and how they relate to the magnitude of the risk.
Assignment 13 |
1. A probability of occurrence of that event or likelyhood
2. impact (or consequence) of the event occuring (amount at stake). Likelyhood increases risk increases. |
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What do we call future events or outcomes that are favorable? A. Surprises B. Opportunities C. Risks D. Contingencies |
Opportunities |
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What do we call future events or outcomes that are unfavorable? A. Surprises B. Opportunities C. Risks D. Contingencies |
Risks |
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'Hazards' are identified as the cause of risk and 'Safeguards' are practices developed to overcome identified hazards. Describe how risk relates to hazards and safeguards. |
Risk = f (hazard, safeguard) Risk increases with hazard but decreases with safeguard. |
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List and define the 3 commonly used classifications for a project manager's tolerance for risk. |
The risk averter or avoider - utility rises at a decreasing rate, when more money is at stake the project manager's satisfaction diminishes. demand a premium to accept risk |
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How is risk management defined? |
Risk management is an act or practice of dealing with risk, includes planning for risk, assessing risk issues, developing risk handling strategies, and monitoring risks to determine if they have change, and it is an aspect of sound project management. |
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Identify and describe the 4 basic criteria that can be used when making decisions under uncertainty |
Hurwicz criterion - referred to as the maximax criterion - decision maker is optimistic - go for broke - max profit no matter risk |
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List (in sequence) the steps involved in the Risk Management Process, and give a brief description of each step. |
. Risk planning: This is the process of developing and documenting an organized, comprehensive, and interactive strategy and methods for identifying and tracking risk issues, developing risk handling plans, performing continuous risk assessments to determine how risks have changed, and assigning adequate resources. |
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Which of the following is not a method for identifying risks? A. Systems engineering documents B. Life-cycle cost analysis C. Pareto Charts D. Lessons learned charts |
Pareto Charts |
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List 2 expert judgment techniques that are used for risk identification, and describe the general steps followed for each technique. |
Delphi method
. Delphi Method: |
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There are numerous ways to classify risks. In a simple business context, risk can be defined as "Business risk" and "insurable risk". Describe these classifications in terms of what they provide for us and give examples for each: |
Business risks provide us with opportunities of profit and loss. Examples of business risk would be competitor activities, bad weather, inflation, recession, customer response, and availability of resources. Insurable risks provide us with only a chance for a loss. |
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Which of the following risks are generally considered unpredictable? A. Business risk B. Financial Risks C. Inflation D. Natural Hazards |
Natural Hazards |
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Which of the following are typical tools used in risk analysis? A. life-cycle cost analysis B. DoE Directive C. WCS simulation D. Alpha techniques |
Life Cycle Cost analysis |
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Identify the 4 Risk Handling options available to project managers, and state the assumptions the project manager is making by selecting each of these options. |
Acceptance: The project manager says "I know the risk exists and am aware of the possible consequences. I am willing to wait and see what happens. I accept risk should it occur" |
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A project manager states, "I will take the necessary measures required to control this risk by continuously reevaluating it and developing contingency plans or fallback positions. If the risk even occurs, I will take the appropriate actions." Which risk handling option are they following? A Risk transfer B. Risk Avoidance C. Risk Control D. Risk Assumption |
Risk Control |
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What is a critical interdependency between risks? A. Design reviews and design process B. Overhead and material C. Change management and risk management D. All of the above |
Change management and risk management |
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Projects are established with objectives in mind. Which of the following is not a characteristic of what a project objective should be? A. Not overly complex B. General in nature C. Established within resource bounds D. None of the above |
General in Nature |
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The most common types of conflicts involve: A. Manpower resources, capital expenditures, costs B. Priorities, personality clashes, scheduling, technical opinions & performance trade offs C. Responsibilities, administrative procedures, equipment and facilities D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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What is NOT one of the 4 most common methods for resolving conflict? A. The development of company-wide conflict resolution policies and procedures B. The establishment of project conflict resolution procedures during the early planning activities C. Avoidance of the problem D. The requirement of direct contact |
Avoidance of the problem |
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Which of the following is a conflict minimization procedure? A. Not pausing and thinking before reacting B. Not educating others on your views C. Not acting as a superman and leveling the discussion only one in a while D. None of the above |
Not acting as a superman and leveling the discussion only one in a while |
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Which conflict resolution mode is used as an attempt to reduce the emotions that exist in a conflict? A. Smoothing/Accommodating B. Compromising C. Confronting D. Avoiding/withdrawal |
Smoothing/Accommodating |
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Which one is NOT one of the 4 key attributes shared by all successful project plans? A. Systematic B. Non-Flexible C. Disciplined D. Multifunctional |
Non-Flexible |
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Basic reasons for project planning include all except: A. Eliminate or reduce uncertainty B. Define tasks C. Promote better understanding of objectives D. Provide basis for monitoring and controlling work |
Define tasks |
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Problems can occur in trying to properly define a project because: A. Project goals may not be agreeable to all parties B. The plan was too loose, thus allowing priorities to change C. Turnover of project personnel is low D. There is too much communication between the client and project personnel |
Project goals may not be agreeable to all parties |
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Ensuring that the SOW accurately reflects contractual obligations is the responsibility of: A. The client B. The project sponsor C. The project manager D. All of the above |
The project manager |
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Why is the WBS the single most important element in planning? A. Provides project start date B. Provides a common framework C. Provides project requirements D. Provides ground rules |
Provides a common framework |
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What is a narrative description of the effort to be performed by the cost center? A. MCCS B. CWBS C. SWD D. SOW |
SWD |
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What is NOT a reason why projects fail? A. Corporate goals are not understood at the lower levels B. Financial estimates are poor C. Plans are based on insufficient data D. Abundant number of resources are available |
Abundant number of resources are available |
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What is the question that should be considered before preparing a schedule? A. What is the impact of overtime? B. How many interruptions are there each day? C. How much of a detailed technical breakdown should be included? D. All of the above |
How much of a detailed technical breakdown should be included? |
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What are the 4 main sections of a project plan? A. Schedule development, budget development, project administration and conflict management B. Introduction, summary and conclusions, management and technical C. Planning, work authorization, cost accounting and customer reporting D. Work breakdown structure, work planning authorization, master production schedule and detailed schedule |
B. Introduction, summary and conclusions, management and technical |
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Today, the project charter is an internal legal document that includes what? A. Manager's authority and responsibility B. Approved scope of the project C. Summary of the conditions defining the project D. All of the above |
All of the above |
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The most common types of schedules are Gantt charts, milestone charts, line of balance, and which of the following? A. Networks B. Time phased events C. Calendar integrated activities D. B and C only |
Networks |
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Activities with zero time duration are referred to as which of the following? A. Critical path activities B. Slack time activities C. Dummy activities D. Events
|
Dummy Activities |
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What is the term used for considering speeding up certain portions of a project? A. Crashing B. Slashing C. Racing D. Advancing |
Crashing |
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What is NOT one of the interrelationships/dependencies? A. Mandatory B. Discretionary C. External D. Obligatory |
Obligatory |
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The time period between the early start/finish of one activity and the early start/finish of another activity in the sequential chain is referred to as which of the following? A. Lag B. Free Float C. Slack D. Race |
A Lag |
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Which type of capital budgeting method tends to be more conservative in its approach? A. Internal rate of return (IRR) B. Payback period C. Time value of money D. Net present value (NPV) |
Net present value (NPV) |
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Using the net present value (NPV) approach, when would you accept a project? A. If the NPV is >= to $0 B. If the NPV is <$0 C. If the NPV is >$0 D. If the NPV = $0 |
If the NPV is greater than or equal to $0 |
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Which is not a phase of the operating cycle? A. Cost analysis B. Planning C. Work authorization and release D. Customer and management reporting |
Planning |
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What are the 4 categories of cost data that are normally collected? A. Labor, material, other direct charges, and overhead B. Labor, material, accounts payable, and overhead C. Material, overtime, other expenses, and overhead D. None of the above |
Labor, material, other direct charges, and overhead |
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In which phases of project development can cost overruns occur? A. Planning and negotiation B. Contractual and design C. All phases of project development D. Design and production |
All phases of project development |
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What do we call future events or outcomes that are favorable? A. Surprises B. Opportunities C. Risks D. Contingencies |
Opportunities |
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Which is NOT one of the 3 categories of decision-making? B. Risk C. Uncertainty D. Examples |
Examples |
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Which of the following is not a method for identifying risks? A. Systems engineering documents B. Life-cyle cost analysis B. Pareto Charts D. lessons learned charts |
Pareto Charts |
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A project manager states, "I will take the necessary measures required to control this risk by continuously reevaluating it and developing contingency plans or fall-back positions. If the risk even occurs I will take the appropriate actions." Which risk handling option are they following. A. Risk control B. Risk Avoidance C. Risk Transfer D. Risk Assumption |
Risk control |
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What is a critical interdependency between risks? A. Design reviews and design process B. Overhead and material C. Change management and risk management D. All of the above |
Change management and risk management |
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Strategic planning for project management is most frequently performed at what level? A. Executive management B. Middle management C. Employee D. All of the above |
Middle management |
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Even though procedural documents can provide many benefits, management is often reluctant to implement or fully support a formal project management system. Which is NOT one of the four issues that management concerns often center around? A. Overhead burden B. Start-up delays C. Stifled creativity D. Increased self-forcing control |
Increase self-forcing control |
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What is one simple and effective way of categorizing the broad spectrum of procedural documents? A. The "layering" of policies and procedures B. Utilizing the work breakdown concept C. Bringing in a consultant to categorize these documents D. None of the above |
Utilizing the work breakdown concept |
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What is determining how many new projects an organization can take on called? A. Capacity planning B. Continuous improvement C. Multiple project management D. None of the above |
Capacity Planning |
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Why is it that today, end-of-phase review meetings take on a different dimension? A. Executives are likely to "rubber stamp" the project to continue B. Executives are not afraid to cancel projects C. Meetings are used to give executives some degree of comfort concerning project status D. Only good news is present by the project team |
Executives are not afraid to cancel projects |
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What is every theory or methodology based upon? A. Assumptions B. Estimates D. Specific details |
Assumptions |
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Which statement is correct? A. Resource dependencies further decrease the probability that a task will finish on time B. Resource dependencies imply a low degree of uncertainty C. Resource dependencies further increase the probability that a task will finish on time D. Resource dependencies imply a high degree of certainity |
Resource dependencies further decrease the probability that a task will finish on time |
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Which term is sometimes a more devastating effect in terms of quality in regards to bad multitasking? B. Drum C. Common cause D. Student Syndrome |
Rework |
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What are the shock absorbers on the non-critical paths? A. Feeding buffers B. Drum C. Naval gazing D. Student Syndrome |
Feeding Buffers
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What insulates projects from each other? A. Strategic resource buffer B. Multitasking C. Task Estimates D. Parkinson's Law |
Strategic resource buffer |
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Strategic planning for project management is most frequently performed at what level? A. Executive management B. Middle Management C. Employee D. All of the above |
Middle Management |
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List the possible overlaps that can exist in the PMMM, and give reasons as to why each of these overlaps may occur. Also, identify the 2 levels that generally do not overlap. |
Overlap of Level 1 and Level 2: This overlap will occur because the organization can begin the development of project management processes either while refinements are being made to the common language or during training. |
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What is a practical, cost-effective way for executives to overcome the problem of project control forms growing exponentially? A. Enforcing a limit on the number of forms B. Establishing a separate department to handle the forms C. Establishing a task force responsible for development of the forms D. None of the above |
Establish a task force responsible for development of the forms |
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What is one simple and effective way of categorizing the broad spectrum of procedural documents? A. The "layering" of policies and procedures B. Utilizing the work breakdown concept C. Bringing in a consultant to categorize these documents D. None of the above |
Utilizing the work breakdown concept |
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What is the term for determining how many new projects an organization can take on? A. Multiple project management B. Continuous improvement C. Capacity planning D. None of the above |
Capacity planning |
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List the advantages of using competency models in lieu of job descriptions. |
Competency models allows the training department to develop customized project management training programs to satisfy the skill requirements.
Competency models focus on specialized skills in order to assist the project manager in making more efficient use of his/her time.
they make it easier for companies to develop a complete project management curriculum rather than a singular course. |
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Why is it that end-of-phase review meetings take on a different dimension today? A. Executives are likely to "rubber stamp" the project to continue" B. Executives are not afraid to cancel projects C. Meetings are used to give executives some degree of comfort concerning project status D. Only good news is presented by the project team |
Executives are not afraid to cancel projects |
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Which is NOT one of the benefits that are apparent to executive levels of management that utilize a Project Office? A. Standardization of operations B. Better capacity planning C. Silos become more authoritative and effective in decision making D. Quicker access to higher-quaility information |
Silos become more authoritative and effective in decision making |
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Which statement is correct regarding a Functional Project Office? A. It's major responsibility is resource management B. Resource management is dealt with at the executive level C. If time permits resource management should be addressed D. It relies on the enterprise to make resource management decisions |
It's major responsibility is resource management |
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What are the 4 questions that should be addressed in a lessons-learned postmortem analysis meeting? |
1. What did we do right? 2. What did we do wrong? 3. What future recommendations can be made? 4. How, when, and to whom should the information be disseminated? |
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Explain why there is a danger in providing templates as a replacement for standards in project management. |
There is danger in providing templates as a replacement for the more formalized standards because templates serve as a guide for general audience, it may not satisfy the needs of any particular program. Second, there is the risk that some perspective users of the templates, especially inexperienced PM's, may simply adopt the templates "as required, as written" despite the fact that they do not fit his or her program |
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When should a project manager be assigned, before or after a business case is developed? And why? |
Project manager should be assigned after the business case is developed. Because 1. PM may not be able to contribute to the business case development, 2. the project might not be approved and/or funded, and it would be an added cost to have the project manager on board early 3. the project might not be defined well enough to determine at an early stage the best person to be assigned as the PM. |
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According to senior management, the most important of all activities assigned to the project office is? A. Managing stakeholders B. Managing schedules C. Resource scheduling D. Capacity planning |
Capacity planning |
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Within the risk of Trying to Service Everyone in the Organization, which is NOT a threshold for involving the project office? A. Dollar value of the project B. Low impact and minimal cost C. Amount and complexity of cross functionality D. Risks to the company |
Low impact and minimal cost |
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What types of tasks are best suited to be included in an estimating manual? |
The tasks best suited to include are repetitive tasks or similar tasks that can use a previous estimate adjusted by a degree of difficulty factor. |
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The tasks best suited to include are repetitive tasks or similar tasks that can use a previous estimate adjusted by a degree of difficulty factor. |
To compute expected values, take each payoff times the probability of occurrence for that payoff and sum these all together for a given strategy. The strategy with the largest (highest) expected value is the best choice. |
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List (in sequence) the steps involved in the Risk Management Process, and give a brief description of each step. |
1.. Risk planning: This is the process of developing and documenting an organized, comprehensive, and interactive strategy and methods for identifying and tracking risk issues, developing risk handling plans, performing continuous risk assessments to determine how risks have changed, and assigning adequate resources. |
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List the possible overlaps that can exist in the PMMM, and give reasons as to why each of these overlaps may occur. Also, identify the two levels that generally do not overlap. |
Overlap of Level 1 and Level 2: This overlap will occur because the organization can begin the development of project management processes either while refinements are being made to the common language or during training. |
