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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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You are the project manager of a large IT project. Which option best lists the consequences of NOT obtaining buy-in from management at key points in the development cycle?
---Cancellation of the project and insufficient project funding ---Unavailability of critical people, cancellation of the project, and insufficient project funding ---Scope creep, unavailability of critical people, cancellation of the project, and insufficient project funding ---Scope creep and cancellation of the project |
Unavailability of critical people, cancellation of the project, and insufficient project funding
If you do not obtain management buy-in at key points in the development cycle, you risk having insufficient project funding, unavailability of critical people, and cancellation of the project. Continued management buy-in throughout the project is critical to maintaining the necessary level of support for a project. Generally, not having management buy-in is more likely to result in a reduced scope, not scope creep, because of the lack of support for the projec |
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You are working on an application that will track the funding for a large construction project. The start date and end date for the construction project are already defined and must be met. You will use the application for this construction project only. You have the time, funding, and resources to complete the project.
Which risk will have the highest impact on the project? ---Personnel ---Schedule ---Funding ---Scope |
Schedule
Since this application is part of a larger project (a large construction project), the biggest risk is schedule. You need to complete the application in time to track the funding. Staffing, funding, and scope are not significant risks in this instance as long as you stay on schedule. Risk management is the process of identifying, measuring, and lessening risk factors in a project. The first step in managing risks is to identify possible internal and external risks. You can measure risks by identifying how likely they are to happen and the severity of the impact. You control risks by mitigating (lessening), using appropriate strategies. Finally, you perform risk management regularly throughout the project. You can identify risks through either a top-down or bottom-up approach. When you identify risks from the top down, you look at project requirements and determine how you could fail to meet them. To identify risks from the bottom up, you should list risk drivers (such as customers, technology, resources, estimating, and organization) and look for ways that the project is vulnerable to those factors. |
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Prioritize the following from most severe to least severe problems for a project:
1. The project is 50% over budget. 2. The project is 75% over schedule. 3. The project has lost the support of management. ---1,2,3 ---2,1,3 ---2,3,1 ---3,1,2 ---1,3,2 ---3,2,1 |
3,2,1
When a project loses the support of management, it most likely in the process of losing its funding and support. It is most likely in the process of being terminated. Budget and schedule are fairly equally important. However, since the schedule problem is 25% over the budget excess, the schedule issue is more important than the budget |
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Which task can you perform with a vendor contract to ensure that all terms of the contract are met and to document acceptance of the deliverable?
Administrative closure Comprehensive review Contract closeout Formal acceptance |
Contract closeout
Performing a contract closeout with a vendor contract ensures that all terms of the contract are met and documents the acceptance of the deliverable. Contract closeout is performed with the project manager and the vendor. Administrative closure is the process of centralizing all project documents, obtaining sign-offs, and communicating the finish of the project. Formal acceptance involves receiving the sign-off and acceptance of the project's stakeholders. A comprehensive review is performed to obtain knowledge for future projects such as what was done well on the project and what was learned from tasks that were not completed well. |
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The project initiation document specifies the following acceptance activities:
- Compatibility with Windows 9x, Windows 2000, and Windows XP operating systems - Secure Internet connectivity - 100% availability The project is 10% over budget and 10% over schedule. The contract must be completed in eight days and you are penalized 10% for being even a day late. What is the highest priority at this point? Quality Schedule Availability Budget |
Schedule
The highest priority at this point is to complete the project on time. Therefore, the schedule is the most important aspect of this project. The budget is important, but with the existing 10% over budget, you lose an additional 10% if the project is late. Therefore, the budget is the second highest priority. Availability is important because it is specified in the project initiation document. Quality is not mentioned in this scenario. |
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What is an example of a project performance indicator?
Budget baseline Deliverable baseline Task baseline Project baseline |
Budget baseline
A budget baseline is a performance indicator. It is basically the planned expenditures of the project. Performance indicators are used to determine if a project is on track. Performance indicators are especially important on critical path tasks. Baselines are types of performance indicators. There are four primary baselines used in project management: schedule, scope, budget, and resource. Deliverable baselines and task baselines are included in the scope baseline and are not performance indicators in and of themselves. Rather, they are subsets of the scope baseline. There is no such thing as a project baseline. It would be a combination of the four baselines listed above. |
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In a team meeting, an issue arises as to why your project is 25% behind schedule, and a team member is singled out. You have a review with this team member in three days and you are having lunch with him in two days.
When should you address this issue with the employee? Over lunch During the review time Immediately after the meeting During the meeting |
Immediately after the meeting
For a single member to be blamed for a project's 25% delay, it may be appropriate to obtain a little information in the actual meeting. However, this issue needs to be addressed personally with the team member immediately after the meeting. You need to understand what is going on and coach the team member to get back on track. Waiting until the lunch meeting or the review is not acceptable because the project can potentially be delayed that much more. Therefore, you should deal with the team member as soon as possible in private. |
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You are replacing a project manager who was fired for making the same scheduling mistakes on three separate projects and coming in 50% over budget. You are told that you cannot make the same mistake twice.
What can you do to help ensure that you do not make the same mistake twice? Implement a comprehensive review process after the project is signed off by the customer. Perform acceptance testing on all projects. Electronically archive the complete list of project documentation for projects you complete. Create a plan to prevent errors in scheduling. |
Electronically archive the complete list of project documentation for projects you complete.
The best way to help ensure the same mistake is not made twice is to archive the documents so they are readily available for reference. You must also perform comprehensive review for the project and carefully document failures and successes for the project. However, if you have the most comprehensive review possible and then misplace it, it does no good for future planning. Therefore, the option to properly archive the documents for completed projects is the best answer in this situation. Acceptance testing does not help much in ensuring mistake prevention. By the time it gets to this phase, the mistakes have already been repeated. Creating a plan to prevent errors in scheduling does not address budgetary or quality mistakes. |
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The scope definition for a project is, "to create an e-commerce solution that includes search engine placement, database configuration, a Web management interface, and front- and back-end solutions."
Your project has the following requirements: System response time must be less than 6 seconds. The system must be available 99.9999% of the time. Which specific type of requirements are these? (Be as specific as possible.) Business Technical Operational Functional |
Functional
Functional requirements define what the project does to interact with the end user. The following requirements are functional requirements: System response time must be less than 6 seconds. The system must be available 99.9999% of the time. Technical requirements are the characteristics that the project must have to meet the functional requirements. They are the behind the scenes things necessary to meet the functional requirements. The following is an example of a technical requirement: The system must be able to use the AOL, Netscape, and Internet Explorer Web browsers. Business requirements are high-level business goals such as increasing revenue. They provide a high-level view of what the project is designed to accomplish |
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You are organizing a comprehensive project plan and are in the process of assembling all the project planning documents. The stakeholders say the plan is incomplete. You have assembled the estimates for time, the deliverables, the breakdown of the work to be performed, the details of the procurement items, and the hierarchy of the work to be performed.
Which other key element must you include to make the plan complete and get stakeholder signoff? Estimated budget Statement of work (SOW) Schedule Work breakdown structure (WBS) |
Estimated budget
The budget must also be included before the planning phase can be closed out. The scenario explains that the WBS and SOW are included in the plan. The WBS is a deliverable-oriented hierarchy that starts with the high-level deliverables and continues down to the low-level tasks required to complete the project. The SOW clearly and concisely displays the details of a procurement item, the description of the work to be performed, the specifications of the product, and the project schedule. The schedule is also important. However, the most crucial part of the project plan that is missing is the budget. |
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Your project is about 60% complete and you should have spent about 65% of your budget. You have actually spent 80% of your budget.
Which action should you perform last to address this deviation? Determine the cause Determine the impact Determine the correction required Notify the project sponsor |
Notify the project sponsor
In this situation, the project sponsor should not be notified until after you identify the best ways to manage the cost overrun. To thoroughly identify the source of the overrun, you must determine the cause of the problem, the impact of the problem, and the steps needed to correct the problem. After you understand the cause, you should look for options to absorb some or all of the increase into the overall budget. Additionally, the more information you have when you approach the project sponsor, the better off you will be because the project sp |
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You have outsourced a program's development. What is the most important reason to perform user acceptance testing on the deliverable?
To test for frequency of defects. To test for the severity and frequency of defects. To test for quality. To test for severity of defects. |
To test for the severity and frequency of defects.
To some extent, all of the answers above are true. However, the best answer is to test for severity and frequency of defects. In the process of testing for these defects, you are testing for quality. Acceptance testing must be performed. If there is a defect found, the decision can be made to release the project on schedule and fix the defect later with a patch. However, you must test for any defects so you know what to expect as far as customer feedback and performance issues are concerned. |
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What are three consequences of NOT obtaining formal written approval? (Choose three.)
The project meets the project manager's expectations. The final product may not meet stakeholder expectations. The project may not succeed. The project may not have management buy-in. Adequate resources may not be available. |
---The final product may not meet stakeholder expectations.
---The project may not have management buy-in. ---Adequate resources may not be available. Without written approval, adequate resources may not be available, management may not support the project, and the results of the project may not meet stakeholder expectations. Obtaining written approval does not guarantee project success or failure, but it is a key milestone in a project. Additionally, not obtaining formal written approval does not guarantee the project manager gets the desired results. In fact, its effect will be the opposite because participants will not know what their roles or expectations are. A project's stakeholders should sign-off on the project charter to signify their consensus. This formal written approval of the project charter signifies that everyone is in agreement about the nature of the project. The project charter clearly states the project expectations, establishes project ownership, and confirms management support for the project. |
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When you complete a milestone for a deliverable, you should test it against a baseline to see if you are staying focused on what the project is intended to address as far as deliverables are concerned. What is the baseline you should test it against?
Resources Scope Schedule Budget |
Scope
The completion of milestones for major deliverables should be compared with the project's scope to ensure that the project is still on track and focused on addressing the issues it was designed for with the appropriate deliverables. Milestones are also good times to test the actual budget, schedule, and resource usage versus the planned usage. However, the key here is the phrase "on track," which indicates a scope issue and not a money, time, or resource issue. |
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You are about half finished with your current project and find that the actual cost is exceeding the budget by 10%. With which groups should you negotiate to attempt to bring costs back into line?
Vendors and users Sponsors, vendors, and users Sponsors and vendors Sponsors and team members |
Sponsors, vendors, and users
Negotiation is an important aspect of managing projects. When you face cost overruns or schedule slippage, you need to negotiate to either gain additional resources or adjust the requirements. For budget overruns, you need to negotiate with sponsors to get approval for additional funding. You need to negotiate with users and sponsors to reduce the scope of the project. You need to negotiate with vendors to try to reduce costs. You do not need to negotiate with team members when facing budget slippage. However, for schedule slippage, you may need to negotiate with your team members for overtime work. |
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You created a project for a customer that included six months of free technical support for the project. The project was an application for the customer's employees. You have just completed the closeout meeting, and the customer signed off on all the deliverables for the application.
What should you do next? Transfer the project to your help desk for support. Hold a comprehensive project review. Close out the project. Complete all project documentation. |
Transfer the project to your help desk for support.
Since the project plan specifies that the project receives six months of technical support for the company's internal employees, you should transfer the project to the help desk. Since there are six months of support involved, you should not close out the project. At the time the customer signs off on the project, there should be some application documentation for the end-user. However, since you are supporting the project, the help desk can provide support. However, it is recommended that you document instructions well to minimize the customer's use of the help desk resources. You can complete a comprehensive project review. However, there can be a lot of useful information gathered from the six months of support as well. Therefore, if you perform a comprehensive project review at this time, you should ensure that you revise it with the information gathered from the six months of technical support. |
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Which list best describes those who are the key stakeholders of a project?
Project manager, client, end user, project sponsor, and functional managers Project manager, client, end user, project sponsor, project team members, and functional managers Project manager, client, end user, project sponsor, project team members, vendors, and functional managers Project manager, client, project sponsor, and functional managers |
Project manager, client, end user, project sponsor, project team members, and functional managers
Project stakeholders include anyone with a vested interest in the project. The key stakeholders are the project manager, client, end user, project sponsor, project team members, and functional managers. The vendors are not considered key stakeholders. |
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Which options regarding the planning and tracking of user documentation are true for a project that requires you to develop a computer application?
You should consider user documentation a part of the project, you should expect reports on user documentation progress in status meetings, and you should include user documentation in the work breakdown structure (WBS ). You should consider user documentation a part of the project, you should expect reports on user documentation progress in status meetings, you should assign user documentation to the programmers, and you should include user documentation in the work breakdown structure (WBS). You should consider user documentation a part of the project, you should assign user documentation to the programmers, and you should include user documentation in the work breakdown structure (WBS). You should consider user documentation a part of the project, you should expect reports on user documentation progress in status meetings, and you should assign user documentation to the programmers. |
You should consider user documentation a part of the project, you should expect reports on user documentation progress in status meetings, and you should include user documentation in the work breakdown structure (WBS ).
IT projects do not end when development ends. After the development effort, system documentation, user training, help file development, and establishment of product support remain. The project manager should plan these phases during project planning. You should include user documentation as a planned task in the WBS, and you should expect status reports on the progress. Technical writers or trainers who have experience in conveying technical information to non-technical users should write the documentation. You should not assign user documentation to the programmers who created the system. Programmers write at a technical level that end-users may not understand clearly. |
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As a project manager, you have several indexes to help you track the financial performance of a project. Which option is NOT an index used to measure a project's performance?
Cost to Time Index (CTI) To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) Cost Performance Index (CPI) Schedule Performance Index (SPI) |
Cost to Time Index (CTI)
The CTI is not a financial performance tool. Cost to Time is not an index used in project management. To calculate financial performance, you must measure actual time and costs against measurable baseline targets. You can use financial management variables to tell you if a project is on time and within budget. These variables include the cost performance index (CPI), schedule performance index (SPI), cost variance (CV), schedule variance (SV), percent spent, percent complete, and the to-complete performance index (TCPI). These variables are calculated by determining the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS), the budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP), and the actual cost of work performed (ACWS). BCWS is a baseline established at the beginning of a project. It is a measurement of the amount of money budgeted, based on the cost of the work scheduled. Because BCWS is a baseline, it will not change through the life of the project. In a scenario where costs are evenly spread, you can calculate BCWS by dividing the total budget by the total number of months and multiplying by the time that has elapsed. To calculate BCWP, you must measure the amount of money budgeted for the work that has actually been performed. BCWP changes as costs and schedules change. To calculate BCWP you must multiply the total BCWS by percentage of work that is complete. ACWP is the actual amount you have spent to date on the project. Cost variance (CV) is the difference between BCWP and ACWP. A positive result is an indication that you are spending less money than planned. A negative amount indicates you are over budget. Schedule variance (SV) is the difference between BCWP and BCWS. As with CV, a positive result is an indication you are ahead of schedule. A negative result is an indication you are behind schedule. CPI and SPI indicate how efficiently the team has performed. CPI is a ratio of the BCWP to the ACWP. To calculate CPI, divide BCWP by ACWP. A CPI greater than one indicates that the project is under budget. SPI is a ratio of the BCWP to the BCWS. To calculate SPI divide BCWP by BCWS. Like CPI, an SPI index greater than one is a positive indication, in this case, that the work is ahead of schedule. You can calculate the percent spent by dividing ACWP by the total budget. To calculate percent complete, divide BCWP by the total budget. CPI and SPI indicate how efficiently the project team has performed. To-complete performance index (TCPI) indicates how efficiently the team has been working to date. You can compare it with the EAC (Estimate at Completion) to determine whether your current EAC is accurate based on the performance thus far. EAC is variation of budget at completion (BAC) because it takes into account current slippage. The calculation for TCPI is the difference between BCWP and BAC divided by the difference between ACWP and BAC. Mathematically, the formula is (BAC-BCWP)/ (BAC-ACWP). |
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Which project phase provides an opportunity to compile information that will benefit other projects?
Risk management Communication planning Post-project review Scope definition |
Post-project review
Project managers should use post-project reviews to recognize the work a project team has accomplished, identify positive and negative aspects of the completed project, and provide closure to the project. Reviews are important because they help you to identify processes the company should modify, and they help the project team members to learn from the project experience, which makes it more likely that they will repeat successes and prevent failures. A post-project review should be done at the completion of every project. A project review meeting should evaluate all aspects of project planning and execution, including the budgeting phase, project planning, and the change control process. All team members should attend the project review meeting, but evaluation of team performance is not part of the review. The project manager should compile significant information from the review meeting into a project report. The project report should contain a description of the project, a gauge of the success, a list of lessons learned, and explanations of variances. Future project managers can use this report to their benefit. The scope definition sets the guidelines for the project. Risk management is the art of minimizing failures and maximizing successes. Communication planning phases do not provide an opportunity to compile information useful to other projects; they focus on the specific project being completed. |
