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31 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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When a product or service completely meets a customer's requirements:
A. Quality is achieved. B. The cost of quality is high. C. The cost of quality is low. D. The customer pays the minimum price. |
Answer A
Explanation As a general rule, one cannot say that quality (as defined in the question) is eitherof high or low cost. It provides what the customer wanted, which may not be the lowest or highestcost. When a product or service completely meets a customer's needs, quality is achieved. |
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To what does the following definition refer? "The point where the benefits or revenue to bereceived from improving quality equals the incremental cost to achieve that qualitY:'
A. Quality control analysis B. Marginal analysis C. Standard quality analysis D. Conformance analysis |
Answer B
Explanation This is the definition of marginal analysis. Know the term so you will be able toanswer questions that deal with this concept. The other choices may sound good, but they aremade-up terms. |
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Who is ultimately responsible for quality management on the project?
A. The project engineer B. The project manager C. The quality manager D. The team member |
Answer B
Explanation Although each person working on the project should check his or her own work, theproject manager ultimately has the responsibility for quality on the project as a whole. |
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A project has faced major difficulties in the quality of its deliverables. Management now states thatquality is the most important project constraint. If another problem with quality were to occur,what would be the BEST thing for the project manager to do?
A. Fix the problem as soon as possible. B. Allow the schedule to slip by cutting cost. C. Allow cost to increase by fixing the root cause of the problem. D. Allow risk to increase by cutting cost. |
Answer C
Explanation If a problem with quality were to occur again, many people would opt to fix theproblem as soon as possible. It is proactive, but some other project constraint( s) must change toaccommodate fixing the root cause of the problem. It may not be necessary to allow the schedule toslip, because the project manager might be able to compress the schedule in other areas. Cutting costdoes not necessarily cause the schedule to slip, nor would that necessarily fix the problem at hand.Allowing risk to increase by cutting cost is not the best choice, because a quality problem is most likelyto create additional cost, rather than cut cost. Allowing the cost to increase by fixing the root cause ofthe problem addresses both finding the cause and the probable impact of dealing with the problem. |
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A manager notices that a project manager is holding a meeting with some of the team and somestakeholders to discuss the quality of the project. The project schedule has been compressed, andthe CPI is 1.1. They have worked hard on the project, the team has been rewarded according to thereward system the project manager put in place, and there is a strong sense of team. The managersuggests that the project manager does not have enough time to hold meetings about quality whenthe schedule is so compressed. Which of the following BEST describes why the manager is wrong?
A. Improved quality leads to increased productivity, increased cost effectiveness, and decreasedcost risk. B. Improved quality leads to increased productivity, decreased cost effectiveness, and increased cost risk. C. Improved quality leads to increased productivity, increased cost effectiveness, and increased cost risk. D. Improved quality leads to increased productivity, decreased cost effectiveness, and decreased cost risk. |
Answer A
Explanation Did you notice there is a lot of data not relevant to answering the question? Expectdistracters to appear in many questions on the exam. Quality efforts should produce a decreaserather than an increase in cost risk as a result ofless rework. Quality efforts should also provideincreased cost effectiveness due to less rework. This leaves the best answer: "Improved qualityleads to increased productivity, increased cost effectiveness, and decreased cost risk:' |
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Quality is: B. Adding extras to make the customer happy. C. The degree to which the project meets requirements. D. Conformance to management's objectives. |
Answer C
Explanation There can be a cost impact (or time, risk, etc.) of exceeding expectations or addingextras. Quality is the degree to which the project meets requirements. |
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All the following are tools of Control Quality EXCEPT:
A. Inspection. B. Cost of quality. C. Pareto diagram. D. Fishbone diagram. |
Answer B
Explanation Inspection, Pareto diagrams, and fishbone diagrams are all tools that can be used inControl Quality. Cost of quality is part of Plan Quality Management, making sure the project isnot spending too much to achieve a particular level of quality. |
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Pareto diagrams help the project manager:
A. Focus on the most critical issues to improve quality. B. Focus on stimulating thinking. C. Explore a desired future outcome. D. Determine if a process is out of control. |
Answer A
Explanation Fishbone diagram are often use to stimulate thinking on what to explore a desired future outcome. Determining whether a process is out of control is a function of control chart. Only focusing on critical issues to improve quality relates to Pareto diagrams. |
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A control chart helps the project manager:
A. Focus on the most critical issues to improve quality. B. Focus on stimulating thinking. C. Explore a desired future outcome. D. Determine if a process is functioning within set limits. |
Answer D Explanation Focusing on the most critical issues to improve quality relates to Pareto diagrams. Stimulating thinking and exploring desired future outcome relate to fishbone diagram. Only determining if a process is functioning within set limits relate to control chart. |
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Testing the entire population would:
A. Take too long. B. Provide more information than wanted. C. Be mutually exclusive. D. Show many defects. |
Answer A
Explanation The length of time it takes to test a whole population is one of the reasons to take asample. |
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All of the following are examples of the cost of nonconformance EXCEPT:
A. Rework. B. Quality training. C. Scrap. D. Warranty costs. |
Answer B
Explanation Quality training is a cost of conformance to quality. All the other choices are costs ofnonconformance to quality. |
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Standard deviation is a measure of how:
A. Far the estimate is from the highest estimates. B. Far the measurement is from the mean. C. Correct the sample. D. Much time remain in the project. |
Answer B
Explanation Standard deviation is the measurement of a range around the mean. |
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All of the following result from quality audits EXCEPT:
A. Determination of whether project activities comply with organizational policies. B. Improved processes to increase productivity. C. Creation of quality metrics. D. Confirmation of the implementation of approved change requests. |
Answer C
Explanation Quality metrics are an output of the Plan Quality Management process. They are aninput to the Perform Quality Assurance process, the process in which quality audits take place. |
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A control chart shows seven data points in a row on one side of the mean. What should be done?
A. Perform a design of experiments. B. Adjust the chart to reflect the new mean. C. Find an assignable cause. D. Nothing. This is the rule of seven and can be ignored. |
Answer C
Explanation The rule of seven applies here. If you have seven data points in a row on the sameside of the mean, statistically the mean has shifted, calling for action to correct the problem. |
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You are managing a project in a just in time environment. This will require more attention,because the amount of inventory in such an environment is generally:
A. 45 percent. B. 10 percent. C. 12 percent. D. 0 percent. |
Answer D
Explanation In a just in time environment, supplies are delivered when you need them and notbefore. Therefore, you have little or no inventory. |
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There are several executing activities underway on your project. You are beginning to getconcerned about the accuracy of the progress reporting your team members are doing. How couldyou verify whether there is a problem?
A. Quality audits B. Risk quantification reports C. Regression analysis D. Monte Carlo analysis |
Answer A
Explanation Quality audits are a necessary part of the Perform Quality Assurance process. Theyhelp you assess whether the processes are being followed correctly on the project. |
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A project manager and team from a firm that designs railroad equipment are tasked to designa machine to load stone onto railroad cars. The design allows for 2 percent spillage, amountingto over two tons of spilled rock per day. In which of the following does the project managerdocument quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement processes for this project?
A. Quality management plan B. Quality policy C. Control charts D. Project management plan |
Answer A
Explanation The quality policy and control charts are components of a quality management plan.Although the quality management plan is part of the project management plan, the most preciseanswer is the quality management plan. |
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During a team meeting, the team adds a specific area of extra work to the project because they have determined it would be benefit the customer. What is wrong with the situation?
A. The team is gold plating. B. These efforts shouldn't be done in meeting. C. Nothing. This is how to meet and exceed customer expectations. D. Nothing. The project manager is in control of the situation. |
Answer A
Explanation This is an example of gold plating. You should provide ONLY what the customerasked for. The team does not know if their change will provide benefit to the customer. The teamshould focus their efforts on fulfilling the requirements. |
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The project team has created a plan for how they will implement the quality policy. It addresses the organizational structure, responsibility, procedures, and other information about plans for quality. If this plans changes during the project, WHICH of the following plans will also change?
A. Quality assurance plan B. Quality management plan C. Project management plan D. Quality control plan |
Answer C
Explanation The plan described is the quality management plan. Since the quality management plan is included in the project management plan, changing the quality management plan will also change the project management plan. |
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You are a project manager for a major information systems project. Someone from the qualitydepartment comes to see you about beginning a quality audit of your project. The team, alreadyunder pressure to complete the project as soon as possible, objects to the audit. You should explainto the team that the purpose of a quality audit is:
A. To satisfy part of an ISO 9000 investigation. B. To check if the customer is following the quality process. C. To identify inefficient and ineffective policies. D. To check the accuracy of costs submitted by the team. |
Answer C
Explanation Perform Quality Assurance, of which an audit is part, focuses on processes,procedures, and standards. Though ISO 9000 is a standard, that is not the only reason an auditwould be conducted. The seller cannot generally control or review the customer's quality process.Checking the accuracy of costs submitted by the team is more representative of a cost audit than aquality audit, so that option cannot be the best choice. One purpose of a quality audit is to identifyinefficient and ineffective policies. |
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You are in the middle of a major new facility construction project. The structural steel is in placeand the heating conduits are going into place when a senior manager informs you that he isworried the project will not meet the quality standards. What should you do in this situation?
A. Assure senior management that during the Plan Quality Management process, it wasdetermined that the project would meet the quality standards. B. Analogously estimate future results. C. Form a quality assurance team. D. Check the results from the last quality management plan. |
Answer C
Explanation Assuring management that it was determined in planning that the project wouldmeet quality standards is not productive, since it does not solve the problem. An analogousestimate looks at the past history of other projects. This would not be appropriate to determinehow the current project is going. The quality management plan does not provide results. A qualityassurance team could help to determine whether the team is following the correct process tosatisfy the relevant quality standards. |
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You are asked to select tools and techniques to implement a quality assurance program tosupplement existing quality control activities. Which of the following would NOT be appropriatefor this purpose?
A. Quality audits B. Statistical sampling C. Pareto diagrams D. Focus groups |
Answer D
Explanation Focus groups are a tool of the Collect Requirements process, and would not beuseful in the Perform Quality Assurance process. |
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The new software installation project is in progress. The project manager is working with thequality assurance department to improve stakeholders' confidence that the project will satisfy thequality standards. Which of the following MUST they have before they start this process?
A. Quality Problems B. Quality Improvement C. Quality Control measurements D. Rework |
Answer C
Explanation Though quality problems MAY lead to quality assurance efforts, they are not aMUST. Quality improvement is a result of Perform Quality Assurance, not an input. Rework (ordefect repair) can be an output of Control Quality. That leaves only quality control measurements,which are inputs to the Perform Quality Assurance process. |
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A project manager has just taken over the project from another project manager during projectexecuting. The previous project manager created a project budget determined communicationsrequirements, and went on to complete work packages. What should the new project manager doNEXT?
A. Coordinate completion of work packages. B. Identify quality standards. C. Begin the Identify Risks process. D. Execute the project management plan. |
Answer B
Explanation Completion of work packages is done after project planning. Since the previousproject manager did not finish planning, continuing to execute the project management planshould not be next. Identify Risks sounds like a good choice; however, identifying qualitystandards occurs before the Identify Risks process. You may have misread the questionand assumed communication planning was complete as well, but notice it only says thatcommunication requirements have been determined. Communications planning still needs to becompleted as well. Identify quality standards is the best answer, as planning must be completed onthe project. |
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Design of experiments:
A. Identifies which variables will have the most influence on a quality outcome. B. Identifies which variables will have the least influence on a quality outcome. C. Determines what a quality outcome is. D. Determines methods to be used for research and development. |
Answer A
Explanation The design of experiments technique allows you to find those factors that have themost impact on quality. It allows the project manager to focus attention on the factors that aremost important. |
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At the end of a project, a project manager determines the project has added four areas offunctionality and three areas of performance. The customer has expressed satisfaction with theproject. What does this mean in terms of the success of the project?
A. The project was an unqualified success. B. The project was unsuccessful because it was gold plated. C. The project was unsuccessful because the customer being happy means they would have paidmore for the work. D. The project was successful because the team had a chance to learn new areas of functionalityand the customer was satisfied. |
Answer B
Explanation Gold plating a project waste time and probably cost. It makes the project unsuccessful. |
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During project executing, a project team member informs the project manager that a workpackage has not met the quality metric, and that she believes it is not possible to meet it. Theproject manager meets with all concerned parties to analyze the situation. Which part of thequality management process is the project manager involved in?
A. Perform Quality Assurance B. Project Control C. Control Quality D. Plan Quality Management |
Answer C
Explanation Measuring is part of the Control Quality process. Did you select project Control? The question asked is part of the quality management process the project manager is involved in, not which part of the project management process. |
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The project manager notices that project activities being completed by one department are alltaking slightly than planned. To date, none of the activities in the work packages havebeen on the critical path nor have they affected the critical chain planning that has occurred. Theproject manager is bothered by the problem, since four of the next five critical path activities arebeing completed by this department.
After making three calls, the project manager is finally able to converse with the departmentmanager to determine what is going on. The conversation is slow, because both speak differentnative languages and they are trying to converse in French, a shared language. To makecommunication easier, the project manager frequently asks the department manager to repeatback what has been said. The department manager communicates that his staff is following a company policy that requirestwo levels of testing. During the conversation, the department manager also makes a commentthat leads the project manager to believe that the policy may include excessive work. This is thefourth time the project manager has heard such a comment. What is the BEST thing to do? A. Create a better communications management plan that requires only one language to be theuniversal language on the project and have translators readily available on a moment's notice. B. Contact someone else in the department who speaks the project manager's native languagebetter to confirm the department manager's opinion. C. Find out if the upcoming activities should be reestimated. D. Work on increasing the effectiveness of the performing organization by recommendingcontinuous improvement of the policy in question. |
Answer D
Explanation Changing the communications management plan may not be needed on the project and it does not deal with the problem at hand, the policy that is slowing things down. Confirming the department manager's opinion with someone else in the department is not the best choice,as the project manager already has heard the opinion on many other occasions. It is alreadyconfirmed. Determining whether upcoming activities should be re-estimated is just being reactive.A good project manager will find the root cause and deal with that, even if it means attempting toimprove the company's policies and processes. Yes, recommending improvement of the policy isthe best answer. This is continuous improvement. Because there are several activities affected bythe policy, it would best serve the project to get to the root cause of the problem and solve it. |
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As the project manager, you are preparing your quality management plan. You are looking for atool that can demonstrate the relationship between events and their resulting effects. You want touse this tool to depict the events that cause a negative effect on quality. Which of the following isthe BEST choice for accomplishing your objective?
A. Histogram B. Pareto diagram C. Ishikawa diagram D. Control chart |
Answer C
Explanation All reports and diagrams are communications tools. This question asks you topick the most appropriate quality tool to help communications. An Ishikawa diagram, also calleda cause and effect diagram, is more appropriate than a Pareto diagram since you are trying todetermine the causes. Once causes are known and you have data on occurrences, the data can bedisplayed in a Pareto diagram. |
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Which of the following explains why quality is planned in and not inspected in?
A. It reduces quality and is less expensive. B. It improves quality and is more expensive. C. It reduces quality and is more expensive. D. It improves quality and is less expensive. |
Answer D
Explanation Look for the proactive approach. When we plan for quality, we define theappropriate level of quality needed, which will improve quality overall and will likely be lessexpensive over the long run. NOTE: You may spend more initially for identifying the right qualityand doing the work to produce the planned quality, but you will save through reduced rework,waste, and scrap, and other such benefits. |
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Work on a project is ongoing when the project manager overhears two workers arguing what a set of instruction means. The project manager investigate and discovers that the instructions for the construction of the concrete footings currently being poured were poorly translated between the different languages in used of the project. Which of the following BEST thing for the project manager to do FIRTS? A. Get the instruction translated by a more experience party. B. Look for quality impact of the poor translation of the instructions for the footings. C. Bring the issue to the attention of the team and ask them to look for other translation problems. D. Inform the sponsor of the problem in the next project report. |
Answer B Explanation Although all of these choices are correct things to do, the question asks what todo first. What is the most immediate problem? Getting the instructions translated by a moreexperienced party could be done, but it does not address the immediate concern of the footingsthat have already been poured according to the poorly translated instructions. Asking the team tolook for other translation issues is an excellent idea. However, it does not address the immediateproblem. Informing the sponsor is also not taking action to solve the problem. Isn't it most urgentto find out whether the concrete footings meet your project requirements? Are they adequate?Only the option of looking for quality impacts of the poor translation will help you determine that. |
