1. B, E. A project can be summarized as having the following properties: It is temporary in nature, it creates a unique product or service, it has a definite start and finish, it contains a reason/purpose, and it may be part of a program or portfolio. A group of related tasks is not necessarily a project but could be a to-do list of any kind. Operational activities are activities that take place after a project has been completed. Reworking an existing project is not creating a new product or service, and it doesn’t meet the properties of a project.

2. A. Providing governance on the project is the responsibility of a project management office, not the project team. The project team is responsible for contributing expertise to the project, contributing deliverables according to the schedule, estimating task duration, and estimating costs and dependencies.

3. B. The work breakdown structure is a deliverable-oriented decomposition of a project. It is one of the fundamental building blocks of project planning, such as scheduling activities, and it is used as an input to numerous other planning processes.

4. D. The business case is a written document or report that helps executive management and key stakeholders determine the benefits and rewards of the project. It can include justification, alternative solutions, and alignment to the strategic plan.

5. A, C, D. Performance Measuring and Reporting, Perform Quality Assurance, and Monitor the Budget are all activities associated with the Monitor and Control phase. In addition to these activities, the Monitor and Control phase includes governance activities, monitoring the risk/issues log, and administering the change control process.

6. D. The Communications plan is where all of the elements of the who, what, when, where, and why of communication needs are documented.

7. C. Parametric estimating often uses a quantity of work multiplied by the rate formula for computing costs.

8. B. Cost Variance is Earned Value − Actual Cost, or $2,500 − $2,275 = $225.

9. D. What did I accomplish yesterday? What will I do today? and What obstacles are preventing progress? These are the three questions asked during a stand-up, or SCRUM, meeting.

10. B. All of the authority in this example rests with the functional manager who is pulling Marcus back to work on other assignments rather than the project. In a functional organizational structure, resources typically report to a functional manager and the project manager has limited or no authority.

11. A. In this scenario, working with the team member to get the desired result is the best course of action. Removing or replacing a team member is not always an option, and thus is incorrect.

12. D. The high-level scope definition is documented in the project charter, setting the big picture work that the project hopes to complete.

13. B. The Planning phase is where the majority of the project documents get created. This is where the project goals, objectives, and deliverables are refined and broken down into manageable units of work, such as within the work breakdown structure.

14. A. The project description explains the attributes of the product, service, or result of the project.

15. B. The formula is (Most Likely + Optimistic + Pessimistic) / 3.

16. D. In a functional organization, the authority resides with the functional manager, not the project manager.

17. C. The purchasing of the build site must occur before the construction activity begins.

18. C. The Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that shows task duration and dependencies.

19. D. While stakeholders start out with a lot of influence, it decreases as the project advances because the execution of the project solidifies deliverables at the expense of stakeholders being able to change their minds.

20. C. An external dependency is where an entity or condition outside of the project drives the scheduling for that task.

21. A. This is where one party gets their way, and the other party’s interest is not represented.

22. D. A => C => D => E. The critical path has task A (2 days), task C (2 days), task D (2 days), and task E (3 days) for a total of 9 days.

23. D. There is no heroic effort that occurs during an Agile sprint, which is a short burst of activity on a project focusing on a few tasks and working them to a completed state.

24. B. In this scenario, all of the power and authority are present with the project manager and not the functional manager, which is indicative of a strong-matrix organizational structure.

25. B. Performing quality assurance would take place during Monitor and Control, and managing stakeholder expectations should occur throughout the project. ​​The Closing phase is responsible for transition/integration plan, project sign-off, archiving project documents, lessons learned, releasing of resources, and closing of contracts.

26. C. The kickoff meeting is where the project team members and stakeholders are introduced, and it’s held at the beginning of the Execution phase.

27. E. Other closing activities would include getting project sign-off, gathering and documenting lessons learned, and conducting training as a part of the transition/integration plan.

28. A. A governance gate is a checkpoint between project phases where approval is obtained to move forward​. Usually, project reports are sent to a steering committee to help ensure accountability on the project for time, money, and scope.

29. A, C. The two most correct answers are that the project has a definitive start and end date and that it creates a unique product or service. Projects are considered a success when the goals they set out to accomplish are fulfilled and the stakeholders are satisfied with the results.

30. B. A portfolio is a collection of programs, sub-portfolios, and projects that support strategic business goals or objective. Programs and projects within a portfolio are not necessarily related to one another in a direct way, and projects may independently exist within the portfolio.

31. D. The project charter is prepared and agreed to in the Initiation phase of a project. This document provides formal approval for the project to begin and authorizes the project manager to apply resources to the project.

32. C. This is where the project team members and stakeholders are introduced and the goals for the project are outlined.

33. B. Leadership, time management, team building, and listening are soft skills that are important for a project manager. Critical path diagrams are an artifact, and the creation of them would be considered a hard skill, so answers A and C are incorrect. Following and independence are soft skills, but not typically associated with project management, so D is also incorrect.

34. B. The project charter is where high-level risks should be documented, which occurs in the Initiation phase.

35. D. A project schedule determines start and finish dates for project activities and will also have activity durations and order of precedence.

36. C. This type of estimating can also be called an order-of-magnitude estimate.

37. A. The project manager is not the critical role in this answer. Unless it falls into one of the other three phases, this does not hold true.

38. C. This may include both direct and indirect costs, but it must correspond to the budget for the activity. Actual cost is an example of project cost control.

39. C. Determining activity sequence is an important part of project management, and you will probably see a question like this on the test. For this question, the correct order is: gather bread, peanut butter, and jelly; get a knife; place bread on a plate; spread peanut butter on one slice of bread; spread jelly on the other slice of bread; put both slices of bread together; serve.

40. A, D, and F. Some of the important steps required in the development of the critical path include determining the tasks, determining task start/finish dates, determining task durations and milestones, putting them in sequential order by identifying predecessors and setting dependencies, and identifying the critical path. Scheduling activities also address the allocation of resources, setting baselines, and quality/governance gates.

41. C. Also known as a person-hour estimate, this is used in the creation of cost estimates.

42. B. This includes identifying both what resources are needed and when they will be needed.

43. C. This technique may also be called problem solving, and it is a superior way to resolve a conflict. The correct solution to a problem can reveal itself, and the facts will contribute to discovering the solution.

44. A, C, E. Using team-building activities, using recognition and rewards, and setting the ground rules are some of the tools that you can use to develop an effective project team.

45. D. This is the ideal state teams are shooting for, where the team is productive and effective. Not all teams are able to achieve this stage of development.

46. B. When quality is a key concern, it means that it is more important than cost. Therefore, it would be beneficial to have the team collocated so that the communication is quicker, corrections are more timely, and the team is not disrupted by time-zone differences.

47. A. When requirements are changing, an Agile approach allows an organization to be readily able to adapt to the environment.

48. D. The project manager has the authority to task team resources and conduct performance evaluations, making this a projectized organizational structure.

49. B. The user story helps focus on how the product is going to be used to help shape how it is designed.

50. D. More established organizations with mature processes and tenured staff would most likely have a functional organizational structure centered around specialties.

51. C. PMP is common shorthand for the project management plan. In the project management world, it can also stand for Project Management Professional, an individual certified from the Project Management Institute (PMI^®).

52. B. A backlog is the artifact that is used within an Agile methodology to keep track of all the elements that need to be included in a project but may not be a part of this sprint.

53. C. Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitor and Control, and Closing are the standard project phases. The project phases are tightly linked, and outputs from one phase usually become inputs of another phase.

54. D. Milestones are major events in a project used to measure progress.

55. B. A work package represents the lowest level of decomposition within the work breakdown structure (WBS). By beginning at the work package level of the WBS, the cost for each activity is calculated and assigned to that work package.

56. A. Although this would be a nice outcome, it is not the purpose of developing a project team.

57. D. In the Agile methodology, tasks can get recorded and identified in a backlog, but it is not a dependency important to task sequencing.

58. B. Remember that a project is temporary in nature, and at times adding too much to the scope changes the temporary aspect of the endeavor. Adding unapproved scope to the project is considered to be scope creep.

59. B. Identification of lower-level WBS components occurs after the major deliverables have been identified.

60. B. Compromising is when each party gives up something to reach a solution in a conflict.

61. B. The framing of the walls must begin before the installation of the network cabling can begin, leading to a start-to-start relationship. The wiring must be in place before dry walling and insulation can begin.

62. B. The critical path has A (2 days), C (2 days), D (2 days), and E (3 days), for a total of 9 days.

63. C. The resource calendar will also let you know the dates resources are active or idle.

64. A, D, F. When there is no harmony within the team, team-building exercises can assist in restoring morale. When a phase is completed, it can be beneficial to celebrate the progress on the project and recognize the contributions of the team. Any kind of change in the team dynamic can impact the project, especially when the leadership is new.

65. D. The space constraints for this organization will force the team to use remote or virtual teams.

66. D. While Nyssa is assigned to the project, it is clear that the power rests with the functional manager, undercutting the project manager’s authority.

67. A. Stakeholder expectations having been met is the most critical factor involved when determining whether a project is a success.

68. B. A deliverable can be any tangible or intangible product or service produced as the result of a project.

69. D. The project sponsors’ responsibilities include helping define and develop the high-level requirements for the project, functioning as the approval authority, removing roadblocks, marketing the project across the organization, controlling the direction of the project, and defining the business case for the project.

70. D. The business case can include justification, alternative solutions, alignment to the strategic plan, recommended solution, and a feasibility study.

71. A. All projects are constrained by what is typically referred to as the “triple constraints,” which include time, budget, and scope as they pertain to quality. Typically, you can manipulate two elements and will have to live with how they constrain the third element. You can have cheap, feature rich, or fast: pick two of three.

72. C. The charter gives formal authorization to begin and to commit resources to the project. Accordingly, project team selection and procurement can begin at this point.

73. D. In addition to archival of project documents, release of team members, and review of lessons learned, Closing consists of the following: transition/integration plan, training, closing of contracts, and project sign-off. Monitoring the risks and issues log is considered to be a process within the Monitor and Control phase.

74. C. The WBS is a project artifact, not resources in the resource management context.

75. A. Top-down estimating, or analogous estimating, is when high-level project cost estimates are used by comparing to a similar project from the past.

76. C. This number is expressed as a percentage.

77. A. Fast tracking is a schedule compression technique that involves completing two tasks in parallel that were previously scheduled to start sequentially. This can come with a higher cost and with increased risk, but it will help the project be completed faster.

78. C. Deliverables are generated during the Direct and Manage Project Work process, during the Execution phase.

79. B. There are not enough resources for the task, leading to overallocation. An individual’s workload becomes more severe, leading to longer hours and a higher potential for burnout.

80. E. Adjourning refers to the dissolving of the team when work has been completed.

81. C. When cost is the most important element of the project, virtual teams can help keep costs lower. It can come at the cost of communication efficiency and potentially make quality more difficult to realize.

82. B. This document details how the procurement process will be managed.

83. A. A more solid organization that is working with a fixed budget or other constraints would be best suited for more traditional project management approaches.

84. C. This may be an activity during either the planning or execution phase, depending on the nature of the industry the project is in.

85. A. A change control board (CCB), in conjunction with the change control process, will approve or reject changes to the scope of the project.

86. A. While not listed, this function could also be done by a program or portfolio within those units only. The PMO performs this function across the organization.

87. B. A risk becomes an active issue when it is triggered. For instance, if the cost of materials starts to rise, it might trigger a budget risk that gets moved to the issue log to be actively managed.

88. A. The project manager is attempting to make the conflict appear less important than it really is by implying that they would have to work on the upcoming weekend if they didn’t stay that night. No attempt is made to see if there was another solution, like coming in early the next day.

89. D. Whenever a team member joints the project, or at the beginning of the project when multiple people join, is when expectations should be set, including roles, due dates, norms, and team interactions.

90. B. The work breakdown structure is characteristic of a more deliberate, up-front requirements gathering, when many of the requirements are identified early in the project.

91. B. Outsourcing is where work is transferred from employees within the organization to contractors or vendors.

92. B. This is the model that was developed by Dr. Bruce Tuckman, and it is known as the stages of team development.

93. A. Daily standup meetings are typically used with an Agile methodology. As such, a daily standup meeting would not have a governance body in attendance and would normally be attended by project team members.

94. D. This helps keep roles like the project manager and project team accountable from a more strategic standpoint.

95. A. Construction would come after the blueprinting is approved.

96. B, C, E. The three types of organizational structures are functional, matrix, and projectized. In a functional organization, decisions and control are driven by the specialized function (IT, accounting, HR, and so on). With a projectized organization, the project manager has decision-making authority and control over resources. A matrixed organization is a blended model between functional and projectized.

97. D. A positive cost variance (CV) means that the project is under budget, and a negative CV means that the project is over budget. $7,000 − $9,500 = −$2,500; therefore, the project is over budget.

98. A. The primary purpose of the Closing phase is to document the formal acceptance of the project work and to hand off the completed product to the organization for ongoing maintenance and support.

99. B, D, E. The PMO provides guidance to project managers and helps present a consistent, reliable approach to managing projects across the organization. Responsibilities include providing governance for projects, maintaining standard documentation and templates, and establishing key performance indicators and parameters.

100. A. The “champion” role of the sponsor is really important both initially and as the project commences in order to keep the energy and focus of the whole organization committed to its success.

101. C. A program is a group of related projects that are managed together with coordinated processes and techniques. Make sure that you know the difference between a project and a portfolio.

102. C. These are all roles performed by a project coordinator.

103. C. Cost Performance Index (CPI). The formula is CPI = Earned Value (EV) / Actual Cost (AC).

104. C. In a balanced-matrix organization, the project manager and the functional manager both control the budget and share power and authority.

105. C. This lowest level recorded in the WBS is the work package. This is the level where resources, time, and cost estimates are determined.

106. B, E. Smoothing and negotiating are conflict resolution techniques. Storming and norming are stages of group development that were first proposed by Bruce Tuckman. Threatening is an interpersonal response that typically leads to conflict.

107. B. This stage is a process of establishing who is the most influential, and there is jostling for position.

108. C. When a project, or a portion of a project, must be completed prior to another project beginning, it is an example of an interproject dependency.

109. C. The project scheduler gets status updates on the tasks and then communicates the updated timeline and changes to the project team.

110. B. This can be recorded through the use of user stories or short descriptions of the functionality.

111. C. If your project spans multiple time zones and/or there are a variety of schedules being used, take these factors into consideration when scheduling the meeting.

112. B. The project management office’s responsibilities include setting standards and practices for an organization, providing tools such as previous project documentation, and delivering standardized documentation and templates.

113. C. Developing the project charter and stakeholder identification are the two activities that occur during the initiation phase. Other activities, like holding a project kickoff meeting and creating the project plan, will take place during the planning and execution phases.

114. D. This document will include the approach to obtaining outside products and services and the rational for choosing whether to insource or outsource the effort.

115. D. Pareto diagramming, or producing a Pareto chart or diagram, is a tool used to focus attention on the most critical issues. It is not used to estimate activity duration.

116. B. Team members are responsible for producing the deliverables spelled out in the project charter and scope statement.

117. C. Parametric estimating often uses a quantity of work multiplied by the rate formula for computing costs.​

118. C, E. The issues log and action items are created during the Execution phase. The project charter is created during the Initiation phase. The communication plan is created during the Planning phase. Lessons learned are generally done in the Closing phase, but some projects may choose to do them during Monitor and Control.

119. D. Project managers can spend up to 90% of their time communicating with the stakeholders and the project team.

120. B. Vested interest, providing input and requirements, project steering, and expertise are examples of stakeholder responsibilities. Stakeholder expectation setting and engagement are key elements to project success.

121. A. In this case, Jenny is considered to be a project stakeholder. Remember that a team member is also a form of a stakeholder.

122. A. Project sign-off occurs in the Closing phase, not the Initiation phase.

123. D. Although many roles are responsible for identifying risk, the project team plays a key role because they are more likely to recognize risk as subject-matter experts.

124. B, C, E. The communication plan, organizational chart, and project schedule are all created in the Planning phase. Status reports and action items are developed and communicated during the Monitor and Control phase. Other examples of activities that are a result of the Planning phase are identifying resources, capturing detailed risks and requirements, documenting the change management plan and procurement plan, and developing the budget.

125. D. The project manager is responsible for all artifacts produced during the course of doing project work.

126. B. Characteristics of deliverables that must be met are known as requirements. Distance traveled on a project is good information for expense tracking and reporting. Checkpoints are gate checks on a project. Major events to track progress are milestones.

127. A. Define activities, sequence activities, estimate resources, and estimate duration are all key activities that must occur in order to develop the project schedule.

128. C. The project kick-off meeting is held after the project charter is signed and approved. The project kickoff meeting normally introduces the project team. Project team creation doesn’t happen until the Execution phase. Note: In the real world, a kickoff meeting can happen in any of the first three phases, but for the test know that it is the Execution phase.

129. A. This activity also includes measuring the project spending to date.

130. C. The sprint planning meeting establishes what can realistically be accomplished during the sprint.

131. D. The burn rate is how fast the project is spending its allotted budget, or how fast the rate money is being expended over a period of time.

132. A, D. The project manager is responsible for managing the team, communication, scope, risk budget, and time of the project, as well as project artifacts and quality assurance.

133. C. The project charter sets the scope, assumptions, budget, and constraints at a high level for the project. As the project advances through the phases, this information will become more precise.

134. B. Creating and verifying deliverables is the key output of the Execution phase. Performance measuring and reporting occurs during Monitor and Control, whereas key stakeholder identification and determining project resources occur during planning.

135. A. This information would generally be found in a responsibility assignment matrix instead of the WBS dictionary.

136. B. The procurement plan explains the decisions made on what will be made and what will be purchased by the organization.

137. B. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a statistical tool used to analyze and represent tasks, not costs.

138. A. The cost performance index (CPI) is EV/AC. Therefore, 900 / 1100 = .84.

139. B. In a projectized organizational structure, the project manager has the most authority, and resources report directly to the project manager.

140. B. Rather than start-to-deferred, the missing relationship is start-to-start, meaning that one task must wait for a different task to start for work to begin.

141. C. A traditional waterfall methodology will be progressively iterative, similar to the iterative approach used with the Agile methodology.

142. B, C, D. The scope management includes the process for creating the scope statement, the definitions of how the deliverables will be validated, and the process for creating, maintaining, and approving the WBS. It also will define the process for controlling scope change requests, including the procedure for requesting changes.

143. D. Confronting is also called problem solving, and it is the best way to resolve conflict. By setting out on a fact-finding mission, the correct solution to the problem will present itself to the parties.

144. A. Due to the temporary nature of projects, resources are not permanently assigned to any one project or function.

145. B. A nondisclosure agreement (NDA) helps protect an organization’s intellectual property when the project is completed or if there is turnover on the project.

146. D. The other options would not take advantage of the flexible, easily changing environment of the project.

147. C. The Execution phase is where most of the expenditures on materials and labor will occur.

148. C. This is where both parties give up something to help reach a workable solution. The commitment to meeting the deadline and the agreement to allow for time off, while adjusting the timing, are the key decision points.

149. C. Authority and power are shared between the functional manager and the project manager.

150. B, D. This is an example of ongoing operations that are not temporary in nature and do not have an end date. Additionally, the work effort does not produce a unique product.

151. D. With values born out of Lean principles, this is an iterative, incremental approach to managing the activities on a project.

152. C. There are times where the best course of action for the entire project team is to move on without the disgruntled team member.

153. C. Because of the varied time zones, a phone call or video conference would require an additional level of coordination. Therefore, email would be the most efficient what to handle the update.

154. A. Team members are brought together and told why they’re working together. Individuals tend to be the most reserved and formal during this stage.

155. A. The use of a third party, like the project manager in the question, can help in producing a positive outcome and the third party’s neutrality can assist in reaching an agreement.

156. A. Individuals who are finished with the project but haven’t started a new assignment represent benched resources whose skills are not being utilized. This is costly for an organization because team members are being paid, but revenue is not being generated.

157. D. Tiffany is overallocated for the project assignments because there is more work to do than time to work on it.

158. D. Reporting to both the project manager and the functional manager means that Amy is a shared resource.

159. A. A discretionary dependency is defined by the project management team, and they are normally process or procedure driven.

160. D. The high-level scope definition documents the reason for the project and the problem you’re trying to solve and provides a high-level description of some of the deliverables needed to make the project a success.

161. D. Option D is not correct since this is an example of alternatives identification and analysis. Risk assessment is done on the proposed project, not the alternatives.

162. B, C. A project coordinator supports the project manager and performs time and resource scheduling. This individual also provides cross-functional coordination and documentation and administrative support, and checks for quality.

163. D. This is a form of a lessons-learned meeting used in the Agile methodology to help improve future sprints.

164. E. During the transition from the project to normal operations, training of the new specifications will occur. ​

165. B. With an Agile approach, the result is that requirements can be adjusted as results are developed during the iterations.

166. E. The project manager is asserting his or her will without consideration of Jessie’s position. Although this is a permanent solution, it is not a particularly good one.

167. B, C, E. This meets the requirements for a project because Wigitcom is creating a new product or service, and the effort is temporary in nature. It would also be a part of a program, or related projects, that share resources. In this case, the security team’s resources would be shared with this project.

168. B. Commonly a bar chart, the burndown chart depicts the progress made with each iteration approaching the completion of the project.

169. C. With the aid of email, videoconferencing, and other technologies, providing the ability to communicate with team members all over the globe, projects are able to be completed successfully using virtual teams.

170. A. A resource shortage might be a tempting answer here, but the key is the involvement of multiple projects. Hence, resource contention exists between projects.

171. C. After the team has formed and stormed, this is where familiarity with one another helps to settle things down and individuals begin to deal with project problems instead of people problems.

172. B. Avoiding never results in problem resolution, and it is potentially the least effective technique.

173. C. Benched resources often occur in projectized organizations where there are resources on the payroll but they are not currently assigned to a project.

174. B. The project manager has full authority and controls time and tasks. As a project manager, you need to be wary of having low-quality resources assigned to a project, because sometimes functional managers will try to give you their lowest-caliber individuals.

175. B. An example of a mandatory dependency might be pouring the concrete foundation and letting it cure prior to framing a building.

176. B. The WBS is developed during the Planning phase. The WBS is a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines all of the work of the project.

177. B. Predefined acceptance criteria help ensure quality and minimize work. They can be used in both the Agile and waterfall methods.

178. B, C, E. The ways to organize the WBS are by subprojects (where the project managers of the subprojects each create a WBS), by project phases, or by major deliverables.

179. D. This is also known as withdrawal, and it never results in a resolution of the problem. It is also an example of a lose-lose conflict resolution technique.

180. D. The communication plan sets out who needs to be informed of what types of project changes, and it will direct which method of communication should be used.

181. D. Project sponsors should use their influence to help remove obstacles like nonparticipation on the project.

182. C. Effective team building can help create efficient and effective groups focused on getting the work done, oftentimes with team members enjoying the work immensely.

183. D. Collocation is when team members are physically working in the same place. Remember, this is not restricted just to consulting resources. In-house resources, or those who work for the same company, even in the same building, might be collocated to work in the same room or suite for a project.

184. B. When an employee is not meeting expectations, it is important for the project manager to intervene, making sure that the expectations are clear, inquire if there is a problem, and enforce the expectations.

185. D. The project team contributes their expertise to the project and gives their estimates for task duration, cost estimates, and dependencies.

186. B. This helps depict the differing levels of decomposition depending on the expected date of work.

187. C. Level 1 of the WBS is the project level. The first level of decomposition can commonly be the second level of the WBS (deliverables, phases, projects).​

188. B. Expenditure reporting includes a breakdown of expenditures to date, and it will compare the financial outcome with the budget projections and remaining budget on the project.

189. D. The burndown chart is a visual representation and measurement tool showing the completed work against a time interval to forecast project completion.

190. A, C, D. Among items contained in a WBS dictionary are the list of scheduled millstones, criteria for acceptance, and descriptions of the work components.

191. A. This is not an element of the scope baseline but a management skill used to help get teams unstuck.

192. C. The iterative nature of an Agile approach, which emphasizes continuous feedback and interactions, would be the best approach in this situation.

193. A. This is indicative of a more traditional waterfall approach where the scope is controlled with a more rigid change process.

194. C. Assumptions are events, actions, or conditions that are believed to be true for planning purposes.

195. C. The sprint planning meeting sets what can realistically be accomplished during the sprint.

196. A, B, E. Agile is characterized by self-organized and self-directed teams, sprint planning, and continuous requirements gathering. Projects using a waterfall technique would have characteristics of formally organized teams and saving feedback for lessons learned meetings at the end of the project.

197. A. A high-level scope definition creates a shared understanding of what is included and excluded from the project. This information will serve as the basis for the development of the project charter.

198. A, B, E. Option C is not correct because that is the responsibility of the project management office. Option D is the role of a project stakeholder, and option F is the function of the project manager.

199. D. No real or permanent solution is achieved. This can be an example of a lose-lose result as neither side achieves resolution of their issues.

200. B. Crashing is a schedule compression technique that typically allocates additional resources to complete tasks quicker. Adding more resources will increase the costs of the project.

201. C. Lessons learned occurs during the Closing phase of the project.

202. C. A CPI over 1 means that the project is spending below the budget forecast at the measurement date.

203. A. The project scheduler is responsible for communicating the timeline and any changes.

204. C. Low-quality resources do not have the required experience, are not accomplished with the skill set, have poor passion for the project, or carry a bad attitude to work. Low-quality resources can sometimes be replaced, but they will always need to be managed in some form.

205. B. A project is represented by the individuals on the team, and ensuring the correct skills, level of experience, availability, and interest are all part of the team selection process.

1. C. Influences can manipulate or impact existing constraints or may bring about new constraints.

2. B. Constraint reprioritization is a shifting of which constraint is unmovable, thereby setting how the other constraints are manipulated. “You can have it cheap, right, or fast—you get to pick two out of three” illuminates the interplay between the triple constraints.

3. C. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) is a tool used to perform a moment-in-time environmental scan.

4. B. Remember that a risk can be either positive or negative, and it represents an opportunity or threat that did not exist earlier in the project.

5. B. The risk register is the tool used to document all potential risks for future analysis and evaluation.

6. D. Risk analysis is the process of figuring out what risks might happen and what the results would be if each risk did occur.

7. B. Risk impact details the consequence or result that will occur if the event actually happens. Typically, this is categorized with a rating of High, Medium, and Low.

8. A, D, F. Commonly referred to as the “triple constraints,” almost all projects are constrained by time, budget, and scope as they impact quality.

9. B. Similar to the availability of people with certain skills, equipment availability and scheduling can also lead to a constraint on a project.

10. B, C. Two of the triple constraints are represented in the options, a predefined budget and a fixed, or mandated, finish date. These constraints will impact the options available in terms of scope, and they should be considered in terms of creating the scope statement.

11. A. The scarcity of this particular type of skill set, or when they have restricted availability or cannot be on the project on time, can all represent a constraint on the project.

12. A. Change requests, scope creep, and interactions between constraints are some of the influences that can impact a project.

13. D. All three of these roles can contribute to the identification of risk on a project.

14. D. There are no changes to the existing project, but a new project is competing for the same resources at the same time as the existing project. The stakeholders’ focus has changed.

15. A, D, E. Standard information on a risk register might include an identification number, description, probability and impact, score, and owner as they all relate to risk.

16. B. This is an example of a cease and desist letter, where there is an attempt to get a purportedly illegal activity halted and not continued again in the future.

17. B. Enhancing a risk involves increasing the probability or impact of the risk event to ensure that benefits are realized. This could come in the form of the construction company telling you that they could complete the building of a new gym early if there was a monetary reward for doing so.

18. D. Acceptance is choosing to live with the impact that a risk would have on the project.

19. C. The risk response plan outlines the course of action that will occur should the risk materialize and start impacting the project.

20. D. Risk probability is the likelihood that a risk event will occur, and it is typically expressed as a number between 0.0 and 1.0.

21. B. Opportunities are external conditions that contribute to positive risks on a project, like a bull market in the product area, better weather conditions than expected, or a drop in materials costs.

22. C. SWOT involves analyzing the project by strengths/weaknesses, which are internal to the organization, and opportunities/threats, which are external to the organization.

23. B, D, F. The techniques of brainstorming, interviews, and facilitated workshops can all assist in creating an initial risk list. The estimating techniques are used in activity estimation for a task, and a fishbone diagram would help create cause and effect relationships.

24. D. An integrated master schedule is a networked and cross-referenced schedule containing the detailed work packages and plans to support a project.

25. C. Environmental factors are actual constraints rather than influences of a constraint.

26. A. A change request can create impact on any existing constraints or cause a new constraint. Consider if the change request causes a change to the project due date; then the scheduling constraint would be affected.

27. C. Scope involves the specific goals, tasks, and deliverables of a project. It helps to provide boundaries for the project so that it does not expand and go on forever. Remember, when altering one of the triple constraints, at least one of the others is affected. Therefore, adjusting scope is sure to impact either schedule or budget.

28. A. Weather conditions form an environmental constraint that will influence when and often how a project can be completed.

29. D. Staffing is not an automatic constraint on a project—it is more of an environmental factor to an organization. The other answers represent the triple constraints of time, budget, and scope, as they pertain to quality.

30. B. Determining how a risk might positively or negatively impact a project, and just how likely the risk is to occur, is risk analysis.

31. B. Constraints like a fixed timeframe or budget, small windows in weather, or scarce resources limit the options the project team can pursue.

32. C. The Wigit Construction bridge project is limited by time, budget, and scope, which are the elements of the triple constraints.

33. B. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and it is an exercise in performing an environmental scan at a moment in time. This environmental scan can help reveal project risks.

34. D. C&D is shorthand for cease and desist, where documents are sent to a business or individual in order to halt a supposed illegal activity and to prevent it from being resumed.

35. A. To share a positive risk, the project seeks to assign the risk to a third party who is best able to bring about the opportunity—for instance, a company that already has a working factory in a country where the materials are going to be sold, reducing costs of the project.

36. B. Transference is the strategy of moving the liability of the risk to a third party by purchasing insurance, performance bonds, and other tools.

37. A. Expert judgment is where subject matter experts, stakeholders, and project team members contribute their expertise on similar projects to help make a recommendation.

38. A. The probability and impact matrix is a tool used to calculate an overall risk score, and to help organize, prioritize, and present information to determine what is needed in the risk response plan.

39. C. The area of weaknesses looks at the elements in the company where it can improve, which may introduce risk to a project. Negative risks are also associated with weaknesses.

40. A. Teams not attending status meetings would be an example of an active issue, not a potential future consequence that will impact the project.

41. A. Measuring the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and the Cost Performance Index (CPI) are a part of monitoring and controlling the project and not directly an activity of risk planning.

42. C. A memorandum of understanding is an agreement between two parties that indicates a common expression of action. It does not imply a legal commitment by the parties.

43. A. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed, and it is a tool to help designate roles and responsibilities on a project.

44. A, B. Project stakeholders, sponsors, and management can influence the constraints of a project in a variety of ways, including shifting the priorities and/or resources, losing interest in a project in favor of newer efforts, and contributing to scope creep.

45. B. Deliverables represent a constraint because they spell out detailed requirements or measurable results that direct the actions of the project team.

46. A. The scope of the project has changed but not the schedule, so costs will increase. This is an example of the triple constraints driving what is important in a project.

47. B. The project scope is cut back to operate within the new budget​ is the most likely impact on this project. The schedule would not be affected, since there is no call to lengthen or shorten the project time.

48. B. Budget is the cost constraint, and the team will not be able to work unlimited hours on the project without it affecting budget, scope, or quality.

49. D. The risk register may contain additional elements, including the response plan or where the plan may be located.

50. A. The tool used to determine how likely a risk is to disrupt the project and what the total impact on the project would be is the probability and impact matrix.

51. B, D. The risk score is the risk probability, typically expressed as a number between 0.0 and 1.0, multiplied by the risk impact. Projects may choose different quantifiable measures for probability and impact, and that would be spelled out in the risk plan.

52. C. The critical path method can also be defined as finding the longest path through the network diagram.

53. C. Risk triggers are a sign that a risk event is about to or has occurred, and that action may be needed.

54. D. When seeking to exploit a positive risk, you should look for opportunities to take advantage of positive impacts, ensuring that the risk materializes. For instance, the price of oil drops and the project is able to purchase all of the required oil at a significantly reduced price than was planned.

55. D. Avoiding the risk attempts to bypass the risk altogether, including the elimination of the cause for a risk event.

56. D. Threats are external to the organization and have negative impacts on the project, such as a softening product market, labor unrest, or trade barriers.

57. C. When work is ready to begin is the appropriate time to hold a kickoff meeting, after all of the planning has been completed.

58. D. Risk identification is brainstorming and recording all potential risks that might occur during a project.

59. A. International Standards Organization develops and publishes international standards for many industries. You may also see it as the International Organization for Standardization.

60. B. It stands for responsibility, accountable, support, and inform. This is an alternative form of a RACI chart, with “consulted” replaced by identifying who serves in a supporting role.

61. B. This example shows the interrelationship of how one constraint—in this case schedule—is influenced by the change of another constraint—scope.

62. D. Scope creep is where the project definition is constantly expanding, and control over being able to finish the project lessens.

63. A, C, D. These are common influences that can impact a project: change requests, scope creep, and reprioritization of constraints.

64. C. A constraint is anything that limits the options of the project team or dictates a specific course of action.

65. D. The wedding costs will be increased as people are added to meet the deadline. The trade-off between time, cost, and scope is at play here. The only variable that has changed is time or schedule. Since the scope is the same, costs will increase.

66. C. The conditions for dealing with the changing seasons, including how the final product’s care would influence the construction, are examples of environmental constraints.

67. D. This is a scheduling constraint because the timing and availability of a resource is restricted because of the skill set scarcity.

68. B. A memorandum of agreement helps indicate the goodwill on the part of both parties and keeps track of commitments. It is not a legal document, nor does it have any enforceability in court.

69. B. A good practice when identifying project risks is to have a set of questions to ask during the brainstorming step.

70. D. The risk management plan outlines how the project will define, monitor, and control risks throughout the project.

71. A. Cost of quality (COQ) represents the costs needed to bring a substandard product or service produced by the project within the standard described by the quality plan or other criteria.

72. D. During the Monitor and Control phase, the project team observes whether a risk is triggered and takes the planned course of action should that occur.

73. A. Mitigate is a risk response strategy for a negative risk. An attempt is made to minimize either the probability of risks happening or the impact.

74. C. The probability and impact matrix will also include a calculated final risk score that can be used to prioritize the risk’s severity.

75. A. The strategies used to deal with negative risks are avoid, transfer, mitigate, and accept.

76. A. This technique does not change the critical path or project completion date, but it balances specific schedule dates when there is concern about resource availability.

77. D. Normally, one of the triple constraints is more restrictive than others, in this case budget. However, if Wigitcom doesn’t remain relevant in the marketplace, they run the risk of going out of business. Therefore, scope becomes more important regardless of the cost.

78. A. Much like the organizational breakdown structure, the resource breakdown structure lists the different resources by categories like labor, heavy equipment, materials, supplies, and so forth.

79. A. This is an internal dependency where one part of a company is waiting for another part to finish their work before they can begin the next step.

80. A. Milestones can also represent the completion of major deliverables on a project.

81. B. The company is checking to see that a project could be successful. A feasibility study might also look at personnel availability, costs, or timelines.

82. A. The company is trying to mitigate the impact by monitoring the probability that the risk will happen so they can act quickly to reduce negative results.

83. C. An organizational breakdown structure (OBS) is a hierarchical model setting or describing the established organizational framework for project planning and resource management.

84. D. Subject matter experts have expert judgment and experience in the topic or project area that should be consulted.

85. B. The Project Management Institute (PMI^®) published A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge®, which is a cross-industry framework of good practices in project management.

86. A. Since the need for success on her current project is probably desirable for job security, Katie would most likely try to avoid risky decisions because the margin of error is so low.

87. D. Risk tolerance is the threshold of comfort one has accepting a risk and its consequences.

88. C. This would be an example of the scope continuing to grow while the project is underway. A change control process will provide a formal way to handle these issues.

89. B. When there is a preset project end date, as when a law sets a date by which an activity must be completed, schedule compression can be used to shorten the project schedule.

90. A. This technique modifies the project schedule when accounting for unforeseen issues or resource availability.

91. C. Alternative analysis gauges the different options that might be considered to accomplish the assignment with the resources that are available.

92. B. Discretionary dependencies are also known as preferred logic​, soft logic, or preferential logic.

93. D. Assumptions are those conditions that are assumed to be true in relation to the project.

94. C. Fast tracking is a schedule compression technique where activities or phases decided to be done in sequence are instead done concurrently.

95. C. The software company is seeking to share the positive risk with a third party that can act on the opportunity.

96. B. A statement of work formally captures and defines work activities, timeframes, milestones, and deliverables that a vendor must meet in the performance of work for a customer.

97. D. A request for quotation is generally more involved than just a price per item response. It can also be called an invitation for bid.

98. D. Key performance parameters identify the desired operational capability in a threshold and objective format.

99. D. Because of the stability within her job due to great performance, Karen probably has a bigger cushion to gamble and take more risks.

100. D. Contingency reserves are set aside to deal with risk consequences, and management reserves cover future situations that are unable to be predicted.

101. C. Overwhelming individuals on a project can lead to burnout, project turnover, or task slowdowns that will all negatively impact a project.

102. B. A resource calendar describes the timeframes in which resources (equipment and team members) are available for project work.

103. B. The 95 percent phenomenon is where the project seems to stagnate or be unable to complete the last step or steps so that the project can be completed.

104. A. Organizations where the project managers have authority over personnel and other resources is a projectized organizational structure.

105. D. The 3.5 mile a week target is a key performance indicator to help track the success of a particular project outcome.

106. A. Service-level agreements spell out the thresholds that must be maintained in providing services, such as response times, defect rates, and other qualities.

107. D. Key performance indicators can be used at different levels of a project or organization to help determine the success of reaching particular outcomes.

108. C. The company’s survival is dependent on the team gambling or having a high risk tolerance to remain competitive. Not taking chances could doom the company’s future.

109. B. If you only have a structural engineer or senior programmer’s time for a small window, the schedule is engineered to make use of that resource window.

110. C. Factors that are outside the project team’s control, but are needed for project success, are known as external dependencies.

111. D. A signal that a dependency is mandatory is when the activities have physical limitations, such as flattening a road before paving.

112. A. Crashing is a technique where resources are added to the project at the lowest possible cost, reflected in the decision to use overtime instead of adding team members.

113. C. The unexpected nature of a natural disaster elsewhere impacting this project would lead the project team to reprioritize the risks in an attempt to respond.

114. B. Stability is the name of the game, and it is unlikely that Richard’s organization is willing to accept uncertainty in their decisions.

115. A. The critical path has zero float or slack time, and it is the shortest amount of time in which a project can be completed.

116. C. Progressive elaboration represents the iterative nature of project planning, where prior artifacts get updated and improved as the project progresses.

117. A. Wigit Construction is accepting the consequences of the risk should it happen instead of attempting to avoid, transfer, or mitigate it.

118. C. A purchase order is an official offer issued to a seller indicating types, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products and services.

119. D. Contingency reserves are calculated for known risks and are paired with documented mitigation response plans.

120. A, C. Avoidance and acceptance are both risk response strategies used to address negative risks.

121. B. The formation of a hurricane that could make landfall and impact the cost of materials is a risk trigger.

122. B. The software company is taking advantage of the positive risk facing them by acting to merge, which is an example of exploiting a risk.

123. C. A request for proposal is a formal document that an organization posts to solicit bids from potential suppliers and vendors.

124. A. When an organization needs help in figuring out what is available in the marketplace, they release a request for information (RFI).

125. C. The company’s survival is dependent on the team gambling or having a high risk tolerance to remain competitive. Not taking chances could doom the company’s future.

126. A. The project team is avoiding the risk altogether by choosing to use a known material that meets quality specifications.

127. C. The key is actually setting money aside to deal with the risk should it occur.

128. C. This strategy watches for and emphasizes risk triggers to help enhance the probability or impact of certain risks.

129. B. The project team has shifted the risk and consequences of material defect to the third party with the use of a warranty.

130. A. The probability ranking in this analysis would be high, medium, and low, and getting expert judgment on what the impact would be. Qualitative risk analysis may use other techniques and may not necessarily use high/medium/low scores.

131. C. A Gantt chart is a tool that displays activities and represents visual task duration along with activity precedence.

132. D. With the safety component of the project in a stable industry, the company’s reputation and public safety role would make them avoid or be reluctant to accept uncertain outcomes.

133. D. Although the CompTIA Project+ objectives do not state this, it is perfectly reasonable to accept the consequences of a positive risk as much as it is for a negative risk.

134. A, D. Passive acceptance is when the project team is not able to eliminate all of the threats to a project. Active acceptance includes developing contingency reserves to deal with risks should they occur.

135. B. Exploiting looks for opportunities for positive impacts to make certain the desired outcome will occur.

136. C. This process takes the more subjective results from the qualitative risk analysis and ties them to more numerical measures for evaluation and prioritization purposes.

137. C. The project team is closest to the work that needs to get done, should bring some expert judgment to the project, and will be on the hook for project success.

138. B. Risk identification, probability and impact analysis, and risk response would all take place during the Planning phase of the project.

139. B. Community acceptance of the project is a key success indicator, and community outreach should lessen the possibility of dissatisfaction or protests over the project.

140. A. The project team is unable to eliminate the risk to the project, but it is willing to accept the consequences of the impacts.

141. B. Wigitcom, through the use of insurance, is transferring the negative risk consequences to a third party.

142. A. The urgency assessment uses risk triggers, time to develop and implement a response, and overall risk ranking as inputs for the analysis.

143. D. Probability and impact is a prioritization tool, and not a category that might be included in a resource breakdown structure.

144. D. As the project progresses, the Monitor and Control phase would be looking for risk triggers and then engaging a risk response plan should the need arise.

145. B. The choice is just to let the risk happen since the team can live with the consequences in the unlikely event it occurs.

146. D. By requiring the successful vendor to carry the insurance, it allows the consequences of negative risk to be transferred to the third party.

147. D. Quantitative risk analysis would add more concretely measured items such as the numerical score for each risk.

148. C. This assessment checks to ensure that the data is unbiased and accurate.

149. A. The industry plus the fact that the company is relatively new would suggest a more aggressive, gambling type of risk tolerance for the company to grow and succeed.

150. C. This helps create the differing levels of decomposition.

151. D. In a functional organizational structure, the functional manager has the authority to dictate what the employee does.

152. B. Milestones are major events that are used to measure progress on a project.

153. A, C. A risk becomes an active issue should it materialize, and the appropriate risk response should be implemented.

154. C. The issues log contains a list of issues with IDs, descriptions, and owners of the issue, and it starts to develop as the execution of the project gets underway.

155. C. Governance gate meetings help to ensure accountability and that the project is proceeding according to plan.

156. A. Agile is a methodology, not an organizational structure.

157. A. A SCRUM introspective is a form of lessons learned that is done with the Agile methodology at the end of each sprint.

158. D. Early in the process is when individuals will be shy and reserved and treat each other formally.

159. D. During the kickoff meeting, formal approval for the project might occur in the form of project sign-off.

160. A. The criteria for approval are those conditions that must be in play for the customer to accept the end results of the project.

161. A. Deliverables are specific items that must be produced in order for the project to be complete, and they are usually tangible in nature.

162. C. Assumptions are those things believed to be true for planning purposes. It is important to communicate assumptions with key stakeholders so there are no missed expectations.

163. D. The timeframe, need for a mobile app, and security are all example of a project’s requirements.

164. C. An action items list depicts all of the project actions that should be resolved in order to fulfill deliverables.

165. D. When the project work wins out over the functional work, it is a strong-matrixed organizational structure.

166. B. Constraints are those conditions that restrict or dictate the actions of the project team.

167. D. Activities that monitor the progress of the project and require corrective actions occurs in the Monitor and Control phase.

168. B. The more stable the industry and the company, the greater the likelihood that a traditional project management methodology would be successful.

169. A. Formal approval is normally a requirement for purchase orders to be created, for team members to be assigned to the project, and for work to begin.

170. C. This is a key performance indicator that helps track success at reaching desired outcomes.

171. B. Rework needing to be performed due to substandard product represents the costs to make the product meet standards.

172. B. There is interplay between time and cost on the project, meaning that the scope will need to be adjusted accordingly.

173. D. It is important to communicate to stakeholders and the project team what the risks are and how the team will respond, and to let everyone know should a risk turn into an issue.

174. C. Mitigation of a risk is reducing the chance that the risk could happen, or lessening the impact in the event that the risk gets triggered.

175. D. Strengths and weaknesses focus on what the organization does or does not do well.

176. A. Risk identification is not the correct answer because it captures only a third of the activities on which Valdene is working. To capture the complete picture, risk planning includes identification, risk assessment, and risk response planning.

177. B. This is the activity that compares costs and expenses to date against the cost baseline so that the stakeholder can see the variance between what was planned for and what actually occurred.

178. A. Best practices and internal processes are known as preferred or soft logic from a dependency standpoint. The three types of dependencies are mandatory, discretionary, and external. Therefore, internal would not be the correct answer, as tempting as it might seem.

179. D. In terms of the triple constraints, the results would be the project taking longer with the resources that have been assigned to the project.

180. A. Additionally, the team could choose to accept the risk that might occur and its consequences. Moreover, acceptance can also be used as a strategy for positive risks.

181. D. The banking industry generally leans toward low risk tolerance and looks for long-term, low-yield investments, such as government bonds.

182. C. The risk register will become more detailed through progressive elaboration as the project matures.

183. A. It is important to set expectations that these funds are not for extra functionality or enhancements, but to deal with circumstances, like cost overruns and variances in estimates, and to deal with specific risk situations.

184. A. This is a memorandum of agreement, and it generally does not have any court enforcement capabilities.

185. B. Depending on the analysis supporting the risk response plan, sometimes action may not be taken at all. At other times, a deliberate action is called for to deal with the risk.

186. B. The elements of the project plan, including the schedule, estimates, and responses to risk, will get more detailed and updated as the project team works through the planning steps of a project.

187. D. The management reserve is different in the spending authority, and its purpose is to cover unforeseen costs.

188. C. Weather conditions are examples of dependencies that are external to the organization, but they need to happen for a project or activity to proceed.

189. C. Although the two companies could merge, the probability that they will do so would yield a score between 0.0 and 1.0 in assessing its likelihood.

190. A. The entire R&D industry would likely have a very high risk tolerance because they need to challenge the status quo constantly in order to stay relevant.

191. A. The person is not the influencer, but the needed change request leading to more scope influences the variables of the project.

192. C. Opportunities and threats are conditions like the weather or political climate that affect the organization or project but are not within the control of the organization.

193. C. The management team is looking for both the threats and opportunities the project might experience so that the appropriate risk response can be enacted.

194. A. The strengths portion designed for project management work can quickly generate expenditure reports for stakeholders, including management.

195. A. Strengths looks at the positive attributes and/or positive risks associated with the project.

196. A. The project team will not have to compete with functional assignments in the course of the project.

197. C. This is a method of the Agile methodology to create a list of all of the activities that need to be completed, whether or not they are included in the next sprint.

198. C. A rapidly changing environment like that found in a startup would be the ideal benefit for using an adaptive approach.

199. D. A nondisclosure agreement will spell out the confidentiality expected on the project, giving legal protections to the company.

200. B. The business case helps to provide justification as to why resources should be assigned to a project and what the return could be on the project.

201. A. It is important to include the direct and indirect costs as they correspond to budgeted activities.

202. B. Sign-off on the project charter would be a milestone, not a deliverable.

203. A. Gate checks would be more representative in a waterfall approach to project management, whereas Agile uses a more adaptive approach to requirements and execution.

204. B. When a company augments their own staff with resources outside of the company, it is known as outsourcing.

205. A. The team member is not given a chance to tell his or her side of the story, and the project manager does not inquire as to why the behavior is happening. These solutions can be short-lived.

1. C, D. Allowing teleworking, or allowing employees to work remotely, is a form of relocation that can definitely impact a project. Additionally, allowing employees to elect not to work in an office is an example of a business process change.

2. A. Although many project team members will think that documentation is just busy work, these documents are vitally important for many reasons, including auditing performance.

3. C. The Change Control Board (CCB), not the SME, would have the responsibility to approve or reject the change.

4. D. A change request log can be a simple spreadsheet that has the ID number, date, description, and so forth of the change.

5. D. After approval, the next step would be to implement the change. At that point conducting a quality check and updating documentation can occur.

6. A. Remember that resources can be people, materials, or equipment.

7. D. This is especially true when tasks are along the critical path, or when there is no float for that activity.

8. A. Key stakeholders can change due to a variety of factors, and this would need to be communicated to all stakeholders on the project, including the project team.

9. D. Distribution of printed media is a communication method rather than a communication trigger.

10. B. This incident would require corrective action to repair the damage and prevent future recurrence of the problem.

11. B. The plan lays out the communication methods as well as the frequency.

12. A. The confidential nature of HR issues, plus the need to handle a situation delicately, would invite a face-to-face conversation. A good rule is to praise publicly and criticize privately.

13. B. When multiple organizations are involved in the project, the different norms and practices of each company need to be considered so that the expectations of both companies are met.

14. D. Strong relationships can improve communication and trust on the project. Individual and group relationship building can improve morale and therefore the quality and timeliness of the project.

15. D. Even a separation of one mile in a city can produce lots of wasted time in traveling and parking. Wide spacing of a project within a city makes it difficult to schedule an impromptu meeting due to the distances among the team members, unless a video or voice conference is used.

16. C, E. Of the options listed, the only methods appropriate for mass dissemination to the public are social media and printed materials. The other forms represent more one-on-one forms of communication.

17. D. For most organizations, the need to have a fax copy of original signatures is important for legal purposes. However, the use of scanned and emailed documents, or digital signatures, is also gaining acceptance.

18. B. When there is a significant change in the situation, interrupting the meeting and letting the CEO know with an in-person meeting would be the best choice due to the urgency of this matter.

19. C. Text messaging allows Mickey’s boss to get an update in the middle of another meeting, and if he deems the update important enough, the text notification allows the boss to step out of the meeting to get more information.

20. C. The use of external resources, instead of using internal resources or increasing permanent staffing, is called outsourcing.

21. C. A change in the routine or form of how an organization conducts business is a business process change.

22. B, D, E. Other forms of organizational change include relocation, mergers/acquisitions, and demergers/business splits.

23. A. Communicating changes is a key function of status meetings so that expectations are communicated, input can be gathered, and updated assignments can be given.

24. B. During any change where the team starts with a working product and the change disrupts its availability, it makes sense to reverse the changes. In some Agile practicing software companies, they may only roll forward to the next, future version of the software rather than reverse any changes. In this example, due to the availability of the phone’s security component, it would make it important to roll back.

25. D. A subject matter expert (SME), with input from the project manager, should evaluate the impact of the change to determine if it should be attempted, what is the impact on the triple constraints, what would be the benefits, and so on.

26. B. After all documentation is updated, it is important to disseminate the updated information of the change to all applicable parties so that they understand that a change has been made, what the impact of the change will be, and what the new expectations of the project team are.

27. B. Key stakeholders, project staff, sponsors, or governance/CCB members can all submit a change request for consideration.

28. C. The quality metrics on the project were adjusted for fewer defects.

29. B, D. The scope and funding are the common elements that changed in this example.

30. A. Organizational changes would come from the functional side of the organization, not the project side.

31. B. One of the most common risks to any project can be staff turnover, and when this happens, it needs to be communicated to the project team and the project manager.

32. A, C, E. Auditors are a project-independent group who wouldn’t need to be communicated with during the project. Product end users would only be communicated with when the product was ready. Shareholders are not normally involved in a project where minute details like milestone completion would be communicated.

33. A. A review by an internal team, such as security or even an internal audit division, is an audit with a recommendation to fix the finding.

34. B. Because the report reflects a routine update, the criticality does not dictate that MaryAnn be disturbed. She can be updated at noon or later.

35. A. Based on the mission of each work unit, practices can vary wildly between different groups within a company.

36. C. Different cultures may observe occasions that will differ greatly from one another. It is important to take these differences into account when you have an international team, whether or not they are offshore.

37. B. The project team’s communication method allows for individual personal preferences to be set in how frequently they receive communication.

38. A. Language barriers can present huge obstacles in communication, sometimes even when the same language is being spoken in different dialects.

39. D. A closure meeting would wrap up the project activities associated with the audit, allow the audit findings to be presented, and raise questions about the recommendations.

40. A. When schedules do not align, and there is a need to share a detailed message about what is going on, what is being done to address an issue, and what alternatives are available, an email would be the best way to share the information. The next day, it would also be okay to follow up with an in-person meeting to make sure that the boss received the information.

41. A. Social media would allow for broad notices to go out to the general public, including traditional forms of media, to let everyone know about the work and closed highway.

42. B. There is a safety aspect to this change where Phil or Fernando could come to bodily harm. Therefore, getting them on the phone and ensuring that they know that the delay is happening is the best method of communication.

43. D. For an impromptu meeting where the team is dispersed, a virtual meeting, such as a conference call, would be preferable so that the team in the field can remain on site and get back to work when there is a resolution. Moreover, the problem in the field might need someone on site for observation to report to the team.

44. D. Outsourcing is the replacement of internal resources with external resources to perform the same business function.

45. A. This is also known as a business demerger.

46. B. Other types of organizational change recognized by CompTIA include business process change, internal reorganization, and outsourcing.

47. A. To take a subject matter expert or project team member off their project work to analyze a change will disrupt the planned work. It is important to scope the project as completely as possible prior to work beginning, and then regulate any change requests that come through. Or, if scope of the project is completely unknown, using an Agile methodology might make more sense.

48. A. Before updating the project management plan or communicating with the stakeholders, validate that the change is the next logical step. CCB approval would occur prior to the change being enacted.

49. B. A template will allow for a standard submittal in the change control process that includes all of the information that is needed on the purpose and impact of the change.

50. B. This is an example of an issue that should be captured in the issue log, and then the project manager should address the issue with the individual or the functional manager.

51. A, B, C. Technological factors, times zones, and interorganizational differences are examples of communication methods rather than triggers that would initiate communication to occur.

52. C. Anyone working on or associated with the project can submit a change that is then reviewed by a change control board or other process. As such, an executive sponsor is not needed for a change request.

53. C. The practices of the two organizations will dictate how they tend to operate and what norms they follow. There can be a clash of these norms when two organizations work together on a project.

54. C. The executive team is expressing their personal preferences in terms of communication. This could be problematic when there are critical items that need to be discussed but the executive team doesn’t want to receive updates.

55. A, B, E. Of the provided list, time zones, cultural differences, and language barriers are factors that would influence the project the most. The level of report detail, criticality factors, and technological factors would not be unique to an international project.

56. B. To help clarify facts and have the ability for people to refer to the information again in the future, the distribution of printed media would be the best method.

57. C. Instant messaging is less disruptive than an impromptu meeting where Bridget’s concentration might be disrupted beyond just answering the question. Instant messaging allows Bridget to respond and return to her work, and it is also more expedient than email.

58. B. When there are interpersonal problems, or strife/conflict on the project, it is best to address those issues in-person so that nonverbal communication can be observed and individuals can be encouraged personally to ensure the resolution of the problem.

59. D. Know the difference between a merger and an acquisition. The former is where two businesses come together to operate as one, whereas the latter is where one organization takes over the other one.

60. C. The addition of more resources, the modification of scope, or the adjustment of the timeline are examples of some of the changes that might be requested.

61. D. A regression plan, or rollback plan, will identify the steps and level of effort to return to the original state.

62. D. The personnel on the project have switched so this is a resource change.

63. C, D. A virtual meeting is where everyone is not in the same location, and the use of technology allows the meeting to occur.

64. B. The project management office offers standardization for a project, but it does not get involved in the details of individual projects.

65. D. The loss of expensive equipment, injuries or fatalities, or public relations incidents would override Mo’s desire not to be uninterrupted.

66. C. Companies typically have organization-wide practices even when they are a global firm. When the practices have different nuances within the same company, it is known as intraorganizational differences.

67. B. Sometimes the confidentiality of a project or product would prevent the sharing of information, even within the same company.

68. B, D. Giving the project team a phone call or sending a text message are preferable because they immediately alert the recipients that you are attempting to communicate with them.

69. A. The hope of the marketing campaign is that some of their videos will go viral where they repeatedly shared and viewed based on virtual “word of mouth.”

70. A. Based on the information in the question, technological factors are affecting the choice of communication methods.

71. D. The more involved nature of instructions would allow written, detail communication to reach the trailer. Other electronic forms of communication would not be reliable in this situation.

72. A. For routine meetings for project teams that are not collected, a virtual meeting utilizing either teleconferencing or video conferencing would be the best choice.

73. C. Internal reorganizations can disrupt a project if resources are no longer available to work on the project.

74. A. Using an incremental naming convention is a great way to keep track of versions. Also don’t forget to make updates within the document itself to capture the version and the changes made in that version.

75. C. Once approval is granted, the next step is to go ahead and act upon the approved change—in this case, starting work on the improved landscaping.

76. A. Change requests should always be captured in writing to document the request and the response to the change, and to keep a paper trail to show why the project’s timeline, budget, or scope might have changed.

77. A, B. To ensure maximum participation by Don on the project, aligning the communication approach with his preferences will help gain his engagement.

78. A. Safety issues, public relations issues, and certain risk factors are critical to communicate to key stakeholders so that responses can be coordinated and executed.

79. D. Regularly scheduled meetings would be the ideal format to share this type of information. Including a portion to discuss routine updates on the standing agenda is a good practice.

80. C. The closure meeting will allow for status updates of all activities; for the project team to turn in any property, such as ID badges/key cards; and to bring that phase of the work effort to an end.

81. D. The kickoff meeting typically happens at the beginning of the Execution phase, and it is a primary means of introducing the project team members to each other.

82. B. An acquisition is when one business takes over another. Be sure to know the difference between a business merger and an acquisition for the test.

83. C. Remember that a risk event on a project can be either positive opportunities or negative events that affect the project.

84. C. The project will no longer be able to keep to the current schedule due to the emergency leave of the key programmer.

85. D. It is important to attempt to meet stakeholder preferences in terms of communication so that you get an active response and high levels of participation from that stakeholder.

86. B. Different time zones can complicate getting status meeting scheduled because of the variance in start and quit times, as well as lunch breaks, which do not always align to provide a good window to meet.

87. B. Voice conferencing, or teleconferencing, would be the ideal choice as it would not require Greg to travel, allows for back-and-forth communication, and wouldn’t be interrupted by poor Internet quality.

88. A. Relocations in the middle of a project have the potential to cause schedule delays.

89. A. Due to the geographic separation of the project team, the most efficient way to get the communication to the entire project team would be email. Attempting to schedule a virtual meeting would be troublesome due to the different time zones of the project team.

90. C, D. In practice, the step most often skipped is updating the project management plan of the change. A diligent project manager should ensure that this doesn’t get missed. There are times where a project team or team member just starts working on a change that hasn’t been approved at all. Make sure that there is a process, people are trained on it, and that it is enforced so that a successful and timely completion of the project can occur.

91. B. The requirements to be met for the project have changed, but have not fundamentally added to the scope of the project.

92. C. Due to the compliance nature of this topic, formal documentation of this communication is needed. As such, both sending an email explaining the compliance requirement and asking for an email in return, acknowledging receipt and understanding, will help to create an audit trail.

93. D. Version control helps create the audit trail of changes to documentation, when decisions change, and when was the last update to certain documents.

94. A, D. Adding more work to the project that is not part of the baseline is a scoping change. The added time would be a timeline change.

95. B. In a collocated environment, it would be ideal to pull everyone into a conference room or community area and hold an impromptu meeting to communicate the urgent news.

96. D. What is described in the question is an example of a risk event. Since it was previously identified in the planning of the project, the next step would be to enact the risk response to handle the event.

97. D. The content of the message will oftentimes cause you to tailor the method of communication.

98. C. If the team is not collocated, routine announcements and updates can be distributed via email as a weekly newsletter or something comparable. Some organizations use collaboration software like Microsoft SharePoint, where a list of all updates is posted as they are gathered and the audience is invited to read the updates.

99. A. The project manager looks to the factors of how the change would disrupt the schedule, budget, resource team, and quality of the project.

100. A. Distribution of printed media, either delivered door to door or via a mailer, would be an appropriate communication method based on the demographic.

101. B. A change control board (CCB) is the body that evaluates and approves changes.

102. C. Taking time to celebrate accomplishments is important, and it helps the morale of the entire project team. Please remember not to drink and drive.

103. A. Using some form of teleconferencing, such as videoconferencing or a phone call, would make the most sense from an economic perspective. An in-person meeting would be cost prohibitive for on a candidate who may not join the team. Email would not allow for verbal communication to be assessed and would drag the interview out over an unacceptable time period. Social media would not keep the discussion confidential, so it isn’t a good fit.

104. A, E, F. The basic communication model is sender-message-receiver.

105. A. Task completion is communicated to the project manager and/or coordinator so that they can signal the next activities to begin.

106. D. Gate reviews are presented to a governance board or steering committee to validate cost models, schedule, risks, and objective obtainment.

107. B. When a task is complete, especially on loud equipment that normally signals an emergency, the project team should communicate to the affected stakeholders that work has been completed.

108. C. Changes in schedules will warrant communication as well as an explanation of how this will affect budget and scope.

109. C. Since the project team is working on the proposed project schedule, the trigger is project planning. If the situation was adjusting the schedule after the project was already underway, then the answer would be schedule changes.

110. B. Audits typically occur at the conclusion of a project and can be interpreted as a form of lessons learned performed by an independent group.

111. A. Text messages are excellent for quick, simple updates. In this instance, there is not a lot of information that needs to be conveyed.

112. A. The norms and practices of different work units within an organization can make project scheduling a challenge.

113. D. The CEO is stating her personal preferences regarding frequency and how the information is to be tailored to fit her style.

114. C. When project teams are separated by large distances, mountains, canyons, rivers, oceans, or other factors, geographic issues can influence how and when communication will occur.

115. B. Well-formed, written communication such as email is a great format to share complex information because the recipient can digest and process the information, refer back to it, and send follow-up questions as needed.

116. D. A closure meeting is where final hand-off of the project is conducted, including closing out any contracts and sometimes conducting lessons learned. Lessons-learned meetings can be separate from closure meetings.

117. A. For routine messages, or for very complex messages, email is the best method as it allows the project team to consume the information when they choose and minimizes the disruption of project work.

118. B. To help control costs and to minimize disruption of project work, a virtual meeting would be the ideal choice to handle routine meetings.

119. D. During the execution of the activity, the expectations that were set had to be changed. This should invite the project manager to reset communications with all stakeholders so that they will know when the service will be restored.

120. B. With the identification of new risks, the information should be captured in the risk register and stakeholders need to be informed so that mitigation plans can be developed.

121. B. Communication occurs throughout the project planning process in the creation of plans for risk, quality, communication, schedule, budget, and scope, to name a few.

122. D. Audits are reviews to obtain evidence to ensure that good practices are followed, that the project team is behaving in an ethical and legal fashion, and that no fraud, waste, or abuse is occurring.

123. C. When dealing with a cutting-edge technology project, secrecy can play a key role in being the first to market and/or protecting intellectual property. Confidentiality constraints would prevent the team member from sharing information with the rest of the industry until the project is complete.

124. A. This message does not carry any urgency or criticality, and it does not need to be communicated immediately. Therefore, it can wait until a routine status meeting or an email communication.

125. A, C. Oftentimes in remote locations there is no umbrella of mobile phone or satellite coverage, since some canyons or mountains create blackout areas where coverage cannot occur. In this case, the geographic terrain impacts the technological options at a project team’s disposal.

126. B, C, F. When dealing with any team on a different continent, or even on opposite sides of the same continent, time zones will impact communication. The project team also needs to account for language barriers and cultural differences when planning communication.

127. A. Faxing, or scanning and emailing documents, are common, legally accepted forms of sending documents with original signatures. Electronic signing of documents is also gaining acceptance.

128. D. Even one lost day can be impactful on a project, especially if the tasks are along the critical path. Having an impromptu meeting, getting the direction clarified, and resolving differences in approach is the best method for achieving project success.

129. E. The kickoff meeting typically occurs at the beginning of the execution phase, not the initiation phase.

130. B. The project manager is sending the signal to the organization that work is commencing on the telephone switch. To the best of their ability, they should also communicate when the phone service should be restored.

131. D. Project managers spend up to 90 percent of their time communicating, and coordinating during the planning of a project relies on high communication.

132. B. Due to the complex nature of the message, the project manager was influenced to write out a complete message to explain all of the circumstances.

133. B, D. Sometimes, the urgency or importance of certain communications can override a stakeholder’s personal preferences because the project team can be at a standstill unless a decision is made.

134. B. Even when different countries speak the same language, it can sound foreign when one is not used to hearing someone from that part of the world speak that language. Don’t forget that the difficulty in understanding each other is probably mutual for individuals on both sides of the communication.

135. D. Instant messaging allows for quick back-and-forth communication with minimal distraction to others in attendance at the board meeting.

136. A. To help keep a project on schedule, the key is to minimize disruptions to the project during work time. As such, a voice conference or other type of virtual meeting will allow the team to participate in the impromptu meeting without stopping work to travel, deal with traffic, and park.

137. B. Notification of passing an inspection would be a milestone. Do not be confused with it being task completion because the task in this example would have been wiring and terminating the electrical in the building.

138. F. Depending on the nature of the findings, an audit’s target audience could be any stakeholder or project team member on a project. Typically, you will see steering committee members and the project manager as the target audience for an audit.

139. D. Social media, and old-school media like TV and newspapers, are the best and quickest ways to disseminate information to the general public.

140. C. Technology can be a great tool to help collaboration and communication, but it can sometimes take more time than it is worth when it doesn’t work correctly.

141. D. The shift in time zones on any continent, not just North America, can create challenges in finding appropriate times to meet. This is especially true for projects with teams on different continents.

142. B, D. The correct answer would be any form of instant communication, such as radio communication, calling a mobile phone, or text messaging. The communication plan should direct the method of communication used when corresponding with members in the field.

143. C. Face-to-face meetings, or in-person meetings, are the superior choice for working on conflict resolution, giving performance appraisals, and working on team building.

144. A. Any time the scope, budget, or schedule changes, the information needs to be discussed and communicated. At this point, the project manager should disseminate this information to stakeholders.

145. B. In the IT world, software audits are routine to see if there is any true up or true down (that is to add more licenses if needed, or remove licenses that you are not using) that needs to happen after a large project is complete.

146. B. A disability is not an example of a personal preference, so the correct answer is technological factors. If the technology does not exist, then the project team will need to adjust their communication approach with Cynthia to accommodate her disability.

147. C. Working on three different continents would mean that one work team is likely off-duty/sleeping at any given time during the day. As such, the best method would be email so that the off-duty team would get the information when they begin their shift, whereas the other teams would get the information instantly.

148. D. The project scope has been altered through the change control process, and the project team needs to be informed and the plan needs to be adjusted.

149. B. Along with nondisclosure agreements, personnel actions are confidential and are not shared beyond the employee and management. As such, it can appear to those not in the know that nothing is happening to correct the problem.

150. A, C. When dealing with a varied constituent base, remember that some individuals will have a communication preference one way or the other. So including both electronic and nonelectronic forms of communication may be vital to getting the message out to everyone.

151. A. There can be both internal and external audits; either one should be independent in authority and practice.

152. D. The viability and conditions of the project have dramatically changed warranting some form of communication to the project sponsor even while she is away on vacation.

153. C. Placing flyers on cars that park on the street, mailing the information to residents, and posting signs will help ensure that everyone knows about the parking disruption so that the project can continue.

154. A. Highly detailed information that requires time to digest is best suited to be delivered in writing. Hence, the work lead tailored the message delivery based on the content of the message itself.

155. C. As the parent organization makes functional changes, it can cause a shift away from project work toward more administrative time until new work patterns can be established on the new processes.

156. B, C. Some companies might choose to move their operations to a country with more lax tax laws, whereas other companies might cease doing the activities that are causing the increased tax burden and shift that liability to a different company that isn’t as concerned about the change.

157. D. Wigitcom should look for some type of demerger and seek to sell off that business unit so that it can focus on its core competencies.

158. C. Implementing a standardized set of processes, forms, and reports will help to eliminate the inconsistent results the organization is getting.

159. B. Be sure to consider how the relocation of all or part of an organization can disrupt your project.

160. A. The adjustment of work assignments and staff within the same organization is an internal reorganization.

161. C. Also known as a demerger, be mindful of how this can impact a project with parts of the organization that are no longer there.

162. B. Including additional features on a project that was not scoped originally would represent an alteration in the requirements.

163. D. The practice of adding initials at the end of a filename allows readers to see who has added comments or changes to a document.

164. A. Resource changes should be communicated to the project team as quickly as possible so that there are no missteps in task delivery.

165. C. Large-scale, probable scenarios should have a response plan in place informing team members what their responsibilities are to work.

166. C. A functional manager would be the ultimate owner of the final product in their area, so her absence could lead to decisions with which she doesn’t agree, or the pursuit of a direction that will not ultimately work.

167. C. Since all email addresses, possible fax numbers, or social media tags for a specific geographic area are not known, these factors led to the use of distribution of printed media as the communication method to get the word out.

168. B. Wigit Construction was acquired by a different company when it agreed to be sold.

169. C. Instead of taking on the overhead of hiring and training staff, which is not the company’s core competency, outsourcing would provide the best choice to get the needed service.

170. B. Moving the operational headquarters and the majority of the construction equipment would improve visibility and reduce costs.

171. C. To help keep people and property safe, the company made a change to their business processes so that accidents are not repeated.

172. A. To achieve so drastic a change in quality might require the project team to look at all aspects of the business: hiring, training, processes, and materials to achieve the CEO’s goal.

173. C. Version control creates a trail of what changes were added, by whom, and at which point in the document’s history.

174. A. Early in a project is when risks are most likely to occur, and accordingly, they can have bigger impacts on the project.

175. B. A localized event that is minor in scale to a business continuity event is known as an incident response.

176. B. The business continuity response is a plan on how the company will continue to operate in the event of disaster.

177. B. Work slippages can impact the timeline, especially when that work is along the critical path.

178. A. The mutual joining of two companies to do work as a single company is a merger. This can disrupt the project as the new organization struggles with the activities of joining cultures and processes.

179. C. People are any organization’s biggest expense, and the temporary nature of this funding means that it cannot hire permanent employees. The agency would not be able to pay these employees after the grant expires. Temporary hires would also work in this scenario.

180. A. The mutual joining of two organizations where leadership and elements of each culture are retained is a merger.

181. B. Remember that a demerger and a business split are different names for the same type of change.

182. D. Any addition, subtraction, or change of a resource is reflected with this type of change.

183. A. The company is preparing to fulfill its mandate, even in the event that the hurricane makes landfall. The response plan will spell out where and when people are to report in the event of disaster.

184. A. Any adjustment to common practices would be considered a business process change.

185. D. Relocation of resources can often disrupt a project, even if those individuals remain assigned to the project.

186. A. Reorganizing by centralizing this function would increase consistency and control for the organization.

187. D. Since one company is purchased wholly by the other, this is an acquisition. If the two companies mutually joined and kept elements of each organization, it would be a business merger.

188. D. Moving business functions around within the same organizational umbrella is a business reorganization.

189. D. Alterations in the way business is conducted, information is routed, and approvals are given are all business process changes.

190. B, D. Two changes need to be communicated: the cutback in budget, and the change in resource assignments. Be as transparent as your company allows in the sharing of information by keeping your team informed.

191. C. Key stakeholder changes can influence the support and direction of a project. It will be important to bring the new sponsor up to speed on the objectives, status, and importance of the project.

192. D. The audit findings led to corrections in business processes to ensure that there are better controls so that theft does not occur in the future.

193. C. Joining forces, and thus combining talent and regional market strengths as a new organization, is the best choice from this list.

194. D. Finding a location where the team can share the same facility should greatly reduce the identified problems.

195. B. Projects can have business processes just like functional units. This was a change to how a project’s business process works.

196. D. An incident response has similarities to a business continuity response, but it is smaller in scale and localized to a particular part of the business.

197. B. When there is a change in project resources, there needs to be communication with the project team. The addition or subtraction of a team member may cause a change in the chemistry and morale of a project team.

198. A. Altering how an organization is structured to conduct business is a form of reorganization.

199. C. Conforming to government requirements can oftentimes introduce mandated business process changes, like having the CFO sign off on the accuracy of financial reports.

200. B. Using another company’s resources and expertise to perform a function that previously was done internally is called outsourcing.

201. D. Defects, rework, and their related costs are all related to the quality plan or a quality change.

202. A. Fundamentally changing how an organization does business is a change in the business process.

203. B. The quality of the network, in this case the network’s availability, was changed from the original request.

204. B. Seeking out a smaller or struggling company and investing in their purchase could greatly improve DewDrops position since they have the cash (liquid assets).

205. A. The key to this answer is the approval to move forward. Gate reviews are check-in points where authorization to proceed must be given.

1. B. Ralph’s role on the project is that he is accountable for all actions on the project and those of the project team. He has the authority to task, delegate, and ensure the quality of the deliverables.

2. D. Collaboration tools allow for instant messaging, sharing work screens among team members over the network, and other areas including videoconferencing. A wiki page might be used as a collaboration tool, but the collaboration tool set is much broader than just wiki pages.

3. B. It is critical to capture any assignments that have been handed out, who owns the assignment, and when the task is due. This helps make sure that there is no lapse in completion due to unclear assignments and a lack of clarity on what needs to be completed and by when.

4. A. A status report is a written document that captures the progress being made on a project, what challenges have materialized, and data on tracking to complete the project on time and on budget.

5. A. A process diagram is a visual representation of the steps in a process. Other names for process diagrams include process maps and workflow diagrams.

6. D. The project charter is the document that authorizes the project to commence.

7. A. Publishing a meeting agenda and disseminating it in advance allows team members to be prepared and meetings to be on time and focused and improves the use of team members’ scarce time on a project.

8. A, B, C. Meeting agendas, communication plans, and project charters would all fall into the category of planning documents at various levels. Project condition information, or status, can all be gleaned in different forms from dashboard information, status reports, and meeting minutes.

9. D. Standard tools like Microsoft Project or Primavera, plus an exploding market of cloud-based tools, help to automate the creation and updating of the project schedule. More simplistic projects can use Microsoft Excel or a comparable tool.

10. B. Intranet sites are information sites internal to an organization, and they are normally protected by a firewall that requires a form of authentication to gain access to the information. These are great hubs for communicating organizational information.

11. B. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. At a task or activity level, it identifies who needs to do what action based on the individual’s role.

12. C. Being consulted means that there is a two-way communication that will take place prior to a decision or action being taken for a particular task or decision. This will often vary in a RACI matrix from activity to activity.

13. D. A key performance indicator to meet the publisher’s target is to complete 1/12 of the books each day, which would be 8,333. Meeting this target would let Carl know that they are on track to complete the job on time. Missing this number would mean that Carl would have to change the speed of the process, add more personnel, or add more shifts.

14. B. The scope statement is a more detailed explanation of what the project will deliver compared to the project charter, which contains a high-level scope definition.

15. A. Action items routinely get assigned during meetings, and they are key to capturing what needs to get done, who will do it, and when it needs to get done. This information should be shared with the team after the meeting so that work can be done and follow-up can occur. Action items are those activities that must be completed in order to fulfill the project’s deliverables.

16. C. The project charter will also contain high-level information about assumptions, constraints, and risks. Remember, it is also the formal authorization to begin project work.

17. C. The organizational chart is a graphic representation of how the project is structured, and it contains the reporting relationships for the project.

18. B. The project schedule, commonly displayed in the form of Gantt chart, shows the order of tasks, start and end dates, duration, and when using project software can automatically help keep track of the percentage of work completed on a task.

19. A. A dashboard is a form of a status report that will display conditions of different data elements and key performance indicators to communicate the progress and challenges of the project.

20. B. According to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide®), Fifth Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI^®), a histogram is a special form of a bar chart used to describe central tendency, dispersion, and shape of a statistical distribution.

21. C. This defines a status report. Although this is a specific type of communication, the need for the report and who it will be sent to would be included in the communication plan. The actual report itself is a different project artifact.

22. B. Having someone assigned to capture what occurs in a meeting and create a written record is very helpful to the efficiency of the project.

23. C. The project charter includes information such as high-level risks, requirements, budget, assumptions, and constraints. Much of this information can be captured within a business case document, which can serve as a starting point for developing the project charter. Remember that the project sponsor is responsible for creating and signing the project charter.

24. D. Meeting agendas are distributed in advance of the meeting to allow people to be prepared during the meeting. Some organizations have a standard for delivering the agenda a certain period of time in advance, such as two business days prior to the meeting. This standard can be added to the communications plan to ensure uniformity on the project.

25. C. Project scheduling software, especially for complex projects, can aid in the ease of tracking data and producing reports. Remember, there is a learning curve for all users whenever a new software tool is introduced on a project.

26. B. For any given task, there must be one, and only one, position that is accountable. Being accountable in a RACI context means that one person is ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of a deliverable or task.

27. B. A dashboard is either an electronic or paper report that shows lots of information in the format of a dashboard display with different “instrumentation panels” showing key performance information from different project areas.

28. B. The scope statement is a reference for what the product needs to do, what assumptions and constraints have been identified, and what key performance indicators will be used to track and measure the project’s success.

29. D. This plan sets the written communication, meeting schedule, and escalations that should occur to keep the identified stakeholders up to date on project events.

30. C. Key performance indicators are the critical and quantifiable measures needed to track success factors for a project, product, or an organization. There should be a limited number of “key” indicators that need to be tracked.

31. A, B. It is possible for someone to be both responsible and accountable. Remember that there can be only one person who is accountable, but multiple people can be responsible. Where an individual gets assigned to multiple participation types is dependent on the number and quality of staff assigned to the project.

32. C. Action items are comparable to a “to-do” list of activities that need to occur for product completion. Remember that this is a dynamic list that can often grow during the course of the project, specifically in meetings.

33. A. Project authorization is a component of the project charter, and therefore it is not a component of the organizational chart.

34. D. A status report or dashboard would allow the stakeholder to get the information on the current conditions of the project. Other performance measurement tools like a balanced scorecard could help give a glimpse into the project.

35. D. Meeting minutes help to memorialize details of conversations and decisions that were made in the moment. Often during the course of a project, so much time passes with so many other decisions made that it can be difficult to recall what was done and why. Meeting minutes are a tool to help address those challenges.

36. A. Process diagrams are often called workflow diagrams, which show all of the steps from start to end in a process.

37. C. With a RACI matrix, it is easy to get accountable and responsible mixed up, particularly when first creating the matrix. Those who must see the task completed are accountable, whereas the people who will actually do the work are responsible. Keep a sharp eye out to make sure that you don’t get confused.

38. B. The project charter also gives formal authority to begin the project, and it allows the project manager to begin applying resources to the project.

39. D. A fishbone diagram, also called an Ishikawa diagram, is a visualization tool for categorizing the potential causes of a problem in order to identify its root causes.

40. D. Specific actions that need to get completed are added to the action items list. This list is great during meetings to maintain an accurate track of the tasks that come up during discussion so that they can be successfully undertaken and completed.

41. B. A histogram can be used to show the frequencies of problem causes to help understand what is needed for preventive or corrective action.

42. B. Famous sites like Wikipedia are examples of simple web tools that allow users to create content for websites. Often, content can mean the difference between a popular website and one that doesn’t get much web traffic.

43. A. When you are assigned to be responsible, it means that you are assigned to do the work to achieve the task. There should be at least one role of responsible for every task or activity, but multiple people can be assigned to do work. Be sure not to get this confused with accountable.

44. D. The project management plan consists of all project planning documents, including the approved scope statement, schedule, communication plan, and more.

45. A. The project sponsor is responsible for publishing, signing, and approving the project charter. The document includes high-level elements of requirements, milestones, budget, assumptions, constraints, and risks.

46. B. The issues log will maintain a unique identifier for each issue along with a description of the issue, owner, and due date.

47. C. A Pareto chart contains both a line graph and bars where the individual values are represented in descending order by the bars and the cumulative total is represented by the line.

48. D. Dashboards allow users to select which elements they want displayed and reported on. Note: For the exam, look for the electronic delivery of information, but remember that nondynamic dashboards can be effective in meetings as one-page brief sheets.

49. A. Meeting minutes are used to provide a recap of what was discussed in a meeting.

50. B. The scope statement documents the deliverables required to produce the product or service that the project is creating.

51. C. The resource conflict with the needed aircraft is an issue that needs to be actively managed, so this would get added to the issues log.

52. D. The project schedule will have task dependencies and durations for the project manager to compute whether it is on the critical path. Using project software, the critical path can get created automatically.

53. D. Fishbone diagrams are also called Ishikawa diagrams based on the causality diagrams created by Kaoru Ishikawa. Fishbone diagrams are a tool used to show causes of specific events.

54. D. This stakeholder is designated to be informed, which is a one-way communication that takes place after an action or decision has already been completed.

55. A. The issues log is a numbered list of issues that contains descriptions and the other attributes detailed in the question.

56. D. It is critical to memorialize meetings, especially action items and decisions that were made so that there is a record of lessons learned for audit purposes.

57. C. The project management plan is the collection of plans created to address budget, time, scope, quality, communication, risk, and other project elements.

58. D. A dashboard gives a snapshot of many different elements of the project in “instrumentation panels” on a screen. Note: A dashboard does not have to be electronic, and a single page, printed dashboard can be an effective communication method.

59. A, D, F. A RACI chart is a matrixed-based chart used to identify roles and responsibilities on a project. It stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed.

60. A. A run chart is a graph that displays observed data in a time sequence.

61. C. The project schedule would contain the information for activity start and finish dates.

62. A. The project schedule sets the timing plan for the project of what needs to be done, how long it will take, and in what order.

63. B. An agenda allows for forethought and preparation to occur, and it enables the best use of the scarce time of the project team and stakeholders.

64. B. The Pareto principle implies that 20 percent of problems take up 80 percent of a team’s time to deal with them. A Pareto chart is a bar chart that shows the largest concentration of values from greatest to smallest.

65. C. Vendor knowledge bases can come in two forms: those accessible to all web users and those where only company representatives can access the information. In either case, they help the user to self-service to try to solve a problem without calling a help center.

66. C, E. Action items are a tactical item used to record a “to do” list in the course of meetings, and a request for proposal is a procurement vehicle to help obtain goods and services. The procurement plan might be a part of the project management plan, but the RFP would ultimately be added to archived project documentation.

67. A. The communication plan sets the frequency, nature, and content that needs to occur for the project to be successful. It also can include who owns the tasks needed for each communication item.

68. A. An effective tool in meetings is to make sure that there are assignments on who is running the meeting, who is the timekeeper, and who will keep the minutes. When a single individual has multiple roles in a meeting, it lessens the quality of the meeting deliverables.

69. A. Especially valuable at the beginning of a project, a run chart helps identify information about a process before there is enough information to set dependable control limits.

70. C. The project schedule will serve as a guide throughout the entire project to help track toward completing the project on time. When activities and tasks cause delays, it is important to update the project schedule. Be sure to keep a baseline of the schedule to compare the planned completion time versus the actual time to complete.

71. B. The communication plan documents the types of information needs the stakeholders have, when the information should be shared, and the method of delivery.

72. A. The project management plan is a term that refers to all of the planning documents, including the budget and schedule. Other elements might include a quality plan, resource plan, and procurement plan, to name a few.

73. D. A scatter chart depicts pairs of numerical data to help the analyst look for a correlation or relationship.

74. C. The organizational chart would have a breakdown of the hierarchy for the project and show where the assignments are for each project function and resource.

75. D. A scatter chart can also be called a scatter diagram, and it is used to help identify a correlation between the dependent and independent variables.

76. D. When asked to see the project management plan, there are a lot of people who incorrectly think that this is the project schedule. The project management plan includes the different project plans needed for project success.

77. C. Named after the American engineer and management consultant, Henry Gantt, a Gantt chart allows users to see at a glance information about various activities, start and end dates, duration, activity overlaps, and when the project will start and end.

78. D. The project organizational chart helps to clarify involvement on the project, and it can be used to help create a decision-making matrix indicating who has authority to make certain decisions.

79. D. The project manager needs to ensure that the project management plan is complete to allow for turnover and lessons learned and to create a project documentation repository.

80. C. Mitigation is associated with the prediction and response to risk where an issues log is tracking active incidents. A correct answer could be tracking what action is to be taken.

81. D. It is possible that action items are also kept in an electronic list, or on flip chart paper kept in the project room. Regardless of how the list is kept, remember to make sure that each item is assigned to a team member and that they are clear on what needs to be done and by when.

82. C. The World Wide Web component of the Internet has transformed how users expect to get information about a company’s products and services.

83. C. The organizational chart will spell out who reports to whom and what teams might exist within the project.

84. B. The organizational chart for the project sets the hierarchical reporting structure of the project. All other options describe the project charter.

85. B. The issues log helps to manage items that need to be monitored and/or escalated to minimize the impact on the project team.

86. C. A dashboard is a form of a status report that displays summary information from lots of different areas of the project to present a snapshot of key information for analysis and discussion.

87. B. For longer and more complex projects, status reports become critical to making sure that stakeholders stay current on the progress, risks, and issues facing the project.

88. A. The organizational chart describes the project team member organization and identifies reporting structures.

89. C. A status report explains high-level detail on the progress and challenges the project is experiencing. The cadence, or frequency, of the report will be set by the communication plan.

90. D. The scope statement will document the product description, key deliverables, success and acceptance criteria, and key performance indicators.

91. D. The method, cadence, target audience, and subject matter for various communications are spelled out in the communication plan.

92. A. Meeting agendas are distributed in advance of the meeting to allow for people to be prepared during the meeting.

93. C. Especially valuable at the beginning of a project, a run chart helps identify information about a process before there is enough information to set dependable control limits.

94. B. There can be one, and only one, person who is accountable per task in a RACI matrix.

95. B. A purchase order is a legally binding agreement that guarantees the delivery of goods and services along with the agreed upon compensation.

96. D. Time and materials contracts set an hourly rate for a contract worker. We are here for you! would get compensated only for the hours the two administrative assistants work for the project or organization.

97. A. A MOU is a binding agreement between multiple parties. A legal agreement between two government organizations is also known as an intergovernmental agreement, but that will likely not be on the test.

98. D. This document would be a legally enforceable contract that guarantees service, payment, and delivery.

99. B. When there is inadequate information to make a determination to pursue a purchase, a request for information (RFI) can help the buyer gather information to make an informed decision. An RFQ is not an appropriate response in this scenario because Hugh’s company is not ready to purchase, at which point a time-limited quote would be useful. They are only investigating at this point.

100. C. In order for a vendor proposal to be accurate and meaningful to the organization that publishes an RGF (request for proposal), there must be a complete written explanation of the goods or services that are needed. This is known as a statement of work, or SOW.

101. C. An RFI will provide information to Wigitcom to help them make a determination as to what solutions are available, which vendors can help, and the order of magnitude estimate to the costs.

102. D. Plotted points on a scatter chart indicate the type of relationship, or the absence of a relationship, between two variables—one dependent and one independent.

103. C. Once accepted by the seller, this becomes a legally binding document for goods and services to be provided and for compensation to be given at the listed price.

104. B. An RFQ is a tool used to help determine estimates for time and cost through bids for specific products or services.

105. B. Warranties help allay the concerns of the buyer that the stated quality will be backed by the company, and if there is a problem, the seller will make the buyer whole with their purchased product or service.

106. B. An organization issues an RFP when they are ready to begin work and are ready to procure goods and services in support of that work.

107. C. A contract is legally enforceable, and it typically falls into three categories: fixed-price contracts, cost-reimbursable contracts, and time and material contracts.

108. C. Key performance parameters define the boundaries that comprise the scope of a project and identify the capability that must be delivered in terms of quantity, quality, coverage, timeliness, or readiness.

109. C. Project scheduling software can help keep track of start and end dates and durations, produce Gantt charts, and track progress through the project.

110. A. A letter of intent is a negotiable document, and it can be thought of as an agreement to agree to certain terms and conditions should the parties create a contract.

111. A. A request for information (RFI) is used when there is not enough information or expert judgment to know what a good or service will cost, or to understand how many vendors there are who can meet this demand.

112. B. Service-level agreements (SLAs) spell out the expected performance levels to be followed and adhered to.

113. C. The letter should let We are here for you! know to stop using DewDrops’ name and to not engage in using it again in the future.

114. C. As outlined in the contract, the seller can recoup costs that are allowable in the contract terms.

115. C. As an example, two parties might create service levels in a project around deliverables being produced on time, how quickly problems would get created, and what incentives or penalties occur because of performance.

116. C. As Jeff has completed the SOW, the organization knows what they need to procure and are ready to move forward. Therefore, this scenario describes a request for proposal.

117. A. An RFI will give a sense of the number of providers or contractors who can provide the goods and services in question. An RFI will also help to give a ballpark for the costs.

118. D. Although this example shows a technology company protecting their intellectual property, a cease and desist letter is not limited to technology companies or intellectual property concerns.

119. A. Wiki pages allow users to freely create and edit web page content using a web browser.

120. A. The people would do the work become responsible in the RACI matrix for that task.

121. A. A purchase order creates the binding arrangement between buyer and seller, guaranteeing service to the buyer and compensation to the seller.

122. A. Key performance parameters (KPPs) are vital characteristics, functions, requirements, or design considerations that have a major impact on a product or service. Failure to meet these parameters would trigger a review by a validating body to ensure compliance.

123. A. A warranty will normally be time-limited and will expired once that time limit is reach. For example, car manufacturers might have a warranty on the vehicle powertrain for a certain number of miles or a certain period of time.

124. B. RFQ generally means the same thing as an invitation for bid (IFB). An RFI is similar to an RFQ in that they both serve the same purpose, and most organizations use one or the other of these methods to help determine estimates.

125. D. Though similar to an RFI, one way a request for quotation (RFQ) is different is in the delivery of a quote that the procuring organization can act on.

126. B. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed, and it is used to help clarify roles and responsibilities. It is not a procurement vehicle.

127. B. Some projects become impossible to manage without the aid of software to help keep track of information and automate the various reports the stakeholders require.

128. B. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is used when a legal agreement can’t be created between the two parties.

129. C. To protect their intellectual property, Wigitcom should send a cease and desist letter. If the other company does not comply, then Wigitcom can follow up with other legal actions.

130. B. Letters of intent can help assure the parties of the actions each party would take, like agreeing to contractual terms and conditions prior to negotiating a contract. It helps to show and share the good faith of each organization.

131. C. A nondisclosure agreement assures that what’s discussed, revealed, or created is kept within the organization.

132. C. This process includes submitting a SOW, receiving bids from vendors and suppliers, evaluating proposals, and making a selection.

133. B. A bidder’s conference typically occurs right after an RFP is published to help improve the quality of the proposals submitted. Moreover, vendors can get a better sense of whether or not they have the information they need to decide to provide a bid.

134. B. A nondisclosure agreement assures that what’s discussed, revealed, or created is kept confidential for Wigitcom.

135. A. As outlined in the contract, the seller can recoup costs that are allowable in the contract terms. This also allows flexibility to the buyer when the final outcome is not well defined.

136. A. Fixed-price contracts are good agreements when the statement of work is clear and concise.

137. C. This is riskiest type of contract for the buyer because the total costs of the project are unknown until the project is completed. It does have the advantage, however, to the buyer of easily changing the scope.

138. D. An RFI and an RFQ are similar in the gathering of data to help an organization make an informed decision. The differentiator is the agency’s desire to move forward with a purchase once the information is gathered and analyzed.

139. A, B, E. Documents that are binding between two parties, meaning that they can be legally enforced to deliver service, payment, or other attributes, are agreements/contracts, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), and purchase orders. Other forms include nondisclosure agreements, cease and desist letters, letters of intent, service-level agreements, and warranties.

140. A. Because Wigitcom is paying for time and expenses and not for a defined deliverable, they will be able to change their mind as often as they are willing to pay for doing so.

141. C. As the seller of the service continues to work on a project, the greater the chances for certain outlined costs to be reimbursed. This becomes a trade-off between flexibility and uncertainty.

142. D. The SOW specifies in detail the goods and services the organization is purchasing from outside the organization. This is a common prerequisite when issuing an RFP.

143. D. A request for information can have a similar meaning to a request for quotation in some companies. An RFQ can also invite a cost quote that would be valid for a certain period of time.

144. A, C. Because MOUs are simpler with straightforward language, they allow more flexibility and does not require either party to obtain the services of an attorney. A good time to use an MOU is when you are dealing with government entities or agencies that cannot enter into certain contractual relationships.

145. D. Fixed-price contracts are good agreements when the statement of work is clear and concise.

146. B. A fixed-price contract is risky to Wigit Construction as the seller because if there are problems on the project and it takes longer to complete, Wigit Construction must still pay for the labor and increased costs of materials to fulfill the contractual obligation.

147. C. A bidder conference helps the buyer sell their interest in the project and helps sellers determine if it is worth the investment to submit a proposal.

148. A, D. The RFI and RFQ may be used interchangeably, but may also have different meanings in different organizations. Ask questions to learn what these terms mean in your organization.

149. A. As outlined in the contract, the seller can recoup costs that are allowable under the terms of the contract.

150. A. The RFP will be published with the statement of work as well as other terms and conditions of both the procurement and the agreement that will need to be reached to do business with Wigit Construction.

151. A. A request for proposal (RFP) is issued when an organization is ready to begin work and needs to procure goods and services.

152. B. A purchase order guarantees payment for goods and services. Once accepted by the seller, it becomes a legally binding document.

153. A. The statement of work (SOW) specifies in detail the goods or services an organization is interested in purchasing from outside the organization.

154. C. Service-level agreements (SLAs) spell out the expected performance levels to be followed and adhered to. For instance, an electrical utility may have a requirement with their customers to restore power within a certain period of time in case there is an outage.

155. C. A fixed-price contract is risky to the seller because if there are problems on the project and it takes longer to complete, the seller still must pay for the labor and increased costs of materials to fulfill the contractual obligation.

156. A. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is used when a legal agreement can’t be created between the two parties. It is common for government agencies to create MOUs between each other to provide services or performance criteria to one another.

157. D. Collaboration tools would allow screen sharing, joint document editing and sharing, video calls, task lists, and calendars.

158. C. A process diagram can be used in two forms: mapping the process as it is, and then reworking it to how it should be.

159. C. Action items would be developed in the creation of the scope statement, or they could make up a list generated during project meetings.

160. B. With a fixed-price contract, the risk is on the seller. When changes to a project increase their costs but not their revenue, they stand to lose money. Accordingly, they would likely allow very few changes to the project’s scope.

161. A. A SWOT analysis looks at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats where strengths and weaknesses are internal-facing and opportunities and threats are external-facing.

162. A. Time and materials contracts set an hourly rate for a contract worker, such as a painter to finish an interior, instead of a fixed price. The total cost is not known at the outset, and it will depend on the amount of time spent to produce the product or service.

163. D. When someone has a role of informed, it means that they are informed after a decision has been made or a result has been achieved.

164. A. Vendor knowledge bases can be great sources of information, but access is restricted to employees of that company.

165. D. This document shows values from a variety of areas of the project to show a balanced view of the project.

166. C. Wiki pages can be edited though a web browser and do not require special software. Using Wiki pages would allow all three managers to add to a single page to keep a log of events and progress.

167. A. The best document to gain an understanding of the project and structure would be the organizational chart.

168. A. To help determine if the project should move forward, a status report would provide a snapshot of the work done to date, status of budget and schedule, and issues facing the project.

169. D. NDAs are common contract vehicles for jobs in both the government and private sector that would require a security clearance.

170. A. Process diagrams are often called workflow diagrams. They show all the steps from start to end in a process.

171. A. The project sponsor is looking at a single variable on the project—that is, the budget. That variable will probably not tell the complete story of the project, including that the increased cost was from increasing the scope and not cost overruns. A balanced score card helps provide that bigger picture.

172. D. Time and materials is tied to a rate and a number of hours. If the buyer is willing to forgo the task the contract worker was meant to do in favor of other work, or if the buyer would like to have additional work done at their cost, this contract vehicle allows that type of flexibility.

173. C. When someone has a consulted role, they have input either to the work or to the decision prior to it being completed.

174. B. A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule.

175. A. Intranet sites are protected by a password or network firewall, and they can contain both information and functionality for the business to operate.

176. D. Meeting minutes capture the details of why decisions were made, what was discussed, and any assignments/due dates that materialized out of the meeting.

177. D. There are lots of reasons a cease and desist letter might be sent. In this instance, it could be that the wall is being built on the wrong side of the property line or that it is in violation of a land-use covenant.

178. C. Time and materials contracts are great to use for staff augmentation situations. The customer is only on the hook for whatever time they use, so it gives the customer maximum flexibility.

179. C. Project scheduling software can aid in the tracking and reporting of tasks, schedule, and critical path.

180. B. Key performances indicators are a performance measurement tool to help track progress toward a goal or objective.

181. B. An NDA is used to assure that what’s discussed, discovered, or developed between the two parties is kept within the partnership.

182. B. Dashboards are like the instruments in the dashboard of a car, with different indicators presenting information on different aspects of performance.

183. B. The project schedule reflects activity start and end dates, task durations, and a representation of predecessors of each task. Project schedules are often represented through a Gantt chart.

184. B. A run chart, or a run-sequence plot, creates a graph that displays observed data over a period of time.

185. D. A SWOT analysis looks at the strengths and weakness of the organization and compares it with the opportunities and threats the external environment holds for the company.

186. D. Internet sites are an almost expected knowledge management tool today, and they are a great way to communicate services, products, and what a company stands for to the general public.

187. D. A letter of intent is a negotiable document, and it can be thought of as an agreement to agree to certain terms and conditions should the parties create a contract.

188. D. Run charts often represent some aspect of the output or performance of a manufacturing or business process.

189. A. Make sure that each issue has an identifier, an owner, and a due date to resolve in order to help keep the project on track.

190. D. A fishbone diagram is used to help determine and define the different factors that could cause a problem and to perform an analysis to determine the root cause.

191. C. The monitoring of a staff hours in this example means that staff hours are a key performance indicator to staying on time and on budget.

192. A. If someone’s activities are encroaching on the rights of another organization, like trespassing, violating copyright, or overreaching on mineral rights, a cease and desist letter would be used to attempt to correct the behavior.

193. B. A histogram can be used to show the frequencies of problem causes in order to help understand what is needed for preventive or corrective action.

194. A. Use of project scheduling software can increase the amount of time during setup, but it can save lots of time in managing the project in later phases.

195. B. Time and materials will allow the vendor to provide invoices at an interval prescribed by the contract for approved time and appropriate expenses. Make sure that the rules governing what can be invoiced and how often are spelled out in the contract.

196. B. A Pareto chart shows the values in a bar chart in descending order from left to right, and it then adds a line chart to show the cumulative score. This will allow the analyst to see which issues are causing 80 percent of the disruption and to focus on them first.

197. C. Collaboration tools, like videoconferencing, screen sharing, and sites that allow for the joint sharing of documents, tasks, and calendars, can be invaluable to a project.

198. A. Miranda is assigned the role of consulted as her opinion is needed to help make a good selection and to help with acceptance of the final product from a change management perspective.

199. C. The signing of the project charter allows for resources to be applied to the project and for work to begin.

200. B. Most likely, this analyst is using a histogram, which can be used to show the frequencies of problem occurrences to help understand what is needed for preventive or corrective action.

201. B. William is informed that the bridge work has now been completed.

202. B. This contract type allows for flexibility when the scope is unclear, but it comes with the risk of increasing and unknown final costs to the buyer.

203. A, C. A fixed-price contract puts some risk on the seller that any problems on the project will cut into their revenue. Accordingly, they will likely want to make sure that every detail of the scope is spelled out and not allow many changes without an increase in the budget.

204. B. A balanced score card looks to a variety of project factors to help determine a grade for the entire project.

205. A. This is a tool to do a moment-in-time environmental scan looking at issues both within the organization and those that are external to the organization.

1. B, C. A project is an organized effort to fulfill a purpose and has a specific end date. Additional project properties include that it is temporary in nature, has a specific start and end date, and it exists to provide a unique product or service.

2. A. Once accepted by the seller, this becomes a legally binding document for goods and services to be provided, and for compensation to be given at the listed price.

3. C. This is a more detailed explanation of the project’s scope as compared to the project charter, which contains a high-level scope definition.

4. C. Other types of organizational change recognized by CompTIA include business process change, internal reorganization, and outsourcing.

5. B. This is especially true when tasks are along the critical path, or when there is no float for that activity. Float is the amount of additional time a task has to complete before it begins to disrupt the critical path of a project.

6. B. The elements of the project plan, including the schedule, estimates, and responses to risk, will get more detailed and updated as the project team works through the planning steps of a project.

7. B. This process takes the more subjective results from the qualitative risk analysis and ties them to more numerical measures for evaluation and prioritization purposes.

8. B. A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule.

9. C. The “champion” role of the sponsor is very important both initially and as the project commences to keep the energy and focus of the whole organization committed to the project’s success.

10. C. The Cost Performance Index is Earned Value/Actual Cost. Therefore 800 / 1200 = .667.

11. C. A scrum meeting is typically held in the morning at the same time, in the same place, and it sets the context for the team’s work.

12. B. The statement of work (SOW) specifies in detail the goods or services that you are purchasing from outside the organization.

13. C. Outsourcing involves the contracting out of work to another party.

14. D. This is a tool used to perform a moment-in-time environmental scan, looking both within and external to the organization.

15. C. Organizational changes would come from the functional side of the organization, not the project side.

16. B, D, G. The basic communication model is sender-message-receiver.

17. A. The closure meeting will allow for the status of all activities; for the project team to return any property, such as ID badges or key cards; and for bringing that phase of the work effort to an end.

18. A. Planned value is the total cost of work planned as of the reporting date, and it is calculated by multiplying the hourly rate by the total planned or scheduled hours.

19. D. During the creation of the procurement plan is where this document is developed, and it explains how decisions will be made and what will be purchased by the organization.

20. B. Whenever a team member joints a project, or at the beginning of the project when multiple people join a project, is when expectations should be set, including their role, due dates for tasks, norms, and team interactions. Because this question addresses “project work,” the annual goal expectation session would not be correct, since it would not account for the specific expectations on the project. This could be influenced by what type of organizational structure is being used (functional, projectized, or matrixed).

21. A. A dedicated project team will not have to compete with functional assignments in the course of the project, allowing team members to focus exclusively on project work.

22. A. The key is actually setting money aside to deal with the risk should it occur during the course of the project. Failing to plan in this way can lead to project disruption or cancelation.

23. B. Using some form of teleconferencing like videoconferencing or a phone call would make the most sense from an economic perspective. An in-person meeting would be cost prohibitive for a candidate who may not join the team. Email would not allow for verbal communication to be assessed, and it would drag the interview out over an unacceptable amount of time. Social media would not keep the discussion confidential, so it isn’t a good fit.

24. B. Milestones are used in project management to mark a specific point along a project timeline, such as the project start and end date, completion of a phase, or gate checks.

25. A. A Pareto chart contains both a line graph and bars where the individual values are represented in descending order by the bars, and the cumulative total is represented by the line.

26. A. A ScrumMaster typically coordinates this meeting, which is a collaborative effort to detail all of the work that needs to be completed and each item’s respective acceptance criteria.

27. C. An RFI will give a sense of the number of providers or contractors who can provide the goods and services in question. An RFI will also help provide a ballpark for the costs.

28. D. Reorganizing by centralizing this function would increase consistency and control for the organization on HR practices such as hiring and retaining employees.

29. A. Audits are reviews to obtain evidence to ensure that good practices are followed, that the project team is behaving in an ethical and legal fashion, and to ensure that there is no fraud, waste, and abuse occurring.

30. D. Signoff on the project charter would be a milestone, not a deliverable.

31. B, C, E. Documents that are binding between two parties, meaning that they can be legally enforced to deliver service, payment, or other attribute, include agreements or contracts, memorandums of understanding (MOU), and purchase orders. Other forms include nondisclosure agreements, cease and desist letters, letters of intent, service-level agreements, and warranties.

32. B. Process diagrams, often called workflow diagrams, show all of the steps from start to finish in a process. Another process improvement tool a consultant could use would be SIPOC-R to identify the suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs, customers, and requirements.

33. A. Internal reorganizations can disrupt a project if resources are no longer available to work on the project, or if there are new or changed stakeholders with whom the project team will need to work to achieve project success.

34. A. A change request log can be a simple spreadsheet that has the ID number, date, name, and description of the change.

35. A, D, E. When dealing with any team on different continents, or even on opposite sides of the same continent, time zones will impact communication. The project team also needs to account for language barriers and cultural differences when planning communication.

36. D. Quantitative risk analysis would add more concretely measured items like the numerical score for each risk, whereas qualitative risk analysis uses expert judgment to prioritize the project risks using a predefined rating scale.

37. C. A process diagram is a visual representation of the steps in a process. Other names for process diagrams include process maps or work flow diagrams.

38. A. Assumptions are events, actions, or conditions that are believed to be true. Another way to look at it is that they are things that must be true in order for the project to be a success but that are outside the control of the project team.

39. D. On the exam, it is likely that there will be a scenario-based question that will test your critical thinking skills to reason through the correct activity sequencing of a project. This question should help give you a taste of what you might encounter.

40. A. With a fixed-price contract, the risk is on the seller. When changes to a project increase their costs but not their revenue, they stand to lose money. Accordingly, they would likely allow very few changes to the scope.

41. C. The communication plan documents the types of information needed by the stakeholders, when the information should be shared, and the method of delivery.

42. B. Know the difference between a merger and an acquisition. The latter is where one organization takes over the other one.

43. A. An incident response has similarities to a business continuity response, but is smaller in scale and localized to a particular part of the business.

44. D. Different cultures will take time out to reflect on certain occasions, which will vary greatly from one another. It is important to take these differences into account when you have an international team, whether or not they are offshore.

45. A. By requiring the successful vendor to carry the insurance, it allows the consequences of negative risk to be transferred to the third party.

46. D. In the storming stage, the process of establishing who is the most influential occurs and there is jostling for position.

47. C. A project stakeholder understandably has a vested interest in the outcome of the project and therefore needs to provide input and requirements to the project. Other roles for stakeholders might include project steering and providing subject matter expertise.

48. A. A traditional waterfall methodology can be progressively iterative, similar to the sprints used with the Agile methodology, which creates a backlog of work to be completed in a specific time period; that process is repeated until the product is completed.

49. B. A discretionary dependency is defined by the project management team, and they are normally process or procedure driven. This is typically a logical relationship between two activities.

50. C. NDAs are common contract vehicles for jobs in both the government and private sector that would require a security clearance or where information needs to be protected from competition.

51. B. Intranet sites are protected by a password or network firewall, and they can contain information and functionality for the business to operate such as project status updates, time keeping, and employee self-service.

52. D. A change control board (CCB) is the body that evaluates and approves changes. The specifics are defined in the change control process that would be set up as a part of a project.

53. B. It is critical to communicate safety issues, public relations issues, and certain risk factors to key stakeholders so that responses can be coordinated and executed.

54. A. This is the activity that compares costs and expenses to date against the cost baseline so that a stakeholder can see the variance between what was planned and what actually occurred.

55. D. Opportunities and threats are conditions like weather or political climate that affect the organization or project but are not within the control of the organization.

56. C. More established organizations with mature processes and tenured staff would most likely have a functional organizational structure centered around specialties like human resources, finance, research and development, and so on.

57. A. Forcing is where one party gets their way, and the other party’s interest is not represented.

58. A. Meeting minutes help to memorialize details of conversations and decisions that were made in the moment. Often during the course of a project, so much time passes with so many other decisions made that it can be difficult to recall what was done and why. Meeting minutes are a useful tool to help address those challenges.

59. C. Task completion is communicated to project managers and/or coordinators so that they can signal the next activities or project phase to begin.

60. C. This assessment checks to ensure that the data is unbiased and accurate.

61. A. The project management office performs the function of coordinating resources across the organization.

62. A. The project charter also gives formal authority to begin the project, and it allows the project manager to begin applying resources to the project.

63. D. The key to this answer is the approval to move forward with the project. Gate reviews are check-in points where authorization to proceed must be given.

64. E. Risk identification, probability and impact analysis, and risk response would all take place during the Planning phase of the project.

65. C. To help determine if the project should move forward, a status report would give a snapshot of the work done to date, status of the budget and schedule, and issues facing the project.

66. C. A template allows for a standard submittal in the change control process that includes all of the information needed on the purpose and impact of the change.

67. B. Face-to-face meetings, or in-person meetings, are the superior choice for working on conflict resolution, giving performance appraisals, and working on team building.

68. A, D. Active acceptance includes developing contingency reserves to deal with risk should it occur. Passive acceptance is when the project team is not able to eliminate all of the threats to a project.

69. A. The project team is closest to the work that needs to get done, should bring some expert judgment to the project, and will be on the hook for project success.

70. A, D, E. The three types of organizational structures are Functional, Matrix, and Projectized. Agile is a project management methodology, and co-location is a logistical setup of a project team rather than an organizational structure.

71. A. Monitoring the risks and issues log occurs during the Monitor and Control phase and is not an activity of the Closing phase.

72. D. The formula used is (Most Likely + Optimistic + Pessimistic) / 3.

73. C. It is a successor task, because storyboarding would come after the development of the script. In the creation of an animated movie, many more steps than these are required to create the final product.

74. D. The best document to gain an understanding of the project structure would be the project’s organizational chart.

75. A, C. A virtual meeting is where everyone is not in the same location, and the use of technology, such as video or audio conferencing, allows the meeting to occur.

76. B. The urgency assessment uses risk triggers, time to develop and implement a response, and overall risk ranking as inputs for the analysis.

77. C. Actual cost represents the true total and final costs accrued during the process of completing project work for a specific time period. It is important to include the direct and indirect costs, since they correspond to budgeted activities.

78. B. Recognize the different time zones and schedules being used. If your project spans multiple time zones or there are a variety of schedules being used, take these factors into consideration in scheduling the meeting.

79. A. SIPOC-R is a process improvement method, and the acronym stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers, and Requirements. It is not used for cost estimating.

80. E. Creation of the work breakdown structure involves organizing the team’s work by breaking it down into manageable chunks or sections. This effort needs to happen before work begins, and therefore it occurs in the Planning phase.

81. C. In a functional organization, the authority resides with the functional manager, not the project manager. This can create difficulty for project assignments and task completion.

82. A, C, E. The scope management includes the process for creating the scope statement, the definitions of how the deliverables will be verified, and the process for creating, maintaining, and approving the WBS. It will also define the process for controlling scope change requests, including the procedure for requesting changes.

83. B. Crashing involves adding more resources to a project so that it can be completed faster.

84. B. The plan lays out the communication methods as well as the frequency and audience.

85. D. Actual cost may include both direct and indirect costs, but it must correspond to the budget for the activity. This can include labor costs, cost of materials, and use of equipment.

86. B, D. Of the options listed, the only methods that are appropriate for mass dissemination to the public are social media and printed materials. The other forms represent a more of a one-on-one form of communication.

87. B. The Monitor and Control phase sees a decrease in stakeholder influence. Although stakeholders start out with a lot of influence, it decreases as the project advances because activities are underway or completed and the ability to change one’s mind is diminished.

88. A. The formula for cost variance (CV) is CV = EV – AC. The calculations would produce a value of $2,500, indicating the project is under budget. A positive cost variance (CV) means that the project is under budget, and a negative CV means that the project is over budget. $9,500 – $7,000 = –$2,500; therefore, the project is under budget.

89. B. The burn rate is how fast the project is spending its allotted budget, or the rate that money is being expended over a period of time.

90. C. This may be an activity during either the Planning or Execution phase, depending on the nature of the industry the project is in.

1. A. According to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide), Fifth Edition by the Project Management Institute (PMI^®), a histogram is a special form of a bar chart used to describe the central tendency, dispersion, and shape of a statistical distribution.

2. B. A kickoff meeting is a form of communication rather than a trigger of communication.

3. C. Distribution of printed media, either delivered door-to-door or via a mailer, would be an appropriate communication method based on the demographic.

4. C. The industry plus the fact that the company is relatively new would suggest a more aggressive, gambling type of risk tolerance for the company to grow and succeed.

5. B, C. Project stakeholders, sponsors, and management can influence the constraints of a project in a variety of ways including shifting the priorities and/or resources, losing interest on a project in favor of newer efforts, and contributing to scope creep.

6. C. Constraints are those conditions that restrict the project in certain ways, like resources, timeframes, schedules, or budget.

7. C, D. A project can be summarized as having the following properties: is temporary in nature, creates a unique product or service, has a definite start and finish, contains a reason/purpose, and may be part of a program or portfolio. By definition, operational activities are, well, operational and take place after a project is completed. Inclusion in a portfolio or being a part of an organization’s strategic plan are not limited just to projects and are therefore not the correct answer.

8. C. A high-level overview of the risks of the project would be included in the project charter.

9. D. Parametric estimating often uses a quantity of work multiplied by the rate formula for computing costs.

10. C. Short stories help focus on how the product is going to be used, which helps shape how the final product is designed.

11. A. This is riskiest for the buyer because the total costs of the project are unknown until the project is completed. It does have the advantage to the buyer of easily changing the scope.

12. B, D, F. Meeting agendas, communication plans, and project charters would all fall into the category of planning documents at various levels. Project condition information, or status, can all be gleaned in different forms from dashboard information, status reports, and meeting minutes.

13. D. There can be one, and only one, person who is accountable per task in a RACI matrix.

14. B. The mutual joining of two companies to do work as a single company is a merger. This can disrupt the project as the new combined organization struggles with the activities of joining cultures and processes.

15. C. The project management office (PMO) offers standardization for a project, but it does not get involved in the details of individual projects.

16. B. The kickoff meeting typically occurs at the beginning of the execution phase, not the initiation phase.

17. A. As the project progresses, the Monitor and Control phase would be looking for risk triggers and thereby engaging a risk response plan should the need arise. Remember, Execution and Monitor and Control occur simultaneously, but from an identification standpoint, the risk response plan would be categorized with Monitor and Control functions.

18. C. The project scope being cut back to operate within the new budget is the most likely impact on this project. The schedule would not be affected, because there is no reason to lengthen or shorten the project time.

19. C. There are not enough resources for the tasks assigned, which leads to overallocation of the staff working on the project.

20. B. Collocation involves moving the project team to the same location and work space.

21. D. In a functional organizational structure, the functional manager has the most authority and resources report directly to their functional manager.

22. B, C, D. The ways to organize the WBS are by subprojects (where the project managers of the subprojects each create a WBS), by project phases, or by major deliverables.

23. B. Two of the responsibilities of the project sponsor are serving as the approval authority for the project and helping to remove roadblocks that are in the project team’s way.

24. A. As outlined in the contract, the seller can recoup costs that are allowable in the contract terms.

25. C. The organizational chart describes the project team member organization and identifies reporting structures.

26. A. A SWOT analysis looks at the strengths and weakness of the organization and compares them with the opportunities and threats the external environment holds for the company and, therefore, the project itself.

27. B. Also known as a demerger; be mindful of how this can impact a project when parts of the organization are no longer there.

28. B. Version control allows for a trail of what changes were added by whom and at which point in the document’s history.

29. D. Social media and old-school media like TV and newspapers are the best and quickest ways to disseminate information to the general public.

30. B. A portfolio is used to help support strategic business goals or objectives, and it may have a manager to control resources across the group of programs and projects to ensure success.

31. D. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is used when a legal agreement can’t be created between the two parties. It is common for government agencies to create MOUs between the parties to provide services or performance criteria to each other.

32. A. The project management plan is the collection of plans created to address budget, time, scope, quality, communication, risk, and other project elements.

33. A. A fishbone diagram, also called an Ishikawa diagram, is a visualization tool for categorizing the potential causes of a problem in order to identify its root causes.

34. D. A change in how an organization conducts business is a business process change.

35. D. The project manager looks to the factors of how the change would disrupt the schedule, budget, resource team, and quality of the project.

36. D. When a task is complete, the project team should send a communication to that effect to the appropriate stakeholders.

37. D. For routine updates, email can be an excellent method to communicate remotely, especially if no decisions or discussions need to be made as a part of the update.

38. A. The five project phases as identified in CompTIA Project+ objectives are Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitor and Control, and Closing.

39. B. Project managers can spend up to 90 percent of their time communicating with the stakeholders and the project team on status updates, getting information, and giving assignments.

40. B. In a balanced-matrix organization, the project manager and the functional manager both control the budget and share power and authority.

41. A. The project is over budget. A CPI under 1 means that the project is spending more than was forecast for the measurement date.

42. C, D, F. Agile is characterized by self-organized teams, sprint planning, and continuous requirements gathering that leads to a more flexible management approach.

43. D. Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning is the mode of group development that was developed by Dr. Bruce Tuckman.

44. B. On the exam, it is likely that there will be a scenario-based question that will test your critical thinking skills to reason through the correct sequencing of activities on a project. This question should help give a flavor of what you might encounter.

45. C. Risk identification is brainstorming and recording all potential risks that might occur during a project.

46. B. A request for information can have a similar meaning to a request for quotation in some companies. An RFQ can also have a cost quote that would be valid for a certain period of time.

47. A. This defines a status report. Although it is a specific type of communication, the need for the report and to whom it will be sent would be included in the communication plan. The actual report itself is a different project artifact.

48. D. Key performance parameters are vital characteristics, functions, requirements, or design considerations that have a major impact on a product or service. Failure to meet these parameters would trigger a review by a validating body to ensure compliance.

49. C. If reorganizing by decentralizing this function, each of the business units would increase flexibility and potentially improve the speed of getting the services and materials for this function.

50. B. Defects, rework, and their related costs are all related to the quality plan or a quality change.

51. A. Gate reviews are presented to a governance board or steering committee to validate cost models, schedule, risks, and objective obtainment.

52. B. The content of the message will often cause you to tailor the method of communication.

53. A. The kickoff meeting typically happens at the beginning of the Execution phase, and it is a primary means of introducing the project team to each other. Remember, in real-world project management, it is not uncommon for the kickoff meeting to be held in the Initiation, Planning, or Execution phase. For the exam, remember that the kickoff meeting occurs in the Execution phase.

54. C. Risk impact details the consequence or result that will occur if the event actually happens. Typically, this is categorized with a rating of High, Medium, and Low.

55. A. This example shows how one constraint, in this case the schedule, is influenced by a change in another constraint, the scope.

56. D. After the team has formed and stormed, this is where familiarity with one another helps to settle things down and individuals beginning to deal with project problems instead of people problems.

57. A, C. A third responsibility that a PMO might have is to maintain standard documentation and templates.

58. B. Lessons learned occurs during the Closing phase of the project.

59. B. Cost performance index (CPI) is expressed as a ratio of Earned Value/Actual Costs.

60. D. To develop the project schedule, the following task/activities should be completed: define activities, sequence activities, estimate resources, and estimate duration.

61. A. The burndown chart is a visual representation and measurement tool showing the completed work against a time interval to forecast project completion.

62. A. Due to the temporary nature of projects, resources are not permanently assigned to any one project or function.

63. D. A fixed-price contract is risky to the seller because if there are problems on the project and it takes longer to complete, the seller still must pay for the labor and increase costs of materials to fulfill the contractual obligation.

64. A. Meeting minutes capture the details for why decisions were made, what was discussed, and any assignments or due dates that materialized out of the meeting.

65. B. When someone has a role of informed, it means that they are informed after a decision has been made or a result has been achieved.

66. C. A scatter chart graphs pairs of numerical data to help the analyst look for a correlation or relationship.

67. A. Outsourcing is the replacement of internal resources with external resources to perform the same business function.

68. A. Mitigation of a risk is reducing the chance that the risk would happen, or lessening the impact in the event that the risk does get triggered.

69. A, E, F. Commonly referred to as the Triple Constraints, almost all projects are constrained by time, budget, and scope as they impact quality.

70. A. Using remote teams can alleviate the space constraints for this organization.

71. D. Strict adherence to a change control process is indicative of a more traditional waterfall approach, where the scope is controlled with a more rigid change process.

72. B. Top-down estimating, or analogous estimating, is where high-level project cost estimates are used by comparing them to a similar project from the past.

73. D. The work breakdown structure breaks the project down into small, manageable chunks of work.

74. A. The addition of more resources, the modification of scope, or the adjustment of the timeline are examples of some of the changes that might be requested.

75. C. To share a positive risk, the project seeks to assign the risk to a third party who is best able to bring about the opportunity. For instance, a company already has a working factory in a country where the materials are going to be sold, reducing costs on the project.

76. D. Low-quality resources do not have the required experience, are not accomplished with the skill set, have poor passion for the project, or carry a bad attitude to work. Low-quality resources can sometimes be replaced, but they will always need to be managed in some form.

77. B. Schedule Variance (SV) is calculated by taking Earned Value (EV) and subtracting the Planned Value (PV).

78. A. Work slippages can impact the timeline, especially when that work is along the critical path.

79. B. A review by a team, either internal or external, is conducting an audit with a recommendation to fix the findings.

80. B. A request for information (RFI) is used when there is not enough information or expert judgment to know what a good or service will cost, or to understand how many vendors there are who can meet this demand.

81. C. When requirements are changing, an agile approach allows the organization readily to be able to adapt to the environment.

82. C. Fast tracking is a scheduled acceleration technique where two tasks that are scheduled in parallel are started at the same time.

83. A. When project teams are separated by large distances, mountains, canyons, rivers, oceans, or other factors, geographic factors can influence how and when communication will occur.

84. B. Risk tolerance is the threshold of comfort one has for accepting a risk and its consequences.

85. A. The project team’s communication method allows for individual personal preferences to be set in how frequently they receive communication.

86. C. The project manager not controlling costs is an issue in project management, whereas the other options represent potential future problems, or risks, that could impact the project.

87. C. Different time zones can complicate getting status meeting schedules because of the variance in start and quit times.

88. C. Measuring the schedule performance index and the cost performance index are a part of monitoring and controlling the project, and they are not directly an activity of risk planning.

89. D. Remember that a risk can be either positive or negative, and it represents an opportunity that did not exist earlier in the project.

90. B. When dealing with a rapidly changing environment, the ability to react to new information and feedback is essential. The other options would not take advantage of the flexible, easily changing environment of the project.