Review Questions


1.  

Which of the following are types of resources you must consider when planning your project? Select the best answer.

  1. Technical staff, non-technical staff, and contractors

  2. Human resources, servers, and workstations

  3. Human resources, equipment, and materials

  4. None of the above

c. the three types of resources used in project planning are human resources, equipment, and materials. technical staff, non-technical staff, and contractors are categories of human resources. servers and workstations are both categories of equipment.

2.  

Name the table that matches the project work packages with the required resources.

  1. Responsibility Assignment Matrix

  2. Resource requirements document

  3. Cost estimate

  4. Budget baseline

a. a responsibility assignment matrix combines the tasks from the wbs with the project resources. the output of completing a ram is the resource requirements. a cost estimate is obtained by calculating the work effort associated with each resource on the responsibility assignment matrix. a budget baseline is the allocation of the total cost of the project prior to the start of project execution.

3.  

You are asked to prepare an estimate for a project business case to install a new server group . There is very little detail about this project. What will you use to compute your estimate?

  1. The price the client is willing to pay

  2. A sophisticated modeling technique

  3. The estimate provided by the project sponsor

  4. The actual cost of a similar project

d. in this situation you would do an analogous estimate, which is based on historical data from a similar project and expert judgment. you would look up cost data on the most recent server installation project.

4.  

Which of the following is not one of the cost planning processes?

  1. Cost estimating

  2. Cost control

  3. Resource planning

  4. Cost budgeting

b. the cost planning processes are resource planning, cost estimating, and cost budgeting. cost control is one of the controlling processes that will be discussed in chapter 9 .

5.  

A work effort estimate is used to develop

  1. Responsibility Assignment Matrix

  2. Cost estimates

  3. Schedule estimates

  4. All of the above

b. a work effort estimate or person-hour estimate is used to develop the cost estimates. a resource assignment matrix is completed prior to the cost estimating process by matching the project tasks with the resources required to complete the work. schedule estimates calculate the total amount of elapsed time it will take to reach project completion. project schedules are based on duration estimates, such as the number of work days or weeks required to complete a task.

6.  

A discretionary fund used by the project manager to cover unforeseen costs within the original project scope is a

  1. Managerial reserve

  2. Parametric model

  3. Contingency fund

  4. Cost baseline

c. a contingency fund is an amount allocated under the control of the project manager to cover unforeseen costs. a managerial reserve is under the control of upper management. a parametric model is a mathematical model used to estimate costs. the cost baseline is the amount of the budget before the actual work on the project starts. this is used to track what is actually spent against the original estimate.

7.  

You are developing a definitive budget estimate. Which of the following would be the MOST important input to complete this task?

  1. Historic data from a similar project

  2. A list of the budget category items used by finance

  3. The project WBS

  4. The project scope statement

c. the project wbs provides a list of the project activities requiring work effort estimates to produce the overall project definitive estimate. historical data from a similar project is used primarily for analogous estimates. the budget category list is a useful tool in resource planning to use as a checklist that all resources have been identified. the project scope statement does not contain the activity level detail found in the wbs.

8.  

Which of the following is a tool for developing the project resource requirements during the resource planning process?

  1. Organization chart

  2. Resource Assignment Matrix

  3. WBS

  4. None of the above

b. a resource assignment matrix is one of the tools used to create the resource requirements. it displays the type and quantity of resources needed to complete each task.

9.  

What is the most accurate estimate?

  1. Analogous estimate

  2. Definitive estimate

  3. Top down estimate

  4. A and C

b. a definitive estimate is the most accurate, typically falling within 5% and +10% of the actual project cost. this estimate is based on estimating the cost of the resources for each of the project tasks. an analogous estimate (also referred to as a top down estimate) is the least accurate. it is based on historical cost data from a similar project.

10.  

You are asked to present and explain your project cost baseline. All of the following are true except:

  1. The baseline will be used to track against actual spending.

  2. The baseline can be used to project future project costs.

  3. The baseline includes a contingency fund and a managerial reserve.

  4. The baseline is the estimate prior to the start of project execution of what the project will spend .

c. if the project includes a contingency fund or a managerial reserve, these amounts are not included in a project cost baseline. the baseline only includes the estimated cost of the actual project work. the project baseline is used to compare the actual project costs against the projected costs. a baseline can be used as a tool to project future costs by adding the estimate of remaining project work to the total dollars spent to date.

11.  

You're the project manager for a large IT project. At the time you performed your cost estimates, the license structure for some of the software you're going to use was based on a license fee plus a maintenance fee for a specified number of years (e.g., a license fee of $500 plus a 3-year maintenance fee of $2,750). The company has now changed their licensing paradigm to a 'software assurance' (SA) model in which you purchase a license at a particular (much higher) fee and are guaranteed upgrades for a specified period of time. If you opt to purchase a non-SA license, you must purchase another license as soon as an upgrade comes out-provided, that is, that you desire to upgrade the software as new editions come out. If you choose not to pay the upgrade license fee, and continue on with the existing software version it will fall behind year after year to the point where it will not be possible to upgrade the software. You may actually have to launch another project at that time to meet the expectations of new version releases. What should you do?

  1. Do nothing. You've got the license purchases accounted for; upgrades are someone else's problem. Update the sponsor.

  2. Determine the cost variance between the current structure versus the new SA structure. Update the sponsor.

  3. Switch to the SA structure. Update the sponsor.

  4. Let the sponsor decide what to do.

b. you need to determine the difference in cost, whether up or down, that you re looking at with the change. if additional money is involved, you ll need to communicate it to the sponsor so that approvals and additional monies can be allocated. if the licensing variance saves money, the sponsor needs to know about it as well.

12.  

Suppose that you're the leader of a project management office. You want to baseline any new projects with the salaries that different staff members make. What is this called?

  1. Resource loading

  2. Baseline loading

  3. Resource scheduling

  4. Resource sheet

a. resource loading is the process of entering in resource costs for bottom up budgeting purposes.

13.  

You're using the estimating technique in which you look at previous projects similar to the one you're currently working on in order to figure out what some of the tasks will cost. What is this estimating technique called?

  1. Baseline estimating

  2. Legacy estimating

  3. Analogous estimating

  4. Proficiency estimating

c. when you examine previous projects in order to derive cost estimates for a current one, you re utilizing analogous cost estimating.

14.  

You are considering the total time it would take for a person to complete the task if they did nothing else from the time they started until the task was complete. What is this called?

  1. Work hours

  2. Work effort

  3. Work planning

  4. Work substance

b. work effort is the total amount of time it will take an individual to complete a task.

15.  

When you're engaged in the process of allocating the money you've been given for a project to specific categories, you are said to be in the process of doing what?

  1. Cost budgeting

  2. Resource allocation

  3. Cost estimating

  4. Finance management

a. cost budgeting is the process of putting allocated funds into the various categories you have pinpointed to bring about the deliverables of the project.

16.  

Your programming team is embarking on their first ever intranet development project. The developers have identified Microsoft Visual Studio as the development environment they want to use for this project. Which type of resource is this considered to be?

  1. Human

  2. Material

  3. Equipment

  4. It's not a project resource.

b. visual studio, in this case, is a material resource because it wasn t in use prior to this project and we don t know if it will be from here on out. the salient point here is that the software is needed for this project to create the project deliverables.

17.  

Who is responsible for approving the project budget?

  1. Project manager

  2. Project team

  3. Project sponsor

  4. Member of executive staff

c. recall that the sponsor is the one who s empowered to expend the resources required to create the deliverables of the project. hence, he or she is the one who ll approve the budget.

18.  

Who is responsible for estimating the amount of money that a given task will cost, in terms of human, material, and equipment resources?

  1. Project manager

  2. Project team

  3. Project sponsor

  4. Member of the executive staff

a. ultimately, it is up to the project manager to make the final decision about the cost estimates for the various tasks. however, he or she may well delegate this responsibility to knowledgeable team members who are best equipped to provide estimates for given tasks, or, lacking project team members, he or she might solicit assistance from experts in the various task areas.

19.  

The work effort times the ____ will bring about the total cost of each task.

  1. Duration

  2. +/-75% leeway

  3. Rate

  4. Number of people

c. the rate that is established for a given resource times the work effort (usually expressed in hours) will yield the total cost of the task.

20.  

In order to accurately define the resources required for your project, you need three things. What are they?

  1. Understanding of the three types of project resources

  2. Scope statement

  3. Project sponsor buy-in

  4. Stakeholder OK

  5. Work breakdown structure (WBS)

  6. Contingency fund

a, b, e. you need to know what three types of project resources you might be dealing with (so you understand what categories each task may require). you also need the scope statement so you understand the underlying framework of the project as well as the wbs, which details the tasks involved.

Answers

1.  

C. The three types of resources used in project planning are human resources, equipment, and materials. Technical staff, non-technical staff, and contractors are categories of human resources. Servers and workstations are both categories of equipment.

2.  

A. A Responsibility Assignment Matrix combines the tasks from the WBS with the project resources. The output of completing a RAM is the resource requirements. A cost estimate is obtained by calculating the work effort associated with each resource on the Responsibility Assignment Matrix. A budget baseline is the allocation of the total cost of the project prior to the start of project execution.

3.  

D. In this situation you would do an analogous estimate, which is based on historical data from a similar project and expert judgment. You would look up cost data on the most recent server installation project.

4.  

B. The cost planning processes are resource planning, cost estimating, and cost budgeting. Cost control is one of the controlling processes that will be discussed in Chapter 9.

5.  

B. A work effort estimate or person- hour estimate is used to develop the cost estimates. A Resource Assignment Matrix is completed prior to the cost estimating process by matching the project tasks with the resources required to complete the work. Schedule estimates calculate the total amount of elapsed time it will take to reach project completion. Project schedules are based on duration estimates, such as the number of work days or weeks required to complete a task.

6.  

C. A contingency fund is an amount allocated under the control of the project manager to cover unforeseen costs. A managerial reserve is under the control of upper management. A parametric model is a mathematical model used to estimate costs. The cost baseline is the amount of the budget before the actual work on the project starts. This is used to track what is actually spent against the original estimate.

7.  

C. The project WBS provides a list of the project activities requiring work effort estimates to produce the overall project definitive estimate. Historical data from a similar project is used primarily for analogous estimates. The budget category list is a useful tool in resource planning to use as a checklist that all resources have been identified. The project scope statement does not contain the activity level detail found in the WBS.

8.  

B. A Resource Assignment Matrix is one of the tools used to create the resource requirements. It displays the type and quantity of resources needed to complete each task.

9.  

B. A definitive estimate is the most accurate, typically falling within -5% and +10% of the actual project cost. This estimate is based on estimating the cost of the resources for each of the project tasks. An analogous estimate (also referred to as a top down estimate) is the least accurate. It is based on historical cost data from a similar project.

10.  

C. If the project includes a contingency fund or a managerial reserve, these amounts are not included in a project cost baseline. The baseline only includes the estimated cost of the actual project work. The project baseline is used to compare the actual project costs against the projected costs. A baseline can be used as a tool to project future costs by adding the estimate of remaining project work to the total dollars spent to date.

11.  

B. You need to determine the difference in cost, whether up or down, that you're looking at with the change. If additional money is involved, you'll need to communicate it to the sponsor so that approvals and additional monies can be allocated. If the licensing variance saves money, the sponsor needs to know about it as well.

12.  

A. Resource loading is the process of entering in resource costs for bottom up budgeting purposes.

13.  

C. When you examine previous projects in order to derive cost estimates for a current one, you're utilizing analogous cost estimating.

14.  

B. Work effort is the total amount of time it will take an individual to complete a task.

15.  

A. Cost budgeting is the process of putting allocated funds into the various categories you have pinpointed to bring about the deliverables of the project.

16.  

B. Visual Studio, in this case, is a material resource because it wasn't in use prior to this project and we don't know if it will be from here on out. The salient point here is that the software is needed for this project to create the project deliverables.

17.  

C. Recall that the sponsor is the one who's empowered to expend the resources required to create the deliverables of the project. Hence, he or she is the one who'll approve the budget.

18.  

A. Ultimately, it is up to the project manager to make the final decision about the cost estimates for the various tasks. However, he or she may well delegate this responsibility to knowledgeable team members who are best equipped to provide estimates for given tasks, or, lacking project team members, he or she might solicit assistance from experts in the various task areas.

19.  

C. The rate that is established for a given resource times the work effort (usually expressed in hours) will yield the total cost of the task.

20.  

A, B, E. You need to know what three types of project resources you might be dealing with (so you understand what categories each task may require). You also need the scope statement so you understand the underlying framework of the project as well as the WBS, which details the tasks involved.




Project+ Study Guide (Exam PK0-002)
IT Project+ Study Guide, 2nd Edition (PKO-002)
ISBN: 0782143180
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 156

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