Assessment Test

1.	How many ways can a project be declared final? 1 2 3 4 5
2.	Select all the Guide to the PMBOK project management process groups. Activating Initiation Requirements gathering Planning Executing Scheduling Controlling Budgeting Closing Ending
3.	In what ways would not having thorough requirements identification, documentation, and metrics adversely impact your project? (Select all that apply.) Scope may arbitrarily enlarge. Can't tell who the customer is. Don't know what deliverables to develop. Can't tell when the project is complete. Can't tell when the project is successful. Sponsors may back out.
4.	The ___________________ ___________________ is the component that authorizes the project to begin. Customer request Concept document Project charter Project sponsor
5.	When should you seek recommendations from the sponsor to either kill a project or come up with alternative strategies? (Select all that apply.) Costs far outreach the budgeted amount the project was originally given. An activity is insurmountable. The elapsed time used for one or more tasks far outreaches time estimates. The enthusiasm of the project sponsor wanes.
6.	You're the project manager for a small project that is in the Closing phase. You prepare closure documents and take them to the project sponsor for sign-off. She tells you that the documents are not needed because the project is so small. What should you tell her? OK, sorry to bother you. You are the one who needs to sign off on the documents showing that the project is officially closed. I can have a stakeholder sign in your place. I'll just go ahead and sign them instead.
7.	The ___________________ ___________________ is the document that defines the height and breadth of the project. Project concept Project scope Project charter Project plan
8.	A ___________________ ___________________ estimate is one predicated on assumptions and initial estimates. Top down Bottom up Cost center Capital expense
9.	Which of these can convey that you've achieved the completion of an interim deliverable ? Completion criteria Milestone Gantt chart Project sign-off document
10.	What will be the outcome of the work breakdown structure (WBS)? Phase Task Deliverable Activity
11.	Of these, which one thing is a customer responsible for in the project development process? Review of project deliverables Sign-off of scope document Development of project schedule Prioritization of project steps
12.	You're the project manager of a project in which the scope has expanded. What steps must you take to acknowledge the expansion? (Select all that apply.) Modify the project charter. Modify the project concept definition document. Obtain a new sign-off on the project charter. Obtain a new sign-off on the project concept definition document.
13.	When taking over an incomplete project, what item should be of most interest to the new project manager? Project concept document Project charter Project scope document Project plan
14.	In the IT world, which of these statements about a project manager is the most true? The project manager doesn't have to have any IT background. The project manager should have a minimum of IT background. The project manager should be moderately IT oriented. The project manager should be heavily IT oriented.
15.	In the project management world, what entity is responsible for signing the project charter? Customer Project sponsor Stakeholder Project manager
16.	Select the component that belongs in the Controlling process group of the project, not the Planning process group . Risk definition Risk quantification Risk response development Risk control
17.	What signals the end of the Planning phase? The project team begins to execute the tasks in the project plan. The project scope document is formally signed. The hardware and software comes in. The project plan document is formally signed. Upper management frees up the money for the project budget.
18.	When developing the requirements for the project, what might you consider for each requirement? Provide a place for project sponsor sign-off. Provide a place for customer sign-off. Link each with a specific customer need. Link each with a separate project step. Provide metrics by which you can assess the requirement.
19.	Two different sets of 'criteria' might be alluded to in the project scope document. What are the names of these specialized project monitoring criteria? (Select two.) Budget Project Completion Deliverable Success
20.	A well-written change control process should include which of the following components ? (Select all that apply.) The type of change requested The amount of time the change will take to implement The cost of the change How to obtain approval for additional funds and/or time The stages at which changes are accepted
21.	Given the standard IT project, which cost estimating technique would be the most beneficial? Top down Unit Parametric Bottom up Linear regression Indexing
22.	What is the best way to prevent scope creep? Make sure the requirements are thoroughly defined before the project begins. Put a proviso in the charter that no additions to the project will be allowed once it's under way. Alert the sponsor that you will not be taking any change requests after the project starts. On your project intranet site, supply a button, labeled 'Nice To Have,' that the user can check for changes that aren't really necessary.
23.	Which of the following is NOT a true statement about cost estimating? Cost estimates are provided by team members . Cost estimates make up the project budget. Cost estimates have a quality factor built into them. You should average all cost estimates.
24.	What project elements may benefit from management input? Review of project deliverables Sign-off of scope document Development of project schedule Prioritization of project steps
25.	Who is responsible for assembling the project's team members? Project sponsor Project stakeholders Project customer Project manager
26.	Milestones that occur between phases typically have? (Select all that apply.) Predecessors Exit Criteria Successors Entry criteria Activity sequences
27.	___________________ are the elements that might have a direct impact on the length of the project scope. Challenges Possibilities Opportunities Capabilities Constraints
28.	The output of scope definition is the: Scope document Work Breakdown Structure Project charter Project plan
29.	What are the two types of charts that you might utilize in a typical project management plan to denote the project's tasks? Gantt GERTT Network Diagram AVERT Critical Path
30.	What are the three areas of estimation that you'll be interested in when preparing your project schedule? Materials Time Person-hours Skill levels
31.	When would you use your negotiation skills on a project that's well under way? (Select all that apply.) You want a certain set of individuals on your project team. You're running a high-level project in which you could augment the outcome by adjusting certain tasks. You want a raise. You're attempting to get better hardware for the same money.
32.	Suppose that a corporate organizational change occurs that affects your team. Who should handle the communication of this news, and how soon should it be communicated? Project sponsor, immediately Project sponsor, not immediately urgent Project manager, immediately Project manager, not immediately urgent
33.	At a minimum, how many reviews will your project plan go through? 1 2 3 4 . 5
34.	What analysis should you perform to see whether the proposed scope change request should be elevated to the sponsor and stakeholders or can stay within the confines of the project manager and the project team? Index Deviation Portion Variance
35.	In which process do you compare budgeted costs versus actual? Capacity analysis Metrics measurement Variance analysis Status measurement
36.	It's recommended that any given milestone should have, along with its description, these two components. Success criteria Entry criteria Completion criteria Exit criteria Deliverable criteria
37.	When you want to compare the ratio of budgeted versus actual hours or dollars spent on a task, which type of financial variable will you use? Index Cost Portion Variance
38.	What are the three basic types of changes that someone might bring to a project, changes that may represent deviations in scope? Design change Schedule change Monitoring change Cost change Methodology change
39.	When is it your job as project manager to also manage the people who are your team members? Only when authorized to do so by stakeholders Only when authorized to do so by the team member's regular supervisor Always Never
40.	What are some team member issues that you will have to get involved in as a people manager? (Select all that apply.) Team member reports to you that another team member is performing substandard work. Stakeholders come to you requesting a schedule change. Top performer is slacking off. Management rumor mill is saying layoffs are in the offing.
41.	In what process do you determine whether there is enough money in the budget or if there are enough hours left to complete the project? Earned value analysis Earned income proration Estimated portion analysis Estimated profitability analysis
42.	What are some team dynamics that might come into play as your project unfolds? (Select all that apply.) One team member works longer hours than the others. One or more team members has to leave the team. Team isn't focused-it's going in divergent ways. Team is fragmented along the lines of special interests.
43.	How many outflows are there from the Closing phase? 1 2 3 4
44.	What is one important step that new project managers might overlook when faced with a possible scope deviation? Telling the customer no Determining an alternative solution Alerting vendors Complaining to the sponsor
45.	Select the three most common project constraints. Schedule (Time) Budget (Cost) Priorities Quality
46.	What resources are released once the project has been closed? (Select all that apply.) Hardware Human resources Vendor Contractual Customer
47.	A diagram that's used in quality control by examining the 80/20 rule is called a _________ ___ _____. Resource diagram Quality model Pareto diagram Gantt chart PERT chart
48.	From the list below, select the four common techniques used in developing a cohesive project team: Forming Worming Storming Alarming Quoruming Norming Warning Performing
49.	What is the methodology arising out of systems analysis and design efforts-a grouping of phases that closely parallels the Guide to the PMBOK process groups. SDLC ADLC SADL PMDL
50.	In project management, the process of taking high-level project requirements and boiling them down into the tasks that will generate the deliverables is called: Analysis Decomposition Entity-relationship diagramming Task focus

Answers

1.	D. A project can be declared complete because its deliverables have been created, or because the success and completion criteria have been met. A project can also be canceled , or the resources just wind up being depleted requiring cancellation. For more information, see Chapter 10.
2.	B, D, E, G, I. You can remember the old poison antidote, syrup of IPECaC (leaving out the 'a'), to assist you with this. Initiation, Planning, Executing, Controlling, and Closing are the five distinct project management process groups. For more information, please see Chapter 1.
3.	A, C, D, E. By not providing adequate requirements formulation, you might have a rough feel for what deliverables you're providing, but you certainly couldn't absolutely pinpoint them. You won't be able to tell when the project's complete or when it's successful, and as a result, the scope might enlarge without your being aware of it. You'll probably be able to tell who the customer is. For more information, please see Chapter 3.
4.	C. Signing the project charter authorizes the project work to go forward. For more information, please see Chapter 2.
5.	A, B, C. When the project's costs exceeds its budget, you have to go to the sponsor and get input on what to do next . When the elapsed time taken for one or more tasks far outreaches your initial time estimates or you find that project activity is insurmountable, it's time to visit with the stakeholders and project sponsor to see if you need an extension, not to kill the project. If the sponsor loses interest, it's time to talk with the sponsor, not necessarily to pull the plug on the project. For more information, see Chapter 8.
6.	B. The sponsor is the one who must sign off on completion of the project, whether successful or unsuccessful . Just as the sponsor is authorized to expend resources to bring forth the project's deliverables, so the sponsor must also close down the project and thus release the resources. For more information, see Chapter 10.
7.	B. The project scope document details the various components that will go into the project to make it happen. The project scope document includes things like the enumeration of the deliverables, the end product that's expected, the risks associated with the project, the budget and any spare funds that may be available to augment the budget, rules and regulations that may impact the project, and so on. For more information, please see Chapters 3 and 6.
8.	A. A top down estimate is one in which you're allocated money in which to complete a project. Because of this you'll have to rely on estimates and assumptions in order to apportion the money in each area in which you require it. For more information, see Chapter 5.
9.	B. One of the uses for a milestone is to signal that you've completed one of the deliverables that are to be obtained from the project. For more information, please see Chapter 4.
10.	C. The outcome of your WBS will be the project's deliverables! For more information, see Chapter 7.
11.	A. A more formal approach to the sign-off of the deliverables is a project phase called acceptance testing, where users actually test out the new software to make sure it works correctly and that it does what they need it to do. For more information, please see Chapter 2.
12.	A, C. Anytime there's a significant expansion or modification to the project, the project charter must be modified and the project sponsor must sign off anew on it. For more information, please see Chapter 7.
13.	C. The project's scope document should be of most interest to the new project manager. First, if the project scope doesn't match the concept document and charter, the project manager has a problem. Second, the scope denotes the amount of work involved in the project and, if inaccurate, may result in project overruns both in budget and resource terms as well as schedule. For more information, please see Chapter 3.
14.	A. In an ideal project management world, the IT project manager isn't any different than the project manager that's building a bridge, sinking an oil well, or mapping the Amazon. Wonderful communications skills are the biggest asset any project manager can have. In most IT environments, you'll have experts in the various areas that you need for the project. For more information, please see Chapter 1.
15.	B. The project sponsor signs the project charter. For more information, please see Chapter 2.
16.	D. You go through a full-bodied risk assessment process while you're in the Planning phase of the project. You define risks associated with each requirement, try to quantify their impact on the requirement, and prepare a response for each risk. You control risks as they appear when you're in the Controlling phase of your project. For more information, please see Chapter 6 and 8.
17.	D. After the sponsor has formally signed the project plan, you've finished the Planning stage and now move into Executing. For more information, see Chapter 7.
18.	E. While it's good to boil the requirements down to separate project steps, that's not always possible. However, you should always strive to word the requirements in such a way that you can assess their success and completeness by some metric. Sponsors and customers don't need to sign off on individual requirements. For more information, please see Chapter 4.
19.	C, E. You should think about including both the success criteria and the completion criteria in your project scope document. Success criteria are the things that you'd expect to occur in order to be able to declare the project a success. Completion criteria are the items that must be accomplished to complete the project. For more information, please see Chapter 4.
20.	A, D, E. The amount of time and money a change will require are outcomes of a change control process, not inputs to the process. For more information, please see Chapter 9.
21.	D. The bottom up cost estimating method is recommended for most IT projects that do not result in a product or service that your company will be reselling . The reason for this is that you're managing the project from a pure 'what's it gonna cost?' methodology, rather than 'how much can we expect to make per unit?' perspective. A bottom up estimate is the most precise because you begin your estimating at the smallest of tasks and work your way up. For more information, see Chapter 5.
22.	A. The best way to avoid scope creep as much as possible (you're never going to totally avoid it) is to make sure the project's requirements have been thoroughly fleshed out before the project starts. For more information, see Chapters 2 and 3.
23.	B. Cost estimates do not make up the project budget; they act as an input to the budget. Cost estimates are provided by the team members who will be performing the task they're estimating. For more information, see Chapter 5.
24.	A. In order to facilitate management buy in to a given project, one of the options to consider is to allow management to review and approve project deliverables. For more information, please see Chapter 2.
25.	D. The project manager assembles the team members for the project. The project manager may certainly have input from the sponsor, stakeholders, or customers, but it is the project manager who decides what the formation of the team should be. For more information, please see Chapter 1.
26.	B, D. There are some project life cycle methodologies that also use milestones to mark the end of one project phase and the beginning of the next. Generally milestones between phases have exit or entrance criteria. For example, consider a standard system development cycle in which you perform rigorous testing. A milestone for moving from a test phase to a deployment phase could have a list of specific test scenarios that must be successfully completed before the testing phase is complete. This is the exit criterion that must be met before the test phase is considered complete. For more information, see Chapter 4.
27.	E. There is a long list of things that can be considered constraints-elements that could potentially lengthen the scope of the project. Corporate priorities, suitable members for the project team, and budget restrictions are a few. For more information, please see Chapter 3.
28.	B. The output of scope definition is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS is a deliverablesoriented hierarchy that defines all of the project work. Each level has more detail than the previous level. For more information see Chapter 3.
29.	A, C. Most projects will utilize a Gantt chart-basically a grouping of task blocks put together to reflect the time that each task is going to take relative to a calendar, along with any precursors or successors the task may have. If you were to take some sticky notes and stick them on a flip chart, writing on each note the task, the date it starts, the date it ends, the duration it'll take, along with all precursors and successors, you'd essentially have a network diagram. Network diagrams are capable of showing interrelationships between tasks that a Gantt chart cannot. You'll use network diagrams on very large projects, whereas most small- to medium- sized projects will work fine with Gantt charts. For more information, see Chapter 4.
30.	A, B, C. You're interested in what you'll use, who'll do the work, and how much the effort will cost, both in terms of materials and time. For more information, see Chapter 5.
31.	B. Think of the phrase 'well under way' as code in the Project+ test that means the project is in the Executing/Controlling phases. In high-level projects that have a lot at stake and are under very high visibility, you could use your negotiation skills with the stakeholders and sponsors to try to slim down some of the requirements so as to bring the project in sooner, using less budget, or with greater quality. For more information, see Chapter 8.
32.	A. The project sponsor has authority to spread the news first. He will give you further information and instructions as to the impact on your team. For more information, see Chapter 8.
33.	B. You'll write your project plan then submit to the stakeholders for their review. After you make the recommended changes, you'll then submit it to the sponsor for review. If there are no additional changes the sponsor will sign off on the finalized project plan. For more information, see Chapters 2 and 3.
34.	D. You should run a variance analysis on the proposed deviation from scope. You do this by estimating the amount of time the additional tasks the deviation requires and the additional costs. You then compare this to tasks that you've already planned and more or less fit the tasks involved with the deviation. If you can't find a fit, then the tasks represent additions to the scope. You run the variances to see how far over you would be if the new work was added in, and you then have a good feel for how far out of scope the deviation will take you. For more information, see Chapter 9.
35.	C. Variance analysis consists of measuring the predicted cost of resource time, dollar expenditures, and elapsed duration of activities, then comparing these to the actual values. For more information, see Chapter 9.
36.	B, D. A milestone consists of a description, entry criteria, and exit criteria. These criteria detail how you know when you've entered an area of the project that has resulted in a milestone and how to exit this milestone to the next section of the project. For more information, see Chapter 4.
37.	A. There are two indexes associated with earned value analysis: cost performance index (CPI), the budgeted monetary cost of a task versus the actual, and schedule performance index (SPI), the budgeted hours for a task versus actual. For more information, see Chapter 9.
38.	A, B, D. A scope deviation can represent itself in the form of a change in the design of the project, a schedule change (typically a reduction in schedule), or a budget change of some kind. Of these, the design change may have the most far-reaching ramifications in terms of scope alteration. For more information, see Chapter 8.
39.	C. As a project manager, your team members are under your leadership until the project's over. However, in IT projects, you're often working with people from other business organizations (at least for part of the time) to help with the project. Because these people have a regular supervisor who's responsible for keeping track of their performance and time, you're working in what we called a 'matrixed environment,' using matrix management. You track part of their time and performance, and their regular supervisor does the same. Sounds easy, but it's very difficult to do in the real world. Politics, personality issues, and other elements get in the way. For more information, see Chapters 1 and 8.
40.	A, C. You'll be directly involved with team members when you find that one of your better workers is, for some reason, not getting her work done as before. You'll also wind up using your people management skills when someone else comes to you to report that another team member isn't working as well as they should be. You have to deal with stakeholders requesting a schedule change before it ever gets to the individual team member level. And you shouldn't pay attention to the gossip mill. For more information, see Chapter 8.
41.	A. The process of examining financial variables to determine where you're at in a project is called earned value analysis. For more information, see Chapter 9.
42.	C, D. When a team loses its focus, it also loses its sharpness and the project begins to go in different directions. Likewise, when teams split out into special interest groups or cliques, the project suffers as well. In either case, it's up to you as project manager to manage these very real people situations. For more information, see Chapter 8.
43.	B. You'll create closure documentation that includes items such as lessons learned and the signoff for the closure. You'll also release the resources of the project. For more information, see Chapter 10.
44.	B. When faced with the possibility of a serious scope deviation, the project manager should determine whether there are alternatives that, while compromising the scope, may not have as much impact as the proposed deviation. For more information, see Chapters 8 and 9.
45.	A, B, D. Time (schedule), budget, and quality maintain a delicate seesaw balance with one another, and it is important that project managers keep a close eye on the three. For more information, please see Chapter 5.
46.	A, B, D. You would release resources that were allocated for the project. That would include hardware, human resources, contractors, software, and other such resources. Vendors, while a resource, are released as they supply the things that you're purchasing-they're not released at closure time. The customer isn't a resource that's released. For more information, see Chapter 10.
47.	C. A Pareto diagram is used to rank the importance of a problem based on its frequency of occurrence over time. This diagram is based on the Pareto principle, which is more commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule. Applying the principle to quality control, it says that the majority of the project defects are caused by a small set of problems. A Pareto diagram helps to isolate what the major problems are, so that you can take action that will have the greatest impact. A bar graph is used to display problems in decreasing order of occurrence so that priorities for improvement can be established. For more information, see Chapter 9.
48.	A, C, F, H. Well-known in general management and project management circles, the concept of developing a high-quality team involves (a) forming-the process team members go through to become established; (b) storming-the struggle for control, power, and influence; (c) norming-the process of the team settling into a routine as the project proceeds; and (d) performing- when the team is cohesive and able to produce. For more information, see Chapter 8.
49.	A. A systems development life cycle (SDLC-also sometimes referred to as software development life cycle) most commonly denotes five distinct phases: planning, analysis, design, implementation, and operations and support. These phases loosely align with the Guide to the PMBOK process groups. It's important to understand that IT specialists may have had training in SDLC, but not in Guide to the PMBOK . There is a potential for a difference of opinion between the way that 'SDLCers' think things should be handled versus a PMP. By understanding how the two map to one another, smart project managers can avert unneeded project tension. For more information, see Chapter 1.
50.	B. Decomposition is the process of analyzing the requirements of the project in such a way that you reduce the requirements down to the steps and tasks needed to produce them. For more information, see Chapter 2.