2023S Review Questions 1

A customer wants to add new features to the project deliverable. Before the project manager can begin work on these new features, what should the project manager do first?

• A customer wants to add new features to the project deliverable. Before the project manager can begin work on these new features, what should the project manager do first?

• Draft the change request in the appropriate format to seek approval from the change control board (CCB) and start working on the new features only after approval is given

• Notify the project sponsor and wait for their approval to work on these new features

• Consult a subject matter expert (SME) and start working on the new features after there are no further concerns raised

Answer explanation

The Change control board is a formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, deferring, or rejecting changes to the project and for recording and communicating such decisions. The options to email the project manager, notify project sponsor and consult a SME are not sufficient change control actions to be completed before spending resources on the new feature.

During a status review meeting, it was determined that the product will not meet project scope requirements in a particular scenario. What should the project manager do?

• Perform risk analysis and update project scope.

• Initiate integrated change control process.

• Review the baselines to determine the critical path.

• Inform customer and negotiate an extended deadline.

Answer explanation

The product not meeting project scope is a "Risk" that needs to be managed. This is managed through Integrated Change Control Process. Project scope may change to include this particular scenario after the CCP is initiated. There is no baseline review nor renegotiation with the customer until after the CCP is initiated.

After all deliverables have been completed, a project manager needs to formally close a project. What should the project manager do?

• Update the project documents with quality control measurements to prove deliverables have been met.

• Obtain stakeholder acceptance and initiate project closeout.

• Release the project team and estimate any unused funds.

• Incorporate the issue log into the lessons learned register to produce the final report.

Answer explanation

The PM should obtain the acceptance of the Stakeholders who had initiated the project. The remaining answers are activities to be completed as part of the Project Closeout and are, therefore, not the correct answer.

A project manager is assigned to a project that has completed the planning phase. The project sponsor is confident that the project management plan has allowed for sufficient budget and scheduled time. The project manager believes that unforeseen events could affect the ability to complete the project successfully. What should the project manager do?

• Identify and evaluate potential risks and develop a risk action plan.

• Meet with the project sponsor to request additional funding to mitigate potential risks.

• Discuss the risk potential with the functional manager and identify resources that could ensure project success.

• Document potential constraints and limitations in the risk management plan.

Answer explanation

The correct response is to identify and evaluate risks, and develop an action plan. The project manager needs to be proactive and anticipate uncertain events and create plans to avoid, mitigate, transfer, or accept them. Requesting additional funding is premature until the risks are understood, as are other resource discussions with the functional manager. The risk management plan describes the process by which the project approaches risk, and nothing in the question indicates that it is inadequate; documenting constraints and limitations also is premature.

During the integration phase of a complex system improvement project, an upgrade to one component causes an outage on an existing critical component that is currently in use by all departments to access inventory data. What should the project manager do first?

• Consult the operations plan to determine the best way to resolve the issue.

• Follow the communications management plan to notify the stakeholders of the issue.

• Update the issue log with details about a final solution.

• Review the strategy documented in the risk management plan to manage the issue.

Answer explanation

Because a project issue has caused an unexpected impact to stakeholders, they must be notified, per the communications management plan. Resolving the issue and updating the issue log will be done afterwards, but the communication must come first. A strategy or contingency to respond to the issue would be documented in the risk register, which is not part of the risk management plan.

A project manager and the project team identified risks, performed a qualitative risk analysis, and prepared a risk response plan. However, delays in the response to risk events are affecting the project schedule. How would assigning risk owners to the risk responses help avoid these delays?

• Risk owners work with the project sponsor to ensure the risk response plan will be effective.

• Risk owners identify likely constraints and assumptions before the risk events occur.

• Risk owners are responsible for implementing the appropriate risk response strategy.

• The risk report assigns management of delays in the project schedule to the appropriate risk owner.

Answer explanation

Risk owners for each risk are nominated as part of the Identify Risks process and confirmed during the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis process. Risk owners take responsibility for planning the risk response and ensuring that it is implemented. If a Risk Owner is not assigned to a risk then the risk response will not be implemented in a timely manner and delays to the schedule could occur. Working to ensure the response plan addressed the risk and identifying constraints and assumptions does not address the situation of the delay in schedule. The risk report provides information on sources of overall project risk and responses. It does not specify schedule delays.

While reviewing the approved project schedule, the project manager realizes that the milestones are unrealistic due to longer-than-expected procurement lead times for certain key project components. The project manager needs to update the schedule baseline to reflect the long lead times. What should the project manager do first?

• Modify the work breakdown structure (WBS).

• Update the assumption log.

• Modify the procurement management plan.

• Submit a change request.

Answer explanation

Change request is the correct answer as every baseline change should go through an integrated change control process. Procurement lead times are the issue here. Therefore, there is no need to modify the WBS nor to update the assumption log. It is the lead times that were defined but not accounted in schedule baseline. There is no need to change the procurement management plan.

A new project manager joins a project overseen by a senior project manager. The sponsor asks the new project manager to develop the quality management plan. Why should the project manager initially consult with the senior project manager?

• To learn the established quality processes and plans and how appropriate standards were selected.

• To determine what product requirements have already been collected and to gather more as needed.

• To develop cost-benefit analyses and benchmarking samples to be used for risk management.

• To draft a change request for revision to the quality metrics and quality checklists.

Answer explanation

The new project manager should consult with the senior project manager to find out what practices and processes are already in place. Product requirements are not captured in the quality management plan. Developing cost-benefit analysis and benchmarking samples are not something the new project manager should start doing when the new project manager joins the project. The new project manager needs to understand what quality metrics and quality checklists are in place before making any changes to them.

During project execution, key stakeholders request a change to ensure that the final product will satisfy their requirements. Why should the project manager submit a change request?

• To record the requirements needed for the stakeholders' sign-off in order to update the issues log.

• To ensure that the request is formally documented and incorporated according to the integrated change control process.

• To provide justification for any impact the change might have on the project's budget or schedule.

• To ensure stakeholder responsibility regarding potential impact of the change on project budget and schedule.

Answer explanation

A change request formally documents a proposed modification to the project plan, and is the first step of implementing a change. The project manager's responsibilities include verifying that changes are registered, assessed, approved, tracked, and communicated to stakeholders. The other choices do not describe the purposes of a change request.

A new project is initiated to develop several new financial products and services for a company with offices in several countries. The project manager has researched the regulations for each of the countries. Based on the research, the project manager is concerned that some new products and services do not offer enough protection for the consumer. What should the project manager do first?

• Identify the high-level project risks.

• Quantify the project risks in the risk register.

• Develop a risk response strategy.

• Perform scheduled risk audits.

Answer explanation

The first step is to identify the risks. Once the Risks are identified then they can be quantified and/or a response strategy can be developed and/or a schedule for a 'risk-audit' can be developed.