CompTIA Project+ PK0-005 Study Guide - Chapter 10

You are working on a project that was proceeding well until a manufacturing glitch occurred that requires corrective action.

It turns out the glitch was an unintentional enhancement to the product, and the marketing people are enthused about its potential.

The corrective action is canceled, and you continue to produce the product with the newly discovered enhancement.

As the project manager, you know that a variance has occurred.

Which of the following is not true?

• Common causes of variance are situations that are unique and not easily controlled at the operational level.

• 1. Random variances, known or predictable variances, and variances that are always present in the process are known as common causes of variance.

• 1. Inspection determines whether measurements fall within tolerable results.

• Scatter diagrams display the relationships between an independent and a dependent variable to show variations in the process over time.

Answer explanation

Common causes of variance are situations that are common to the process you're using and are easily controlled at the operational level

You have just left a meeting with the project sponsor where you were advised that your project has been canceled because of budget cuts.

You have called the project team together to fill them in and to review the remaining activities to close out the project.

Several of your team members question the benefit of doing a lessons learned review on a project that has been canceled.

What should your response be?

• Advise the team that part of the review time will be spent on documenting the failure of the lack of clear requirements from the customer.

• Tell the team they need to do this to be able to stay on the project payroll another week while they look for a new assignment.

• 1. Inform the team that a final report is a requirement from the PMO, regardless of how the project ends.

• Explain that there is value both to the team and for future projects in analyzing the phases of the project that have been completed to date to document what went right, what went wrong, and what you would change.

Answer explanation

There is valuable information to be gained from a review of any project, even projects that do not complete.

The assessment should focus on those phases of the project that did finish, as well as a look at whether anything could have been done differently to make the project a success.

The purpose of lessons learned is not to assign blame, even for projects that are canceled

You have just left a meeting with the project sponsor where you were advised that your project has been canceled because of budget cuts.

You have called the project team together to fill them in and to review the remaining activities to close out the project.

Which of the following describes the type of project ending this project experienced?

• Extinction

• Starvation

• Addition

• Integration

Answer explanation

1. Starvation is a project ending caused by resources being cut off from the project.

2. 
   Extinction occurs when the project work is completed and is accepted by the stakeholders.

3. 
   Addition occurs when projects evolve into ongoing operations, and integration occurs when resources are distributed to other areas of the organization.

Which of the following measurement tools are used to measure operational or performance goals for projects?

• KPIs

• 1. Key objectives

• Balanced scorecard

• Key results

• All of the above

Answer explanation

KPIs are used to measure any element of the project or operational areas of the business to determine whether goals are being achieved.

A balanced scorecard is used to determine whether organizational goals are being met

Which of the following is the "best" type of project ending?

• Extinction

• Addition

• Integration

• Starvation

Answer explanation

Extinction occurs when the project work is completed and is accepted by the stake-holders.

This is the best type of project ending.

Starvation is a project ending caused by resources being cut off from the project.

Addition occurs when projects evolve into ongoing operations, and integration occurs when resources are distributed to other areas of the organization

What is the primary purpose of a formal sign-off at the conclusion of the project work?

• The sign-off allows the project manager to start a new assignment.

• The sign-off means the project team is no longer accountable for the product of the project.

• The sign-off is the trigger for releasing team members back to their functional organization.

• The sign-off indicates that the project meets the documented requirements and the customer has accepted the project deliverables.

Answer explanation

A sign-off is the formal acceptance of the project's final product, service, or result.

Its primary purpose is the customer's acceptance of the product of the project.

Team members are released after sign-off, but this isn't the primary purpose of a formal sign-off.

Both the project manager and the project team members may continue to be involved in the project until all closure activities are complete

Which of the following charts is a type of histogram?

• Scatter diagram

• Fishbone

• Pareto chart

• 1. Run chart

Answer explanation

A Pareto diagram is a type of histogram that measures the frequency of occurrences of data elements in rank order over time

What is the focus of the lessons learned report?

• The report should cover both the positive and negative aspects of the project, with suggestions for improvement.

• The report should primarily summarize the results of the project schedule, the budget, and any approved scope changes.

• The report should focus on the project deliverables and any issues that were created by the customer.

• The report should cover what went well during the project and should determine which team member or business unit was responsible for failures or issues.

Answer explanation

Both the successes and failures of a project need to be documented in the lessons learned report.

Successes will provide blueprints to follow on future projects, and failures will alert teams on what to avoid.

A good lessons learned document covers all aspects of the project from all participants.

It should include all project information, not just schedule, budget, and changes, and it should never place blame for the things that went wrong

Your project concerns writing a new software app to track physical activity such as running, biking, and walking, including time spent on the activity, heart rate, and speeds.

You've performed some preliminary testing and discovered some changes need to be made to the code.

Once the changes are made, you'll test again to ensure the app is working as expected, starting with logging in, tracking each activity, and measuring each criterion for accuracy
What type of testing does this question describe?

• Regression

• 1. End-to-end

• Unit

• User acceptance

Answer explanation

Regréssion testing is performed after changes are made to the code, but this question is specific about testing for all modules starting at logon, which indicates an end-to-end test is in order.

Unit testing is the testing of one module or one unit of code, such as the biking feature, and user acceptance testing is performed by the end users of the product

You are in the Monitoring and Controlling phase of the project.

Several problems have come to light, and you want to know what the causes of the problems are that are generating the effect.

You hold a brainstorming meeting with key team members and plot the cause and effect scenarios on this type of chart.

• Pareto chart

• Histogram

• Fishbone diagram

• Scatter diagram

Answer explanation

The fishbone diagram is a cause-and-effect diagram and is also known as an Ishikawa diagram.

Brainstorming sessions are a great way to construct this chart and determine what causes are impeding your results