PMI-SH Plan and Manage Quality of Products/deliverables

Question

An application developer took a story card to work that read "Customer can pay using credit card". After the implementation, the functionality was rejected because the application could not accept foreign credit cards.

What should the project manager have done to avoid this issue?

• Described the user story in more detail

• Gathered more detailed requirement specifications from end users.

• Performed iterative backlog grooming with the team

• Scheduled the user story for the next iteration.

Answer explanation

The project manager should be sure to provide the vendor with a test plan and requirements traceability matrix before the testing starts. The test plan outlines the testing approach, scope, objectives, and schedule, while the requirements traceability matrix maps the requirements to the test cases to ensure that all requirements are tested. Providing these items to the vendor helps to ensure that the testing is conducted in a structured and organized manner and that all requirements are tested. 

The other options are incorrect as they do not provide the necessary information for the vendor to conduct the testing effectively.

Defect reports and quality risk assessments are produced after testing is completed. 

Quality risk assessments are often carried out throughout the life cycle of the project and may not be available before the testing starts.

A project manager is working with stakeholders to identify the steps that must be completed as part of a task. The project manager needs to be able to verify that team members have completed all the steps required when performing a frequently performed task.

What should the project manager use?

• Flowchart

• Checklist

• Histogram

• Facilitation

Answer explanation

The project manager should use a checklist as it is generally used in validating process steps have been implemented.

The other answer choices are incorrect. Flowcharts can only be used to outline process steps not verify that they have been conducted; histograms reflect frequency distribution and will not verify team members have completed the tasks; and facilitation is the ability to effectively guide a group event to a successful decision, solution, or conclusion.

Question

During the development of a project, the project manager noticed that results are not as good as expected. Which tool or document shows which elements are impacting the key metrics?

• Pareto Chart

• Run Chart

• Project Charter

• Histogram

Answer explanation

A Pareto Chart indicates the frequency of defects, as well as their cumulative impact and can be useful to find the defects to prioritize in order to achieve the greatest overall improvement.

Question

A project team has not been performing user acceptance tests on a deliverable because the product has been working as expected in other projects. However, after implementation, the product is not operational.

What should the project manager do to identify the source of the problem?

• 2. Review the quality metrics document.

• 2. Develop a scatter diagram.

• 1. Conduct a root cause analysis.

• Perform an audit.

Answer explanation

Root cause analysis is an analytical technique used to determine the basic underlying reason that causes a variance, defect, or risk. So conduct root cause analysis is the right choice

Quality metrics document is a description of a project or product attribute and how to measure it, and is not used to identify the source of the quality problem.

A scatter diagram is a graph that shows the relationship between two variables and is used for decision making, not identifying the source of the quality problem.

An audit is the process to determine if the project activities comply with the specific procedure, which doesn't help to identify the quality problem in this case.

Question

A project manager is newly assigned to an ongoing project and determines that the quality has been consistent. There is a considerable budget for quality assurance, and other areas of the project could benefit from these funds.

What should the project manager do?

2. B.Perform a full inspection since there is no margin for error.

3. C.Introduce sampling as a cost-effective way to ensure quality.

4. D.Keep the budget intact for now and continue monitoring.

• 1. Implement a budget reduction strategy to reallocate funds.

• Perform a full inspection since there is no margin for error.

• Introduce sampling as a cost-effective way to ensure quality.

• Keep the budget intact for now and continue monitoring.

Answer explanation

The project manager is new to the project, so it is crucial that they take time to familiarize themselves with the existing quality assurance process and the project's specific quality needs and challenges. Project quality has been consistent, and reducing the budget at this time could jeopardize the overall quality of the project. Quality assurance efforts focus on finding quality issues as soon as possible because discovering quality issues late in development would have substantial implications and could result in project failure.
The other options are incorrect.
Reducing or reallocating the existing quality assurance budget is premature and could lead to quality issues.
A full inspection is time-consuming, expensive, and unnecessary if the project manager has no reason to believe there is a problem with the quality of the project. 
Sampling is inconsistent and introducing it without a thorough evaluation and planning could be risky. 

A company that manufactures standard equipment for municipalities needs to ensure consistency in tasks performed regularly during product assembly. What should the project manager develop to achieve this?

• 1. Estimate Activity Resources process.

• Design for X (DfX) guidelines.

• 1. Quality checklists.

• Subject matter expert (SME) interviews.

Answer explanation

By developing quality checklists, the project manager can ensure that tasks are performed correctly and consistently. This will help to ensure the quality of the products and the satisfaction of the customers.

The other answer choices are incorrect. The Estimate Activity Resources process is a process used to estimate the resources needed for a project; it is not specifically designed to ensure consistency in tasks. The Design for X (DfX) guidelines are guidelines used to design products that are safe, reliable, and easy to use; they are not specifically designed to ensure consistency in tasks. Subject matter expert (SME) interviews are interviews with experts in a particular field; they are not specifically designed to ensure consistency in tasks.

A project has been closed and customer care needs to measure customer satisfaction with the deliverables.

What should be done next?

• 1. A.Negotiate additional contract with customer for similar service.

• 1. Schedule meeting with stakeholders and customer to discuss lessons learned.

• 1. Evaluate project deliverables and review customer feedback documents.

• Audit project success by reviewing closing documentation for each project phase.

Answer explanation

Evaluate- Closure meetings are used to confirm deliverables have been accepted, validate if acceptance criteria have been met, formalize contract completion, evaluate stakeholders satisfaction, gather lessons learned, transfer project knowledge and information, and celebrate success. Customer satisfaction can be derived by referring customer feedback documents

Negotiate- Not initiated by the customer. No need to negotiate additional contract with customer

Schedule- Previously performed at project closure. As part of Project closure meeting, lessons learned can be covered

Audit- No relevance to the question, part of gate review process

A manufacturing company receives customer complaints that a product is defective. A project sponsor has said that these complaints might be outliers.

What should the project manager use to investigate the cause and quantity of defects in this product?

• 1. Flowcharts

• Affinity diagram

• Control chart

• Histogram

Answer explanation

Histogram is correct because it can show the number of defects per deliverable, a ranking of the cause of defects, the number of times each process is noncompliant, or other representations of project or product defects.

Flowchart is not correct because it show a series of steps that lead to a defect.

Affinity diagram is not correct because it can organize potential causes of defects into groups showing areas that should be focused on the most.

Control chart is not correct because it is used to determine whether or not a process is stable or has predictable performance

A project manager is creating a software project's quality management plan. While reviewing lessons learned from past, similar projects, the project manager discovers that rework due to quality issues resulted in cost overruns.

What should the project manager do to ensure that quality is addressed throughout the software development life cycle?

• 1. Conduct recurring retrospectives to regularly check on the effectiveness of quality processes.

• 1. Assign a resource to focus solely on the project’s quality.

• 1. Ensure that quality is tied to performance reviews.

• Identify new quality policies and procedures for the project.

Answer explanation

The PM has identified that quality may be a risk in this project, based on lessons learned from past projects. In developing the quality management plan, the PM should ensure that quality checks are done regularly so that the risk is avoided. The responsibility of managing quality would typically require several skill sets that one person may not have. The team should be involved in quality management. Tying quality to performance reviews will not avoid the same quality issues that have happened in the past. The quality management plan should incorporate the organizations quality policies and procedures.

A project manager is reviewing work performance data in preparation for the Close Project process. The data reveals that one of the deliverables was not accepted. The estimated work required to complete acceptance of the deliverable will delay the project completion date by two months.

What should the project manager do next?

• 1. A.Allocate the contingency reserve to procure resources needed for completion.

• 1. Update the schedule and perform the work.

• 1. Issue a change request for review by the change control board (CCB).

• Update the watch list in the risk register

Answer explanation

Since one of the completed deliverables was not formally accepted, it may require a change request for defect repair. The change requests are processed for review and disposition through the Perform Integrated Change Control process. During the "Close Project Process" the Project Manager has to go to the Change Control Board (CCB) to follow the Project Management Norms.

The other answer choices are incorrect because they are activities to be performed after the "approval" obtained from the CCB.