The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try [6th ed.] 9780990907473

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Integration Management

20. Alex has received an inquiry from a functional manager about how the team is performing. In reality, the team's productivity has been lagging for the past two.- months, but Alex is confident that this problem can be resolved. Which process would most likely produce the information the functional manager has requested? A . Direct and Manage Project Work. B.

Monitor and Control Project Work.

C.

Report Performance.

Chapter Notes:

D. Perform Integrated Change Control.

21. Your organization has a policy that any project changes that increase the project's budget by more than 1.50/0 must be signed off by the project office. You have a change that was requested by the customer that will increase the budget by 30/0; however, the customer has offered to pay for all of this change and does not want to slow it down. Which option represents the BEST choice? A.

Approve the change yourself.

B. Ask the customer to take the change to the project office and explain the situation. C. Do not allow the change since it increases the budget by over

1.5%. D . Take the change to the project office.

22. The person or group responsible for evaluating change on a project is: A . The change control board. B. The sponsor.

C. The project team. D. The program manager.

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Chapter Fcour

23. The output of the Direct and Manage Project Work process is:

Chapter Notes:

A.

The work packages.

B.

The project management information system.

C.

The deliverables.

D . The work breakdown structure.

24. Two projects are being considered by the project office: Project Clarity, and Project New Scale. The Chief Project Officer is planning to evaluate the projected Return On Investment Capital for both projects. In order to do that, what information would be most helpful? A.

The total projected capital investment and net income.

B.

The total projected benefit and cost.

C.

The total projected capital expenditures and cost of capital.

D. The total projected return on investment, the cost of capital, and the current interest rate.

25. Which component of the project management plan is created in Develop Project Management Plan?

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A.

Change Management Plan.

B.

Requirements Management Plan.

C.

Process Improvement Plan.

D.

Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

Integration Management

INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT

ANSWERS 1.

C. The project plan is a single, approved plan that drives execution,

Chapter Notes:

monitoring and control, and closure. Note that the definition in answer

'e' was not perfect, but it was the best choice . 'A' is incorrect since it is only a part of planning . 'B' is incorrect because that will not make up the entire project plan. 'D' is incorrect since scope mayor may not be a part of the project plan, but it does not make up all of it. 2.

B. The project management plan is created in Develop Project Management Plan . It, along with other plans, is up~ated in the other processes listed.

3.

B. The project management plan would contain the methods for processing change requests to the project.

4.

D. The business case is one of the business documents that is an input to the process of Develop Project Charter, where the charter is created, making this the best choice . The business case provides the reasons why the project needed to be initiated. 'A' is not a very good choice here because the charter, which is being created here, represents managerial approval, so that would not be needed to complete this task. Rather, that would be an outcome of this task. Both 'B' and 'C' are not good choices, because the scope statement is an output that is created later.

5.

B. Questions like this will be on the exam, and in order to answer them, you have to understand the rough order in which the del iverables are produced and processes are conducted. In this case, the typical order among the items listed is the business case, contract, project charter, and project management plan . If you analyze the inputs and outputs used by the integration processes, you will gain a better understanding of this order.

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Chapter Four

6.

D. The project management information system (PMIS) is an automated system to support the project manager by optimizing the schedule and helping collect and distribute information. 'D' would not be a function of the PMIS. It is generally a manual process performed by the project manager and the team.

Chapter Notes: 7.

C. Direct and Manage Project Work is the only process in the list where defects are repaired. Approved change requests are an input, and deliverables are an output.

8.

B. This is the definition of the project management plan .

9.

C. As you think about this one, ask yourself which process group would use a tdol like change control meetings. The answer to that question is "monitoring and controlling." Now, you can immediately narrow it down to two processes represented in answers 'B' and 'C'. Keep the flow of these processes in mind. Change requests flow out of Monitor and Control Project Work and into Perform Integrated Change Control, where they are evaluated in meetings. Answer 'D' may sound great, but it is not the name of a real process.

10.

D. The project charter does not specify anything about contracts. A contract with your customer would have been an input into the Develop Project Charter process, and any contracts you may use during procurement won't be identified until later in the project. 'A' is incorrect because the project charter does specify why the project is being undertaken and often even includes a business case. 'B' is incorrect because the project charter is the place where the project manager is named.

'c' is incorrect because the project charter specifies any known

schedule milestones and a summary level budget. 11.

A. The project manager must be proactive and influence the factors that cause change. This is one of the key tenets of monitoring and controlling processes in general and Perform Integrated Change Control in particular.

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12. A. The project management plan consists of many things, but the only one from this list that matches is the outputs from the other planning processes, such as risk, cost, time, quality, etc. 'B' is incorrect because the PMIS supports the project manager in carrying out the project management plan, but it does not generate it. 13.

Chapter Notes:

B. ~id this one fool you? Approved changes that are made to the project get factored back into the baseline. Many people incorrectly choose 'A', but the purpose of the baseline is NOT to measure approved change, but to measure deviation.

14.

C. Agreements are one of four inputs used to create the project charter. 'B' might look tempting, but agreements may be on any kind of project. '0' is incorrect since you want to think of enterprise environmental factors as things within your organization that influence your project. An agreement is more binding than that.

15.

D. The work performance information is all about how the work is being performed, but it is not used in identifying defects. 'A' is incorrect because it does provide detail on what resources have been used and when . 'B' is incorrect because it provides information on which activities have been started and what their status is.

'c' is incorrect because it

provides information on what costs were authorized and what costs have been incurred. 16.

C. Prioritizing the changes is the job of the project manager. 'A' is wrong because you do not want to distract the team at this point they should be doing the work. 'B' is wrong because it is the project manager's responsibility to help prioritize competing demands. '0' is incorrect, because changes cannot automatically be denied simply because you are in execution.

17 . A. Historical information (an organizational process asset) was covered in Chapter 2 - Foundational Terms and Concepts, and it may provide an excellent justification for why your project is taking sixteen months, or perhaps it will show you how someone else accomplished the same type of work in less time. Either way, it provides a great benchmark for you to factor in to your project. 'B' is incorrect since the schedule management plan only tells how the schedule will be managed.

'c'

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Chapter Four

is incorrect because the project plan will not specifically address the program manager's concern about why the project is taking longer than he expects. 'D' is wrong because estimates should be accurate with a reserve added on top as may be appropriate.

Chapter Notes:

18.

B. Always evaluate things thoroughly before you act! You need to know if your project is going to be affected before taking action. Many people incorrectly choose '0', but fast tracking the schedule increases risk, and that would not be necessary or appropriate until you fully understood the situation.

19. C. Change control boards meet to evaluate change requests. They do this during t he process of Perform Integrated Change Control.

20.

B. Monitor and Control Project work is the correct answer, since its main function is to produce the work performance reports, and these explain how the team is performing against the plan.

'c' is not a real

process

(interestingly, it used to be, but it is has been phased out). 21 .

D. As discussed in Chapter 2 - Foundational Terms and Concepts, organizational policies must be followed. None of the other options presents an acceptable alternative. 'A' would break company policy even though it looks harmless. Choice 'B' would be asking the customer to do the project manager's job.

22.

A . The change control board is responsible for evaluating changes to the project.

23.

C. The deliverables are the key output of Direct and Manage Project Work.

24.

A. The formula for Return On Investment Capital (ROIC) is Net Income / the Total Capital Investment. This makes 'A' the best choice.

25 . A. The change management plan, the configuration management plan, and the performance measurement baseline, are among the plans created in the process of Develop Project Management Plan. 'B' and 'D' are created elsewhere and are brought into this process to be compiled into the project management plan

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Good news! Scope management is not a particularly difficult area to master, and it pays big dividends for the exam. It can be more intuitive than other areas, and there are no complex formulas to memorize and no particularly difficult theories. Instead, scope management is a logical group of processes to help you understand requirements, define, break down, and control the scope of the project, and verify that the product was completed