Project Management - Questions
Project Management - Questions
Project Management - Questions
TRUE/FALSE
1. Overrun is the additional percentage amount by which estimates exceed actual costs. - FALSE
2. The primary output of the planning cost management process is a change request. - FALSE
3. IT project managers must be able to present and discuss project information both in financial and
technical terms.- TRUE
4. Project managers must conduct cash flow analysis to determine net present value. - TRUE
5. Intangible costs can be easily measured in monetary terms. - FALSE
6. When deciding what projects to invest in or continue, one should include sunk costs.- FALSE
7. It is important for project managers to focus on indirect costs because they can be easily controlled -
FALSE
8. If an important supplier goes out of business, management reserves can be set aside to cover the
resulting costs. - FALSE
9. Contingency reserves are also known as unknown unknowns.- TRUE
10. A cost management plan can include organizational procedures links, control thresholds, and process
descriptions. - TRUE
11. A budgetary estimate is the most accurate of the three types of estimates.- FALSE
12. Budgetary estimates are made even before a project is officially started. - FALSE
13. Definitive estimates are made one year or less prior to project completion. - TRUE
17. Analogous estimates are the most accurate technique to estimate costs. - FALSE
18. In a bottom-up estimate, the size of the individual work items is one of the factors that drives the
accuracy of the estimates. - TRUE
19. Parametric models are reliable when the models are flexible in terms of the project’s size. - TRUE
20. One of the reasons why project cost estimates are inaccurate is because human beings are biased toward
underestimation. - TRUE
21. It is important for project managers to understand that every cost estimate is unique. - TRUE
22. Determining the budget involves allocating the project cost estimate to individual work items over time.
- TRUE
23. The project management plan and project funding requirements are inputs of the process of controlling
costs. - TRUE
24. The formulas for variances and indexes start with EV, the earned value. - TRUE
25. If cost variance is a positive number, it means that performing the work costs more than planned. -
FALSE
26. A negative schedule variance means that it took lesser than planned to perform the work. - FALSE
27. If the cost performance index (CPI) is less than 100 percent, the project is under budget. - FALSE
28. A schedule performance index of one means that the project is on schedule. - TRUE
29. In an earned value chart, when the actual cost line is right on or above the earned value line, it
indicates that costs are less than planned. - FALSE
Spreadsheets are a common tool for cost estimating, cost budgeting, and cost control. - TRUE
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. ___ includes the processes required to ensure that a project team completes a project within an
approved budget.
Project cost management
2. Which of the following involves developing an approximation of the costs of resources needed to
complete a project?
Estimating costs
3. __ involves allocating the overall cost estimate to individual work items to establish a baseline for
measuring performance.
Determining the budget
4. ____________________________ One of the main outputs of the process is a cost baseline.
cost budgeting
5. The process of controlling costs primarily involves:
managing changes to the project budget.
6. Work performance information and cost forecasts are main outputs of the _____process.
cost control
7. Profits may be defined as:
revenues minus expenditures.
8. __ helps develop an accurate projection of a project’s financial expenses and benefits.
Life cycle costing
9. is a method for determining the estimated annual costs and benefits for a project.
Cash flow analysis
10. Which of the following is true of tangible costs?
They can be easily measured.
11. are those costs that are difficult to measure in monetary terms.
Intangible costs
11. Newtech Inc. hires John for the position of a software programmer to work on their new project.
Salary paid to John by Newtech Inc. would be an example of costs.
direct
13. Soles is a footwear company which has recently set up its store in Ambrosia. To manufacture its
products, Soles incurs a range of different costs. Which of the following would be an example of an indirect
cost?
Electricity used to run its factories
14. Good Earth, a company manufacturing packaged food products, sets up its stores in Baltonia.
However, a year later, the company closes the store down due to high operating costs. In such a
scenario, the money spent in paying for the rent of the store in Baltonia would be an example of
costs.
sunk
16. Which of the following reserves allows for future situations that are unpredictable?
Management reserves
21. A estimate is used for making many purchasing decisions for which accurate estimates are
required and for estimating final project costs.
definitive
22. Which of the following types of estimate use the actual cost of a previous, similar project as the basis
for estimating the cost of the current project?
Analogous estimates
25. A cost estimation tool which involves estimating individual work items or activities and summing
them to get a project total is known as a(n) estimate.
bottom-up
28. Which of the following is most likely to be a reason for inaccuracies in information technology cost
estimates?
People lack estimating experience.
29. If the cost estimate for a project is a basis for contract awards and performance reporting, it should be
a(n) estimate and as accurate as possible.
definitive
30. The main goal of the process is to produce a cost baseline for measuring project performance
and project funding requirements.
cost planning
32. The budget is one of the three values of earned value management and is also known as .
planned value
33. Which of the following is true of earned value?
It is an estimate of the value of the physical work actually completed.
Variances are calculated by subtracting the actual cost from earned value
34. Cost variance is:
the earned value minus the actual cost.
35. Which of the following is true of the schedule performance index (SPI)?
a. It can be used to estimate the projected time to complete the project.
1. The quality assurance process involves taking responsibility for quality throughout the project’s life
cycle. - TRUE
2. Validated changes and validated deliverables are the outputs of the quality assurance process. -
TRUE(?)
3. The design of experiments technique cannot be applied to project management issues such as cost and
schedule trade-offs. - FALSE
Customer requirements are an important aspect of the quality planning process. - FALSE
4. Reliability is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under deviant conditions. -
FALSE
5. Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects. - TRUE
7. Products that are accepted by project stakeholders are considered to be validated deliverables. -
TRUE
8. A run chart is a bar graph that depicts data points and their order of occurrence. - FALSE
9. Using Six Sigma principles is an organization-wide commitment and all employees must embrace its
principles. - TRUE
10. The Six Sigma approach works best for a project where a quality problem is identified between the
current and desired performance.- TRUE
- FALSE
12. Testing as a stage is important only at the end of an information technology product development. -
FALSE
13. Integration testing involves testing of each individual component to ensure that it is as defect-free as
possible. - FALSE
14. In TQC, product quality is more important than production rates, and workers are allowed to stop
production whenever a quality problem occurs. - TRUE
15. DeMarco and Lister’s study on organizations and productivity found direct correlations between
productivity and programming language, years of experience, and salary. - FALSE
16. Gantt charts cannot be used to aid project quality management. - FALSE
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Conformance to requirements
3. Process improvement plan, quality metrics, and quality checklists are the outputs of the process
of project quality management.
metric
5. The____process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality
management, such as Pareto charts, quality control charts, and statistical sampling.
quality control
executing
7. Validated changes and validated deliverables are the outputs of the subprocess of project
quality management.
8.is a technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall
outcome of a process.
Design of experiments
Functionality
Features
11.____addresses how well a product or service performs the customer’s intended use.
Performance
12.______is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions.
Reliability
Maintainability
Benchmarking
15.___refers to action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or
specifications or other stakeholder expectations.
Rework
Process adjustments
17. A _____is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time.
control chart
18.____help users to identify the vital few contributors that account for most quality problems in a
system.
Pareto charts
Statistical sampling
20. Six Sigma’s target for perfection is the achievement of no more than defects, errors, or
mistake per million opportunities.
3.4
21. Projects that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally follow a five-phase
improvement process called
DMAIC
22. Important tools used in the phase of the DMAIC process include a project charter, a
description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) data.
define
23. An important tool used in the phase of the DMAIC process is the fishbone or Ishikawa
diagram.
analyze
24. A is a bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical regarding the average value of the
population (the data being analyzed).
normal distribution
25. A(n) is any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements.
defect
26. The is a measure of quality control equal to 1 fault in 1 million opportunities problems.
27. A(n) is done to test each individual component (often a program) to ensure that it is as
defect-free as possible.
unit test
28. is an independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered
system.
an organization should build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement
31. wrote Quality Is Free in 1979 and is best known for suggesting that organizations
strive for zero defects.
Crosby
b. ISO 9000
33. is the cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure that a project is
error-free or within an acceptable error range.
Appraisal cost
34. is a cost that relates to all errors not detected and not corrected before delivery to
the customer.
CMMI
36. Extrinsic motivation causes people to participate in an activity for their own enjoyment. -
FALSE
37. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that people’s behaviors are guided or motivated by a
sequence of needs. TRUE
38. Maslow suggests that each level of the hierarchy of needs is not necessarily a prerequisite for
the levels above. - FALSE
39. According to Herzberg, hygiene factors such as larger salaries, more supervision, or a more
attractive work environment would motivate workers to do more if present. - FALSE
40. People who need institutional power or social power want to organize others to further the
goals of the organization. TRUE
41. Managers who believe in Theory Y assume that workers dislike and avoid work if possible,
so managers must use coercion, threats, and various control schemes to get workers to make
adequate efforts to meet objectives. - FALSE
42. Assignment, budget, promotion, money, and penalty influence bases are automatically
available to project managers as part of their position. - FALSE
43. Thamhain and Wilemon found that when project managers used work challenge and
expertise to influence people, projects were more likely to succeed. TRUE
44. Legitimate power involves using personal knowledge and expertise to get people to change
their behavior. - FALSE
45. According to Covey, project managers must use a win/lose approach in making decisions. -
FALSE
46. A responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) is a matrix that maps the work of the project as
described in the OBS to the people responsible for performing the work as described in the WBS. -
FALSE
47. A RAM is used only to assign detailed work activities. - FALSE
48. A staffing management plan describes when and how people will be added to and taken off
the project team. TRUE
49. Resource leveling results in fewer problems for project personnel and accounting
departments. TRUE
50. In the Tuckman model, storming occurs when team members have different opinions for
how the team should operate. TRUE
51. The first dimension of psychological type in the MBTI signifies whether people draw their
energy from other people (extroverts) or from inside themselves (introverts). TRUE
52. In the Social Styles Profile team building activity, drivers are reactive and people-oriented. --
FALSE
53. The forcing mode is one in which the project manager deemphasizes or avoids areas of
differences and emphasizes areas of agreement. - FALSE
54. Project managers must try to avoid conflict at all costs as all conflict within groups is bad.
20. Microsoft Project 2010 does not lend itself to project human resource management. - FALSE
MULTIPLE CHOICE
2. Key outputs of process are project staff assignments, resource calendars, and project
4. The main outputs of the process are team performance assessments and enterprise
feedback, resolving issues and conflicts, and coordinating changes to help enhance project
performance.
6. The acquiring of the project team is a subprocess associated with the process of project
human
resource management.
a.executing
c. physiological
b. Self-actualization
10. Recognizing an employee as the “Star Performer of the Month” would be satisfying the need
of
a. esteem
11. The bottom four needs in Maslow’s structure are referred to as needs.
b. deficiency
b. growth
13. is best known for distinguishing between motivational factors and hygiene factors when
a. Frederick Herzberg
a. Recognition
15. People with a high need for seek to excel and tend to avoid both low-risk and high-risk
achievement
16. According to McClelland’s acquired-needs theory, people with a high need for desire
harmonious relationships with other people and need to feel accepted by others.
a. affiliation
17. According to McClelland’s acquired-needs theory, people who need personal want to
direct
c. power
18. The presents subjects with a series of ambiguous pictures and asks them to develop a
spontaneous story for each picture, assuming they will project their own needs into the story.
c. TAT
20. Managers who follow assume that the average worker wants to be directed and prefers to
avoid
responsibility.
b. Theory X
21. emphasizes things such as job rotation, broadening of skills, generalization versus
d. Theory Z
22. According to Thamhain and Wilemon, is the legitimate hierarchical right to issue
orders.
a. authority
23. According to Thamhain and Wilemon, is the ability to improve a worker’s position.
d. promotion
24. involves using punishment, threats, or other negative approaches to get people to do
things they
b. Coercive power
c. Reward power
26. is based on an individual’s personal charisma.
d. Referent power
d. Mirroring
28. The first step in the framework for defining and assigning work is .
29. A(n) is a column chart that shows the number of resources assigned to a project over time.
b. Resource histogram
30. refers to the amount of individual resources an existing schedule requires during
specific time
periods.
a. Resource loading
b. Resource leveling
32. In the Tuckman model, occurs as team members have different opinions as to how the
team
should operate.
d. storming
33. In the Tuckman model, occurs when the emphasis is on reaching the team goals, rather
than
a. performing
34. In the MBTI, the dimension relates to the manner in which you gather information.
d. Sensation/Intuition
36. According to Blake and Mouton, project managers who use the method use a give-and
d. compromise
37. According to Lencioni, which of the following qualities is present in organizations that
succeed?
d. Teamwork
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Planning communications
planning communications
executing
4. As a manager, you want to praise a team member, Phil, for doing a good job on a
particular project. However, you know that Phil tends to be an introvert. Which of the
following communication methods would Phil be most comfortable with?
58
increases, increases
n (n-1)/2
9. Using the formula for calculating the number of communication channels, how many
channels would two people require?
10. Using the formula for calculating the number of communication channels, how many
channels would five people require?
10
11. A team has 10 communication channels between its various members. Using the
formula number of communication channels = n (n-1)/2, where n is the number of people
in the team, the team has members.
The communications plan should be part of the overall project management plan.
voice mails
blogs
16. Which of the following communication methods would be most appropriate for
assessing the commitment of project stakeholders?
Meetings
meeting
meeting
20. address where the project stands in terms of meeting scope, time, and cost
goals.
Status reports
Status reports
22. describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period.
Progress reports
23. predict future project status and progress based on past information and
trends.
Forecasts
26. A(n) is a Web site that enables anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify
Web page
content.
wiki
27. The line for any e-mail messages you write should clearly state the intention of
the e-mail.
subject
28. Which of the following is a guideline that project managers should follow when
communicating with their teams through e-mail?
If the entire message can fit in the subject line, put it there.
29. The items discussed in a(n) include reflections on whether project goals were
met, whether the project was successful or not, the causes of variances on the project, the
reasoning behind corrective actions chosen, the use of different project management tools
and techniques, and personal words of wisdom based on team members’ experiences.
lessons-learned report
30. are a complete set of organized project records that provide an accurate
history of the project.
a. Project archives
MULTIPLE CHOICE
risk-averse
2. Those who are have a higher tolerance for risk, and their satisfaction increases
when more
payoff is at stake.
risk-seeking
Identifying risks
response plans, and evaluating the effectiveness of risk strategies throughout the life of
the project.
Controlling risk
planning
11. Performing qualitative and quantitative risk analyses are subprocesses of the
process of project risk management.
planning
12. are predefined actions that the project team will take if an identified risk
event occurs.
Contingency plans
13. Unenforceable conditions or contract clauses and adversarial relations are risk
conditions associated with the project management knowledge area.
procurement
14. is a fact-finding technique that can be used for collecting information in face-
to-face, phone, e-mail, or instant-messaging discussions.
Interviewing
uncertainties, causality, and objectives, and how they influence each other.
influence diagram
16. The lists the relative probability of a risk occurring and the relative impact of the
risk occurring.
probability/impact matrix
17. are/is a qualitative risk analysis tool that maintains an awareness of risks
throughout the life of a project in addition to identifying risks.
18. A(n) is a diagramming analysis technique used to help select the best course of
action in
decision tree
Monte Carlo
21. A is a technique used to show the effects of changing one or more variables on
an outcome.
sensitivity analysis
22. involves eliminating a specific threat, usually by eliminating its causes.
Risk avoidance
23. involves shifting the consequence of a risk and responsibility for its
management to a third party.
Risk transference
24. involves reducing the impact of a risk event by reducing the probability of its
occurrence.
Risk mitigation
25. involves doing whatever you can to make sure the positive risk happens.
Risk exploitation
Risk sharing
27. involves changing the size of the opportunity by identifying and maximizing
key drivers of the positive risk.
Risk enhancement
28. applies to positive risks when the project team cannot or chooses not to take
any actions toward a risk.
Risk acceptance
29. risks refer to those that are direct results of implementing risk responses.
Secondary
30. are unplanned responses to risk events used when project teams do not have
contingency plans in place.
Workarounds
Chapter 12: Project Procurement Management
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. “A shortage of qualified personnel is one of the main reason that companies outsource. A
project may require experts in a particular field for several months and planning for this
procurement ensures that the needed services will be available for the project.” Which of the
following benefits does this characteristic of outsourcing provide an organization?
2. Outsourcing suppliers can often provide economies of scale, especially for hardware and
software, that may not be available to the client alone. Which of the following benefits does this
offer an organization?
3. “Most organizations are not in business to provide information technology services, yet
many have spent valuable time and resources on information technology functions when they
should have instead worked on important competencies such as marketing, customer service, and
new product design. Outsourcing helps tackle this problem.” Which of the following benefits
does outsourcing primarily provide in such a scenario?
4. “Outsourcing to provide extra workers during periods of peak workloads can be much
more economical than trying to fill entire projects with internal resources.” Which of the
following advantages does this characteristic of outsourcing provide organizations?
a. conducting procurements
Controlling procurements
Closing procurements
12. The procurement statements of work are an output of the process of project procurement
management.
planning
process.
executing
14. In project procurement management, which of the following is an output of the executing
process?
Resource calendars
15. In project procurement management, an output of the monitoring and controlling process.
Change requests
b. They involve a fixed total price for a well-defined product or service. contracts.
17. contracts involve payment to the supplier for direct and indirect actual costs and
often include fees.
c. Cost-reimbursable contracts
18. In a(n) contract, the buyer pays the supplier for allowable performance costs along with a
predetermined fee and an incentive bonus.
CPIF
19. With a(n) contract, the buyer pays the supplier for allowable performance costs plus
a fixed fee payment usually based on a percentage of estimated costs.
CPFF
20. In which of the following contracts does the buyer pay the supplier for allowable
performance costs along with a predetermined percentage based on total costs?
CPPC
21. From the buyer’s perspective, the is the least desirable among all contracts because the
supplier
CPPC
CPPC
SOW
RFP
25. A document used to solicit quotes or bids from prospective suppliers is known as a(n) .
RFQ
26. After planning for procurement management, which of the following does the next
process involve?
d. Sending appropriate documentation to work potential sellers
27. In project procurement management, which of the following is one of the main outputs of
the conducting procurement process?
A selected seller
source selection