PMI PMI Certifications PMI-SP Questions & Answers

• Question 231:

  Fred is the project manager of the NHA project. This project has a BAC of $2,456,900 and is sixty percent complete. Fred has crashed the project, which has driven the project costs to date to $1,525,140, but his project is five percent more complete than what was planned. What is the schedule variance for this project that Fred needs to report to the management?

  A. $176,675

  B. $122,845

  C. -$85,000

  D. -$51,000

  Correct Answer: B

  There is positive variance of $122,845 on Fred's project. Variances can be either positive or negative. Schedule variance (SV) is a measure of schedule performance on a project. The variance notifies that the schedule is ahead or behind what was planned for this period in time. The schedule variance is calculated based on the following formula: SV = Earned Value (EV) - Planned Value (PV) If the resulting schedule is negative, it indicates that the project is behind schedule. A value greater than 0 shows that the project is ahead of the planned schedule. A value of 0 indicates that the project is right on target. Answer option C is incorrect. This is the project's variance at completion. Answer option D is incorrect. This is the cost variance for the project. Answer option A is incorrect. This is not a valid answer for the project.

• Question 232:

  You have a project to install 45,900 emergency exit signs throughout a university campus. You have a crew of 45 project team members to install the signs and they are making good progress on the installation but it looks like they'll miss the promised end date. Your project requires all of the signs to be installed one week before classes are scheduled to begin. You elect to crash the project in an effort to shorten the installation duration activity. What does it mean to crash the project?

  A. Increase the working hours.

  B. Level the project schedule.

  C. Add more workers.

  D. Reduce the project scope.

  Correct Answer: C

  Crashing adds more workers to the project team. Crashing allows the project to complete faster because there are more people helping with the project work.

  Answer option D is incorrect. Reducing the project scope is called descoping or project scope changes. Answer option A is incorrect. Crashing does not consider the working hours. Answer option B is incorrect. Resource leveling actually

  increases the project duration.

• Question 233:

  Gary is the project manager for his organization. At each weekly status meeting with his project team, Gary collects information on the work that has been completed and reviews the work that is remaining in the project. Alice, one of Gary's project team members, consistently reports that she's late on her project work. After the meeting, Gary and Alice discuss why the work is late as it is causing other delays in the project. What is the review of the late work commonly called?

  A. Variance analysis

  B. Leadership

  C. Quality control

  D. Discipline

  Correct Answer: A

  Variance analysis is the study to determine why a variance in the project exists. Alice's late work may be for a number of reasons so Gary needs to determine why in order to address the problem. Variance analysis is a process that examines

  the dissimilarities between the planned and the actual budget or schedule in order to discover unacceptable risks to the budget, schedule, quality, or scope of the project. It is a method for resolving the total variance in the set of scope,

  schedule, and cost variables into particular component variances that are associated with defined factors affecting the cost, scope and schedule variables.

  Answer option D is incorrect. Discipline is not the best answer as Gary, at this point, is simply reviewing the situation to determine why the variance exists. Answer option C is incorrect. Quality control is the inspection of the work results to

  prove the existence of quality and to prevent mistakes from reaching the customer. Answer option B is incorrect. This may be a type of leadership, but it is not the best answer for the question.

• Question 234:

  Mary is the project manager for her company. She's working with the project team to compress the project schedule as the project must be completed by December 30. For some of the project activities, she and the project team have agreed to crash the project work. What must be true of these project activities for crashing to be acceptable?

  A. The activities must be of fixed duration.

  B. The activities must be effort-drive.

  C. The activities must not be susceptible to the Law of Diminishing Returns.

  D. The activities must be risk-free.

  Correct Answer: B

  Crashing is the addition of project resources to complete effort-driven activities in faster time. By adding more labor the activity can be completed faster. Crashing is a schedule compression technique to obtain the greatest amount of compression for the least incremental cost. Crashing works for activities where additional resources will shorten the duration. Approving overtime, bringing in additional resources, paying to expedite delivery to activities on the critical path are examples of crashing. Answer option A is incorrect. An activity of fixed duration, such as printing 100,000 brochures in a printing press, won't be completed faster by adding more effort. Answer option D is incorrect. Activities need not be risk-free to use project crashing. Answer option C is incorrect. All effort-driven activities are susceptible to the Law of Diminishing Returns. By adding more labor the value of the yield of the work decreases because of the cost of the labor added to the project work.

• Question 235:

  You are the project manager of the GHE Project. You have identified the following risks with the characteristics as shown in the following figure: How much capital should the project set aside for the risk contingency reserve?

  A. $142,000

  B. $232,000

  C. $41,750

  D. $23,750

  Correct Answer: D

  Contingency reserves are estimated costs to be used at the discretion of the project manager to deal with anticipated, but not certain, events. These events are "known unknowns" and are part of the project scope and cost baselines. The contingency reserve is calculated by multiplying the probability and the impact for the risk event value for each risk event. The sum of the risk events equals the contingency reserve for the project. Note that Risk D is a positive risk amount. Answer option C is incorrect. This value is the sum of the risk events if you did not include Risk D as a positive risk value. Answer option A is incorrect. This is a sum of the risk event. Answer option B is incorrect. This is a sum of the risk events without including Risk D as a positive risk event.

• Question 236:

  Amy is working on a project which is forty percent complete though it was scheduled to be fifty percent complete as of today. Management has asked Amy to report on the schedule variance for her project. If Amy's project has a BAC of $750,000 and she has spent $485,000 to date, what is the schedule variance value?

  A. -$75,000

  B. -$42,000

  C. -$45,000

  D. -$65,000

  Correct Answer: A

  The schedule variance is found by subtracting the planned value from the earned value. The earned value is the percentage of the project completeness multiplied by the BAC. Planned value is the percetage of where the project should be at this time multiplied by the BAC. Schedule variance (SV) is a measure of schedule performance on a project. The variance notifies that the schedule is ahead or behind what was planned for this period in time. The schedule variance is calculated based on the following formula: SV = Earned Value (EV) - Planned Value (PV) If the resulting schedule is negative, it indicates that the project is behind schedule. A value greater than 0 shows that the project is ahead of the planned schedule. A value of 0 indicates that the project is right on target. In this example, EV = 40% of BAC = 300,000, and PV = 50% of BAC = 375,000 SV = 300,000 - 375,000 = -75,000 Answer options C, B, and D are incorrect. These are not the correct values for the schedule variance.

• Question 237:

  You are the project manager of a project that has a budget of $675,000 and you have completed 40 percent of the project work. Your project is supposed to be 60 percent complete but you are actually only 40 percent complete. Due to some errors, however, you have actually spent $335,000 of the budget. Management wants to know what the project's cost performance index (CPI) is. What value do you report?

  A. -$135,000

  B. .67

  C. .81

  D. -$65,000

  Correct Answer: C

  Cost performance index (CPI) is used to calculate performance efficiencies. It is used in trend analysis to predict future performance. CPI is the ratio of earned value to actual cost. The CPI is calculated based on the following formula: CPI = Earned Value (EV) / Actual Cost (AC) If the CPI value is greater than 1, it indicates better than expected performance, whereas if the value is less than 1, it shows poor performance. The CPI value of 1 indicates that the project is right on target. In this instances it is $270,000 divided by $335,000 for a CPI of .81. Answer option B is incorrect. .67 is actually the schedule performance index. Answer option D is incorrect. -$65,000 is the cost variance for the project. Answer option A is incorrect. -$135,000 is the schedule variance of the project.

• Question 238:

  Holly is the project manager for her organization. In her project, she has worked with the project team to define when the project team will be utilized in the project, the duration of the project activities, and the sequence in which the project work must be completed. During several phases of her project, the project team will need to work more than fifty hours per week. The project team members have agreed this is necessary and they're willing to do the work to complete the project. Management, however, has not approved Holly's schedule based on the overtime the scheduling will require. They have set a limit on the project schedule of 45 hours per week. What is this limit technically called? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose all that apply.

  A. Constraint

  B. Assumption

  C. Execution variance analysis

  D. Resource leveling heuristic

  Correct Answer: AD

  Resource leveling is a rule of limiting the total number of hours a project team may work during a given time period in the project. If management restricts the project work to 45 per week, as in this example, Holly's schedule will likely increase

  because the project team can't complete as much work in one given time period. While this may be seen as a constraint, because it limits Holly's options, it's technically called a resource leveling heuristic.

  Answer option B is incorrect. It is an assumption that's believed to be true, but it hasn't been proven to be true.

  Answer option C is incorrect. Execution variance analysis describes the difference between what was planned and what was executed. A better term for this experience would simply be a scope variance, scope change, or defect.

• Question 239:

  You are the project manager of the NHQ project. This project deals with a new technology that your company has never used before. You have petitioned the management to hire a consultant to help you and the project team to create the WBS, the activity list, and complete the duration estimates. The management is concerned about the costs of the consultant, but agrees to your request because of the nature of this new work. The consultant can best be described as what type of resource for this project?

  A. Direct expense

  B. External requirement

  C. Temporary resource

  D. Expert judgment

  Correct Answer: D

  The consultant is an example of expert judgment, as he is helping you and the project team to create the project elements. Expert judgment is a technique based on a set of criteria that has been acquired in a specific knowledge area or product area. It is obtained when the project manager or project team requires specialized knowledge that they do not possess. Expert judgment involves people most familiar with the work of creating estimates. Preferably, the project team member who will be doing the task should complete the estimates. Expert judgment is applied when performing administrative closure activities, and experts should ensure the project or phase closure is performed to the appropriate standards. Answer option A is incorrect. The consultant may be considered a direct expense because the fees can only be assigned to your project work, but this is not the best choice for the question. Answer option B is incorrect. An external requirement is not a valid choice for this question. Answer option C is incorrect. A temporary resource is not a valid project management term.

• Question 240:

  Samuel works as a project manager in Bluewell Inc. He is performing constructability analysis in one of the initial planning phases. Which of these does constructability take into account during analysis? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose three.

  A. Quality inspections and compliance

  B. Location, logistics, and resource availability analysis

  C. Labor productivity studies from previous similar projects in the area

  D. The average price of general labor in the area

  Correct Answer: BCD

  Constructability analysis takes into account the location, logistics, resource availability analysis, the average price of general labor in the area, and labor productivity studies from previous similar projects in the area. Constructability analysis is a process that starts in the initial planning phases and persists all over the entire planning cycle and into the implementation phase of the project. Constructability analysis during the planning process examines the methods and cost of installed equipment and materials, technology, site conditions, resources, and related infrastructure. The benefit of constructability analysis is to reduce both the time and cost of a project. Constructability analysis is repeatedly performed throughout the life-cycle of a project in order to optimize cost, plan, and schedule while mitigating risk. It is a very important process that needs to be performed early in planning to allow alternatives to be considered and integrated into the design. Answer option A is incorrect. This comes under the quality assurance phase.