PMI PMI Certifications PMI-SP Questions & Answers

• Question 251:

  You work as a project manager for BlueWell Inc. Some of the activities in your project are not being completed on time. You review these activities with your project team discovered that the time estimates for the project are much more aggressive than what they are actually experiencing in the completion of the activities. You decide on to create a new schedule for the project. What project management process are you working with when you create a new target schedule?

  A. Estimate activity durations

  B. Estimate activity resources

  C. Control schedule

  D. Develop schedule

  Correct Answer: C

  In severe cases, new schedule duration estimates with new forecasted start and finish dates are needed. In these instances, it is an example of using the control schedule process. Control schedule process is a method of monitoring the

  status of the project to update project progress and deal with the changes to the schedule baseline. It is concerned with: Determining the current status of the project Influencing the factors that create schedule changes Determining that the

  project schedule has changed Managing the actual changes as they occur Control schedule is a component of the Perform Integration Change Control process.

  Answer option B is incorrect. The activity resources would only address the addition or replacement of resources needed to complete the project work.

  Answer option A is incorrect. This is a tempting choice, but according to the PMBOK, new schedules are part of the control schedule process.

  Answer option D is incorrect. Develop schedule is not the best choice for this question. It is a process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule.

• Question 252:

  Harry works as the project manager for his organization. He is creating the activity list and would like to tag those activities that are comprised of apportioned effort. Which of the following is the best example of apportioned effort?

  A. Adding features to the project's product that is not included in the project scope.

  B. Managing the day-to-day events of a project.

  C. Creating software as defined in the project scope.

  D. Completing project activities as start-to-start events.

  Correct Answer: B

  Apportioned effort is effort applied that you cannot subdivide into work packages, but it is related to, usually in a supportive role, to the completion of the project work packages. The project management overhead, such managing the project

  work, is an example of apportioned effort. Apportioned effort (AE) is the effort that is applied to the project-related work that cannot be easily and readily divided into discrete efforts for those tasks, but which is associated in a direct proportion

  to the discrete work efforts that are capable of being measured. The presence of apportioned effort relies particularly on the performance of further efforts.

  Answer option C is incorrect. This is an example of discrete effort. Answer option A is incorrect. This is an example of a scope change that has not been approved. Answer option D is incorrect. This is an example of a scheduling technique.

• Question 253:

  You are the project manager for your company. You are working with the management regarding the exact end date of your project. Management needs to know what day of the week your project will complete. Assuming that your project will not require any work to be completed over the upcoming weekends and that the remaining project work will commence on a Tuesday, what day of the week will the project end if there are 67 days of project work left to complete?

  A. Wednesday

  B. Thursday

  C. Monday

  D. Tuesday

  Correct Answer: A

  The project will end on a Wednesday. If the project work commences on a Tuesday, there will be four days to complete in that week. That will bring the project work down to 63 days of remaining work. Each work week counts as five days of work. 63 divided by 5 is 12 work weeks with three days remaining. The 63rd remaining day will complete on a Wednesday. Answer options C, D, and B are incorrect. These are not the valid answers.

• Question 254:

  Which organizational theory explains the factors that promote performance of people in any organization?

  A. Herzberg's theory

  B. Maslow's Hierarchy theory

  C. McGregor's theory

  D. Expectancy theory

  Correct Answer: A

  Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, also known as Two Factor Theory, was developed by Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist who found that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction acted independently of each other. Two Factor Theory states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. Two Factor Theory distinguishes between the following: Motivators (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive satisfaction, arising from intrinsic conditions of the job itself, such as recognition, achievement, or personal growth. Hygiene factors (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) which do not give positive satisfaction, although dissatisfaction results from their absence. These are extrinsic to the work itself, and include aspects, such as company policies, supervisory practices, or wages/salary. Essentially, hygiene factors are needed to ensure an employee is not dissatisfied. Motivation factors are needed in order to motivate an employee to higher performance, Herzberg also further classified our actions and how and why we do them, for example, if you perform a work-related action because you have to, then that is classed as movement, but if you perform a work-related action because you want to, then that is classed as motivation. Answer option C is incorrect. McGregor's X and Y theory describes the team members and their behavior on the project and how management responds. Answer option B is incorrect. It describes the five layer of needs we all have. Answer option D is incorrect. It explains the processes that an individual undergoes to make choices.

• Question 255:

  You work as a project manager for BlueWell Inc. Your project requires the project team to paint 1,500 hotel rooms. Your project team reports that it will take them approximately 4 hours to paint each hotel room. You reason, then, that it will take 6,000 hours to paint all of the hotel rooms. What type of an estimate are you creating in this scenario?

  A. Parametric estimate

  B. Definitive estimate

  C. Analogous estimate

  D. Bottom-up estimate

  Correct Answer: A

  This is an example of a parametric estimate. This estimate type uses a parameter, such as four hours of painting per hotel room, and multiplies this value across the total number of units, such as 1,500 rooms. A parametric estimate is an

  estimate that uses a parameter to predict the costs of the project, such as cost per network drop or cost per software license. Parametric estimating technique utilizes the statistical relationship that exists between a series of historical data and

  a particular delineated list of other variables. Answer option C is incorrect. An analogous estimate type uses a similar project's duration as a basis for the current project's estimate duration.

  Answer option B is incorrect. A definitive estimate type accounts for the duration or costs of each work package in the WBS.

  Answer option D is incorrect. A bottom-up estimate, also known as a definitive estimate, accounts for the duration or costs of each work package in the WBS.

• Question 256:

  You have been assigned to a project that centers on a discipline you are only topically aware of. While you do have years of experience as a project manager, but you have never worked with the technology, as is in this project. During the define activities process, you rely on your project team and two consultants to coach you and identify the type of activities the project will include. Which tool and technique are you using in the define activities process in this scenario?

  A. Templates

  B. Rolling wave planning

  C. Decomposition

  D. Expert judgment

  Correct Answer: D

  When the project manager relies on consultants or the project team (or both), it is an example of expert judgment. 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 C is incorrect. This is not an example of decomposition. Answer option B is incorrect. This is not an example of rolling wave planning. Answer option A is incorrect. This is not an example of using a project template.

• Question 257:

  Tom is the project manager of the HQQ Project. His project has a schedule variance of -$34,500 due to some errors early in the project. Management would like to know how Tom will respond to these variances. What action can help Tom to manage the errors in the project and to ensure that the errors would not occur again?

  A. Lesson learned documentation

  B. Risk analysis

  C. Preventive action

  D. Corrective action

  Correct Answer: D

  A corrective action is a change implemented to address a weakness identified in a management system. Normally corrective actions are implemented in response to a customer complaint, abnormal levels of internal nonconformity, nonconformities identified during an internal audit or adverse or unstable trends in product and process monitoring such as would be identified by SP C. It is method of identifying and eliminating the causes of a problem, thus preventing their reappearance. Examples of a corrective action are : Improvements to maintenance schedules Improvements to material handling or storage Answer option A is incorrect. Lessons learned is a documentation of the errors and how they were resolved, not a method to prevent the errors from occurring again. Answer option C is incorrect. Preventive action addresses any action or act in which the project management team and the team leader provide documented direction to carry out an activity that is meant to decrease the possibility of negative consequences related to project risk. Answer option B is incorrect. Risk analysis examines the risk events, its probability, and its impact on the project.

• Question 258:

  You work as a Project Manager for Dreams Unlimited Inc. You are looking for performance efficiencies of a project. The related key values are provided in the table below:

  MeasurementsValues BCWP (or EV)325 BCWS (or PV) 300 ACWP (or AC)410

  What will be the cost performance index (CPI) of the project at the current point of time?

  A. 0.923

  B. 1.083

  C. 1.261

  D. 0.792

  Correct Answer: D

  According to the question, you are required to calculate the cost performance index (CPI) of the project. 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. Now, putting the provided values in the formula: CPI = EV / AC = 325 / 410 = 0.792 As the CPI 0.792 is lesser than 1, it shows that the schedule performance is below expectation. What is BCWP (or EV)? Budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) or Earned Value (EV) is the value of completed work. It is the budgeted amount for the work actually completed on the schedule activity during a given time period. What is BCWS (or PV)? Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) or Planned Value (PV) is the authorized budget assigned to the scheduled work to be accomplished for a schedule activity or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) component. What is ACWP (or AC)? Actual cost of work performed (ACWP) or Actual Cost (AC) is the total costs actually incurred and recorded in accomplishing work performed during a given time period for a schedule activity. It is the cost of the work to date, including direct and indirect costs. AC is money that has actually been expended to date.

• Question 259:

  Harry works as a project manager for the NHQ project. His project has a budget of $2,208,456 and is scheduled to last for three years. His project is currently forty percent complete though it should be forty- five percent complete. In order to reach this point of the project, he has spent $725,000. Management needs a performance report regarding the NHQ project. Management is concerned that this project will be over budget upon completion. What is the estimate at completion for this project that Harry will need to report to management?

  A. $1,312,504

  B. $787,504

  C. $1,812,498

  D. $725,000

  Correct Answer: C

  The estimate at completion can be calculated by dividing the budget at completion by the cost performance index. Here, CPI =EV/AC = (0.40*2,208,456)/725000 = 1.21846 EAC = BAC/CPI = 2,208,456/1.21846 = 1,812,498 What is Estimate at Completion (EAC)? Estimate at Completion (EAC) is a field that displays the final cost of the project including the actual costs and the forecast of remaining costs based on the cost performance index (CPI) so far. The formula used to calculate this estimate is as follows: ACWP+ (BAC-BCWP)/CPI

• Question 260:

  You are the project manager of the AHQ project. This project is scheduled to last for six months and will require $345,000 to complete. If the project completes earlier than scheduled, your organization will receive a bonus of $5,000 per day of early completion. Management has asked you to develop an aggressive schedule to realize as much of the bonus as possible, but management does not want you to increase the costs of the project beyond $1,000 per day of the bonus realization. Which of the following approaches will likely add costs to the project?

  A. Adding leads to the project work

  B. Fast tracking

  C. Crashing

  D. Using the critical chain method

  Correct Answer: C

  Crashing adds labor to the project. This approach adds costs to the project because you will have to pay for the added labor.

  Answer option B is incorrect. Fast tracking allows entire phases to overlap in the project. This approach adds risks to the project.

  Answer option D is incorrect. The critical chain method considers the availability of project resources. Answer option A is incorrect. Adding lead time to activities allows activities to overlap and does not add project costs.