PMI PMI-SP Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

PMI PMI-SP Online Questions & Answers

• Question 251:

  You are the project manager of the NDF project. You need to determine how often a complete project report can be made, including forecasted project completion information for your project. How often should the report be created?

  A. Weekly
  B. One per status milestone reached
  C. Regularly or on an exception basis
  D. Exception-by-exception basis
  C. Regularly or on an exception basis

  ---

  Performance reports should be created regularly or on an exception basis. A performance report tracks the performance of the program/project team members. A template can be created that tracks performance, such as work results,

  schedule, costs, and other factors. The performance report must include both the positive and negative performance for the staff. Answer option A is incorrect. Weekly may be appropriate for many projects, but it does not include the

  opportunity to create a report by exception. Answer option D is incorrect. Regular reporting is also needed or at least, an option for the project manager.

  Answer option B is incorrect. This is not a valid answer as milestones will vary per project and does not offer an opportunity for exceptions reporting.

• Question 252:

  You work as a project manager for BlueWell Inc. By referring to the figure given below, you along with your project team is calculating the latest completion of an activity.

  

  What is the latest your project team can complete Activity I?

  A. Day 29
  B. Day 26
  C. Day 25
  D. Day 30
  D. Day 30

  ---

  Activity I can actually take all the way to Day 30 to complete. Note in the figure that Activity I does not need to be completed before Activity K can begin. This allows Activity I to take until Day 30 to complete as its late finish.

  Answer option C is incorrect. This is the earliest Activity I may finish. Answer options B and A are incorrect.

  These are not the valid calculation.

• Question 253:

  John works as a project manager for BlueWell Inc. His project has a budget of $795,000 and he has spent $325,000 on the project. But, he has completed only 40 percent of the project work till now. Management wants to know what the project's cost performance index is. What value will John report?

  A. 0.76
  B. 0.85
  C. 0.80
  D. 0.92
  D. 0.92

  ---

  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 instance, it's EV = 0.40 * 750,000 = 300,000 CPI = EV/AC = 300,000/325,000 = 0.92

• Question 254:

  You are the project manager of the MQQ project. Unfortunately, this project is not performing well and you must do something to address the problems in your project. Based on your planning for monitoring and controlling project performance, you know that there are three outputs of performance reporting. Which one of the following is the only output that is most appropriate for this poorly performing project?

  A. Organizational process assets update
  B. Performance reports
  C. Performance re-baselining
  D. Change requests
  D. Change requests

  ---

  Change requests are an output of performance report, and allow the project manager to address corrective actions and preventive actions to help the project get back in alignment with performance baselines. Answer option B is incorrect.

  While performance reports are an output of the performance reporting, these reports do not specifically address the problems in the project. Answer option A is incorrect. Updating the organizational process assets is an important activity, but

  it does not address the poor performance directly.

  Answer option C is incorrect. Performance re-baselining is not an output of performance reporting so this choice is not valid.

• Question 255:

  You work as a stakeholder for ABC Inc. You are on an important feature of a project that appears too difficult to execute. Issues like acceptable type of bugs and number of bugs for user acceptance seem to have affected the project. What is the rate of risk factor in such a situation?

  A. Risk factors are rated high.
  B. Risk factors are rated low.
  C. Risk factors are rated medium-high.
  D. Risk factors are rated medium.
  A. Risk factors are rated high.

  ---

  This happens when most of the stakeholders are concerned about risks. Risk factors are determined for the scope of the project, requirements, design and strategy, technology, processes (for development, payment, change management,

  risk management, and closing the project), and conditions of the project. Risk factors are high when most of the stakeholders have concerns. Even if one important feature of a project appears too difficult to execute, the risk is high. Issues like

  acceptable type of bugs and number of bugs for user acceptance, terms for closing the project, payments not being clear or misunderstood, make the project highly risky.

  Answer option B is incorrect. Risks are low when issues like the format of the forms are not finalized but the functionality is thoroughly understood and solutions are approved. Answer option D is incorrect. Risks are rated medium when a very

  small number of stakeholders have a few concerns. For example, the development team may not have very advanced knowledge of the technology but could provide some work around. Another could be that the customer's people cannot

  finalize a few unimportant workflows.

  Answer option C is incorrect. It is an invalid answer.

• Question 256:

  Vicky is the project sponsor of Robert's project. She has requested several changes for the project scope and these changes have, of course, been approved. Robert needs to incorporate the project scope changes into the activity list. Where else should Robert reflect these project changes?

  A. Project final report
  B. Scope baseline
  C. Quality control mechanism
  D. Cost baseline
  B. Scope baseline

  ---

  All scope changes should also be updated in the project scope baseline. The scope baseline is the project scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and the WBS dictionary. Answer option D is incorrect. If the changes affect cost then the cost baseline would also be updated. The question did not indicate that therbe would a change in the project cost. Answer option C is incorrect. Quality control does not change. It always reflects the demands of the project scope. Answer option A is incorrect. The project final report evaluates the success and failures of the project scope.

• Question 257:

  You are the project manager of the OOI Project and you're forty percent complete with this project. The project has a BAC of $2,345,650 and you have spent $950,000 to date. Based on your aggressive scheduling you should be at the 45 percent milestone today, but due to some early delays you're running late. What is the planned value of your project?

  A. $950,000
  B. $2,375,000
  C. $1,055,543
  D. $938,260
  C. $1,055,543

  ---

  The planned value is forty-five percent of the project's BAC, or $1,055,543. Planned value (PV) is the authorized budget assigned to the schedule work to be accomplished for a schedule activity or work breakdown structure component. It

  serves as a baseline against which actual performance is measured. The theory of planned value is of vital importance to the project management team and it is important to keep careful track of this. The term planned value can also be in

  some situations referred to by the project management team and the project management team leader as the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS).

  Answer option D is incorrect. $938,260 is the project's earned value. Answer option A is incorrect. $950,000 is the project's actual costs. Answer option B is incorrect. $2,375,000 is the project's estimate at completion.

• Question 258:

  Winnie is the project manager for her company. She has been recording the actual durations of the project work to determine the actual progress of her project. Winnie needs to generate an updated project schedule based on project performance. She is using the supporting schedule data, manual scheduling methods, and her project management software to perform schedule network analysis. What other tool Winnie can use to help and generate an updated project schedule?

  A. Critical path method
  B. Schedule management plan
  C. Scheduling tool
  D. Critical chain method
  C. Scheduling tool

  ---

  The scheduling tool is the only other tool that can help Winnie to create an updated project schedule. The scheduling tool is used in combination with manual methods or further project management software to carry out the schedule network analysis to produce an updated project schedule. Answer option A is incorrect. The critical path method can be analyzed, but it is a part of the project management information system. In addition, the critical path is not better or worse than the critical chain method so by having both answers among the choices both answers are cancelled. Answer option D is incorrect. The critical chain method can be analyzed, but it is the part of the project management information system. In addition, the critical path is not better or worse than the critical path method so by having both answers among the choices both answers are cancelled. Answer option B is incorrect. The schedule management plan may need to be referenced to create a new project schedule, but it is not a tool that Winnie can use.

• Question 259:

  You are the project manager for your organization. Management has offered you a bonus if you can complete the project work two months earlier than what your schedule predicts. You can use a schedule compression technique, but management does not want to increase costs in the project. What approach would you recommend to condense the project duration?

  A. Fast tracking
  B. Crashing
  C. Effort-driven activity analysis
  D. Rewards and recognition for the project team
  A. Fast tracking

  ---

  Of all the choices, only fast tracking is an option that would not increase project costs. Fast tracking allows phases of the project to overlap, but it does increase project risks. Fast tracking is a technique for compressing project schedule. In fast tracking, phases are overlapped that would normally be done in sequence. It is shortening the project schedule without reducing the project scope. Answer option B is incorrect. Crashing adds labor to the project and increases project costs. Answer option C is incorrect. Effort-driven activity analysis examines activities whose duration may be reduced by adding labor. This approach, however, increases project costs, as it is a form of project crashing. Answer option D is incorrect. Rewards and recognitions are good incentives for the project team, but simply offering the reward does not decrease the duration of the project.

• Question 260:

  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
  A. Constraint
  D. Resource leveling heuristic

  ---

  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.