PMI PMI-SP Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

PMI PMI-SP Online Questions & Answers

• Question 51:

  John is the project manager for the ABC project. He is finalizing the budget of the project. He is concerned about the direct costs involved in the project. Which of the following can be considered a direct cost in the project?

  A. Cost of electrical utilities
  B. Salaries of management directly involved in the project
  C. Subcontract cost
  D. Accounting support cost
  C. Subcontract cost

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  Direct costs can be traced directly to a cost object such as a product. In other words, direct costs do not have to be allocated to a product, department, or other cost object. For example, if a company produces Chairs, the cost of the wood and

  the cost of the carpenter are direct costs. These costs are traceable by the production department. On the other hand, the rent of the production area, warehouse, and office is not a direct cost.

  Answer options A, D, and B are incorrect. These are examples of indirect costs.

• Question 52:

  Fill in the blank with the appropriate word. When activities are logically linked, they become the__________

  Schedule

  An activity is an individual element of work that is logically linked to other activities to form the schedule. Its primary characteristics include an overall duration based upon the resources applied to it (manpower, material, and equipment), as well as a start and completion date that is tied to a work calendar. It also has a relationship with other activities (predecessors and successors).

• Question 53:

  You are a project manager in a matrix environment and management is concerned about the utilization of the resources on your project team and when you'll release them. What project management plan will guide how and when project resources will be released from the project team?

  A. Project Human Resources Management Plan
  B. Project Staffing Management Plan
  C. Project Communications Management Plan
  D. Project Schedule Management Plan
  B. Project Staffing Management Plan

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  The Project Staffing Management Plan will define how resources are brought onto the project team, how they are managed while on the project team, and how they may be released from the project team. The staffing management plan is part of human resources plan. It is a subsidiary plan of the overall project management plan and defines when project team members will be brought onto and released from the project. It describes when and how human resource requirements will be met. Depending upon the needs of the project, it can be formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed. The staffing management plan may include the following items: Staff acquisition, resource calendars, staff release plan, training needs, recognition and rewards, compliance, and safety. Answer option C is incorrect. The communications management plan defines project communication requirements and expectations. Answer option A is incorrect. This is not a valid project management plan. Answer option D is incorrect. The project schedule management will define when resources are needed and scheduled, but not how resources are allowed to be released from the project.

• Question 54:

  You are the project manager of the NHG. The following figure represents your project network diagram.

  

  Management has asked that you add some features to the project scope. Through the change control system these changes are approved and they'll affect Activity I. The duration of Activity I, which is on the critical path, will decrease by three days. What affect does this have on the critical path?

  A. The critical path will now take 26 days.
  B. The critical path will now take 17 days.
  C. The critical path will now take 23 days.
  D. The critical path will now take 20 days.
  C. The critical path will now take 23 days.

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  The critical path is the path in the project network diagram with the longest duration. In project management, a critical path is the sequence of project network activities which add up to the longest overall duration. This determines the shortest

  time possible to complete the project. Any delay of an activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date (i.e. there is no float on the critical path). This project actually has two critical paths. Path ACGIJ takes 23

  days. Path ACGHJ also takes 23 days. When Activity I decreases by three days the critical will still take 23 days to complete as Path ACGHJ remains a critical path.

  Answer option A is incorrect. The duration of the critical path did not increase. Answer option D is incorrect. The duration of the path ACGIJ will decrease to 20 days but the critical path will remain at 23 days.

  Answer option B is incorrect. The critical path did not reduce to 17 days.

• Question 55:

  You work as a Project Manager for Tech Perfect Inc. Several projects are running under your supervision. Martha, the team leader of a project, provides you performance indexes of her project. The cost variance (CV) of her project is -20. What does this figure depict?

  A. Spending is right on target.
  B. Costs are lower than planned.
  C. The project is behind schedule.
  D. Costs are higher than planned.
  D. Costs are higher than planned.

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  According to the question, the cost variance of the project is -20, which is a negative figure. The negative CV depicts that the costs are higher than planned. What is CV? Cost variance (CV) is a measure of cost performance on a project. The variance notifies if costs are higher than budgeted or lower than budgeted. The cost variance is calculated based on the following formula: CV = Earned Value (EV) - Actual Cost (AC) A positive value means that spending is less than budgeted, whereas a negative value indicates that costs are higher than originally planned for the project. Answer option B is incorrect. This result is drawn when the CV value is positive. Answer option A is incorrect. If the CV is zero, it shows that spending is right on target. Answer option C is incorrect. This result is depicted by viewing the schedule variance (SV), not the CV. What is SV? 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.

• Question 56:

  You are the project manager of the NHQ Project. You have created the project network diagram as shown in the figure:

  

  You are concerned about a risk on Activity G that if it happens will delay the project by four days. You would like to utilize float for Activity G. How much float is available for Activity G to help offset the risk event?

  A. Five days
  B. Four days
  C. Eleven days
  D. Zero
  D. Zero

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  There is no float available for Activity G because it is on the critical path. Float or total float (TF) is the total amount of time that a schedule activity may be delayed from its early start date without delaying the project finish date, or violating a schedule constraint. It is calculated by using the critical path method technique and determining the difference between the early finish dates and late finish dates. Answer options B, A, and C are incorrect. There is no float available for Activity G because it is on the critical path.

• Question 57:

  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
  D. 0.792

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  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 58:

  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
  C. Control schedule

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  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 59:

  You are the project manager for your organization. You have created the project schedule and have presented it to the management for their approval. Management decides to enforce resource leveling heuristics on your project schedule. What will likely happen to your project now?

  A. It will require fewer resources due to the cut in the project scope.
  B. It will require additional resources for the additions to the project scope.
  C. It will require additional resources if it is to finish in the same amount of time, as originally predicted.
  D. It will require a new scope baseline to reflect the management change in the project approach.
  C. It will require additional resources if it is to finish in the same amount of time, as originally predicted.

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  Resource leveling heuristics limits the amount of time a resource is allowed to work in a given time period. This action typically increases the project duration. By adding additional resources to effort- driven activity the project can still

  complete, often, in the same schedule, otherwise the duration of the project will increase.

  Answer option B is incorrect. Resource leveling heuristics does not change the project scope. Answer option A is incorrect. This is not an instance of cutting the project scope. Answer option D is incorrect. The project scope baseline is not

  affected by resource leveling heuristics.

• Question 60:

  You are the project manager of the GHQ Project. You have to prioritize activities for the effective management of project. For this, you have created a network diagram to schedule a set of project activities as shown in the figure:

  

  Based on this figure, what is the critical path of this project?

  A. ABEHJ
  B. ACFIJ
  C. ADGJ
  D. ACFGJ
  D. ACFGJ

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  The activity nodes of path ACFGJ equals 26 days and is the longest path to completion - it is the critical path. ACFGJ= A(4)+C(8)+F(4)+G(6)+J(4)=26 What is a critical path? A critical path is the sequence of project activities, which add up to the longest overall duration. This determines the shortest time possible to complete the project. Any delay of an activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date (i.e. there is no float on the critical path). A project can have several, parallel, near critical paths. An additional parallel path through the network with the total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub-critical or noncritical path. These results allow managers to prioritize activities for the effective management of project completion, and to shorten the planned critical path of a project by pruning critical path activities, by "fast tracking" (i.e., performing more activities in parallel), and/or by "crashing the critical path" (i.e., shortening the durations of critical path activities by adding resources). Answer option A is incorrect. ABEHJ takes only 22 days to complete; it is not the critical path. ABEHJ=A(4)+B(5)+E(2)+H(7)+J(4)=22 Answer option C is incorrect. ADGJ takes only 15 days to complete; it is not the critical path. ADGJ=A(4)+D(1)+G(6)+J(4)=15 Answer option B is incorrect. ACFIJ takes only 23 days to complete; it is not the critical path. ACFIJ=A(4)+C(8)+F(4)+I(3)+J(4)=23