PM Test Center

During the planning phase of your project, you are working closely with your team to put the finishing touches on the initial work breakdown structure (WBS). As your last step, you add a unique identifier to each work package so it can be used to monitor scope, time and cost later in the project. These unique identifiers are commonly known as:

A. Milestones
B. WBS dictionary
C. Outline system
D. Code of accounts

Answer: D. Code of accounts
The code of accounts is a set of unique identifiers for each work package. They label the hierarchy to the WBS (e.g. 1, 1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.2.5) so that scope can easily be monitored and controlled, especially for performance reporting such earned value.

An output that is created from the Identify Risk process and updated throughout all subsequent risk processes is:

A. Risk register
B. Probability and impact matrix
C. SWOT analysis
D. Risk audits

Answer: A. Risk register
A risk register, or risk log, is a list of identified risks and responses. It is the only output of the Identify Risk process. The risk register also serves as an input for future risk processes and its updates are an output of the very same processes.

On a project to build a new corporate intranet, the project manager makes a request that you, her mentor, to help her collect requirements. She lays out a plan and asks you if you prefer to help her with interviewing stakeholders or creating prototypes. However, before deciding, you want to ensure that she is ready to start this step. Which of the following is the most appropriate?

A. Review the WBS to ensure that the tasks are necessary
B. Ask her if which task she needs more guidance with
C. Ensure that the schedule is realistic and can accommodate both tasks
D. Ask her if she has an approved project charter

Answer: D. Ask her if she has an approved project charter
The project charter, along with stakeholder register, is an input to the Collect Requirements process. Without the approved charter, the project does not exist and therefore, any requirements work would be premature. None of the other choices should even be considered unless the charter is signed, which gives the project the go-ahead.

You distributed your RFP to your list of qualified vendors and with only a few days before the deadline, one of them reaches out to you with some questions. However, you are extremely busy finishing up another project and your time is limited. The vendor offers to take you out to a lunch meeting to discuss their concerns on the RFP since you will have to eat at some point anyway. What is the best thing for you to do in this situation?

A. Accept since this really the best way to work them into your busy schedule
B. Accept but offer to pay for your own meal
C. Decline and propose another time for the meeting that is not during lunch
D. Ask your manager what your company policy is on outside meetings with vendors

Answer: C. Decline and propose another time for the meeting that is not during lunch
Having lunch with a potential vendor is a conflict of interest. There are no exceptions to this.

At your company’s annual corporate meeting, you discover that one initiative for the upcoming year is the development of a new project management office (PMO). Since you have been project manager for the company for the last five years, you know that the PMO can provide you with support that you have not had. Most likely, these PMO responsibilities could mean that the company’s project managers will:

A. Report to the new PMO
B. Receive consistent guidance and training across departments
C. Be forced to use templates for their project documents
D. Rely on the PMO to approve project changes

Answer: B. Receive consistent guidance and training across departments
Although it is possible that the other choices come true, the answer that will most likely be the outcome of the new PMO is every project manager in the organization getting the same type of support, leadership and training.

During a critical juncture of a project, Gary decides to bring his project team from several local offices to a single location for two weeks. That way, they can work more closely together to ensure the milestone is on-time and on-budget. This is called:

A. Pre-assignment
B. Enterprise environmental factors
C. Virtual team
D. Co-location

Answer: D. Co-location
Co-location, or tight matrix, simply means keeping the project team all in the same physical place. This could be permanent or temporary but the goal is to improve team communication.

Which of the following is not true regarding conflict in a team environment?

A. Conflict should focus on personalities, not issues
B. Conflict should focus on the present, not the past
C. Conflict is natural and forces a search for alternatives
D. Openness resolves conflict

Answer: A. Conflict should focus on personalities, not issues
Conflict should focus on issues, not personalities.

You are in the initiating phase of the project. After the project charter is created, which of the following processes would you mostly likely work on next?

A. Collect Requirements
B. Acquire Project Team
C. Plan Communications
D. Identify Stakeholders

Answer: D. Identify Stakeholders
Develop Project Charter and Identify Stakeholders are the only two processes that fall under the Initiating process group. The charter is also a key input when identifying stakeholders for the project. The stakeholder register, an output of Identify Stakeholders process, becomes an input to Collect Requirements and Plan Communications.

After a thorough search, the vendor selection team used various evaluation techniques and finally chose a seller for the core deliverable. Which process did they just complete?

A. Close Procurements
B. Administer Procurements
C. Conduct Procurements
D. Plan Procurements

Answer: C. Conduct Procurements
Two primary outputs of the Conduct Procurements process are typically a selected seller and a contract award.

As a project manager for a pharmaceutical company, you have managed many projects for developing products. A new product is planned as a joint venture and you are paired with another project manager in another company. This is due to leveraging core competencies between the two companies in order to maximize revenue potential on the product. This type of risk strategy is referred to as:

A. Share
B. Transfer
C. Mitigate
D. Enhance

Answer: A. Share
A joint venture is an excellent example of sharing a risk in the Plan Risk Response process. By sharing a positive risk, also known as an opportunity, accountability (and ownership) is distributed based on the strengths of each organization involved.