NCE PRACTICE EXAM

The project charter records the description of the product and its requirements as well as authorizes the use of organizational resources to produce the objective of the project. The scope statement and the project management plan contain an elaborated version of these requirements. The organizational process assets are policies, procedures, and guidelines that are used to influence the project's success. 

Costs are usually low at the initiating stage of the project. Since uncertainty is high at the beginning, risk associated with that uncertainty is also high. As the project continues through its life cycle, resources are expended causing an increase in costs. At the same time, as the project progresses toward completion, the uncertainty and risk is decreased. 

Phase exits, phase gates, stage gates, kill points, decision gates and milestones are synonymous terms for phase end points. 

While some stakeholders benefit from a project, others may be negatively impacted by the outcome. As a project manager, you must identify both groups of stakeholders. Failure to recognize the stakeholders negatively affected may jeopardize the project objectives. Since meeting with the sponsor would not necessarily resolve the issue because you have not heard the concerns of the negative stakeholders yet, your initial step would be to include the manufacturing personnel as project stakeholders. Preparing a probability and impact matrix might be a logical next step, but without analysis of the impact and its probability, it would not be prudent to assure the employees their jobs were not in jeopardy. 

Stakeholder analysis defines the stakeholder management strategy and includes specific information such as the identities of those stakeholders who can significantly impact the project and their level of participation. The issue log evolves while managing the stakeholder expectations and may result in change orders to incorporate corrective or preventive actions. The stakeholder register identifies the project's stakeholders. The stakeholder management plan identifies the management strategies required to effectively engage stakeholders. 

Affinity diagrams can be used to sort and group idea for additional review and analysis. Mind mapping allows ideas to be grouped based on their similarities and differences. A Pareto chart is not used to gather requirements but to identify the 80/20 relationships of problems in the quality area. Brainstorming is a requirement gathering technique but used primarily in the idea generation stage rather than the review and analysis aspect. 

The project charter is an input to the Develop Project Management Plan process as are the enterprise environmental factors. While expert judgment is utilized during this process, it is considered a tool and technique rather than an input. 

The Estimate at Completion (EAC) is the total cost of the project when completed. There are two methods to calculate the EAC. It can be calculated at the budgeted rate, or it can be figured using the present CPI. The EAC at the budgeted rate is based on performance to date and represented by the actual accrued costs. The formula for EAC = AC + BAC - EV = $280,000 + $5000,000 - $300,000 = $480,000.

CPI (Cost performance index) is calculated by the equation, CPI = EV/AC. In this case, the earned value is $100,000 and the actual cost is $80,000. Therefore, the equation becomes $100,000/$80,000 = 1.25. The Budget at completion information is irrelevant in this question.

When sequencing activities, there are four types of relationships: finish-to-finish, start-to-finish, finish-to-start, and start-to-start. Finish-to-finish are indicated as "FF." Leads are shown with a negative sign (-) and lags are indicated with a positive sign (+). The correct answer is a finish-to-finish relationship with 3 days of lag time.

The inputs to the manage stakeholder engagement process include the stakeholder management plan, communications management plan, change log and organizational process assets. Hence, the stakeholder management plan and the change log are correct answers.

Formal communication involves reports, memos, and briefings. Any communication that goes outside the project team or the stakeholders is known as external communication. Conversely, all communication with the project team and stakeholders is within the organization. It is not external and it typically considered horizontal in nature. Hence, horizontal communication is the correct response.

Cost variance equals earned value minus actual costs (EV-AC). If the value is negative, it indicates the project is over budget. Schedule variance equals earned value minus planned value (EV-PV). If the value is negative, it indicates the project is behind schedule. In this scenario, based on the negative values calculated by the earned value analysis, this project is over budget and behind schedule.

Team development goes through five stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. Since Clifford is getting to know the team members and preparing to assign them their roles and responsibilities, the team is in the Forming stage. 

If the planned value, earned value and the actual cost values are identical, the cost variance and schedule variance values are zero. Also, the cost performance index and the schedule performance index values are 1. The values given in this scenario indicate that the project is on schedule and on budget.

One sigma in the control limit indicates one standard deviation, which means the upper control limit = +2 sigma or +2 standard deviation. In this case, this would equal +2 (0.02) = 0.04. Hence, 0.04 is the correct answer. 

Earned value (EV) is a measure of work performed in terms of the budget authorized for that work. Planned value (PV) is the authorized budget assigned to scheduled work to be accomplished for an activity during a given point in time or phase. When the EV is less than the PV this is a scheduling issue. Because planned value denotes how much work should be complete, and earned value denotes the actual work that is complete, we have less work completed as planned, and thus we are behind schedule. 6th Ed., PMBOK, p. 261, Section 4 - Monitoring and Controlling

Validated deliverables are compared against the requirements and acceptance criteria in order to formally sign-off the completed deliverables. Since the requirements documentation is an input to the validated scope process, the deliverable acceptance criteria created in the planning phase is used in the validated scope process of the monitoring and controlling phase. Hence, the validate scope process is the correct response. 

The progress of the project is measured during the monitor and control project work process. Monitoring activities include measuring, collecting , and distributing performance information, and controlling activities include determining corrective or preventive actions.

When a process is within the control limits it is in control and does not need to be adjusted. Seven consecutive points above or below the upper and lower control limits indicate a process that is out of control. In this example, the seven consecutive points are either above or below the control limits. Therefore, the process is out of control.

The project is considered closed when all deliverables are transferred and lessons learned documentation, project files and historical databases are updated. Therefore, since deliverables have been transferred, the project is in the close project phase. 

Project closure documents contain information related to the deliverables and other closing documents. If the project was terminated, the closure documents should indicate the reason for early termination.

Project scope is measured against the project management plan. The project manager should review the project management plan to verify the project scope has been achieved and to ensure that all deliverables are complete. 

During the control procurement process, all contract results are updated and all procurement documents are closed. Therefore, in this scenario, Adam is in the control procurements process. 

Activities required to perform the administrative closure of a project include those activities necessary to satisfy the exit criteria of the project, the activities necessary to transfer the project's result and the activities necessary to audit project success or failure.