PMP Practice Test

Organize a face-to-face meeting with all stakeholders to understand their interests and concerns.

Explanation:

According to the PMBOK Guide, consensus decision-making is a technique that ensures that all input and ideas from a group or team are considered until a final decision that is acceptable to all emerges. This approach relies heavily on respectful dialogue and open-mindedness, and it is often used to build consensus regarding the requirements in project management. By organizing a face-to-face meeting with all stakeholders, the project manager can facilitate the communication and collaboration among them, and elicit their needs, expectations, and preferences. This can help to resolve any conflicts or contradictions, and reach a common understanding of the project requirements.

References:

• PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition, Chapter 5, Section 5.2.2.4
• How to use Consensus Decision-Making for Project Management by Grace Windsor?

Provide appropriate training to compensate for the mismatch.

Explanation

According to the PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, one of the principles of project management is to support team performance. This means that the project manager should foster a collaborative project team environment, build team competencies, and address and remove impediments, obstacles, and blockers for the team. In this scenario, the project manager should provide appropriate training to the team members who lack the necessary skills or knowledge to perform their tasks, rather than emphasizing deadlines, updating the schedule, or accepting the risk. Providing training will help the team improve their performance, deliver value, and meet the expectations of the steering committee and other stakeholders.

References: PMBOK Guide, 7th edition, page 9, Principle 8: Support team performance.

Evaluate the project manager’s own strengths and weaknesses as a virtual team leader to identify avoidable pitfalls

Establish in the beginning, how progress will be monitored and the best means for communicating progress

According to the Project Management Professional (PMP) Reference Materials, two actions that a project manager should consider while launching a new virtual team are:

Evaluate the project manager’s own strengths and weaknesses as a virtual team leader to identify avoidable pitfalls. This can help the project manager to develop the necessary skills and competencies to effectively lead, guide, and nurture a virtual team, such as communication, collaboration, motivation, trust, and cultural awareness12. The project manager can also seek feedback, coaching, or mentoring from other experienced virtual team leaders to improve their performance and avoid common mistakes3.

Establish in the beginning, how progress will be monitored and the best means for communicating progress. This can help the project manager to set clear expectations, goals, and standards for the virtual team, and to ensure that the team members are aligned, accountable, and informed throughout the project4 . The project manager can also use various communication and collaboration tools, such as video conferencing, chat, email, project management software, and online dashboards, to facilitate regular and effective communication and reporting among the virtual team members and stakeholders.

The other options, A, C, and E, are not actions that a project manager should consider while launching a new virtual team, but rather actions that a project manager should consider while planning or executing a project with a virtual team. Recruiting the best resources within the organization to be part of the virtual team is a human resource planning activity that involves identifying and acquiring the project team members.

Identifying the types and quantities of resources required for each work package or activity is a resource management activity that involves estimating and allocating the resources needed to complete the project work. Verifying if team members are on more than one team and cannot devote enough time to this team is a performance management activity that involves monitoring and controlling the team members’ availability, workload, and productivity. References: 1: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Chapter 9.4.2.2, "Team Development Stages". 2: Agile Practice Guide, Chapter 2.2, "Agile Principles". 3: Best practices for managing and developing virtual project teams, Section "Preparing for success — the project manager’s role". 4: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Chapter 9.4.3.1, "Team Performance Assessment". : A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Chapter 10.2.2.1, "Communication Requirements Analysis". : 10 Tips to Manage Virtual Project Teams - Ganttic, Section "Communication tools". : Project and resource planning tools - Ganttic, Section "Project and resource planning tools". : A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Chapter 9.1.3.1, "Project Team". : A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Chapter 9.2.3.1, "Resource Requirements". : A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Chapter 9.6.3.1, "Work Performance Data".

Functional managers

Advisory team panel

Explanation

Compliance requirements are the rules and regulations that a project must follow to meet the standards of quality, safety, security, and reliability in a given industry or domain. Compliance requirements can be classified into different categories, such as legal, ethical, contractual, organizational, or environmental.

Compliance requirements can pose potential threats to the project if they are not identified, analyzed, and addressed properly. For example, noncompliance can result in fines, penalties, lawsuits, reputational damage, or project failure.

To plan and manage project compliance, the project manager needs to confirm the project compliance requirements, determine the necessary approach and action to address them, and measure the extent to which the project is in compliance. To do this, the project manager can use various methods and tools, such as compliance audits, checklists, matrices, gap analysis, risk management, stakeholder analysis, and communication management.

The project manager can also seek the help of different stakeholders who can provide valuable input, guidance, and support for the project compliance. Two of the most important stakeholders are the functional managers and the advisory team panel. Functional managers are the managers of the functional departments or units within the organization, such as finance, marketing, human resources, or operations. They are responsible for providing the project with the necessary resources, expertise, and authorization to meet the compliance requirements. They can also help the project manager to align the project compliance with the organizational policies, procedures, and goals. Advisory team panel is a group of experts or consultants who can advise the project manager on the best practices, standards, and regulations for the project compliance. They can also help the project manager to identify and address the compliance gaps, risks, and issues, and to monitor and control the project compliance performance.

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Functional managers and D. Advisory team panel. The other options are not as relevant or helpful as these two stakeholders. Risk steering committee is a group of senior executives who oversee the risk management of the organization or the portfolio of projects. They are not directly involved in the project compliance, although they can provide strategic direction and support. Board of directors is the highest governing body of the organization, who set the vision, mission, and objectives of the organization. They are not directly involved in the project compliance, although they can approve the project charter and the project budget. Chief executive officer is the highest-ranking executive of the organization, who leads the overall management and operations of the organization. They are not directly involved in the project compliance, although they can sponsor the project and provide executive support. References:

• PMBOK Guide 7th Edition, chapters 2.4, 3.1 (part ‘Standard’) and 2.5, 3.1, 3.4 (part ‘PMBOK’).

Process Groups: A Practice Guide, chapters 1.5, 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 3.3, 5.14, 7.7, 9 (Enterprise environmental factors, Quality metrics), and 3.DEFINITIONS (Regulations).

Meet with subject matter experts (SMEs) to assess the impact to objectives

Explanation

The project manager should meet with the subject matter experts (SMEs) to assess the impact of the new regulation on the project objectives, scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk. The SMEs are the ones who have the knowledge and expertise to understand the implications of the new regulation and how it affects the project deliverables. The project manager should also involve the stakeholders, especially the project sponsor and the customer, in the assessment process to ensure their expectations and requirements are met. The project manager should then use the assessment results to determine the best course of action to address the change, such as modifying the project plan, requesting a change request, or escalating the issue to the appropriate authority. The project manager should follow the change management process as defined in the project management plan and the business analysis plan, and document the changes and their impacts in the project documents and the traceability matrix. The project manager should also communicate the changes and their impacts to the project team and the stakeholders, and obtain their buy-in and support.

The other options are not the best actions to take next, because they do not address the impact of the new regulation on the project objectives and deliverables. Consulting with the project sponsor to discuss a cost increase (option A) may be premature, as the cost impact may not be known until the assessment is done. Acquiring approval for an exception to the implementation of the new regulation (option B) may not be feasible or desirable, as it may compromise the compliance and quality of the project deliverables. Getting approval for the additional budget from the steering committee (option C) may also be premature, as the budget impact may not be known until the assessment is done. Moreover, the budget approval may not be sufficient to address the other impacts of the new regulation, such as scope, schedule, quality, and risk.

References:

• The PMI Guide to Business Analysis Includes The Standard for Business Analysis, Chapter 5: Solution Evaluation, Section 5.3.3: Assess Solution Limitations
• Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide, Chapter 7: Solution Evaluation, Section 7.3.3: Assess Solution Limitations
• Business Analysis Techniques: 72 Essential Tools For Success, Chapter 5: Strategy Analysis, Section 5.13: Impact Analysis
• Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis, Chapter 9: Solution Assessment and Validation