Project Management Fundamentals-Engineering Project Management-Exam Paper, Exams of Software Project Management

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Project Management Fundamentals

What is a Project?

Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.

 Projects are unique.  Projects are temporary in nature and have a definite beginning and ending date.  Projects are completed when the project goals are achieved or it.s determined the project is no longer viable.  A successful project is one that meets or exceeds the expectations of your stakeholders.

How Unique?

 Product characteristics are progressively elaborated.  The product or service is different in some way from other product or services.

How Temporary?

 Has a definite beginning and end and not an ongoing effort.  Ceases when objective has been attained.  Team is disbanded upon project completion.

Example

Building a road is an example of a project. The process of building a road takes a finite amount of time, and produces a unique product.

Operations on the other hand are repetitive. Generating bills every month, and broadcasting news everyday are examples of operations.

Subprojects are components of a project that often contracted out.

What is Project Management?

Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.

Project management is accomplished through the use of the processes such as:

 Initiation  Planning  Execution  Controlling  Closing

Project managers or the organization can divide projects into above phases to provide better management control with appropriate links to the ongoing operations of the performing organization. Collectively, these phases are known as the project life cycle which we would see in next chapter.

Project managers deliver projects while balancing the following constraints:

 Scope  Schedule  Quality  Resources  Customer Satisfaction  Risk

These all are so intertwined that a change in one will most often cause a change in at least one of the others

For example:

 If time is extended, the cost of the project will increase.  If time extended with the same cost then quality of the product will reduce.  If scope is extended then cost and time will also extend.

Changes to any of these legs sets off a series of activities that are needed to integrate the change across the project.

What is Program Management?

A program consists of a related group of projects and Program management is the process of managing multiple on going projects. An example would be that of designing, manufacturing and providing support infrastructure for an automobile make.

Program management involves centrally managing and coordinating groups of related projects to meet the objectives of the program.

In some cases Project Management is a subset of Program Management. The project manager may report to the program manager in such cases. A portfolio consists of multiple programs.

What is Portfolio Management?

A portfolio is a collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives.Organizations manage their portfolios based on specific goals.

Senior managers or senior management teams typically take on the responsibility of portfolio management for an organization.

Portfolio management encompasses managing the collections of programs and projects in the portfolio. This includes weighing the value of each project, or potential project, against the portfolio's strategic objectives.

Portfolio management also concerns monitoring active projects for adherence to objectives, balancing the portfolio among the other investments of the organization, and assuring the efficient use of resources.

Why do we need Project Management?

 Exponential expansion of human knowledge  Global demand for goods and services  Global competition  Team is required to meet the demand with quality and standard.  Improved control over the project  Improved performance  Improved budget and quality

Project Management Skills:

Many of the tools and techniques for managing projects are specific to project management. However, effective project management requires that the project management team acquire the following three dimensions of project management competencies:

 Project Management Knowledge Competency: This refers to what the project management team knows about project management.

 Project Management Performance Competency: This refers to what the project management team is able to do or accomplish while applying their project management knowledge.  Personal Competency: This refers to how the project management team behaves when performing the project or activity.

Interpersonal Skills Management:

The management of interpersonal relationships includes:

 Effective communication: The exchange of information  Influencing the organization: The ability to "get things done"  Leadership: Developing a vision and strategy, and motivating people to achieve that vision and strategy  Motivation: Energizing people to achieve high levels of performance and to overcome barriers to change  Negotiation and conflict management: Conferring with others to come to terms with them or to reach an agreement  Decision Making: Ability to take decision independently.  Political and cultural awareness: Important to handle various personal and professional issues.  Team Building: Ability to create a productive team.

What is PMBOK ® Guide?

PMBOK ® Guide is the bible for Project Management. It stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® Guide). There are nine knowledge areas defined in PMBOK ® Guide, which are as follows

 Project Integration Management  Project Scope Management  Project Cost Management  Project Time Management  Project Risk Management  Project Quality Management  Project HR Management  Project Communication Management  Project Procurement Management

Each Knowledge area has further Processes. There are a total of 42 processes. Each process has following three important parts.

 Inputs  Tools & Techniques  Outputs

The PMBOK primarily covers each of the processes and its inputs, outputs and related tools and techniques.

Subsequent chapters will explain each process, its inputs, tools and techniques and outputs (ITTO) required.

Further the discipline of Project Management has five process groups.

These are:

 Initiation  Planning  Execution  Control  Closure

Each process is part of one of these five project phases. It is important to know the process group for each of the 42 processes.

Project Time Management

(1) Milestones established by the customer must be adhered to by:

1. Project manager
2. Functional managers
3. The customer
4. Both a and b

Answer:D

(2) The decision to request an increase the resources for a project is the responsibility of the:

1. Functional manager
2. Project manager
3. Director of project management
4. Customer

Answer: B

(3) In which of the following project phases is the project schedule developed?

1. Conceptual
2. Planning
3. Implementation
4. Design

Answer: B

(4) To crash a schedule you should:

1. Increase the time allowed on those tasks that have float.
2. Try to increase expenditures of time only those tasks that are behind schedule.
3. Replace those worker that are not performing up to par with the busy.
4. Increase work efforts on those tasks that are on the critical path.

Answer:D

(5) The project scope statement furnishes the basis for:

1. The project scope statement furnishes the basis for:
2. Provides links to the clients functional management groups
3. Allowing the project to move to the next phase
4. A way to provide updated information to the accounting department

Answer:A

(6) Which of the following is NOT one of the primary needs for good project scheduling?

1. Cutting costs and reducing time
2. Decreasing the time required for decision making
3. Eliminating idle time
4. Developing better trouble shooting procedures.

Answer: D

(7) The time necessary to complete a project is referred to as:

1. Implementation time
2. Life cycle
3. Operations cycle
4. Production cycle

Answer: B

(8) The successful project managers spend most of their time:

1. Planning with their personnel
2. Planning with the top management
3. Communication with the project team
4. Studying project results.

Answer: C

(9) Resource leveling attempts to :

1. Reduce resource requirements by smoothing out period-to period resource assignments.
2. Ensure that the budget abnormalities are overcome.
3. Reduce the amount of resources so that they can be shared with on other endeavors.
4. Increase the amount of the project manager's authority so that budget dollars can be appropriated.

Answer: A

(10) A prerequisite of effective time management is:

1. Knowing the dictated project completion date
2. Having the most advanced software package for project planning, scheduling and control
3. Having a good project WBS which identifies the major project deliverables and tasks, and the person responsible for each of them
4. Having a well staffed scheduling department

Answer: A

Project Cost Management

(1) Which type of project cost estimate is the most accurate?

1. Preliminary
2. Definitive
3. Order of magnitude
4. Conceptual

Answer:B

(2) Which of the following type of contracts is most preferable to the contractor doing the project work?

1. Cost plus fixed fee
2. Fixed price
3. Fixed price plus incentive free
4. B and C

Answer: A

(3) To assist in budget control, it is suggested that the estimate occur at the _____ ____ ______ level of the WBS

1. Highest
2. Lowest
3. Major work effort
4. Third

Answer: B

(4) Cost Variance (CV) is which of the following equations?

1. CV = BCWP - BCWS
2. CV = BCWP - ACWP
3. CV = SV / BCWS
4. A and c

Answer:B

(5) Cost budgeting can be best described by which of the following?

1. The process of developing the future trends along with the assessment of probabilities, uncertainties, and inflation that could occur during the project
2. The process of assembling and predicting costs of a project over its life cycle
3. The process of establishing budgets, standards, and a monitoring system by which the investment cost of the project can be measured and managed
4. The process of gathering, accumulating, analyzing, reporting, and managing the costs on an on-going basis

Answer:C

(6) Which of the following is a direct project cost?

1. Lighting and heating for the corporate office
2. Workers Compensation insurance
3. Piping for an irrigation project
4. A and B

Answer: C

(7) Cost controls can be best described by which of the following?

1. The process of developing the future trends along with the assessment of probabilities, uncertainties, and inflation that could occur during the project
2. The process of assembling and predicting costs of a project over its life cycle
3. The process of assembling and predicting costs of a project over its life cycle
4. The process of gathering, accumulating, analyzing, reporting, and managing the costs on an on-going basis.

Answer: D

(8) The BCWS = $250, the ACWP = $350, and the BCWP = $200. Calculate the Cost Variance.

1. -$
2. $
3. -$
4. $

Answer: A

(9) One of the types of cost estimation is Order of Magnitude. This estimate:

1. is performed when detailed information is available
2. is performed when detailed information is available
3. is used in the beginning of the project conceptualization
4. Uses mostly information from past projects

Answer: E

(10) Life Cycle Costing is a term that is:

1. used when making decisions between alternatives
2. employed principally by the government
3. typically used in the construction industry
4. not used within the government
5. A and B

Answer: E

Project Quality Management

(1) Measured quality of a manufactured product is :

1. Always constant
2. Continually decreasing
3. Subject to a certain amount of variation
4. Continually increasing

Answer:C

(2) The process control charts are used:

1. to graph what typically focuses on the prevention of a problem
2. to detect the problem
3. to reject the problem
4. to determine the acceptability of the same

Answer: A

(3) When a record is made of an actual measured quality characteristic, such as a dimension expressed with thousands of an inch, the quality is said to be expressed by:

1. traits
2. variables
3. attributes
4. properties

Answer: B

(4) Which of the following is the most efficient means of product quality inspection?

1. Acceptance sampling
2. 100% inspection
3. Variable sampling
4. a and c

Answer:C

(5) The primary components of the quality management function are :

1. quality planning
2. quality control and assurance
3. quantitative measurement
4. quantitative assessment of the project
5. a and b

Answer:E

(6) Setting the number of defects before the lot is rejected, is a direct responsibility of :

1. a functional worker
2. the project manager
3. management
4. the accounting department

Answer: C

(7) Which of the following has the greatest effect on product's reliability and maintenance characteristic?

1. conceptualization
2. product design
3. fabrication
4. a and b

Answer: D

(8) On a project the project manager should strive for a "Quality Level" that :

1. is the highest level possible
2. is as close to the project objectives as possible
3. represents the least cost to the project.
4. Exceeds the specified requirements of the project.

Answer: B

(9) Quality control in the final analysis is :

1. using the technical procedures of monitoring project results to decide if the outputs meet the requirements
2. a production system
3. an inspection system
4. fitness for purpose

Answer: A

(10) Quality costs include :

1. the total of all costs incurred to assure the production and delivery of acceptable products and services.
2. Only costs classified as prevention, detection and corrective action.
3. Only the cost of scrap, rework due to defects, customer returns and warranty costs.
4. The expense of upper management

Answer: A