Foundations of Project Management — Practice Questions and Explained Answers

1A business produces the same item every day, then runs a one-time effort to redesign its production process. Which activity is operations and which is a project? Why?

Select the best answer.

Routine production is a project; the temporary redesign is operations.Routine production is operations; the temporary redesign is a project because it produces a unique result.Both are operations because they occur in the same business.Both are projects because people and resources are involved.

2What distinguishes a program from simply listing several projects together?

Select the best answer.

A program is any list of projects that share a spreadsheet.A program means several unrelated projects have the same start date.Coordinating related projects produces benefits unavailable from managing each separately.A program is routine ongoing work with no intended shared benefits.

3A marketing employee supports a project but must follow the marketing manager's priority when the managers disagree. What matrix type does Caldwell's comparison suggest?

Select the best answer.

Strong matrix; project-manager authority predominates.Projectized; the functional manager has no authority.Directive PMO; this is a PMO type rather than an authority structure.Weak matrix; functional-manager authority predominates.

4An office offers optional templates; a second mandates templates and audits compliance; a third directly supervises PMs. Identify their PMO types.

Select the best answer.

Supportive; controlling; directive.Directive; supportive; controlling.Controlling; directive; supportive.Supportive; directive; controlling.

5Name the six constraints and give one reason a scope change could affect more than one.

Select the best answer.

Scope, schedule, quality, budget, resources, and risk; changing scope cannot affect any other constraint.Scope, schedule, quality, budget, resources, and risk; scope changes can also change effort, cost, time, or risk.Scope, procurement, integration, communications, stakeholders, and governance; scope is independent of cost.Schedule, cost, revenue, profit, contracts, and sponsorship; quality is never a constraint.

6A team gets along well, but the customer rejects its deliverable. Has team cohesion established overall project success?

Select the best answer.

Yes. Getting along proves the project succeeded, regardless of acceptance.Yes. A deliverable automatically counts as successful once the team finishes it.No. Cohesion is one measure; customer acceptance and other objectives also matter.No. Cohesion has no possible relevance to project success.

7What belongs in a high-level charter, and how do sponsor and PM responsibilities differ?

Select the best answer.

A charter contains only detailed task dates; the sponsor manages every task and the PM funds the project.A charter is the final lessons-learned report; the sponsor and PM have identical roles.A charter replaces all planning; its early estimates cannot change as more information appears.A charter includes the need, objectives, alignment, high-level scope/priorities/assumptions, and early estimates; the sponsor authorizes/supports and the PM manages day to day.

8Use the course ROM rule for a $12,000 estimate and a six-day estimate. What source now confirms the course range, and what remains unverified?

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

ROM cost lower ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

ROM cost upper ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

ROM duration lower (days)Tolerance: ±0

ROM duration upper (days)Tolerance: ±0

9Why is a priority matrix with every constraint marked “highest” unhelpful?

Select the best answer.

It gives an exact ranking of every possible tradeoff.It fails to identify which constraint can move when tradeoffs become unavoidable.It proves that no tradeoff will ever be needed.It means only schedule can change and all other constraints are irrelevant.

10Give the four basic communication-plan questions and the purpose of a kickoff.

Select the best answer.

Who, where, price, and profit; a kickoff replaces the charter.What, how many, quality, and resources; a kickoff guarantees team performance.Who, what, when, and how; a kickoff builds shared goals, roles, expectations, and communication.Who, why, budget, and risk; a kickoff is only a final acceptance meeting.

11Is “eight windows” product scope or project scope? What about purchasing and installing them?

Select the best answer.

Eight windows describes project scope; purchasing and installing them describes product scope.Both are product scope because both mention the product.Both are project scope; product scope describes only cost.Eight windows describes product scope; purchasing and installing them describes project scope.

12What does hierarchical decomposition indicate? What is the lowest official WBS level in the course, and what is the code of accounts?

Select the best answer.

WBS; work package; unique identifiers for WBS components.Organization chart; milestone; employee payroll number.Gantt chart; program; the final cost invoice.Risk register; portfolio; the team communication channel.

13Expand RAM and the course's RACI labels. Why can the R differ from the person performing most of the labor?

Select the best answer.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix; Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed; these are the exact A/C labels confirmed for this course.Responsibility Assignment Matrix; Responsible, Approver/Authority, Contributor, Informed; R ensures completion and may coordinate contributors.Resource Allocation Model; Responsible, Approval, Cost, Inspection; R must always do every labor-hour.Responsibility Assignment Matrix; all roles are interchangeable and R never coordinates work.

14Under the class's eight-hour workday rule, convert 12 and 18 effort-hours to duration. Why should you not assume this is every project's staffing formula?

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

12 effort-hours → whole workdaysTolerance: ±0

18 effort-hours → whole workdaysTolerance: ±0

15O = 4, M = 7, P = 16 hours. Calculate triangular and PERT estimates.

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Triangular estimate (hours)Tolerance: ±0

PERT estimate (hours)Tolerance: ±0

16Name the relationships: baking before frosting; frosting preparation after baking starts; music continuing until the bride finishes; refrigeration continuing until pickup begins.

Select the best answer.

FS; SS; FF; SF, in the order given.SS; FS; SF; FF, in the order given.FF; SF; FS; SS, in the order given.FS; FF; SS; SF, in the order given.

17Can a dependency be both external and mandatory? Explain the two classifications.

Select the best answer.

No. External dependencies are always discretionary.Yes. External describes control/boundary; mandatory describes required logic, so the classifications can combine.No. Mandatory dependencies must be internal.Yes. External and mandatory are two names for the same classification.

18In the 58-day example, identify the critical path. How much float is available on the design/build branch? Can you add design's six and build's six to obtain 12? Use finish-to-start links with zero lag, starting at day 0: requirements (17 days), then parallel branches of test procedures (29 days) and design (15 days) → build (8 days), then test (12 days) after both branches.

Select the best answer.

Requirements → design → build → test is critical at 52 days; its float is twelve days.Both paths are 58 days; every activity has six days of float.Requirements → test procedures → test is 58 days; the other branch has six shared float days, not twelve.The path with the most activity boxes is critical, regardless of duration.

19If design starts at day 23 instead of day 17, what happens to its finish and the project finish under the example's assumptions? Use finish-to-start links with zero lag, starting at day 0: requirements (17 days), then parallel branches of test procedures (29 days) and design (15 days) → build (8 days), then test (12 days) after both branches.

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Design finish (day)Tolerance: ±0

Build finish (day)Tolerance: ±0

Project finish (day)Tolerance: ±0

20Compare fast tracking and crashing. What charter information helps choose?

Select the best answer.

Fast tracking overlaps work and may increase rework; crashing adds useful resources and usually cost; constraint priorities and dependencies guide the choice.Fast tracking adds resources; crashing overlaps work without extra risk.Fast tracking and crashing always mean the same technique.Choose whichever sounds fastest without checking cost, constraints, or dependencies.

21A person has two evenly distributed commitments: 80 hours over four weeks and 30 over 1.5 weeks. Is the combined weekly load above a 40-hour threshold? What if the first commitment is 100 hours instead?

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Weekly load with 80-hour commitment (hours/week)Tolerance: ±0

Weekly load with 100-hour commitment (hours/week)Tolerance: ±0

Excess in second scenario (hours/week)Tolerance: ±0

22What is the difference between resource loading and addressing an overload? Why check float first?

Select the best answer.

Loading removes excess demand automatically; float never matters.Leveling means adding every assignment without comparing capacity.Loading shows assigned demand; overload remedies address excess demand; available float may allow shifts without extending the finish.Loading and overload remedies are identical; all delays extend the project equally.

23Recognize the cost-estimating methods: prior similar-project total; rate per unit based on historical data; detailed estimates added upward.

Select the best answer.

Parametric; bottom-up; analogous.Bottom-up; analogous; parametric.Analogous; bottom-up; parametric.Analogous; parametric; bottom-up.

24In the five-day budget, what are day 3's labor, daily total, and cumulative total? Which series goes into the S-curve? Day 3 has 16 laborer-hours at $25/hour, 4 PM-hours at $40/hour, and $2,000 materials. Cumulative planned cost through day 2 is $2,670.

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Day 3 labor ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Day 3 total ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Cumulative through day 3 ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

25A risk has a 20% probability of a $15,000 impact; another a 5% probability of a 40-day delay. Compute their expected values. Can they be added into one unitless total?

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Expected cost ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Expected delay (days)Tolerance: ±0

26What is qualitative risk analysis for, and what order does Caldwell teach for qualitative and quantitative analysis?

Select the best answer.

Qualitative analysis calculates the precise total exposure; quantitative comes first.Qualitative analysis guarantees a risk cannot occur; no quantitative work follows.Qualitative analysis ranks probability/impact for prioritization; qualitative comes before quantitative in this course sequence.Qualitative and quantitative are interchangeable labels for collecting invoices.

27Identify the response: buy insurance; eliminate the threat by changing the plan; reduce its likelihood; send a risk beyond your authority to the appropriate manager; retain a risk with a backup plan.

Select the best answer.

Avoid; transfer; accept; mitigate; escalate.Mitigate; escalate; transfer; avoid; reject.Transfer; mitigate; avoid; accept; escalate.Transfer; avoid; mitigate; escalate; active acceptance with contingency.

28Distinguish a residual risk, contingency plan, trigger, owner, and contingency reserve.

Select the best answer.

Residual risk remains; contingency is a backup action; a trigger is an observable signal; an owner monitors/responds; reserve provides retained-risk capacity or funds.Residual risk is eliminated; a trigger is the final invoice; an owner is always the customer.Contingency and reserve both mean a guaranteed event; triggers are unrelated to action.All five terms describe the same quantity and can be used interchangeably.

29Put Tuckman's stages in order. Is performing guaranteed?

Select the best answer.

Forming → norming → storming → adjourning → performing; performing is guaranteed.Forming → storming → norming → performing → adjourning; performing is not guaranteed.Storming → forming → performing → norming → adjourning; retention does not matter.Forming → performing → adjourning; no other stages were taught.

30Distinguish a progress report, status report, and forecast; monitoring, controlling, and executing.

Select the best answer.

Progress = future projection; status = interval change; forecast = snapshot; controlling = only collect data.All reports have identical meanings; monitoring, controlling, and executing are also identical.Progress = interval change; status = current snapshot; forecast = future projection; monitoring = collect/report, controlling = analyze/correct, executing = do the work.Status reports can never be used internally; executing means revising every baseline without approval.

31What should happen when a requested feature changes scope, cost, and schedule? Who decides?

Select the best answer.

Implement the feature immediately and update the baseline before assessing impacts.Only the person requesting a feature can approve its cost and schedule effects.Ignore every request after a baseline is approved because changes are prohibited.Log a formal request, evaluate benefit and impacts, and have the CCB/designated authority accept, reject, or defer; notify and integrate approved changes.

32Why is closing more than completing the final construction task? What should a useful lessons-learned record contain?

Select the best answer.

Closing includes final actuals/reports, documentation and archiving; lessons should capture good practices and improvements with useful context.Closing ends when the final construction task is done; no records or review remain.Lessons learned should contain only mistakes without project context.Closing is only a celebration; contracts and documentation are irrelevant.

33What is the workbook's value-centered project definition, and how does it relate to delivering a product/service/result?

Select the best answer.

Any permanent routine operation; value matters only after all reporting stops.A temporary initiative in a unique context undertaken to create value; outputs support value, and acceptance alone need not prove benefits were realized.A temporary initiative whose accepted output guarantees every intended benefit.A collection of tasks that becomes a project only if it uses every available technique.

34Name the seven domains and the six delivery principles. How do principles differ from domains/focus areas?

Select the best answer.

Domains and principles are identical lists with identical purposes.The seven domains are forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning, closing, and kickoff.Domains group governance, scope, schedule, finance, stakeholders, resources, and risk; principles guide behavior through a holistic view, value, embedded quality, accountable leadership, sustainability, and empowered culture.The six principles require using every technique, fixing every estimate, skipping governance, and minimizing all costs.

35What are business value realization and tailoring? Does using every available technique demonstrate good tailoring?

Select the best answer.

Value realization ends when a file is delivered; tailoring means applying every available technique.Tailoring means ignoring all governance; value realization means only spending the full budget.Using more techniques always demonstrates better tailoring, regardless of project needs.Value realization concerns intended benefits after delivery; tailoring deliberately adapts approach, governance, and processes to the work rather than using every technique.

36Distinguish progressive elaboration from rolling wave planning and state the five workbook RAM-development steps.

Select the best answer.

Progressive elaboration refines as information improves; rolling wave details the near phase with broader later work; RAM steps are list skills, select people, discuss roles, gain commitments, document.Progressive elaboration freezes early estimates; rolling wave removes planning; RAM begins with final invoices.Both approaches mean Agile in every case; RAM needs no role discussion or commitments.Rolling wave plans every later detail first; RAM is a cost curve rather than a responsibility matrix.

37At a $10,000 base, calculate the workbook's ROM, budgetary, and definitive ranges. Explain fixed vs variable duration and name its third listed type.

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

ROM lower ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

ROM upper ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Budgetary lower ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Budgetary upper ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Definitive lower ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

Definitive upper ($)Tolerance: ±0.005

38In the 58-day network, what are design's and build's free float? Why can design have six days total float but zero free float? Use finish-to-start links with zero lag, starting at day 0: requirements (17 days), then parallel branches of test procedures (29 days) and design (15 days) → build (8 days), then test (12 days) after both branches.

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Design free float (days)Tolerance: ±0

Build free float (days)Tolerance: ±0

39What do O, A, and I mean in the garden-shed sample RAM, and why would treating its I as “informed” be wrong?

Select the best answer.

Owner, Accountable, Informed; I means receiving updates and never implementing work.Operations, Authority, Inspection; all three are cost categories.The sample has no legend, so I must use any RACI definition you prefer.Owner, Approval, Implementer; I means doing work in this sample's legend, not Informed.

40What four steps finalize the baseline? List the six steps in the workbook's performance-control cycle.

Select the best answer.

Finalize: validate, approvals, archive, communicate. Control: collect actuals/forecasts, compare, analyze, correct, revise as authorized, report.Finalize: implement, spend, celebrate, delete. Control: replace the baseline whenever actuals differ.Finalize: archive before validation. Control: report only, with no comparison or analysis.Finalize and control both consist only of gaining sponsor approval once.

41Calculate the garden-shed sample's residual expected delay: 5% × 20 days; 0% × 2 days; 25% × 1 day.

Enter the numeric results in the units shown. The explanation covers the reasoning and interpretation parts.

Total residual expected delay (days)Tolerance: ±0.005

42What outcome besides acceptance or rejection appears in the change flowchart, and can closing occur on an unfinished project?

Select the best answer.

Only accept or reject is allowed; an unfinished project can never close.Defer always means escalation; closing is only completing a deliverable.Defer is also an outcome; closing can terminate unfinished work or close a phase or contract.A deferred request must be implemented immediately; closing removes every record.

Foundations of Project Management — Practice Questions and Explained Answers

Questions

A. Framework, authority, and initiation

B. Scope, responsibility, and estimates

C. Dependencies, scheduling, and resources

D. Costs, risk, and execution

E. Reporting, change, and closing

F. Workbook additions

A. Framework, authority, and initiation

B. Scope, responsibility, and estimates

C. Dependencies, scheduling, and resources

D. Costs, risk, and execution

E. Reporting, change, and closing

F. Workbook additions

Explained answer key

A. Framework, authority, and initiation

B. Scope, responsibility, and estimates

C. Dependencies, scheduling, and resources

D. Costs, risk, and execution

E. Reporting, change, and closing

F. Workbook additions

Using your results