Predictive, Plan-Based Methodologies

A. An adaptive approach suits requirements that are uncertain and expected to change through feedback. Here the requirements are fixed by a regulator before work starts, so there is nothing to discover iteratively.

B. Stable, externally fixed requirements, a fixed-price contract and a single deliverable that only has value when complete are the classic conditions for planning the whole scope, schedule and cost up front and then executing against baselines.

C. An incremental approach delivers usable pieces of the product early. A chlorination unit that cannot be used until it is installed and certified offers no increment with stand-alone value.

D. A hybrid approach mixes predictive and adaptive elements when part of the scope is stable and part is uncertain. Nothing in this project is uncertain enough to justify the adaptive part.

A. Measuring performance against a baseline and recommending corrective or preventive action is the core of Monitoring and Controlling; it is what Control Schedule does.

B. Obtaining people, equipment and services for the project is an Executing activity (Acquire Resources). It carries out the plan rather than checking performance against it.

C. The charter is developed in the Initiating Process Group; it authorises the project and names the project manager before any control can take place.

D. Perform Integrated Change Control sits in Monitoring and Controlling: every change request is reviewed, decided and recorded there so the baselines stay under control.

E. Archiving records and releasing resources are Closing activities, performed once the deliverables have been accepted and the project or phase ends.

A. A milestone is a significant point or event in the schedule with no duration; the end of a phase is often marked by one, but a milestone is not itself a review with a continue-or-stop decision.

B. A kick-off meeting launches a project or phase after it has been authorised, to align the team on objectives and roles. The decision to proceed has already been made by then.

C. A phase gate is the review held at the end of a phase where performance and progress are compared with the business case and plans, and a decision is made to continue, continue with changes, or end the project. That is exactly what the steering committee is doing.

D. The change control board reviews individual change requests against the baselines. It does not decide whether the next phase of the project goes ahead.

A. Nine days is the length of the paths A-B-D and A-B-E. They are the shorter paths through the network, so activities B and E carry one day of float; the critical path is the longest one.

B. The path A-C-D is 3 + 5 + 2 = 10 days. The other paths, A-B-D and A-B-E, are 3 + 4 + 2 = 9 days each. The longest path through the network is the critical path, so the project cannot finish in fewer than 10 days.

C. Twelve days is A + B + C, which adds the parallel activities B and C as if one had to wait for the other. They start together after A, so only the longer of the two counts.

D. Sixteen days is the sum of all five activities. Adding every duration ignores that B runs in parallel with C and that D runs in parallel with E.

A. SV = EV - PV = 320,000 - 350,000 = -30,000. Less value has been earned than was planned by this date, and a negative schedule variance means the work is behind the schedule baseline.

B. The arithmetic is right but the reading is wrong. Schedule variance compares earned value with planned value and says nothing about spending; over or under budget is read from the cost variance, which needs the actual cost.

C. This subtracts in the wrong order (PV - EV). With less earned than planned, the variance must be negative and the project cannot be ahead.

D. Both the sign and the interpretation are wrong: the order of subtraction is reversed and schedule variance does not measure cost.

A. Rolling wave planning details near-term work and leaves later work at a higher level. It is allowed in a WBS, but even a high-level element must still represent all of the work below it.

B. Progressive elaboration is the refining of the plan as more becomes known. It describes how detail grows over time, not whether the children of an element cover everything the parent contains.

C. The 100 percent rule says the WBS includes all of the project's work and that the children of any element together represent 100 percent of that element, no more and no less. Work packages that add up to less than their parent break it.

D. The 8/80 rule is a sizing heuristic that keeps a work package between roughly 8 and 80 hours of effort. It is about the size of a package, not about whether the packages together cover the parent.

A. Following the quality plan is right, but a baseline is only changed through the change control process. The project manager cannot re-baseline the schedule on their own authority, even to record a delay that is certain.

B. This protects the date by abandoning the quality management plan. The plan states that inspection defects are repaired before acceptance, and acceptance of known-defective work is not a decision the project manager can make alone.

C. Following the quality plan is right, and logging the slip is harmless, but the issue log does not authorise a change to a baseline. Only an approved change request moves the schedule baseline.

D. Both plans are followed as written: the quality plan decides what happens to the defective deliverable, and the change management plan decides how the resulting baseline change is handled. The board, not the project manager, approves the new baseline.

A. A risk is an uncertain event that may happen. The supply stoppage has already happened, so it is no longer a risk; if it had been listed as one, its entry would now be closed and the event tracked elsewhere.

B. The change log tracks change requests and their status. No change to scope, schedule or cost has been requested yet; that may follow, but first the problem itself must be tracked.

C. The lessons learned register captures what was learned and what to do differently. Once the stoppage is resolved a lesson may be recorded, but it is not the place to manage an open problem.

D. An issue is a current condition or event that has already happened and needs to be resolved. The issue log records it with an owner, a priority and a target date, which is exactly what the project manager wants.

A. CV = EV - AC = 400,000 - 500,000 = -100,000, and CPI = EV / AC = 400,000 / 500,000 = 0.80. Both say the same thing: the project has spent more than the value of the work it has completed.

B. This reverses both formulas (AC - EV and AC / EV). A project that has spent 500,000 to earn 400,000 cannot have a favourable variance or an index above one.

C. The variance is right but the index is AC divided by EV. CV and CPI always point the same way: a negative CV goes with a CPI below one.

D. The index is right but the variance is AC minus EV. A CPI below one cannot go with a positive cost variance.

A. A product backlog is the ordered list of work in an adaptive project; it is reprioritised continually and is not measured against a baseline.

B. The change log records every change request and its status. Because baselines are only altered through approved changes, the log is the record of how and why the baselines have moved.

C. The business case justifies the project and is revisited at phase gates to confirm it still holds. It is a business document, not a control artifact; performance is measured against the baselines, not against the business case.

D. The charter authorises the project and gives the project manager authority. It is an initiating artifact and is not used to measure performance or to control the work against the baselines.

E. Work performance reports present measured performance against the baselines, such as schedule and cost variances, so that decisions and corrective actions can be taken. They are the core control document of a predictive project.