CIS-SPM Certified Implementation Specialist - Strategic Portfolio Management Questions and Answers

A baseline is a data copy of the current project’s task, schedule, or structure that can be used for comparison reporting later. A baseline captures the original plan of the project and allows you to track the changes and deviations from the plan over time. You can create multiple baselines for a project and compare them with the current state of the project. You can find more information about baselines in the Product Documentation for ServiceNow.

Using the Request type field on a resource plan, you can request a resource by specifying the amount of FTE, person days, or hours that you need for a task or a project. FTE stands for full-time equivalent and represents the percentage of a standard work week that a resource can perform. Person days are the number of days that a resource works on a task or a project. Hours are the number of hours that a resource works on a task or a project. You can find more information about the Request type field in the Product Documentation for ServiceNow.

According to the ServiceNow documentation1, the cost_plan_breakdown table stores the cost information for a specific fiscal period. This table contains the fields such as cost plan, fiscal period, amount, and currency. The other options are incorrect because:

B. pm_project: The pm_project table stores the information about projects, such as name, description, state, and status2.

C. cost_plan: The cost_plan table stores the information about cost plans, such as name, type, and project3.

D. expense_line: The expense_line table stores the information about expense lines, such as expense type, amount, and date4.

1: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_CostPlanBreakdownTable.html 2: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_ProjectTable.html 3: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_CostPlanTable.html 4: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_ExpenseLineTable.html

According to the ServiceNow documentation1, the project property to update actual effort from time card is controlled at the project level. This property is called Update actual effort from time card and it determines if the Actual effort field on the Dates tab should be updated based on the hours entered from time cards for the project. If set to Yes, the Actual effort field is read-only on the Project and Project Task forms. If set to No, the Actual effort field is editable on the Project and Project Task forms.

1: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_Properties.html

 According to the Create a customer project from a demand document, when creating a project from demand, the resource plan and the cost plan are moved and copied upon project creation. The resource plan defines the resources required for the project, and the cost plan defines the estimated and actual costs for the project. The other options are not correct, as they are not related records that are moved and copied upon project creation. The change requests, the idea, and the demand are not moved or copied to the project, but they are linked to the project as references. The assessment is not a record that is associated with the project, but with the demand.

According to the ServiceNow documentation1, this property controls whether the start dates of the resource plan, cost plan, and benefit plan are automatically updated when the start date of the demand or project is changed. If this property is set to true, then the plans will be shifted by the same number of days as the demand or project start date change. If this property is set to false, then the plans will not be affected by the demand or project start date change.

1: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_Properties.html

Resource capacity is the total number of hours that a resource or a group of resources is available for work in a given time period. According to the Product Documentation for ServiceNow, resource capacity is derived from the user or group schedule, which defines the working hours and days for each resource. The group capacity is rolled up from the schedules of all the members. Note: Capacity is not derived from FTE, but from schedules. Both FTE and schedules must be in synchronization with each other. FTE is a measure of how much work a resource can perform in a standard work week, and it is used to calculate the resource demand and allocation.

In order to map custom fields from Microsoft Project to ServiceNow when importing a project, you must first create custom fields in your ServiceNow instance that match the names and data types of the custom fields in Microsoft Project. This will allow you to map the custom fields using a transform map when importing the project. You can find more information about this process in the Product Documentation for ServiceNow.

According to the ServiceNow documentation1, a lens is a hierarchical structure that consists of entities and relationships. An entity is a data object that represents a business concept, such as a project, a demand, or a resource. A relationship is a link between two entities that defines how they are connected. A lens can have up to four levels of entities, each with a parent reference to the entity above it, except for the top-level entity, which has no parent reference. The top-level entity is the root of the lens and defines its scope and type. For example, a project lens has a project as the top-level entity, and a demand lens has a demand as the top-level entity.

1: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/it-business-management/concept/c_Lens.html

The demand workbench is a feature of ServiceNow Demand Management that allows you to view and assess business demands in a single place. You can use the demand workbench to compare demands with portfolios and see how they align with your strategic goals and objectives. You can also use the demand workbench to compare and prioritize demands against other demands based on their scores, risks, and benefits. You can find more information about the demand workbench in the Product Documentation for ServiceNow.

A resource event is a non-scheduled activity that affects the availability and capacity of a resource or a group of resources. Examples of resource events are vacations, holidays, training, or sick leave. Resource events can be created by resource managers or resources themselves, and they can be viewed in the resource calendar or the resource workbench. You can find more information about resource events in the Product Documentation for ServiceNow.

According to the ServiceNow documentation1, a rate card is a table that defines the hourly cost of labor for different roles or resources. A project rate is a fixed rate that is applied to all resources assigned to a project, regardless of their roles or individual rates. Both of these can be used to calculate the planned cost of a resource plan by multiplying the hours allocated to each resource by the corresponding rate. The other options are incorrect because:

A. Demand rate: A demand rate is a rate that is applied to a demand, not a resource plan. It is used to estimate the cost of fulfilling a demand before it is converted into a project2.

C. Default rate: A default rate is a rate that is applied to a resource when no other rate is specified. It is not a valid option for calculating the planned cost of a resource plan, as it is only used as a fallback option3.

1: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/resource-management/concept/c_RateCards.html 2: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/demand-management/concept/c_DemandRate.html 3: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/resource-management/concept/c_DefaultRate.html

According to the Completing Demand Assessments document, demand assessments are triggered as soon as the demand enters the Submitted state. The other options are not correct, as demand assessments are not triggered when the demand is Approved, Screening, or Qualified.

 According to the ServiceNow documentation1, the color band at the top of the project card in Project Workspace displays the project status. The project status is a calculated field that indicates the health of the project based on the schedule, cost, and scope variance. The color band can be green, yellow, or red, depending on the status value. The other options are incorrect because:

B. Risk: The risk is a potential problem that could affect the project or its outcome. The risk level is displayed as a circle icon on the project card, not as a color band2.

C. State: The state is the current phase of the project, such as Draft, Planning, Work in Progress, or Closed. The state is displayed as a text field on the project card, not as a color band3.

D. Issues: The issues are the actual problems that affect the project or its outcome. The number of issues is displayed as a badge icon on the project card, not as a color band4.

1: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/concept/c_ProjectWorkspace.html 2: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/task/t_CreateARisk.html 3: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/reference/r_ProjectTable.html 4: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/vancouver-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/task/t_CreateAnIssue.html