PgMP Program Management Professional (PgMP) Questions and Answers

A company's marketing department fails an internal compliance audit. To comply with the auditor's remediation plan, the legal department mandates that a content management system (CMS) be implemented. After initiating the program for CMS implementation, the program manager discovers that the marketing department has already preselected which CMS technology will be implemented.

What should the program manager do to ensure the success of the program?

In which of the following processes is the program charter created?

You are the program manager for your organization and are planning the roles and responsibilities in your program. You would like to create a RACI chart for the program work. What does RACI mean?

During program execution, a program manager receives feedback from an executive sponsor that some program stakeholders may not understand the intended benefits of the program.

Which will provide the greatest value to clarify stakeholder perceptions?

Terri is the program manager for her organization and she's working with Alice, a project manager in her program. Alice calls Terri and insists that she add a change to program scope. Terri agrees that the change should be entertained. What must Alice do to move forward with her change request?

What analysis type could you use in a program to compare the positive stakeholders and their position, power, and influence over your program to the same variable components of the negative stakeholders in your program?

Which one of the following is NOT a component of the risk monitoring and controlling process?

Program manager B leaves the program and program manager A takes over the program responsibilities. Program manager A wants to ensure that all expected benefits of the program are realized.

What is used to assess the program cost/benefit justification?

You are the program manager for your organization. Your program has a budget of $750,000 and is expected to last one year. The program is currently 30 percent complete and has spent $245,000. The program is supposed to be 40 percent at this time. What is the cost performance index for this program?

Performing quality assurance in a program can result in which one of the following?

A municipal agency manages a city's water and wastewater infrastructure. Its six-year capital improvement program (CIP) is approximately US$4 billion, and is used for such things as improving aging infrastructure, addressing regulatory requirements, and upgrading facilities. The mayor and key stakeholders are concerned because of yearly rate increases for residents. After receiving proposals from program managers for this key program, which is half of the current CIP, a program management team is hired and receives an approved business case.

What should the project manager do next?

After taking over a program, a program manager reviews the program’s status and discovers that stakeholders do not know how the program is performing in relation to schedule and costs. The program manager establishes earned value (EV) metrics and determines that the program has a budget of US$2.1 million, is three months into a nine-month timeline, and the planned value (PV) at the three-month point should be US$320,000. The program has spent US$350,000 and the EV is US$340,000.

Based on this information, the program manager determines which of the following?

A program manager is working on benefits. The program team created and updated a benefits register earlier in the program.

The benefits register should include which of the following?

A large automaker begins a program to create the next-generation car. As the program team is composed, key stakeholders are identified.

Key stakeholders for the program should include which of the following?

A three-year program using vendor contracts, incorporating related projects, and each with specific stakeholders is coming to an end. What should be completed first to close all appropriate contracts?

You are the program manager for your organization. You and your program team have been creating and transferring the program benefits to operations as feasible in your program execution. The process of delivering the program's benefits describes what process in program management?

Martha is the program manager for her organization. One of the projects of a program is done but is also considerably over budget. Kay, the project manager, has elected to crash the project in order to recoup schedule delays but this increased the project costs. What should Martha instruct Kay to do with the information regarding the schedule delays and cost overruns?

You are the program manager for your organization and you need to define all of the program resources you'll need for your program. All of the following can be considered a program resource except for which one?

During the selection of source process, you assign certain points towards various categories to judge the vendors. Which type of source selection process is it?

Mike is the program manager of the NHQ Program. Mike and a vendor are in disagreement over the deliverable the vendor has created for Mike's program. Mike does not believe the vendor has correctly created the deliverable, while the vendor is adamant that his company has indeed completed the contract. Both parties have documented their stance in the debate.

This is an example of what?

Small changes that bypass the organization's change control procedures are called.

You are the program manager of the JNH Program. Tom, a project manager in your program, has just completed his project and is ready to officially close his project. You agree that Tom's project is completed. What role do you play in Tom's project closure?

You are the program manager of the NHQ Program. You will need to initiate six projects for your program. When should project initiating happen within a program?

A program management team is invited to a company’s annual strategy planning session. The CEO discusses the mission and vision of the organization, and how the strategic plan will create opportunities to fulfill them.

How can the program manager use the company’s vision to establish a program?

You are the program manager for your organization and are about to execute your procurement management plan. You need to procure materials for your program and you want only the vendor to provide you with a price for the goods you need to procure. What type of a document should you provide to the vendor in this

scenario?

is the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.

You are program manager for the HYH Program. Your program governance is requiring you to use earned value management to predict how closely your program is tracking to the cost and schedule baselines and to predict overall program performance. Which earned value management formula can you use to predict how much more will need to be invested in the program based on current program performance?

A program manager initiates a developmental program. Significant resources and funding are required for early activities until the program cost and budget estimates are complete.

What should the program manager do to understand the financial environment?

A program completes all component projects and all identified benefits are being delivered. However, the program sponsor is concerned that long-term benefits may not meet organizational performance parameters.

To ensure the realization of long-term benefits, what should the program manager use?

An aircraft manufacturer is engaged by an airline to build a fleet of new airliners. The program charter has

been approved, but the stakeholders are concerned that the delivery method of the program may not meet their expectations.

Using the program master schedule, what will the program manager incorporate to align the program with the expectations of the stakeholders?

A program manager building the world’s largest cruise ship is resolving the conflict between the two main sponsors who cannot agree on the number of food and beverage outlets to have onboard. What should the program manager do?

Wanda is the program manager for her organization. Her program team consists of resources from across the organization - many of whom have not worked together before. Wanda thinks that she'll need to complete some team development but would like to focus the development on the materials and activities that the program team will need to complete in the program. What plan should Wanda reference and update to complete her team development process?

You are the program manager for your company and management wants you to identify how you'll make decisions in the program planning processes. What program management document should serve as the baseline for all future program decisions?

A design and production company's program comprises the design and manufacture of complex parts. During the yearly strategy alignment meeting, the program manager notices that a peer program manager started a project to develop a new manufacturing technology to further reduce operations costs.

What should the program manager do to incorporate this new technology into the program?

You are the program manager for your organization. Management has asked you to create a method to track the program stakeholders' concerns, threats, and demands for communication. They would like you to map out each stakeholder or stakeholder group and identify trends within the chart to help your program communicate better. What type of a chart should you create for management?

A large infrastructure development program involves three road construction projects, two sewage line construction projects, and one project to lay underground electric cables. During a program meeting, the project manager of a road construction project communicates that a project risk related to the interdependency with a sewage line project has crossed its risk threshold.

What should the program manager do next?

A program is developing a next-generation product line, and one component has been delivered. However, due to a change request, expectations for another component are unmet.

What activity should the program manager perform next?

You are the program manager for the GHT Program for your company. This program has a budget at completion of $789,000 and is currently 40 percent complete, though it was scheduled to be 50 percent at this time. Your program has spent $325,000 of the budget to date. Based on this information, how many pennies is your program losing per dollar spent on the work?

Part of program management is to identify what motivates your program team members. If you subscribe to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which need is at the top of the hierarchy?

Paula is program manager for her organization. It has come to her attention that several of the projects within her program have stalled which has now caused her project to be delayed. Paula is required by her organization to create a certain type of report when there are variances in the program dealing with time and cost. What type of report is Paula likely to create in this instance?

You are the project manager of a construction project. You have to close a phase of the project. Which is the only technique (or tool) available in the Close Project or Phase process?

The program sponsor requests a weekly performance report. The tools and techniques to monitor and control program performance include which of the following?

You are the program manager for your organization. As your program is being initiated there is some initial concern from the management about the utilization of resources in your program and the need for resources in their day-to-day roles in operations. Management has set a limit on your program that resources may only

work 20 hours per week on the program. What is this limit of resource hours in a time period known as?

The program manager plans to address a negative cost variance generating a red flag in the program management status report.

What should the program manager do?

A software development program will launch iterative versions of new software called Alpha over two years. Following that, a program will be released to the program team and developers to create new software called Beta. While the program manager prepares the program closure plan for Alpha, the program sponsor expresses concern about its support after program closure.

What should the program manager do as part of Alpha’s program closure plan?

After attending a technology exposition, an influential stakeholder believes that integrating a new technology into the program will increase benefits and help shorten the schedule. The stakeholder asks the program manager to immediately include the new technology into the program.

What should the program manager do next?

During the execution phase of a program, a stakeholder complains to the program manager that they did not receive critical communications about one of the component projects.

What should the program manager do to address the situation?

What cost estimating approach uses the work breakdown structure to create a cost estimate?

You are the program manager for your organization and management has asked you to be certain to finalize the lessons learned documentation for your program. When will the lessons learned documentation be created?

A risk response in a project in your program has actually caused new risks. What term is assigned to the new risks that a risk response has created?

A company wants to perform a preliminary stakeholder analysis to assess a new program's support.

What should the program manager develop?

Which of the following tools/techniques keep program managers and executives informed of the program's progress?

A company is building a global monitoring network in 40 countries. The program completes the planning phase and a review is conducted of the program components’ strategic alignment with the intended program and company goals. The review identifies issues that should be resolved to improve program progress. One of the issues identified is the lack of incorporation of both software and configuration management tools.

Which of the following must be addressed?

The program sponsor returns from a board of directors meeting after identifying a significant risk to the program schedule. This may impact the program's benefits realization.

What should the program manager do next?

There are five stages of team development. At which stage are there likely to be disagreements and struggle for roles in the program team?

Wan is the program manager for his organization. He has been hearing reports that some

project team members are complaining about the number of hours they're required to work on the program's projects and that some scheduling of team assignments are conflicting with their regular operational duties. You investigate the problem and agree that many team members are being assigned too much work within a given time period. You decide to enforce resource leveling heuristics to thirty hours of project work per week maximum. What will likely happen to the program and projects?

You are the program manager for your organization. Part of your role as the program manager is to train John, a new program manager, on the program processes within a program. John is confused as to when the program team can be acquired in the program management lifecycle. When will the program team be acquired for a program?

A program governance board mandates that phase gate reviews must be held so each component project can be reviewed and individually authorized to proceed to the next phase. Tracking and reporting of actual benefits realized is one part of the review.

What is the other part of the review?

A program manager needs to establish direction and identify the essential aspects of a program. In addition, they must ensure that the context and framework of the program are properly defined, assessed, and documented.

Which document will be created to support this activity?

An initiative involves the development of new technology and leverages existing technologies. It is determined critical by the program governance board and the program sponsor that a comprehensive risk management plan be put in place.

In what phase is the risk management plan created?

What document should you provide to the vendors if you're only interested for a set fee for their materials?

Which of the following statements is most accurate about the critical path?

At what point in the project is the risk of failing to achieve the project objectives the greatest?

Robert is the program manager for his organization which operates in a matrix structure.

Resources in Robert's program will be utilized on several projects in and out of his program. He wants to be certain that all of the resources will be planned accordingly and that the project managers communicate with one another about when the resources will be needed and utilized in the projects. What plan should Robert create along with the project managers to ensure that the resources are scheduled and managed effectively?