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Which management product do the Project Board use to decide whether to authorize initiation?
Which statement best explains the purpose of Tailor to suit the project environment?
While producing the Team Plan to deliver the agreed Work Package, it became apparent that the user representatives assigned 10 check some of the products were unsuitable.
Which 2 actions should the Team Manager take in response to this situation?
Scenario
A photographer from Portraits Ltd, a professional photographic company, has taken on the role of Team Manager after taking some time to understand the requirements of the project. A contract for their services has been set up and is being monitored by the Purchasing Manager and a Work Package has been agreed. This contract specifies that the photographer must arrange a meeting with the Engineering Manager to establish a schedule for the photo sessions to minimize the impact on the Engineering staff. This meeting should have occurred by now.
The Engineering Manager was made aware of this requirement but when asked he reported that he has received no communication from the photographer. The Project Manager has tried to call the photographer and has had no response. The Project Manager believes there is a risk that Portraits Ltd are overbooking work and prioritizing other clients' work. If Portraits ltd do not deliver on schedule the project will be delayed and the expected benefits will be reduced.
The contract is to be reviewed and Portraits Ltd reminded of their agreement.
The project is now in stage 2. The Project Manager has heard about the possibility of a competitor also producing a calendar to be delivered earlier than the target date for this project. There is a threat that the early release of a competitor's calendar may weaken the impact of the MNO Manufacturing Company calendar, thereby reducing the anticipated benefits of the Calendar project.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Risk tolerance heading?
Scenario
A photographer from Portraits Ltd, a professional photographic company, has taken on the role of Team Manager after taking some time to understand the requirements of the project. A contract for their services has been set up and is being monitored by the Purchasing Manager and a Work Package has been agreed. This contract specifies that the photographer must arrange a meeting with the Engineering Manager to establish a schedule for the photo sessions to minimize the impact on the Engineering staff. This meeting should have occurred by now.
The Engineering Manager was made aware of this requirement but when asked he reported that he has received no communication from the photographer. The Project Manager has tried to call the photographer and has had no response. The Project Manager believes there is a risk that Portraits Ltd are overbooking work and prioritizing other clients' work. If Portraits ltd do not deliver on schedule the project will be delayed and the expected benefits will be reduced.
The contract is to be reviewed and Portraits Ltd reminded of their agreement.
The project is now in stage 2. The Project Manager has heard about the possibility of a competitor also producing a calendar to be delivered earlier than the target date for this project. There is a threat that the early release of a competitor's calendar may weaken the impact of the MNO Manufacturing Company calendar, thereby reducing the anticipated benefits of the Calendar project.
There is a major concern over an apparent lack of control of project documentation.
For each concern listed in Column 1, select from Column 2 the configuration management task that could help address the problem. Each selection from Column 2 can be used once, more than once or not at all.
Additional Information
A photographer from Portraits Ltd, a professional photographic company, has taken on the role of Team Manager after taking some time to understand the requirements of the project. A contract for their services has been set up and is being monitored by the Purchasing Manager and a Work Package has been agreed. This contract specifies that the photographer must arrange a meeting with the Engineering Manager to establish a schedule for the photo sessions to minimize the impact on the Engineering staff. This meeting should have occurred by now.
The Engineering Manager was made aware of this requirement but when asked he reported that he has received no communication from the photographer. The Project Manager has tried to call the photographer and has had no response. The Project Manager believes there is a risk that Portraits Ltd are overbooking work and prioritizing other clients' work. If Portraits ltd do not deliver on schedule the project will be delayed and the expected benefits will be reduced.
The contract is to be reviewed and Portraits Ltd reminded of their agreement.
Scenario
A central government department, the Ministry of Food Hygiene (MFH), faces increasing pressure to cut costs, better manage suppliers’ performance and reduce the confusion caused by inadequate internal controls, outdated standards and outdated technology. External consultants were employed to conduct a feasibility study to identify options to address the problems, and the likely costs and benefits. The following options were considered:
● Do nothing.
● Re-engineer selected business functions.
● Outsource selected business functions.
The feasibility study concluded that there was a case for outsourcing the MFH Information Technology Division and the Facilities Division (maintenance of buildings and grounds). The recommendations were:
● One service provider should be contracted to provide the services currently provided by the Information Technology Division and the Facilities Division.
● A 10-year service contract should be agreed with the selected service provider.
The feasibility study developed high-level designs of the current organization, processes, systems and operating models, plus an outline Business Case for the required project. The external consultants also made the following recommendations for the management of the project:
● Use PRINCE2.
● Set up the project with 4 management stages:
Stage 1. Standard PRINCE2 initiation activities.
Stage 2. Create detailed designs (future organization, processes, systems and operating models) and the service level agreement between MFH and the future service provider.
Stage 3. Request and evaluate proposals, select service provider and agree contract.
Stage 4. Transfer equipment and staff, transfer responsibility for service provision and run trial period.
Initial estimates indicated that the project would cost £2.5m and take two years to complete.
MFH senior management agreed that there was a case for outsourcing, and accepted the recommendations as a basis for the project. There is an expected saving of £20m over 10 years.
The Outsourcing project has completed the Starting up a Project process and is now in the initiation stage. Because of the strategic importance of the project, the MFH Chief Executive Officer has taken the role of Executive. A PRINCE2-experienced Project Manager has been appointed from within MFH. Staff within the business functions being outsourced will work with the external consultants who conducted the feasibility study to define the detailed designs.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Major risks heading?
Scenario
A central government department, the Ministry of Food Hygiene (MFH), faces increasing pressure to cut costs, better manage suppliers’ performance and reduce the confusion caused by inadequate internal controls, outdated standards and outdated technology. External consultants were employed to conduct a feasibility study to identify options to address the problems, and the likely costs and benefits. The following options were considered:
● Do nothing.
● Re-engineer selected business functions.
● Outsource selected business functions.
The feasibility study concluded that there was a case for outsourcing the MFH Information Technology Division and the Facilities Division (maintenance of buildings and grounds). The recommendations were:
● One service provider should be contracted to provide the services currently provided by the Information Technology Division and the Facilities Division.
● A 10-year service contract should be agreed with the selected service provider.
The feasibility study developed high-level designs of the current organization, processes, systems and operating models, plus an outline Business Case for the required project. The external consultants also made the following recommendations for the management of the project:
● Use PRINCE2.
● Set up the project with 4 management stages:
Stage 1. Standard PRINCE2 initiation activities.
Stage 2. Create detailed designs (future organization, processes, systems and operating models) and the service level agreement between MFH and the future service provider.
Stage 3. Request and evaluate proposals, select service provider and agree contract.
Stage 4. Transfer equipment and staff, transfer responsibility for service provision and run trial period.
Initial estimates indicated that the project would cost £2.5m and take two years to complete.
MFH senior management agreed that there was a case for outsourcing, and accepted the recommendations as a basis for the project. There is an expected saving of £20m over 10 years.
The Outsourcing project has completed the Starting up a Project process and is now in the initiation stage. Because of the strategic importance of the project, the MFH Chief Executive Officer has taken the role of Executive. A PRINCE2-experienced Project Manager has been appointed from within MFH. Staff within the business functions being outsourced will work with the external consultants who conducted the feasibility study to define the detailed designs.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Expected dis-benefits heading?
Who is responsible for ensuring that the value-for-money solution is constantly reassessed?
Scenario
Additional Information
During the initiation stage the Project Manager met with the Marketing Director to find out more about the requirements of the promotional calendar and recorded the following notes:
There has been a reduction in the order numbers at the MNO Manufacturing due in part to the increased marketing activities of its competitors. 10% of customers have not re-ordered in this financial year and staff morale is poor. A number of skilled staff have left as a result and replacement staff have not been recruited due to the reduced operation. If the project is successful, a recruitment campaign will be required to fill the existing staff vacancies and there may be a requirement for additional staff. Operational costs are likely to increase because skilled staff are expensive and difficult to find.
In financial terms, there were a total of 1,500 orders in the last financial year, each with an average profit of £2k. The Marketing department believes that sending a promotional calendar to our current and prospective customers would increase orders by at least 10% with a minimum of 10 further orders from the list of prospective customers within 12 months from the date of distribution.
The Marketing Director will be funding the project from the business marketing budget. She believes that the effect of a good company image portrayed by a successful calendar would last into a second year. She has forecast the same increase in orders for a second year and predicts that the annual employee satisfaction survey will show a measurable improvement in staff morale.
A number of alternatives were explored, including:
The calendar is seen as the favored option, as long as the company's competitors do not increase their marketing activity. Whilst the Marketing department wants a very high quality, glossy product, the project management team must be aware of the cost this will incur.
Using the Project Scenario and the additional Information provided for this question In the Scenario Booklet, answer the following question.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Business options heading?
Which role is responsible for providing the customer's quality expectations and acceptance criteria for the project?
Scenario
Additional Information
Product Description
Quality notes from the Daily Log
The Director of Information Technology Division (DIT) has been asked to ensure that any changes to the outsourced staff employment contracts adhere to employment law. The DIT will review future job descriptions of the transferred staff before the final contract is signed with the selected service provider.
The service level agreement between MFH and the selected service provider will specify the type and quality of service required. The selected service provider must follow the industry standards for providing outsourced services.
MFH has a quality management system which contains a document control procedure for all its documentation, however this does not include change management.
All project documents will be subject to a quality review. Nominated products will require a formal approval record signed-off by the quality review chair.
Extract from the draft Quality Management Strategy (may contain errors)
Introduction
1. This document defines the approach to be taken to achieve the required quality levels during the project.
2. The Project Board will have overall responsibility for the Quality Management Strategy.
3. Project Assurance will provide assurance on the implementation of the Quality Management Strategy.
Quality management procedure - Quality standards
4. The selected service provider will operate to industry standards for providing outsourced services.
5. MFH document standards will be used.
Records
6. A Quality Register will be maintained to record the planned quality events and the actual results from the quality activities.
7. Configuration Item Records will be maintained for each product to describe its status, version and variant.
8. Approval records for products that require them will be stored in the quality database.
Roles and responsibilities
9. The DIT will check that the employment contracts for outsourced staff adhere to employment law.
10. Team Managers will provide details of quality checks that have been carried out.
11. Team Managers will ensure that the Quality Register is updated with the names of team members who are involved in the review process.
12. The Senior User will review the Product Descriptions of the products to be produced by the selected service provider to ensure that they can be achieved.
Although it is not specified in the current corporate branding standards, the MFH corporate logo should be shown on the front page of the service level agreement.
Scenario
Additional Information
Product Description
Quality notes from the Daily Log
The Director of Information Technology Division (DIT) has been asked to ensure that any changes to the outsourced staff employment contracts adhere to employment law. The DIT will review future job descriptions of the transferred staff before the final contract is signed with the selected service provider.
The service level agreement between MFH and the selected service provider will specify the type and quality of service required. The selected service provider must follow the industry standards for providing outsourced services.
MFH has a quality management system which contains a document control procedure for all its documentation, however this does not include change management.
All project documents will be subject to a quality review. Nominated products will require a formal approval record signed-off by the quality review chair.
Extract from the draft Quality Management Strategy (may contain errors)
Introduction
1. This document defines the approach to be taken to achieve the required quality levels during the project.
2. The Project Board will have overall responsibility for the Quality Management Strategy.
3. Project Assurance will provide assurance on the implementation of the Quality Management Strategy.
Quality management procedure - Quality standards
4. The selected service provider will operate to industry standards for providing outsourced services.
5. MFH document standards will be used.
Records
6. A Quality Register will be maintained to record the planned quality events and the actual results from the quality activities.
7. Configuration Item Records will be maintained for each product to describe its status, version and variant.
8. Approval records for products that require them will be stored in the quality database.
Roles and responsibilities
9. The DIT will check that the employment contracts for outsourced staff adhere to employment law.
10. Team Managers will provide details of quality checks that have been carried out.
11. Team Managers will ensure that the Quality Register is updated with the names of team members who are involved in the review process.
12. The Senior User will review the Product Descriptions of the products to be produced by the selected service provider to ensure that they can be achieved.
Which statement applies to the Introduction section?
Scenario
Additional Information
Product Description
Quality notes from the Daily Log
The Director of Information Technology Division (DIT) has been asked to ensure that any changes to the outsourced staff employment contracts adhere to employment law. The DIT will review future job descriptions of the transferred staff before the final contract is signed with the selected service provider.
The service level agreement between MFH and the selected service provider will specify the type and quality of service required. The selected service provider must follow the industry standards for providing outsourced services.
MFH has a quality management system which contains a document control procedure for all its documentation, however this does not include change management.
All project documents will be subject to a quality review. Nominated products will require a formal approval record signed-off by the quality review chair.
Extract from the draft Quality Management Strategy (may contain errors)
Introduction
1. This document defines the approach to be taken to achieve the required quality levels during the project.
2. The Project Board will have overall responsibility for the Quality Management Strategy.
3. Project Assurance will provide assurance on the implementation of the Quality Management Strategy.
Quality management procedure - Quality standards
4. The selected service provider will operate to industry standards for providing outsourced services.
5. MFH document standards will be used.
Records
6. A Quality Register will be maintained to record the planned quality events and the actual results from the quality activities.
7. Configuration Item Records will be maintained for each product to describe its status, version and variant.
8. Approval records for products that require them will be stored in the quality database.
Roles and responsibilities
9. The DIT will check that the employment contracts for outsourced staff adhere to employment law.
10. Team Managers will provide details of quality checks that have been carried out.
11. Team Managers will ensure that the Quality Register is updated with the names of team members who are involved in the review process.
12. The Senior User will review the Product Descriptions of the products to be produced by the selected service provider to ensure that they can be achieved.
Which is a correctly defined acceptance criterion for the running cost of the outsourced service?
Scenario:
The Ministry of Food Hygiene (MFH) has a quality management system which contains a document control process to manage all documentation requirements. The document control process was created by the MFH Quality Manager, who now maintains all of MFH's documents and performs an organization-wide configuration management role. The MFH Quality Manager will administer the configuration management procedure for the Restructuring project since this must comply with the MFH document control process.
What will be the impact on the benefits?
When examining a project issue, which three aspects should be considered?
1. Performance targets
2. Business Case
3. Resources
4. Risk
Scenario:
The Ministry of Food Hygiene (MFH) has a quality management system which contains a document control process to manage all documentation requirements. The document control process was created by the MFH Quality Manager, who now maintains all of MFH's documents and performs an organization-wide configuration management role. The MFH Quality Manager will administer the configuration management procedure for the Restructuring project since this must comply with the MFH document control process.
Having created the Issue Report and analyzed the impact of removing the Facilities Division from the scope of the Outsourcing project, the proposed option exceeds tolerance. \Nhat is the next action the Project Manager should consider?
Which of the following activities is NOT an action of preparing for planned closure?
The Calendar project was delivered as originally planned, and Is now preparing for planned closure.
Lines 1 to 6 in the table below consist of an assertion statement and a reason statement. For each line identify the appropriate option, from options A to E, that applies. Each option can be used once, more than once or not at all.
Which of the following management products ARE updated as part of Managing a stage boundary?
1. Business Case
2. Benefits Review Plan
3. Configuration Item Records
4. Project Brief
Scenario
Product Summary
A list of customers will be collated. This will use existing information from the Accounts department about current customers, and existing information from the Marketing department about prospective customers.
Using the tariff of mailing costs available from the Post Office, a production cost forecast will be produced to allow the CEO and the Marketing Director to decide whether to continue with the project. If they decide to continue, they will give the approval to launch the internal label design competition. Competition rules will be required to communicate details of the competition to the staff. The chosen label design will then be selected from the competition entries.
The photos for the calendar must be based on existing photo design ideas available from the Marketing department. The selected photos will be chosen from these. Monthly calendar displays will be created to show the required layout of each page.
Product Breakdown Structure (contains errors)
Extract from Stage Plan for stage 3.
(All entries are true statements but may not be shown under the correct heading or in the correct document).
Using the Project Scenario and the Extract from Stage Plan for stage 3 provided as additional intonation for this question in the Scenario Booklet, answer the following 5 questions.
The Stage Plan for stage 3 has been produced.
The Engineering Manager insists that there are to be no interruptions to operations whilst photographs are being taken of the engineering staff performing their everyday duties and operating machinery. Two weeks ago the professional photographer produced the photo session schedule based on the operational staff schedule. The operational staff schedule is produced weekly and maintained by the Engineering Manager.
None of the £500 change budget has been used to date and this is available for the stage.
Which 2 statements apply to the Planning assumptions section?
Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.
ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.
The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.
The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.
Additional Information:
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.
The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.
The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.
The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.
The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.
The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.
The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.
The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.
The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.
End of the additional information.
Towards the end of stage 2, the stage 3 plan is being prepared. This includes the work required to promote the new courses to other training companies. In addition to the current ways of marketing the courses, the Sales Director wants to advertise in trade magazines. The likely costs involved and the opportunities it may bring have been identified.
As part of the ‘update the project plan’ activity, what should the project manager be responsible for?
Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.
ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.
The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.
The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.
Additional Information:
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.
The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.
The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.
The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.
The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.
The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.
The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.
The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.
The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.
End of the additional information.
During stage 4, a work package was authorized for the ‘delivered pilot courses’ to be completed by the end of week 2. The ‘finalized materials’ work package will start in week 3. Both work packages have zero tolerances, and finalizing the materials is dependent on feedback from the pilot courses.
During week 1, there were some problems with the pilot courses, so at the start of week 2 the team manager rescheduled the courses to week 3, and reported this in the weekly checkpoint report as the end of week 2.
Should the team manager have reported this delay previously as an issue, and why?
Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.
ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.
The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.
The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.
Additional Information:
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.
The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.
The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.
The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.
The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.
The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.
The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.
The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.
The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.
End of the additional information.
In order for ABC Company to achieve the expected sales of the health and safety training course, the senior user will need to ensure that all staff understand the objectives and target audience for the course. In addition, these sales will need to be added to each individual’s sales targets. These activities have been included in the benefits management approach.
Is this appropriate, and why?
Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.
ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom-based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.
The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.
The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.
The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.
Additional Information:
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.
The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.
The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.
The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.
The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.
The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.
The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.
The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.
The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.
End of the additional information.
ABC Company has a number of projects in progress. The executive of the Health and Safety Training Project is also a member of the project board for two other projects and is very busy. As a result, during this initiation stage, the executive has appointed another person to carry out both their business assurance and the role of change authority for minor and medium severity issues.
Is this appropriate, and why?
Scenario
Additional Information
Chief Executive Officer (CEO): He started the company 25 years ago and knows his job very well. He injured his leg two years ago which has restricted his visits to the engineering area. As CEO he has an overall perspective of the business strategic requirements and the authority to commit resources as required.
Marketing Director: She has been with the company for three years, following a successful career with a publicity company. She has the ability to represent the needs of the business, particularly as this is a marketing project. She has the authority to commit the annual business marketing budget, from which the project will be funded, as she sees appropriate. She will be responsible for monitoring the expected benefits of the calendar, in particular the improvement of the company's image.
Engineering Manager: He has been responsible for many engineering innovations in the company and is still as keen and energetic as the day he started. VVhilst he will not be part of the project team, his staff will feature in the photos for the promotional calendar.
Central Records: This group of five staff looks after all company records and document control. They now maintain all project files.
Bright Lights: This is the local office supplies company. It supplies all the stationery and office equipment needs of the company and will supply the stationery for this project.
Portraits ltd: This is a professional photographic company with a number of excellent photographers and a history of successful work. This company has been selected to take the photos for the company calendar. It has yet be decided which of the photographers to use.
Which 2 statements explain why the Marketing Director should be appointed as the Executive for this project?
Scenario
Additional Information
Further information on some resources who could be involved in the project:
Outcome Account Manager: He represents Outcome which is a recruitment agency that provides specialist outsourcing resources. Outcome provided the consultants who carried out the feasibility study and the same consultants will be providing support and guidance to the Information Technology and Facilities teams during the project.
Director of Finance Division: She was transferred from the Information Technology Division 12 months ago. She is responsible for ensuring a cost-conscious approach is adopted in all operational and project activities across the Ministry of Food Hygiene.
Hardware Manager: Reports to the Director of Information Technology. He provides computer hardware to all business functions but has little awareness of the needs of his colleagues working in software.
Payroll Manager: Reports to the Director of Finance. He is a very experienced and efficient qualified accountant who has much of the responsibility of running the Finance Division on behalf of the Director of Finance. He has been involved in drafting the Ministry's business strategy and assisting in a full business risk assessment. He also drafted the corporate Business Case standards.
Which 2 alternative actions apply to the proposed supplier assurance for this project?
Who is responsible for ensuring that Communication Management Strategy is appropriate and that planned communication activities actually take place?
Which statement is an appropriate entry for the outline Business Case heading within the Project Brief?
Scenario
Additional Information
Extract from the Communication Management Strategy.
The project information in the table below is true, but it may not be recorded under the correct heading or be in the correct document.
Using the Project Scenario, select the appropriate response to each of the following 5 questions which have been raised by the Project Board.
The project is now at the end of the initiation stage. Having decided that the Calendar project is a relatively simple project, the Project Manager combined the Starting Up a Project process and the Initiating a Project process. No Project Brief has been produced. Instead the Project Manager used the project mandate to produce a simple Project Initiation Documentation (PlO). The PlO includes the Business Case, a product checklist and several Product Descriptions, Including the Project Product Description. Short sections are also included for each of the strategies and the controls to be applied. The Project Manager has elected to use the Daily Log to record all risks, issues. lessons and quality - results.
After the initiation stage there will be two further stages during which a small number of Work Packages will be authorized. While these are being managed, the Project Manager will hold regular checkpoints, which will support the production of weekly Highlight Reports to the Project Board.
There is no project schedule in the Project Initiation Documentation. How can project progress be tracked without a schedule to track against?
Scenario
Additional Information
Extract from the Communication Management Strategy.
The project information in the table below is true, but it may not be recorded under the correct heading or be in the correct document.
Using the Project Scenario, select the appropriate response to each of the following 5 questions which have been raised by the Project Board.
The project is now at the end of the initiation stage. Having decided that the Calendar project is a relatively simple project, the Project Manager combined the Starting Up a Project process and the Initiating a Project process. No Project Brief has been produced. Instead the Project Manager used the project mandate to produce a simple Project Initiation Documentation (PlO). The PlO includes the Business Case, a product checklist and several Product Descriptions, Including the Project Product Description. Short sections are also included for each of the strategies and the controls to be applied. The Project Manager has elected to use the Daily Log to record all risks, issues, lessons and quality - results.
After the initiation stage there will be two further stages during which a small number of Work Packages will be authorized. While these are being managed, the Project Manager will hold regular checkpoints, which will support the production of weekly Highlight Reports to the Project Board.
There is no mention of any Stage Plans, yet there are two further stages proposed. How will this be resolved?
While capturing previous lessons, the Project Manager discovered several interesting facts about outsourcing.
Which fact is an appropriate lesson for the Outsourcing project?
A change authority has been appointed for the project. During the development of the 'classroom-based training material', a large number of changes were proposed to the design of the 'e-learning course'. Therefore, the change authority has decided to use the Moscow technique to prioritize changes based on the impact they will have on completing each stage on time.
Is this an appropriate application of the Moscow technique, and why?
DIRECTING A PROJECT
Here are three activities that occur during the ‘directing a project’ process.
Which theme (A-E) do they relate to?
Choose only one theme for each activity. Each theme can be used once, more than once, or not at all.
TESTED 08 May 2024
