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Take Action for Session 5 - Scope Management

Studying PMBOK Guide & PMP Exam Prep Book
Chapters to Study

PMBOK

PrepBook

Project Scope Management

5.1

Plan Scope Management

5.2

Collect Requirements

5.3

Define Scope

5.4

Create WBS

5.5

Validate Scope

5.6

Control Scope

In this Workbook

Read the article: Student Tips for Building a WBS written by Kay Wais, PMP from
www.successfulprojects.com in this workbook.

Read the worksheet: Tools and Techniques of Collect Requirements.

Take a look at the PMP Sample Test Questions from PMI . This is a (very) small collection of
PMP Exam sample questions that PMI has officially published.

Take a look at the CAPM Sample Test Questions from PMI . This is an (extremely) small
collection of CAPM sample questions that the PMI has officially published. CAPM questions
are much easier than PMP questions; however you may come across one or two like this on your
PMP certification exam.

Take the Scope Management Self-Assessment.

Listening

Listen to Episode 55 of The PMO Podcast with Mark Perry: Recommendations for Informal
Projects Part I-The Simple WBS and learn more about the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
o

Link not available in this free sample

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Listen to Episode 09 of The Controlling Chaos Podcast with Dina Henry Scott, PMP and Lee
Scott, PMP: Work Breakdown Structures and learn about the importance of the WBS in project
scope.
o

Link not available in this free sample

Viewing

Watch complimentary PM PrepCast L00.32 Finding the Best Answer to Sample Questions.
o

Link not available in this free sample

Watch the Slideshare 15 Free PMP Exam Questions.

o

Link not available in this free sample

Go Beyond!

Sign up for www.free-pm-exam-questions.com

o

Join your local PMI Chapter ( www.pm-prepcast.com/chapters).

o

You will receive over 100 sample exam questions

An outstanding way to network and to be exposed to industry trends. Your chapter may offer
discounts on PMP Exam workshops.

Find a study-buddy.
o

Attend your local PMI Chapter dinner meeting. Ask the people at the registration desk to
direct you to the person who can put you in touch with other attendees studying for the exam.

Partner with a fellow employee or friend to study:

One person: form a Study Partnership

Two or more people: form a Study Group

Be sure the others are as dedicated as you. Study time is a precious commodity and
you dont want to waste it.

My Additional Actions

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

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Page |3

Answer Sheet for Session 05 Self-Assessment

This page should be printed and completed while taking the Self-Assessment. The questions, answers,
and a detailed explanation for each question are on the following pages.

Question Number

My Answer

Correct

Incorrect

Question 01

Question 02

Question 03

Question 04

Question 05

Question 06

Question 07

Question 08

Question 09

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

Question 14

Question 15

Total Number
% Correct

_____%

To calculate the % correct, divide the total correct by 0.15. Example: If you have 13 correct then calculate 13 / 0.15 = 86.6%

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Questions for Session 05 Self-Assessment

The following 15 self-assessment questions have been hand-picked from www.pm-exam-simulator.com
so that you can test your understanding of the concepts you studied this week.
Question 1: As a project manager, you are trying to receive formal
acceptance of the completed project deliverables from your stakeholders.
However, stakeholders want to compare the requirements to the
deliverables using acceptance criteria before issuing the acceptance letter.
Where can you find the acceptance criteria for the requirements?
A.) Requirements Traceability Matrix
B.) Requirements Documentation
C.) Requirements Management Plan
D.) Validated Deliverables
Question 2: You are executing Phase 2 of a three phase project for your customer. Three weeks
ago, as part of the closing of Phase 1, your customer accepted the project deliverables and you
started the execution of Phase 2. However, the customer is now complaining that some of the
Phase 1 product features are not functioning as expected and that the overall product is not
functioning properly. What should you do first?
A.) Ignore the customer because they have already accepted the product
B.) Review the Validate Scope Process
C.) Ask the customer to submit a change request to enable the product to match the expected
functionality
D.) Immediately start working on rectifying the errors as reported by the customer
Question 3: For unknown reasons, your manager has suddenly become a negative stakeholder on
your project. He is now asking you to incorporate multiple changes into the project scope.
Although you have the ultimate authority over the project and you have managed to avoid such
requests, some requests look reasonable to you. Which of the following documents can help you
identify which changes require a change request?
A.) Scope Management Plan
B.) Configuration Management Plan
C.) Schedule Management Plan
D.) Quality Management Plan

Questions 4-15 are not available in this free sample

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Answers for Session 05 Self-Assessment

Question Number

Correct Answer

Question 01

Question 02

Question 03

Question 04

Question 05

Question 06

Question 07

Question 08

Question 09

Question 10

Question 11

Question 12

Question 13

Question 14

Question 15

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Page |6

Answers & Explanations for Session 05 Self-Assessment

The following 15 self-assessment questions have been hand-picked from www.pm-exam-simulator.com
so that you can test your understanding of the concepts you studied this week.
Question 1: As a project manager, you are trying to receive formal
acceptance of the completed project deliverables from your stakeholders.
However, stakeholders want to compare the requirements to the
deliverables using acceptance criteria before issuing the acceptance letter.
Where can you find the acceptance criteria for the requirements?
A.) Requirements Traceability Matrix
B.) Requirements Documentation
C.) Requirements Management Plan
D.) Validated Deliverables
Correct answer is B
Explanation: Requirements Documentation contains the project, product, technical, and other types
of requirements along with their acceptance criteria.
Note: Even though the PMBOK Guide states that the "Requirements Traceability Matrix" may
contain acceptance criteria, this is not the correct answer. This is because in the description of the
Validate Scope process, the PMBOK Guide states that it is the "Requirements Documentation"
that contains the criteria used for formal approval. Therefore, "Requirements Documentation" is the
best answer, because it is always correct, while "Requirements Traceability Matrix" may only be
correct in some cases, on some projects, under special circumstances.
Reference: PMBOK Guide 5thEdition, pages 118, 134
Question 2: You are executing Phase 2 of a three phase project for your customer. Three weeks
ago, as part of the closing of Phase 1, your customer accepted the project deliverables and you
started the execution of Phase 2. However, the customer is now complaining that some of the
Phase 1 product features are not functioning as expected and that the overall product is not
functioning properly. What should you do first?
A.) Ignore the customer because they have already accepted the product
B.) Review the Validate Scope Process
C.) Ask the customer to submit a change request to enable the product to match the expected
functionality
D.) Immediately start working on rectifying the errors as reported by the customer
Correct answer is C
Explanation: The product delivered by you at the end of Phase 1 was accepted by the customer
and Phase 1 was closed. This means that the customer accepted the delivered product "as is",
which means that it worked as expected.
The fact that the customer only now determined that the delivered product from Phase 1 did not
function according to their expectations here in Phase 2 resulted from them not performing
appropriate deliverables acceptance and phase closing activities.
You could just ignore the customer's request since you are right and they are wrong. However, the
best course of action is to have the customer go through proper channels and submit a change
request in order to enable the product to match the expected functionality.
Reference: PMBOK Guide 5thEdition, pages 135-136

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Question 3: For unknown reasons, your manager has suddenly become a negative stakeholder on
your project. He is now asking you to incorporate multiple changes into the project scope.
Although you have the ultimate authority over the project and you have managed to avoid such
requests, some requests look reasonable to you. Which of the following documents can help you
identify which changes require a change request?
A.) Scope Management Plan
B.) Configuration Management Plan
C.) Schedule Management Plan
D.) Quality Management Plan
Correct answer is B
Explanation: The Scope Management Plan outlines how the overall project scope will be defined,
managed and controlled. However, it does not document which changes require a change request
and which do not. Actually, that depends upon the situation. If any change impacts one or more
project baselines, a change request should be created. Otherwise, minor changes do not require
change requests. The Configuration Management plan defines those items that are configurable,
those items that require formal change control, and the process for controlling such items.
Reference: PMBOK Guide 5th Edition, pages 138

Questions 4-15 are not available in this free sample

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Page |8

Student Tips for Building a WBS that will both help your
project and earn a good grade on a WBS assignment
by Kay Wais, PMP.
Successful Projects, LLC, www.successfulprojects.com
Structure is not a statement. The work breakdown structure is often confused with scope statement.
Both come early in a projects life cycle. WBS is an outline of work to be done.
Exclude the Distractions and Details. A well-crafted WBS includes all of the work needed to complete
the project and purposefully excludes all the anticipated, but unnecessary, diversions and distractions that
would slow it down. Dont include technical specifications or work instructions inside the WBS. Dont try to
write the WBS using full sentences.
Know the two key terms. There are summary tasks and work packages in a WBS. Summary tasks are
just there for organizational purposes. The work packages are where the actual work resides. Work
packages get estimated and delegated. Summary tasks do NOT get estimated and delegated.
Beware the stand-alone work package. A summary task with just one work package under it is a huge
red flag that your WBS work is incomplete.
Think deliverables. A WBS specifies the major and subordinate deliverables so it is best to write it in
terms of nouns as opposed to actions. Remember that approvals are a deliverable.
Decompose to the level of delegation and to where you can accurately estimate. Make sure that
each WBS element has someone who is clearly accountable for its completion. Decompose that
deliverable to the point where the time and cost can be accurately estimated.
Bigger projects demand longer legs. WBS levels increase when a project is large, complex and timeconsuming. These increasingly more detailed levels are often referred to as long legs. Deliverables are
pushed further into the future on long-legged projects.
A good WBS helps prevent project delay or failure. Omitting WBS development and proceeding
directly to a Gantt chart or other network diagram may unnecessarily delay the project. Creating a WBS
that is not deliverables-focused may lead to project failure.
Practice the art of progressive elaboration. Increase the legs of a WBS until a level is reached that
provides the needed insight for effective project management. At that finite end point, one person is
responsible for one independent element, and there are clear, objective criteria for measuring the
elements progress and completion.
Plan to Use your WBS. For the assignment you probably do not have to track the percent that all of the
work is done, but the WBS is where you would plan to do this tracking. You may want to build in a method
for this at the start. If youre using project management software, that is done for you. However if you are
using something like Word or Excel, it might be helpful to add a columns such as assigned and %
complete immediately to help you prepare for that.

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Page |9

Tools and Techniques of Collect Requirements

Interviews
An interview is a form of information gathering. This may be done in a formal or informal setting. It is used
to discover information directly from stakeholders through talking. Questions are either prepared
beforehand or spontaneous with a recording of the responses given.
An interviewer may choose to conduct the interviews either one-on-one, in a group setting, or a
combination of these. Interviews are one of the fastest techniques for collecting requirements; however,
there are challenges that need to be considered. In a one-on-one setting an interviewee may feel free to
share detailed, unfiltered information. In a group setting, the dynamics of the group members may impact
each interviewees willingness to share. Regardless, interviews can aid and expedite the identification
and definition of the features and functions of desired project deliverables and should be considered the
preferred method of requirements gathering.

Focus Groups
Focus groups are guided by a trained moderator. Prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts
are gathered and then channeled by the moderator to learn about their expectations and attitudes about
the proposed product, service, or result. This is achieved through an interactive discussion. Compared to
interviews, focus groups are designed to be more spontaneous.

Facilitated Workshops
Facilitated workshops are meetings that bring together a group of individuals who are best qualified to
identify and discuss product and project requirements. Some key benefits of these workshops are that
they bring diverse often cross-functional representatives together so a big picture view and impact are
captured, potential issues identified early and resolved quickly, stakeholder differences are reconciled in a
well-controlled environment, and trust and important relationships are fostered between participants,
which can lead to improved communication and consensus building. An example of a facilitated workshop
is a JAD or Joint Application and Design/Development session. These are typically called and facilitated
by business analysts and include key stakeholders, subject matter experts, and the development team. In
this way the design and development team can much better understand the context and subtleties of
each requirement. As a result the development team is much more effective and the number of
development cycles can be dramatically decreased.

Group Creativity Techniques

Group creativity techniques are similar to focus groups but differ in that there are several activities that
take place instead of just group discussions. These activities can include:
a. Brainstorming: This technique involves collecting multiple ideas related to project and product
requirements from all the participants.
b. Nominal Group Technique: This technique usually follows the brainstorming technique. In this
method, the previous technique is enhanced with the help of a voting process. This is where
ideas are ranked to determine the most useful, which in turn is used for prioritization and/or
further brainstorming.
c. Delphi Technique: The Delphi technique is a good way to maintain anonymity in terms of
feedback and responses on presented ideas. In this technique, a selected group of experts
answer questionnaires. These answers are then presented in an anonymous fashion to a panel
that provides feedback. Following the round of feedback the experts then are given the ability to
modify their responses. This continues in an iterative fashion for as many rounds as is deemed
appropriate to firm up requirements.
d. Idea/mind Mapping: In this technique, ideas are created through individual brainstorming. The
ideas are consolidated to a single map to compare and contrast. This technique is designed to
shape new and better ideas.

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e. Affinity Diagram: An affinity diagram is useful for creating a cause and effect diagram whereby
ideas are collected, sorted, and related ideas grouped together. This process is repeated until all
the ideas are grouped and/or sub-grouped, which helps with management of the ideas.

Group Decision-Making Techniques

Group decision-making is technique that provides for a leader to facilitate the process of reaching a
decision. The technique takes the pressure off of individuals who are unwilling or unable to make a
decision. This technique is effective for generating, classifying, and prioritizing product requirements and
should result in a definitive plan of action. The multiple methods of reaching a group discussion are
unanimity/consensus, majority, plurality/clique, and dictatorship/unilateral.

Questionnaires and Surveys

When a quick turnaround is required and statistical analysis is imperative the ideal technique used is the
questionnaire or survey. Questionnaires and surveys are written sets of questions that are designed to
accumulate information from a wide number of respondents faster and easier.

Observations
Observations offer a direct way of viewing the individual, their environment, how their jobs or tasks are
performed, and the process they follow. This is particularly effective on cases where the detailed process
is difficult to articulate or when the people are reluctant to explain their requirements. Another term that
refers to observation, job shadowing may be done with the observer viewing the user on the job.
Observation may also be accomplished through the use of a participant observer who performs the
process or procedure in order to experience how it is done, which helps uncover hidden requirements or
factors not initially noticed through observation.

Prototypes
Prototypes, or models, are built before the actual product in order to obtain feedback on requirements
sooner. Because the prototypes are tangible, this model allows the stakeholders to experiment and see
possible outcomes rather than just discussing abstract representations or assuming their requirements.
The concept of progressive elaboration is supported by prototyping because it is used on mock up
creation, user experimentation, feedback generation, and prototype revision. All these feedback cycles
formulated from experiments are designed to eventually be sufficient to complete or design the final
output.

Benchmarking
Benchmarking is primarily a compare and contrast activity between different organizations that may have
a bearing on the project. Most often actual and planned practices such as processes or operations are
compared with the goal of: establishing best practices, work toward continuous improvement of existing
practices, as well as deriving a basis for measuring the performance of the requirements gathering
process.

Context Diagrams
Context diagrams take advantage of the power of representing a system or product graphically. The
Context Diagram shows the system under consideration as a single high-level process and then shows
the relationship that the system has with other external entities (systems, organizational groups, external
data stores, etc.).

Document Analysis
Document Analysis is a practice that can help elicit requirements and identify information relevant to the
requirements. It describes the act of reviewing the existing documentation often of comparable business
processes or systems in order to extract pieces of information that are relevant to the current project, and
therefore should be considered as project requirements. Some more common documents that are
analyzed are business process models, use cases, requirements specifications, and RFPs. Existing

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P a g e | 11

documentation can be scoured for an understanding of key functions, business rules, business entities,
and business entity attributes. Document analysis may also be necessary when stakeholders are not
available to offer insight into existing business processes or systems.

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PMI Sample questions

PMP Sample Test Questions
(correct answers are bolded)
1. An accepted deadline for a project approaches. However, the project manager realizes only 75%
percent of the work has been completed. The project manager then issues a change request.
What should the change request authorize?
A. Additional resources using the contingency fund
B. Escalation approval to use contingency funding
C. Team overtime to meet schedule
D. Corrective action based on causes
2. The project manager develops a process improvement plan to encourage continuous process
improvement during the life of the project. Which of the following is a valid tool or technique to assist
the project manager to assure the success of the process improvement plan?
A. Change control system
B. Process analysis
C. Benchmarking
D. Configuration management system
3. The project manager meets with the project team to review lessons learned from previous projects.
In what activity is the team involved?
A. Performance management
B. Scope identification
C. Risk identification
D. Project team status meeting

CAPM Sample Test Questions

(correct answers are bolded)
1. Which interpersonal skill is displayed by developing a vision and strategy, and inspires people to
achieve that vision and strategy?
A. Motivation
B. Leadership
C. Influencing the organization
D. Effective communication
2. Administer procurements is performed as part of which process group?
A. Planning
B. Executing
C. Monitoring and Controlling
D. Closing

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Version History of this Weekly Workbook

Version
1.00

Date
2014-04-30

Comments
Original

Copyright and Disclaimer

Published by:
OSP International LLC
P.O. Box 863
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Email: info@osp-international.com
Internet: www.osp-international.com
OSP International LLC has been reviewed and approved as a provider of project management training by
the Project Management Institute (PMI). As a PMI Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.), OSP
International LLC has agreed to abide by PMI established quality assurance criteria.
Copyright 2014 OSP International LLC. All rights reserved.
The PM PrepCast, The Agile PrepCast, The PM Podcast, The Project Management Podcast, The PDU
Podcast and PM Exam Simulator are trademarks of OSP International LLC.
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expressed or implied as to the accuracy or content.
Every attempt has been made by OSP International LLC to ensure that the information presented in this
publication is accurate and can serve as basic information in preparation for the PMP certification exam.
However, OSP International LLC accepts no legal responsibility for the content herein. This document or
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published material. Using the information from this document does not guarantee that the reader will pass
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