WGU C722 PROJECT MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT ACTUAL EXAM 2025/2026 VERIFIED QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT DETAILED SOLUTIONS || 100% GUARANTEED PASS BRAND NEW VERSION

An organization has a surplus of project dollars in the operating budget. The senior leader's decision is to fund one more project with the remaining funds. Of the three projects proposed, one of the projects was selected without evaluation of feasibility or viability. Which non-numeric model is this leader using? - Answer️Sacred cow Each project team member generated a series of questions to evaluate three projects. The checklist was compiled into one list based on frequency of question content, such as personnel, materials, experience, and time. The more frequent the question content, the more likely the questions would be asked first. Which two benefits result from this checklist approach? - Answer️(1) Operational impact has been built in (2) Strategic impact has been integrated. Each project team member generated a series of questions to evaluate three projects. A checklist was then compiled into one list based on the frequency of question content, such as personnel, materials, experience, and time. What is a disadvantage of using this checklist approach? - Answer️Biases have not been eliminated. To calculate money's worth today compared to in the future - Answer️Time value of money To calculate future cash flows using time and interest rate - Answer️Internal rate of return To calculate whether revenue tomorrow is greater than costs today - Answer️Net present value To calculate the alternative use of money - Answer️Opportunity cost What is the time value of money? - Answer️The concept that a dollar today is worth a dollar, but a dollar in a year will be worth less than a dollar What is internal rate of return? - Answer️The discount amount when present value of cash intake equals the original investment Which two processes are considered iterative processes? - Answer️(1) Planning (2) Executing Which activity is accomplished as part of the planning process of a project? - Answer️Finalizing the project budget Which activity is accomplished as part of the planning process of a project? - Answer️Finalizing the project schedule Which activity is accomplished during the closing process of a project? - Answer️Reconciling the vendor accounts Which activity is performed during the creating part of the initiating process? - Answer️Drafting the project charter Which activity is accomplished as part of the executing process of a project? - Answer️Implementing the project plan Which process involves determining who the project's stakeholders are? - Answer️The initiating process What information does this resource histogram display that can help during the planning phase of the project? - Answer️Opportunities to level resource usage patterns Which tool could a project manager use to ensure that the project team will address the items that are important when developing and defining the project's scope? - Answer️Checklist A project manager wants to understand and document the approvals that must be obtained for each work package in the work breakdown structure (WBS). Which tools document the approval requirements for each work package? - Answer️(1) Project statement of work (SOW) (2) Requirements traceability matrix (RAM) The general manager of a hotel has asked for a project to put in new landscaping around the building. The project manager has constructed a high-level work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project, which is provided below. WBS ID Description 1.0 Landscaping 1.1 Plans 1.2 Site preparation 1.3 Sprinklers 1.4 Sidewalks and curbing 1.5 Planting Which activity would it be logical to add to the approved high-level WBS to provide more detail on the work to be accomplished? - Answer️1.5.1 Lay sod Closing Phase - Answer️Project outcomes are delivered to the customer and/or sponsor and the customer and/or sponsor evaluates them to determine if they are acceptable - deliverables are ready, the budget and time requirements are met and quality is achieved, and lessons learned are documented PM Methods - Answer️PERT, CPM, critical chain, waterfall, and PRINCE2 PERT (Project evaluation and review technique) - Answer️Developed in 1950 to estimate activity on Navy's Polaris missile project. CPM (Critical path method) - Answer️Developed by DuPont to help with project in manufacturing. Similar to PERT but assumes that estimates do not vary and time can be reliably estimated Critical chain project management (CCPM) - Answer️Work each resource is expected to complete is checked to verify that the resource will be capable and available when needed. Time buffers are built into the schedule to handle situations when the critical resources fall behind or aren't available Waterfall - Answer️This process flows logically and in a linear fashion, but if any problems are found, returning the work back to the previous step is very expensive PRINCE2 - Answer️Highly structured project management method which focuses on the specification of the outputs rather than the coordination of activities PMBOK - Answer️Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK - Answer️Entire collection of processes, best practices, terminologies, and guidelines that are accepted as standards within the project management industry PRINCE2 - Answer️PRojects IN a Controlled Environment PMBOK Major Planning Areas - Answer️Integration, Scope, Risk, Procurement, Communications, HR, Stakeholder, Quality, Cost, Time, Config, Change, Process Improvement, Requirement Functional organization - Answer️Common type of org structure in which the organization is divided into smaller groups based on specialized functional areas, such as IT, finance, or marketing Advantages of Functional (Departmentalized) - Answer️Lines of authority are clear. Departmental work is easily prioritized by identified departmental authority. There is flexibility in the use of staff. Subject matter experts (SME) available to work on multiple projects. Knowledge and experience readily shared between functional specialists. Technical continuity exists within the organization. Professional growth and career paths for the staff are clearly defined Disadvantages of Functional (Departmentalized) - Answer️Utilizing resources across functions can be difficult. Requests for assistance from other departments not easily prioritized. It is inefficient for projects requiring collaboration / cooperation between departments. Project customer is not the only focus. Organization does not focus on solving project business issues. Project does not have a single individual responsible for all aspects of the project. Response to customer needs is slow and difficult. Project issues are not all given the same level of attention. Project is not managed holistically. Advantages of Projectized - Answer️Clear lines of authority, the project manager has full authority. Once SMEs are assigned, there is less need to negotiate availability of resources. Project is managed holistically. Response to customer and stakeholder issues is faster and clearer. Skilled project team can support several successive projects of the same type. Timely decision making on project issues. Organizational structure is simple, flexible, and easy to understand Disadvantages of Projectized - Answer️PM must have enough work to keep SMEs busy full-time or risk loss to another project or functional area. SME assigned may not have the most appropriate knowledge or expertise for the project. Approach is expensive because of the duplication of personnel. Equipment and personnel may be hoarded to ensure access to those resources. Team members lose access to a repository of functional or technical expertise. Policies and procedures may be applied inconsistently. Team members may be anxious about post-project work Advantages of Matrix - Answer️Central focus is the project. Project managers have access to a large reservoir of technically skilled people. Potentially more access to SMEs as needed. More chance to get the most appropriate SME. Project team members have less anxiety about the future. Customer issues are responded to quickly. Administrative personnel are not duplicated in each project team. Resource balancing between projects is simpler and more efficient. Project team organization is more flexible. Disadvantages of Matrix - Answer️Requires cooperation and coordination between and among functional departments and project managers. SMEs not in daily contact with other SMEs for sharing of technical knowledge. Person with decision-making power is not always clearly identified. Resource balancing between projects can lead to friction. Project closeout tasks are often difficult in strong matrix organizations. Division of authority and responsibility is complex Calendarized budget - Answer️Costs are distributed across the time periods of the project. Knowing when expenses will occur allows the organization to ensure that sufficient money is available to pay the bills when due Simple budget - Answer️Provides insight into the cost of the major deliverables but does not indicate when the expenses will occur Sacred Cow projects - Answer️These projects are often created to satisfy the expectations of the leader with little regard for the project's viability or contribution to strategic or operational needs Competitive necessity project - Answer️Decision for project is based on whether implementing the project will ensure the viability of the company in the competitive market Operating necessity project - Answer️Evaluates a project based on whether it will ensure ongoing operations with the understanding that not executing the project will result in operations being interrupted Numeric project selection models - Answer️Uses financial and other quantitative measures to drive decision making (profit, and scoring models) Non-numeric project selection models - Answer️Sacred cow, Competitive / Operating necessity. Not based on traditional measures (ROI, profit, revenue, etc.). Checklist model for project selection - Answer️Uses a series of questions to evaluate each potential project. Each project would be analyzed using the same set of questions, and then the answers to the questions would be compared to determine whether a project is accepted or rejected Weakness of checklist model - Answer️Overwhelming number of questions may be identified Opportunity cost - Answer️if the organization spends money on a project, then other possible uses of the money would need to wait Time value of money - Answer️Money is worth more to an organization now than in the future. It makes sense if you consider that if someone gave you $1,000 today and you could invest the money such that the investment would return additional value to you in the future Payback period - Answer️Calculates the amount of time required to earn back the cost of doing the project Payback period formula - Answer️(months) = Estimated Project Cost / Monthly Return (annual) = Cost / Savings Internal rate of return (IRR) - Answer️Evaluates potential projects as if they were financial investments. It calculates the rate of return for a project. Net present value (NPV) - Answer️Calculate whether revenue tomorrow is greater than costs today Tools that document approval requirements for each work package - Answer️Project statement of work (SOW), project charter Charter - Answer️Document that, like a contract, is agreed upon by the sponsor and key stakeholders Statement of work (SOW) (aka project scope, scope statement) - Answer️Project objectives, deliverables, acceptance criteria, tech requirements, limits and exclusions, milestones, constraints and assumptions Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) - Answer️Follows WBS and insures that each activity and task in the WBS is reviewed for risk and opportunity and documented as identified Risk register - Answer️A prioritized chat which lists organizational, external, and technical risks. Also assigns scores for probability and severity, and lists action plans or risk management options and person responsible Score P*S - Answer️A score to prioritize risks appropriately Organization risk - Answer️Resources, funding, priorities, competition with other projects, reliance or dependencies on other actions in the organization External risk - Answer️Partners or contractors, regulation/government, competitive market influences, customer expectations and availability, environmental factors such as weather, etc. Technical risk - Answer️Technology availability and cost, complexity of the technical requirements, performance and reliability, quality, project requirements, costs, etc. Risk Avoidance - Answer️During our planning, the team identifies the risk and sets a path to avoid the risk Risk Transference - Answer️Transfer to third party that has capabilities or financial resources beyond those found in the project to handle the outcomes should the risk occur Risk Mitigation - Answer️Reduce the impact or likelihood of the risk occurring. By making an early investment or taking an early action, the team can minimize the impact of the risk should it occur Risk Acceptance - Answer️Business accepts the risk and is cheaper to accept than spend on avoiding it Baseline budget - Answer️The approved budget that will be used as the standard for comparison of actual costs throughout the life of the project and identifying variances Top-down estimation method - Answer️Estimates provided by someone who has knowledge or experience from prior projects similar to the project being considered Top-down methods - Answer️Ratio & Approtion Ratio top-down method - Answer️Uses experience from prior projects to estimate the overall cost of the current project Apportion top-down method - Answer️In addition to Ratio, takes into consideration specific functionality or types of work that will be required. Overall project cost must be provided based on the customer's budget or similar projects. The overall budget is then allocated to the major work areas required in the project (design, programming, testing, documentation, user training). Bottom-up estimation method - Answer️Estimates made at the detailed work activity level of the WBS. These estimates are generated by functional experts with knowledge of the resources required and available to complete the activity Bottom-up estimates cannot be created until what is available? - Answer️WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) Variation to bottom-up approach - Answer️Templates (use data from prior projects for each activity) Single-point estimate - Answer️Time is provided by 1 source Three-point estimate - Answer️Includes: optimistic (O), most-likely (M) and pessimistic (P) Optimistic - Answer️Can't take less than X time to complete Pessimistic - Answer️Has taken up to X time to complete Three-point formula for activity - Answer️O+4M+P / 6 Three-point formula for standard deviation - Answer️(P-O) / 6. (Note: Result is +/- to result of activity) Crash - Answer️Obtain the greatest amount of compression of the schedule/critical path for the least incremental cost or time Fast-tracking - Answer️Alternative to schedule crashing where certain tasks are overlapped despite their dependencies Change management phases (in book) - Answer️Identify, Evaluate, Decide and Communicate Prosci's 3-Phase Change management (in pre-assessment) - Answer️1) Preparing for Change 2) Managing Change 3) Reinforcing Change 4) Preparing for Change - Phase 1 of Procsci - Answer️Define change strategy, prepare team, and develop sponsorship model Managing Change - Phase 2 of Procsci - Answer️Develop change plans, and take action and implement plans Reinforcing Change - Phase 3 of Procsi - Answer️Collect and analyze feedback, diagnose gaps and manage resistance, and implement corrective actions and celebrate successes Cost performance index (CPI) - Answer️Measures cost efficiency = Earned Value (EV) / Actual Cost (AC) Schedule performance index (SPI) - Answer️Measures project time / schedule efficiency = Earned Value (EV) / Planned Value (PV) Cost variance (CV) - Answer️Determines if a project is meeting budget expectations After action report (AAR) - Answer️Another name for lessons learned review used by military 8/80 rule - Answer️Anything requiring less than eight hours is not assigned so resources have sufficient work to occupy them and there is no need to micromanage 0-100 Rule - Answer️Every task is marked as 0% completed until it is finished, then marked as 100% 50-50 Rule - Answer️Assigns 50% compete once activity is started, and 100% upon completion. No in between, every task is marked with either a 0%, 50%, or 100% operations - Answer️the ongoing, daily activities of an organization that produces revenue and expense Pg 10 projects - Answer️a temporary endeavor with a specified start and end date Pg 10 business strategy - Answer️the activities, methods, tactics, etc. that will be employed to meet the business's goals Pg 12 SMEs (subject matter experts) - Answer️a person who is an authority in a particular area or topic Pg 2 portfolio - Answer️a group of related programs that support a long-term company goal or objective Pg 13 program - Answer️a group of related projects Pg 13 project - Answer️an activity or group of activities to generate a new, unique product, service, or results to support that program Pg 13 charter - Answer️a document that, like a contract, is agreed upon by the sponsor and key stakeholders. It defines the project and authorizes the resources, roles, responsibilities, authorities, and scope for the project Pg 13 Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely - Answer️Criteria of specific objectives that are unique to a project are referred to as SMART which stands for what Pg 15 triple constraint - Answer️cost (budget), schedule (time), and scope (deliverables) Pg 17 working project managers - Answer️not a distinctly separate role in the organization and can be the role of a functional manager for the duration of the project Pg 17 dedicated project managers - Answer️role in life is to be a project manager regardless of the operational needs of the business Pg 17 stakeholder - Answer️anyone who has an impact on or is impacted by the project Pg 18 stakeholder analysis - Answer️analysis to define the relevant stakeholders, their interests, and their communication needs Pg 19 Change Requests (CR) - Answer️a document containing a call for an change in a project Pg 19 Change Control Board (CCB) - Answer️a group of people who track changes in a project and can be used as a governance tool Pg 19 Scheduling Tools - Answer️tools and the data contained in them that the project manager uses to communicate Pg 21 Collaboration Tools - Answer️a cloud-based software that provides email, instant messaging, scheduling, issue tracking, and threaded discussions in one place Pg 21 Virtual Teams - Answer️a team whose members are not physically collocated on a regular basis during the project Pg 21 Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) - Answer️a key tool so that people understand what is expected of them and how they will be held accountable Pg 21 virtual meetings - Answer️Using video conferencing to hold meeting in virtual teams Pg 21 Project Standards - Answer️define the standards and procedures to be applied on the project to ensure consistent delivery in accordance with the quality requirements Pg 22 Project Management Institute (PMI) - Answer️Founded in 1969, it's headquartered in Newton, PA, and has member chapters on every continent (except Antarctica). Publishes foundational and practice standards and is the largest in the world. Pg 22 Association for Projec