PgM Competency Assessment

During the final stages of IT product development, one of the Steering Committee members suggested that the test and pre-launch marketing should also be managed under the Program. The marketing project is outsourced under different budget. As a Program Manager how should you respond?

Do not merge the activities with the Program as it will dilute focus on core activities.
It would be logical to include Marketing as one of the projects within the Program.
Merge only if all the activities can be centralized under one organization.
Leave the decision with the Program Steering Committee.

Which of the following would be the most common reason for Program stakeholders to be resistant as opposed to supporters?

Cross functional conflicts create challenges in delivery.
Diverse views of Benefits Realization creates resistance.
Office politics and power struggles.
Program being large and flexible endeavor is perceived as "Change" .

The most beneficial role for the Program Manager in Change Management activities at Program level is:

To initiate changes that enhance the ability to achieve the overall Program goal.
To ensure that the process is defined and followed.
To escalate the change requests to the Program Steering Committee.
To prevent changes as far as possible to avoid disruption to the Plan.

As part of developing new hybrid engines for automobiles, one of the projects discovered an alternative component that might also save cost of building conventional engines. It needs additional testing facility. The funding is approved. What should be the next step?

Revision of Risk Register.
Revision of Program Plan.
Revision of Program Schedule.
Revision of the Blueprint.

All the components of the Program have been closed, the lessons learned were documented and formal sign-offs on the deliverables were received. Which of the following is the most important additional step that needs to be performed for the Program to be formally closed?

Formal acceptance is required not just on the deliverables, but also the benefits delivered.
Provision has to be made/advised to the end users for the transition and sustenance of the benefits.
The skill sets of the team members need to be updated in the resource database.
The payments for the vendors need to be released.

As part of annual strategy, the company plans to stop investing in one of the profit making hardware product. As a Program Manager of this product what would be your approach?

Review and selectively cancel components related to development of new models.
Raise a request to close the Program and convert into an operation to support existing clients.
Discuss with the Program Steering Committee on goals for the Program and see if the charter needs to be revised.
Look at ways to reduce the Program's footprint and cost structure.

A pharmaceutical company is working on a Program with presence in 5 countries and 14 cities. Work at each site is treated as a separate project. The findings are collated and coordinated at the Program level and more such components are set up as needed. Which one should require the most attention from you as a Program Manager?

More focus should be on Planning and Control.
Preparing a robust document illustrating the Future State.
More focus on Benefits Schedule.
Refining the Vision Statement.

As part of the Program transition, training for the staff members and development of IT system for supply chain is required. The functional department has made the provisions in their budget. Which is the most logical source for the budget needed for these activities?

The Program Budget.
The budget of the function that is taking over.
The overall Portfolio Budget.
Transistion budget.

Project A is part of a Program. During risk identification and response planning, the Project Manager had identified a risk, for which the response plan was identified as “Accept”. The risk event has actually occurred, causing a cost increase of 300,000 USD. How should this be handled within the Program?

The contingency reserves of Project A should be used.
The contingency reserves of the overall Program should be used.
The management reserves of project A should be used.
The Project Manager and Program Manager should approach the Sponsor for additional funding.

One of the projects in a Program does not have sufficient reserves to cover liabilities as possible risk of hazardous material storage. The Program stakeholders have proposed to move the facilities to a different state where the liability clauses are lenient. This requires additional funding, so a change request has been generated. How should the change request be dealt with?

Decision should be based on a comparison of the additional cost of movement and the expected value of the liabilities arising from radiation.
The Program Steering Committee should have a discussion and the Program Sponsor should take a final call.
This should be sent to the Legal department as they are in a better position to take a call about liabilities.
In addition to other parameters,the change should be also be evaluated on grounds of ethical practices.

The most important reason of higher level of uncertainty within a Program as compared to project is…..

Because the duration of a Program is typically longer than individual projects.
Due to the greater number of stakeholders and their differing expectations.
Because uncertainty in a Program is the sum total of the uncertainty of all its component projects.
That the Program's approach needs to be flexible to optimize its pursuit of overall Program goals.

A product created by one of the projects within a Program is ready for deployment. During the transition process, the Manager of the operations team suggested some extra expenditure that would greatly improve the service experience and drive future sales. What should the Program Manager do with this request?

Grant the request only if the project or Program level contingency reserve can cover the additional spend.
Create a change request and work with the project and operations manager to quickly put together a business case.
Close the project that created a product, but raise a request for a new project.
Pass on the suggestion to the operations team which is taking over the product and let them decide.

As a Program Manager you are somewhat surprised to see a meeting invitation from a Project Manager for a weekly project risk review meeting. The Program has about 15 projects and is fairly demanding. How should the Program Manager respond to the invitation?

Accept the invitation, but attend only about once a month.
Accept the invitation but ask that the frequency of the meeting be altered to once in two weeks.
Decline the invitation but let the Project Manager know that you are available anytime if risk event requires your attention.
Accept the invitation as it is important to stay on top of the risks.

A research Program identified a large number of opportunities for the future growth. What would be your recommendation for best course of action to realize opportunities when the budget is limited?

Work with the Program team and Project Managers to build strong business cases for the opportunities identified.
Prepare Benefits Schedule to prioritize the benefit realization according to the budget.
Provide suggestions to stagger the Development program and projects to manage budget constraints.
Use the opportunities to offset some of the threats that the Program faces.

Your Program is time critical and in the spotlight. One of the projects within the Program is delayed by 1 month due to a deliverable from a vendor. The project is not on the critical path and the delay is not so alarming from the overall Program perspective. How should the Program Manager present this information in the review by the Program Steering Committee?

Report the overall Program as "on schedule" due to the non-critical nature of the project.
Report the overall Program as "Delayed" due to delay in project of the project.
Escalate this delay and ask for the vendor to be blacklisted.
Show the Program status as "on schedule" but increase the risk level.

Some projects which are part of a multi-year Program are in their closure processes. The deliverables are accepted and were signed off by the customer. The Manager of the customer services department responsible to maintain and support the deliverables complained that his staff have not been trained. What should the Program Manager do?

Withhold the closure until the operations have been adequately enabled.
Create a Training Plan and provide the contents to Customer's manager so that he can provide training.
Since deliverables are signed off you can provide on-job training to satisfy the customer.
Ask the Project Manager why the training was not completed and log in the lessons learned.

A Government Program includes large number of private players who are competitors in the market. In order to govern the Program what should be the Governance approach of Sponsoring committee?

The board should comprise of representatives from the Government and all the suppliers.
There could be a federated (Special Purpose Vehicle) structure with common Program policies and governance structure.
The Government should invite individuals from the public who are perceived to be neutral to serve on the board.
Include all parties on Steering committee to avoid conflicts.

While preparing the Program Schedule, one of your Project Managers claims that it is hard to put a time line against many of her project’s deliverables because it requires a lot of research before confirming the approach. What is the best way to move forward?

The Program Manager should put the onus on the Project Manager to provide a schedule for her project and set a deadline for finalizing it.
Advise the Project Manager to provide Analogous Estimation.
The Program Manager should move forward with the overall Program schedule making suitable assumptions about the project’s deliverables.
The Program Manager should hold off on communicating the Program schedule until more information about the project becomes available.

A Program is in transition phase. It is noticed that one of the project output needs a major change causing initiation of one more project. How should the Project Manager deal with this?

Ensure that the change is aligned with the Future State of overall Program.
Fast track work on the change so that it does not delay the project or Program closure.
Push back on the change in view of the fact that the Program is about to enter into closure.
Raise the change request to the Program level along with the impact analysis and present some alternatives to accommodate the change.

A Program was initiated by a software company to launch a product suite. After the release, it was discovered that one of the module was redundant. What has been missed out?

Planning and Control.
Blueprint development.
Risk and Issue Management.
Quality Assurance.

You are the Program Manager on a Program that is meant to come up with a cross-organizational reporting framework. The Project Managers work within specific functions and have no reporting relationship with you. What would be the biggest challenge for you in this situation?

Getting a clear scope definition for the projects, working within the respective functions.
Getting executive sponsorship for the Program.
Getting the necessary resources assigned to the projects.
Integrations and interfaces across projects.

You are a Program Manager for roll-out of an ERP system across 5 locations. This has widespread impact on all functions. You fear that there would be a lot of reservations from the functions who are concerned about maximum impact from the change. What is the best response to this risk?

Ask the CEO to announce the change and lend his personal brand to the initiative.
Start a visible communication campaign about the expected benefits to the organization.
Establish small task forces across functions to drive the change.
Start with a small scale pilot roll out and showcase the success of the pilot.

In order to manage resource constraints you have proposed outsourcing some of the projects in a Program. Your Project Managers are not convinced and they believe all the work must be done in-house to give them the necessary control. How should you proceed?

Get the Program Steering Committee to create a procurement policy that will be applicable for the Program.
Talk to the Project Managers and strive to achieve consensus.
Proceed with outsourcing in order to manage Program Schedule.
Call for a Bidder's Conference so that the vendors can showcase their capabilities to the Project Managers.

A Program has been initiated to implement an enterprise wide resource planning (ERP) system. The end users are technically novice and are reliant on the project teams for help. Project Managers see the support work as a disruption and tend to give it the lowest priority. As a Program Manager what should you do?

Talk to the Program Steering Committee and suggest the inclusion of the support and maintenance as part of the Program until the customizations are completed.
Ask the provider of the ERP tool to organize a one week training to better enable the support staff.
Implement an operational best practice model like CoBIT or ITIL to ensure a more efficient support team.
Ask for details of all the user reported errors and undertake a thorough root cause analysis before deciding on what to do.

Your organization is working on a business process optimization Program for the local Government. The Project Managers are getting arbitrary change requests and conflicting directions from the bureaucrats. What might be your best option as Program Manager?

Recommend closure of the Program to see if the ultimatum works to introduce some discipline.
Ask the Project Managers to reject change requests which are not authorized.
Document the loss of time and resources due to such changes and bring them up if the Program’s lack of progress is called into question.
Escalate the matter to the Program Steering Committee and ask for a high level meeting between the customer and Board representatives.

Your Program operates in an extremely dynamic business environment and requirements change frequently. While developing the Future State document you realized that your stakeholders lack visualization of the End State. What is the best option to plan the Program benefits delivery phase?

Organize facilitation and use multiple techniques to get as much detail as possible up-front and minimize change.
Try to establish notional charging for changes to create disincentives for introducing too much change during the benefits delivery phase.
Identify which projects are most likely to be impacted by the changes and staff it with the best engineers so that they can better respond to them.
Adopt an incremental and iterative life-cycle so that projects can gather frequent feedback and adjust quickly to the changes.

As a Program Manager you are evaluating two projects. Project A was started last year to improve operational cost for a business line by 30%. 300,000 USD has been already spent on the project and the Project Manager is asking for another 500,000 USD. Project B is yet to start. It also aims to achieve 30% savings in operational cost by using different approach and requires a budgetary allocation of 500,000 USD. Which project should you select for funding?

Project A: Because it has already been started and a certain amount of money has been spent on it.
Project B: It will achieve the same savings at a lower overall cost, thereby delivering higher ROI.
Fund Project A and B both to the extent of half their expectation and encourage both Project Managers to achieve efficiencies within their own projects.
Cannot decide based on this information.

A Program Manager is contemplating calling a meeting to resolve an issue. The problem has to do with some changes to technical specifications due to new technology that is suggested and might result in better functionality. Who should be the invitees to this meeting?

The Program Steering Committee, Program Sponsor and the Program Manager.
Program Sponsor, Program Manager, concerned Project Managers and technical experts.
The Program Manager, the concerned Project Managers and the Program management office.
The Project Managers, project teams and Program management office.

The CIO of a large finance organization recommended CMMi practices for their IT support. The board has approved this recommendation but remains skeptical about the business value of this exercise. Which of the following would BEST help you as a Program Manager and the CIO (who is also the Program Sponsor) keep the Board members engaged in the Program?

Send them regular updates about the processes put in place, tools implemented and how it has helped to streamline the operations of the Internal IT.
Track and report on the percent of outsourcing used by the IT organization before and after the Program was put in place.
Achieve early wins and report on accrual of benefits to the business as a result of increased process compliance.
Invite the Board to a gala event every quarter where the achievements of the Program are showcased.

The Program Steering Committee is meeting to take a call on an important matter that will shape the direction of the Program. There are two camps in the board, both having roughly equal support. Both options are widely divergent and a decision is needed one way or the other. How the Sponsor should make the decision ?

By the Program Sponsor exercising Veto.
Defer the decision until more discussions take place and a consensus is arrived at.
Put the decision for a vote using secret ballot and respect the majority decision.
Expand the discussion to across the Program and project teams to hear a bottom-up perspective.

Your Program’s budget is being reviewed as part of the annual budgeting cycle. Some components are nearing completion and can be rolled out for transition. There are severe constraints on funding due to a business slow down. Which of the following is the best thing for the you to do?

Try to accelerate the transition of the completed components so that the Program can start realizing revenue.
Ask the Project Managers to look for ways in which they can reduce costs.
Raise the matter with the Program Steering Committee and explain the impact of not getting the required level of funding.
Make a compelling business case with the help of the Project Managers.

Which of the following statements about closure of Programs correctly reflects when a Program should be closed?

Program is being closed because all the projects associated with it are completed.
Program is being closed because the Program Manager reported that Program has fulfilled its objectives in delivering benefits to the organization.
The Program has achieved its Future State as agreed in the Blueprint.
Program is being closed because most of the projects have delivered outputs as per customer satisfaction.

You are a Program Manager of a large Program involving multiple organizations. You noticed that Project Teams are unhappy about parity in Reward and Recognition policies of their respective organization with respect to Program work. How would you resolve the situation?

Individual awards that encourage outstanding performance.
Team awards that focus on team achievements rather than individual.
Design a Governance Structure specific to Program Objectives overriding each organization's internal policies with consensus.
Awards specifically customized for the expected deliverables of your Program.

What kind of risks are least appropriate for inclusion in the Program level Risk Register?

Risks identified on projects within the Program that can have a common mitigating action.
Risks identified on projects within the Program that affect multiple projects.
Risks related to the interfaces between the projects.
Risks identified on projects that have a high level of urgency.

One of the projects in your Program may undergo a drastic change in scope and cost due to change in regulations. In order to make a Go/ No Go decision for this project you would…

Refer the project specific business case to make the decisions.
Refer the Program Benefits Realization Plan to make the decisions.
Go ahead with the change since it is mandated by regulation.
Call the meeting of the Sponsor along with Project Manager to help you arrive at the decision.

One of the Project Managers informed you that he is proceeding with the approved change request without notifying to a concerned stakeholders in operations who is non-cooperative. The Operations Manager is one of the main users of the change request. As a Program Manager if this conflict is not handled then it will affect…

Stakeholder Engagement for the Program.
Benefits Realization and Transition process.
Managing Program Delivery.
Program Planning and Control.

One of the Operations Manager suggested a change to a project deliverable which is approved. This change, would affect 2 other projects. How this change should be incorporated?

Include the change in Program Blueprint.
Include the change in respective project Plans that are getting affected and proceed.
Update the Program Plan .
Escalate to your Sponsor since the change is affecting other 2 projects.

A metro rail Program is intended to transform the commuting travel practices of the congested city. The Program delivers multiple capabilities to achieve a profitable public transportation. In order to Initiate the Project Charters in the Program you will refer…

Deliverables mentioned in Program Plan.
Project Dossiers derived from the Blueprint.
Projects identified in Program Plan.
Projects derived in agreement with the stakeholders.

Your organization’s strategy has changed as a result of acquisition by another company. Your Program in its final stage is about to deliver the benefits and has only about 6 months left. However, the Program is not in alignment with the new strategy of the organization. What should the Program Manager do?

Continue with the Program until the management of the new organization conveys otherwise.
Stop work on the Program as it is no longer aligned with the strategy.
Approach the Program Sponsor for clarification about Program approach and ask them to make a decision.
Prepared a revised Business Case and justification to continue the Program.

A public facing web portal containing many components is about a week from launch. During operational readiness assessment, a defect was discovered which will make it vulnerable to security breaches under certain circumstances. The Sponsoring group is in favor of launch with defects. How should this situation be dealt with?

The technical expert should determine the way forward in consultation with the Program Manager and Program Steering Committee.
The Program Manager should take the call irrespective of stakeholder's opinion.
The Program Steering Committee should decide in consultation with the influential external stakeholders.
The marketing department in consultation with the Program team as it is a public facing launch.

One of your Project Manager in a Program is about to complete his project with savings of 30,000 USD. He recommends to add few more features to the product to delight the customer. As a Program Manager you will…

Proceed with the change because it will add value to the customer's business.
Proceed with the change because it by adding value ,you are delighting the customer with no extra cost.
Proceed with the change only if it aligns with Business Case and Benefits Realization Plan.
Reject the change outright since the project has delivered its scope .

One of the risks for your Program is ‘Currency devaluation and possibility of high inflation in the 2nd year of execution’. This risk will be categorized under…

Managing Program Delivery.
Managing contracts.
Business Case and Benefit Realization.
Program Execution.

You are appointed as a Program Manager to oversee an ambitious product development initiative in an organization. The products envisaged and the technology as well as domain is new to the organization. In the initiation of the Program, what should be the most important concern for you?

Finding the right team for the Program office to help it manage the Program.
Developing a water tight business case considering the market space and the benefits forecast.
Developing an elevating and purposeful mission statement for the Program.
Establishing the feasibility, Developing Future State and assessing the capability of the organization to execute it.

In a Transition phase of the Program the end users are not co-operating for data migration to new ERP system. They have complained to the management that project deliverables are not as per defined process of operations. However the underlying conflict is between the management and operations regarding annual appraisal system. As a Program Manager you would….

Bring the concerned stakeholders together and prove that you have delivered as per the process.
Ask your transition team to add more resources for data migration since you need to close the Program.
Ask your Program Sponsor to talk to operations head to resolve the issue.
Escalate the issue with possible impact to the Program Sponsor and request him to resolve the issue by management influence.

Stakeholder engagement is a joint responsibility of the Program Steering Committee, Program Manager and the Project Manager. Which is the best set of focus areas for stakeholder engagement by the Program Manager?

Identification, assessing and establishing their interest in the Program, agreement about sought benefits and resources, determining the engagement strategy.
(Along with the Project Managers) identify the stakeholders, determine who is a supporter and who is resisting, start with the supporters and then address the resistors.
Identify stakeholders, establish a relationship with the stakeholders, determine which of them will be managed at the Board, Program and Project levels.
(With help from the Sponsor) identify the key stakeholders and prioritize the engagement approach, engage both the supporters and resistors simultaneously using multiple channels.

Which of the following is a good practice regarding resource management for a Program and its components?

Human resources should ideally be managed by the projects, whereas other resources like budgets and finances should be managed by the Program.
The Program should own all the resources and merely allocated to the projects for specific periods.
Resource management is based on the expense thresholds.Cheaper resources should be managed by projects and more expensive ones at the Program level.
Shared resources should belong to a central resource pool and are better managed at the Program level whereas dedicated resources can be managed by projects.

At a Program review, many Project Managers pointed out that it is very difficult to coordinate work because of strong functional loyalties which cause friction between the teams. For instance, the engineering and the testing teams are constantly at loggerheads because of conflicting goals. What would you do as Program Manager?

Ask the Project Managers to use techniques like influencing without authority – as the organizational structure cannot be altered very easily.
Define the Program organization in order to override functional policies.
Make a proposal that the organization be changed to a projectized structure to better align the resources along project and Program work.
Ask for an increase in the contingency buffers on cost and time to account for delays and escalations due to the conflicts.

What role does the Program Manager play in the quality assurance activities on each project?

The Program Manager should establish guidelines and processes. They should look to optimize and rationalize processes and resources across projects.
The Program Manager is responsible for overall quality, so they need to act as the final reviewer and arbiter of all project level quality assurance activities.
The Project Managers are responsible for QA processes in their own projects. The Program Manager should only ensure adequate involvement from the Program management office in this process.
The Program Manager is responsible for consolidating and reporting on the metrics and control charts at Program level.

While preparing the Program schedule, you see that some of the shared resources are likely to remain idle across projects. You will …

Manage this as a Program resource risk.
Tell concerned Project Managers to manage this risk.
Manage this risk only if it affects Program schedule.
Discuss with Resource Managers to manage this risk.

Projects A and B are part of a Program. Project A was delayed due to occurrence of an project level risk, with cascading effect on Project B and the overall Program. The delay will cause a monetary loss of 50,000 USD to Project A. The impact of the delay in the Program is 70,000 USD. How should this be funded?

It should be funded through the management reserves of project B and if those are insufficient, through the Program reserves.
It should be funded through the contingency reserves of project A, since the delays were caused by project A.
It should be funded by the Program level management reserves.
It should be funded through the Program level contingency reserves.

PgM Competency Assessment

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