 Hi, and welcome to the second review for our Practice Scam for Strategic Project Management. And once again, I'm Dr. Stanley, and I'll be conducting this review with you. Just as a reminder, this exam includes three case studies with 39 total questions, 13 questions from each case. You're going to be asked to read the case study and then answer a series of questions designed to see how well you can apply the concepts you learned in the course in a real-world business situation. It's important to really understand the cases, so I advise you to read each one a number of times. Luckily for you, this particular exam follows the same business across all three cases. So it shouldn't take long to feel comfortable with the business case that's being presented. Let's get started on case two. I'm going to go over case two with you, and then I chose five questions from the actual practice exam to discuss. Just like case one, this case is broken into a number of different sections to help you find things quickly as you prepare to answer the questions. Case two starts off with a basic overview of the organization that is the subject of the case. It really duplicates the overview from case one in case you hadn't been exposed to case one in your questions yet. Here we're going to be looking at a small rural bank called Pokemon Cooperative Savings Alone. It currently has one branch and about 50 employees. They are a local branch that provides banking services for their communities. You can tell from this case that we're continuing in our exploration of how the project management process is unfolding at PCS. You can see in the information that the project has been approved by the Board of Trustees, which was the first hurdle for the project. Marjorie has obtained a preliminary budget for the actual project as well as staffing and maintenance for the first year of the project. She's also been given a preliminary schedule or deadline where all elements of the project need to be completed. There's a lengthy list for the scope of the project. This is a list of all the large tasks that must be completed within the timeframe of the preliminary schedule. Be sure to read these carefully before you attempt to take the exam. Here Marjorie and her team have taken the preliminary schedule and listed all the tasks in a reasonable distribution of the time. Once again Marjorie and her team identify the preliminary risks associated with the project. Remember there may be additional risks that turn up as the project is implemented but these are the risks they can identify before the project starts. Marjorie and her team have also identified the stakeholders in the project. These are the people who have an interest in the successful completion of the project and many of these will receive periodic reports on the progress of the project. Now that the initial phase has been completed Marjorie and her team are concentrating on the planning phase. They will develop a number of plans to help achieve their goals. They have also developed an organizational chart. We'll take a brief look at that next. In this chart Marjorie has identified all the project team members including what they cost per hour. This will come in handy as she develops the budget for each of these tasks that need to be completed. There will certainly be questions related to this so be sure to review it carefully. The team also includes a table with a preliminary research on where the remote access kiosks could be located as well as the costs and risks associated with each. There will likely be a question or two related to this table so be sure to review it carefully. Marjorie includes the cost estimates for some of the project tasks. Finally Marjorie schedules a kickoff meeting and her team identify some concerns that they have. Here's a question that relates back to the course learning outcome about evaluating costs, quality and delivery. Let's read the question together. Marjorie realizes estimating costs for the remote access project is critical. However neither she nor her team has much experience in project estimation. Which estimating technique should Marjorie use given that the project is in the early stages and has many unknowns. The correct answer is C, top-down estimation. Since Marjorie knows the scope of the project and the large tasks that need to be completed but doesn't have any detailed information, it makes sense for her to use a top-down estimation. The other options require a bit more experience with this type of project and much more information than Marjorie has at this point in the project life cycle. Here's a question that relates back to the course learning outcome about assessing the triple constraints and managing risks. Let's read the question together. Marjorie wants to be forward thinking when preparing the budget for the remote access project. She understands there may be unforeseen costs to the project and wants to have enough money in the budget to handle these situations without going back to the project sponsor to secure additional funds. In which of the following instances might she need to use these contingency funds? The correct answer is C, if there's a delay due to the weather. Contingency funds are an allotment of the budget that's set aside in case something unexpected happens such as a delay due to weather. The other choices are the normal activities associated with the project and should come from the designated budgets for the activity. Here's a question that relates back to the course learning outcome about dealing with risks. Let's read the question together. Marjorie has been informed by the information officer at PCSL that more powerful computers will need to be purchased for the virtual tellers to use to interact with customers remotely. Marjorie is not that concerned as the cost will only add $10,000 to the project. Which type of reserves would be appropriate for this situation? The correct answer is C, contingency reserves. As we saw in the last question I reviewed, contingency reserves are built into the budget for the monies the project was allotted at the outset and are used when something unexpected happens, in this case having to add to the expected cost of the computer task. While risk reserves could be used, they are typically reserved for addressing more major risks if they were included in the original budget. Budget reserves is really a generic term for all reserves and does not fully address the question. Management reserves are reserves that can be used in the management of the project, for example if a new project team member needs to be hired. Here's a question that relates back to the course learning outcome about resources. Let's read the question together. Jonathan Perdue, the PCSL CEO, has walked into the conference room Marjorie and her team are using to coordinate the remote access project. He expressed his concern that as an inexperienced project manager she may not have a handle on who is responsible for which aspects of the project. Marjorie assures him that she is on top of both the project elements and those who are responsible. Which of the following should she show to Jonathan to prove her point? The correct answer is A, a RACI chart. The acronym RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed, which are labels for each person's responsibilities. This would be an excellent tool to show the CEO because it lists everything the CEO is concerned about. The Gantt and critical path charts show the progress of the project in relation to the tasks and timeline but do not show who is responsible. A resource management plan looks specifically at the resources for the project but does not show who is responsible. Here's a question that relates back to the course learning outcome about stakeholder involvement. Let's read the question together. During the kickoff meeting members of Marjorie's remote access project team expressed several concerns which of the following would be a major concern of the finance department? The correct answer is A, security of kiosks. Take a look back at the case study and the list of concerns the team had at the kickoff meeting. The finance department is concerned about the cash that will have to be available in the remote kiosks to provide funds for customers. Access to foot traffic, emergency maintenance and high speed internet are concerns but they are concerns of other departments. I hope this review helped you feel more comfortable in preparing for the practice exam. Good luck on the practice exam and remember doing well on the practice exam is a good start on doing well on the credit exam.