PECB ISO 21502 Lead Project Manager Sample Questions:

1. Scenario:
Oakniture is a furniture manufacturer located in Bristol, England. It is known for its kitchen tables made out of different types of wood, such as chestnut, walnut, and oak. In early 2022, Lana, one of the senior researchers of the company, conducted a feasibility study to determine if there is a market for oak wood coffee tables, which indicated that the demand for oak wood coffee tables is relatively high. As such, Lana prepared a project brief and presented it to the top management of the company. The project brief included information on the project context and project objectives. After several discussions, the top management agreed that the project should be undertaken, but lastly, they asked Lana about the project duration. Lana claimed that the project duration cannot be determined and such information was not provided in the project brief; however, she added that the project duration will mainly depend on the competencies of the project team and on Oakniture's suppliers of wood.
Following that, the top management initiated the project and assigned Tom, the operations director, as the project manager, and Lana as the project sponsor. To manage the project, they decided to use the guidelines of ISO 21502.
Initially, Tom defined the governance and management framework alone, and then he mobilized the team and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each team member. In addition, Tom and the project team identified the stakeholders and developed the project plan. To ensure effective management of each project phase, Tom used a work breakdown structure (WBS) to organize project activities. Tom presented the project activities in the WBS by linking task dependencies and showing project milestones. In addition, Tom calculated the duration of each work package by determining the early start and early finish dates. Regarding the relationship between work packages, Tom required the project team to perform tasks in the predetermined order, regardless of any resource shortages they might experience.
A week after the project implementation began, Tom collected and analyzed data regarding the progress of the project. To keep everyone up to date, he held a meeting with Lana and project stakeholders.
Question:
Tom asked the project team to perform tasks in the predetermined order, regardless of resource shortages.
What rule did Tom follow in this case?

A) Reflecting only sequence constraints between work packages
B) Defining task relationships between work packages
C) Reflecting sequence and resource constraints between work packages

2. What should the project manager do, among others, to avoid exceeding the project budget?

A) Retain records of project costs and monitor expenses
B) Eliminate exploitation costs
C) Avoid at all costs making changes in the project plan which would require additional costs

3. Arka, a manufacturing company, has initiated a project together with two other companies. Jim, who is the CEO of Arka, has suggested that the project board consist of representatives from each company instead of only Arka's personnel in order to increase transparency. However, the representatives of the other companies disagreed, claiming that this would not be compliant with ISO 21502 guidelines. Instead, they are suggesting that they outsource the function of the project board to avoid conflicts of interest. Is this in compliance with ISO 21502?

A) Yes, ISO 21502 suggests that companies outsource their project board function in order to avoid conflicts of interest when working in a joint project
B) No, ISO 21502 states that the project board can include representatives from each company if they are working in a joint project
C) No, according to ISO 21502, the three companies should unanimously choose only one company whose representatives will act as the project board and not include representatives from all companies

4. Scenario:
Leute is a low-cost airline, headquartered in Wien, Austria. The company aims to offer passengers optimal options regarding its services and gain the lead role among other competitors in the airline industry. Recently, Leute experienced a major drop in revenue due to negative reviews from customers in various online platforms. To increase its profit and enhance customer satisfaction, the company decided to expand its in- flight services by offering entertainment, such as movies, audio books, and games, food for purchase in economy and full meals in premium cabins, and comforts, such as blankets and pillows. For the implementation of this project and future projects of the airline, the CEO of Leute, Michaele Wagner, decided to follow the guidelines of ISO 21502 on project management.
Initially, Allison, the project manager, created a short document in which she justified and summarized all project aspects, including: the nature and purpose of the project, the objectives of the project, key milestones of the project and the time needed to complete the project, and the audience that the project targets.
Afterward, Allison held a meeting with Michaele during which she presented this document and briefly explained each of its points. After a considerable amount of analysis and discussions, the project initiation was approved by Michaele. In addition, a team of eighteen members was authorized to start with the project activities.
While undertaking the project activities, Allison ensured that each work package takes longer than 8 hours, but less than 80 hours, so that they would be completed in 1 to 10 working days. In addition, during this phase, several changes were made in the predefined aspects of the project, which were approved by Nick Todd, the project sponsor. For instance, initially, the project delivery was set to be completed after six months. However, considering how the project was implemented and the time required for the completion of each phase, the deadline for the project completion was postponed for another two months. These changes were also reflected in the business case, which was updated accordingly.
A month after the project execution began, Allison conducted an earned value analysis to measure the progress of the project up to that stage. She measured how efficiently the work was being performed with regard to its budgeted cost, after which she concluded that it was going according to the plan. Moreover, she organized a meeting with relevant project stakeholders in order to communicate the progress report to them.
Question:
Scenario 3 indicates that Michaele authorized the project initiation. Is this acceptable?

A) Yes, the project initiation should be approved by the sponsoring organization
B) No, the project initiation should be approved by the project manager
C) No, the project initiation should be approved by the project manager in consultation with work package leaders

5. Scenario:
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, DND is one of the largest worldwide automakers. It first gained global recognition after introducing a sports car, which quickly became highly demanded by sports car lovers around the world. Alec Law, the CEO of DND, and his management team recently decided to embark on a new project, i.e., the production of alternative fuel cars, which would use an alternative fuel source instead of traditional petroleum fuels, as the other cars of the company do, in order to promote sustainable and low- carbon transportation. For the implementation of this project, the company decided to follow the guidelines of ISO 21502 on project management.
During the development of the project governance framework, the company took into account several factors, including, among others, the legal context of stakeholders. In the project governance, the company also included oversights on the management frameworks and the project life cycle. In order to determine the project life cycle, the external environment was considered, including information on studies that related to similar projects. In addition, the company decided to separate this project governance from its overall governance.
Moreover, the company developed a project organization, where the roles, responsibilities, and authorities in the project were defined. In addition, the responsibilities of the project office and project assurance, among others, were defined. The project organization also included a customer representative. Once the project organization was developed and approved by the project board, it was communicated only to the project team.
As the project was entering its design stage, the project board made a change in the structure of the project organization since one of the work package leaders had resigned from the project in order to be involved in another project of the company.
Question:
According to scenario 1, the project organization was communicated only to the project team. Is this compliant with ISO 21502?

A) No, according to ISO 21502, the project organization should be communicated only to the project office and project assurance
B) Yes, according to ISO 21502, the project organization should be communicated only to the project team
C) No, according to ISO 21502, the project organization should be communicated to everyone involved in the project

Solutions: