CSI IT Project Governance 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project steering committee has requested weekly status reports but the project manager believes bi-weekly suffices. Who has final authority on reporting cadence?
- The project manager, as operational lead
- The steering committee, as the governing body (Correct answer)
- The PMO director, as methodology owner
- The sponsor, as budget holder
Correct answer: The steering committee, as the governing body
The steering committee is the governance authority and sets reporting requirements to maintain oversight.
Question 2: Which governance artifact formally documents the authority levels for project decisions and who must approve each type?
- Project charter
- Decision authority matrix (RACI) (Correct answer)
- Risk register
- Project management plan
Correct answer: Decision authority matrix (RACI)
A RACI or decision authority matrix explicitly defines who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each decision type.
Question 3: During a Phase Gate review, the governance board finds the project is 15% over budget but on schedule. What is the MOST appropriate governance action?
- Immediately terminate the project
- Request a corrective action plan before approving the next phase (Correct answer)
- Allow the project to continue without intervention
- Transfer the project to a different team
Correct answer: Request a corrective action plan before approving the next phase
Phase Gates are checkpoints where governance bodies require remediation plans before authorizing continuation.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of a Project Management Office (PMO) within IT project governance?
- To replace project managers on all IT projects
- To standardize processes and provide oversight across projects (Correct answer)
- To approve all project expenditures directly
- To manage vendor contracts independently
Correct answer: To standardize processes and provide oversight across projects
A PMO establishes standards, methodologies, and governance frameworks to ensure consistent project delivery.
Question 5: A system integrator project is falling behind schedule. The project manager wants to add resources, but this requires budget approval. Which governance process applies?
- Risk escalation
- Change control (Correct answer)
- Scope baseline update
- Quality gate review
Correct answer: Change control
Adding resources that impact budget requires a formal change control request routed through the appropriate approval authority.
Question 6: Which metric is MOST useful for a governance board to assess whether a portfolio of IT integration projects is delivering business value?
- Lines of code delivered per sprint
- Benefits realization rate against business case projections (Correct answer)
- Number of change requests processed
- Percentage of milestones with green status
Correct answer: Benefits realization rate against business case projections
Benefits realization rate directly measures whether projects are achieving the strategic and financial outcomes defined in the business case.
Question 7: An IT project sponsor wants to bypass the change control board for a 'minor' scope addition. What governance risk does this create?
- Minor risk, since the sponsor has authority
- Scope creep and loss of baseline integrity (Correct answer)
- Schedule acceleration risk only
- Vendor contract risk only
Correct answer: Scope creep and loss of baseline integrity
Bypassing change control undermines baseline integrity and leads to uncontrolled scope creep, cost overruns, and accountability gaps.
CSI IT Project Governance 2
A project steering committee has requested weekly status reports but the project manager believes bi-weekly suffices.
Who has final authority on reporting cadence?