PfMP Certification PfMP Certification Strategic Alignment & Governance 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary purpose of portfolio governance in the PfMP framework?
- To micromanage individual projects
- To provide oversight and decision-making authority that aligns portfolio investments with organizational strategy (Correct answer)
- To eliminate underperforming programs
- To assign project managers to components
Correct answer: To provide oversight and decision-making authority that aligns portfolio investments with organizational strategy
Portfolio governance provides the oversight and decision-making structure that ensures portfolio components remain aligned with organizational strategic objectives.
Question 2: Which document formally authorizes a portfolio and defines its scope and governance structure?
- Portfolio management plan
- Portfolio charter (Correct answer)
- Portfolio roadmap
- Portfolio performance plan
Correct answer: Portfolio charter
The portfolio charter formally authorizes the portfolio and establishes its scope, governance structure, and connection to organizational strategy.
Question 3: Strategic alignment in portfolio management is BEST described as:
- Ensuring all projects finish on time
- Confirming that portfolio components collectively support organizational mission and goals (Correct answer)
- Balancing the workload across project managers
- Maximizing the number of active components
Correct answer: Confirming that portfolio components collectively support organizational mission and goals
Strategic alignment ensures that the portfolio's mix of components collectively advances the organization's mission, vision, and strategic goals.
Question 4: According to PMI's Standard for Portfolio Management, who is ultimately responsible for portfolio strategic alignment?
- The PMO director
- Individual project sponsors
- The portfolio manager (Correct answer)
- The C-suite or organizational leadership
Correct answer: The portfolio manager
The portfolio manager is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the portfolio's components are strategically aligned and deliver value to the organization.
Question 5: A portfolio review board (PRB) is primarily responsible for:
- Writing project charters
- Authorizing, prioritizing, and monitoring portfolio components against strategic objectives (Correct answer)
- Managing vendor contracts
- Conducting project post-mortems
Correct answer: Authorizing, prioritizing, and monitoring portfolio components against strategic objectives
The portfolio review board authorizes new components, reprioritizes existing ones, and monitors overall portfolio performance against strategic objectives.
Question 6: In the PfMP framework, the portfolio roadmap primarily serves to:
- Detail individual task assignments
- Show the high-level sequence and dependencies of portfolio components over time (Correct answer)
- Document risk mitigation actions
- Track budget expenditures
Correct answer: Show the high-level sequence and dependencies of portfolio components over time
The portfolio roadmap provides a high-level, time-phased view of component dependencies and sequences, communicating how the portfolio will achieve strategic goals over time.
What is the primary purpose of portfolio governance in the PfMP framework?