PMP Quality Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A customer complains that a delivered software module meets all specified requirements but is difficult to use. This is an example of:
- Gold plating
- Grade difference (Correct answer)
- Scope creep
- Quality gap
Correct answer: Grade difference
Grade refers to functional category; the software is high grade (meets specs) but low quality in usability—these are distinct concepts.
Question 2: Which input to Plan Quality Management helps the project manager understand contractual quality requirements imposed by the customer?
- Quality checklists
- Project charter
- Requirements documentation (Correct answer)
- Risk register
Correct answer: Requirements documentation
Requirements documentation captures the quality requirements and standards that the project deliverables must meet as defined by stakeholders.
Question 3: A manufacturing project uses a fishbone diagram during a defect analysis meeting. What problem-solving phase does this tool primarily support?
- Quantifying the magnitude of the problem
- Identifying potential root causes of a problem (Correct answer)
- Verifying that a corrective action worked
- Ranking causes by frequency of occurrence
Correct answer: Identifying potential root causes of a problem
A fishbone (Ishikawa/cause-and-effect) diagram organizes brainstormed potential causes into categories to identify root causes.
Question 4: Prevention costs in the Cost of Quality framework include which of the following?
- Rework and scrap costs
- Warranty claim processing
- Training and process documentation (Correct answer)
- Customer complaint handling
Correct answer: Training and process documentation
Prevention costs are incurred to keep defects from occurring in the first place, including training, process design, and documentation.
Question 5: A project manager is reviewing whether the project is following its defined quality processes. This activity is BEST described as:
- Quality control inspection
- Quality audit (Correct answer)
- Defect repair review
- Acceptance testing
Correct answer: Quality audit
A quality audit is a structured, independent review to determine whether project activities comply with organizational and project policies and procedures.
Question 6: Which statistical term describes the percentage of a population that falls within plus or minus three standard deviations of the mean in a normal distribution?
- 95.46%
- 68.27%
- 99.73% (Correct answer)
- 99.99%
Correct answer: 99.73%
In a normal distribution, ±3 sigma (standard deviations) captures approximately 99.73% of all values.
Question 7: A project manager establishes benchmarks by comparing the project's quality practices to those of best-in-class organizations. This technique is called:
- Root cause analysis
- Benchmarking (Correct answer)
- Design of experiments
- Process analysis
Correct answer: Benchmarking
Benchmarking compares actual or planned practices to those of comparable organizations to identify best practices and generate improvement ideas.
PMP Quality Management 3
A customer complains that a delivered software module meets all specified requirements but is difficult to use.
This is an example of: