PRINCE2 PRINCE2 Practitioner Exam Questions
PRINCE2 Practitioner

Project Scenario
ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.

ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom -based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.

The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company’s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.

The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.

The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:


End of the Project scenario.

Additional Information:
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.

The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.

The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.

The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company’s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.

The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.

The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.

The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.

The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.

The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.
The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.

End of the additional information.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

It is now late October and the project is in stage 3. The label design competition has been held and the photos of the staff have been taken. The CEO and Marketing Director still need to choose the winning label design and the 12 photos for the calendar. However, the Executive has learned that two competitors are issuing calendars to MNO's customers by the middle of November. After analyzing the impact of this Issue, one of the options the Project Manager has presented to the Project Board is to close the project prematurely.
There are a number of key facts relating to this project that would need to be recorded if the project Y-e to be closed now.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Scenario
Additional Information

Extract from the Communication Management Strategy.
The project information in the table below is true, but it may not be recorded under the correct heading or be in the correct document.



Using the Project Scenario, select the appropriate response to each of the following 5 questions which have been raised by the Project Board. The project is now at the end of the initiation stage. Having decided that the Calendar project is a relatively simple project, the Project Manager

combined the Starting Up a Project process and the Initiating a Project process. No Project Brief has been produced. Instead the Project Manager used the project mandate to produce a simple Project Initiation Documentation (PlO). The PlO includes the Business Case, a product checklist and several Product Descriptions, Including the Project Product Description. Short sections are also included for each of the strategies and the controls to be applied. The Project Manager has elected to use the Daily Log to record all risks, issues. lessons and quality - results.
After the initiation stage there will be two further stages during which a small number of Work Packages will be authorized. While these are being managed, the Project Manager will hold regular checkpoints, which will support the production of weekly Highlight Reports to the Project Board.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Scenario:

Techniques, processes and procedures
1. Any threat that may result in a loss of MFH data must be escalated immediately.

Joint agreements
2. Work is to start at the beginning of week 2 (Stage 4).
3. The project will take two years to complete, at an estimated cost of
£2.5m. Tolerances
4. None.

Constraints
5. MFH staff must not be involved in any heavy lifting during the removal of existing IT equipment.
6. Installation work must take place during MFH normal working hours. 7. +£10,000 / -£25,000.

Reporting arrangements
8. Highlight Report every Monday by 10.00 am.
9. The report must contain a summary of all products worked on during the previous week.
10. Project Manager must be notified of any issues immediately by telephone.

Problem handling and escalation
11. Impact analysis of all issues must be completed within 24 hours.

Extracts or references
12. The Stage Plan for stage 4 is available from Project Support.

Approval method
13. Project Assurance will review the completed Work Package and confirm completion.

Project Scenario
Calendar Project (Note: The companies and people within the scenario are fictional.)

There has been a reduction in fie number of orders at the MNO Manufacturing Company due in part to the increased marketing activities of its competitors. To help counter this, the company has decided to create a promotional calendar for next year for all its current and prospective customers. The end product of this project will be a prepared calendar pack, ready for printing. The design of the calendar will be similar to one sent out previously, and must reflect the company image as described in the existing corporate branding standards. Another project is currently producing a new company logo when is to be printed on each page of the promotional calendar. The prepared calendar pack will consist of:

-Design for each month - correctly showing at public holidays and new company logo
-Selected photographs- 12 professionally-produced photographs, showing different members of staff
-Selected paper and selected envelope - for printing and mailing the calendar
-Chosen label design - a competition to design a label will be held as part of this project
-List of customers - names and addresses of customers to whom the calendar will be sent.

The project is currently in initiation and will have two further stages:

Stage 2 will include tie activities to:
-Create the customer fast using information from the Accounts and Marketing departments Confirm compliance with the Data Protection Legislation
-Create a design for each month - this will be done by the internal creative team
-Select and appoint a professional photographer
-Gather photograph design ideas from previous project and agree photographic session schedule
-Prepare a production cost forecast
-Select paper and envelope.

Stage 3 will include the activities to:
-Produce and select tie professionally-taken photographs
-Hold the label design competition and choose the label design
-Assemble the prepared calendar pack.

A production cost forecast, based on the options and costs for the paper, envelope, printing and marketing of the calendar is to be produced in stage
2. However, the actual production and distribution of the calendars is not within the scope of the project. The product cost forecast will be reviewed by the Project Board to determine whether tie project should continue.
It is now 05 October and the prepared calendar pack must be delivered to the print company by 30 November, to enable printing and distribution of the calendar in time for Christmas. The cost of the activities to develop the specialist products and the cost of the project management activities are estimated to be £20,000. There is a project time tolerance of +1 week /-2 weeks and a project cost tolerance of +£6,000 / -£6,000. A change budget of £500 has been allocated but there is no risk budget.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Scenario:
The Ministry of Food Hygiene (MFH) has a quality management system which contains a document control process to manage all documentation requirements. The document control process was created by the MFH Quality Manager, who now maintains all of MFH's documents and performs an organization-wide configuration management role. The MFH Quality Manager will administer the configuration management procedure for the Restructuring project since this must comply with the MFH document control process.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Additional Information
A photographer from Portraits Ltd, a professional photographic company, has taken on the role of Team Manager after taking some time to understand the requirements of the project. A contract for their services has been set up and is being monitored by the Purchasing Manager and a Work Package has been agreed. This contract specifies that the photographer must arrange a meeting with the Engineering Manager to establish a schedule for the photo sessions to minimize the impact on the Engineering staff. This meeting should have occurred by now.

The Engineering Manager was made aware of this requirement but when asked he reported that he has received no communication from the photographer. The Project Manager has tried to call the photographer and has had no response. The Project Manager believes there is a risk that Portraits Ltd are overbooking work and prioritizing other clients' work. If Portraits ltd do not deliver on schedule the project will be delayed and the expected benefits will be reduced.
The contract is to be reviewed and Portraits Ltd reminded of their agreement.

Product Summary
A list of customers will be collated. This will use existing information from the Accounts department about current customers, and existing information from the Marketing department about prospective customers.

Using the tariff of mailing costs available from the Post Office, a production cost forecast will be produced to allow the CEO and the Marketing Director to decide whether to continue with the project. If they decide to continue, they will give the approval to launch the internal label design competition. Competition rules will be required to communicate details of the competition to the staff. The chosen label design will then be selected from the competition entries.
The photos for the calendar must be based on existing photo design ideas available from the Marketing department. The selected photos will be chosen from these. Monthly calendar displays will be created to show the required layout of each page.

Product Breakdown Structure (contains errors)


Extract from Stage Plan for stage 3.
(All entries are true statements but may not be shown under the correct heading or in the correct document).

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Scenario
Additional Information

Product Description


Quality notes from the Daily Log
The Director of Information Technology Division (DIT) has been asked to ensure that any changes to the outsourced staff employment contracts adhere to employment law. The DIT will review future job descriptions of the transferred staff before the final contract is signed with the selected service provider.

The service level agreement between MFH and the selected service provider will specify the type and quality of service required. The selected service provider must follow the industry standards for providing outsourced services.

MFH has a quality management system which contains a document control procedure for all its documentation, however this does not include change management.

All project documents will be subject to a quality review. Nominated products will require a formal approval record signed-off by the quality review chair.
Extract from the draft Quality Management Strategy (may contain errors) Introduction

1. This document defines the approach to be taken to achieve the required quality levels during the project.
2. The Project Board will have overall responsibility for the Quality Management Strategy.
3. Project Assurance will provide assurance on the implementation of the Quality Management Strategy. Quality management procedure - Quality standards
4. The selected service provider will operate to industry standards for providing outsourced services.
5. MFH document standards will be used.
Records
6. A Quality Register will be maintained to record the planned quality events and the actual results from the quality activities.
7. Configuration Item Records will be maintained for each product to describe its status, version and variant.
8. Approval records for products that require them will be stored in the quality database.
9. The DIT will check that the employment contracts for outsourced staff adhere to employment law.
10. Team Managers will provide details of quality checks that have been carried out.
11. Team Managers will ensure that the Quality Register is updated with the names of team members who are involved in the review process.
12. The Senior User will review the Product Descriptions of the products to be produced by the selected service provider to ensure that they can be achieved.

Extract from the Project Product Description (with errors)

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Scenario
Additional Information


Further information on some resources who could be involved in the project:

Outcome Account Manager: He represents Outcome which is a recruitment agency that provides specialist outsourcing resources. Outcome provided the consultants who carried out the feasibility study and the same consultants will be providing support and guidance to the Information Technology and Facilities teams during the project.

Director of Finance Division: She was transferred from the Information Technology Division 12 months ago. She is responsible for ensuring a cost-conscious approach is adopted in all operational and project activities across the Ministry of Food Hygiene.

Hardware Manager: Reports to the Director of Information Technology. He provides computer hardware to all business functions but has little awareness of the needs of his colleagues working in software.

Payroll Manager: Reports to the Director of Finance. He is a very experienced and efficient qualified accountant who has much of the responsibility of running the Finance Division on behalf of the Director of Finance. He has been involved in drafting the Ministry's business strategy and assisting in a full business risk assessment. He also drafted the corporate Business Case standards.

Scenario
Additional Information

Chief Executive Officer (CEO): He started the company 25 years ago and knows his job very well. He injured his leg two years ago which has restricted his visits to the engineering area. As CEO he has an overall perspective of the business strategic requirements and the authority to commit resources as required.

Marketing Director: She has been with the company for three years, following a successful career with a publicity company. She has the ability to represent the needs of the business, particularly as this is a marketing project. She has the authority to commit the annual business marketing budget, from which the project will be funded, as she sees appropriate. She will be responsible for monitoring the expected benefits of the calendar, in particular the improvement of the company's image.

Engineering Manager: He has been responsible for many engineering innovations in the company and is still as keen and energetic as the day he started. Whilst he will not be part of the project team, his staff will feature in the photos for the promotional calendar.
Central Records: This group of five staff looks after all company records and document control. They now maintain all project files.

Bright Lights: This is the local office supplies company. It supplies all the stationery and office equipment needs of the company and will supply the stationery for this project.
Portraits ltd: This is a professional photographic company with a number of excellent photographers and a history of successful work. This company has been selected to take the photos for the company calendar. It has yet be decided which of the photographers to use.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Scenario
A central government department, the Ministry of Food Hygiene (MFH), faces increasing pressure to cut costs, better manage suppliers‟ performance and reduce the confusion caused by inadequate internal controls, outdated standards and outdated technology. External consultants were employed to conduct a feasibility study to identify options to address the problems, and the likely costs and benefits. The following options were considered:

-Do nothing.
-Re-engineer selected business functions.
-Outsource selected business functions.

The feasibility study concluded that there was a case for outsourcing the MFH Information Technology Division and the Facilities Division (maintenance of buildings and grounds).
The recommendations were:
-One service provider should be contracted to provide the services currently provided by the Information Technology Division and the Facilities Division.
-A 10-year service contract should be agreed with the selected service provider.

The feasibility study developed high-level designs of the current organization, processes, systems and operating models, plus an outline Business Case for the required project. The external consultants also made the following recommendations for the management of the project:
-Use PRINCE2.
-Set up the project with 4 management stages:
Stage 1. Standard PRINCE2 initiation activities.
Stage 2. Create detailed designs (future organization, processes, systems and operating models) and the service level agreement between MFH and the future service provider.
Stage 3. Request and evaluate proposals, select service provider and agree contract.
Stage 4. Transfer equipment and staff, transfer responsibility for service provision and run trial period.

Initial estimates indicated that the project would cost £2.5m and take two years to complete. MFH senior management agreed that there was a case for outsourcing, and accepted the recommendations as a basis for the project. There is an expected saving of £20m over 10 years.

The Outsourcing project has completed the Starting up a Project process and is now in the initiation stage. Because of the strategic importance of the project, the MFH Chief Executive Officer has taken the role of Executive. A PRINCE2-experienced Project Manager has been appointed from within MFH. Staff within the business functions being outsourced will work with the external consultants who conducted the feasibility study to define the detailed designs.

Scenario
Additional Information
During the initiation stage the Project Manager met with the Marketing Director to find out more about the requirements of the promotional calendar and recorded the following notes:
There has been a reduction in the order numbers at the MNO Manufacturing due in part to the increased marketing activities of its competitors. 10% of customers have not re-ordered in this financial year and staff morale is poor. A number of skilled staff have left as a result and replacement staff have not been recruited due to the reduced operation. If the project is successful, a recruitment campaign will be required to fill the existing staff vacancies and there may be a requirement for additional staff. Operational costs are likely to increase because skilled staff are expensive and difficult to find.

In financial terms, there were a total of 1,500 orders in the last financial year, each with an average profit of £2k. The Marketing department believes that sending a promotional calendar to our current and prospective customers would increase orders by at least 10% with a minimum of 10 further orders from the list of prospective customers within 12 months from the date of distribution.

The Marketing Director will be funding the project from the business marketing budget. She believes that the effect of a good company image portrayed by a successful calendar would last into a second year. She has forecast the same increase in orders for a second year and predicts that the annual employee satisfaction survey will show a measurable improvement in staff morale.

A number of alternatives were explored, including:
-20% discount for all repeat customers - not cost-effective and very short term
-A promotional calendar as a free Christmas gift - would target current and prospective customers and the benefits would last into a second year
-A series of television and press advertisements was too expensive
-A direct mail shot to all customers - benefit would be short term
-Creation of an internet website - would not suit all customers

The calendar is seen as the favored option, as long as the company's competitors do not increase their marketing activity. Whilst the Marketing department wants a very high quality, glossy product, the project management team must be aware of the cost this will incur.

Using the Project Scenario and the additional Information provided for this question In the Scenario Booklet, answer the following question.

This Exam Topic does not have a case study.

Project Scenario – Health and Safety Training Project:

ABC Company is a well-established training company that uses a standard model to develop training materials and deliver courses to customers.

ABC Company has commissioned a project in response to recent changes in government legislation relating to health and safety on construction sites. The project will deliver “capability to provide health and safety training”, including the materials needed for classroom -based training and e-learning. The expected benefits for construction companies include a reduction in lost days and legal costs due to accidents.

The e-learning course will be developed by a specialist external consultancy. The materials for classroom-based training will be delivered by ABC Company‟s development team. All course materials will be piloted before they are used. ABC Company will deliver training to its customers and also hopes to sell the course materials to other training companies as part of their operational business. ABC Company will use their own sales and marketing departments to promote the courses.

The legislation requires construction companies to comply with the new legislation within two years. The course materials and trainers have to be accredited by a government agency before courses can be delivered. ABC Company is planning to deliver pilot courses within five months of starting the project.

The ABC Company standard development model for new courses recommends the following stages:
End of the Project scenario.

Additional Information:
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) founded the company five years ago. Under her leadership, ABC Company has grown quickly into a successful training company. It delivers a range of accredited professional training.

The Finance Director is also a founder member of ABC Company and is responsible for authorizing budgets for the Operations and Development Teams. She authorizes all large contracts personally.

The Purchasing Manager reports to the Finance Director and is responsible for managing and monitoring supplier contracts.

The Operations Director is responsible for the delivery off all training and for the training development budget. His department organizes courses, venues and trainers. They work with the Product and the Sales teams to provide a comprehensive training schedule. ABC Company‟s IT manager reports to the Operations Director.

The Business Development Director has recently been appointed to identify new training needs and propose new products. She will work with the Operations. Director to ensure a cost-conscious approach and that appropriate development technologies are used for the health and safety course.

The Training Development Manager reports to the Business Development Director and is responsible for developing training materials and gaining accreditation, in accordance with the standard course development model. Course developers in his team have skills in a range of development technologies and are allocated to projects as needed.

The Training Delivery Manager, who reports to the Operations Director, is responsible for ensuring that internal and external trainers deliver ABC Company training courses to the required standard. He also checks course materials to ensure they are fit for purpose and of the required quality.

The Central Services Director has responsibility for corporate communications, facilities management and configuration management. He recently led a project to consolidate all company quality systems into one quality management system and set up a corporate quality department, now managed by the Corporate Quality Manager.

The Corporate Document Manager reports to the Central Services Director. She helped establish the company’s document management system and now operates it across the business. She manages a team of administrators and contracts staff when workload is high.

The Sales Director joined ABC Company two months ago and is keen to establish himself by suggesting new markets for the courses and material. All account managers and the marketing team report to him. They promote existing training courses to other training companies and existing customers.

End of the additional information.