TOPIC: Please help me to understand answer

I am practicing Mock test on GreyCampus webpage and one of the questions/answers doesn't make sense to me. May you please help me to understand the reason behind it.

Question: During project closure, due to lack of time you have created the final project report and successfully completed the handover to operations. However, your project sponsor is not allowing you to leave the project. When you ask the sponsor, the response is that you need to figure out yourself why you cannot leave. What could be the main reason that the sponsor is holding you back though everything seems to have been done?

A: Operations have not provided acceptance signoff yet
B: Lessons have not been transferred to the lessons learned repository yet
C: Baseline documents have not been updated yet
D: Project resources have been not been released yet

I picked option D because I thought that if resources are not release and are still charging to the project after it is closed, that would present an issue to project manager.
However, it is indicated that answer B is a correct one with the following explanation.
It is important to capture all the project lessons in a lessons learned repository at the end of the project. Releasing of resources to be done eventually after all closure work is completed. Baseline cannot be updated with actuals. Operations have already provided their acceptance as mentioned in the question.

I can't understand that reason because I can't find anything in PMBOK that would state that project sponsor carries for LL, unless that it would be a company internal project.
But even with internal project doesn't make better sense that releasing resources from the project has a higher importance ?

Hi Leonid,

To me, the question wants to know what is the very last activity (within the answer choices) the sponsor wants the project manager to complete before they can leave the project.

The very last activity you read about in Close Project or Phase in the PMBOK® Guide is updating the Organizational Process Assets (OPAs). See the last sentence on p. 128 of the 6th edition. The Lessons Learned Register is a project document that becomes an OPA when it is put (or transferred) into storage, a repository, where others can access it for future projects or phases.

Here’s a good link with some visuals of a searchable database repository that may help you see how updating the OPAs is the last step for a project manager in Close Project or Phase:
Integrating lessons learned throughout the product development process

Lisa

Thank you Lisa.
You are right I just haven't though about it this way.

In the simplilearn.com mock test there is a following question

You are in charge of building a shopping portal. You are fairly confident as you have a team experienced in doing such work. As per the agreement at the end of the first month, you organize a demonstration of the software. You invite the sponsor and key stakeholders. Later, the sponsor informs you that she is not very happy with the progress, indicating that one of the clients who would be using this software is not satisfied as her needs are not being met. Satisfying this client's needs would mean some radical changes with an impact on both cost and schedule. What could be the root cause of this issue?
A. Deliverables were not as per requirement
B. The stakeholder is making unrealistic demands
C. The scope statement was ambiguous
D. All the stakeholders were not identified

The right answer to that question is indicated to be D. However, nothing in the question indicates that client was missed during the stakeholder identification process.
Why can't the answer be C, as the scope statement could have been unclearly written based on misinterpreted or missed requirements?

Thank you.

Leonid,

One of the trickiest aspects of the PMP exam is that the questions often propose multiple answers that are possibly correct. The mission of the exam taker is to choose the best among the answers proposed.

The answer is D because the change being so impactful on cost and schedule implies something much more significant than an ambiguous requirement or scope statement. If the software was ready to demonstrate, this means that the development team has already worked on refining requirements and producing software for the previously identified work. Remember, this is an experienced team. If something that big was missed, most likely it's because someone with key input regarding the needed product was missed and, hence, their requirements are simply not being met.

FWIW, after 35 years in IT software development, I can sadly confirm that big issues in delivery are often traceable to this very issue!

I hope this helps!
Tracy

Thank you Tracy for a clue.
So it's a word "experienced team" and an assumption that an experience team will less like missunderstand the requirement than to miss a stakeholder.

Here is another brain twisting mock exact question from simplilearn.com

The purpose of a quality audit is to:
A: Identify inefficient and ineffective policies
B: Identify project quality for customer
C: Study organizational behavior
D: Prepare a report for the quality team

The right answer is said to be A since the purpose of a quality audit is to identify inefficient and ineffective policies. This is where I can say I am not just a confused but genuinely lost.

According to PMBOK, glossary part 3 (page 718), Quality Audits defines as "A quality audit is a structured, independent process to determine if project activities comply with
organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures."

However, in my mind answer A is saying that Quality Audits are designed to review and determine inefficient and ineffective OPA policies which is opposite to what PMBOK says.
Please help me to understand what I am missing here?

Another question from simplilearn.com mock test which I believe contains an incorrect answer.

As a project manager of a project, you have just completed Schedule network diagram. What should you do next in schedule management?
A: Estimate Activity Resources
B: Sequence Activities
C: Estimate Activity Durations
D: Develop Schedule

The right answer says to be "A" since Schedule network diagram is an output of Sequence Activities, NEXT process is Estimate Activity Resources.

Per PMBOK, I am seeing that chapter 6.3 Sequence Activities (page 187) follows by chapter 6.4. Estimate Activities Durations (page 195), and Estimates Activity resources is a chapter 9.2 (page 320).

Please help me to understand how does "Estimate Activity Resource" activity from the Project Resource Management knowledge area is the next step after "Sequence Activities" activity of the Project Schedule Management knowledge area. Shouldn't the right answer be C, instead of A?