TOPIC: Who should approve the detailed project schedule?

Dear fellow Prepcast students,

Here is one question that apparently is easy -

When the project manager completes the detailed project schedule, who should approve it? Choose the best answer -
A> The Project Sponsor
B> The Project Team
C> Functional managers
D> Customer

Based on my understanding, the answer I chose was A. But it came out to be wrong! The answer given was C. Unable to digest it, I thought let me seek opinion of Prepcast Gurus & community.

Any plausible explanation for the answer C? (The text of the question was exactly as mentioned here.)

I feel it's the Project Sponsor who should approve the project schedule.

Thanks for your time and help.

Best regards,

Surendra

Surendra,

In a case like this I would go back to the person who originally created this question and ask them. They are best equipped to give you the reasons.

Do you know who this question is from?

Hi Surendra,

This is why PMP is a tricky examination. Read the question carefully as it implies a situation where PM creates the schedule. Now if the Project Manager creates the schedule, ofcourse the people who will work on it will have to approve it.
In most of the big companies, functional managers represent the team and they have to approve it.
But lets be sure, PMI wont ask any questions which will have too much ambiguity in it.

Praveen Kumar

Praveen:

I chose C because the schedule includes the allocation of resources that come from the functional managers ... you need their approval of the requested / planned time for the people coming from their teams. IMHO.

JD

Agree .. there are many reasons why functional managers should be included but the point overall surendra is functional managers matter for the execution of plan and need to be involved in approval of schedule in case they are not included.

Hi All
Thanks for your time and suggestions.

This question is from PMFastrack (RMC Projects) question bank.

In the absence of any additional information like whether PM is working in functional organization or who has approved the resources for the project, I went ahead with the logic that - the perons who funds the project (trhe Sposor) should matter most for all the decision making. Hence chose option A.

I only hope that there are no such questions when I take the PMP exam!

Thanks and regards,

Surendra Vaidya