NO.132 Who is responsible for appointing the Project Manager?

NO.133 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to cut costs, better manage suppliers’ performance and reduce the confusion caused by inadequate internal controls, outdated standards and outdated technology.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.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Major risks heading?

NO.134 HOTSPOT
Extract from the Project Product Description (with errors)

The information in Column 1 may be entered in the Product Description for the chosen label design. Column 2 is a list of the quality headings (excluding Quality Method) in a Product Description. For each entry in Column 1 decide if it should be included in the Product Description headings shown and select the heading from Column 2 under which it should be recorded.
Drop down the right answer

NO.135 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 (GBP)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 (GBP)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.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Expected benefits heading?

NO.136 Scenario
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).

Using the Project Scenario and the Extract from Stage Plan for stage 3 provided as additional intonation for this question in the Scenario Booklet, answer the following 5 questions.
The Stage Plan for stage 3 has been produced.
The Engineering Manager insists that there are to be no interruptions to operations whilst photographs are being taken of the engineering staff performing their everyday duties and operating machinery. Two weeks ago the professional photographer produced the photo session schedule based on the operational staff schedule. The operational staff schedule is produced weekly and maintained by the Engineering Manager.
None of the £500 change budget has been used to date and this is available for the stage.
Which 2 statements apply to the External dependencies section?

NO.137 Extract from the Project Product Description (with errors)

The information in Column 1 may be entered in the Product Description for the chosen label design. Column 2 is a list of the quality headings (excluding Quality Method) in a Product Description. For each entry in Column
1 decide if it should be included in the Product Description headings shown and select the heading from Column 2 under which it should be recorded.
Drop down the right answer.

NO.138 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.
Which 2 alternative actions apply to the proposed Senior Supplier for this project?

NO.139 The delivery of the pilot courses has been split into two separate products: ‘planned pilot courses’ and
‘delivered pilot courses’. ‘Planned pilot courses’ will be produced during stage 3, and the ‘delivered pilot courses’ will take place during stage 4. This will allow the project board to approve the plan for the pilot courses before the resources are committed to delivering the pilot courses.
Why is this an appropriate application of the plans theme to control the project?

NO.140 Scenario
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.
The project is now in stage 2. The Project Manager has heard about the possibility of a competitor also producing a calendar to be delivered earlier than the target date for this project. There is a threat that the early release of a competitor’s calendar may weaken the impact of the MNO Manufacturing Company calendar, thereby reducing the anticipated benefits of the Calendar project.
Which 2 statements should be recorded under the Proximity heading?

NO.141 Which statement is TRUE with regard to technical stages?

NO.142 The team member collating the list of customers has now forecast that it will NOT be complete by the end of this stage as originally planned, due to a number of new prospective customers’ details not yet being available. What action should the team member take?

NO.143 Who is responsible for ensuring that Communication Management Strategy is appropriate and that planned
communication activities actually take place?

NO.144 At the end of stage 2, the specialist ‘e-learning course’ supplier will be selected. As a result, it is decided that
the quality management approach will not be created until the end of stage 2, to take into account this
supplier’s standards and techniques.
Is this appropriate, and why?

NO.145 This question provides a number of changes which may or may not be required to the Extract from the Communication Management Strategy provided in the additional information.
Which statement applies to the Tools and techniques section?

NO.146 Which 2 statements explain why Central Records should be appointed as Project Support for this project?

NO.147 Which management product defines the detailed nature, purpose and function of a product?