IPA IP 2020 Question 40
A question IPA Japan published in 令和2年度 10月 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問40, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
Activities in project management include project integration management, project scope management, project schedule management, project cost management, and the like. Activities in project integration management include determining resource allocation and coordinating trade-offs between competing objectives and alternatives. In a system development project, which of the following is an appropriate activity in project integration management when a function that is not in the initial plan is to be added?
Explanation
Considering whether to change the delivery date or add personnel — integration management weighs competing objectives, here schedule against resources and cost, and decides for the whole project.
Adding a function that was not planned touches several knowledge areas at once: the scope grows, the schedule and the budget are affected, and more people may be needed. Each area plans its own part, but choosing between keeping the delivery date by adding staff (more cost) and moving the date (keeping cost) is a trade-off between competing objectives, which the question says belongs to project integration management.
Answer (b)
Why not others:
- •(a) — estimating the cost of the addition and securing the budget is work within project cost management alone
- •(c) — defining the extra work and deliverables and updating the WBS is project scope management
- •(d) — estimating the duration and changing the schedule is project schedule management
Key rule: Each knowledge area updates its own plan; integration management trades the areas off against each other (scope, time, cost, people) and chooses for the project as a whole.
Project Management · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.