PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) Exam Questions

PMI Risk Management Professional Exam Objectives

1. 1

   1.0 Risk Strategy and Planning (22%)

   • Task 1.1: Perform a preliminary document analysis Gather and review documents o Give examples of preliminary documents to review prior to risk identification includes industry benchmarks (if available), previous lessons learned, historical data, and the sources of the above information. Determine and assign who is responsible for the preliminary document analysis (e.g., project manager, risk manager, financial controller) Establish documents relevant to the risk process
   • Task 1.2: Assess project environment for threats and opportunities Determine which OPA / EEF / project methodology is needed (e.g., agile, waterfall, hybrid, etc.) Analyze the different environmental factors to be considered in the planning phase (e.g., PESTLE, SWOT analysis) Determine the organizational and cultural risk appetite o Analyze environment for risk culture maturity Evaluate the project management information system process and data Conduct a stakeholder analysis Analyze constraints to risk management o Government, market laws/rules, organizational, environmental, and technical risks Focus stakeholders on creating a culture of risk awareness Determine business driver of project, including key assumptions, benefits, and materialization of project.
   • Task 1.3: Confirm risk thresholds based on risk appetites Align project risk thresholds to organizational risk appetite Calculate the risk the organization can absorb (e.g., financial, scope, environmental, technical, legal, schedule, quality, contract, etc.) Discuss risk thresholds Lead conflict resolutions between stakeholders in agreeing on risk appetite
   • Task 1.4: Establish risk management strategy Establish risk processes and tools Provide risk management templates/forms Determine risk metrics Identify risk categories Coach/mentor team on risk management best practices (servant leadership) Lead stakeholders to adopt the risk strategy
   • Task 1.5: Document the risk management plan Define organizational risk roles and responsibilities o Align roles and responsibilities with a project RAM (e.g., RACI) chart Prepare a list of the key artifacts/resources that will be used to compile a risk management plan Outline the list of key risk management activities (e.g., who, what, when, where, how) Explain how the Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) can be used to support the risk management plan Define a risk communication plan Define risk prioritization criteria Define stakeholder empowerment and education strategy
   • Task 1.6: Plan and lead risk management activities with stakeholders Collaborate with the team that would conduct the risk planning on the project Leverage stakeholder analysis done by the project manager Manage stakeholder risk appetite and attitudes Engage stakeholders in the risk prioritization process Set appropriate expectations with stakeholders on the rules of engagement Tailor risk communication for stakeholders Lead stakeholder empowerment for risk strategies in the risk management plan Train, coach, and educate stakeholders in risk principles and processes in order to create shared understanding of principles and processes, and foster engagement in risk management
2. 2

   2.0 Risk Identification (23%)

   • Task 2.1: Conduct risk identification exercises Conduct meetings, interviews, focus groups, and other SME support activities Perform detailed analyses of risk identification exercise results Analyze documents, audio transcripts, telemetry data, etc. and understand business context of information Indicate risks as threats or opportunities
   • Task 2.2: Examine assumption and constraint analyses Leverage the results of the assumption and constraint analysis Categorize assumptions and constraints Assess the risk associated with each assumption and/or constraint Recognize the relationship between assumptions and/or constraints, and project objectives (e.g., predict the cascade effect of project stakeholder holiday schedules on project timelines) Encourage stakeholders to challenge assumptions and constraints
   • Task 2.3: Document risk triggers and thresholds based on context/environment Assess, confirm, and document risk compliance thresholds, and categories against updated risk data Assess and document risk triggers, causes and timing Assess and document risk consequences and/or impact Empower stakeholders to challenge existing thresholds
   • Task 2.4: Develop risk register Analyze the validity of identified risks and triggers Examine the risk attributes like probability, impact, urgency Establish risk origin and ownership e.g., internal/external Classify risks as threats or opportunities
3. 3

   3.0 Risk Analysis (23%)

   • Task 3.1: Perform qualitative analysis Perform a nominal classification or risks in the RBS using classifications from the risk management plan (e.g., environment, organizational, project management, technical, etc.) Estimate the impact of risk on project schedule, budget, resources, and scope Prioritize the risk based on impact, and urgency Apply the risk matrices o Agreed-upon assessment approach, Historical information, Definitions of probability and impact, Risk categories, Pre-established criteria Perform an ordinal classification Coach stakeholders on risk categorization strategies
   • Task 3.2: Perform quantitative analysis Analyze risk data and process performance information against established metrics Analyze a project's general risks Perform a forecast and trend analysis on new and historical information Perform sensitivity analysis o Monte Carlo, decision trees, critical path, expected monetary value,    etc. Perform risk weighting and calculate risk priority
   • Task 3.3: Identify threats and opportunities Assess project risk complexity o SWOT analysis, Ishikawa, Tree Diagram Perform an impact analysis on project objectives o project scopes, schedule cost, and resources, quality, and stakeholders Assess project compliance objectives against organizational strategicobjectives o procedures, project plans, corporate, and project governance, regulatory governance Empower stakeholders to independently identify threats and opportunities
4. 4

   4.0 Risk Response (13%)

   • Task 4.1: Plan risk response Determine appropriate risk response strategy o avoid, accept, mitigate, enhance, contingency planning etc. Decide the risk response actions (time bound) based on the risk response strategies and identify action owners Assess the effectiveness of the risk response actions against the identified strategy and the project objectives impact o cost/schedule/environment etc., effect of the action on the probability or the risk impact Illustrate and communicate effectiveness of the risk response strategies o risk burndown chart, dot plots Determine the work around Allocate responsibilities Outline an appropriate responsibility matrix for a metricized project environment Re-evaluate organizational risks
   • Task 4.2: Implement risk response Execute the risk response plan(s) Execute the contingency plan(s) Encourage stakeholders to provide feedback on the risk response Evaluate and react to secondary and residual risks from the response implementation o Improvise as needed
5. 5

   5.0 Monitor and Close Risks (19%)

   • Task 5.1: Gather and analyze performance data Reconcile performance data & reports from risk relevant work packages Analyze data to determine the completion status against the baseline Perform a variance analysis Monitor impact against overall project risk exposure to enterprise
   • Task 5.2: Monitor residual & secondary risks Monitor risk response and document residual risk Monitor risk response for secondary risks Assess impact of residual and secondary risks on project objectives Update and communicate impact of residual and secondary risks
   • Task 5.3: Provide information required to update relevant project documents Aggregate and summarize risk data, and update project documents o risk register, lessons learned, project management plan, change logs etc. Monitor and close out expired risks
   • Task 5.4: Monitor project risk levels Assess project risk level Prepare reports for different stakeholders Communicate risk levels to key stakeholders