PMP - Process (50% of the exam) - Section 2.4

Execute with the urgency required to deliver value, manage communications, stakeholders, changes, issues, artifacts, procurement, and project or phase closure.

Execute the project with the urgency needed to deliver business value incrementally, manage communications and stakeholder engagement, and handle changes through a defined change-control process. Manage issues, project artifacts, and procurement, ensure knowledge transfer for project continuity, and plan and manage the orderly closure or transition of the project or each phase with formal acceptance.

Change controlCommunications managementProcurement managementProject closure and transition

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleProcesshard

A predictive infrastructure project is midway through execution when a senior stakeholder emails the project manager directly and asks the team to add a small extra feature to a deliverable that is already baselined. The stakeholder says it is minor and can be slipped in quietly. What should the project manager do FIRST?

AImplement the feature straight away because it is small and keeping a senior stakeholder satisfied protects the project's standing.
BDecline the request outright and tell the stakeholder the baseline is fixed and cannot be reopened at this stage of the project.
CAdd the feature to the product backlog so it can be prioritised and pulled into the next iteration by the team.
DRaise a change request and route it through the integrated change control process so the impact on scope, schedule, and cost is assessed before any decision. Correct

In a predictive project, every proposed baseline change must pass through integrated change control before any work starts. Integrated change control ensures a proposed change is assessed for its effect on the scope, schedule, and cost baselines and formally approved or rejected, which prevents uncontrolled scope creep and keeps the baselines valid.

Why A is wrong: Acting on a verbal request without assessment is unmanaged scope creep; even a small change can affect the schedule and cost baselines and must be evaluated before any work begins.

Why B is wrong: A flat refusal ignores that legitimate changes can be approved through the proper process; the correct step is to assess the request, not to reject it before analysis.

Why C is wrong: A backlog and iterations belong to an adaptive approach; this is a predictive project with a baseline, so the change belongs in integrated change control, not a backlog.

Why D is correct: In a predictive project every baseline change flows through integrated change control, where the impact is analysed and the change control board decides, keeping the baselines authoritative.

See more PMP practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Process

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the PMP bank for this domain.

Update the scope baseline to match the delivered feature so the documentation reflects what the team actually built.
Why it is wrong: Quietly amending the baseline to fit the work makes the documents tidy, but it rewards an uncontrolled change and skips the evaluation of integrated impact that Perform Integrated Change Control exists to provide.
Direct the team to begin building the feature immediately, since the manager has already judged the request worthwhile.
Why it is wrong: Starting work on the manager's own judgement bypasses the change control process and the authority that must approve baseline changes, so it is out of process however sound the idea seems.
Implement the change immediately, because it stays within the cost and schedule baselines and so falls outside the change control board's remit.
Why it is wrong: It is tempting because no baseline number moves, but the CCB's remit covers scope and design configuration as well, so a change to the documented design still requires the board's review even when cost and schedule are unaffected.

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