Question

Each time you perform the Validate Scope process with your customer he points out changes to the design that are nice and often useful but which he hadn’t really asked for. You are annoyed by all of this undetected gold plating. Which process are you not performing that would have detected it earlier?

A.) Collect Requirements

B.) Define Scope

C.) Control Scope

D.) Perform Integrated Change Control

Question provided by The PM Exam Simulator: www.pm-exam-simulator.com

Answer & Explanation

Correct Answer: C)

Collect Requirements and Define Scope are processes that are performed early on in the project, usually a long time before the deliverables are worked on. These processes were performed and completed as a basis for your scope. They won’t help you detect gold plating.

Perform Integrated Change Control is the process of reviewing and approving change requests. Gold plating is applied without formally filling in a change request and asking for approval. This process won’t help you either.

The Control Scope process on the other hand might help you detect gold plating before you show the deliverables to the customer. In this process we monitor the status of the project scope. In particular we compare the original requirements with the work performance information. Gold plating will show up as a variance between the planned and actually produced features of a deliverable.

Reference: PMBOK Guide 5th Edition, page 137

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