MSP-Practitioner MSP Practitioner, 5th edition Exam Questions and Answers

The Project Brief is a key document that describes the purpose, cost, time, performance requirements, and constraints of a specific project. It acts as the initial detailed definition of a project within the programme context. The MSP Practitioner states:“Project brief describes purpose, cost, time, performance requirements and constraints of a project,”highlighting its role in defining project scope and parameters, which supports effective project delivery aligned to the programme objectives.

Both the Business Change Manager (BCM) and the Programme Manager share responsibility for aligning projects with benefits realization. The MSP Practitioner highlights that“Both roles are responsible for this task as projects are overseen by programme manager, and benefits are under BCM supervision.”

The Programme Manager ensures that project outputs are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned to programme objectives, while the BCM ensures that these outputs translate into tangible benefits once transitioned into operational use.

This dual responsibility ensures seamless coordination between delivery and realization functions, bridging the gap between project outputs and strategic outcomes. Without this collaboration, there is a risk of projects delivering outputs that fail to produce the intended business improvements.

Together, the Programme Manager and BCM form a critical partnership in MSP’s approach to ensuring benefits are fully realized, tracked, and maximized throughout and beyond the programme lifecycle.

All the listed groups are valid stakeholders in a city-building programme. MSP recognizes that stakeholders can be diverse, including internal groups like employees, external political leadership, and the wider community such as potential residents.

The MSP Practitioner notes:“All are valid stakeholders in programme,”emphasizing the importance of identifying and engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders to ensure programme success.

Inclusive stakeholder management supports better decision-making, risk mitigation, and benefits realization by addressing varied needs and expectations across the stakeholder landscape.

Approval to proceed is a critical input for the 'Managing the Tranches' process. Without formal approval, the programme cannot move into tranche delivery phases. The MSP Practitioner specifies:“Without approval to proceed, programme will not enter this process.”This highlights the formal gating and control process essential for structured programme progression.

The Business Change Manager (BCM) reviews the Business Case to confirm that the plans for benefits realization are sound and achievable. The BCM ensures that the expected benefits are realistic, measurable, and aligned with the organization's strategic objectives.

The MSP Practitioner states:“BCMs will review it to confirm that benefit realizations have been handled correctly.”This review helps identify risks or gaps in benefit planning early, enabling corrective actions before programme progression.

While the SRO approves the Business Case and the Programme Manager produces it, the BCM’s critical role is to validate the benefits-related aspects, ensuring the programme can deliver its expected value effectively and sustainably.

The Programme Manager is responsible for producing the Business Case. This document outlines the justification for the programme, including costs, benefits, risks, and options. The Programme Manager prepares the Business Case to ensure it is comprehensive, realistic, and aligned with the programme’s objectives.

The MSP Practitioner notes:“Programme manager prepares it as he is responsible for it,”emphasizing the role’s responsibility to articulate the strategic rationale and provide a sound basis for decision-making. The Business Case is then reviewed and approved by the SRO and other governance bodies.

The Programme Manager collaborates with other roles such as the Business Change Manager and SRO to ensure all aspects of the Business Case are valid and supported. This role is pivotal in maintaining the integrity and credibility of the programme justification throughout its lifecycle.

A Vision Statement is a succinct and compelling description of the desirable future state that the programme aims to achieve. It serves to inspire and align stakeholders around the intended outcomes and benefits. The MSP Practitioner outlines key characteristics of a Vision Statement, including that it must describe a desirable future and be concise to ensure clarity and focus.

Key benefits are often implicit within the Vision, providing a motivational overview without delving into detailed measurement or timelines.

However, the Vision Statement is NOT normally time-dependent. Time frames and milestones are introduced later in the programme planning stages, such as in the Business Case or Programme Plan. The MSP Practitioner explains:“Vision statement does not include time frames until programme is time bound in nature,”which means the Vision is more about 'what' will be achieved rather than 'when.'

This approach allows the Vision to remain stable even if timeframes or specific project plans evolve. The focus remains on the transformational goal, providing a constant reference point as the programme adapts to challenges and changes.

Therefore, including time-dependence in the Vision Statement could unnecessarily constrain the programme’s strategic focus or create misalignment if schedules shift.

A key attribute for a Programme Manager is a good knowledge of project management approaches. This expertise enables the Programme Manager to oversee and coordinate multiple interrelated projects, ensuring they deliver outputs that collectively realize programme objectives.

The MSP Practitioner states:“Programme Manager should have good project management skills,”emphasizing that while strategic leadership and stakeholder engagement are important, the ability to manage the complexities of project delivery is fundamental to the Programme Manager role.

While change management skills and access to key stakeholders are important complementary abilities, the core responsibility of managing project delivery across a dossier of projects necessitates strong project management knowledge. The Programme Manager acts as the bridge between strategic programme objectives and tactical project execution, requiring detailed understanding of project methodologies, risk management, scheduling, resource coordination, and quality assurance.

This knowledge supports effective integration, issue resolution, and benefits delivery, positioning the Programme Manager as a central figure in programme success.

The probability of success is higher when programme requirements are well-defined and clearly understood. MSP Practitioner states:“Probability is high when requirements are well defined and clearly understood. Clear specifications of output increases the probability of success.”Process changes affecting technology and structures typically have clearer specifications and boundaries, making successful delivery more likely compared to changes driven by complex behaviors or historical practices.

Dependency management isnotconsidered a principal control for managing the tranches but rather a governance control related to delivering the benefits.

The MSP Practitioner explains:“Dependency management is governance control for Delivering the benefits,”which means while dependencies between projects and benefits must be managed, they are not direct tranche controls.

Principal tranche controls focus on approving and reviewing Business Cases and conducting Benefit Reviews to ensure each tranche delivers value and remains aligned with strategic objectives.

Recognizing this distinction helps ensure the programme maintains effective controls focused on stage delivery and benefit realization without conflating governance functions.

'Leading change' principle in MSP focuses on driving transformation through the right leadership, engaging stakeholders actively, and fostering innovative solutions. However, getting approval from the sponsoring group is not considered part of this principle but rather a responsibility addressed in programme organization under governance themes. Approval processes are formalized separately from the leadership approach.

The principle“Envisioning and communicating a better future”specifically addresses the need for creating a clear, compelling Vision. The MSP Practitioner states:“Envisioning and communicating a better future categorically takes the need of creating an effective Vision statement.”This principle ensures that the programme has a forward-looking, inspirational view of the outcomes and benefits, which guides all programme activities and stakeholder engagement efforts. The Vision helps to align everyone involved and drives commitment towards the desired future state.

The principle“Remaining aligned with corporate strategy”requires programmes to be both robust and flexible, enabling them to adapt to frequent and sometimes radical strategic shifts. The MSP Practitioner clarifies that“Programmes need to adjust to strategic changes of organization so they should be robust and flexible to achieve that.”This principle ensures programmes remain relevant and aligned throughout their lifecycle despite changes in organizational priorities or external conditions, enabling successful transformation delivery.

The process of how issues will be identified, captured, and assessed isnotrecorded in the Issue Register itself but is instead documented in the Issue Management Strategy.

The MSP Practitioner clarifies:“How to deal with issue is identified in issue management strategy,”meaning the register contains actual issues with details such as date raised, description, and categorization but not the procedural approach.

This distinction ensures that the register remains a real-time log of current issues while the management strategy defines policies and processes for consistent issue handling across the programme.

Maintaining this separation improves clarity and operational efficiency in issue management.

The Programme Manager holds responsibility for ensuring that individual projects align with the overarching programme objectives during capability delivery. This role coordinates the interdependencies, monitors progress, and manages risks to ensure projects collectively deliver the intended outcomes.

The MSP Practitioner notes:“Programme manager is responsible for all tasks in delivering the capability. This is a continual activity throughout the programme.”This alignment ensures that outputs contribute directly to the transformational goals and benefit realization plan, avoiding scope creep or misaligned efforts.

While the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) provides strategic accountability and the Business Change Manager (BCM) focuses on benefits realization, the Programme Manager operationalizes these objectives through effective project oversight and control.

The Programme Office supports through administrative and coordination activities but does not have direct accountability for strategic alignment of projects.

Maintaining this alignment is critical for delivering business value and achieving programme success in complex transformational environments.

The false statement is that“End of tranche review drives benefits management.”In MSP, benefits management drives end of tranche reviews rather than the other way around.

The MSP Practitioner clarifies:“Benefits management drives end of tranche reviews,”meaning that benefits realization considerations inform tranche planning, execution, and review processes.

This approach ensures that benefit delivery remains central to programme governance and decision-making, promoting alignment of delivery with strategic value.

Basic governance arrangements, including programme controls, are established during the 'Identifying the Programme' phase. These initial controls set the foundation for how the programme will be governed, including accountability structures, reporting lines, and approval mechanisms.

The MSP Practitioner states:“Basic governance arrangements to be used in Defining a programme are prepared in identifying a programme,”emphasizing the importance of establishing governance early to guide subsequent programme phases effectively.

Establishing these controls upfront ensures clarity, reduces ambiguity, and provides a framework within which the programme can operate with discipline and alignment to strategic goals.

The Benefits Map is typically created during the 'Defining a Programme' phase of the transformational flow. This map visually links programme outputs to expected benefits and outcomes, providing a clear picture of how the programme’s work will realize its intended value.

The MSP Practitioner explains:“Benefits are identified and analyzed in Defining a programme,”which highlights that the Benefits Map is a key planning tool used to understand dependencies, confirm benefit ownership, and ensure alignment with strategic objectives before detailed delivery begins.

Creating the Benefits Map at this stage supports informed decision-making and prioritization, as well as effective communication with stakeholders about how change initiatives contribute to strategic goals. It also serves as a baseline for benefits realization planning and tracking throughout programme delivery.

By defining and mapping benefits early, the programme can mitigate risks of misalignment or overlooked benefits, thereby improving chances of successful transformation and measurable value creation.

Good budgeting and resource allocation are typically the responsibilities of the Programme Manager or Project Managers, not senior leadership. Senior leadership focuses on strategic and cultural aspects such as vision creation and empowered decision-making. The MSP Practitioner clarifies,"Good budgeting and resource allocation skills ... is done by programme manager/project managers,"distinguishing operational financial management from senior leadership duties.