CGEIT Practice Test 20 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An organization is struggling with 'Shadow IT' negatively impacting their consolidated benefits realization report. Which governance approach best mitigates this risk while maintaining IT agility?

Accepted Answer

Developing a standard service catalog and internal IT brokerage model.. A standard service catalog with an internal IT brokerage model gives business units a sanctioned, fast path to acquire SaaS and cloud services, so they no longer need to procure shadow IT outside governance. Because the catalog is governed, all consumption flows into the consolidated benefits realization report, preserving visibility while keeping agility. This addresses the root cause (lack of an approved, convenient alternative) rather than just blocking demand.

Answer

Restricting network access to cloud-based SaaS providers.

Answer

Consolidating all IT budgets into a single central cost center.

Answer

Implementing a strict ban on non-approved software acquisition.

Question 2

An enterprise is reviewing its IT resource capacity plan. The CIO notes that the current plan is based on historical averages and does not account for the retirement of a major legacy system next quarter, nor for a planned acquisition that will add 2,000 users. Which action should the CIO take to improve the reliability of the capacity plan?

Accepted Answer

Integrate business demand forecasts and planned technology lifecycle events into a rolling capacity model.. Integrating business demand forecasts and planned lifecycle events into a rolling capacity model directly addresses the identified weaknesses. It moves planning from historical averages to forward-looking, business-aligned projections. The other options are either arbitrary, reactive, or transfer responsibility without improving the underlying planning process, and therefore do not reliably account for the upcoming changes.

Answer

Outsource all capacity planning to a third-party vendor that specializes in infrastructure sizing.

Answer

Adopt a just-in-time procurement policy so additional capacity is purchased only when utilization thresholds are breached.

Answer

Increase the capacity of all production servers by 20 percent to create a buffer against unexpected demand.

Question 3

A financial services firm has a large portfolio of custom applications. The CIO wants to optimize the IT resource portfolio by identifying applications that consume disproportionate support resources relative to their business value. Which technique is MOST appropriate for this analysis?

Accepted Answer

Perform a business value versus technical health assessment to plot applications on a portfolio matrix.. A business value versus technical health assessment provides a balanced view that links each application's strategic contribution to its support burden and technical condition. It enables the CIO to identify disproportionate resource consumers and make informed governance decisions. The other techniques examine only cost, tickets, or satisfaction, each of which is insufficient on its own to optimize the application portfolio.

Answer

Conduct a total cost of ownership analysis for each application and rank them by cost.

Answer

Survey end users to rate their satisfaction with each application and focus on the lowest-rated ones.

Answer

Calculate the number of help desk tickets per application and prioritize those with the highest ticket volume.

Question 4

During a portfolio review, it is discovered that a program's benefits are being realized, but the project costs have exceeded the contingency fund by 20%. What is the best immediate action for the benefits owner?

Accepted Answer

Conduct a re-evaluation of the business case to determine if the expected ROI is still valid.. When a program's benefits are being realized but costs have exceeded contingency by 20%, the benefits owner must determine whether the business case still holds — i.e., whether the expected ROI remains valid given the higher costs. Re-evaluating the business case (A) is the governance action that preserves the benefits focus while addressing the cost variance. It provides the evidence needed for any subsequent decision (continue, re-scope, or terminate).

Answer

Immediately terminate the project to prevent further cost overruns.

Answer

Ignore the cost overrun as long as the project delivery schedule remains on track.

Answer

Request an additional budget from the steering committee without analysis.

Question 5

A global retailer's IT department has a high turnover rate among its enterprise architects. Exit interviews consistently cite a lack of clear career progression and insufficient investment in emerging technology skills. The CIO wants to address this through a formal IT resource governance mechanism. Which action should be the CIO's first step?

Accepted Answer

Develop an IT workforce plan that aligns architecture competency needs with the enterprise's strategic roadmap and includes a skills development program.. The correct answer is the development of an IT workforce plan aligned with the strategic roadmap. This addresses the root causes of turnover by providing a structured approach to career development and skills acquisition. It ensures that IT resource management is proactive and integrated with business strategy, a core principle of IT resource governance.

Answer

Increase salaries for all enterprise architects to match the top quartile of the market.

Answer

Implement a mandatory overtime policy to ensure project deadlines are met while recruiting replacements.

Answer

Outsource the enterprise architecture function to a specialized consulting firm.

Question 6

A manufacturing enterprise is establishing benefits profiles for a new enterprise resource planning program. The governance committee wants each benefit to be auditable and traceable. Which TWO characteristics must each benefit entry in the benefits register include to satisfy this requirement? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

A baseline measurement and a target value with a defined measurement method.. Auditable and traceable benefits require two essentials: a named business owner accountable for the outcome, and a baseline, target, and measurement method that make the benefit verifiable. Together they connect the benefit to a responsible party and to evidence, which are the foundation of benefits realization governance.

Answer

A technical architecture diagram of the enabling solution.

Answer

A confirmed vendor contract value for the enabling technology.

Answer

A signed project charter from the program sponsor.

Question 7

A financial services firm's board has delegated IT oversight to a technology committee. The committee learns that a critical core-banking platform upgrade is six months behind and that the CIO has been authorizing change requests outside the approved investment threshold without escalation. The committee wants to correct the governance failure while preserving the CIO's operational authority. Which action should the committee take?

Accepted Answer

Reaffirm and enforce the delegated decision rights and escalation thresholds, and require the CIO to present a remediation plan for the unauthorized change requests.. The governance failure is that approved decision rights and escalation thresholds were not enforced, so the committee should reaffirm those mechanisms and require accountability through a remediation plan. This preserves the CIO's operational authority while restoring the committee's oversight. Auditing, suspending work, or replacing the CIO either bypass the governance mechanism or overreach beyond the evidence.

Answer

Commission an independent audit of the core-banking program and suspend all change requests until the audit concludes.

Answer

Escalate the matter to the full board and recommend that the CIO be replaced to restore confidence in IT governance.

Answer

Transfer authority for all platform-related change approvals from the CIO to the technology committee until the upgrade completes.

Question 8

An IT governance committee is reviewing the enterprise's resource management practices. The committee wants to ensure that IT human resources are deployed in a way that supports both current operations and strategic initiatives. Which action should the committee recommend to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Implement a skills inventory and succession planning process that maps current competencies to strategic workforce needs.. A skills inventory and succession planning process is the most effective action because it systematically identifies competency gaps and ensures that human resources are developed and deployed to meet strategic objectives while maintaining operational continuity. The other actions either address capacity without capability or apply untargeted measures that do not guarantee alignment with strategic workforce needs.

Answer

Outsource all non-strategic IT functions to reduce internal headcount and free up staff for strategic projects.

Answer

Require all IT staff to work on both operational support and strategic projects on a rotating basis.

Answer

Increase the IT training budget by 10 percent across the board to improve overall staff capabilities.

Question 9

Which TWO elements should be included in a business case report to the executive team?

Accepted Answer

The key risks and potential mitigations.. Option D is correct because a business case presented to executives must surface the key risks along with their potential mitigations, giving decision-makers the information needed to weigh the project's exposure and approve or reject it responsibly. Option E is correct because the project's ROI analysis is the core financial justification of a business case, quantifying expected benefits against costs so executives can compare the investment against alternatives and organizational priorities. The unmarked options do not belong: A (the list of all developers) is a staffing detail irrelevant to executive decision-making, B (daily project status meeting minutes) is tactical operational documentation rather than strategic justification, and C (server hardware configuration details) is a low-level technical specification that belongs in design or procurement documents, not in an executive business case.

Answer

The list of names of all developers.

Answer

The daily project status meeting minutes.

Answer

The server hardware configuration details.

Question 10

An enterprise has approved a customer relationship management (CRM) program with a projected 12% increase in customer retention. Six months after go-live, the benefits owner reports that retention has not improved, but the program manager argues the technology is fully deployed and the project is complete. Which action should the benefits owner take FIRST?

Accepted Answer

Confirm the baseline retention rate and validate whether the measured outcome is attributable to the CRM program.. The correct action is to validate the baseline and attribution before judging the program. Benefits realization requires a measurable baseline, a defined metric, and a causal link to the initiative. Without confirming these, the benefits owner cannot determine whether the gap is real, a measurement artifact, or caused by external factors, and any escalation or cancellation decision would be uninformed.

Answer

Report that the program has failed and recommend writing off the investment.

Answer

Ask the program manager to extend the project timeline and add more technical features.

Answer

Escalate to the steering committee to cancel the program because the benefits have not materialized.

Question 11

Which THREE factors should be considered when assessing the 'Value' of an IT investment in a portfolio?

Accepted Answer

Financial benefits such as cost reduction or revenue growth.. Option A is correct because financial benefits such as cost reduction, revenue growth, and ROI are core quantitative measures of an IT investment's value in portfolio management. Option D is correct because strategic alignment with enterprise objectives ensures the investment supports the organization's long-term goals and priorities, which is a key qualitative value criterion. Option E is correct because the risk of business disruption if the project is not implemented captures the downside exposure and urgency, which directly affects the investment's value and prioritization. Option B is not a value factor; the number of vendors is a delivery complexity or procurement consideration, not a measure of investment value. Option C is also not a value factor; the total volume of code written is an output metric and does not indicate business or strategic value.

Answer

The number of vendors involved in the project.

Answer

The total volume of code written.

Question 12

A telecommunications company has a benefits register showing that a network analytics platform is on track to meet its efficiency targets, but the business unit that funded it reports that the operational teams are not using the dashboards. The program manager argues the platform is technically complete and benefits should be signed off. Which action should the steering committee take?

Accepted Answer

Keep the program open and require evidence of adoption and realized efficiency before confirming the benefits.. Benefits are realized only when the capability is actually used and the intended outcome is measured, so the committee should require adoption evidence before confirming. Signing off on technical completion, transferring an unachieved benefit, or reassigning targets to the technology function all disconnect accountability from the process that produces the value.

Answer

Sign off the benefits because the platform met its technical acceptance criteria and efficiency targets are trending positively.

Answer

Close the program and transfer the benefits to the business unit, noting that adoption is now the business unit's responsibility.

Answer

Reassign the efficiency targets to the technology function since it built and operates the platform.

Question 13

When evaluating IT resource governance, which indicator best measures the effectiveness of resource allocation?

Accepted Answer

Degree of alignment between IT projects and strategic business objectives. The degree of alignment between IT projects and strategic business objectives is the best indicator of effective resource allocation, because it directly measures whether IT resources are being directed toward what the business values most. High alignment means funding, people, and technology are flowing to initiatives that advance strategy, which is the essence of good IT resource governance.

Answer

Total IT spend as a percentage of revenue

Answer

Average server uptime percentage

Answer

Number of IT staff certifications earned per year

Question 14

Which THREE factors should be evaluated when prioritizing IT investments within a portfolio for maximum benefit realization?

Accepted Answer

Strategic alignment with enterprise objectives.. Option A (strategic alignment with enterprise objectives) is correct because portfolio prioritization must first ensure each investment directly supports the organization's strategic goals, since benefits realization is measured against those objectives. Option D (risk of non-delivery or failure to achieve benefits) is correct because a high-value investment that is unlikely to deliver its intended benefits should be deprioritized; risk-adjusted value is essential for realistic benefit realization. Option E (estimated financial ROI or NPV) is correct because quantified financial return, such as net present value or ROI, provides an objective, comparable basis for ranking investments by expected value. Option B is not a portfolio-level prioritization factor; programming-language experience is a tactical resourcing concern, not a measure of strategic or financial benefit. Option C is also not a primary prioritization criterion; hardware age may inform a refresh decision, but it does not by itself indicate maximum benefit realization across the portfolio.

Answer

Project team experience with specific programming languages.

Answer

The age of the current hardware infrastructure.

Question 15

A multinational bank is integrating its IT risk management with enterprise risk management (ERM). The CGEIT practitioner is asked to evaluate the effectiveness of this integration. Which of the following indicators best demonstrates successful integration?

Accepted Answer

IT risk scenarios are mapped to the enterprise risk taxonomy and reported in the ERM dashboard.. Successful integration is evidenced by IT risks being incorporated into the enterprise risk taxonomy and reported alongside other risks. This ensures a comprehensive view and supports informed decision-making at the enterprise level. Separate registers, misaligned frequencies, and fragmented policy approvals are signs of poor integration.

Answer

The IT risk management policy is approved by the CIO, and the enterprise risk policy is approved by the CFO.

Answer

The IT risk register is maintained separately from the enterprise risk register to preserve IT-specific details.

Answer

IT risk assessments are conducted annually, while enterprise risk assessments are conducted quarterly.