PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Question
You are the project manager for a marketing campaign. A new regulation is announced that affects your project's deliverables. The regulation requires additional compliance steps that were not in the original scope. What should you do FIRST?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Evaluate the impact on scope, schedule, and cost, and submit a change request.
The first step when a new regulation affects the project is to evaluate its impact on scope, schedule, and cost, then submit a change request through the formal change control process. Option D is correct. Option A is incorrect because ignoring the regulation could lead to non-compliance. Option B is incorrect because stopping the project is not the first step; first assess and follow change control. Option C is incorrect because implementing changes without approval bypasses the change control process.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ignore the regulation because it was not part of the original plan.
Why it's wrong here
Project managers have a professional and ethical responsibility to ensure project compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and organizational policies, regardless of whether they were initially documented in the project plan. Ignoring a newly identified regulation exposes the project and organization to significant legal, financial, and reputational risks, which is a direct violation of PMP ethical guidelines and sound project management principles. This approach is unacceptable and demonstrates a lack of due diligence.
- ✗
Stop the project and reassess feasibility.
Why it's wrong here
Immediately stopping the project is an overreaction that lacks a structured analytical approach. Before making such a drastic decision, the project manager must first conduct a thorough impact analysis to understand the extent of the new regulation's effect on project objectives, constraints, and deliverables. Prematurely halting the project incurs unnecessary costs, delays, and potential loss of stakeholder confidence without a clear understanding of the actual necessity or alternative solutions.
- ✗
Instruct the team to incorporate the compliance steps immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Directing the team to immediately incorporate new compliance steps bypasses the established integrated change control process, which is a critical component of effective project governance. Implementing changes without proper evaluation of their impact on the project management plan's baselines (scope, schedule, cost, quality) can lead to uncontrolled scope creep, resource conflicts, and unmanaged risks. All significant changes, especially those driven by external regulatory requirements, must be formally assessed and approved.
- ✓
Evaluate the impact on scope, schedule, and cost, and submit a change request.
Why this is correct
This is the correct and most professional response. Upon identifying a new regulation, the project manager's primary responsibility is to perform a comprehensive impact analysis across all project baselines, including scope, schedule, cost, and quality, to understand the full implications. Subsequently, a formal change request must be submitted through the integrated change control process, allowing for proper review, approval, and controlled integration of the necessary adjustments into the project management plan. This ensures adherence to governance and minimizes uncontrolled project deviations.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Change Control Process
A formal, structured procedure used to manage any changes to a project's scope, schedule, budget, or requirements, ensuring every modification is reviewed, approved, tested, and documented before implementation.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PMP practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PMP exam.