PMP_901-960

A customer is unhappy after weeks of working in a newly implemented virtual environment and wants their key stakeholders to be more involved in the development processes. The customer is requesting access to the information radiators of the project management information system (PMIS). The development company has never allowed clients access to the system. What should the project manager do?. A. Submit the request and advise for approval, then investigate the training needs for team members and stakeholders. B. Break down the request situation to identify the root causes for the customer's dissatisfaction. C. Deny the request and negotiate for alternatives that will achieve the customer's desired results. D. Submit the request and advise for denial, as the company has never allowed customers access to the PMIS.

A project manager is assigned to a critical project to build a complex application for a client whose goal is to achieve an ideal state for their business model, but is unsure about how to achieve the solution. What collaboration model should the project manager recommend in this situation?. A. Ask the client to specify their business needs in a contract format and approve it. B. Schedule quarterly review meetings with the client. C. Request that proper stakeholders, including the client, are assigned. D. Ask the project team to write the business requirements based on the client's needs.

A project manager is executing a large project with many stakeholders. One of the primary stakeholders is requesting a change to the project scope. The project manager knows that this scope change will not require much effort from the project team. The project manager is worried that going through the full change control process will hold up the project schedule. What should the project manager do?. A. Ask the primary stakeholder for their official approval to avoid the change control process. B. Implement the change in order to avoid changes to the schedule baseline. C. Reject the change request because the project is already being executed. D. Submit a formal change request since the change is affecting the project baseline.

A project manager has noticed that a specific team member rarely contributes or shares opinions during team discussions. However, the team member is effective at delivering assigned tasks on time. How can the project manager leverage this?. A. Engage with the team member, let them know their strengths, and encourage them to share more. B. Meet with the team member prior to meetings and share their thoughts with others so everyone can benefit. C. Pair this team member with a more outspoken team member so their voice can be heard more. D. Ensure the team member is assigned critical path tasks to meet the schedule.

A team is about to close a deployment and is waiting to receive critical information from the customer. The customer continues to postpone sending information, which is consequently delaying the deployment. What should the project manager have done to prevent the delay?. A. Delegated the task to the product owner. B. Asked the team to use the sample data. C. Engaged the sponsor and sought their support. D. Received all key information ahead of time.

A project defined to be executed in four months is divided into eight iterations. During its first retrospective, the team realizes that only one member has experience doing a key project requirement. What should the project manager do?. A. Invite the team member to share experience in the next retrospective. B. Ask the sponsor to add team members with the required experience. C. Plan knowledge-sharing sessions within the team. D. Ask the sponsor for a training course for the team.

A project manager who is providing development support for a product notices some of their long-standing customers moving to a competitor because of improved value being delivered from their product. What should the project manager do first?. A. Ask the product owner if the value delivery of the product has changed. B. Intensify the focus of the product to recapture the lost customers. C. Put the ongoing product development on hold and discuss with the team. D. Request a change to the product based on the new market insight.

A project manager notices the team is disagreeing on the level of effort required to complete a task. What should the project manager do?. A. Advise the team that an average of all the estimates will be used as it will be the most reliable level of effort. B. Advise the team that they can resolve the estimation issue and they can work on it as long as it takes. C. Advise each team member to explain the rationale for their estimate and then ask the team to come to consensus. D. Advise the team that the project manager will determine the level of effort since the team cannot agree.

A project manager has been working on a critical project to transform an organization's operations. The project manager had successfully completed four sprints when the innovation director was replaced. The new director placed a hold on the project until a new strategy can be put in place. What should the project manager do first?. A. Discuss the vision and possible impacts with the new director. B. Review the risk management plan from previous projects with the new director. C. Escalate to the project sponsor to remove the project hold. D. Seek approval from the new director to replace the current contingency budget.

A project manager works for an organization that intends to begin using agile delivery, but there is a lack of support from some business units. The project manager needs to address the lack of trust in agile. What should the project manager recommend?. A. Negotiate special arrangements for an agile pilot project. B. Define detailed work instructions for agile project delivery. C. Implement and establish an agile framework for the project. D. Hire a team of contractors for agile project delivery.

Five project team members are working on a software development project. As the time line for the project is very tight, the members are working overtime to keep the project on schedule. Recently, two members submitted resignations. What should the project manager do?. A. Acquire experienced additional resources from third-party suppliers. B. Assist the team to reallocate the task to the three team members. C. Acquire replacements by starting the hiring process immediately. D. Escalate to the project sponsor and seek approval for a schedule delay.

During a project kickoff meeting, the client indicates that the benefits of the project will become the most important revenue stream for the company. The client needs to find opportunities to deliver value to their company as soon as possible. What should the project manager do?. A. Apply project schedule compression techniques to deliver benefits faster. B. Plan project iterations taking into consideration value delivery. C. Develop a project management plan to achieve the goals of the project faster. D. Align the goals of the project with the revenue goals of the company.

A project manager forms a new virtual project team that will be leading the project subcontractors in various countries. The project manager notices that each of the team members comes from a different culture. Which action should the project manager take to increase team cohesiveness?. A. Execute a rotating relocation, where team members spend a certain amount of time in each of the countries. B. Empower the team and emphasize the project manager's trust in them. C. Arrange a weekly virtual meeting to allow team members to exchange their cultures. D. Require each team member to physically attend at least two meetings per year.

A project in the execution phase is part of a large transformation program. The project manager for this project reports to a program manager and also heads the steering committee for this project. A steering committee meeting will be held in the following 2 weeks, during which the approach to measure the schedule performance of the project thus far will be presented. What should the project manager do in preparation for this meeting?. A. Prepare to demonstrate the cost-benefit ratio, business value, and return on investment (ROI) as the schedule performance metrics. B. Update the cost performance index (CPI) and schedule performance index (SPI) to measure the performance of the project. C. Prepare to explain that the schedule performance index (SPI), schedule variance (SV), and other performance metrics are being used. D. Inform the program manager that the project is using an agile approach and schedule performance metrics are not applicable.

A project manager is leading a multiyear project. Near the end of the first year, the project manager checks to see if the whole budget allocated for the year will be used. Some features utilizing this year's budget were added later in the year as change requests, but these features will not be ready by the end of the first year. What should the project manager do?. A. Ask the team to test partially ready features and check if payment can be authorized with a signed formal acceptance. B. Authorize payment for the features ready this year and for the features planned for the following year that are now ready. C. Approach the product owner and the financial department to create a new nonbinding contract without fixed deliverables. D. Provide an update to the financial department regarding the status of the time line of the project.

A struggling company is executing a critical project. However, due to external environment changes, there is not enough funding to complete the project. What should the project manager do first?. A. Reduce the scope of the project to match the available funds. B. Park the project until the external environment is favorable. C. Ask the project sponsor to look for additional funding. D. Assess the impact and evaluate alternatives to accommodate the change.

A project manager is reviewing the documents for closing a phase when the customer calls to say that the project is not generating any value for the company. What should the project manager do?. A. Wait to close the project until the customer is satisfied. B. Validate the project scope, objectives, and outcomes with the customer. C. Analyze which activities will generate the most value for the project. D. Perform a cost-benefit analysis for the project.

As part of project execution, a contractor proposed and conducted site acceptance tests and pre-implementation technical training. However, during the implementation phase, the project manager notes a clear gap in the project team's competence in following the implementation of the technical requirements.What should the project manager have done to avoid this situation?. A. Ensured the training conducted by the contractor used standard methods. B. Reviewed the proposed training with the contractor. C. Performed a proper training needs assessment. D. Prepared proper training outcome measurements.

The project manager received a claim from the client because the outcome delivered is not working properly. The project manager investigated the cause and realized that this deliverable was outsourced to an external provider, and was not made aware. What primary tool would have helped the project manager identify this situation?. A. Communications management plan. B. Scope baseline. C. Risk register. D. Stakeholder register.

A project manager is leading a team that is new to agile. During the kickoff meeting, one team member asks how risks will be managed using agile approaches. How should the project manager respond?. A. Risk management is a collaborative effort and will be managed during each iteration. B. Risks are managed by the project manager and forecasted at the beginning of each project. C. Risks will be managed during a retrospective session with all of the team members. D. Risks are managed by the team and they will be analyzed during risk management kickoff.

A project manager is leading a virtual IT project with a remote team. A team member tells the project manager that they do not know if they can finish on time because they are unaware of the other team members’ progress. What can the project manager do to resolve this conflict?. A. Communicate by email with each team member to assign the tasks. B. Host weekly meetings with the entire team to improve communication. C. Ask the team that is having the problem to follow the project plan. D. Schedule weekly meetings with each team member.

A project lead is managing a construction project in an isolated location. There have been delays due to difficult working conditions, which include team sickness and absences. How should the project lead manage those issues to get the project back on track?. A. Ask for additional budget because the project end will be delayed. B. Identify the causes of the issues in order to find a suitable solution. C. Review the project scope in order to simplify it and shorten project duration. D. Ask human resources (HR) to find individuals to replace team members.

A project manager is initiating a project to create a new service that has never been done before in their organization. The project manager is trying to determine what resources are required for their project team but is receiving conflicting resource requirements from the team, sponsor, and key stakeholders. What should the project manager do next?. A. Identify the resources that are agreed upon to initiate the project and request additional resources later. B. Determine if there is a subject matter expert (SME) who has expertise in the new service to assist with resource requirements. C. Evaluate and prioritize the resource requests from the project's key stakeholders. D. Evaluate the resource options and propose alternatives to the project team for their approval.

A project manager is working in a constantly changing business environment. In order to address this situation, the project manager has decided to use a collaborative leadership style. Which landscape describes the project environment?. A. High accountability, little authority. B. Good roadmaps, little accountability. C. Available resources, bad roadmaps. D. Enough authority, insufficient resources.

During project execution, a project manager wants to involve the business lead before the users are involved in the project. However, the business lead is also engaged in another big project and cannot join this project meeting. What should the project manager do first?. A. Ask a delegate from the business lead to communicate and handle the transition work. B. Summarize the changes and potential user impact in an email and send it to the business lead. C. Adjust the project completion date until the business lead is able to engage in the discussion. D. Add resources to answer questions that the users and business lead will have during the project.

For the second time in a week, one of the team members failed to deliver their assigned work. As a result, it is impossible for the team to achieve their agreed-upon target. What should the project manager do?. A. Insist that the team member maintain the agreed-upon rate of output to maintain the deadline. B. Review the project team's performance level and discuss areas for improvement. C. Discuss the issue with the team member to identify the root cause and work to resolve it. D. Seek a replacement who has the same skillset and availability as the team member.

After releasing the first deliverable of the project, one of the impacted departments refused to use the system because they believe that it adds more work. What could the project manager have done to prevent this?. A. Deployed a user survey. B. Reviewed organizational standard policies. C. Created an escalation plan. D. Conducted a stakeholder analysis.

In the execution phase of a large construction project, the contracted logistic company decided to increase their price as a result of unavailability of shipping containers. What should project manager do?. A. Assess the impact of the price increase given by the logistic company and follow the contract and global guidelines for this situation. B. Agree to absorb the price increase because the unavailability is beyond the control of the logistic company. C. Abandon the contract with the logistic company and look for another company that has not increased their prices. D. Explain to the logistic company that an increase in price is not acceptable because they signed a contract.

A new project needs to be kicked off in an organization that has regulatory requirements defined in their organizational governance process. How should the project manager define the project governance?. A. Ask the project management office (PMO) if the regulatory requirements can be ignored. B. Update the project governance to include the current regulatory requirements. C. Customize all of the regulatory requirements to fit within the specific project governance. D. Update some of the regulatory requirements to fit within the project governance.

A project is nearing the completion of a sprint when the product owner announces that a local regulator has banned part of the deliverable. What should the project manager do?. A. Complete the sprint and seek a waiver from the regulator. B. Perform a sprint risk assessment and analyze challenges. C. Add more items to the sprint backlog that will add value. D. Complete the sprint, but do not release the deliverable.

A project team is finishing a sprint to deliver a key deliverable. The project team tells the project manager that the deliverable does not meet the agreed project standards set out by the customer and insists on reworking the deliverable to meet the standards. This will delay the project by two weeks. What should the project manager do?. A. Agree with the team that the best way forward is to improve the quality of the deliverable to meet the standards even if it takes more time. B. Let the team rework the deliverable and delay the delivery of the project by two weeks. C. Ask the team to move forward with the deliverable with the best possible quality without extending the time. D. Meet with the sponsor to highlight the poor quality standards and ask for two weeks of additional time to rework the deliverable.

A project manager noticed that a talented team member remains passive and quiet during project meetings with the larger project team and other stakeholders. The team member interacts with the project manager quite well during one-on-one interactions. What should the project manager do?. A. Praise the talkative team members for their input to encourage the quiet team member to speak up. B. Encourage the quiet team member to actively participate during the team meetings. C. In the larger team meetings, share the feedback given by the quiet team member during their one-on-ones. D. Take the laissez-faire approach and give the quiet team member time to work up the courage to speak up.

A customer approaches the product owner with a new requirement and asks for a rough estimation to implement it. The outline of the task would be similar to a prior deliverable. What should the product owner do to properly inform the customer?. A. Analyze the current backlog and the backlog refinement to determine a gap for fulfilling the requirement. B. Check the work breakdown structure (WBS) and the cost estimation for the similar requirement and provide an estimate for the new requirement. C. Revisit the user story of the similar requirement, learn about its story points and velocity, and sketch out the time needed for this requirement. D. Refer to the lessons learned register where the experience and effort of former requirements should have been noted.

An internal process was recently introduced by the management team. The new process, however, has not added much value and is impacting the project's deliverables. What should the project manager do?. A. Allocate one team member who can focus only on process adherence. B. Ensure that the team implements the process without delays in deliverables. C. Discuss this with the team and convince them to continue with the process. D. Negotiate with management and get the required process changed.

A project lead is managing a project in the execution phase. A new product owner was assigned and the project lead had their first meeting with the new product owner. During the meeting, the new product owner indicated the scope of the first release needs to be changed. What should the project lead ask the product owner to do first?. A. Create new backlog items and discuss them in the next sprint retrospective. B. Create new backlog items and discuss them in the next sprint planning. C. Review the new backlog items and discuss them in the next standup. D. Review the priorities of the existing backlog items included in the release.

A project manager is working on an international effort that involves a project team located on four different continents. The project team is extremely proud of the progress they have made on a recent iteration of the project. However, senior stakeholders unfamiliar with the project's progress are concerned that the project may be unsuccessful. What should the project manager do to help mitigate the stakeholders' concerns?. A. Create and send out a high-level progress summary to all stakeholders that has been approved by the program manager. B. Setup an in-person status meeting so stakeholders can speak with the project team about their project concerns. C. Setup a virtual meeting with the stakeholders to discuss concerns and provide regular progress updates every 2 weeks. D. Ask key developers to identify the most important risks and what the project team is doing to address those risks for the stakeholders.

During user acceptance testing, a project sponsor asks the project manager to add a couple of features. To meet the firm go-live date, the project team will need to work overtime. What should the project manager do?. A. Submit an emergency change request and assign tasks to the team. B. Request approval for overtime and a bonus to deliver on time. C. Inform the sponsor that the project team cannot commit to more work. D. Consult with the project team and provide options to the sponsor.

In a daily standup, the project lead notices that one of the senior developers is reassigning some of the easy backlog items to other team members, arguing that it is more efficient for the senior developers to work on complex items. What should the project lead do?. A. Include this practice in the next sprint review and discuss it with all of the team members. B. Ask the senior developer to stop assigning tasks because that's the scrum master's job. C. Support the senior developer's action and their authority over other team members. D. Include this practice in the next sprint retrospective and discuss it with all of the team members.

A project team is working remotely on a project with tight deadlines. In the middle of the project, a team member is replaced with an individual who is new to the company. The document repository is available to review, but since the project is quite complex it could take time to understand the details related to the new team member's responsibilities. What should the project manager do?. A. Assign tasks and provide contacts so the new team member can contact the appropriate resources for support. B. Ask the new team member to review the repository and schedule a meeting to provide details and tasks. C. Organize a social event to introduce the new team member to key stakeholders and the project team. D. Introduce the new team member to the project team and provide an explanation of the key themes.

A project manager is managing a project in a fast-paced environment. The project manager needs to empower the team to collaborate toward an expected outcome and enable high-team performance. The CEO has suggested that the project manager apply a servant leadership style. What should the project manager do to demonstrate the capabilities of a servant leader?. A. Create an environment where all team members compete to achieve the desired results. B. Encourage all team members to develop the perfect plan to achieve the desired results. C. Assess the business case and define the project priorities to motivate all team members. D. Define the project's objectives and create an environment where all team members can succeed in achieving them.

There is an upcoming merger between a functional organization and an agile organization. The merger has necessitated that team members from both organizations brainstorm the effect this merger will have on critical compliance standards and the previous regulations for a project. What should the project manager do in order to achieve this objective?. A. Hold a joint meeting with both organizations, determine an engagement method, and then brainstorm. B. Schedule separate breakaway sessions for each organization to brainstorm and share ideas. C. Hold separate meetings for each organization, determine an engagement method, and then brainstorm. D. Bring a team of experts to brainstorm and agree on the next course of action for the organizations.

A project manager is leading a project in which the product requirements have not been fully met due to several uncertainties about customer acceptance. What should the project manager do?. A. Gather a reduced number of approved requirements and add some extra features to fulfill the product specifications. B. Gather enough requirements to produce a minimum viable product (MVP) with which to evaluate customer acceptance. C. Stop all project activities until all requirements are set up front by the project sponsor and the key stakeholders. D. Ask team members to research and collect data about the best features offered by similar products in the market.

An organization is using a hybrid delivery approach for a complex project. In the iteration review, a subject matter expert (SME) informed the team that new legislation will be published in a few months. What should the project manager do?. A. Ask the SME to provide details after the retrospective. B. Discuss the change in the next sprint planning. C. Discuss the change in the next release planning. D. Ask the SME to provide details in the next daily standup.

During a risk management meeting, most of the project team members use a computer to iterate the quantitative risk analysis model numerous times. There will be a cumulative probability distribution (S-curve) representing the probability of achieving any particular outcome. Which method should the project manager use to assess and manage project risks?. A. Influence diagrams. B. Sensitivity analysis. C. Decision tree analysis. D. Monte Carlo analysis.

A key project team member had an accident and will be in the hospital for at least two months. The backlog items the team member was working on have been delayed since the team member was the only person who knew how to complete them. What could the project manager have done to avoid this situation?. A. Identified this risk and defined a risk response plan. B. Assigned the backlog items to at least two of the team members. C. Developed a knowledge transfer plan. D. Reserved a contingency budget for external consultants.

A development team member learned that one of the product features delivered in the last sprint would have greater business value if a small enhancement was made to the feature. What should the project manager do next?. A. Conduct another sprint planning meeting and add the necessary story. B. Discuss this feature in the next sprint planning meeting. C. Discuss this feature during the upcoming retrospective meeting. D. Advise the team member to better prepare before sprint planning.

Based on a new company policy, an aviation software project has been structured to use an agile approach. The project is subject to industry regulations, which require detailed tracking and archival of product changes. What should the project manager use to understand the impact of compliance on this project?. A. User stories and release plan. B. Product backlog and definition of done (DoD). C. Scope of work and product backlog. D. Sprint retrospective and release plan.

A project manager is leading a program execution and has challenges, because a project team waits for every decision to be made by the project manager. The progress of the team is slow because the project manager is the bottleneck. Upon assessing the situation, the project manager realized that the team members can handle the work on their own. What should the project manager do?. A. Raise a resource request to get complimentary training for the project manager and team members. B. Escalate the situation to the resource manager to ensure the team makes their own decisions. C. Gather feedback from all team members and define a process to handle the team requests. D. Revise the roles and responsibilities and empower the team to make their own decisions.

A company is going through a large cost-cutting initiative. Senior management requests a report on the work remaining for outstanding projects. Which tool should the project manager use for this purpose?. A. Forecast estimation. B. Earned value (EV). C. Cumulative flow diagram. D. Burndown chart.

A project manager has recently been asked to take over an existing project that is halfway through execution. The project sponsor asked the project manager to ensure that the work carried out and the product being created do not deviate from the prescribed business value. What should the project manager do to achieve this goal?. A. Review the requirements management plan. B. Monitor the work breakdown structure (WBS). C. Carry out quality audits and failure analyses. D. Review the benefits realization plan.

A project team is working together on a computer relocation project, and all of the team members are experienced with relocation. There are many ideas being shared during the team meeting, and too many ideas result in the team being unable to conclude the relocation approach. What should the project manager do?. A. Employ a consulting company to offer best practice solutions. B. Seek management's decision for the best relocation approach. C. Empower the team members to make decision themselves. D. Help the project team create consensus around the solutions.

An organization is going through a transformation, migrating most of its projects from a predictive to an agile approach. The marketing VP , who is also a key stakeholder, expressed a concern about losing control of the features that will be implemented in the product lines. What should the project manager responsible for this project do?. A. Email the marketing VP with a cost-benefit analysis of the new model, detailing how the company will improve its products. B. Schedule a meeting with the marketing VP to discuss and clarify the benefits of using an agile approach. C. Apply influence with other key stakeholders to mitigate risks that may be generated by the marketing VP . D. Review the issue with the marketing VP and request additional project funding for team training.

To limit the amount of time and cost of using a contract programming firm, a product manager announces that the developers will not be paid for unrequested embellishments to the product. What can the development team and scrum master do to ensure they are paid for all their work?. A. Convert the story points on user stories to hours to provide estimates of the potential costs to the product manager. B. Have the product manager work with the scrum master to assign specialists to user stories to meet the requirement. C. Ensure that the task board is used as an information radiator and all stories have enough detail to build the required feature or function. D. Refine the definition of done (DoD) for user stories to ensure that part of the completion is a verification review of the code.

A project has completed the first phase. During the lessons learned meeting, the project manager reported that the project was successful because it was on time, on budget, and on scope. The sponsor objected and said that other project benefits, such as cost reduction of the product and system response time, were not achieved. What may have caused this situation?. A. The change control plan was not followed by the project manager. B. The acceptance criteria were not accurately defined. C. The items did not appear in the project management plan. D. The benefits should have been managed at the organizational level.

Due to price inflation, an agile project manager has identified that the available project funding will not be enough to bring on an additional team member for the upcoming iterations as initially planned. The project budget and release deadlines are tight. The existing cross-functional team is experienced. What is the first approach the project manager should take?. A. Ask the business stakeholders to reduce the number of features required for the product. B. Delay the hiring of the additional resource until market conditions are favorable to work within project requirements. C. Ask the functional managers to source a less experienced and less expensive team member for the project. D. Request the current team to analyze the work planned for the additional resource.

A project manager is leading a digital transformation project in a large geographically distributed organization. During the execution phase, the project team noticed that the organization's employees and heads of departments have different perceptions and expectations of the project and its outcome. The project manager is afraid that it may impact the project's success. Which two actions can the project manager do to resolve this issue? (Choose two.). A. Foster stakeholder engagement in order to improve communication. B. Discuss the issue with the project sponsor in order to handle it efficiently. C. Share the project objectives to ensure they are properly digested. D. Insist on face-to-face meetings in order to understand the real concerns. E. Proceed as planned as these situations are quite common in large projects.

Three testers joined the project team just before the end of the build. During the project team meeting, the testers indicated that the project quality is poor, and they should not continue testing until all the defects are fixed. Which three actions should the project manager do? (Choose three.). A. Stop the project and review the output. B. Ask the testers to provide additional information. C. Brainstorm the issue with the project team. D. Continue with testing according to the plan. E. Ask the sponsor for assistance and guidance.

A project team is transitioning to agile delivery. The team uses a Kanban board to track progress. In the daily meetings, the team members have been reporting good progress. However, the cards on the board are not progressing toward "done." What should the project manager do?. A. Ask each team member to include the completion date on their cards. B. Remind the team that self-organized teams are accountable for project progress. C. Cancel the daily meetings and organize weekly project team meetings. D. Ask the development lead to indicate low performers after the daily meeting.

The project team has onboarded members from all over the world and will now work virtually to create project deliverables. There are both language and time zone challenges with this project team, but each team member is an expert in their trade. What should the project manager do first to address the challenges?. A. Schedule meetings at a time when all members can attend based on the time zones. B. Engage with human resources (HR) to determine if some team members may be relocated. C. Review the communications management plan to assign resources for a facilitator. D. Investigate alternatives for virtual meeting times and written communication methods.

A sponsor requires that the established quality standards for the project be met. As a result, the sponsor asks the project manager for stable measures to ensure that the quality is met. Which three actions should the project manager do? (Choose three.). A. Identify in the iteration planning the acceptance criteria that meet quality standards. B. Identify the acceptance criteria during the retrospective that meet the quality standards. C. Analyze the lessons learned to determine appropriate testing metrics in quality standards. D. Incorporate performance metrics on the verified deliverables according to quality standards. E. Perform a risk analysis to determine the impact of not complying with quality standards.