CSPP No-Prior Path: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Use this focused CSPP No-Prior Path page to drill PRiSM Life Cycle Approach decisions before returning to interactive PM Mastery practice.

Topic snapshot

Sample questions

These are original PM Mastery practice questions aligned to this topic area. They are not official PMI questions, copied live-exam content, or exam dumps. Use them to preview question style and explanation depth before continuing with topic drills, mixed sets, and timed mocks in PM Mastery.

Question 1

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

A hospital retrofit is entering the PRiSM Closure phase. The Sustainability Management Plan requires:

• Measurement of energy intensity for the first 12 months of operation.
• Quarterly checks of the maintenance contractor’s working conditions.

The facilities owner will operate the building and manage the maintenance contract. The ESG reporting owner controls evidence used in organizational disclosures. The project team, including its sustainability specialist, will be released in three weeks. Governance requires named operational and reporting owners before closure.

What is the most appropriate action for the project manager?

• A. Have the sponsor accept both commitments at closure, archive the sustainability records, and delegate operational measurement and reporting after the project team is released.
• B. Have the sustainability specialist remain accountable for both commitments for 12 months, obtain data from facilities, and involve the ESG reporting owner after the measurement period ends.
• C. Have the delivery contractor collect the required data, ask the sustainability specialist to estimate final performance at acceptance, and transfer the results to facilities when available.
• D. Have the sustainability specialist facilitate a joint handoff, assign operational accountability to the facilities owner, confirm evidence needs with the ESG reporting owner, and document both owners before closure.

Best answer: D

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: During PRiSM Closure, responsibility for continuing sustainability commitments must transfer to roles with authority after the project ends. The facilities owner will control building operations and the maintenance contract, so that role should own measurement and corrective action. The ESG reporting owner should confirm evidence requirements and receive an agreed information flow for future disclosures. The sustainability specialist can facilitate the transfer by explaining commitments, measures, thresholds, and records, but should not retain long-term accountability after release. Because the outcomes require post-project evidence, they cannot be confirmed at acceptance. Documenting the owners and evidence handoff before closure satisfies the stated governance requirement and supports continuity of the Sustainability Management Plan.

This assigns ongoing impacts and reporting evidence to the roles that will retain authority after the project closes.

Question 2

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

During Discovery, the P5 Impact Analysis identifies significant upstream labor and environmental impacts from purchased components. The existing plan evaluates suppliers only on price and delivery time.

Which management plan most directly requires sustainability-specific tailoring?

• A. The schedule management plan, adding rules for milestone and dependency monitoring
• B. The communications management plan, adding reporting audiences and approval routes
• C. The procurement management plan, adding supplier sustainability criteria and evidence requirements
• D. The stakeholder engagement plan, adding participation methods for affected communities

Best answer: C

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: A management plan requires sustainability-specific tailoring when P5 findings identify material impacts that must be controlled through that plan’s subject area. Here, the impacts originate from purchased components and supplier practices, while the existing procurement approach considers only price and delivery. The procurement management plan should therefore include appropriate sustainability criteria, supplier evidence requirements, evaluation methods, and monitoring expectations. PRiSM integrates sustainability into relevant project controls rather than treating it as a separate activity added later.

The identified impacts arise through purchasing, so procurement controls must address supplier sustainability performance.

Question 3

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

A project team performs a P5 Impact Analysis during the PRiSM Discovery phase and uses it to develop the Sustainability Management Plan. During delivery, a supplier change creates different upstream labor and emissions impacts. The team updates procurement records but does not revisit either sustainability artifact.

Which PRiSM concept is being applied incompletely?

• A. Early analysis: perform the initial P5 Impact Analysis during the Discovery phase
• B. Product assessment: evaluate product lifespan and servicing through the product lenses
• C. Ongoing integration: revisit the P5 Impact Analysis and maintain the Sustainability Management Plan as impacts change
• D. Closing transition: transfer ongoing sustainability responsibilities during project handoff

Best answer: C

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: PRiSM integrates sustainability throughout the project life cycle rather than treating it as a one-time assessment. The team correctly began the P5 Impact Analysis during Discovery and used it to inform the Sustainability Management Plan. However, the supplier change altered upstream labor and emissions impacts. That new information should trigger a review of the analysis and corresponding updates to planned responses, measures, responsibilities, or controls in the Sustainability Management Plan. Updating only the procurement records leaves linked sustainability artifacts inconsistent with current project conditions. Product-lens assessment and closing transition are valid concepts, but neither addresses the need to reassess changed impacts during delivery.

PRiSM requires sustainability impacts and related management actions to be reassessed when project conditions change.

Question 4

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

During Discovery, the team completed an initial P5 Impact Analysis that identified supplier labor practices and embodied carbon as significant procurement impacts. The Sustainability Management Plan records commitments to assess both impacts.

During planning, the procurement lead drafts a management plan covering tender dates, spending approvals, and price evaluation. It does not explain how the identified sustainability impacts will affect supplier selection, required evidence, responsibilities, or monitoring. Procurement has not started, and the plan is awaiting approval.

What should the project manager do next?

• A. Repeat the P5 Impact Analysis after supplier selection, then decide whether the labor and embodied-carbon impacts require changes to the procurement approach.
• B. Release the request for proposal using the current plan, then ask bidders to suggest sustainability measures for evaluation during contract negotiations.
• C. Revise the procurement management plan before approval to incorporate sustainability criteria, required evidence, accountable owners, and monitoring aligned with the P5 findings.
• D. Approve the procurement management plan to preserve the sourcing schedule, then add the sustainability requirements through contract changes after supplier selection.

Best answer: C

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: PRiSM integrates sustainability into project delivery rather than treating it as a separate analysis. The P5 Impact Analysis has already identified significant procurement impacts, and the Sustainability Management Plan records related commitments. The next step is therefore to translate those findings into the procurement management plan before it is approved and used.

An adequate plan should explain how sustainability affects supplier criteria, evidence requirements, responsibilities, monitoring, and decision-making. This creates traceability between the impact analysis, sustainability commitments, and procurement activities. Approving or using the generic plan would allow supplier decisions to occur without considering the identified impacts. Repeating the analysis is unnecessary unless new information or changed conditions require it; the current problem is failure to integrate existing findings.

PRiSM requires identified sustainability impacts to be integrated into relevant management plans before procurement decisions are made.

Question 5

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

A cooling-system retrofit has completed the PRiSM Discovery phase. The initial P5 Impact Analysis identified worker-safety, refrigerant-leakage, and equipment-recovery impacts. The business case and project authorization have been approved.

The project is entering the Design phase, but the current team lacks occupational health, refrigerant-management, and circular-procurement expertise. What should the project manager do next?

• A. Repeat the Discovery business-case analysis before determining which additional personnel the Design phase requires.
• B. Mobilize the installation contractor immediately and provide the missing sustainability training during Delivery.
• C. Complete the detailed design with the current team, then obtain specialists when the design is ready for approval.
• D. Determine Design-phase competency needs from the identified impacts, assess personnel gaps, and arrange the required specialists.

Best answer: D

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: PRiSM integrates staffing decisions with the needs of each life cycle phase. Discovery has already produced an initial P5 Impact Analysis and authorization to proceed. As the project enters Design, the identified sustainability impacts should be translated into required roles and competencies. The project manager should compare those needs with available personnel and arrange appropriate specialists before detailed design decisions are made. This allows worker safety, refrigerant management, and equipment recovery to influence requirements, procurement criteria, and design choices. Waiting until Delivery would make specialist involvement late and could require avoidable redesign. Repeating completed Discovery work is unnecessary unless significant new information or changed impacts justify revisiting it.

Design-phase staffing should reflect the competencies needed to address the sustainability impacts identified during Discovery.

Question 6

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Life-cycle review snapshot:

• Sustainability Management Plan baseline: Mix L is required to support the approved embodied-carbon target.
• Change record CR-17: Substitute Mix H because of a supply shortage. P5 and schedule impacts are not assessed, and approval is pending.
• Configuration register: Revision C is approved and specifies Mix L. Revision D is a draft and specifies Mix H.
• Site report: One foundation section was poured yesterday using Revision D. Further pours are scheduled tomorrow.

Which process response should the project manager take next?

• A. Use risk management for the poured section, keep Revision D available, and assess CR-17 at the next life-cycle review.
• B. Use issue management for the poured section, configuration management to withdraw Revision D, and change control to assess CR-17 before updating baselines.
• C. Use issue management for the poured section, withdraw Revision D, and update the sustainability baseline while CR-17 remains pending.
• D. Use issue management for the poured section, approve Revision D through configuration management, and then close CR-17.

Best answer: B

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: The unauthorized pour has already occurred, so it is an issue requiring ownership, analysis, and resolution rather than a future risk. Configuration management should control the status and distribution of Revision D and prevent further use of the unapproved specification. It does not authorize changes to an approved baseline. CR-17 must proceed through change control, including assessment of its P5, schedule, and other relevant impacts, before approval or rejection. Until approval occurs, Revision C and Mix L remain authoritative. Coordinating these processes preserves traceability and prevents project documents and sustainability commitments from becoming inconsistent.

This response addresses the realized problem, controls the unapproved document, and preserves formal approval of the proposed baseline change.

Question 7

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

A PRiSM project team has decomposed a building retrofit into detailed work packages, including low-carbon materials, worker training, and waste recovery. The team will estimate each work package and then aggregate the results into the overall project estimate.

Which estimation process is most appropriate?

• A. Bottom-up estimating
• B. Three-point estimating
• C. Parametric estimating
• D. Analogous estimating

Best answer: A

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: Bottom-up estimating is appropriate when the work has been decomposed into sufficiently detailed components. The team estimates the resources, durations, and costs of individual work packages and then aggregates those estimates. This approach helps ensure that sustainability-related work, such as responsible material sourcing, training, and waste recovery, is included rather than treated as an unsupported allowance. It generally requires more effort than high-level methods but can produce a more detailed and traceable estimate. In a PRiSM project, the estimate should reflect the work needed to deliver both project outputs and approved sustainability commitments.

Bottom-up estimating develops detailed work-package estimates and aggregates them into the project estimate.

Question 8

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

During the Discovery phase, a risk register describes using recycled components only as a budget threat because their unit price may be higher. The initial P5 Impact Analysis also identifies reduced waste, lower emissions, and possible worker-exposure concerns at the recycling facility.

Which PRiSM application best matches this condition?

• A. Assess organizational readiness to determine whether employees will adopt the recycled components.
• B. Reframe the risks and opportunities to include the overlooked People, Planet, and Prosperity effects.
• C. Assess reporting materiality to determine whether the effects are significant to disclosure users.
• D. Add schedule contingency to protect milestones from possible component delivery delays.

Best answer: B

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: Risks and opportunities should be reframed when new sustainability evidence shows that their original descriptions are too narrow. Here, the register considers only the potential increase in unit cost. The P5 Impact Analysis reveals additional Planet effects through waste and emissions, and a People risk involving worker exposure. These findings change the nature and balance of the procurement decision, so the relevant risk and opportunity descriptions should be updated. PRiSM integrates sustainability evidence throughout project work rather than treating it as a separate reporting exercise. Reframing also supports later evaluation of responses, trade-offs, and Sustainability Management Plan actions.

The P5 findings broaden the original cost-only view by revealing environmental opportunities and a social risk.

Question 9

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

A PRiSM project has approved a change to a sustainability requirement. The team must identify the current requirement version and keep its linked design documents and baseline consistent.

Which supporting process is primarily used for this purpose?

• A. Issue management
• B. Change control
• C. Organizational change management
• D. Configuration management

Best answer: D

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: Configuration management controls the identification, status, versions, and consistency of project items such as requirements, specifications, baselines, and related documents. After a sustainability change is approved, configuration management helps ensure that the authorized version is identifiable and that linked records remain aligned.

Change control addresses the evaluation, approval, rejection, and implementation authorization of proposed changes. Issue management addresses existing problems that require resolution. Organizational change management supports stakeholder readiness, adoption, and reinforcement. These processes may interact, but configuration management is the process focused on preserving the integrity and traceability of controlled project items.

Configuration management identifies controlled items and maintains the integrity of their approved versions and related records.

Question 10

Topic: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

During the Delivery phase, a supplier proposes a material substitution. The project manager reviews the following artifact.

Delivery life-cycle review:

• Approved Sustainability Management Plan threshold: no more than 420 kg CO2e per unit.
• Substitution forecast: 510 kg CO2e per unit and a two-week lead-time reduction.
• P5 Impact Analysis and Sustainability Management Plan still reflect the original material.
• Sustainability Manager: reassesses changed impacts and maintains sustainability artifacts.
• Sponsor: decides exceptions beyond approved tolerances after impact assessment.
• Procurement Lead: negotiates substitutions after authorization.
• Design Lead: verifies technical suitability.

Which role involvement and sequence are most appropriate next?

• A. Involve the sponsor to approve the substitution based on the forecast, then ask the Sustainability Manager to align the artifacts.
• B. Involve the Design Lead to verify technical suitability and accept the substitution if product performance remains equivalent.
• C. Involve the Procurement Lead to negotiate the substitution based on the schedule benefit, then document the result in the issue log.
• D. Involve the Sustainability Manager to reassess the impacts and update the artifacts, then submit the assessed tolerance exception to the sponsor.

Best answer: D

What this tests: PRiSM Life Cycle Approach

Explanation: PRiSM requires sustainability impacts to remain actively managed during Delivery. The proposed substitution exceeds an approved Sustainability Management Plan threshold, while the P5 Impact Analysis and management plan still describe the original material. The Sustainability Manager should therefore reassess the changed impacts and update the relevant artifacts. Because the forecast exceeds the approved tolerance, the assessed exception must then be presented to the sponsor for a governance decision. The schedule improvement does not cancel the sustainability requirement. Procurement negotiation and technical verification may support implementation, but neither activity authorizes a sustainability tolerance breach. This sequence preserves evidence-based decision-making, artifact consistency, and accountable approval.

The changed impact requires sustainability reassessment before the sponsor decides whether to authorize the tolerance exception.

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Related focused pages

• Free CSPP No-Prior Path Full-Length Practice Exam
• CSPP No-Prior Path: Foundations of Sustainable Project Work
• CSPP No-Prior Path: P5 Standard
• CSPP No-Prior Path: Developing a Sustainability Management Plan
• CSPP No-Prior Path: ESG Reporting and Governance
• CSPP No-Prior Path: Project Management Considerations

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