PMP · Question #777
A new law was published about zoning permits for telecom towers. This may cause cost and schedule overruns for the new network rollout. What should the project manager do?
The correct answer is D. Assess and prioritize the impact of the new law on the project plan. Upon the publication of a new law that may impact project cost and schedule, the project manager's immediate action should be to thoroughly assess and prioritize the potential impact on the project plan.
Question
Options
- AMeet the sponsor to ask for additional time and budget increase
- BMinimize the scope to catch the cost and schedule baseline
- CUpdate the project plan because the law is an obligation for the project
- DAssess and prioritize the impact of the new law on the project plan
How the community answered
(65 responses)- A6% (4)
- B3% (2)
- C15% (10)
- D75% (49)
Why each option
Upon the publication of a new law that may impact project cost and schedule, the project manager's immediate action should be to thoroughly assess and prioritize the potential impact on the project plan.
Meeting the sponsor to ask for additional time and budget without first fully assessing the new law's impact is premature and lacks a data-driven justification for such requests.
Minimizing the scope is a potential reactive strategy, but it should only be considered after a thorough assessment of the law's impact and alternative options, not as a first, un-informed step.
While the project plan will eventually need updating, simply updating it before a complete assessment of the new law's specific impact would be an uninformed action and may lead to incorrect changes or further issues.
A new law representing an external risk requires immediate assessment. The project manager must first assess and prioritize the potential impact of the new law on the project's requirements, scope, cost, and schedule to understand the extent of the changes needed before taking any further action. This analysis informs subsequent decisions.
Concept tested: Risk analysis and impact assessment
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok
Topics
Community Discussion
5
Zlatan X.Jul 5, 2026D is correct. Before escalating to the sponsor or cutting scope, you have to assess the impact across all components of the rollout program. A new zoning law is a regulatory change that creates interdependencies across sites, so prioritizing that impact is how you protect benefits realization. A, B, and C are all premature reactions without a structured impact assessment driving the governance decision.
Luis F.Jul 8, 2026Agree with D but want to add that once you finish the impact assessment, document it properly so the change control board has something tangible to approve, otherwise the assessment alone does not get you to the governance decision.
Luis F.Jul 5, 2026Got D on my PMP last month, the trick is that PMI always wants you to assess the impact before you run to the sponsor or change anything. A is tempting but you gotta do the analysis first.
Ingrid P.Jul 5, 2026C is the right call here. A new zoning law is a regulatory constraint that is non-negotiable, so once you identify it the project plan has to be updated to reflect that obligation rather than spending time on broader impact analysis or going to the sponsor before the plan itself is current. Flashcard worth making: trigger phrase is new law or regulation published during execution. Correct action is update the project plan. Distractor that gets people is assess and prioritize, which sounds proactive but skips the mandatory plan update step. Schedule that one at a three-day interval since it is a recognition cue, not
Luis F.Jul 8, 2026Hey Ingrid, I think it is actually D because a new zoning law is an external regulatory change that should trigger the Perform Integrated Change Control process, where you assess the impact first and then submit a change request rather than just updating the plan directly. Saw this one on my exam prep last month and the key was that regulatory changes go through change control, not straight to plan updates.