PMP Practice Test 14

Case study 4 — Kestrel Outdoor: global fulfillment outsourcing program (hybrid)

You are the program's project manager at Kestrel Outdoor, a US retailer of camping gear that sells online in North America and Europe. The company is moving order fulfillment from two company-run warehouses to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that will operate sites near Seattle and Rotterdam and consolidate shipments from suppliers in Vietnam. The chief operations officer sponsors the program, and a governance board of the CFO, the chief information security officer (CISO) and the head of sustainability reviews it monthly.

The program is hybrid. Vendor selection, contracting and site transition follow a predictive plan with stage gates. Integration of the 3PL's warehouse management system with Kestrel's online store is built by a joint agile team in two-week sprints.

Two compliance themes shape the work. First, security: the 3PL will process customer names and addresses from both the US and the EU, so the CISO requires a current independent security audit report (such as SOC 2 Type II), multifactor authentication on all administrator accounts, and contract clauses on data protection. Second, sustainability: Kestrel has publicly committed to cut shipping emissions by 25% by 2030 and must report supply-chain emissions to EU customers and regulators, so the 3PL must provide measured, auditable emissions data.

The evaluation committee agreed on weighted criteria before proposals arrived. Each vendor must also score at least 7 on security to be eligible. The scores below are the committee's consensus.

Stakeholders work across Seattle, Rotterdam and Ho Chi Minh City. Warehouse supervisors in Vietnam mostly read Vietnamese and use mobile phones, and one governance board member uses a screen reader.