Amdocs Assessment Tests

Amdocs Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a junior data engineer. A supplier who provides a daily data feed has told you their file will be late every day for the next fortnight while they move systems. The team that publishes the morning figures depends on that feed and has committed to a customer deadline of nine o’clock each day. Nobody outside your inbox knows. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Keep pressing the supplier every day to deliver on time. It is their commitment to meet, and chasing them is the fastest route back to a nine o'clock file.
   2. Tell the publishing team that the feed may be late occasionally over the next two weeks, without going into the supplier's system move or the full fortnight.
   3. Tell the publishing team today that the feed will be late every day for a fortnight, and ask what they need from you to protect their nine o'clock commitment.
   4. Put a note in the shared channel about the supplier's system move, so that anybody depending on the feed can see it and plan around it themselves.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the publishing team today that the feed will be late every day for a fortnight, and ask what they need from you to protect their nine o'clock commitment.

   Least effective: A. Keep pressing the supplier every day to deliver on time. It is their commitment to meet, and chasing them is the fastest route back to a nine o'clock file.

   A: Passes the problem on without owning it: the supplier has already said a fortnight, and the team promising nine o'clock still does not know it is at risk.

   B: Softens a warning until it cannot be planned with: occasionally and a fortnight every day are different problems and only one of them can be prepared for.

   D: Publishes to nobody in particular: the team with the nine o'clock commitment has no reason to be reading that channel this morning.

   The most effective response is to tell the publishing team today that the feed will be late every day for a fortnight, and ask what they need to protect their nine o’clock commitment. A fortnight of late files against a daily deadline is their problem to solve, and they can only solve it knowing the shape of it. It beats telling them the feed may be late occasionally over the next two weeks, because that produces no plan and every day for two weeks is a different problem. It beats putting a note in the shared channel about the supplier’s system move, because that is not the same as telling the people with a customer commitment. The least effective response is pressing the supplier every day to deliver on time: it is worse than either of the other two, because both put something in front of the affected team, while this spends a fortnight chasing a supplier who has already given their answer. The principle: when a supplier’s problem lands on somebody else’s promise, tell the people who made the promise first.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a build engineer. Last week you told the programme office that the average build takes nine minutes. Since a change on Monday it takes twenty-six. The programme office is publishing a paper this afternoon that uses the nine-minute figure to argue against buying more capacity. Your team lead is in interviews all day and has asked not to be disturbed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say nothing to anybody until your team lead is out of interviews, and raise the corrected figure with her then rather than going round her to the programme office.
   2. Send the corrected figure to the programme office now and copy your team lead, so that the paper is written on twenty-six minutes rather than on nine.
   3. Interrupt the interviews to tell your team lead, since a paper going to the programme board on a wrong figure is more urgent than an hour of an interview.
   4. Send the programme office a note saying the figure may have moved and that they should check it before publishing anything this afternoon.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Send the corrected figure to the programme office now and copy your team lead, so that the paper is written on twenty-six minutes rather than on nine.

   Least effective: A. Say nothing to anybody until your team lead is out of interviews, and raise the corrected figure with her then rather than going round her to the programme office.

   A: Stays silent while waiting for a route: the paper publishes this afternoon and the interviews run until the end of the day.

   C: Escalates past a stated instruction when a direct route exists: the programme office can be told without disturbing anybody.

   D: Hedges a fact you are certain of: you know it is twenty-six, and may have moved leaves them deciding whether to believe their own paper.

   The most effective response is to send the corrected figure to the programme office now and copy your team lead. They own the paper, they can be reached directly, and the copy means nothing is done behind her back while she is unavailable. It beats interrupting the interviews to tell her, because that is unnecessary when the people publishing the paper can be told in one email. It beats sending the programme office a note saying the figure may have moved, because you are certain it is twenty-six, and that passes your certainty on as doubt. The least effective response is saying nothing until she is out of interviews: it is worse than either of the other two, because both reach somebody before the paper publishes, while this waits for a route that will not open until after the argument has been made on a figure you know is wrong. The principle: when a decision is being taken this afternoon on a number you know has changed, go to whoever holds the document and copy the people who should know.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a junior data engineer. You have been asked to compare two database tools on cost, speed and support, and to recommend one. You have used the more expensive one for years and much prefer working with it. On the three measures you were given, the cheaper one comes out ahead on cost and support and they are level on speed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Recommend the tool you know, since your familiarity with it is worth real money in delivery time, and weight the three measures so that it comes out ahead.
   2. Recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures, and say nothing about the fact that you have years of experience with the other one.
   3. Decline to make a recommendation and hand over the comparison on the three measures, so that somebody without a history with either tool decides it.
   4. Recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures you were given, and note that you have years of experience with the other and would personally prefer it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures you were given, and note that you have years of experience with the other and would personally prefer it.

   Least effective: A. Recommend the tool you know, since your familiarity with it is worth real money in delivery time, and weight the three measures so that it comes out ahead.

   A: Decides a neutral assessment for your own benefit: the weighting is chosen after the answer is known, and nobody reading the recommendation can see that.

   B: Reports the measures and hides the relevant fact: your familiarity is a genuine consideration and the decision is made without knowing it exists.

   C: Steps aside rather than declaring: the team loses the only person who has used one of them, over something a sentence would have handled.

   The most effective response is to recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures you were given, and note that you have years of experience with the other and would personally prefer it. It answers the question on the criteria you were given, and declaring the preference lets whoever decides weigh it consciously. It beats recommending the cheaper tool and saying nothing about your experience with the other, because that experience is a real consideration and hiding it means the decision is made without a fact that could change it. It beats declining to recommend and handing over the comparison, because standing aside costs the team its only person with hands-on experience. The least effective response is recommending the tool you know and weighting the measures so it comes out ahead: it is worse than either of the other two, because both report the measures accurately, while this chooses the weighting after knowing which answer it produces. The principle: answer on the criteria you were given, declare the preference you hold, and never choose the weighting to reach the conclusion you wanted.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a quality assurance analyst. A release checklist needs one line ticked to say the data migration was rehearsed. The colleague who ran the rehearsal is on a flight and unreachable until tomorrow morning. You believe she ran it, but you did not see it. The people running tonight’s release are waiting on the sheet. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Hold the sheet until she lands and send it complete tomorrow morning, rather than sending something tonight that raises a question nobody in the building can answer.
   2. Mark the line as done, since you are confident she ran the rehearsal, and mention it to her tomorrow morning if it should turn out to matter to anybody.
   3. Send the sheet with that line left open, say plainly that the rehearsal cannot be confirmed until she lands, and let them decide what to do about tonight.
   4. Ring round the team until you find somebody who watched the rehearsal, and send the sheet on the strength of what that person tells you about it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Send the sheet with that line left open, say plainly that the rehearsal cannot be confirmed until she lands, and let them decide what to do about tonight.

   Least effective: B. Mark the line as done, since you are confident she ran the rehearsal, and mention it to her tomorrow morning if it should turn out to matter to anybody.

   A: Delays the decision: the release is tonight, so a complete sheet tomorrow arrives after the only moment at which anyone could have used it.

   B: Records as done what you did not see done: the sheet exists so that somebody can rely on it tonight, and this makes it say something you cannot support.

   D: Acts on second-hand word without checking: the sheet ends up carrying the same unverified tick, with one more person between you and the thing you did not see.

   The most effective response is to send the sheet with that line left open, say plainly that the rehearsal cannot be confirmed until she lands, and let them decide about tonight. The people running the release need to know both what is confirmed and what is not, and an open line with a plain explanation gives them a real choice. It beats holding the sheet until she lands and sending it complete tomorrow, because that arrives after the release it was meant to inform. It beats ringing round until you find somebody who watched the rehearsal, because a colleague’s recollection is not the check the line asks for. The least effective response is marking the line as done because you are confident she ran it: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the uncertainty visible, late or diluted, while this removes it from the record altogether and somebody tonight relies on that. The principle: when a record would have to say more than you know, send it with the gap showing and let the people carrying the risk decide.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are an incident coordinator. A weekly report that goes to twenty people has not been produced for three weeks. The person who used to produce it has left and nobody has been given it. You have the access and it would take you about an hour. You have two pieces of your own work due this week, neither at risk if you spend the hour. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Produce this week's report and tell your manager it has been missing for three weeks, so that it gets a proper owner rather than falling to whoever notices next.
   2. Produce the report quietly every week from now on and say nothing about it, since it only takes an hour, twenty people get something from it, and nobody need be troubled.
   3. Leave it where it is. It was never assigned to you, and somebody senior will certainly notice if twenty people genuinely need a report every week.
   4. Ask in the team channel whether anybody knows who owns the report now, and wait to see whether somebody claims it before you do anything further.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Produce this week's report and tell your manager it has been missing for three weeks, so that it gets a proper owner rather than falling to whoever notices next.

   Least effective: C. Leave it where it is. It was never assigned to you, and somebody senior will certainly notice if twenty people genuinely need a report every week.

   B: Takes on unowned work permanently and silently: the gap closes but nobody knows it existed, so the hour is now yours for good and invisible in your workload.

   C: Assumes the job away: three weeks of nobody noticing is evidence against the assumption, and the one person who has both the access and the spare hour is you.

   D: Puts a question where nobody has to answer it: a channel has no owner either, so the likely outcome is a fourth week with no report and no decision.

   The most effective response is to produce this week’s report and tell your manager it has been missing for three weeks. The hour is genuinely free, so the report gets produced, and the same conversation puts the missing owner in front of the person who can appoint one. It beats producing it quietly every week and saying nothing, because the vacancy is never filled and the hour quietly becomes yours. It beats asking in the team channel who owns the report now, because a question does not produce a report and three weeks of silence says nobody will claim it. The least effective response is leaving it where it is because it was never assigned to you: it is worse than either of the other two, because each does something about twenty people going without, while this relies on somebody senior noticing a gap that has already gone unnoticed for three weeks. The principle: when work has no owner and you have the hour, close this week’s gap and hand the ownership question upwards in the same move.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an access administrator. Your team is measured on how many access tickets it closes each week, and you are four short of the target with an hour to go. Four tickets are waiting on a manager’s approval that has not come. The people who raised them still cannot do their jobs, and all four have asked when they will get access. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Mark all four as done and reopen them next week if anybody complains. The target is measured on closures, and the approvals will almost certainly arrive by Monday.
   2. Leave the four open and say nothing further to the people waiting, since the approval is the blocker and there is nothing you can do about it today.
   3. Leave the four open, email all four people saying who holds the outstanding approval, and tell your manager the target will be four short, so that nobody is guessing.
   4. Close the four and note in each one that the approval is still outstanding, so that the queue is right and the record still carries the truth of it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Leave the four open, email all four people saying who holds the outstanding approval, and tell your manager the target will be four short, so that nobody is guessing.

   Least effective: A. Mark all four as done and reopen them next week if anybody complains. The target is measured on closures, and the approvals will almost certainly arrive by Monday.

   A: Records work as resolved that is not: four people still cannot do their jobs, and the queue now says otherwise to everybody who reads it.

   B: Leaves four people without a word: the tickets are honest and the four who asked are told nothing about why nothing has moved.

   D: Puts the truth where the measure will not read it: a closed ticket counts as closed, and the note lives underneath a status that contradicts it.

   The most effective response is to leave the four open, email all four people saying who holds the outstanding approval, and tell your manager the target will be four short. Missing by four is a fact she can work with, the four waiting can chase the approver once they know who it is, and nothing in the record says something untrue. It beats leaving the four open and saying nothing further to the people waiting, because telling them who holds the approval is the one useful thing available. It beats closing the four with a note that the approval is outstanding, because a closed ticket is counted as closed whatever the note says. The least effective response is marking all four as done and reopening them if anybody complains: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the tickets open and honest, while this reports four resolutions while four people still cannot work. The principle: report the shortfall and its cause, and never let a status say a thing is finished so that a measure comes out right.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a junior developer. Reading through tonight’s release you have noticed that a change renames a field that a report your colleague owns depends on. Her report runs every Tuesday morning and she is not working today. The release goes out at eight this evening. You may have misread it, and nobody has asked you to check anything. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email your colleague so that she sees it tomorrow morning, and leave the release alone, since she is the one who owns the report and should decide about it.
   2. Leave it. You may have misread it, nobody asked you to check the release, and the person who owns the report is the one who should have spotted it.
   3. Change the release yourself to keep the old field name alongside the new one, so that her report carries on working whichever way it turns out to be.
   4. Raise it now with whoever is running tonight's release, say what you think you have seen and that you may have misread it, and let them decide before eight.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Raise it now with whoever is running tonight's release, say what you think you have seen and that you may have misread it, and let them decide before eight.

   Least effective: B. Leave it. You may have misread it, nobody asked you to check the release, and the person who owns the report is the one who should have spotted it.

   A: Sends a warning that arrives after the event: she reads it on Tuesday, by which time the release went out on Monday evening and her report has already run.

   B: Stays silent on something only you have seen: the release goes out at eight whether or not you misread it, and nobody else is looking at this at all.

   C: Acts on a reading you are not sure of: it edits somebody else's change on the evening it ships, on the strength of something you think you saw.

   The most effective response is to raise it now with whoever is running tonight’s release, say what you think you have seen and that you may have misread it. There are hours left, they can check it in minutes, and saying openly that you may be wrong costs nothing and lets them weigh it. It beats emailing your colleague so she sees it tomorrow morning, because that arrives after Monday evening’s release and after her report has run. It beats changing the release yourself to keep the old field name alongside the new one, because editing somebody else’s change on the evening it ships, on a reading you are unsure of, risks more than it protects. The least effective response is leaving it because you may have misread it and nobody asked you to check: it is worse than either of the other two, because both act on what you saw, while this leaves the only observation anybody has made unspoken until Tuesday. The principle: an uncertain observation with hours to spare goes to whoever can check it, and uncertainty is a thing to say aloud rather than a reason to stay quiet.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a quality assurance analyst. A release slipped by three days and the incident note says a supplier’s late delivery caused it. They were late, by an afternoon. The other two and a half days went on a test rerun you started and abandoned twice. You have covered two roles all month, and your manager circulated the note yesterday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell your manager today that most of the three days was your own rerun rather than the supplier, and say what covering two roles has cost, so that the note is corrected.
   2. Put the detail into the next retrospective rather than reopening a note that went out yesterday, so that the record is corrected in the usual place.
   3. Tell your manager the note is not quite right and ask whether it is worth correcting, without going into how the three days actually broke down.
   4. Let the note stand, since the supplier was genuinely late and correcting it now would cost your manager credibility for the sake of two and a half days.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell your manager today that most of the three days was your own rerun rather than the supplier, and say what covering two roles has cost, so that the note is corrected.

   Least effective: D. Let the note stand, since the supplier was genuinely late and correcting it now would cost your manager credibility for the sake of two and a half days.

   B: Corrects it where fewer people will read it: the note has already gone, and a retrospective reaches the team rather than everybody who received it.

   C: Raises a doubt without the fact that settles it: she cannot judge whether to reissue a note when she has not been told what is wrong with it.

   D: Conceals your own part behind a true detail: an afternoon is being carried as three days by a supplier, and the one person who could say so is staying quiet.

   The most effective response is to tell your manager today that most of the three days was your own rerun rather than the supplier, and say what covering two roles has cost. The note is wrong about who lost the time, it went out yesterday, and the month of double cover is the cause she can act on. It beats putting the detail into the next retrospective, because the note has already reached its readers and a retrospective reaches a smaller room later. It beats telling her the note is not quite right and asking whether it is worth correcting, because a doubt without the breakdown gives her nothing to decide with. The least effective response is letting the note stand because the supplier was genuinely late: it is worse than either of the other two, because both put the correction somewhere, while this lets a supplier carry two and a half days that were yours. The principle: a true detail does not make a false account true, and the pressure you were under is a cause to name rather than a reason to let somebody else carry it.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a security analyst. A project has finished and left eleven unused software licences that nobody has asked about. Two colleagues have already taken one each for personal machines and told you it is normal. The licences cost the company four hundred pounds each per year and renew automatically next month unless somebody cancels them. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Cancel the nine that are left before the renewal and say nothing about the two that have already gone, so that the money is saved without anybody being named.
   2. Take one of the licences for your own use as the others have, and cancel the rest before the renewal date, which still saves the company most of the money.
   3. Tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines, so that they decide what happens to all eleven.
   4. Raise it with the two colleagues and ask them to hand theirs back, then cancel all eleven before the renewal without involving anybody else in it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines, so that they decide what happens to all eleven.

   Least effective: B. Take one of the licences for your own use as the others have, and cancel the rest before the renewal date, which still saves the company most of the money.

   A: Solves the cost and buries the rest: four hundred pounds a year is still walking out on two machines and the practice is left described as normal.

   B: Takes an advantage the role forbids: you are the person who saw the licences, and the saving does not buy you one of them.

   D: Settles it privately with the people who took them: it may work, and the budget holder still never learns that eleven licences nearly renewed unnoticed.

   The most effective response is to tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines. The renewal is a real deadline, the budget holder can act on it, and the two already gone are part of the same fact rather than a separate accusation. It beats cancelling the nine that are left and saying nothing about the two, because two are still being paid for and the practice goes unexamined. It beats asking the two colleagues to hand theirs back and cancelling all eleven yourself, because that may resolve today without anybody learning that eleven licences sat unnoticed. The least effective response is taking one of the licences for your own use as the others have: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with you holding nothing, while this has the person who spotted the problem taking a share of it. The principle: when you find something valuable that nobody is watching, the finding goes to whoever owns it, and finding it earns you none of it.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a release coordinator. You are twenty minutes from a release window that closes at noon and cannot reopen until next week. A customer who has been passed between two teams this morning rings you directly. From the notes you can see her question is about a change that went out yesterday, and you happen to know the answer. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Finish the release first, since the window is the only thing here that cannot be reopened, and ring her back at noon once the checks are safely done.
    2. Give her the answer now, which takes two minutes, then finish the release checks with the eighteen minutes that are left before the window closes.
    3. Ask her to hold on the line while you work through the checks, and come back to her question as soon as the release is safely out of the door.
    4. Transfer her back to the team who own customer calls, since the window closes in twenty minutes and their queue is where a question like hers belongs.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Give her the answer now, which takes two minutes, then finish the release checks with the eighteen minutes that are left before the window closes.

    Least effective: D. Transfer her back to the team who own customer calls, since the window closes in twenty minutes and their queue is where a question like hers belongs.

    A: Ranks the fixed deadline above a two-minute answer: the window is real, but twenty minutes is ample for both, and she has already waited through two teams.

    C: Splits attention across a task that needs neither half: the checks want your full attention and she wants two minutes, and holding gives each of them less.

    D: Passes the problem on without owning it: it makes her third transfer of the morning the answer to a question you could have closed in two minutes.

    The most effective response is to give her the answer now, which takes two minutes, then finish the release checks in the eighteen that are left. Two minutes against twenty is not a real conflict, and you are holding an answer two other teams did not have. It beats finishing the release first and ringing her back at noon, because that costs her another hour for no gain when the window is in no danger from two minutes. It beats asking her to hold while you work through the checks, because a release check done while somebody waits on hold is the kind that misses things. The least effective response is transferring her back to the team who own customer calls: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get her the answer today from the person who has it, while this returns her to a queue after a morning of queues. The principle: when you are holding the answer and it costs two minutes, holding it is not prioritisation.