Professional Documents
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9. Further the discipline of Project Management has five process groups. These are o Initiation
o Planning
o Execution
o Control
o Closure
Each process is part of one of these five project phases. It is important to know the
process group for each of the 44 processes.
10. Project Sponsors are primarily involved in funding the project. Tasks performed by project
sponsor include
o Provides financial support
o Accepts the project during scope verification
o May provide key milestone and deliverables due dates
o Does not sign the Project Charter. This is done by Senior Management.
Tasks performed by the senior management include
o
o
o
o
Stake-holders are all the individuals that are concerned with the project. Stakeholders
have vested interest in the outcome of the project. They include project team members,
customers, management, and other individuals who get impacted by the project. Stake
holders role includes o Distributed information during the project.
o Notified of project plan changes
o Are listed in the project team directory.
o Become risk owners.
11. At the end of each project phase, reviews against a set of metrics are performed. If the
project fails to meet these metrics, the project may not be allowed to continue. These
phase end reviews are called Stage gates or Phase exits.
12. At the beginning of the project there is less cost and demand for resources. Also there is
a higher risk of failure at the beginning of the project.
Process
Key Deliverables
Initiating
Project Charter
Initiating
Planning
Execution
Deliverables
Control
Requested Changes
Control
Close Project
Closure
Final product
2. A project charter
o Formally authorizes the project.
o Gives the objectives and business case
o Identifies the Project Manager.
o Generic enough not to change often.
o Written by a Manager higher in authority than Project Manager.
o Includes name, description, deliverables
o A project does not start unless it has a Project charter.
3. During project execution the project team focuses on completing the tasks assigned. The
Senior Management protects the project from changes and loss of resources. The Project
Manager integrates all the pieces into the project as a whole.
4. The Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs of the Project Plan Development process
are given in the table below.
Project Plan Development
Inputs
Organizational Policy
Constraints
Outputs
Project Plan
Assumptions
5. At the end of each phase of a project, a lessons learned document must be prepared.
The lessons learned document defines what was done right, wrong etc. It is required to
be completed in order for the project to be completed.
6. Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a system that keeps track of status of
all the project tasks. It is used to track the status of the project. The exam does not focus
on any specific system (for example Microsoft Project ).
7. Project Plan is developed by Project Manager with inputs from the team, stake holders
and management. Project Plan development is iterative. A project plan is bought into,
approved, realistic and formal.
8. A Project Plan includes o Project Charter
o Budget
o Schedule
o Resources
o Scope Statement
o WBS
o Responsibility charts/assignments
o Management Plans
9. Project baseline refers to the original version of the project plan.
10. Progressive Elaboration involves the process of taking a project from concept to
detailed design.
11. Kick-off meeting happens after the planning phase and before the project execution. It is
typically used to communicate responsibilities of key stake holders.
12. Change Control Board is formed to review change requests. It is used to approve or
reject change requests. After the project scope has been baselined, each requested
change must go through a change control review process.
13. Project Manager needs to be proactive in looking for deviations from project plan and
then take timely corrective action. After that the Project Manager needs to evaluate the
effectiveness of corrective action, and measure performance of corrective action, and
then determine the need for further corrective action.
14. When a change request is received, the following steps must be taken (in this order) 1. Evaluate (assess) the impact of change to the project
2. Create alternatives including cutting other tasks, crashing, fast-tracking etc.
3. Meet with management, sponsors etc.
4. Meet with the customer if necessary
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Scope planning
planning
Scope definition
planning
Create WBS
planning
Acceptance deliverables
Scope control
Requested Changes
Control
2. The knowledge area of Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure
that the project includes all the work, and only all the work required to complete the
project successfully. It is primarily concerned with controlling what is and what is not in
the scope.
3. Project Portfolio Management is the process of project selection. It involves making a
decision about which project an organization should execute.
4. There are two types of project selection methods. These are
o Benefits Measurement
o Constrained Optimization
5. Benefits Measurement project selection methods involve comparing the values of one
project against another. There are the following type of Benefit Measurement project
selection techniques o Murder Boards - This involves a committee asking tough questions from each
project
o Scoring Models - Different projects are given scores based on certain defined
criteria. Project with higher score is selected.
o Benefits Cost Ratio - This technique involves computing benefits to cost ratio
(BCR) for a project. Project with higher BCR is selected.
o Payback period - This technique involves considering how long it takes back to
"pay back" the cost of the project. Inflation or interest earned in not considered in
this technique. A project with lower pay back period is better.
o Discounted Cash Flow - This technique takes into account the interest earned on
the money. The Future Value (FV) of projects is compared.
FV=PV(1+i)n
PV is the present value of the project. A project with higher present value is
better.
o Internal Rate of Return (IRR) - A project that has higher IRR is better, as it is
giving higher return on money.
6. Constrained Optimization Project selection methods are used for large projects. These
are techniques based on mathematical models. The Constrained Optimization techniques
are o Linear Programming
o Non-Linear Programming
o Integer Algorithm
o Dynamic Programming
o Multi-objective Programming
Tools &
Techniques
Inspection
Outputs
Accepted Deliverables
WBS Dictionary
Requested changes
Recommended corrective
actions
Deliverables
Project Plan
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Activity Definition
Planning
Activity Sequencing
Planning
Schedule Development
Planning
Schedule Control
Control
Performance measurements,
Requested changes
Activity List
Activity attributes
Milestone list
Dependency determination
5. The Schedule Development process has the following inputs and Tools and Techniques Schedule Development Process
Inputs
Activity List
Schedule Compression
Activity attributes
Resource Calendars
Applying calendars
6. Bar charts (or Gantt charts) are used to display tasks and their dates in a graphical
fashion. They are used to display information of the type task 1 is scheduled from date A
to date B. Typically the date range is displayed in the X-axis and the tasks on the Y-axis.
Bar charts do not show task dependencies. They are generally used to track progress
and show to the team.
7. Milestone charts are similar to bar charts but display only major events. They display
major milestones (for example bridge design completed). They are used to report status
to Management.
8. Network diagrams are used to display activities and their dependencies. Network
diagrams can be used to perform critical path analysis. Network diagrams can also be
used to perform crashing and fast tracking of the project.
There are two type of network diagrams o Activities on Node (or Precedence)
o Activities on Arrow (or AOA)
Precedence is most commonly used. AON and AOA cannot have loops or conditional
relationships.
9. An activity in a network diagram is displayed as shown below.
Activity name
Activity Number Estimate
10. As an example Documentation
2
5 days
11. In the above example Documentation is activity number 2 and is estimated to last 5 days.
12. Precedence (or Activity on Node) diagrams can be used to display four type of
relationship between activities. These are
o Finish-To-Start
o Start-To-Start
o Start-To-Finish
o Finish-To-Finish
Finish-to-start relationship means the dependent activity cannot start until the first activity
is finished. This is the most common way to represent relationships between activities.
13. Activity on Array (AOA) network diagrams have the following characteristics.
o AOA only uses Finish-To-Start relationship between tasks.
o PERT and CPM can only be used with AOA.
o Dummy events are shown with dotted lines. They do not take any time. They
show dependencies between tasks.
14. Longest path through the network diagram is called the critical path. The activities on the
critical paths are called critical activities.
15. Lags are inserted waiting times in between tasks. For example Task B cannot start until
three days after task A completes.
16. Slack or Float is the amount of time a task can be delayed without delaying the project.
Tasks on the critical path have zero float.
17. Critical Path Method (CPM) has the following characteristics.
o It uses one time estimate per activity
o It can be drawn only using AOA diagrams
o It can have dummy events
18. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) has the following characteristics.
o It uses three estimates per activity - optimistic, pessimistic and most likely
o It can be drawn only using AOA diagrams
o It can have dummy events
19. PERT utilizes more information than CPM as it considers the "Pessimistic" and
"Optimistic" values in addition to the "Most Likely" value in its calculations. The following
are formulae used by PERT Mean = (P + 4M + O)/6
Standard Deviation = (P-O)/6
Variance = ((P-O)/6)2
Here P is the pessimistic estimate, O is the optimistic estimate and M is the most likely
estimate.
20. GERT is another type of network diagram. It can support looping.
21. If a project has more than one critical paths then the risk to the project increases.
22. Resource levelling refers to keeping the resources same across the duration of the
project.
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Cost Baseline
Cost Control
Control
9. You can expect five to ten questions related to Earned Value Management. These are
generally pretty simple once you have good understanding of the concepts, and
remember the formulae. These formulae are explained below.
10. Planned Value (PV) refers to what the project should be worth at this point in the
schedule. It is also referred as BCWS (Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled).
11. Earned Value (EV) is the physical work completed to date and the authorized budget for
that. It is also referred as BCWP (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed).
12. Actual Cost (AC) is the actual amount of money spent so far. It is also referred as
ACWP (Actual Cost of Work Performed).
13. Estimate at Completion (EAC) refers to the estimated total cost of the project at
completion.
14. CPI refers to Cost Performance Index. It is defined as
CPI = EV/AC
If CPI is less than 1, this means that the project is over budget.
15. BAC refers to Budget at Completion. It is related to EAC.
EAC = BAC/CPI
16. ETC refers to Estimate to Completion. It is defined as
ETC = EAC - AC
17. CV refers to Cost Variance. It is defined as
CV = EV - AC
18. SV refers to Schedule Variance. It is defined as
SV = EV - PV
Negative cost or schedule variance means that project is behind in cost or schedule.
19. SPI refers to Schedule Performance Index. It is defined as
SPI = EV/PV
20. VAC refers to Variance at Completion. It is defined as
VAC = BAC - EAC
21. The process of Cost budgeting defines time phased cost estimates for the project. For
example, in the first month the project will require $10,000. Cost estimating involves
defining cost estimates for tasks. Cost budgeting defines cost estimates across time.
22. The tools and techniques used for Cost Estimating are o Analogous estimating
o Determine resource cost rates
o Bottom-up estimating
o Parametric estimating
o Project Management software
o Vendor bid analysis
o Reserve analysis
o Cost of quality
23. Cost baseline refers to what is expected to be spent on the project. It is usually an Scurve. That is the expenditure is less in the beginning, and the end. The expenditure is
maximum during the middle of the project.
24. The after project costs are called life cycle costs.
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Risk Identification
Planning
Risk register
Planning
Planning
Planning
Requested changes
2. A project risk is a potential source of deviation from the project plan. Project risks can
have a negative or positive impact on the project. Project risks that are negative are
called threats. Project risks that are positive are called opportunities.
3. Responses to threat include -o Reducing the probability of risk
o Developing contingency plans
o Passively accepting consequences.
o Transferring risk
Insurance is an example of transferring risk.
4. Non-critical risks should be documented. They should be revisited and reviewed
regularly.
5. Risks are identified in all phases.
6. Work-around refers to how to handle risks that have occurred but are not part of risk
response plan. This happens in risk monitoring and control phase.
7. Delphi technique is most commonly used to obtain expert opinions on technical issues. It
can be used to get inputs on Scope, Estimates or Risks. Some characteristics of the
Delphi technique are o The experts identities are anonymous. They are not in the same room.
o The PM tries to build a consensus among the experts.
Project Phase
Planning
Key Deliverables
Quality Management Plan,
Quality Metrics,
Quality baseline
Requested changes
Control
2. Grade refers to category or rank given to entities having same functional use but different
technical characteristics. As an example, for different grades of hotels, the customers
expectations are different. Poor grade may be acceptable, but poor quality is not.
3. The aim of quality is to ensure "Conformance to requirements" and "fitness for use".
4. Quality Policy defines the company goals and how to adhere to them. This acts as an
input to Quality Planning for a project.
5. Deming suggested a process of Plan-Do-Check-Act to improve quality. According to
Deming, each process should go through these steps to improve the quality.
6. Kaizen Theory - Apply continuous small improvements to reduce costs and ensure
consistency.
7. Marginal Analysis - You compare the cost of incremental improvements against the
increase in revenue made from quality improvements. Optimal quality is reached when
cost of improvements equals the costs to achieve quality.
8. The value of sigma of Normal Distribution are given below. These are important for the
exam.
Normal Distribution Sigma values
Sigma
Percentage covered
One sigma
68.26%
Two sigma
95.46%
99.99%
9. Based on the above table, we can see that in six sigma one out of 10,000 items can have
defects. In three sigma, twenty seven out of 10,000 items can have defects.
10. The following are inputs to Quality Planning Process o Enterprise environmental factors
o Organizational process assets
o Project Scope statement
o Project management plan
11. Giving extras i.e. doing more than the project scope is called gold-plating. PMI does not
recommend gold-plating.
12. Quality must be planned in and not inspected in. Prevention is more important than
inspection.
13. The following are tools and techniques for Quality Planning process -
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
o Benefit/Cost Analysis
o Benchmarking
o Additional quality planning tools
o Design of experiments
o Cost of quality
Quality Assurance is done during execution of the project. It includes
o Process of evaluating overall performance on a regular basis
o Re-evaluating quality standards
o Quality audits - structured review of quality activities that identify lessons learned.
These lessons learned are used for process improvement.
Perform Quality Control focuses on correctness of work. It includes inspections. The tools
and techniques used for Quality Control are o Cause and effect diagram
o Control charts
o Flowcharting
o Histogram
o Pareto chart
o Run chart
o Scatter diagram
o Statistical Sampling
o Inspection
o Defect repair review
In Just-In-Time (JIT) Quality, the amount of inventory is zero. The inputs are made
available, just when they are required. This reduces the storage cost.
Rule of seven : In control charts, if there are seven points on one side of mean, then an
assignable cause must be found.
The process of Analogous Estimation involves looking at the history of past projects,
and use them to make estimates.
Project HR Management
This chapter covers key concepts related to Project HR Management.
1. The knowledge area of Project HR Management consists of the following processes HR Management Processes
Process
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Organization Chart,
Roles and responsibilities,
Staffing Management Plan
Execution
Execution
Control
Requested changes
2. The table below gives the inputs, and tools and techniques for the Human Resource
Planning process Human Resource Planning Process
Inputs
Organizational Theory
Networking
3. Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) defines who does what. The Staffing
Management Plan defines when will people get added and removed from the project.
4. A Project Manager may yield authority over the project team in one of the following ways
o Referent - project team knows the PM
o Formal Power - Power due to Project Managers position
o Technical Power - Project Manager has strong technical skills in the projects
domain.
o Coercive Power - The project team is afraid of the power the Project Manager
holds.
5. Conflicts in the team are caused due to the following reasons in decreasing order of
occurrences.
o Schedules
o Project Priorities
o Resources
o Technical Opinions
So the most common cause of conflicts in projects are issues related to schedules.
6. Conflicts are best resolved by those in the team.
7. There are standard conflict resolution techniques available to resolve conflicts. These are
(from best to worst) -
Problem Solving or Confrontation (look at the facts, analyze them and find a
solution). This is an example of win-win situation.
o Compromising (Find the middle route). This is an example of loose-loose
situation.
o Withdrawal or Avoidance
o Smoothing (Emphasize the agreements)
o Forcing (Do it my way). This is an example of win-loose situation.
The process of problem solving has these steps o Define the cause of the problem
o Analyze the problem
o Identify solution
o Implement a decision
o Review the decision, and confirm that the problem is solved.
War room is a technique for team building. As part of this the project team meets in one
room. It helps to create a project identity.
Halo Effect is the assumption that because the person is good at a technology, he will be
good as a project manager.
There are many organizational theories. Some of the main ones are - Expectancy
Theory, McGregory Theory, Herzberg Theory, Maslow's Hierarchy of needs.
Expectancy Theory - People accept to be rewarded for their efforts. This is a motivation
factor. People put in more efforts because they accept to be rewarded for their efforts.
McGregory Theory of X and Y - There are two type of employees. Employees of type X
need to be always watched. They cannot be trusted and need to be micro managed.
Employees of type Y, on the other hand, are self-motivated. They can work
independently.
Herzberg Theory - Hygiene factors (salary, cleanliness etc.) if not present can destroy
motivation. However good hygiene alone does not improve motivation. What motivates
people is the work itself. The motivation factors for employees include responsibility, selfactualization, growth, recognition etc.
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs - there are various levels of needs for an employee.
When a lower level is met, employee attempts to reach the next higher level. The
maximum satisfaction is achieved when the employee reaches the highest level of
satisfaction - self-fulfillment. These level of needs from the highest to lowest are o Self-fulfillment
o Esteem
o Social
o Safety
o Physiology
o
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Information Distribution
Execution
Organization process
assets (updates)
Performance Reporting
Control
Performance Reports
Manage Stakeholders
Control
Resolved issues
2. Communication Management Plan defines how and when the various stakeholders
receive information, and communicate with each other.
3. Memos, emails are examples of non-formal communication.
4. The total number of communication channels between n stakeholders is n(n-1)/2. So if
there are ten stakeholders in a project, there are 45 channels of communication.
Project Phase
Key Deliverables
Plan Contracting
Planning
Execution
Select Sellers
Execution
Selected Sellers,
Contract
Contract Administration
Execution
Contract Changes
Contract Closure
Closure
Closed Contracts