49 Processes (PMBOK) Flashcards
What is Integration Management?
- The “summary” knowledge area
- The “glue” that ties all knowledge areas together
What is the Project Charter?
- A high-level document that authorizes and initiates a project
What is a Business Case?
A Business Document that determines whether or not the project is worth the investment
What is a Benefits Management Plan?
- Document that outlines HOW the benefits of a project will be delivered, tracked, and evaluated
What is the Issue Log?
- A record of all the issues/problems encountered on a project
What is Tacit Knowledge?
Knowledge gained from beliefs, insights, and experience
What is Explicit Knowledge?
Knowledge gained from words, pictures, and numbers, such as reading books
In which process are Change Requests reviewed by the PM for their impact on the project, and either approved or not approved?
Perform Integrated Change Control
What is the Change Control Board?
The group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, deferring, or rejecting changes to the project and for recording and communicating such decisions
What is the process for making a change in PMBOK?
Exam questions on this
- Stakeholder identifies a need for a Change Request
- Written Change Request submitted to the PM
- PM assesses the change for its impact on the project, and looks for any other options
- Change Request is submitted to the Change Control Board
- If approved, PM adjusts the PM Plan, then manages the project to the new plan
- If NOT approved, the team develops a new Change Request, and back to step 1
You are the PM on a project when the organization decides to terminate the project. What must you do before moving on to another project?
Exam question on this
- Investigate and document the reasons for the project being terminated before completion
- Close the project officially
What must the customer do before you can enter the Close Project or Phase process?
They must accept the deliverables
What is the Final Product, Service or Result Transition?
An Output of the Close Project or Phase process where the deliverable is transitioned to the organization
What is the Final Report?
An Output of the Close Project or Phase process that includes:
* A summary of what took place on the project
* How successful was the project?
* Any variations in the baseline
Which process is Work Performance Data an output of?
Direct and Manage Project Work
What’s a concept that aligns closely with the Manage Project Knowledge process?
Lessons Learned
Work Performance Reports are an output of which process?
Monitor and Control Project Work
Change Models are used in which process?
Perform Integrated Change Control
Approved Change Requests are an output of which process?
Perform Integrated Change Control
What is the primary output of the Define Scope process?
Scope Statement - List of deliverables, product description, goals, risks, acceptance criteria
What is Decomposition?
Breaking down project deliverables into smaller components (work packages)
What is the primary output of the Create WBS process?
- The Scope Baseline
- 3 Components: Project Scope Statement, WBS, and WBS Dictionary
What is the WBS?
Work Breakdown Structure - A deliverable-oriented, ranked decomposition of the scope into work packages, represented by numbered nodes
What is the WBS Dictionary?
Details the contents of the WBS, providing more info on each node
What are the primary functions of the Validate Scope process?
Verified Deliverables are reviewed with customer/sponsor to obtain formal acceptance
What is the unique input to the Validate Scope process?
Verified Deliverables (output of the Control Quality process)
What is a unique tool of the Validate Scope process?
Inspection (product review, audit, walkthrough)
What are the 2 outputs of the Validate Scope process that relate to the inspected deliverables?
- Accepted Deliverables - Deliverables that have met the acceptance criteria and officially approved by client/sponsor
- Change Requests - Deliverables that do NOT meet acceptance criteria are dealt with via Perform Integrated Change Control, and product rework is necessary to repair the defect(s)
What are 2 primary functions of the Control Scope process?
- Monitoring status and managing changes to scope baseline
- Prevent Scope Creep
What is the Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR)?
- Compares the gains to the cost of a project
- Any number higher than 1 is good, a higher BCR will return the company more money
What should the PM update after a change has been approved or rejected?
The Change Log
What is the first step in managing any issues on a project?
Update the Issue Log
What should the PM update once new knowledge has been acquired?
The Lesson Learned Register
What is Trend Analysis?
Used to analyize when a trend might be forming and where it’s going
What is Variance Analysis?
Used to find a variance (not predict it)
What does the Product Scope outline?
The product’s features and functionality
What does the Requirements Management Plan outline?
The steps required to collect, measure, test, and verify requirements
What is an Affinity Diagram?
Used to group ideas together
Where would you find exclusions (work the project will NOT be doing)?
In the Scope Statement
What are the primary functions of the Determine Budget process?
- Aggregate the estimated costs of individual activities and work packages to establish a cost baseline
- Determine the cost baseline against which project performance can be monitored and controlled
What is Cost Aggregation?
Method used to “roll up” the activity costs into the work package to determine total costs
What are Contingency Reserves?
Determined by the PM, these address the cost impact of remaining risks
What are Management Reserves?
Funds added by management to cover known/unknown risks
Which Reserves do the Cost Baseline and Project Budget include?
- Cost Baseline includes the Contingency Reserves
- Project Budget is the Cost Baseline + Management Reserves
What are Project Funding Requirements?
Define what gets funded when, and by how much (trigger points, milestones, etc.)
What is Funding Limit Reconciliation?
- Rescheduling work
- Done in the Determining Budget process
What are the 3 types of estimates?
- Definitive Estimate: -5% to +10%
- Budget Estimate: -10% to +25%
- Rough Order of Magnitude Estimate: -25% to +75%
Where is the Change Management Plan stored?
Within the Project Management Plan
When a change is approved, what is the next best step to conduct on a project?
Execute the approved change request in the Direct & Manage Project Work process
Once the deliverable has been accepted by the sponsor, what should the project manager do next?
Move to the Close Project or Phase process
Regarding changes to a project, what must happen before the PM Plan can be updated?
A Change Request must be approved
An accepted deliverable is a key input to which process?
Close Project or Phase
Quality vs. Grade
Quality - The degree to which product fulfills requirements
Grade - Category assigned to deliverables having the same functional use but different technical specs
Prevention vs. Inspection
Prevention - Keeping errors out of the process (preferable, cheaper)
Inspection - Keeping errors out of the customer’s hands
What is a Cost-Benefit Analysis?
Analyzes the cost of the product against the benefits of the product (benefits must outweigh the costs)
What is Cost of Quality (COQ)?
All costs incurred over the life of the product ensuring it meets quality standards
- Cost of Conformance (prevention costs like training, equipment, appraisal costs, testing, etc.)
- Cost of Nonconformance (reworking, scrapping, loss of business)
What is Test and Inspection Planning?
Determining HOW to test/inspect project output to ensure it meets stakeholders’ needs and expectations
What is a Cause-and-effect diagram?
(Ishikawa or Fishbone Diagram) - Shows causes of defects in a product
What is a Histogram?
- Bar chart that usually shows the frequency of something
What is an output of the Control Quality process that is an input to the Validate Scope process?
Verified Deliverables
What is the Team Charter?
- Document that outlines what will be acceptable behavior within the project (general rules of conduct for meetings, decision-making, 1:1 conversations)
What is Bottom-up Estimating (in Estimate Activity Resources process)?
Breaks down the activities until you can assign resources, then aggregate them back up to full activity
What is Analogous Estimating?
Top-down Estimating - Relies on historical info to assign duration to activities (not as accurate)
What is Parametric Estimating?
Uses a math algorithm to calculate cost or duration
What is the Resource Breakdown Structure?
Hierarchical breakdown of resources by their categories and types
What is Pre-Assignment?
When team members are selected in advance of a project
What do Individual and Team Assessments measure?
- Individuals’ strengths and weaknesses
- How the team makes decisions, resolves conflicts, communicates, and builds trust with each other
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
- Self-actualization (top)
- Esteem
- Social
- Safety
- Physiological (bottom)
McGregor’s Theory of
X and Y
Theory X (bad) - People need to be watched, micromanaged, distrusted
Theory Y (good) - People are self-led, motivated, can proactively accomplish tasks
Steps to follow in Conflict Management
- Define the cause of the problem
- Analyze the problem
- Identify solutions
- Implement selected solution
- Review the solution
- Confirm solution has solved the problem
What are the 5 methods of Conflict Resolution?
- Problem Solving (Confronting) - Win-Win
- Forcing - Win-Lose
- Compromising - Lose-Lose
- Smoothing - Lose-Lose
- Withdrawal - Yield-Lose
Regarding defects, which is always the most expensive option?
Letting the customer find defects
What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
When everyone in the company is responsible for quality in the underlying process of how a product is made
Who are quality audits best done by?
A team external to the project, to ensure there are no conflicts of interest
Which rule does a control chart follow?
The Rule of Seven - There must be seven consecutive points above or below the middle line for process to be out of control
What are the 5 forms of power in the Develop Team process?
- Reward Power (ability to give rewards)
- Expert Power (subject matter expert)
- Legitimate Power (formal power)
- Referent Power (respect/personality of manager)
- Punishment Power (Punish associates when they fail - least desirable)
What does the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis process achieve?
Used to rank risks according to probability and/or impact
The project manager and sponsor are consulting with banks and other lending institutions in order to obtain funds for the project. What process this describes these actions?
- Determine Budget
- This is where the tool of Financing is used to seek funding for a project
What is Crashing vs. Fast Tracking?
Crashing - Adding resources to the project to get it done faster (generally adds costs)
Fast Tracking - Running activities in parallel to get work done faster (doesn’t always add costs)
Once the project team completes an activity, what should they do next?
- Update Work Performance Data
- PM uses this to create the Work Performance Info and Report, to be given to the stakeholders
What is Slack (or Floats)?
The amount of time you can delay an activity without delaying the project
What is Risk Transfer?
When risk is transferred to another company, such as by purchasing insurance or hiring a consultant
What is Risk Avoidance?
Eliminating a risk by going down a different path
What is Risk Mitigation?
Reducing the probability and/or impact of a risk
What is Risk Acceptance?
Doing nothing about the risk
What is an Attribute Sample?
A measurement that is usually pass/fail (or good/bad)
What is Statistical Sampling?
Measurement that is not just pass/fail - It also has a middle ground (good, very good, bad, very bad)
What is Statistical Independence?
When an outcome of two events cannot effect each other
The project planning has been completed for the office renovation project. The project management plan has been approved by the sponsor and senior management. What would the project manager do next?
Hold a kickoff meeting (generally done after planning a project to bring team together and inform them of the project requirements)
While working on a project, the project team has encountered a problem that has halted the project work. The team is unable to come up with a solution and would like to have an outside company come in and finish the rest of the project. What should the project team do next?
Create a Request for Proposal (RFP) - Used when there’s a problem on the project, and the solution is not easy to determine. Generally a request made to understand how vendors would rewrite the scope statement
What is Resource Leveling?
Resource leveling is done when resources on a project are over-allocated; it removes resources that are working on two activities at the same time.
The project manager has been informed that the company’s senior management would like a meeting about the status of the project. What should the project manager take to display the current schedule of the project?
A milestone chart is a high-level view of major accomplishments on a project. These are best used when presenting a quick view of data and the project schedule to management personnel.
The project manager is working on a top-secret company project and would like to ensure all the correct security measures are in place for communications regarding the project. What tool would the project manager use?
- Communication Technology
- factors include sensitivity and confidentiality of the information on the project, which will require the project manager to assess the security needs of the project information
After the project manager has collected the requirements and received approval for the scope statement, what process should the project manager do next?
- Create WBS
- The create WBS process is generally done after the scope statement has been created, as it will decompose the deliverables in the scope statement.
Senior management in the organization would like your project to have as few risks as possible. Which of the following contracts best meet their criteria?
- Fixed Price
- A fixed price contract will have the lowest risk for the project, since the costs of the labor and material are known up front.
Control Scope vs. Validate Scope
Control Scope - Compare the work that has been completed to the project management plan
Validate Sope - Process where stakeholders formally accept project deliverables
The sponsor would like a report about the resources that are being used on the project. He would like to see them broken down by different categories to make them easier to understand. What process will the project manager use to create this?
The process of estimate activity resources will output the resource breakdown structure, which is a hierarchal breakdown of resources by their categories and types.
The project manager spends 90% of their time doing what important task?
Communications
What is the conflict management technique “Withdrawal”?
When the team postpones the issue to a later date to be better prepared.
In which order should the steps of Closing be conducted?
- Conducting the lesson learned
- Releasing the team
- Writing the final report
Conduct Procurement vs. Control Procurement?
Conduct procurement is done to select a seller and award a contract
Control procurement is when the agreement has already been signed and the contractor is completing the work, and the contractor should be paid according to the terms in the contract
Over the last three weeks the project team has finally been able to establish a shared vision of what the product would look like when it is complete. This is an example of?
Progressive elaboration occurs when more information in detail emerges over time.
Statistically Independent vs. Mutually Exclusive?
Statistical independence is a term used in probability that means one event cannot affect the other event
Mutually exclusive is a term used when two events cannot happen at the same time
Pull vs. Push communication
Pull communication is done when stakeholders access the communications on their own time, usually through a web portal
Push communication is when communication is given to the stakeholders such as in an email.
The project manager has met with the project team and has informed them that his team performance assessments are done, and he would like to speak with each of them individually about the results. What process group is this?
During the executing process group, the project manager will assess the team’s performance and try to improve it through the executing process of developing and managing the team.
What is the formula to calculate the number of communication channels on a project?
Channels = n(n-1)/2
where n = the number of people on the project
What are the different types of communication methods on a project?
- Informal written (emails)
- Formal written (contracts, project docs)
- Informal verbal (phone calls, random chats)
- Formal verbal (presentations)
- Push (email blast)
- Pull (access a portal, download info)
- Interactive (joint discussions)
Risk Appetite vs. Risk Tolerance
Risk Appetite - Amount of risk you are willing to take for a reward
Risk Tolerance - Volume of risk you are willing to take
Risks identified in Risk Register vs. Risk Report
Risk Register - Individual project risks
Risk Report - Sources of Overall project risk and summary info on individual risks
What is a Fixed Price agreement?
- When the buyer pays one flat price for all work (lump sum)
- Best option when the scope is well-defined
- Low Risk (all risk is with the seller)
What is a Cost-Reimbursable agreement?
- Buyer pays for all work expenses + a fee for seller’s profit
- Higher Risk (cost overrun is covered by buyer)
What is a Time and Material agreement?
- Buyer pays for both labor and material
- Highest Risk for buyer
What is a Procurement Strategy?
Document that describes type of agreement and how delivery should take place
What is the Procurement Statement of Work (SOW)?
Describes what will be procured for the project (specs, quality requirements, etc.)
Where should any disputes between buyer and seller be sent?
Claims Administration
Which process is Closed Procurements an output of?
Control Procurements
What are Ambiguity Risks?
Describe uncertainty that exists about what might happen in the future (difficult to predict)
What is the Risk Breakdown Structure?
Shows different categories of risk on a project (part of the Risk Management Plan)
What is a Bubble Chart?
A data representation tool that is used to graphically display three dimensions of data (probability, impact, and likelihood)
What is one of the first and most important things to know before setting up a contract?
The local laws and regulations of the country where work is being done
What is the best way to resolve a claim (a contested charge occuring when the seller does additional work not listed in the contract)?
Negotiate a settlement
What should the PM do before closing procurement?
Approve all deliverables, then close procurement with a formal written notice to the seller that all work has been completed
What is the key output of the Identify Stakeholders process?
Stakeholder Register
What is the main aspect of Stakeholder Engagement?
Continuous communication
What does the Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix show?
A comparison between the current and desired engagement levels of stakeholders
What is the main benefit of the Manage Stakeholder Engagement process?
To increase support and minimize resistance from stakeholders
What are Residual Risks?
Residual risks are the leftover risks that are expected to remain after the planned response of risk has been taken.
What is the Delphi Technique?
Uses facilitated anonymous polling to identify risks. The facilitator gathers the initial poll responses and circulates them without attribution to the entire group. The group members may then revise their contributions based on those of others. The process often generates a consensus after a few iterations. This makes it an appropriate method to use when participants can’t meet in one place, like the team members in 6 different countries.
What are some examples of tools used for Identify Risks process?
- checklists
- brainstorming
- SWOT analysis
- assumption analysis
What is a Secondary Risk?
Risk created by the response to another risk. In other words, the secondary risk is a consequence of dealing with the original risk
Which points should the project manager consider while performing a Stakeholder Analysis?
- power dynamics
- impact stakeholders may have on the project
- level of influence
- requirements
- expectations
What are faster vs. slower decision-making styles?
Faster:
* Command - Leader unilaterally makes decision
* Majority Vote - Group decides with a vote
Slower:
* Consultative - Leader makes decision, but with advice from the group
* Consensus - Leader guides the group to a decision
Contingency Reserves vs. Management Reserves
Contingency Reserves - Included in cost baseline for known risks with active response strategies (added by PM)
Management Reserves - Added to cost baseline for unforeseen work that is within the project scope (added by management)
What is the minimal content the Risk Register should include?
- Identified Risks
- Risk Owners
- Risk Responses
What does the Risk Report reflect?
The status of identified risks and actions taken to mitigate them.
What is a Technical Risk?
A risk centered around scope, requirements, technical processes, etc. (example: Definition of Done checklist)
What does a Pareto Chart show?
- Frequency of defects, along with their cumulative impact
- Useful in prioritizing defects
At the completion of a project, customer agreement cannot be achieved through negotiations. What should the project manager do next?
Explore arbitration (This involves having a neutral third party resolve the issue)
