COMP TIA+ Flashcards
Project
A temporary endeavor that has definite beginning and ending dates, and it results in a unique product, service, or result.
4 criteria must be met for a project to be considered a project.
Unique, temporary, resources & quality, stakeholder satisfaction
1st step in the pre-project setup.
Identifying the project.
Once, the project is identified you will ___________ the project.
Validate
How are operations classified?
Ongoing and repetitive, no beginning or ending date.
What is a program?
A group of related projects that are managed together using coordinated processes and techniques.
What does PMO stand for?
Project Management Office
What is project management?
Is the ability to administer a series of chronological tasks resulting in a desired goal.
What does PMBOK stand for?
Project Management Body of Knowledge
What is a functional organization?
Classic organizational structure with the staff organized by department. Each department is managed independently with a limited span of control.
What authority does a project manager have in a functional organization?
Very little authority in this type of organization.
In this type of organization project managers have very little authority and each supervisor has a supervisor to report to.
Functional Organization
What are 3 types of matrix organizations?
Weak Matrix, Balanced Matrix, Strong Matrix
How are matrix organizations typically organized?
All department lines, like a functional organization.
The resources in a ______________ organization are accountable to the project manager
Matrix
The resources in a ______________ organization are not accountable to the project manager, but rather to their immediate supervisors.
Functional
Team members working in a ____________ generally report to two people, their functional manager and their project manager.
Matrix.
In a typical matrix organization _________ managers assign employees to the project, while __________ managers assign tasks associated with the project to the employee.
functional, project
In what type of organization does a project manager have low to moderate authority?
Matrix Organization
What is a strong matrix organization?
Emphasizes project work over functional duties. The project manager has the majority of power in this type of organization.
In this type of matrix organization, the project manager has the majority of power.
Strong Matrix.
What is a weak matrix organization?
Emphasizes functional work over project work and operates more like a functional hierarchy. The functional mangers have the majority of power in this type of organization.
In this type of matrix organization, the functional manager has the majority of power and the project manager has the least amount of power.
Weak Matrix
What is a balanced matrix organization?
Shares equal emphasis between projects and functional work. Both the project manager and the functional manager share power in this type of structure.
What is the least common form of an organization?
Projectized or Project-Based Organization
What type of organization is solely focused on projects?
Projectized
Project managers have the most power in which type of organization?
Projectized
What are the two components involved in validating a project?
Preparing the business case and identifying and analyzing the project stakeholders.
What is the first step involved in validating a project?
Preparing & validating the business case
What does the business case typically document?
The reasons the project came into existence.
What are the seven needs, requirements or reasons projects come into existence?
Market demand, strategic opportunity or business need, customer request, technological advance, legal requirement, ecological impact or social need
What is one of the things a project manager can do at the onset of a project?
Determine the business reason for the project.
Where is the business reason for a project discussed?
In the business case.
What is the business case?
A written document or report that helps executive management and key stakeholders determine the benefits and rewards of the project. It documents the business need or justification for the project and will often include high-level details regarding estimated budgets and timelines for completing the project.
What is a feasibility study?
A formal endeavor that is undertaken to determine whether there is a compelling reason to perform the proposed project.
What components are necessary when validating a project?
Validating the business case, doing a feasibility study, justification, alignment to the strategic plan, and identifying and analyzing project stakeholders.
______________________ are used to determine which proposed projects should receive approval and move forward.
Project selection methods.
What is a decision model?
A formal method of project selection that helps managers make decisions regarding the use of limited budgets and human resources.
What are the two primary categories of decision models?
Benefit measurement methods & Constrained optimization methods
Benefit measurement methods and constrained-optimization models are the two primary categories of what?
Decision Models.
Benefit measurement methods of decision making do what?
Provide a means to compare the benefits obtained from project requests by evaluating them using the same criteria.
What is the most commonly used method of decision making models?
Benefit measurement methods
What are the four benefit measurement methods?
Cost-benefit analysis, scoring model, payback period, and economic model.
What type of decision making method is cost-benefit analysis?
Benefit measurement method
What is cost-benefit analysis based on?
It is a benefit measurement method. Compares the cost to produce the product or service to the financial gain (or benefit) the organization stands to make as a result of executing the project.
What is a scoring model based on?
It is a benefit measurement method. has a predefined list of criteria against which each project is rated. Each criterion is given both a scoring range and a weighting factor.
How does the economic model of decision making work?
It is based on cash flow techniques and provides data on the overall financials of the project.
What type of decision making model is the payback period?
A benefit measurement method.
The economic model of decision making methods considers what calculations?
Discounted cash flow, IRR and NPV.
Discounted cash flows, IRR and NPV are used in what decision making model?
The economic model, which is a benefit measurement method.
What are constrained optimization models?
It is a decision making method based on mathematical methods.
What type of decision making model is usually used with very complex projects?
Constrained optimization models
What is often used in conjunction with the two methods of decision making?
Expert judgement.
Tools and techniques used to complete projects are called __________.
Processes
What are Project Management Knowledge Areas?
Collections of individual processes that have elements in common.
What are the nine Project Management Knowledge Areas?
Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, Project Procurement Management
What skills are needed to manage a project beyond technical knowledge of the product?
Key general management skills include leadership, communication, problem solving, negotiation, organization, and time management.
What is the project life cycle?
The total composition of the multiple phases of a project - beginning, middle, end, etc.
How can the project life cycle be represented?
On a timeline
At the highest level, what should the project life cycle include?
Deliverables for each phase and a list of the categories of resources involved.
What is fast tracking?
Starting the next project phase before the prior phase has been completed.
What are the five process groups?
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.
What is the output of the Initiating Process Group?
Planning
What are the inputs of the Planning Process Group?
Initiating and Controlling
What is the output of the Planning Process Group?
Executing
What are the inputs of the Executing Process Group?
Planning and Controlling
What is the output of the Executing Process Group?
Controlling
What is the input of the Controlling Process Group?
Executing
What is the output of the Controlling Process Group?
Planning, Executing and Closing
What is the input of the Closing Process Group?
Controlling
___________ is the formal authorization for a new project to begin or for an existing project to continue.
Initiation
The initiating process includes what?
All the activities that lead up to the final authorization to begin the project, starting with the original project request.
Documenting high-level requirements of a project is part of which process group?
Initiating Process Group.
Cost justification occurs during which process group?
Initiating Process Group
What happens during the Planning Process Group?
The project goals, objectives, and deliverables are refined and broken down into manageable units of work.
Project managers create time and cost estimates and determine resource requirements for each activity during which process group?
Planning Process Group.
Which process group is one of the most critical elements of managing a project?
Planning Process Group.
What happens during the executing processes?
This is when the work of the project is performed.
What processes do executing processes cover?
Actual execution, team development, quality assurance and information distribution.
Activities that monitor the progress of the project to identify any variances from the project plan are called ___________ processes.
Monitoring and controlling processes.
Requests for changes to the project scope are included in this process
Monitoring and controlling
This area is where corrective actions are taken to get the work of the project realigned to the project plan.
Monitoring and controlling
What process documents the formal acceptance of the project work and to hand off the completed product to the organization for ongoing maintenance and support.
The closing process.
IPECAC
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling (and Monitoring) And Closing
The Initiating Process Group covers from the ___________ thru the ______________.
Receipt of the project request. Authorization to start a project.
Authorization to start a project is established how?
Through the publication of the project charter.
The project request process happens during which process group?
Initiating Process Group
To clarify a project request, you need to develop a ____________, which is also known as high-level requirements.
product description
A product description is also commonly known as ____________.
High-level requirements.
What describes the relationship between the business need and the product or service requested?
High-level requirements.
What describes the major characteristics of the product or service of the project?
High-level requirements.
What are the three types of requirements for the project outcome?
Functional, Business & Technical Requirements.
What are functional requirements?
They define what the product, service or results of the project will do.
_________ requirements focus on how the end user will interact with the product.
Functional
What are business requirements?
The big-picture results of fulfilling a project.
What are technical requirements?
The product characteristics needed for the product to perform the functional requirements.
What are technical requirements also known as?
Nonfunctional requirements.
What does RFP stand for?
Request For Proposal
What does SOW stand for?
Statement of Work
What is a stakeholder?
A person or an organization that has something to gain or lose as a result of performing the project.
What is a project sponsor?
Usually an executive in the organization who has the authority to assign money and resources to the project.
What is a project champion?
Usually one of the key stakeholders that act as a cheerleader of sorts.
What is a political stakeholder?
Influential people in the organization who have expressed a desire to be involved in this project, without a direct or obvious connection.
What is the result of the Initiating process?
The Project Charter
This document provides formal approval for the project to begin and authorizes the project manager to apply resources to the project.
The project charter.
The ________________ is the person who authorizes and approves the project charter.
project sponsor
The _______________ documents the high-level goals and objectives of the project.
project charter
What is a stakeholder matrix?
A database that lists all of the stakeholders, contact info, needs, concerns, involvement, influence, etc.
What are software developers?
Specialize in writing software or web-based programs that provide computer-related solutions to business problems, productivity issues, entertainment, and more.
What are server administrators?
These team members are responsible for configuring and supporting the servers that will host your project.
What are database administrators?
DBAs are responsible for creating the database schema and their associated requirements. They also plan the backup and recovery methodologies for the data.
What are internetworking specialists?
Handle the routers, switches, LAN cabling, and WAN connections.
What are telephony specialists?
The people who manage the company’s telephone equipment and operations
What are systems analysts?
Operate at the functional level of taking the system requirements and breaking them down into a system design specification that the system developers can use to build the project.
What are business analysts?
Understand the workflow processes and the needs of the business unit but are also able to interface with the IT folks to help them understand what it is the business unit really wants.
What are system architects?
Have a very technical level of knowledge about systems and are able to draft the blueprint for infrastructure of the proposed system.
What are security analysts?
The person who makes certain that all security requirements for the project are implemented.
What are technical writers?
Responsible for writing all of the documentation for the system. This includes training documents as well as user manuals, help-desk cheat sheets, and other documentation.
What is the project description?
It documents the key characteristics of the product, service or result that will be created by the project.
At what stage is the project description written?
Initiating Process Group
At what stage do you need high-level cost estimates?
During the Initiating Process Group.
Where can you find the high-level cost estimate of a project?
In the project charter.
What are triple constraints?
Time, budget and quality constraints.
Where should high-level risks be documented?
In the project charter.
Where is the project approach found?
In the project charter, which is developed in during the Initiating Process Group.
Issuing the project charter moves the project from the ___________ phase into the __________ phase.
Initiating. Planning.
What is the primary output of the Initiating Process Group?
The Project Charter
What does the project charter contain?
Prject description, project approach, stakeholders, goals and objectives, problem statement, high-level deliverables, milestones, costs, assumptions, constraints and risks.
What is project scope?
It includes all the components that make up the product or service of the project and the results the project intends to produce.
To complete scope planning what 3 scope components must be completed?
The scope management plan, the scope statement and the work breakdown structure (WBS).
At what stage is the project scope completed?
The Planning Process Group
What is the scope management plan?
It documents how the project scope will be defined and verified and how scope will be monitored and controlled throughout the life of the project.
What is the scope statement?
It provides a common understanding of the project by documenting the project objectives and deliverables.
What is the work breakdown structure?
It breaks the project deliverables down into smaller components from which you can estimate task durations, assign resources, and estimate costs.
Who signs the project scope statement?
The key stakeholders