Definitions from studying Flashcards
What is a business case?
A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as a basis for the authorization of further program management activities.
What is a benefits management plan?
The documented explanation defining the processes for creating, maximizing and sustaining the benefits provided by a project or program.
What is work performance data?
The raw observations and measurements identified during activities being performed to carry out the project work.
What is work performance infomration?
The performance data collected from controlling processes, analyzed in comparison with project mng plan components, project documents, and other work performance information.
What does a requirements management plan tell you?
Establishes how the requirements will be analyzed, documented and managed
What does a schedule management plan tell you?
Establishes the criteria and the activities for developing, monitoring and controlling the schedule.
What does a scope management plan tell you?
Establishes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled and validated.
What does a cost management plan tell you?
Establishes how the costs will be planed, structured and controlled.
What does a quality management plan tell you?
Establishes how and organization’s quality policies, methodologies, and standards will be implemented in the project.
What does a resource management plan tell you?
Provides guidance on how project resources should be categorized, allocated, managed, and released.
What does a communication management plan tell you?
Establishes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated.
What does a risk management plan tell you?
Establishes how the risk management activities will be structured and performed.
What does a procurement management plan tell you?
Establishes how the project team will acquire goods and services from outside of the performing organization.
What does a stakeholder engagement plan tell you?
Establishes how stakeholders will be engaged in project decisions and execution, according to their needs, interests and impact.
What is a scope baseline?
The approved version of a scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and its associated WBS dictionary, which is used as a basis for comparison.
Includes: Project Scope Statement, WBS and dictionary, Work Package, and Planning Package
What is a schedule baseline?
The approved version of the schedule model that is used as a basis for comparison to the actual results.
What is a cost baseline?
The approved version of the time-phased project budget that is used as a basis for comparison to the actual results.
Excluding any management reserves
What does the change management plan describe?
Describes how the change requests throughout the project will be formally authorized and incorporated.
What does the configuration management plan tell you?
Describes how the information about the items of the project (and which items) will be recorded and updated so that the PSR of the project remains consistent and/or operative.
The configuration management plan defines those items that are configurable, those items that require formal change control, and the process for controlling changes to such items.
What is the performance measurement baseline?
An integrated scope-schedule-cost plan for the project work against which project execution is compared to measure and manage performance.
What is a context diagram?
A visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system (process, equipment, computer system, etc) and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it.
What is the stakeholder registry and what can be found in it?
This is used to identify stakeholders who can provide information on the requirements.
It also captures requirements and expectations that stakeholders have for the project.
What is nominal group technique (brainstorming)?
This is a structured form of brainstorming constant of 4 steps:
- A question is posed.
- Moderator writes down the ideas on a flip chart
- Each recorded idea is discussed until all group members have a clear understanding.
- Individuals vote privately to prioritize the ideas (usually with a scale of 1-5)
What is Joint Application Design/Development (JAD)?
JAD sessions are used in software development industry. These sessions focus on bringing business SME and the development team together to gather requirements and improve the process.
What is Quality Function Development (QFD)?
Manufacturing Industry.
Collecting customer needs, also known as VOC. These needs are then objectively sorted and prioritized, and goals are set for achieving them.
What are user stories?
Short, textual descriptions of required functionality, are often developed during a requirements workshop.
What are solution requirements?
These describe features, functions, and characteristics of the PSR that will meet the business and SH requirements.
Functional and Nonfunctional
What are functional requirements?
Describe the BEHAVIORS of the product.
Actions, processes, data, and interactions that the produce should execute.
What are nonfunctional requirements?
Supplement functional requirements and describe the ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS of QUALITIES required for the produce to be effective.
Reliability. security. performance, safety, level of service, supportability, retention/purge.
What is requirement traceability matrix?
A grid that links produce requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them.
What does requirements documentation tell you?
Describes how individual requirements meet the business need for the project.
The planned work is contained within the lowest level of WBS components, which are called _______
Work package
What is rolling wave planning?
An iterative planning technique in which the work ca be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level.
What is a planning package?
A work breakdown structure component below the control account and above the work package with known work content but without detailed schedule activities.
A control account may include one or more planning packages.
Validate Scope vs Control Quality
Validate Scope is concerned with acceptance of the deliverables.
Control Quality is concerned with correctness of the deliverables and meeting the quality requirements specified for the deliverables.
What is variance trend analysis used for?
Is used to compare the baseline to the actual results and determine if the variance is within the threshold amount or if corrective or preventative action is approrpatie.
What is trend analysis used for?
Examines project performance over time to determine if performance is improving or deteriorating.
What is plan schedule management do?
The process of establishing the policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing , executing and controlling the project schedule.
What does define activities do?
The process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables.
What happens during sequencing activities?
The process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities.
What two things are included when estimating activity duration?
Number of work periods needed to complete the activity
AND
estimated resources
NOTE - The define activities process defines the final output as ACTIVITIES rather than deliverables, as done in create WBS process.
…
Sequencing activities process concentrates on converting _______ from _________to____________
Concentrates on converting the PROJECT ACTIVITIES from A LIST to a DIAGRAM
Who determines which dependencies are mandatory during the process of sequencing the activities?
THE TEAM
What are mandatory dependecies?
Legally or contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work.
Do not confuse mandatory dependencies with assigning schedule constraints in the scheduling tool.
What are discretionary dependencies referred to as?
Preferred logic, preferential logic, or soft logic.
How are discretionary dependencies established?
Based on knowledge of best practices within a particular application area or some unusual aspect of the project where a specific sequence is desired.
What can create arbitrary total float values and can limit later scheduling options?
Discretionary Dependencies.
What is a resource calendar?
Specify when and how long identified project resources will be available during the project.
Influences the duration of schedule activities due to the availably of specific resources, type of resources and resources with specific attributes.
Duration estimates do not include?
Any lags
What does develop schedule tell you?
The process of analyzing activity sequencing, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create a schedule model for project execution and M/C.
Schedule network analysis is what kind of process?
ITERATIVE
What is another word for total float?
schedule flexibility
What is total float?
Measured by the amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed or extended from its early start date without delaying the project finish date violating a schedule constraint.
What is free float?
The amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any successor or violation a schedule constraint.
What is resource leveling?
Move Sr to longer tasks; Move Jr to shorter tasks
COULD change critical path.
Start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal of balancing the demand for resources with the available supply.
What is resource smoothing?
Eat up float time
DOES NOT change critical path.
Adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirements for resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits.
How is Monte Carlo used?
Outputs are generated to represent the range of possible outcomes for the project.
Risks and other sources of uncertainty are used to calculate possible schedule outcomes for the total project.
What does fast tracking do?
Activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration.
What is found on the project calendar?
Identifies working days and shifts that are available for schedule activities.
What is found in the project schedule?
Includes the type, quantity, and amount of time that team and physical resources will be active on the project.
What are project funding requirments?
Forecast project costs to be paid that are derived from the cost baseline for total or periodic requirement, including projected expenditures plus anticipated liabilities.
What does grade tell you?
Design intent is a category assigned to deliverables having the same functional use but different technical characteristics.
What does quality tell you?
Delivered performance or result is “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements.”
What does the plan resource management tell you?
The process of defining how to estimate, acquire, manage and utilize physical and team resources.
NOTE - Org breakdown structure has the work packages under the department name.
..
What is the resource breakdown strucutre?
A hierarchical list of team and physical resources related by category and resource type that is used for planning, managing, and controlling project work.
What is a RAM ?
Responsibility Assignment Matrix
shows the project resources assigned to each work package.
What is identify risk do?
The process of identifying individual project risks as well as sources of overall project risk, and documenting their characteristics.
What does QUALITATIVE Risk Analysis do?
The process of prioritizing individual project risks for further analysis or action by assessing their probability of occurrence and impact as well as other characteristics.
What does QUANTITATIVE Risk Analysis do?
The process of numerically analyzing the combined effects of identified individual project risks and other sources of uncertainty on overall project objectives.
Two types of non event risk - what are their definitions?
Variability Risk & Ambiguity Risk
Variability Risk - uncertainty exists about some key characteristics of a planned event or activity or decision. (Ex: productivity may be higher or lower; errors may be higher or lower; unseasonable weather)
Ambiguity Risk - uncertainty exists about what might happen in the future. Areas of the project where imperfect knowledge might affect the project’s ability to achieve its objectives.
Variability Risk can be managed by using _______
Monte Carlo analysis.
Ambiguity Risk can be managed by
Defining those areas where there is a deficit of knowledge and filling the gap by obtaining external expert input or benchmarking.
What is a prompt list?
A predetermined list of risk categories that might give rise to individual project risks and that could also act as sources of overall project risk.
EX: PESTLE (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental); TECOP (technical, environmental, commercial, operational, political); VACU (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity).
What does a risk register do?
Captures details or identifies individual project risks.
Recorded in risk register: Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, Plan Risk Responses, Implement Risk Responses, and Monitor Risks.
What is included in the risk report?
Describes sources of overall project risk and the current overall project risk status.
What does sensitivity analysis do and another name for it?
Helps to determine which individual project risks or other sources of uncertainty have the most potential impact on outcomes. It correlates variations in project outcomes with variations in elements of the quantitative risk analysis model.
Tornado Diagram.
What does a decision tree support?
Support selection of the best of several alternative courses of action.
What does an influence diagram show?
Graphical aides to decision making under uncertainty.
When is request for information (RFI) used?
When more information on the goods and services to be acquired is needed from the seller. It will typically be followed by an RFQ or RFP.
When is a request for quotation (RFQ) used?
When more information is needed on how vendors would satisfy the requirements and/or how much it will cost.
When is a request for proposal (RFP) used?
When there is a problem in the project and the solution is not easy to determine. This is the more formal of the “request for” documents and has strict procurement rules for content, timeline, and seller response.
