Fundamental Terms

Question 1

Application Areas

Answer 1

The area of expertise, industry or function where a project is centered.

Examples: Architecture, IT, software, healthcare

Question 2

Business Value

Answer 2

Quantifiable return on investment

Question 3

Tangible Business Value Examples

Answer 3

Equipment, Money or Market Share

Question 4

Intangible Business Value Examples

Answer 4

Brand Recognition, Trademarks, Reputation

Question 5

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

Answer 5

Level below PMP in terms of experience

Question 6

Cultural and Social Environment

Answer 6

Defines how a project affects people and how those people may affect the project. Cultural and social environments include the economic, educational, ethical, religious, demographic, and ethnic composition of the people affected by the project.

Question 7

Deliverable

Answer 7

A product, service, or result created by a project. Projects can have multiple deliverables.

Question 8

General management skills

Answer 8

These include the application of accounting, procurement, sales and marketing, contracting, manufacturing, logistics, strategic planning, human resource management, standards and regulations, and information technology.

Question 9

International and political environment

Answer 9

The consideration of the local and international laws, languages, communication challenges, time zone differences, and other non-collocated issues that affect a project’s ability to progress.

Question 10

Interpersonal skills

Answer 10

The ability to interact, lead, motivate, and manage people.

Question 11

Iron Triangle of Project Management

Answer 11

A triangle with the characteristics of time, cost, and scope. Time, cost, and scope each constitute one side of the triangle; if any side of the Iron Triangle is not in balance with the other sides, the project will suffer. The Iron Triangle of Project Management is also known as the Triple Constraints of Project Management, as all projects are constrained by time, cost, and scope.

Question 12

Physical environment

Answer 12

The physical structure and surroundings that affect a project’s work.

Question 13

Process groups

Answer 13

A collection of related processes in project management. There are five process groups and 49 project management processes. The five process groups are Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing.

Question 14

Program

Answer 14

A collection of related projects working in unison toward a common deliverable.

Question 15

Progressive elaboration

Answer 15

he process of gathering project details. This process uses deductive reasoning, logic, and a series of information- gathering techniques to identify details about a project, product, or solution.

Question 16

Project

Answer 16

A temporary endeavor to create a unique product, service, or result. The end result of a project is also called a deliverable.

Question 17

Project Benefits Management Plan

Answer 17

A documented created and maintained by the project sponsor and the project manager. The project benefits management plan defines what benefits the project will create, when the benefits will be realized, and how the benefits will be measured.

Question 18

Project Business Case

Answer 18

Created and maintained by the project sponsor and shows the financial validity of why a project is chartered and launched within the organization. Typically, the project business case is created before the launch of the project and may be used as a go/no-go decision point.

Question 19

Project Environment

Answer 19

The location and culture of the environment where the project work will reside. The project environment includes the social, economic, and environmental variables the project must work with or around.

Question 20

Project Life Cycle

Answer 20

The phases that make up the project. Project life cycles are unique to the type of work being performed and are not universal to all projects.

Question 21

Project Management Office (PMO)

Answer 21

A central office that oversees all projects within an organization or within a functional department. A PMO supports the project manager through software, training, templates, policies, communication, dispute resolution, and other services.

Question 22

Project Portfolio Management

Answer 22

The management and selection of projects that support an organization’s vision and mission. It is the balance of project priority, risk, reward, and return on investment. This is a senior management process.

Question 23

Subprojects

Answer 23

A smaller project managed within a larger, parent project. Subprojects are often contracted work whose deliverable allows the larger project to progress.

Question 24

Triple Constraints of Project Management

Answer 24

Also known as the Iron Triangle. This theory posits that time, cost, and scope are three constraints that every project has.

Question 25

Work performance data

Answer 25

Raw data, observations, and measurements about project components. Work performance data is gathered and stored in the project management information system.

Question 26

Work performance information

Answer 26

Work performance information is the processed and analyzed data that will help the project manager make project decisions.

Question 27

Work performance reports

Answer 27

Work performance reports is the formatted communication of work performance information. Work performance reports communicate what’s happening in the project through status reports, memos, dashboards, or other modalities.

Question 28

Project Charter

Answer 28

Officially launches the project, authorizes the project manager and allows the project to exist within the organization

Question 29

WBS

Answer 29

Work Breakdown Structure

Question 30

Enterprise Environmental Factor

Answer 30

• Direct factors: rules and regulations
• Indirect factors: structure of the organization
• Constraints

Not something the PM can control but does influence how a project is managed

Question 31

Internal Enterprise Environmental Factor

Answer 31

Created by the company

ex. you have to use this piece of software, you have to follow this rule, physical location, equipment available, resource availability

Question 32

External Enterprise Environmental Factors

Answer 32

Outside of the company

Ex. Cultural influences, news, marketplace conditions, laws and regulations, research, industry standard

Question 33

Commercial Database

Answer 33

Example of External Enterprise Environmental Factor

Piece of software that uses database to predict cost, schedule, risk management and benchmarking

Question 34

Organizational Process Assets

Answer 34

Resources within an organization, things that help you

Ex. historical information about prior projects, using templates/documents from prior projects rather than starting from scratch, standards within the company

Question 35

Organizational Knowledge Repositories

Answer 35

How you catalog, archive, and retrieve prior project data (OPAs)

Question 36

Organizational Systems

Answer 36

• How an organization works to get works done
• provides structure
• gives permissions on who is allowed to do what
• Employee discipline
• defined by organization management

Question 37

System Dynamics

Answer 37

• Relationship between different departments in an organization
• Bureaucracy, politics and policies

Question 38

Organizational Governance Frameworks

Answer 38

• Defines what you can and can’t do in a project

- Defines what you should do when you need to get something done

Question 39

Stakeholder Mangement Strategy

Answer 39

• Defines positive, negative, neutral stakeholders and the strategy for managing each
• Sensitive Document that should not be shared widely

Question 40

Process level Integration

Answer 40

• How the predefined actions of processes and their results impact the actions/result for other processes

Question 41

ITTOs

Answer 41

• Inputs
• Tools & Techniques
• Outputs