Planning Process Group Flashcards
Define the Planning Process Group
the processes necessary to establish the total scope of the effort, define and refine the objectives and develop a course of action to obtain those objectives
___________ are set as part of the planning process group
Baselines
Planning is an __________ process and may require revisiting one or both of the initiating processes
iterative
Output of Develop Project Management Plan (4.2)
Project Management Plan; details HOW the PM team will manage the project; HOW the work will be executed; HOW changes will be monitored and tracked; HOW the project will be closed
What are the (24) processes in the Planning process group?
(4. 2) Develop Project Management Plan
(5. 1) Plan Scope Management
(5. 2) Collect Requirements
(5. 3) Define Scope
(5. 4) Create WBS
(6. 1) Plan Schedule Management
(6. 2) Define Activities
(6. 3) Sequence Activities
(6. 4) Estimate Activity Durations
(6. 5) Develop Schedule
(7. 1) Plan Cost Management
(7. 2) Estimate Costs
(7. 3) Determine Budget
(8. 1) Plan Quality Management
(9. 1) Plan Resource Management
(9. 2) Estimate Activity Management
(10. 1) Plan Communications Management
(11. 1) Plan Risk Management
(11. 2) Identify Risks
(11. 3) Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
(11. 4) Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
(11. 5) Plan Risk Response
(12. 1) Plan Procurement Management
(13. 2) Plan Stakeholder Engagement
Who should sign the project management plan?
project manager, the sponsor, the project team, and key stakeholders
Key Project Management Plan Components
Change Management Plan; Configuration Management Plan; Performance measurement baseline; Development Approach
Who or what determines the change control procedures set forth in the plan?
PM or OPA
At what point in the project can we stop consulting the Project Management Plan?
After closing
Can we make changes to the Project Management Plan without following the formal change control procedure?
when in draft/planning = yes
once baselined/signed = no
At what point in the project should we have a fully completed project management plan?
end of the planning process group
What is the objective of project scope management?
To ensure all required work is done and no unnecessary work is done (in scope vs out of scope)
Project scope is measured against…
the project management plan
Product scope is measured against…
the product requirements
What are the inputs of plan scope management?
(1) Project charter
(2) Project management plan
What are the outputs of plan scope management?
(1) Scope management plan; a document that describes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled and verified.
(2) Requirements management plan; How requirements will be planned, tracked and report
What are some data gathering techniques?
brainstorming, focus groups, benchmarking (comparison vs a standard), document analysis, observation/conversation
Outputs of collect requirements (5.2)?
(1) Requirements documentation
(2) Requirements traceability matrix; links products back to business need, opportunity, goal, objective; project objectives, scope/WBS deliverables, product design, etc.
What is define scope (5.3)?
The process of developing a detailed description of project and product
What are the outputs of define scope (5.3)?
(1) Project Scope Statement: describes in detail the deliverables (product scope); sets forth constraints and assumptions along with how deliverables will be created (project scope)
(2) Project Documents updates
What level of detail should be reflected in the scope statement?
In detail (very detailed)
What is the difference between project scope and product scope?
How I am building it vs what I am building
How does the scope statement differ from the Charter?
Level of detail associated with each document. Scope statement is very detailed while the charter is high level
Define Create WBS
Process of subdividing (decomposing) the project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components
What is the lowest level of a WBS?
work package
What is decomposition?
breaking project work and deliverables down into smaller, more manageable components
What are the outputs of create WBS (5.4)?
(1) Scope Baseline: Project Scope Statement, WBS, WBS Dictionary (companion document to WBS)
(2) Project Documents Updates: requirements document, assumption log
Define Control Account
Important Terminology for WBS!
A management control point where scope, budget, actual cost and schedules are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement. Two or more work packages can be assigned to a control account. Work packages will be assigned to a single control account.
Define planning package
Important Terminology for WBS!
WBS component below the control account and above the work package level, with known work content but without detailed schedule activities, especially useful in agile environments
Define work package
Important Terminology for WBS!
Work defined at the lowest level of the WBS, for which cost and duration can be estimated and managed
Define code of accounts
Important Terminology for WBS!
Any numbering scheme used to uniquely identify each component of the WBS
Define chart of accounts
Important Terminology for WBS!
list detailing all accounts used by the organization to identify areas of expenditures (not part of the WBS itself)
Define Project Schedule Management (6.0)
Processes required to manage timely completion of the project
What processes are within Project Schedule Management (6.0)?
Plan Schedule Management (6.1); Define Activities (6.2); Sequence Activities (6.3); Estimate Activity Durations (6.4); Develop Schedule (6.5); Control Schedule (6.6)
Define Plan Schedule Management (6.1)
The process of establishing the policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing and controlling the project schedule
Output of Plan Schedule Management (6.1)?
Schedule Management Plan
Define Define Activities (6.2)
The process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to product the project deliverables
What is the starting point of Define Activities
work package
What are two types of progressive elaboration?
rolling wave planning and prototypes
Outputs of Define Activities (6.2)?
(1) Activity List: detailed list of all activities that are required to complete the project (action words!…i.e. peel the potato)
(2) Activity attributes: detailed explanation of the activity
(3) Milestone List: a list of significant points or events in a project (usually aligns with the completion of a phase)
(4) Change requests: identified work not part of the initial baseline
(5) Project Management Plan Updates
What are (4) types of PDM relationships used in Sequence Activities (6.3)?
(1) Finish-to-start: A finishes before B starts (most common) (ex. finish system testing before starting end-user testing)
(2) Start-to-finish: A starts before B finishes (rarely used) (ex. new shift starts before previous shift can finish)
(3) Finish-to-finish: A finishes before B finishes (ex. installing electrical system and installing appliances could be ongoing at the same time, but electrical must finish before appliances)
(4) Start-to-start: A starts before B starts (ex. author writes first chapter of book before graphic designed can start adding illustrations)
What is a lead?
allows an acceleration of a successor activity
What is a lag?
delay
Project Management Information System (PMIS)
software tool used to build schedules
Outputs of Sequence Activities (6.3)?
(1) Project Schedule Network Diagrams: visual representation of the relationship between schedule activities
(2) Project documents updates: activity attributes, activity list, assumption log, milestone list
Define Estimate Activity Durations (6.4)
The process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete each individual activity with the estimated resources
Define Effort
Important Terminology for Estimate Activity Duration!
The number of LABOR units required to finish an activity (may expressed as staff hours, days or wks)
Define Duration
Important Terminology for Estimate Activity Duration!
The number of work periods needed to complete an activity
Define law of diminishing returns
Important Terminology for Estimate Activity Duration!
a point will eventually be reached when adding one factor (resources) yields less (products)
What are some Tools and Techniques used to Estimate Activity Duration (6.3)
Analogous Estimating: top down; reference past project to estimate schedule; LEAST accurate, but FASTEST
Parametric Estimating: employs a statistical relationship using historical data and other variables; more accurate than analogous; = MATH
Three point estimating: Triangular Distribution
Bottom Up Estimating: aggregating estimates of lower-level components of the WBS; time consuming but MOST accurate
Data analysis:
What is the Triangular Distribution Formula?
[Optimistic + Most Likely + Pessi(1) Duration Estimates
mistic]/3
What are the outputs of Estimate Activity Durations (6.4)?
(1) Duration Estimates
(2) Basis of Estimates
(3) Project Documents Updates
Define Develop Schedule (6.5)
The process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements and schedule constraints to create the project schedule for project execution and control
Define Resource Leveling
FLEXIBILITY in the schedule; adjusts activity start/finish dates when resources have been over-allocated or certain resources are scarce; it often lets the schedule slip to level out resources and can cause the critical path to change
Define Resource Smoothing
NO FLEXIBILITY; adjusts activities such that the requirements do not exceed certain predefined resources limits. The schedule and/or the critical path cannot slip, so activities may only be delayed by a period of time equal to or less than their free and total float
Float formula
Late Finish - Early Finish
What are the three types of float?
Total float (slack); free float; project float
Define Total Float (slack)
the amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the project completion date. Total float is not added together; it is shared across the path
Define Free float
The amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any successor activity. This is calculated by subtracting the EF + 1 of the current activity from the ES of the earliest successor activity.
Define Project float
The amount of time a project can be delayed, without impacting the externally imposed project deadline set by the customer or management
What is crashing?
Adding resources to critical path tasks, which exchanges higher costs for shorter schedule duration
crashing = cashing
What is fast tracking?
Converts sequential activities to parallel, which primarily increases risk
Outputs of Develop Schedule (6.5)
(1) Schedule Baseline: accepted and approved version of the schedule
(2) Project Schedule
(3) Schedule Data
(4) Project calendars: identifies working days and shifts that are available for scheduled activities (don’t confuse with resource calendar)
(5) Change requests
(6) Project Management Plan Updates: schedule baseline; schedule management plan
(7) Project Documents Updates
What are the processes of Project Cost Management (7.0)?
Plan Cost Management (7.1) Estimate Costs (7.2) Determine Budget (7.3) Control Costs (7.4)
Define Plan Cost Management
The process of defining how project costs will be estimated, budgeted, managed, monitored, and controlled
Output of Plan Cost Management
Cost Management Plan
What are some of the data analysis techniques you might employ in planning cost management?
NPV
IRR
Return on Investment
Payback period
Define Estimate Costs (7.2)
The process of developing an approximation of the cost of resources needed to complete the project work
Define Fixed Costs
Expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods and services produced by the business. They tend to be time-related, such as rents paid per month
Define Variable costs
Expenses that change in proportion to the activity of a business.
Define Direct costs
A cost that can be directly related to producing specific goods or performing a specific service.
Define indirect costs
Costs that are not directly attributable to a particular object, such as heat and light (overhead)
Define Rough Order of Magnitude
-25% tot 75%
Define Definitive Estimate
-5% to 10%
Cost of Quality
Cost of Conformance: Prevention and appraisal costs
Cost of Non-conformance: internal and external failure costs
Three - point Estimating
(1) Triangular Distribution (simple average)
2) BETA Distribution (PERT
Triangular Estimation Formula
[Optimistic + Most Likely + Pessimistic]/3
BETA Distribution (PERT) Formula
[Optimistic + (4 x Most Likely) + Pessimistic]/6