PMBOK Terms, Tools and Techniques, and Organization Structure Flashcards
This will include general information, such as types of organizations leadership styles, best project practices, and acronyms.
What is Project Management
The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.
What are the benefits of Project Management?
- Meet business objectives and goals
- Address stakeholder needs and expectations
- Resolve issues sooner
- Be more successful
- Become more adaptive
What does BCA stand for
Benefit Cost Analysis
What does BCR stand for?
Benefit Cost Ratio
What does BIM stand for?
Building Information Model
What does CCB stand for?
Change Control Board
What does CCM stand for?
Critical Chain Method
What does COQ stand for?
Cost Of Quality
What does CPI stand for?
Cost Performance Index
What does CPIF stand for?
Cost Plus Incentive Fee
What does CPM stand for?
Critical Path Method
What does CV stand for?
Cost Variance
What does EMV stand for?
Expected Monetary Value
What does FF stand for?
Finish to Finish
What does FFP stand for?
Firm Fixed Price
What does FPEPA stand for?
Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustments
What does FS stand for?
Finish to Start
What does IRR stand for?
Internal Rate of Return
What does MOU stand for?
Memorandum of Understanding
What does NPV stand for?
Net Present Value
What does OBS stand for?
Organizational Breakdown Structure
What does OPA stand for?
Organizational Process Assets
What does PBP stand for?
Payback Period
What does PDCA stand for?
Plan Do Check Act
What does PDM stand for?
Precedence Diagramming Method
What does RACI stand for?
Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform
What does RAM stand for?
Responsibility Assignment Matrix
What does RBS stand for?
Resource or Risk Breakdown Structure
What does RCA stand for?
Root Cause Analysis
What does RFI stand for?
Request For Information
What does RFP stand for?
Request For Proposal
What does RFQ stand for?
Request For Quotation
What does ROM stand for?
Rough Order of Magnitude
What does SF stand for?
Start to Finish
What does SIPOC stand for?
Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers
What does SS stand for?
Start to Start
What does SV stand for?
Schedule Variance
What does SWOT stand for?
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
What does TOR stand for?
Terms of Reference
What does VAC stand for?
Variance At Completion
What does VOC stand for?
Voice Of the Customer
What does WPD stand for?
Work Performance Data
What does WPI stand for?
Work Performance Information
What does WPR stand for?
Work Performance Reports
What three characteristics does a successful Project Manager have?
Knowledge (Know the tools and techniques.) Performance (Work ethic and being able to deliver.) Personal Skills (Being able to lead a team.)
What is a Portfolio?
A portfolio is a group of projects or programs that are linked together by a business goal.
What is a Program?
A group of projects that are closely linked to the point that managing them together provides some benefit.
What is a Project?
Any work that produces a specific result and is temporary.
What are all the Project Lifecycles?
- Predictive
- Adaptive
- Iterative
- Incremental
- Hybrid
What is a Predictive Lifecycle?
The projects schedule, scope, and costs are defined up front.
What is an Adaptive Lifecycle?
Adaptive lifecycles are about change. Teams approach the work by repeatedly performing all project activities to deliver small pieces of the project. Each piece is called an increment and can be considered a final product in its own right.
What is an Iterative Lifecycle?
An Iterative Lifecycle plans most of the work up front but uses repeated loops within the project lifecycle to identify possible changes to scope, schedule and cost baselines. Changes can be made throughout these loops.
What is an Incremental Lifecycle?
The team delivers small usable pieces of work to their stakeholders for feedback through a series of iterations. Close to adaptive, but increments here cannot be considered final products. They have to combine in a final iteration to be considered complete.
What is a Hybrid Lifecycle?
Any combination of predictive and adaptive approaches.
What does a Portfolio Charter provide?
A portfolio charter lays out the strategic benefits that a portfolio is going to accomplish. It lists all of the programs and projects included in the portfolio.
What does a Program Charter provide?
A program charter defines the shared benefit that the program is achieving as well as the list of projects it includes.
What does a Project Charter provide?
A project charter gives a project description, summary schedule, and business case, and assigns a project manager.
What is Progressive Elaboration?
Progressive elaboration is when you learn more and more about a project as it goes on, and update the project management plan. Almost all projects will be progressively elaborated.
What are some characteristics that don’t define a project that you think would normally be?
Projects are not always strategic or critical. They are not ongoing operations, and they are not always successful.
What is an operation or process?
Work that is done in a way that is repeatable and ongoing.
What is a project constraint?
Any limitation that’s places on your project before you start doing the work.
What are the three categories project managers do in their roles?
Gather project requirements, manage stakeholder expectations, and deal with project constraints.
What are the three types of PMO Offices?
- Supportive
- Controlling
- Directive
What is a Supportive PMO?
Supportive PMO’s provide all the templates you need while your project is under way. They will lay out the standards for how you should communicate our project’s scope, resources, schedule, and status, but won’t force you to follow those templates.
What is a Controlling PMO?
Controlling PMO’s will check that you are following the process they prescribe. They will also periodically review the work that you are doing to make sure that you are following said guidelines.
What is a Directive PMO?
Directive PMO’s actually provide project managers to project teams. The project manager usually reports to the PMO directly. The reporting structure makes sure that project managers follow the frameworks and templates, because their job performance depends on it.
What are the eight interpersonal and Team Skills?
- Leadership
- Team Building
- Trust Building
- Motivation
- Influencing
- Coaching
- Conflict Management
- Political and Cultural Awareness
What is the difference between a functional organization and a projectized organization?
In a functional organization, project managers don’t have the authority to make major decisions on projects, whereas projectized organizations give all authority to the PM.
What are all the different organization types?
- Organic
- Functional
- Multidivisional
- Weak Matrix
- Balanced Matrix
- Strong Matrix
- Project Oriented
- Virtual
- Hybrid
- Project Management Office (PMO)
What are the six key project constraints?
- Time
- Cost
- Scope
- Resources
- Quality
- Risk
What are characteristics of organizational process assets?
Process, policies, procedures, and knowledge repositories in which you revamp based on past experience.
What are enterprise environmental factors?
Factors that the project manager can’t control: People, market, where database storage is, government policy, company standards, company risk tolerance.
What are the 5 Process groups, in order?
- Initiating
- Planning
- Executing
- Monitoring & Controlling
- Closing
What are the 10 knowledge areas, in order?
- Integration
- Scope
- Schedule
- Cost
- Quality
- Resource
- Communication
- Risk
- Procurement
- Stakeholder
What is a sequential relationship?
A project where you are completing it in phases, and those phases come one after the other.
What is an overlapping relationship?
A project where the phase times overlap with each other.
What is an iterative relationship?
An approach to project phases that is partway between sequential and overlapping. This means you have a single team that is performing the Initiating and Planning process, while also doing the executing for the previous phase. Agile software development uses this commonly.
What are three main components in the PMI Talent Triangle?
Technical Project Management, Leadership, and Strategic/Business Management.
What are the six styles of leadership, and what is a characteristic of each one?
- Laissez Faire
- Transactional
- Charismatic
- Transformational
- Interactional
- Servant Leader
Laissez fair is a hands-off leadership approach. Transactional leaders make goals explicit and then track progress towards completing them. Charismatic leaders inspire the team and encourages them through a strong conviction of their own. Transformational leaders focus on inspiring, but encourage the team to change the environment around them. Interactional leaders change style depending on the situation, and servant leaders focus on serving the teams needs.
What are the 14 different power dynamics that can affect a team?
- Positional
- Informational
- Referent
- Situational
- Personal or charismatic
- Relational
- Expert
- Reward-oriented
- Punitive of coercive
- Ingratiating
- Pressure based
- Guilt based
- Persuasive
- Avoiding
What is “Float?”
The duration of which an activity can be delayed without affecting the critical path. Activities on the critical path will always have a float of zero.
What is the critical path in a Network Diagram?
The critical path is the path that takes the longest duration out of the available paths. Any delay in activities along the critical path will delay the project.
What is a forward pass in a Network Diagram?
The duration of path from left to right on a Network Diagram (Foward Pass = Start Date + Duration - 1). Used to calculate the early start and finish figures.
What is a backward pass in a Network Diagram?
The duration of a path from right to left on a Network Diagram. (Last Date - Duration + 1) Used to calculate the late start and finish figures.
What are Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEF’s)?
Enterprise Environmental Factors tell you how your company does business. Company overall strategy, policies, company culture, etc. Can also include outside influences like government regulations. An important one is the Project Management Information System (PMIS).
What are Organizational Process Assets (OPA’s)?
Organizational process sets tell you about how your company normally runs its projects. Things like templates, lessons learned, etc.
What is the Project Management Information System (PMIS)?
The Project Management Information System determines how work is assigned, and makes sure that tasks are done in the right order. This is an EEF.
What are all the components to the Project Management Plan?
- Scope Management Plan
- Requirements Management Plan
- Schedule Management Plan
- Cost Management Plan
- Quality Management Plan
- Resource Management Plan
- Communications Management Plan
- Risk Management Plan
- Procurement Management Plan
- Stakeholder Management Plan
- Scope Baseline
- Schedule Baseline
- Cost Baseline
The Project Management Plan is “Formal.” What does this mean?
Formal means that it is written down and distributed to your team.
What is the first thing you should do when you encounter a change?
Consult the Project Management Plan
What are the baselines for in the Project Management Plan?
They include snapshots of the scope, schedule, and budget that you can use to keep track of them as they change.
What is work performance Data?
Raw data that is being measured by how and when the processes from each knowledge area are being performed.
Any time you have to correct a mistake or make a repair in a deliverable, you’re fixing a _____.
Defect
What are the three components of the Direct and Manage Project Work process?
- Use the plan to create deliverables
- Repair defects in deliverables
- As the project plan changes, make sure those changes are reflected in the deliverables.
What is explicit and tacit information?
Explicit information is information that is written down. Tacit information is in people’s heads.
Do changes, even if not approved, need to be in the change log?
Yes
Does a repair to a defect need to go through change control?
Yes
What is a Change Request?
A form that you fill out to send a change through change control.
What is Change Control vs a Change Control System?
Change control is how you deal with changes in your Project Management Plan, a Change Control System is the set of procedures that lets you make those changes in an organized way.
What does the Performance Measurement Baseline consist of?
- Scope Baseline
- Schedule Baseline
- Cost Baseline
This is a snapshot of your scope, schedule, and cost.
What is a Forecast?
When someone makes an estimate or prediction of a future condition that could lead to trouble.
If you can make a change on your own that doesn’t impact the project constraints: scope, cost, time, quality, risk, or resources, can the PM make this change?
Yes, the project manager is within their rights in this case without having to go through control.
What is a key benefit to project integration?
Project integration, the use of all processes and knowledge areas, makes sure that the project stays aligned with the benefits it’s meant to bring.
What is Tailoring?
Tailoring is when you make changes to the processes your team will use during the course of the project.
What does the “Work Authorization System” do?
Ensures that every work package is performed at the right time and in the proper sequence. This is defined by the company, and is external to a project.
Who determines the prioritization of issues on a project?
The Project Manager
Do defect repairs require an update in the project management plan?
No
What is Product Scope?
All the features and functions of the product or service that you and your team are building.
What is Project Scope?
All of the work that needs to be done to make the product.
What is Scope Creep?
Uncontrolled changes that cause the team to do extra work.
What is the purpose of the Scope Management Plan?
The Scope Management Plan describes the process you’ll use for defining scope and managing changes to it.
What purpose does a Requirements Management Plan serve, and what knowledge area is it in?
The Requirements Management Plan will describe all of the processes the team uses to document your requirements na maintain that document throughout the project. You’ll find the approach the team will take to planning, tracking, and reporting on requirements. You’ll use this document to describe the prioritization process for requirements and how you’ll build a traceability matriculates for your requirements as well. This plan is created in the “Scope Management” knowledge area.
What is the purpose fo the Scope Management Plan?
The Scope Management plan details the process you and your team will follow as you document your scope, comes up with the WBS, and validate/control scope for the rest of the project.
What are the four main decision making techniques?
- Unanimity
- Majority
- Plurality
- Autocratic
What is Multicriteria Decision Analysis?
Multicriteria decision analysis is when teams use numbers to help them map out decisions.
What is the Nominal Group Technique?
A form of brainstorming where you write down the ideas as you find them, and have the group vote on which ones they like best. You then use all the votes to rank the ideas and separate the ones that aren’t important from the ones you want to delve into deeper.
What is Facilitation?
Facilitation is the ability to effectively guid ea group event to a successful decision, solution, or conclusion.
What are three types of Data Representation?
- Affinity Diagrams
- Idea/Mind Maps
- Contact Diagrams
What are the common data gathering techniques?
- Interviews
- Focus Groups
- Questionnaires and Surveys
- Brainstorming
- Benchmarking
- Observation
- Prototype
What is a prototype?
A model of the product that you’re going to build that gives your stakeholders a better idea of what your team is thinking.
How do you know when your requirements bathing process is complete?
When you’ve got a way to verify each of them once they’re built.
What are Functional Requirements?
Functional Requirements are the behaviors of the product. (Examples: New features, bug fixes)
What are Nonfunctional Requirements?
Nonfunctional Requirements are the implicit expectations about the product. (Examples: Performance, reliability, error handling, ease of use.)
What purpose does a Traceability Matrix have?
The Traceability Matrix shows where the requirements come from, where they get implemented, and how they get verified. It’s a high level look at your requirements and make sure they are mapped to specific cases.
What does a Requirements Management Plan do?
The Requirements Management plan tells how the requirements will be gathered and analyzed.
What is decomposition in project management?
It’s the work of taking deliverable and breaking them up in to work packages that will create them.
What is the WBS dictionary?
The WBS Dictionary brings along all of the details you need to do the project, it details the work package, and is an output of the create WBS process.
What is a Project Scope Baseline, and what is it made up of?
The Project Scope Baseline is a snapshot of the plan. It’s an output of the “Create WBS” process, and it includes the WBS, Project Scope Statement, and WBS Dictionary.
What is a control account?
A control account is a tool that your company’s management and accountants use to track the individual work packages. You need to establish these in order to finalize the WBS.
What is Impact Analysis?
Impact analysis is where you evaluate the effect the change will have on the project.
What is the Decision making process: Inspection?
Inspection is where the stakeholders actually look closely at what the team did and make sure that every single piece of work was completed.
What is Formal Acceptance?
Formal Acceptance means that you have written confirmation from all of the stakeholders that the deliverables match the requirements and the Project Management Plan.
What are Finish to Start, Start to Start, and Finish to Finish dependencies about?
Finish to Start means that one activity must be complete before the next begins, Start to Start means that tasks are commencing at the same time, and Finish to Finish means that tasks are completing at the same time.
What are External Dependencies?
External Dependencies are when your project depends on things outside the work that you are doing.
What are Discretionary Dependencies?
Discretionary Dependencies are about a matter of preference. You should set discretionary dependencies based on your knowledge of the best practices for getting the job done.
What are Mandatory Dependencies?
Mandatory Dependencies are dependencies that must be complete before the tasks can start.
What are Internal Dependencies?
Internal Dependencies are tasks that are within the teams control. (Example, the couple must leave the church in order to start rehearsal dinner. They can leave whenever.)
What is Lag Time?
Lag Time is when you purposefully put a delay between the predecessor task and the successor.
What is Lead Time?
Lead Time is when you give a successor task some time to get started before the predecessor finishes.
What is Parametric Estimating?
Parametric Estimating is plugging data about your project into a formula, spreadsheet, or computer program that comes up with an estimate.
What is Bottom Up Estimating?
Bottom Up Estimating is building your estimates based on individual estimates from the people who will do the work.
What is Analogous Estimating?
Analogous Estimating is when you look at activities from precious projects that were similar to this one and estimate based off that.
What is Three Point Estimating?
Three Point Estimating is when you use a most likely estimate, optimistic estimate, and pessimistic estimate as averages to create your final estimate.
What is the Critical Path?
The Critical Path is a string of activities with the longest duration for the project. Any delay to the activities will delay the whole project.
What is Early Start?
Early Start is the earliest time that an activity can start. An activity near the end of the path will only start early if all of the previous activities in the path also started early. If one of the previous activities in the path slips, that will push it out.
What is Early Finish?
Early Finish is the earliest time that an activity can finish. It’s the dat that an activity will finish if all of the previous activities started early and none of them slipped.
What is Late Start?
Late Start is the latest time that an activity can start. If an activity is on a path that’s much shorter than the critical path, then it can start very late without delaying the project.
What is Late Finish?
Late Finish is the latest time that an activity can finish. If an activity is on a short path and all of the other activities on that path start and finish early, then it can finish very late without causing the project to be late.
What does Crashing the Schedule mean?
Crashing the schedule means adding resources shorten it. Crashing always cost more.
What is Fast Tracking the project?
Fast tracking is when you shift two activities that were originally planned in sequence to occur at the same time.
What are the two schedule compression methods?
Crashing the Schedule and Fast Tracking the schedule.
What is What If Analysis?
What If Analysis is trying to think of all the things that could go wrong on your project in advance.
What is the Monte Carlo Analysis Algorithm?
It’s a type of analysis where the probability of events happening to delay your project, and how much they delay it by, are taken into account. Run through a computer sytem.
Is it a project managers responsibility to influence factors that can cause change on the project?
Yes, the project manager doesn’t sit and wait for schedule changes to happen. They look ahead for things that might cause a negative impact on schedule and work to influence that factor.
What is Rolling Wave Planning?
Rolling Wave Planning is where the earliest parts of a project are planned in enough detail to have work begin, while the later parts of the project are planned at a high level. As the project progresses, and more information becomes available, plans are elaborated in sufficient detail to continue the work.
What are Business Documents?
Examples of business documents include the business case and the benefits management plan. These are documents that tell you why your project was selected.
What are Acceptance Criteria?
A set of conditions that is required to be met before deliverables are accepted.
What are Accepted Deliverables
Deliverables that have been validated by the project customer or sponsor as meeting the specified acceptance criteria.
What is Active Listening?
Acknowledging, clarifying, and confirming, and showing understanding of comprehension.
What is an Activity?
A distinct, scheduled portion of work performed during the course of a project.
What are some examples of Activity Attributes?
Activity codes, predecessor activities, successor activities, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, imposed dates, constraints, assumptions.
What is an Activity List?
A documentated tabulation of schedule activities that shows the activity description, activity identifier, and a suficiently detailed scope of work.
What is Advertising?
In Procurement, advertising is communicating with potential sellers through general circulation or publications.
What are Affinity Diagrams?
A technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.
Provides a high level summary timeline of the release schedule based on the product roadmap and the product vision for the product’s evolution.
Agile Release Planning
A document or communication that defines the initial intentions of a project. This can take the form of a contract, memorandum of understanding (MOU), etc.
Agreements
A type of analysis that is a comparison of the charteristics and requirements of alternative risk response options in order to make a decision on which response is most appropriate.
Alternatives Analysis
Quantified in monetary terms, an analysis of cost effectiveness of alternative risk response strategies.
Cost Benefit Analysis
Type of analysis that compares the validity of assumptions and constraints to determine which pose a risk to the project.
Assumption and Constraint Analysis
The technique that examines the project from the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat perspectives.
SWOT Analysis
A project document used to record all assumptions and constraints throughout the project lifecycle.
Assumption Log
What is Attribute Sampling?
Method of measuring quality that consists of noting the presence (or absence) of some characteristic or attribute in each unit under consideration.
What is a bar chart also referred to as?
Gantt Chart
Supporting documentation outlining the details used in establsighing project estimates such as assumptions, constraints, level of detail, ranges, and confidence level.
Basis of Estimates
The comparison of actual or planned products, process, and practices to those of comparable organizations to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a bases for measuring performance.
Benchmarking
The documented explanation defining the processes for creating, maximizing, and sustaining the benefits provided by a project or program.
Benefits Management Plan
Documents that are used to solicit infomraiton, quotations, or proposals from prospective sellers.
Bid Documents
A documented economic feasibility study used to establish validity of the benefits of a select component, and is used for the basis for the authorization of further project management activities.
Business Case
The net quantifiable benefit derived from a business endeavor. This can be tangible or intangible, or both.
Business Value
A decomposition technique that helps trace an undesirable effect back to its root cause.
Cause and Effect Analysis
A formally chartered group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, approving, or rejecting changes to the project, and for communicating such decisions.
Change Control Board
A componenet of the project management plan that establishes the change control board, documents the extent of it’s authority, and describes how the change control system will be implemented.
Change Management Plan
A tally sheet that can be used as a checklist when gathering data.
Check Sheet
A request, demand, or assertion of rights by a seller against a buyer, or buyer against a seller.
Claim
The proces of processing, adjucating, and communicating contract claims.
Claims Administration
What is a Code of Accounts?
A numbering system used to uniquely identify each componenet of the work breakdown structure (WBS).
An organizational placement strategy wher the project team members are physically located cloase to on another in order to improve communication, working relationships, and productivity.
Colocation
A description, analogy, or schematic used to represent how the communication process will be performed for the project.
Communication Model
An analytical technique to determine the information needs of the project stakeholders through interviews, workshops, study of lessons learned from previous projects, etc.
Communications Requirements Analysis
What is a Communication Management Plan?
A component of the project, program, or portfolio management plan that describes how, when, and by whom information about the project will be administered and disseminated.
What is Conformance in Quality Management?
COnformance is a general concept of delivering results that fall within the limits that define accepable variation for a quality requirement.
A visual depection of the produce scrope and how other systems interact with it.
Contex Diagram
What is a Contingency Reserve?
Time or money allocated in the schedule or cost baseline for known risks with active response strategies. (Known unknowns)
A compoenent of a project or program management plan that descibes how costs will be planned, structured, and controlled.
Cost Management Plan
A technique used to shorten the schedule duration fo rthe least incremental cost by adding resources.
Crashing the Schedule
A method used to estimate the minimum project duration and determine the amount of schedule flexibiility on the logical network paths within the schedule model.
Critical Path Method
A diagramming and calculation technique for evaluating the implications of a chain of multiple options in the presence of uncertainty.
Decision Tree Analysis
A method of group decision-making and forecasting that involves successively collating the judgments of experts.
Delphi Technique
A set of technical guideleins that may be applied during the deisgn of a product for the optimization of a specific aspect of the design.
Design for X
An activity that can be planned and measured and that yields a specific output.
Discrete Effort
The earliest possible point in time when the uncompleted portions of a schedule activity can start based on the schedule network logic, the data date, and any schedule constraints.
Early Finish Date
The earliest possible point in time when the uncompleted portions of a schedule can start based on the network, data date, and schedule constraints.
Early Start Date
A methodology that combines scope, schedule, and resource measurement to assess project performance and progress
Earned Value Management
The ability to identify, assess, and manage the personal emotions of onself and other people, as well as the collective emotions of groups of people.
Emotional Intelligence
Judement provided based on expertise in an application area, knowledge area, discipline or industy as appropriate for the activity being performed. May be provided by any group or person with a speciliazed education, knowledge, skill, experience, or training.
Expert Judgement
Knowledge that can be codified using words, numbers, or pictures
Explicit Knowledge
What is Fast Tracking?
A schedule compression technique in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration.
A relationship in which a successor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activity has finished.
Finish to Finish
A realationship in which a sucessor activity cannot start until a predessor activitiy has finished.
Finish to Start
What is a FIshbone Diagram?
A cause an effect diagram that traces an issue back to its root cause.
What is Float or Slack?
The duration in which a project can start late without affecting the critical path.
The depiction in a diagram format of inputs, actions, and ouputs
Flowchart
A technique that brings together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their experience and attitudes about a proposed product, service, or result.
Focus Groups
A critical path mehtod that calculates the early start and early finish dates in a Network Diagram.
Forward Pass
What is Funding Limit Reconciliation
The process of comparing the planned expenditure of project funds against any variances between the limit and commitment of funds.
What is Grade?
A term used to distinguish items that have the same functional use but do not share the same requirements for quality. Something can be expensive and have high grade, but low quality.
A bar chart that shows the graphical representation of numerical data.
Histogram
A graphical represnetation of sitauitions showing casual influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes.
Influence Diagram
Examination of a work product to determine whether it conforms to documented standards.
Inspection
A formal or informal approach to eleicit information from stakeholders by talking to them directly.
Interviews
A project document where informaiton about issues is recorded and monitored
Issue Log
The amount of time whereby a sucessor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity
Lag
The latest possible point in time when the uncompletion portions of a schedule activity can finish based on the schedule network, completion date, and any constraints.
Late Finish Date
The latest possible point in time when the uncompleted portions of a schedule activity can start based on the schedule network logic, the project completion date, and any schedule constraints.
Late Start Date
The amount of time a sucessor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity.
Lead
A project document used to record knowledge gained during a project so that it can be used in the current project or future projects.
Lessons Learned Register
The process of gathering data about product requirements and analyzing them to make a decision on internal manufacture or purchase of a product.
Make-or-Buy Analysis
What is involved in Managing a Team?
Tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing team changes to optimize project performance.
An amount of the project budget or project schedule held outside of the PMB for managment control purposes, it is reserved for unforeseen work that is within the scope of the project. This is for unknown unknowns.
Management Reserve
A relationship that is contractually required or inherent in the nature of the work.
Mandatory Dependency
A quality managment and control tool used to perform data analysis within the organizational strucutre created in a matrix. Shows the stength and relationship between factors, causes and objectives that exist between rows and columns that form the Matrix.
Matrix Diagrams
An organizational structure in which the project manager shares responsibility with the functional manager.
Matrix Organization
A technique used to consolidate ideas created through individual brainstorming sessions into a single map to reflect commonality and differences in understanding and to generate new ideas.
Mind Mapping
An analysis technique where a computer model is iterated many times, with the input values chosen at random for each iteration driven by the input data. Outputs are generated to represent the rang of possible outcomes of a project.
Monte Carlo Simulation
Technique that uses a decision matrix for establishing criteria, such as risk levels, uncertainty, and valuation, to evaluate and rank many ideas.
Multicriteria Decision Analysis
What is Network Logic?
All activity dependencies in a project schedule network diagram.
A point at which dependency lines connect on a schedule network diagram.
Node
A technique that enhances brainstorming with a voting process used to rank the most useful ideas for further brainstorming and prioritization.
Nominal Group Technique
A hierarchical representation of the project organization. It illustrates the relationship between project activities and hte organizational units that perform them.
Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
An estimating technique in which an algorithm is used to calculate the cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters.
Parametric Estimating
The process of reviewing all change requests; approving change snad managing changes to deliverables, OPA’s, project documents, and the project management plan, and communicating the decisions.
Perform Integrated Change Control
Review at the end of a phase in which a decision is made to continue to the next phase, or to end a project or program.
Phase Gate
Decisions made by the largest block in a group, even if a majority is not achieved.
Plurality
A grid for mapping the probability of occurence of each risk and its impact on project objectives if that risk occurs.
Probability Impact Matrix
All documents used in signing, executing, and closing an agreement. These may including documents predating the project.
Procurement Documentation
Describes the procurement item in sufficient detail to allow prospective sellers to determine if they are capable of providing the products, services, or results.
Procurement Statement of Work
The iterative process of increasing the level of detail in a project managment plan as greater amounts of information and more accurate estimates become available.
Progressive Elaboration
The framework, function, and process that guides project mangement activities.
Project Governance
An information system consisting of the tools and techniques used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the outpouts of the project management processes.
Project Management Information System (PMIS)
What is a Project Organization Chart
A document that graphically depicts the project team members and their interrelationships for a specific project.
Structured, independent process, to determine if project activities comply with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures.
Quality Audit
A type of responsibility assignment matrix that uses responsible, accountable, consult, and inform statuses to define the involvement of stakeholders in project activities.
RACI Matrix
An analytical technique where a series of input variables are examined in relation to their corresponding output results in order to develop a mathematical or statistical relationship.
Regression Analysis
Type of document where teh buyer requests a potential seller to provide information on seller capability or services.
Request for Information (RFI)
A type of procurement document used to request proposals from prospective sellers.
Request for Proposal (RFQ)
A tyoe pf document used to request price quotations from prospective sellers of common or standard products or services. Sometimes used in place of request for proposal.
Request for Quotation (RFQ)
A grid that links product requirements from their origin to the deliverables that satisfy them.
Requirements Traceability Matrix
An analytical technique to determine the essential features and relationships of components in the project managment plan to establish a reserve for budget, cost, duration, or funds.
Reserve Analysis
What is residual risk?
The risk that remains after risk responses have been implemented.
A hierarchical representation of resources by category and type.
Resource Breakdown Structure
A resource optimiazatin technique in which adjustments are made to the project schedule to optimize the allocation of resources. This may affect the critical path.
Resource Leveling
A component of the project management plan that describes how project resources are acquired, allocated, monitored and controlled.
Resource Management Plan
A technique in which activity start and finish dates are adjusted to balance demand for resources with the available supple.
Resource Optimization Technique
A resource optimization technique in which free and total float are used without affecting the critical path.
Resource Smoothing
A grid that shows the project resources assigned to each work package.
Responsibility Assignment Matrix
A type of action used to consider the effectiveness of the risk managemnt process.
Risk Audit
A hierarchical representation of the sources of risks
Risk Breakdown Structure
Organization of sources of Risks to determine areas most exposed to the effects of uncertainty.
Risk Categorization
A risk response strategy whereby the project eam acts to increase the probability of the occurance or increase the impact of an opportunity.
Risk Enhancement
A risk response strategy whereby the team acknowledges that a risk is outside of its sphere of influence and shifts the ownership of a risk to a higher level.
Risk Escalation
A risk response strategy where the project team acts to ensure that an opportunity occurs.
Risk Exploitation
An aggregate measure of the potential impact of all risks at any given poitn in time in a project, program, or portfolio.
Risk Exposure
What is Risk Transference?
A risk response strategy whereby the project team shifts the impact of a threat to a third party, together with ownership of the response.
A iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned at a higher level.
Rolling Wave Planning
Approved version of schedule that can be changed using formal change control procedures. Is used as the basis for comparison to actual results.
Schedule Baseline
Schedule Compression is:
A technique used to shorten the schedule duration without reducing the project scope.
A technique to identify early and late start dates, as well as early and late finish dates, for the uncompleted portion of project activities.
Schedule Network Analysis
A risk that arises as a result from implementing a risk response.
Secondary Risk
A team with the absence of centralized control.
Self-Organizing Team
Sensativity Analysis is:
A technique to determine which individual project risks or other sources of uncertainy have the most potential impact on project outcomes.
Technique that models the combined effect of uncertainties to avaluate their potential impact on objectives.
Simulation
A set of attributes desired by the buyer whcih a seller is required to meet in order to be selected for a contract.
Source Selection Criteria
A technique of systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information to determine whos interest should be taken into account throughout the project.
Stakeholder Analysis
A matrix that compares current and disired stakeholder engagement levels
Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix
A logical relationship in which a sucessor activity cannot finish until a predecessor activitiy has started
Start-to-Finish
Relationship in which a seucessor activity cannot start until a predecessor activity has started
Start-to-Start
A narrative description of products, services, or results to be delivered by the project
Statement of Work
Choosing a part of a popultion of interest for inspection.
Statistical Sampling
Personal knowledge that can be difficult to articulate and share, such as beliefs, experience, and insights.
Tacit Knowledge
A document that records the team values, agreements, and operating guidlines by project team members
Team Charter
What is the Team Management Plan
A document that records the team values, agreements, and operating guidelins, as well as establishing clear expectations regardin gacceptable behavior by project team members.
A technique used to estimate cost or duration by applying an average or weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty with the indivudual activity estimates.
Three-Point Estimating
A special type of bar chart used in sensitivity analysis for comparing the relative imporance of the variables.
Tornado Diagram
The amount of time that a scheduel activity can be delayed or extended from its early start date without delayin gthe project finish or violating a constraint.
Total Float
A technique used to identify a list of ideas in a short period of time, and is conducted in a group environment, lead by a facilitator. It involves idea generation and analysis.
Brainstorming
What is Cultural awareness?
An understaning of the differences between individuals, groups, and organizations.
What is Political Awareness?
Concernts the recognition of power relationships, both formal and informal. Understanding of strategies of the organizaton, and who wields power in this area.
Chart that tracks the work that remains to be completed in the iteration backlog.
Iteration Burndown Chart
What is a logical data model?
Visual representation of an organizations data, used to identify where data integrity or other quality issues can arise.
What do matrix diagrams show?
The strength and relationship among different factors.
A measure of scope, schedule performance, and cost estimates.
Performance Measurement Baseline
What is a Prompt List?
A prompt list is predetermined list of risk categories that might give rise to individual project risks and that could also act as sources of overal project risk.
A graph that shows the relationship between two variables.
Scatter Diagrams
The method of categorizing stakeholders is what?
Stakeholder Mapping
A comparison of technical accomplishments during project execution to the schedule of technical achievement. Exampels are eight, transaction times, number of delivered defects, storage capacity, etc.
Technical Performance Analysis
Process of evaluating scenarios in order to predict their effect, positive or negative, on project objectives.
What-if Analysis
What are Management Reviews?
Milestones built into the project in which managers and stakeholders will get together and review project progress against what was planned, and identify any changes needed to the management plans.
