PMP Test Prep Flashcards
Used to study for PMP certification test
Two Major Categories of Factors
Enterprise Environmental Factors (EEFs) conditions not under the project teams controls.
Operational Process Assets (OPAs) organizational specific factors
Organizational structures that directly impact a PMs role and authority
- Projected - Designated full time PM role, Pm authority high to almost total, resource availability high to almost total, work groups managed by project, PM manages budget, admin staff full time.
- Functional (centralized) - PM part time, PM authority little to none, resource availability little to none, work groups arranged by job, Functional mgr manages budget, pm admin staff part time.
- Matrix (strong) - PM full time designated role, PM authority moderate to high, resource availability moderate to high, work groups arranged by job function, PM manages project budget, PM admin staff part time.
- Hybrid - all levels mixed.
- Matrix (balanced) - PM full time, low to moderate authority, low to moderate resources, PM admin staff part time.
PM core competencies
- Technical project mgmt - project tailoring
- Leadership
- Strategic and business mgmt - negotiating
6 leadership styles
- Laissez faire - PM hands off, allows team to make decisions, available for advice.
- Transactional - focus on facts and results. Drives in a logical and analytical approach with emphasis mgmt by exception and data to make decisions.
- Servent - places others first, focus on relationships and development. Proponents of lean methodologies.
- Transformational - inspiring and empowering. Focus on encouragement to innovate and experiment.
- Charismatic - hard to miss, exhibit high levels of energy, appear confident, hold strong convictions.
- Interactional - jacks of all trades. Combine aspects of all leadership styles.
3 most common lifecycle management approaches
- predictive - traditional waterfall, total scope, time, cost defined at the project start, future changes require significant analysis and managed carefully.
- agile (adaptive) - scope defined early, flexible approach, functionality is progressively delivered in short cycles, projects initiated with clear end vision in mind, each cycle small set of features 2-4 weeks long.
- Iterative - defines scope early and uses an iterative approach to define schedule and cost. Budget and schedule can be modified as project progresses as a better understanding of the deliverables is obtained.
Logical relationships between activities
- finish to start (most common) - successor activity cannot start until predecessor activity has finished
- finish to finish - successor activity cannot finish until predecessor activity has finished
- start to start - successor activity cannot start until predecessor activity has started
- start to finish - successor activity cannot finish until predecessor activity has started
4 attributes that describe the nature of dependencies between attributes.
- mandatory dependencies - required by the nature of the work or contractual
- discretionary dependencies - preferred, usually based on best practices
- External dependencies - project activities outside the control of the project team
- Internal dependencies - relationships between project activities that are within the teams control
Leads/Lags
- Leads - amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to the predecessor.
- Lags - amount of time a successor activity can be delayed with respect to a predecessor
4 estimating techniques commonly used to translate project activity info into duration estimates to build the project schedule
- Analogous - less costly, less time consuming, less accurate. used when limited data for a current project is available. Uses specific parameters from previous comparable projects.
- Parametric - uses statistical or numerical relationships to calculate activity duration’s. Algorithms can be derived from historical data or industry standards.
- Bottom up - aggregates estimates from the lower work package level and rolled up to each component of the wbs. Most costly, most time consuming and most accurate.
- 3 point - uses mathematical equation (triangular distribution) to incorporate risk and uncertainty into the estimate.
Triangular CE(Co+Cm+Cp)/3 Beta CE(Co+4Cm+Cp)/6
2 types of data analysis (planning)
- alternative analysis - used to determine the optimal approach to accomplish specific work. Involves evaluating resource allocation, levels, schedule compression techniques and make or buy decisions.
- Reserve analysis - used to calculate the amount of contingency and mgmt reserves allocated to account for potential risks in activities.
2 types of reserves (planning)
- Contingency - addresses unknowns or additional project work not know at the start of the project. Is allocated as part of the projects budget.
- Management - addresses unforeseen work beyond contingency. Not part of projects budget
3 most common project schedule models
- Bar charts - sequence and duration horizontally - ghant chart
- Milestone chart - same as bar but only shows milestones
- Project schedule network diagram - most detailed and shows both bar and milestone charts as well as all project activities and critical path.
Types of project float
- Zero Float - critical path
- Free float - amount of time an individual activity can be delayed w/o affecting the early start date of a successor activity.
- Total float - amount of time an activity can be delayed from its early start w/o delaying the project finish date.
Float is calculated by subtracting early start from early finish and late start from late finish.
Positive float = ahead of schedule activity can be delayed w/o impacting finish date.
Negative float = behind schedule activity must start before predecessor completes
Forward pass
used to calculate the early start and finish of each activity
Backward pass
used to calculate the amount of freedom a path or activity has before it effects critical path
Resource Optimization
- Resource leveling - balance activities against a finite supply of resources. Used when resources are over allocated or have limited availability. Could impact critical path.
- Resource smoothing - used to adjust scheduled activities to not exceed resource limits. No change to critical path
What if scenarios
involves evaluating diverse scenarios to understand the potential impact on project objectives.
Simulation analysis
- Monte Carlo simulation - integrates risk data available into a simulation model to calculate the range of potential schedule impact. Most commonly used, s curve. visually depicts the probably of achieving any outcome.
Crashing
reduces time of an individual activity by adding resources
Fast tracking
reduces project time by transferring activities done in sequence to be completed in parallel.
Portfolio Management
adviser to an organization on the importance of establishing key positions responsible for ensuring the projects and programs are reviewed to prioritize and allocate shared resources.
Program management
responsible for managing and coordinating related projects.
Communication is confirmed
to have happened when encoded messages are sent and received and feedback was sent and received.
Cost management plan
- Units of measure - clearly define units that prevents confusion.
- Level of precision - how costs will be rounded up or down
- Level of accuracy - range range by which cost must be specified
- Organization procedure links - how cost will be linked to tasks in the wbs.
- Control thresholds - agreed upon amounts that trigger an action
- Rules of performance measurements - methods by which performance will be monitored.
- Reporting formats - frequency and format.
Major outputs of estimate costs
cost estimates and basis of estimates
Probable costs
costs related to the completion of the project work defined in the project schedule
Contingency amounts - resources
resources allocated to be applied when addressing identified risks
Management reserves - resources
resources set aside to be used when funding unplanned work
Cost of quality
used to evaluate and plan for the projected costs of conformance versus non conformance.
Cost conformance
involves all preventative costs to build a quality product and any appraisal costs to assess the quality of a product
Cost non conformance
includes the cost related to rework and scrap and all external costs incurred from liabilities, warranty payments and lost business
Budget output
is determined by cost baseline and project funding requirements
Basis of estimates
provides context to how the estimates were calculated and any assumptions were made
Cost aggregation
formation of cost baseline is built
Funding limit reconciliation
limitations in the amount of funding available over time and may require adjustments in the project schedule
Data representation techniques
used to document and communicate team members roles and responsibilities
- Hierarchical chart - traditional visual top down, used for wbs and team structure
- Assignment matrix - aligns resources to each work package
- Text oriented format - details descriptions of resource requirements
Organizational theory
informs the best method to manage and develop a team, explains how teams behave, and recommends approaches to best manage them.
Alternative analysis
most commonly used to evaluate the impact of using various techniques, for team skill levels, full time/pt time, contract/employee, etc
Communication models
- basic sender/receiver - between two parties but doesn’t ensure message is understood
- Encoding - message is put into text or audio ready for transmission
- transmitting - delivery process and decoding occurs when the message is translated by the receiver into a usable form
Interactive communication model
- acknowledge - receiver confirms they received the message
- Feedback - receiver encodes their thoughts on the message, receiver transmits their thoughts back to the sender
- noise - anything compromising the understanding of the message
2 levels of risk
- Individual risk - uncertain event or condition
2. Overall risk - total resulting effect of all risks on a project
Important sources of risk identification
- agreements
- contracts
- procurement documents
Qualitative risk analysis
evaluates risk on the risk register based on the perception of the probably of occurrence and impact. Focuses on items with the highest perceived risk by defining each risks probability and impact and ranking risks based on their relative priority
Risk probability and impact assessment
considers the likelihood that a specific risk will occur
Risk data quality assessment
helps evaluate the degree by which risk data can be relied upon
Probability impact matrix
tool used to map each risk by tow factors (probability and impact)
Hierarchical charts - risk
used when risks are categorized by more than 2 parameters
Quantitative risk analysis
uses numerical data to define the combined effort of individual project risks. Defines the projects total risk exposure and recommended responses to individual risks. (mostly used on large projects)
Risk simulation models
determine the combined effects of individual project risks to evaluate their potential impact on achieving project objectives
Sensitivity analysis (risk)
determines which individual risk has the greatest impact by correlating variations in project outcomes to individual risk. Most common is tornado diagram