Comp 5221 Study Guide

Front 1

Describe 3 key functions of a change control board

Back 1

1.Influence the factors that create changes to ensure they are beneficial
2.Determine that a change has occurred
3.Manage actual changes when and as they occur

Front 2

The critical chain method claims to provide great improvement over CPA. Explain 3 key advantage over CPA

Back 2

1. Staffs have a single priority
2. Buffers help to protect the due date.
3. Relying on buffers to absorb most of the normal, expected variability in the execution of tasks and projects.

Front 3

Develop Project Charter: Inputs

Back 3

1.Contract
2. Statement of Work –
3.Enterprise environment factors
4. Organizational process assets –

Front 4

Develop Project Charter: Process

Back 4

1.Select a project
2.Strategic alignment
3.Identify and apply a project management methodology

Front 5

Develop Project Charter: Initiation Process

Back 5

1. look at the big picture or strategic plan of an organization

2. Strategic planning involves determining long-term business objectives

3.IT projects should support strategic and financial business objectives

Front 6

Develop Project Charter: Project Selection Process

Back 6

1. Develop an IT strategic plan based on the organization’s overall strategic plan
2. Perform a business area analysis
3. Define potential projects
4. Select IT projects and assign resources

Front 7

Develop Preliminary Scope Statement: Inputs

Back 7

Define:
1.project objectives
2.products and services requirements
3.project boundaries assumptions
4.constraints
5.Project charter
6.Statement of work
7.Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets

Front 8

Develop Preliminary Scope Statement: Process

Back 8

1.Define your project management methodology that will support the team in developing the project scope.

2.Obtain input from project stakeholders.

Front 9

Develop Preliminary Scope Statement: Output

Back 9

Project scope defines the project deliverables and the work required to create those deliverables.

include:
1.project justification 2.product characteristics 3.summary of deliverables 4.project success criteria

Front 10

Develop Project Management Plan

Back 10

Take results of other planning processes (e.g., test plan, quality plan, risk management plan) and putting them into a consistent, coherent document—project plan

Front 11

Develop Project Management Plan: Inputs

Back 11

1.Preliminary project scope statement
2.Enterprise environmental factors
3.Organizational process assets

Front 12

Develop Project Management Plan: Process

Back 12

Document project management methodology, tools, and techniques that will be applied for this project.

Front 13

Develop Project Management Plan: Purpose

Back 13

It defines how the project will be executed, monitored, controlled, and closed

include:
1.processes
2.tools
3.techniques to be applied how work will be accomplished
4.changes controlled
5.key management reviews

Front 14

Direct and Manage Project Execution: Inputs

Back 14

Carry out the activities described in the project management plan.

Project management plan

Approved change request (this includes corrective actions, preventive actions, and repairs)

Front 15

Direct and Manage Project Execution:Process

Back 15

Manage project in accordance with PM plan

Collect project data on project performance.

Front 16

Direct and Manage Project Execution: Output

Back 16

Deliverables as defined by the project.

Implemented change requests.

Work performance information
consists:
of cost
schedule performance
quality of products
analysis of corrective action and repair requests

Front 17

Project Plan Execution

Back 17

managing and performing the work described in the project plan

The majority of time and money is usually spent on execution

Front 18

Direct and Manage Project Execution and Monitor/Control Project Work

Back 18

The team should continuously monitor project performance to assess the overall health of the project and identify areas of concern.

Front 19

Direct and Manage Project Execution
Monitor and Control Project Work
(Input, Process, Output)

Back 19

1.Inputs: Project management plan
2.Work performance information
3.Rejected change requests
Process
4.Evaluate work performance information to adjust project activities as necessary.
5.Output: Requested changes

Front 20

Integrated Change Control
(Input)

Back 20

1.Involves identifying, evaluating, and managing changes throughout the project lifecycle.
2.Project management plan
3.Requested changes
4.Work performance information
5.Deliverables

Front 21

Integrated Change Control: Process

Back 21

Identify the need for a change and review proposed changes.

Manage the change management process

Update project management documents and product deliverables as necessary

Front 22

Integrated Change Control: Output

Back 22

1.Approved and rejected change requests
2.Project management plan (updates)
3.Project scope statement (updates)
4.Deliverables

Front 23

Integrated Change Control: 3 main objectives of change control

Back 23

1.Influence the factors that create changes to ensure they are beneficial
2.Determine that a change has occurred
3.Manage actual changes when and as they occur

Front 24

Integrated Change Control: Close Project

Back 24

Finalize all activities and transfer the products and supporting project information to the appropriate people in the organization.

Inputs
Project management plan
Contract documentation
Enterprise environmental factors
Organizational process assets
Work performance information
Deliverables

Front 25

Describe the key processes of Scope Management:

Back 25

Refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them. It defines what is or is not to be done

Front 26

Scope Planning Process

Back 26

Create a project scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, verified, controlled, how WBS will be created and defined;

Scoping activities are determined by a project’s size, complexity, and importance.

Front 27

Scope Definition Process: Input

Back 27

Organizational process assets

Project charter

Preliminary project scope statement

Project scope management plan

Approved change requests.

Front 28

Scope Definition Process: Output

Back 28

Project Scope Statement

Requested Changes Requested changes are processed for review and disposition through the Integrated Change Control process.

Front 29

Create a WBS

Back 29

Decompose the approved work scope into work packages that can be assigned, estimated and managed.

WBS organizes and defines the total scope of the project. It represents the work stated in the project scope statement.

Front 30

Create a WBS: Output

Back 30

Project Scope Statement Updates

Work Breakdown Structure

Project Scope Management Plan Updates

Requested Changes Requested changes to the project scope statement and its components.

WBS Dictionary Describe the detailed content of the elements

Front 31

Scope Verification Process

Back 31

the process of formalizing acceptance of the project scope by the stakeholders.
(using inspections, product reviews, audits, walkthroughs).

Covers not only the final deliverables, but also interim deliverables and work results.

Scope verification differs from quality control in that it is primarily concerned with acceptance of the work results, while quality control is primarily concerned with the correctness of the work results.

Both processes are generally performed in parallel to ensure both acceptance and correctness.

Many IT projects suffer from scope creep and poor scope verification

Front 32

Scope Verification Process:
Output

Back 32

Accepted Deliverables The Scope Verification process documents those completed and accepted deliverables. Those completed and not accepted deliverables are documented, along with the reasons for no acceptance.

Requested Changes Requested changes may be generated from the S Verification process, and are processed for review and approval through the Integrated Change Control process.

Recommended Corrective Actions Corrective actions are recommendations required to bring expected future project performance into conformance with the project plan.

Front 33

Scope Control Process

Back 33

assures all requested changes and recommended corrective actions are processed through the project Integrated Change Control process.

Scope control is concerned with:
Influencing the factors, which create scope change to ensure that changes are beneficial

Managing the actual changes when and where they occur.
3 concerns:

Scope grope: the project team’s inability to define the project scope.
Scope creep: increasing featurism of the project

Scope leap: a fundamental and significant change in the project scope.

Front 34

Scope Control Process: output

Back 34

Project Scope Statement(Updates)
Work Breakdown Structure (Updates)
Requested Changes Recommended Corrective Actions

Project Scope Management Plan (Updates) If the approved change requests have an effect on the project scope, then the corresponding component documents and cost baseline, and schedule baselines of the project management plan, are revised and reissued

Front 35

Time Management: Activity definition
(Input)

Back 35

1.Enterprise environmental factors
2.Organizational process assets
3.Scope statement
4.WBS
5.WBS dictionary
6.Project management plan

Front 36

Time Management: Activity definition(Output)

Back 36

1.Activity list
2.Activity attributes
3.Milestone list (both mandatory and optional milestones)
4.Requested changes

Front 37

Time Management: Activity Sequencing

Back 37

Involves reviewing activities (or tasks) and determining dependencies (some activities are dependent on other activities being completed first.)

Front 38

Time Management: Activity Sequencing (4 types of dependencies:)

Back 38

(1)Mandatory Dependencies
(2)Discretionary Dependencies
(3)External Dependencies
(4)Resource Dependencies

Front 39

Describe the key processes of Time Management:
Activity Sequencing
Activity Resource Estimating

Back 39

Determine what resources (persons, equipment, or material) and what quantities of each resource will be used, and when each resource will be available to perform the project activities.

This process is closely coordinated with the Cost Estimating process.

Front 40

Time Management: Allow time for.

Back 40

1. Other high urgency tasks to be carried out which have priority over the current task.
2.Accidents and emergencies
3.Meetings
4.Holidays and sickness in essential staff
5.Break downs in equipment
6.Let downs from suppliers
7.Interruptions
8.Quality control rejections

Front 41

Describe the key processes of Cost Management: cost estimating, cost budgeting, and cost control.

Back 41

Project Cost Management Processes
Primarily concerned with the cost of the resources needed to complete the scheduled activities
1.Cost estimating: developing an estimate of the costs and resources needed to complete a project
2. Cost budgeting: allocating the overall cost estimate to individual work items to establish a baseline for measuring performance
3.Cost control: controlling changes to the project budget

Front 42

HR planning

Back 42

HR planning involves identifying, documenting, and assigning project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships, and creating the staffing management plan

Front 43

HR planning: Output

Back 43

1.Roles and responsibilities
2.Project organizational charts
3.Staffing management plan

Front 44

Human Resource Management:
Acquire Project Team

Back 44

Projects are temporary, which means that personnel and organizational relationships will be temporary, and often new.

getting the human resources needed assigned to the project.

Staffing plans and good hiring procedures are important in staff acquisition, as are incentives for recruiting and retention

Some HR administrative activities will probably not be the direct responsibilities of the project manager, but he should be familiar with.

Project management may or may not have control over team members selected for the project.

Front 45

Human Resource Management: Acquire Project Team
(output)

Back 45

Resource availability
Documents the time periods each project team member can work on the project.

Project staff assigned
Staff may be assigned full time, part time, or based on the needs of the project.

Updated staffing management plan

Front 46

Human Resource Management:
Develop Project Team

Back 46

involves developing
individual and group competencies and improving the interaction of team members to enhance project performance.

Objectives:
1.Improve skills of team members in order to increase their ability to complete project activities
2.Improve feelings of trust and cohesiveness among team members to raise productivity through greater teamwork.
It takes teamwork to successfully achieve project goals.

Front 47

Human Resource Management:
Manage Project Team

Back 47

1.Tracking team member performance
2.Providing feedback
3.Resolving issues
4.Coordinating changes to enhance project performance

Front 48

Human Resource Management: Manage Project Team
(Output)

Back 48

1.The staff management plan is updated
2.Change requests are submitted
3.Issues are resolved
4.Input is given to organizational performance appraisals
5.Lessons learned are added to the organization’s database

Front 49

Communication Planning

Back 49

Every project should include some type of communications management plan – a document that guides project communication.

Need to do communication requirement analysis: identify information needs of the project stakeholders.

Communications should contain the necessary information, but no more.

Don’t waste other’s time.

Front 50

Communication Management: Plan Contents

Back 50

A description of a collection and filing structure for gathering and storing various types of information.

A distribution structure describing what information goes to whom, when, and how

A format for communicating key project information(template)

A method for updating the communication management plans as the project progresses and develops.

Front 51

Developing a Communication Plan

Back 51

1.Determine project stakeholders.
2.Determine the communication needs for stakeholder
3.For each
stakeholder/objective.. how to fulfill the communication need.
4.Determine the effort required to create and distribute each of the identified communication 2. 5.Prioritize the communication options 6.implement any communication options that are mandatory for the project
7.Add the resulting communication activities to the work plan

Front 52

Developing a Communication Plan: 3 general types of information

Back 52

Mandatory:
Informational:
Marketing:

Front 53

Developing a Communication Plan: All stakeholders need an updated project status

Back 53

The Steering Committee may need to get together for an executive briefing and to provide strategic direction every other month.

The Project Sponsor may need a personal briefing on a monthly basis.

The entire customer organization may need a quarterly newsletter for informational and marketing purposes.

Front 54

Communication Management:
Information Distribution

Back 54

Getting the right information to the right people at the right time and in a useful format

Implement the communication management plan and responding to unexpected requests for information.

Important considerations include
1.Using technology to enhance information distribution
2.Using formal and informal methods for distributing information

Front 55

Communication Management:
Performance Reporting

Back 55

Performance reporting keeps stakeholders informed about how resources are being used.

Also provide information on scope, schedule, cost and quality.

Some projects also require information on risk and procurement

Front 56

Communication Management:
Performance Reporting

Back 56

1.Status report describes where the project stands at a specific point in time (It does not necessarily imply a written report. The status can be communicated via email, videoconference or other collaborative tools.)
2.Progress report describes what the project team has accomplished during a certain period of time
3.Project forecasting predicts future project status and progress based on past information and trends
4.Status review meetings include status reporting.

Front 57

Communication Management:
Manage Stakeholder

Back 57

Managing communications to satisfy the needs of, and resolve issues with, project stakeholders.

Actively managing stakeholders increases the chance of project success.

Front 58

Communication Management:
Manage Stakeholder
(Tools)

Back 58

1.Face-to-face meetings with stakeholder are the most effective.
2.Issue logs: used to document and monitor the resolution of issues. 3.Unresolved issues can be a major source of conflict and project delays.

Front 59

Do a stakeholder analysis

Back 59

For each stakeholder, find out
1.What is their interest (communication needs)?
2.How best to give them those information.

Front 60

Do a stakeholder analysis

Back 60

A stakeholder analysis documents important (often sensitive) information about stakeholders such as
3.Stakeholders’ names and organizations
4.Roles on the project
5.Unique facts about stakeholders
6.Level of influence and interest in the project
7.Suggestions for managing relationships

Front 61

Do a stakeholder analysis

Back 61

Use the results of analysis to manage the relationship with the stakeholders

Front 62

Know the common risk items of a project

Back 62

Schedule overruns, requirement creeps, quality problems, complexity, size, resources, development environment, staff lack of experience

Management commitment.

Project management expertise.

Resource capability and availability.

Cost variations (over/under).

Supplier relationships.

Inadequate planning for transition and implementation.

Inadequate training of staff in the new technology or system.

Front 63

Know the different risk mitigation strategies

Back 63

1.Contingency plans
2.Fallback plans
3.Contingency reserves or allowances
4.Workarounds

Front 64

Know the different risk mitigation strategies

Back 64

Contingency plans

Fallback plans

Contingency reserves or allowances

Workarounds

Front 65

Know the content of a risk management plan

Back 65

INTRODUCTION
PROGRAM SUMMARY
DEFINITIONS
RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY AND APPROACH
ORGANIZATION
RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND PROCEDURES
RISK PLANNING
RISK ASSESSMENT
RISK HANDLING
RISK MONITORING
RISK MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION AND REPORTS

Front 66

Know the skills required of a project manager

Back 66

need a wide variety of skills

They should be comfortable with change, understand the organizations they work in and with, and be able to lead teams to accomplish project goals.

Project managers need both “hard” and “soft” skills.
Communication skills:
Organizational skills:
Team Building skills:
Leadership skills:
Coping skills:
Technological skills:

Front 67

Describe the negotiation techniques

Back 67

Attacks
Personal insults
Good guy/bad guy
Deadline
Lying
Limited authority
Missing man
Fair and reasonable
Delay
Extreme demands
Withdrawal
A done deal

Front 68

Describe the negotiation techniques

Back 68

§ Attacks
§ Personal insults
§ Good guy/bad guy
§ Deadline
§ Lying
§ Limited authority
§ Missing man
§ Fair and reasonable
§ Delay
§ Extreme demands
§ Withdrawal
§ A done deal

Front 69

Understand the different types of contracts
(A contract)

Back 69

1.Fixed price
2.Cost reimbursable.
3.Time and material (T&M)

Front 70

Understand the different types of contracts
(Unit price contracts)

Back 70

1.Cost plus incentive fee (CPIF) buyer pays seller for allowable performance costs plus a predetermined fee and an incentive bonus. Example: Contract = cost plus a fee of $100,000. For every month the project is completed sooner than agreed upon, seller receives an additional $10000.
2.Cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) buyer pays seller for allowable performance costs plus a fixed fee payment. Example: Contract = cost plus a fee of $100,000.
3.Cost plus percentage of costs (CPPC) buyer pays seller for allowable performance costs plus a predetermined percentage based on total costs. Example: Contract = cost plus 10% of costs as fee.

Front 71

Understand the different types of contracts

Back 71

: require the buyer to pay the seller a predetermined amount per unit of service (e.g., contract = $2000 per month of maintenance services)
1.Cost plus incentive fee (CPIF)
2.Cost plus fixed fee (CPFF)
3.Cost plus percentage of costs (CPPC)

Front 72

Managing conflict

Back 72

Approaches, in Preference Order
1.Problem-solving:
2.Compromise:
3.Withdrawal:
4.Smoothing:
5.Forcing:

Front 73

Running effective meetings

Back 73

Determine if a meeting can be avoided.

Define the purpose and intended outcome of the meeting.

Determine who should attend the meeting.

Send out an agenda to participants before the meeting. Prepare handouts, visual aids, and make logistical arrangements ahead of time.

There should be a meeting facilitator. Make sure the participants are prepared for the meeting.

The meeting should start on time.

Follow the agenda, and watch the time, to make sure everything gets covered.

Someone (e.g., facilitator) should document any action items during the meeting.

Toward the end of the meeting, recap all outstanding action items, including who is

Responsible, what is expected, and when the action item is due.

Recap any decisions that were made, and document them in an email (or a project communication file).

Front 74

Using e-mail effectively

Back 74

Make sure that e-mail is an appropriate medium for what we want to communicate

Be sure to send the e-mail to the right people

Use meaningful subjects/titles

Limit the content to 1 main subject, and be clear and concise

Limit the number and size of attachments

Don’t open email if we question the source

Make sure our virus software is up to date

Respond to and file e-mails quickly

Front 75

Using templates

Back 75

Providing examples and templates for project communications saves time and money.

Organizations can develop their own templates, use some provided by outside organizations, or use samples from textbooks.

Research shows that companies that excel in project management make effective use of templates.

Front 76

Know how to deal with conflict: Conflict can be minimized using the following techniques:

Back 76

Informing the team of:
1.Exactly where the project is headed
2.Project goals and objectives
3.All key decisions
4.Changes

Clearly assigning tasks without ambiguity or overlapping responsibilities

Making work assignments interesting and challenging

Front 77

Conflict: Resolving Conflict

Back 77

Best resolved by those involved in the conflict.
The PM should generally try to resolve problems and conflict as long as he or she has authority over those in conflict or the issues in conflict.

Front 78

Describe the change control board

Back 78

A formal group of people responsible for approving or rejecting changes on a project

1.provide guidelines for preparing change requests,
2.evaluate change requests, and
3.manage the implementation of approved changes

includes stakeholders from the entire organization (Dev., QA, Marketing, Mgmt., Customer support)


Watch for bureaucracy

Front 79

Describe MOV

Measurable Organizational Value (MOV)

Back 79

1.Be measurable
2.Provide value to the organization
3.Be agreed upon
4.Be verifiable

An organization should not undertake projects that are not clearly linked to its overall mission!

We should align the MOV with the organizational strategy and goals.

Front 80

Know the advantages and disadvantages of critical chain method

Back 80

Project managers avoid unnecessary changes in priority by relying on buffers to absorb most of the normal, expected variability in the execution of tasks and projects.

Staff have a single priority -- the current task to which they are assigned. Without the distraction of pressures to multitask or to meet false priorities of task due dates, they can concentrate on the task at hand.

CC shifts focus from assuring the achievement of task estimates and intermediate milestones to assuring the only date that matters -- the final promised due date.

Buffers help to protect the due date.

They provide a clear indication of the health of the project.

Front 81

Understand the estimation principles

Back 81

(1) Estimating is an uncertain process
(2) Estimation as an Iterative Process
(3) Don’t give a specific estimate
(4) Use more than one method to derive the base estimates
(5) Ask for justification
(6) Select estimation experts with experience from similar projects

Front 82

Know the definition of quality

Back 82

1.Quality is Factual
2.Quality is Perceived

Customer is our final, most critical and most effective assessor
“If the customer is not happy, nobody is happy’
1. Conformance to requirements (stated needs)
2. Fitness for use (implied needs)


Quality is…Doing the Right Thing, Right, First Time, Every Time, Everybod

Front 83

Understand ISO9001 and CMMI

Back 83

Developed by the British Computer Society (BCS) in 1991.
Method of registering software development systems under ISO 9000.

Over 1400 certificates issued by 2003, half of new certificates are outside of the UK
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration)

Integrate the many CMM models, eliminate inconsistencies and reduce duplication

Reduce the cost of implementing model-based process improvement

Assure consistency with ISO15504 (SPICE)

Focus on System Engineering, not Software Engineering

CMMI supports both staged and continuous model representation

Front 84

Know the content of a quality management plan

Back 84

1. Quality management plan
2. Quality metrics
3. Quality Checklists
4. Process improvement plan
5. Quality Baseline

Front 85

Describe benchmarking

Back 85

“The practice of being humble enough to admit that someone else is better at something – and being wise enough to learn how to match and even surpass them at it.”

Comparing actual or planned project practices to those of other projects

to generate ideas for improvement

to provide a standard by which to measure performance.

Front 86

7 Basic Tools of quality:

Back 86

1.Cause and effect graph
2.Control chart
3.Flowchart
4.Histogram
5.Pareto chart
6.Run chart
7.Scatter diagram

Front 87

Pareto rule

Back 87

Called 80-20 rule, => 80% of problems are often due to 20% of the causes

Histograms, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that help identify and prioritize problem areas.

20% of the modules consume 80% of the resources

20% of the modules contribute 80% of the errors

20% of the errors consume 80% of repair costs

20% of the enhancements consume 80% of the adaptive maintenance costs

20% of the modules consume 80% of execution time

20% of the tools experience 80% of the tool usage

20% of the tools are used by 80% of the users

Front 88

Know the different types of power
What is power?

Back 88

The ability to influence others to do

What you want them to do

When you want them to do it

And in the manner you require

Front 89

Know the different types of power

Back 89

1.Penalty (coercive)
2.Legitimate (formal or authority)

3.Expert
4.Reward
5.Referent
6.Assignment
7.Budget
8.Promotion
9.Money
10.Work challenge
11.Friendship

Front 90

Schedule Variance%
(SV%)

Back 90

SV= Earned value– Planned Value:

Front 91

Cost Variance %
(CV%)

Back 91

CV$ = earned value – Actual Cost

Front 92

Critical Path Analysis
(CPA)

Back 92

Process of obtaining a critical path.

helps us to calcculate the minimum lenght of time in which the project can be completed and which activites should be prioritised.

Front 93

Estimate at Completions
(EAC)

Back 93

EAC = actual cost to date + estimated cost of work remaining

Front 94

how much work SHOULD be done

Back 94

PV Planned Value

Front 95

how much work IS done?

Back 95

EV Earned Value

Front 96

how much did the COMPLETED work cost?

Back 96

AC Actual Cost of Work Performed

Front 97

What was the total Job SUPPOSED cost?

Back 97

BAC Budget at Completion

Front 98

What do we NOW EXPECT the total job to cost

Back 98

EAC Estimate at Completion