Pmi Test (Pmbok 3.0), Fall 2008

Front 1

Diff: Project vs. Program

Back 1

Project: Temporary, unique, and uses progressive elaboration
Program: Series of undertakings and can include multiple projects.
Ex: Space Program vs. Launch to Mars

Front 2

Def: Project management

Back 2

Application of knowledge, tools and techniques toproject activities to meet project requirements
Three constraints: Scope, Time, Cost
Quality = balance of three
Risk = positive or negative

Front 3

What are the areas of expertise?

Back 3

1. PMBOK
2. Application area knowledge, standards, regulations
3. Understanding of environment
4. General management knowledge and skills
5. Interpersonal skills

Front 4

Def: Project life cycle

Back 4

Phases that connect project: Work, deliverables, who's involved, how control and approval happens. Phases are sequential with handoff. Phases control project. Cost low at start, peaks in middle. Uncertainty/risk of failure and stakeholder influence highest at start.

Front 5

Def: Fast tracking

Back 5

Project phases overlap

Front 6

Def: The three life cycles

Back 6

1. Corporate/business
2. Product
3. Project

Front 7

Def: Stakeholders

Back 7

--can be people or organs
--positive or negative affected
--internal or external
--expectations must be managed

Front 8

Dif: Functional vs. Projectized vs. Matrix organization

Back 8

Functional: Aligned along functional lines: finance, etc.
Projectized: Controlled by PM
Matrix: Blend: strong to weak. Strong = Strong PM

Front 9

Def: Integration management

Back 9

Coordinating processes to:
--meet requirements and manage expectations of stakeholders
--make choices about resources

Needed where processes overlap and deliverables need to be integrated with ongoing operations

Front 10

Def: Configuration management

Back 10

Procedures to identify and document the characteristcs of a product, etc. to control any changes to it. Includes status accounting, certification accounting.
Note: Is not risk or issue management!

Front 11

Def: Scope planning and management

Back 11

Used to define the Project Scope Management Plan
Inputs: EEF, OPA, charter, preliminary scope, project management plan????

Front 12

Def: Project scope management plan

Back 12

--guides how scope will be defied, document, verified, managed and controlled throughout process

Front 13

Contents of Scope Statement

Back 13

1. Objectives
2. What's in and what's out
3. Deliverables
4. Constraints and assumptions
5. Statement of Work

Front 14

Enterprise Environmental Factors vs. Organizational Process Assets

Back 14

Stuctural influences inside and outside organization vs. how organization structures the work

Front 15

Diff: Statement Of Work vs. Work Breakdown Structure

Back 15

SOW: In scope statement, brief description of work and known factors at time
WBS: Breaks down work into packages that can be scheduled, estimated and controlled to improve accuracy of resource estimates, define a baselineto measure and control performance, facilitate assignments

Front 16

Def: Decomposition

Back 16

Technique used to create WBS in which deliverables are subdivided into smaller, more managable components.

Front 17

Def: Work package

Back 17

Deliverable at the lowest level of the WBS and the point where cost and time can be reliably estimated: One week, one person, one deliverable.

Front 18

Def: WBS Dictionary

Back 18

Contains desciption of the work packages and includes Code of Acct (#s) and breif description of who, what, etc.

Front 19

Def: Scope baseline

Back 19

Scope foundation against which res of project is measured and adjusted.

Front 20

Def: Responsibility of Assignment Matrix

Back 20

Cross references the work with teh personnel responsible in doing, reviewing and approving it.

Front 21

Def: Scope Verification vs. Quality Control

Back 21

Process of obtaining stakeholders' formal acceptance of project scope and deliverables vs. focusing on quality requirements

Front 22

Def: Variance Analysis

Back 22

How far off work is from the baseline

Front 23

Def: Activity definition

Back 23

Identifying and documenting the activities needed to produce the deliverables in the WBS. Uses decomposition to produce activity list, activity attributes

Front 24

Diff: WBS vs. work package vs. activity list

Back 24

WBS contains work packages and work packages result in activity lists

Front 25

Def: Rolling wave planning

Back 25

Type of progressive elaboration. The near term work is defined in greater detail, whereas the later work is not.

Front 26

Diff: Control account vs. work package vs. planning package

Back 26

Control is highest and planning package is lowest.

Front 27

Def: Finish-start, start-start, finish-finish, start-finish

Back 27

Second task can't start until first finished, second can't start until first has started, second can't finish until first has finished, second can't finish until first has started (rare)

Front 28

Diff: Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) vs. Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM)

Back 28

Technique to construct a project network diagram using nodes and connecting them with arrows (what MS Project built on) vs. older approach in which all relationships are finish to start and must use "dummy activities" to show dependencies.

Front 29

Def: Activity Resource Estimating

Back 29

Primarily concerned with identifying how many work periods the activity will take. (Work periods expressed as elapsed time.)

Front 30

Diff: Elapsed time vs. Effort

Back 30

Elaspsed time is a way of expressing work periods vs. amount of EFFORT it takes to complete an activity. If takes three days to do effort of one hour, then diagram includes 3 days.

Front 31

What are time estimates based on?

Back 31

1. Number of resources assigned
2. Capability of those resources
3. Risks identified in risk register
4. Types of activities
5. Organizational assets and environmental factors

Front 32

Def: Parametric estimating

Back 32

Using statistics and historical data to estimate project components

Front 33

Diff: Three point estimate vs. PERT estimate

Back 33

Simple average vs. weighted average.

Front 34

Def: Reserve analysis/contingency/buffers

Back 34

Cushions to cost. Not intended to cover changes to scope. Usually expressed as percentage. Two types:
1. Management reserve: Not included in baseline and allocated to upper management to cover unknown unknowns
2. Contingency reserves: included in baseline, often allocated by project manager to cover "known unknowns"

Front 35

Critical Path Method

Back 35

Three equivalent definitions:
1. The longest path through the network in terms of time.
2. The shortest time that the project can be completed.
3. The path with zero float/slack.

Front 36

Forward pass vs. backward pass

Back 36

Left to right calculation to determine early start early and finish dates and project duration.

Right to left pass to determine late start and late finish dates, float/slack, and critical path.

Front 37

Diff: crashing vs. fast tracking

Back 37

Crashing adds resources to the critical path to shorten the schedule and typically increases the cost.

Fast tracking aligns tasks concurrently, which may increase the cost.

Front 38

Monte Carlo vs. PERT vs. CPM

Back 38

Because Monte Carlo does random simulations and takes average, is more realistic and pessmistic than just PERT of CPM. Optimistic to Pessimistic/realistic: CPM, PERT, Three Point, Monte Carlo

Front 39

Deterministic vs. Probabilistic model

Back 39

Deterministic based on a single duration point for every activity (so CPM/PDM)

Probabilitic based on distribution of possible durations (so PERT, three point estimate, and Monte Carlo)

Front 40

Def: Resource Leveling

Back 40

Allowcating resources NOT on the critical path so that schedule is least affected. Usually results in schedule being extended and may shift the critical path. Done by: starting activities later or allowing activities to extend.

Front 41

Def: Heuristics

Back 41

i.e. "rules of thumb"
--Allocate resources that are scarce
--Level resources
--Reallocate resources
--Use more hours each week
--Increase productivity
--Allocate resources in reverse(?)

Front 42

Def: Cost estimating

Back 42

--includes identifying and considering various cost alternatives (including costs for acquisition, oeration, and disposal)
--expressed in currency
--Accuracy increases as the project progresses
--Includes labor, materials, equipment, services, facilities, contingency, etc.

Front 43

Cost management plan

Back 43

Include:
--precision level: nearest $100, etc.
--units of measure: hours, etc.
--Organizational procedures links: WBS component used for project cost accounting and called "control account"
--Control thresholds: alowable variances in cost through project life
--Earned values: criteria established for calculating EV
--Reporting formats
--Process descriptions

Front 44

Dif: Chart of accounts vs. control account

Back 44

Numbering system that controls costs by catagories like labor, etc. vs. WBS component used for cost accounting and is linked to accounting system

Front 45

Diff: Configuration management vs. change control

Back 45

Techniques for managing project. Change control part of this.

Front 46

Diff: Analogous estimating vs. parametric modeling

Back 46

Analogous/top down: using expert judgement and info from earlier projects

Parametric/bottom up using statistics and historical data.

Front 47

Diff: Order of magnitude for cost estimates, least accurate to most

Back 47

Preliminary, conceptual, feasibilty, definitive

Front 48

Def: Cost baseline
AKA "S-Curve"

Back 48

--Time-phased budget used to measure and monitor cost performance
--Developed by summing costs by period
--Large projects can have more than one expected cash flow, cost performance baseline/earned value baseline

Front 49

Def: Project cost control

Back 49

Influencing factors that create variances and controlling changes to the project budget.

Front 50

Def: Earned Value (EV)

Back 50

--"Value of work completed work expressed in terms of the approved budget assigned to that work for a scheduled activity of WBS component"
--AKA Budgeted Cost of Work Peformed (BCWP)
--Commonly used method to measure performance
--Integrates scope, cost and schedule measures to assess project performance
--Provides a snap shot of a project at any given time

Front 51

Def: Planned Value (PV)

Back 51

--"Authorized budget assigned to scheduled work"
--AKA "Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP)"
--Describes how far along project should be at any given point

Front 52

Def: Actual Cost (AC)

Back 52

--"Cost for actually accomplishing work on an activity during a given period for a scheduled activity"
--AKA "Actual Cost of Work Performed" (ACWP)
--Indicates level of resources needed to achieve actual work

Front 53

Def: Cost Performance Index (CPI)

Back 53

--How much has been acheived for every dollar spent
CPI=EV/AC (<1 = trouble)

Front 54

Def: Schedule Performance Index (SPI)

Back 54

--What percent of the plan has been acheived
--SPI=EV/PV (<1 = trouble)

Front 55

Def: Quality

Back 55

"Conformance to requirements of specifications." or "The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fullfill requirements."

Sum of performance (ie. Does product/service do what is should?), cost, and timeliness.

AKA "Triple constraint" of project management

Front 56

Def: Project Quality Management

Back 56

Includes:
--customer satisfaction
--prevention over inspection
--management responsibility
--continuous improvement

Front 57

Def: Quality Planning

Back 57

--Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.
--Critical part
--Must be planned into projects to prevent errors

Front 58

Def: Quality Policy

Back 58

--statement that contains the principals of quality upon which all team members base their decisions.
--Should be short enough to be remember, relevant, easy to understand, no be cliche, be tailored to project

Front 59

Diff: Benchmarking vs. Baseline

Back 59

For process improvement, comparing (carefully) to other similar projects vs. agreed-upon starting point for particular project

Front 60

Design of experiments

Back 60

--Often aplied to products of a project
--Useful in assessing impacts on cost and schedule
--Can be expensive and complicated, so must be used carefully

Front 61

Cost of Quality

Back 61

Cost of insuring that product/service meets requirements

Front 62

Cause and Effect/Fishbone/Ishikawa diagram vs. Systems/process flowcharts

Back 62

Identifies causes and problems by breaking down problems for analysis vs. identifying process components

Front 63

Parento diagram

Back 63

--Histogram
--Ordered by frequency of occurrence, showing results by type
--Helps to prioritize/target

Front 64

Delphi technique

Back 64

--Way to get opinions and ideas from experts. This is a technique that uses a facilitator who uses questionnaires to ask experts about important project risks.
--take those answers and circulate them - but each expert is kept anonymous so they can give honest feedback.

Front 65

Three major processes in HR management

Back 65

1. Identify the people
2. Obtain the people
3. Develop the people

Front 66

Three inputs into HR planning

Back 66

1. Organizational (Who)
2. Technical (what)
3. Interpersonal (how people relate)
PM must balance all three with limited authority

Front 67

Examples of enterprise environmental factors that are constraints to projects.

Back 67

1. Organizational structure
2. Collective bargaining agreements
3. Team preferences
4. Availability of staff

Front 68

RACI matrix

Back 68

A group responsible for a WBS element.

R= Responsibility
A= Accountable
C= Consult
I= Inform

Front 69

Matrix organization

Back 69

--Multiple managerial accountability
--Two or three chains of command: functional, project/product/client, geographic

Front 70

Three types of project management organizations

Back 70

Projectized, matrix, functionalized (strong to weak)

Front 71

McGregor's Theory of X and Y

Back 71

X= People are laxy, self-centered (watch x-rated movies)
Y= People seek opportunity for personal improvement and self-respect (ask "Why not be better?"

Front 72

Two types of motivational theories

Back 72

1. Content theories: explore link between intrinsic/"natural" facts and behaviors
2. Process theories: explore how personal factors interact and influence each other to produce behaviors

Front 73

Five sources of power

Back 73

1. Legitimate: formal position
2. Reward: reward
3. Coercive: fear
4. Expert: knowledge/skill
5. Referent: On authority of powerful person

Front 74

Five types of conflict management

Back 74

1. force
2. smooth
3. withdrawal
4. compromise
5. problem solve

Front 75

Formula to determine number of communications channels

Back 75

n(n-1)/2 where N is the number of people

Front 76

Performance reporting techniques

Back 76

--Info gathering
--Presentation packages
--Status review meetings
--Time reporting systems
--Cost reporting systems

Front 77

Qualitative risk anaylsis

Back 77

Performing a qualitative analysis of risks and contintions to prioritize their effects.

Front 78

Quantitative risk analysis

Back 78

Measuring the probability and consequences of risks and estimating their impacts.

Front 79

Risk response planning

Back 79

Developing approaches to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to the project's objectives.

Front 80

Risk monitoring and control

Back 80

Monitoring existing and new risks, executing risk reduction plans, evaluating their effectiveness.

Front 81

Project risk management

Back 81

Process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. Includes mazimizing the probability and consequences of positive events and minimizing the probability and consequences of adverse events.

Front 82

Six processes of risk management

Back 82

1. planning
2. identification
3. qualitative analysis
4. quantitative analysis
5. response planning
6. monitoring and control

Front 83

Risk breakdown structure

Back 83

An example of catorigizing risk to help manage it. Similar to a WBS.

Front 84

Inputs to risk management planning

Back 84

1. scope statement
2. organizational process assets
3. enterprise environmental factors
4. project management plan

Front 85

Influence diagram

Back 85

Shows casual influences, time reporting of events, and other relationships among variables

Front 86

Tools and techniques for qualitative risk analysis

Back 86

--risk probability and impact assessment
--probability and impact tools
--risk data quality assessment
--risk categorization
--risk urgency assessment

Front 87

Probability scale vs. impact scale

Back 87

Chance that risk will occur vs. impact risk will have on project

Front 88

Expected Monetary Value calculation

Back 88

Probability (as 0-100%) or risk occuring x value ($) of risk event

Front 89

Mean vs. median vs. mode

Back 89

Mean: Average
Median: Middle
Mode: Most likely/occurs most often.

Front 90

BETA distribution

Back 90

No data beyond third standards deviation in either direction (vs. standard distribution) An easier substitute for standard deviation.

Front 91

Sensitivity analysis

Back 91

Measures sensitivity of project obejctives to changes in one variable. Helps determine which risks may have the greatest impact.

Front 92

Variance vs. SD vs. range

Back 92

Mean of the squares of the vaiations from the mean in a distribution vs. square root of the variance vs. measure of the distribution equal to the differnce or interval between the smallest and largest

Front 93

Avoid vs. transfer vs. mitigate vs. exploit vs. share vs. enhance

Back 93

Avoid--changing plan
transfer--to third party via insurance or procurement
mitigate--reduce probability or conseqences
exploit--changing plan to take advantage of opporunity
share--shifting to third party
enhance--increasing probability of opportunity occuring.

Front 94

Contingent response planning

Back 94

responses are designed but not used until certain events occur.

Front 95

Active vs. passive risk acceptance

Back 95

Accept risk but build in reserves of money/time vs. do nothing and deal with it when and if it happens.

Front 96

R.I.S.K. approach

Back 96

R--recognize the risk
I--Investigate
S--Seek to deal with
K--keep track of it

Front 97

*Three types of cost reimbursable contracts

Back 97

1. Cost plus fee or cost plus %
2. Cost plus fixed fee
3. Cost plus incentive

Front 98

Fixed price contracts

Back 98

--generally, low risk to buyer, high risk to seller
--if product not well defined, then both at risk
--may also include incentive

Front 99

*Cost reimbursable contracts

Back 99

--Medium risk to seller and buyer
--may include direct costs (for exclusive benefit of contract) vs. indirect ("overhead")
--may include incentives
Risk to seller: indirected costs and profit margins
Risk to buyer: inflated fees and underestimation

Front 100

Time and materials contracts

Back 100

--Low risk to seller, high risk to buyer
--Hybrid between fixed price and cost-reimburseable because open-ended and unit rates preset (ex. $/hr)

Front 101

Def: Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Back 101

--A tool that relates the project's Organizational Structure to the Work Breakdown Structure.
--Ensures that each compenent of the Scope of Work is assign to a person or team.