PMP Exam Note 9

# The work authorization system is a part of your company’s Enterprise Environmental Factors. It defines how work is assigned to people to ensure that the work
is done at the right time and in a proper sequence.

# Confronting (Collaborate, Problem Solve) means figuring out the cause of the problem and fixing it.

# Some questions on the exam might ask you about how to operate in another country. In this case, the question is about whether or not something is a bribe. Clearly, if it is a bribe, you can’t pay it. But is it? If a payment to a government official (or anyone else) is customary, then it’s not a bribe. You should go ahead and pay the police—as long as it is acceptable and legal in that country.

# The project scope management plan may be important in your project. It tells you exactly how you’ll create the project scope, define the WBS, validate that the work has been done, and make changes to the scope. But it doesn’t tell you about specific assumptions that you and the team have made, or constraints on your project. You find those in the scope baseline (which contains the scope statement), in the requirements documentation and in the charter.

# Validated Changes aren’t an input—they’re the output. The most important part of the  Control Quality process is that your team has to inspect each deliverable in order to verify that it meets its requirements. What do you need to do that? First you need the deliverables. And Quality Checklists are really useful too, because they help you inspect each deliverable. You need Work Performance Data, because that tells you how well the team is doing the job.

# Analyzing and improving processes is part of quality assurance.

# Quality  control measurements are an input to quality assurance.

# Managing stakeholder  engagement  means  working  and  communicating  with   stakeholder  to  meet  their  expectations.  The  change  log  (output  from  Perform  IntegratedChange Control)

# Archiving  the  project  documents  is  a  must  and  has  to  be  done. 

# There are two categories of project selection methods:
Benefit Measurement Methods: Benefit Measurement is a project selection technique based on the present value of estimated cash outflow and inflow. Cost benefits are calculated and then compared to other projects to make a decision. The techniques that are used in Benefit Measurement are as follows: Benefit/Cost Ratio, Economic Model, Scoring Model, Payback Period, Net Present Value, Discounted Cash Flow, Internal Rate Of Return, Opportunity Cost.

Constrained Optimization Methods : Also known as the Mathematical Model of Project Selection, are used for larger projects that require complex and comprehensive mathematical calculations. The following is the list of techniques used in the Mathematical Model of project selection: Linear Programming, Non-linear Programming, Integer Programming, Dynamic Programming

Basic thumb rule is: For small projects the Benefit Measurement Model is useful, whereas if it’s a large, complex project, the Constrained Optimization Method is a better fit.

# Root  cause  analysis  is  included  in  process  analysis. 

# Rank  ordering  and  focus  on  the  most  critical  issues  is  the  benefit  of  a  pareto   chart. 

# Constructive  change  =  buyer  and  seller  cannot  reach  an  agreement  on  compensation for change or cannot agree that a particular change has occured.

# Measuring  customer  satisfaction  is  part  of  the  closing  activities   according  to  best  practices  and  to  the  PMI  Role  Delineation  Study.

PMP Exam Note 8

# Simulation - Is performed by Monte Carlo Analysis
# Sensitivity Analysis - A quantitative risk analysis and modeling technique, determine which risks have the most potential impact on the project. Typical display is by Tornado diagram
# Workaround - A response to a threat that has occurred, for each a prior response had not been planned or was not effective
# Indirect cost should be included in Activity level or higher levels
# Organizations with a higher maturity level (e.g. Level 4:  all processes are managed quantitatively) set up an organization level baseline called process capability baselines. PCB or Process Capability Baseline specifies what results are to be expected when a process is followed. Using PCB a project can predict at the total level, effort required at various stages, cost and schedule performance, overall quality, or productivity. In this case, the project manager is right to set the target values of his project metrics based on the organization’s baseline value.
# Risk Audit - TT of Risk Control
# Quality Audit - TT of Perform Quality Assurance
# Procuremnt Audit - TT of Close Procurements
# SWOT Analysis - TT of Identify Risk
# Stakeholder Analysis - TT of Identify Stakeholders
# Information Gathering Techniques - TT of Identify Risk
- Examples of information gathering techniques used in identifying risks can include: Brainstorming, Delphi Technique, Interviewing, Root cause analysis
# Salience Model - Classification of model used for stakeholders analysis -> describing classes of stakeholders based on their power (ability to impose their will), urgency (need for immediate attention), and legitimacy (their involvement is appropriate) [Based on 3 Attributes].

Manage Closely: Definitive
Keep Satisfied: Dominant, Dangerous
Keep Informed: Dependent
Monitor: Dormant, Discretionary, Demanding

# A milestone is a zero duration activity and these charts are commonly used to present project status to senior management or a customer.

#  Qualitative risk analysis - prioritizes risks with the probility and impact matrix
Risk identification - SWOT analysis and root cause identification
quantitative risk analysis - Simulation

# Pareto charts works on the Pareto principal which states 80  of the problems usually stem from 20  of the causes.

# The project manager is doing procurement performance reviews as part of the process 'Control Procurements'. It is a structured review of the seller's progress to deliver project scope and quality, within cost and on schedule, as compared to the contract.

# A sequential relationship - The step by step nature of the approach reduces uncertainty but may eliminate options or reducing the schedule.

# Project scope statement captures all of the details related to the project scope including product acceptance criteria, scope description, project deliverables, constraints, assumptions, etc.

# Outputs of the Direct and Manage Project Work process: Deliverables and work performance data

# If the project is terminated, the project manager should do scope validation to determine the extent of completion of the project.

# The critical chain method is a schedule network analysis technique that modifies the project schedule to account for limited resources.

# Quality metrics is an input to perform quality assurance.

# Integrated change control starts with impact analysis of requested changes.

PMP Exam Note 7

# The S Curve is used in project management as a means of representing the various expenditures of resources over the projected time of the project or as a means of charting the real time expenditure of resources. This is important to project management in that it can be used to monitor the project as it progresses and compare it to the projected S Curve to determine whether the project is being completed within the time and budget limitations. The shape of the curve indicates the maximum cost and staffing levels are during the execution phase of the project.

# A project network diagram captures the project schedule and would be the best document to reflect the impact of a delay on a vendor deliverable. The work breakdown structure shows what work is in the project, but doesn't focus on how long it should take. The risk register would show an increase in project risk, but wouldn't help to determine the impact of a delay on the project schedule.

# The key difference is an “issue” already has occurred and a “risk” is a potential issue that may or may not happen and can impact the project positively or negatively. We plan in advance and work out mitigation plans for high-impact risks. For all issues at hand, we need to act immediately to resolve them.

# Quality Audits are a tool & technique of the Perform Quality Assurance process.

# There is only one method listed using discounted cash flow: Net Present Value (NPV)

# Improving the project team’s effectiveness is an objective of the Develop Project Team process.

# The schedule management plan establishes how the schedule management will be carried out in the project. It serves as guidance for the scheduling process and defines the roles and responsibilities for stakeholders, along with scheduling methodologies, schedule change control procedures, etc.

# Projects: Individual projects that are either within or outside of a program are still considered part of a portfolio.

# Operations are ongoing endeavors that produce repetitive outputs, with resources assigned to do basically the same set of tasks according to the standards institutionalized in a product life cycle. Unlike the ongoing nature of operations, projects are temporary endeavors.

# Organizational Process Assets may include but not limited to all the documents, templates, policies, procedures, plans, guidelines, lesson learned, historical data and information, earned value, estimating, risk etc.

# Enterprise environmental factors refer to conditions, not under the control of the project team, that influence, constrain, or direct project.

# Predictive Life cycles - Predictive life cycles (also known as fully plan-driven) are ones in which the project scope, and the time and cost required to deliver that scope, are determined as early in the project life cycle as practically possible

# Iterative and Incremental Life cycles - Iterative and incremental life cycles are ones in which project phases (also called iterations) intentionally repeat one or more project activities as the project team’s understanding of the product increases

# Adaptive Life Cycles - Adaptive life cycles (also known as change-driven or agile methods) are intended to respond to high levels of change and ongoing stakeholder involvement.

# Project Information:
- Work performance data - The raw observations and measurements identified during activities performed to carry out the project work. Examples include reported percent of work physically completed, quality and technical performance measures, start and finish dates of schedule activities, number of change requests, number of defects, actual costs, actual durations, etc.
- Work performance information - The performance data collected from various controlling processes, analyzed in context and integrated based on relationships across areas. Examples of performance information are status of deliverables, implementation status for change requests, and forecasted estimates to complete.
- Work performance reports - The physical or electronic representation of work performance information compiled in project documents, intended to generate decisions or raise issues, actions, or awareness. Examples include status reports, memos, justifications, information notes, electronic dashboards, recommendations, and updates.

PMP Exam Note 6

- Smoothing/Accommodate may have the problem resurface later. In Compromise the problem will not resurface since there was at least some solution for the issue.
- In smoothing, PM focus on areas of agreement to smooth members but never reaches any solution. So, it's NO-SOLUTION technique. But in compromising, PM reaches solution but is LOSE-LOSE situation for both parties.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs five-stage model includes:
1. Biological and physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.
3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, trust, and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).
4. Esteem needs - which Maslow classified into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige). Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity.
5. Self-actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A desire “to become everything one is capable of becoming”

As per Rita's, the 7 sources of conflict are (in this order):

1. Schedules
2. Project priorities
3. Resources
4. Technical opinions
5. Administrative procedures
6. Cost
7. Personality

In the PMBOK however, on Pg 282 "Sources of conflict include scarce resources, scheduling priorities, and personal work styles."

# Agressor - Criticizes everything and everybody on PM
# Dominator - Professes to know everything about project management.
# Devil's Advocate - Finds fault in all areas of PM

PMP Question [Acquire Project Team, Develop Project Team, Manage Project Team]

1.# If a person desires to excel in his tasks - as per Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - what type of a need is the person exhibiting ?
1) Love or Belonging
2) Physiological
3) Self-actualization
4) Safety
Ans: 3

2.# The enterprise environmental factors that influence the Acquire Project Team process includes all of the following except?
1) Existing information on human resources including availability, competency levels, prior experience, interest in working on the
project and their cost rate;
2) HR recruitment procedure
3) Personnel administration policies such as those that affect outsourcing;
4) Colocation or multiple locations
Ans: 2

3.# In the executing phase of Linda"s project, she loses some key resources. Some new people have joined, and she (the project
manager) set up a meeting to get the team together. What should be the most important agenda item for this meeting?
1) Discussing team building activities
2) Inviting the team members to share their past project experiences
3) Planning risk responses for existing risks
4) Reviewing WBS and responsibilities of all team members
Ans: 4
"The most important agenda item for the meeting should be reviewing of WBS to ensure that responsibilities are assigned.

4.# Charles Angel is managing a critical project. In the Executing phase of a project, she should ideally be:
1) Directing
2) Coaching
3) Authoritarian
4) Supportive
Ans: 2

5.# Tanura is the manager of a project for a company that is known to make heavy use of extrinsic motivators in order to boost morale
and team performance. What does that mean? The motivators used…
1) …are tailored to the needs of individual team members.
2) …are derived from within individual team members.
3) …are incentives such as rewards, gifts, or money.
4) …include the improvement of hygiene factors of the
Ans: 3

6.# A supplier has withdrawn from your project. A new supplier has been added. His labor forces are due to arrive at the job site
tomorrow. You should:
1) Bring out the communication management plan
2) Bring your team in for introductions and establish a communications exchange
3) Meet with the supplier along with his team and establish yourself as the authority in charge.
4) Bring out the project plan.
Ans: 3

7.# Which of the following are not common barriers to project team building?
1) Differing outlooks, priorities, and interests
2) Excessive team member commitment
3) Role conflicts
4) Unclear project objectives/outcomes
Ans: 2

8.# Which theory believes that workers need to be involved with the management process?
A) McGregor's Theory of X and Y
B) Ouch's Theory Z
C) Herzberg's Theory of Motivation
D) Expectancy Theory
Answer: b

9.# _______________ states that as long as workers are rewarded they will remain productive.
A) McGregor’s Theory of X and Y
B) Ouchi’s Theory Z
C) Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation
D) Expectancy Theory
Answer: d

10.# Management has approached Tyler, one of your project team members. Tyler is a database administrator and developer, whose work is always on time, accurate, and of quality. He also has a reputation of being a good guy and is well liked. Because of this, management has decided to move Tyler into the role of a project manager for a new database administration project. This is an example of which of the following?
A) Management by exception
B) The halo effect
C) Management by objectives
D) McGregor? s Theory of X and Y
Answer: b

11.# 4- Which of the following is an example of theory X?
a) Self-led project teams.
b) Micromanagement.
c) Team members able t work on their own accord.
d) EVM.
Answer: B

12.# Emma is working in a company. In her project, she is in the process of determining the project roles, responsibilities and reporting relationships for her team members. Which of the following is not used for this process? [Hints: HR Plan]
1) Activity resource requirements
2) Enterprise environmental factors
3) Team performance assessments
4) Organizational process assets
Ans: 3

13.# Xinmin is a top level Manager in Yokotashi Ltd - a leading brand of goods. He has been given a high priority task that needs to be completed within a short time frame. Since he knows what has to be done, he assign tasks to different team members and tell them when and how the tasks should be completed. The management style that he is following is:
1) Laissez Faire
2) Directing
3) Delegating
4) Task-oriented
Ans: 2

14.# The process of getting a group of diverse individuals to work effectively together as a team is the definition of
1) Leadership
2) Team building
3) The project manager's responsibilities
4) Project management
Ans: 2

15.# Effective decision making. This involves the ability to negotiate and influence the organization and the project management team. Some guidelines for decision making includes all of the following except?
1) Focus on goals to be served,
2) Ability to be persuasive and clearly articulate points and positions;
3) Follow a decision-making process,
4) Analyze available information,
Ans: 2

16.# You are managing an industrial design project for an important client. Two of your team members have a disagreement on project priorities. One person wants to do certain activities first, while the other feels they should be left until the end of the project. You work with both people to forge a compromise where those activities are neither first nor last, but instead done in the middle of the project. Nobody is particularly unhappy with this solution. Another name for a compromise is a:
1) Win-win solution
2) Win-lose solution
3) Lose-lose solution
4) Standoff solution

Ans: 3

17.# You are the project manager for your organization and are currently determining which resource is the best fit for each of the project activities. Thus, you are completing which one of the following?
1) The fulfilment of staff acquisitions
2) Project role assignment
3) The development of the project team
4) Project human resource management
Ans: 4
Project human resource management is the process of successfully applying the right resource to the project work in the most effective way in order to accomplish the project goals while maintaining cost and schedule. PMBOK 5th Edition Page 160

18.# As a project manager, you advocate active participation of your team members; this is because you believe in:
1) Theory Y (McGregor Model)
2) Theory X (McGregor Model)
3) Maslow`s hierarchy of needs
4) Referent Power
Ans: 1

19.# Mr. John is the CEO of the globally famous company Starware Inc. In his company, the project manager shares responsibility with the functional manager to assign priorities and directs the team members of the project. In this case, it is NOT the responsibility of the project manager to:
1) Plan resources
2) Manage cost and budget
3) Define tasks
4) Carry out performance appraisal of project team
Ans: 4

20.# Once ground rules are established and communicated to the project team, the responsibility of enforcing these rules lies with the:
1) Project manager
2) Project team members
3) Project management team
4) Project sponsor and project manager
Ans: 2

21.# Bonita is been recently recruited as a Manager in RV Ltd. Frequent heated discussions with her colleague over an issue are creating a hostile environment. To ease this situation, she agreed with her colleague`s point of view. The conflict resolution mode that she
is using is:
1) Collaborate or Problem Solve
2) Force or Direct
3) Withdraw or Avoid
4) Smooth or Accommodate
Ans: 3

22.# You have a large complex project to deliver and you are evaluating different motivational strategies to motivate your team to get the job done. You subscribe to the belief that to get things done and to motivate staff - they must be rewarded with monetary rewards.You believe that by rewarding employees they would get motivated - which of the following motivational theories are you applying ?
1) Herzberg Hygiene Theory
2) Maslows theory of Hierarchy of needs
3) Expectancy theory
4) Theory of coercion
Ans: 3

23. As a project manager, when should you especially consider cultural differences?
1) When you develop acceptance criteria for work results to be achieved by the team members.
2) When you assign a human resources to do the work in a schedule activity.
3) When you decide upon recognition and awards during team development.
4) When you break down scope to create a work breakdown structure (WBS).
Ans: 3

24. Project performance appraisals is an input of which process?
1) Manage Project Team
2) Acquire Project Team
3) Develop Project Team
4) None of the above
Ans: 4
PMBOK 5th Edition Page 257. Is a tool of Manage Project Team.

25. As a project manager, you are in the process of creating a list of all the project team members, their roles, and communication information. This information should reside in:
1) Project plan
2) Project team directory
3) Performance reports
4) Responsibility assignment matrix
Ans: 2
Project team directory is a documented list of project team members, their project roles, and communication information. PMBOK® Guide - Fifth
Edition, page 556

26. You have been hired by a contractor, who wants you to manage a construction project for one of their clients. The project team has been working for two months, and is 35% done with the job. Two of your team members come to you with a conflict about how to handle the ongoing maintenance for a piece of equipment. You know that they can safely ignore the problem for a while, and you’re concerned that if your project falls behind schedule before next week’s stakeholder meeting, it will cause problems in the future. You tell the two team members that the problem really isn’t as bad as they think it is, and if they take a few days to cool off about it you’ll help them with a solution. This approach to conflict resolution is known as:
1) Withdrawal
2) Compromise
3) Smoothing
4) Forcing
Ans: 3
Smoothing is minimizing the problem, and it can help cool people off while you figure out how to solve it. But it’s only a temporary fix, and does not
really address the root cause of the conflict.

27. In the last project status meeting, a team member criticized some of his teammates and undermined the status of work done by them. The role that was played by the person was that of:
1) Aggressor
2) Conflict Maximizer
3) Devil`s Advocate
4) Recognition Seeker
Ans: 1

28. During a phase, the team begins to address the project work, technical decisions, and the project management approach.. What is the name of this phase?
1) Norming
2) Adjourning
3) Forming
4) Storming
Ans: 4

29. Harrison has recently taken over as project manager. In his initial meeting, he first noticed that there is too much conflict among the project team members, which harms productivity and working relationships. In this context, which of the following would not be a technique he would use to reduce conflict in his team?
1) Establish team ground rules
2) Establish group norms
3) Better manage the communication channels
4) Minimize differences of opinion among team members
Ans: 4

30. Project staff assignments is an input of which process?
1) Manage Project team
2) Develop Project Team
3) Acquire project team
4) None of the above.
Ans: 1
PMBOK 5th Edition Page 279

31. As a project manager you decide to create an issue log which captures issue description, owner, and the target date for issue closure. All of the following are common examples of issues in the project EXCEPT?
1) Differences in Opinion
2) Probable delay in the next delivery
3) Pending Root cause Analysis
4) Delay in receiving feedback from the customer

Answer: (B) - Probable delay in the next delivery represents a project risk and is not an issue  as the event is uncertain. This may or may not happen in future.
Reference: Risk Management,  11, p. 310 

PMP Exam Note 5

HALO EFFECT:
The halo effect is something to be aware of when dealing with team members. There can be a tendency to rate the team members high or low on all factors due to the impression of a high or a low rating on some other specific factor.

Difference between checksheet and quality checklist:
- Although a checksheet is a type of checklist, its primary purpose is to gather data.
- The quality checklist is intended to help verify a required action has taken place or item has been included.

Powers of Project Manager:
Formal (legitimate): This power is based on the position of the project manager
Reward: This power stems from giving rewards
Penalty (Coercive): This power comes from the ability to penalize team members
Expert: This power comes from being the technical expert or even the project management expert
Referent: Referent is the power of charisma and fame. This power comes from another person liking the project manager, respecting him, or wanting to be like him.

Edward Deming:
Created the “Total Quality Management” (TQM) concept Key points:
- Be proactive, not reactive (in ensuring quality)
- Utilize leadership and accountability
- Measure and strive for constant improvement
- Continuous Improvement
- Testing early on, to identify problems early-on

Philip Crosby:
Created “Zero Defects” concept (Do it right the first time to avoid re-work and extra cost in the long run)

McGregor’s Theory X and Y:
X - old school, top-down specific direction, labor does not want to work.
Y - newer, management provides big picture and direction, labor wants to work and enjoys it

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
• Self Actualization
• Esteem
• Belonging
• Safety
• Physiological

Herzberg Motivational Theory:
He says two main areas for workplace success:
(1) Hygiene (safe environment, steady pay, stable job) - These factors do not improve motivation
(2) Motivating Agents (non-financial in nature -- opportunity to improve, education, responsibility) - Help in motivation

Expectancy Theory:
People "in expectation of positive results" are motivated.

PMP Question [Perform Quality Assurance]

Your company’s quality assurance department has performed a quality audit on your project. They have found that your team has implemented something inefficiently, and that could lead to defects. What’s the NEXT thing that should happen on your project?
1) You work with the quality department to implement a change to the way your team does their work
2) You document recommended corrective actions and submit them to the change control board
3) You add the results of the audit to the lessons learned
4) You meet with the manager of the quality assurance department to figure out the root cause of the problem
2
Quality Audits are when your company reviews your project to see if you are following its processes. The point is to figure out if there are ways to
help you be more effective by finding the stuff you are doing on your project that is inefficient or that


You are a project manager and your team is preparing for the internal quality audit cycle. However, you feel that the team is a little apprehensive about the audit process. You decide to give them an overview of the process. Which of the following would be INCORRECT about quality audits?
1) Quality Audits are used to identify all the best practices implemented in the project
2) Quality audits help to share best practices in one project with other projects in the organization
3) Quality Audits aims to asses project team effectiveness and suggest improvements
4) Quality Audits helps to improve process implementation and team productivity
1

The objectives of a quality audit may include all of them except?
1) Identify all good and best practices being implemented;
2) Identify all conformity, gaps, and shortcomings;
3) Share good practices introduced or implemented in similar projects in the organization and/or industry;
4) Proactively offer assistance in a positive manner to improve implementation of processes to help the team raise productivity;
2

After quality planning, you have created a component-specific tool to verify that the required steps have been performed to test your product. This can also be referred to as:
1) Checklist
2) Operational definition
3) Quality management plan
4) Design of experiments (DOE)
1
A checklist is a structured tool, usually component-specific, used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed. PMBOK® Guide - Fifth Edition, page 242

The team is in the process of performing quality activities and quality audits to determine which processes should be utilized to meet the project quality requirements. Which process is the team performing?
1) Plan Quality
2) Control Quality
3) Validate Scope
4) Perform Quality Assurance
4

You are working as a project manager in an automobile company. Recently the government has amended the regulations to enforce stricter emission requirements for automobiles. As a project manager, you are concerned that your project quality norms may not satisfy the revised quality standards. So, you do an audit and try to remedy this problem through:
1) Quality control
2) Quality planning
3) Quality assurance
4) Modifications to quality management plan
3

Isabelle is a project manager on an industrial design project. She has found a pattern of defects occurring in all of her projects over the past few years and he thinks there might be a problem in the process his company is using that is causing it. She uses Ishikawa diagrams to come up with the root cause for this trend over projects so that she can make recommendations for process changes to avoid this problem in the future. What process is he doing?
1) Plan Quality Management
2) Perform Quality Assurance
3) Control Quality
4) Qualitative Risk Analysis
2
Isabelle is doing root-cause analysis on process problems, that’s Quality Assurance. Remember, Quality control is when you are trying to find problems in your work products through inspection. Quality Assurance is when you are looking at the way your proc

All of the statements about the Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) or Activity-on-Arrow (AOA) are true EXCEPT
1) The nodes are used to represent activity and arrows show activity dependency
2) Uses only Finish to Start relationship between activities
3) May use dummy activities
4) It's a popular method of drawing network diagram
1
The nodes are used to represent activity and arrows show activity dependency. In the arrow diagramming method (ADM), the arrows are used to represent activities. The nodes represent activity dependency. PMBOK 5th Edition Page 246

PMP Executing Process Groups. Part - 2

Perform Quality Assurance:

Perform Quality Assurance is the process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.

Input: 1. Quality management plan 2. Process improvement plan 3. Quality metrics 4. Quality control measurements 5. Project documents
TT: 1. Quality management and control tools 2. Quality audits 3. Process analysis
Output: 1. Change requests 2. Project management plan updates 3. Project documents updates 4. Organizational process assets updates

Perform Quality Assurance is an execution process that uses data created during Plan Quality Management and Control Quality processes.

The Perform Quality Assurance process uses the tools and techniques of the Plan Quality Management and Control Quality processes. Other tools that are available include:

Affinity diagrams:
Similar to mind-mapping techniques; generate ideas that can be linked to form organized patterns of thought about a problem.

Process decision program charts (PDPC):
To understand a goal in relation to the steps for getting to the goal. The PDPC is useful as a method for contingency planning because it aids teams in anticipating intermediate steps that could derail achievement of the goal.

Interrelationship digraphs:
An adaptation of relationship diagrams. The interrelationship digraphs provide a process for creative problem solving in moderately complex scenarios that possess intertwined logical relationships for up to 50 relevant items. The interrelationship digraph may be developed from data generated in other tools such as the affinity diagram, the tree diagram, or the fishbone diagram.

Tree Diagrams:
Also known as systematic diagrams. WBS, RBS (risk breakdown structure), and OBS (organizational breakdown structure). In project management, tree diagrams are useful in visualizing the parent-to-child relationships in any decomposition hierarchy that uses a systematic set of rules that define a nesting relationship. Tree diagrams can be depicted horizontally (such as a risk breakdown structure) or vertically (such as a team hierarchy or OBS). Because tree diagrams permit the creation of nested branches that terminate into a single decision point, they are useful as decision trees for establishing an expected value for a limited number of dependent relationships that have been diagramed systematically.

Prioritization matrices:
Criteria are prioritized and weighted before being applied to all available alternatives to obtain a mathematical score that ranks the options.

Activity network diagrams:
Previously known as arrow diagrams. They include both the AOA (Activity on Arrow) and, most commonly used, AON (Activity on Node) formats of a network diagram. Activity network diagrams are used with project scheduling methodologies such as program evaluation and review technique (PERT), critical path method (CPM), and precedence diagramming method (PDM).

Matrix diagrams:
Perform data analysis within the organizational structure created in the matrix. The matrix diagram seeks to show the strength of relationships between factors, causes, and objectives that exist between the rows and columns that form the matrix.

A quality audit is a structured, independent process to determine if project activities comply with organizational and project policies, processes, and procedures.

Process analysis follows the steps outlined in the process improvement plan to identify needed improvements.Process analysis includes root cause analysis—a specific technique used to
identify a problem, discover the underlying causes that lead to it, and develop preventive actions.


Manage Communication:

Input: 1. Communications management plan 2. Work performance reports 3. Enterprise environmental factors 4. Organizational process assets
TT: 1. Communication technology 2. Communication models 3. Communication methods 4. Information management systems 5. Performance reporting
Output: 1. Project communications 2. Project management plan updates 3. Project documents updates 4. Organizational process assets updates

PMB - The performance measurement baseline Typically integrates scope, schedule, and cost parameters of a project, but may also include technical and quality parameters.

The transmission of message may be compromised by various factors (e.g., distance, unfamiliar technology, inadequate infrastructure, cultural difference, and lack of background information). These factors are collectively termed as noise.

Basic communication model: Encode --> Transmit Message --> Decode --> Acknowledge --> Feedback/Response

Communication Methods:
Interactive - meetings, phone calls, instant messaging, video conferencing, etc.
Push - This ensures that the information is distributed but does not ensure that it actually reached or was understood by the intended audience. Push communications include letters, memos, reports, emails, faxes, voice mails, blogs, press releases, etc.
Pull - Used for very large volumes of information, or for very large audiences, and requires the recipients to access the communication content at their own discretion. These methods
include intranet sites, e-learning, lessons learned databases, knowledge repositories, etc.


Manage Stakeholder Engagement:

Input: 1. Stakeholder management plan 2. Communications management plan 3. Change log 4. Organizational process assets
TT: 1. Communication methods 2. Interpersonal Skills 3. Management Skills
Output: 1. Issue log 2. Change Requests 3. Project management plan updates 4. Project documents updates 5. Organizational process assets update

- The ability of stakeholders to influence the project is typically highest during the initial stages and gets progressively lower as the project progresses.

The project manager applies interpersonal skills to manage stakeholders’ expectations. For example:
- Building trust,
- Resolving conflict,
- Active listening, and
- Overcoming resistance to change.

The project manager applies management skills to coordinate and harmonize the group toward accomplishing the project objectives. For example:
- Facilitate consensus toward project objectives,
- Influence people to support the project,
- Negotiate agreements to satisfy the project needs, and
- Modify organizational behavior to accept the project outcomes.


Conduct Procurement:

Input: 1. Procurement management plan 2. Procurement documents 3. Source selection criteria 4. Seller proposals 5. Project documents 6. Make-or-buy decisions 7. Procurement statement
of work 8. Organizational process assets
TT: 1. Bidder conference 2. Proposal evaluation techniques 3. Independent estimates 4. Expert judgment 5. Advertising 6. Analytical techniques 7. Procurement negotiations
Output: 1. Selected sellers 2. Agreements 3. Resource calendars 4. Change requests 5. Project management plan updates 6. Project documents updates

Source selection criteria can include information on the supplier’s required capabilities, capacity, delivery dates, product cost, life-cycle cost, technical expertise, and the approach to the contract.

The statement of work is a critical component of the procurement process and can be modified as needed through this process until a final agreement is in place.

Responses to bidder conference questions can be incorporated into the procurement documents as amendments.

Depending upon the application area, an agreement can also be called an understanding, a contract, a subcontract, or a purchase order

A contract is a legal relationship subject to remedy in the courts.

Component of  Agreement: Termination clause and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms. The ADR method can be decided in advance as a part of the procurement award.

PMP Executing Process Groups - Part 1

Direct and Manage Project Work:

Inputs:  1. Project management plan  2. Approved change requests  3. Enterprise environmental factors  4. Organizational process assets
TT: 1. Expert Judgement 2. Meetings 3. PMIS
Outputs: 1. Change Request 2. Deliverables 3. Work Performance Data 4. PM Plan Update 5. Project documents update

Corrective action — An intentional activity that realigns the performance of the project work with the project management plan;
Preventive action — An intentional activity that ensures the future performance of the project work is aligned with the project management plan;
Defect repair — An intentional activity to modify a nonconforming product or product component.

Expert Judgement is provided by the project manager and the project management team using specialized knowledge or training.
Additional expertise is available from many sources, including: Other units within the organization; Consultants and other subject matter experts (internal and external); Stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, or sponsors; and Professional and technical associations.

Meetings tend to be one of three types:
- Information exchange;
- Brainstorming, option evaluation, or design;
- Decision making.

The project management information system (PMIS) - Part of the environmental factors


Acquire Project Team:

Input: 1. Human resource management plan 2. Enterprise environmental factors 3. Organizational process assets
TT: 1. Pre-assignment 2. Negotiation 3. Acquisition 4. Virtual teams 5. Multi-criteria decision analysis
Output: 1. Project staff assignments 2. Resource calendars 3. Project management plan updates

By use of a multi-criteria decision analysis tool, criteria are developed and used to rate or score potential team members.  Some examples of selection criteria that can be used to score team members are shown as follows: Availability, Cost, Experience, Ability,  Knowledge, Skills, Attitude, International factors.

Develop Project Team:

- Process of improving competencies, team member interaction, and overall team environment to enhance project performance.

Input: 1. Human resource management plan 2. Project staff assignments 3. Resource calendars
TT: 1. Interpersonal skills 2. Training 3. Team-building activities 4. Ground rules 5. Colocation 6. Recognition and rewards 7. Personnel assessment tools
Output: 1. Team performance assessment 2. EEF updates

- Interpersonal skills, sometimes known as “soft skills,” are behavioral competencies
- Training includes all activities designed to enhance the competencies of the project team members
- Team-building strategies are particularly valuable when team members operate from remote locations without the benefit of face-to-face contact
- While team building is essential during the initial stages of a project, it is a never-ending process

Develop team models: Tuckman ladder - includes five stages of development that teams may go through. (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning)

Colocation: Referred to as “tight matrix,” involves placing many or all of the most active project team members in the same physical location to enhance their ability to perform as a team. While colocation is considered a good strategy, the use of virtual teams can bring benefits such as the use of more skilled resources, reduced costs, less travel, and relocation expenses and the proximity of team members to suppliers, customers, or other key stakeholders.

Most project team members are motivated by an opportunity to grow, accomplish, and apply their professional skills to meet new challenges

Personnel Assessment Tools: Various tools are available such as attitudinal surveys, specific assessments, structured interviews, ability tests, and focus groups.

As project team development efforts such as training, team building, and colocation are implemented, the project management team makes formal or informal assessments of the project team’s effectiveness

Manage Project Team:

- The process of tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and managing team changes to optimize project performance.

Input: 1. Human resource management plan 2. Project staff assignments 3. Team performance assessments 4. Issue log 5. Work performance reports 6. Organizational process   assets
TT: 1. Observation & conversation 2. Project performance appraisals 3. Conflict management 4. Interpersonal skills
Output: 1. Change Requests 2. Project management plan updates 3. Project documents updates 4. Enterprise environmental factors updates 5. Organizational process assets updates [Hint: Like common control output]

Issue Log: Issues arise in the course of managing the project team. An issue log can be used to document and monitor who is responsible for resolving specific issues by a target date.

Observation and conversation are used to stay in touch with the work and attitudes of project team members.

Project Performance Appraisals: Objectives for conducting performance appraisals during the course of a project can include clarification of roles and responsibilities, constructive feedback to team members, discovery of unknown or unresolved issues, development of individual training plans, and the establishment of specific goals for future time period.

Conflict should be addressed early and usually in private, using a direct, collaborative approach

There are five general techniques for resolving conflict:
Withdraw/Avoid, Smooth/Accommodate, Compromise/Reconcile, Force/Direct, Collaborate/Problem Solve

Examples of interpersonal skills that a project manager uses most often include:
Leadership, Influencing, Effective decision making

Key influencing skills include:
 ○ Ability to be persuasive and clearly articulate points and positions;
 ○ High levels of active and effective listening skills;
 ○ Awareness of, and consideration for, the various perspectives in any situation; and
 ○ Gathering relevant and critical information to address important issues and reach agreements while maintaining mutual trust

Some guidelines for decision making include:
 ○ Focus on goals to be served,
 ○ Follow a decision-making process,
 ○ Study the environmental factors,
 ○ Analyze available information,
 ○ Develop personal qualities of the team members,
 ○ Stimulate team creativity, and
 ○ Manage risk.

Staffing changes may include moving people to different assignments, outsourcing some of the work, and replacing team members who leave

PMP Exam Note 4

Total Float:
Late Start date – Early Start date; Late Finish date – Early Finish date
Free Float:
ES of next Activity – EF of current Activity - 1

There is disagreement whether the first day of the project should be “1” or “0”.
In fact, both these conventions are correct. You are free to choose what you prefer. I choose to start my project from day “1”.

For details: https://pmstudycircle.com/2013/03/total-float-versus-free-float/

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a non-proprietary approach to Quality Management. This is an analytical procedure:
Each potential failure mode in every component of a product is analyzed to determine its effect on the reliability of that component and, by itself or in combination with other possible failure modes, on the reliability of the product.

Appraisal/Inspection Costs

Appraisal costs, which are also called inspection costs, are those costs which are incurred to identify defective products before they are shipped to customers. However, performing appraisal activities does not prevent defects from occurring. Most managers now realize that maintaining a team of inspectors is not an effective approach to quality control. A better approach is asking employees to be responsible for their own quality control, along with creating designs for how to manufacture a defect-free product. This approach allows quality to be built into the product, rather than relying on inspections to identify any defects.

If the project work is performed at the budgeted rate, the Estimation at Completion can be determined using the formula (EAC) = AC + (BAC – EV)

Important Site for Final week review:
http://howtoprepareforpmpexam.blogspot.in/

PMP Exam Note 3

PMBOK identifies a subset of project management body of knowledge that is generally recognized as good practice
PMO - An organizational structure that standardizes the project related governance processed and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.
Project management process groups are not project phases
Quality function deployment (QFD) - A facilitated workshop technique that helps to determine critical characteristics for new product development.
Regression Analysis - An analytic technique, a series of input variables are examined in relation to their corresponding output results in order to develop a mathematical or statistical relationship
Regulation - Requirements imposed by governmental body.
RFI, RFQ, RFP - A type of procurement document

Residual Risk - A risk that remains after risk responses have been implemented
Resource Leveling - A technique in which start and finish dates are adjusted based on resource constraints with the goal of balancing demand of resources with the available supply
Resource Smoothing - Adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirement of resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limits
RAM (Responsibility Assignment Matrix) - A grid that shows the project resources assigned to each work package
Risk - Has a +ve or -ve effect on one or more project objectives
Risk Acceptance - Acknowledge the risk and not taking any action unless the risk occurs
Risk can either be an opportunity or a threat
You must find the risk attitude of your stakeholders. Risk attitude can be broadly divided into three categories:
- Risk appetite - The degree of uncertainty an entity is willing to take on in anticipation of a reward. Some organizations might be willing to take a high risk if the reward is high; others may want to play safe or go conservatively.
- Risk tolerance - It shows the risk attitude of stakeholders or an organization in measurable units.High tolerance means people are willing to take a high risk, and low tolerance means people are not willing to take many risks.
- Risk threshold - The risk threshold is a further step in the risk tolerance; you can say that it quantifies the risk tolerance with a more precise figure. An amount of risk that an organization or individual is willing to accept.Below the risk threshold, the organization will accept the risk, and above the risk threshold, the organization will not tolerate the risk.
Scatter Diagram -
Secondary Risk - A risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a risk response.
Work Package - Lowest level of WBS for which cost and duration can be estimated and managed.
Weighted milestone method - EVM, work package --> measurable segments each ending with a observable milestone --> assigns a weighted value to the achievement of each milestone
Voice of the customer - A planning technique
Verification - Often an internal process
Velocity - A measure of team's productivity rate, A capacity planning approach frequently used to forecast future project work.
VAC (Variance at Completion) = Difference between BAC and EAC
Value Engineering -
Validation - Meets the need of customer
Validate scope - The process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables
Sensitivity analysis - comparing the relative importance of variables. For example, if you need to visually compare 100 budgetary items, and identify the largest ten items, it would be nearly impossible to do using a standard bar graph. However, in a tornado chart of the budget items, the top ten bars would represent the top ten largest items.
Tornado diagram - a special type of Bar chart, where the data categories are listed vertically instead of the standard horizontal presentation, and the categories are ordered so that the largest bar appears at the top of the chart, the second largest appears second from the top, and so on.
TCPI (To complete performance index) - Ratio of the cost to finish the outstanding work to the remaining budget

PMP Exam Note 2

Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) - a non-proprietary approach to Quality Management. This is an analytical procedure:  Each potential failure mode in every component of a product is analyzed to determine its effect on the reliability of that component and, by itself or in combination with other possible failure modes, on the reliability of the product.
Fast tracking - activities of phases perform in parallel
Fixed formula method - An EVM, % budget value - at the start of milestone work, remaining % budget - when the work is complete
Funding limit reconciliation - identify any variances between the funding limits and planned expenditures
Hammock Activity -
Hard logic - 
Histogram - A special form of bar chart used to describe the central tendency, dispersion, and shape of a statistical distribution
Imposed date - A fixed date. For example: "start no earlier than" and "Finish no later than"
Incremental life cycle - Scope determined early, time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project's team understanding of the product increases, increments successively add to the functionality of the product
Influence diagram - Shows causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes
Interrelationship Diagraphs - A quality management planning tool, provide a process for creative problem-solving in moderately complex scenarios that possess intertwined logical relationships
Lead, Lag -
Level of efforts - An activity that doesn't produce definitive end product and measured by the passage of time. One of the three EVM types of activities used to measure work performance.
Logical Relationship - A dependency between two activities, or between an activity and a milestone.
Mandatory Dependency - A relationship that is contractually required or inherent in the nature of work.
Master Schedule - A summary level project schedule
Near-Critical Activity - A schedule activity that has low total float
Network Logic - The collection of schedule activity dependencies that makes up a project schedule network diagram
Pareto diagram - A histogram, ordered by frequency of occurrence, that shows how many results were generated by each identified cause
Phase Gate - A review at the end of a phase
Planning Package - A work breakdown structure component below the control account with known work content but without detailed schedule activities
Predictive Life Cycle - Project scope, and the time and cost required to deliver that scope, are determined as early in the life cycle as possible.
Prioritization Matrices - A quality mgt. planning tool.
Probability and Impact Matrix - A grid for mapping the probability of each risk occurrence and its impact on project objectives if that risk occurs.
Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC) - To understand a goal in relation to the steps for getting to the goal.

PMP Exam Note 1

• Acquisition implies a cost of resources, and is not necessarily financial.
• Activity attributes include activity codes, predecessor activities, successor activities, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, imposed dates, constraints, and assumptions.
• Adaptive life cycle - Agile, iterations are rapid in nature (2-4 weeks) and are fixed in time and resources
• Additional quality planning tool - Force field analysis, brainstorming, nominal group discussion
• Attribute sampling - method of measuring quality
• Backward pass - For calculating late start and late finish date from the project end date
• Bar Chart - A graphic display of Schedule related information. Also known as Gantt  chart
• Bidder conference - prior to the preparation of bid, proposal. Also known as contractor conference, vendor conference, pre-bid conference
• Code of accounts - A numbering system to uniquely identify each component of WBS
• Colocation - An organizational placement strategy where the project team members are physically located close to one another
• Configuration Management System - Subsystem of overall project management system.
• Conformance work - Work is done to compensate for imperfections
• Context diagram - A visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system and how people and other systems/actors interact with it
• Control Account - A mgt. control point where scope, budget, actual cost, and schedule are integrated and compared to earned value for performance measurement
• Control limits / specification limit - ?
• Data date - A point in time when the status of the project is recorded.
• Decision tree analysis - ?

PMP 5th Edition [Tools and Technique] - Part 1