Give the two definitions of a project.
1) A group of related activities carried out to achieve a specific objective. 2) A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.
What kinds of projects count as IT projects?
Hardware projects, software projects, or a mix of them.
List the six project attributes.
Unique purpose; temporary; developed using progressive elaboration; requires resources (often from various areas); has a primary customer or sponsor; involves uncertainty.
What is progressive elaboration?
Projects are often defined broadly when they begin; as time passes, the specific details of the project become clearer.
What does it mean that a project is temporary?
It has a definite beginning and end.
What does the project sponsor usually provide?
The direction and funding for the project.
Why does every project involve uncertainty?
Because every project is unique, it is sometimes difficult to define its objective clearly, estimate how long it will take, or determine how much it will cost.
What do a project's resources include?
People, hardware, software, and other assets — often from various areas.
What are the three factors of the iron triangle?
Scope, time and cost.
What happens if one factor of the iron triangle increases or decreases?
It affects the other two factors.
The deadline is brought forward. What are the two options?
Reduce the scope, or employ more staff to work in parallel — which would increase costs.
Scope strays outside the area of compromise. What can happen?
Cost or delivery time increases and the project could not be achieved; the costs could exceed the value of the benefits (Cost > Benefit).
In terms of the iron triangle, what does successful project management mean?
Meeting all three goals (scope, time and cost) and satisfying the project's sponsor.
Define project management.
The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.
Who is the project manager?
Someone responsible for controlling the work according to plans.
Who are the project stakeholders?
The people involved in or affected by project activities — including the sponsor, customers, project team, suppliers, users, support staff, and opponents of the project.
Which stakeholders are internal?
Employees, manager, and owners. (External: suppliers, society, government, creditors, shareholders, customers.)
How many project management knowledge areas are there? Name them.
Ten: scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder, and integration management.
Which knowledge area is “an overarching function that affects and is affected by all of the other knowledge areas”?
Project integration management.
What does project procurement management involve?
Acquiring or procuring goods and services for a project from outside the performing organization.
What does project communications management involve?
Generating, collecting, disseminating, and storing project information.
What does project quality management ensure?
That the project will satisfy the stated or implied needs for which it was undertaken.
Which knowledge areas have super tools, and what are they?
Integration: project management software, change requests, lesson-learned reports. Scope: scope statements, work breakdown structures, requirements analyses. Time: Gantt charts. Communications: kick-off meetings, progress reports.
Crashing and fast tracking are listed under which knowledge area?
Time management (with project network diagrams and critical path analysis).
What are the three ways of describing project success?
It met scope, time and cost goals; it satisfied the customer/sponsor; its results met the main objective (e.g. making or saving money, a good return on investment, making the sponsors happy).
What is a program?
A group of projects that are similar or related to one another, often managed and coordinated as a group instead of independently.
What is a portfolio?
A group of different programs and/or projects within the same organization, which may be related or unrelated to one another.
Strategic vs tactical: which does project portfolio management address, and which does project management address?
Portfolio management → strategic (long-term) goals. Project management → tactical (more specific, short-term) goals.
An IT department's projects form two programs. Name them and one project from each.
Infrastructure (e.g. more wireless Internet access, upgrading hardware/software, computer security, corporate IT standards) and applications development (e.g. updating an ERP system, buying an off-the-shelf billing system, new CRM capability).
Activity 1.1: at which points should the manager be involved, and why?
In decisions at (iii) layout, (iv) move sequence and (v) removal company, because money is involved; checkpoints just before (vii) packing and after (x) connecting telephones.
What does the project life cycle define?
What work will be performed in each phase; what deliverables will be produced and when; who is involved in each phase; how management controls and approves work produced in each phase.
What is a deliverable?
A product or service produced or provided as part of a project, such as a technical report, a training session, a piece of hardware, or a segment of software code.
What is the SDLC, and what are its four general phases?
A framework for describing the phases of developing information systems (product life cycle): planning, analysis, design, implementation.
What is the planning phase of the SDLC, and what is its output?
Understanding why an information system should be built and determining how the project team will build it. Output: project plan.
Which questions does the analysis phase answer, and what is its output?
Who will use the system, what the system will do, and where and when it will be used. Output: a system proposal.
What are the as-is and to-be systems?
The as-is system is the current system (with its problems); the to-be system is the new system to be designed.
What three options does the design strategy clarify?
Whether the system will be developed by the company's own programmers; whether it will be outsourced to another firm (usually a consulting firm); whether the company will buy an existing software package.
What is the output of the design phase?
System specification (architecture design, interface design, database design, program design).
What are the two tasks of the implementation phase?
System construction — the system is built and tested; and installation — the system is installed and users are trained.
What are the two families of SDLC models, and what characterises a predictive life cycle?
Predictive life cycle and agile software development. Predictive: the scope can be articulated clearly, and the schedule and cost can be predicted accurately.
Where does the waterfall model get its name, and when is it best used?
From the way each phase cascades into the next. It is best used where requirements have been clearly defined and agreed.
List the drawbacks of the waterfall model.
No working software until late in the life cycle; testing at the end means major defects may go undetected until late, when they are more difficult to repair; poor model for long and ongoing projects.
Describe the incremental model and two of its advantages.
Requirements are divided into standalone modules; a working version is produced during the first module and each release adds function. Advantages include: errors easy to recognize; easier to test and debug; more flexible; client gets important functionality early; suitable for large projects.
When is the iterative model suited?
When the requirements are not clearly understood and there is a need to begin development quickly.
What are the disadvantages of the iterative model?
Not knowing when to stop iterating; it is potentially difficult to monitor and control.
How do iterating and incrementing differ, and can they be combined?
Iterating moves from vague idea to realization (rough to polished); incrementing is more about delivery. Yes — an application can be broken into increments, each implemented through a series of iterations.
What is Agile, and what does it emphasise?
A methodology commonly used to deliver complex projects due to its adaptiveness. It emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, continuous improvement and high quality results.
State the four value pairs of the Agile Manifesto.
Individual and Interactions over Processes and Tools. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation. Responding to Change over Following a Plan.
What is Scrum, and what is the difference between the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog?
Scrum is an Agile framework used to implement the ideas behind Agile. The Product Backlog lists all requirements for a viable product in order of priority; the Sprint Backlog is the tasks and requirements for the next Sprint.
Name the five project management process groups.
Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, closing.
What is a project charter?
A document that describes the project and its goals; preparing it is an initiating process.
List the plans produced by the planning processes.
Scope plan, schedule plan, cost plan, quality plan, procurement plan.
Give the executing processes.
Acquiring and developing the project team; performing quality assurance; managing stakeholder expectations; conducting procurements.
Give the closing processes.
Archiving project files; closing out contracts; documenting lessons learned; receiving formal acceptance of the delivered work.
What is project integration management?
It involves coordinating all of the other project management knowledge areas throughout a project's life cycle.
Why do successful leaders look at the strategic plan of the organization?
To determine what types of projects will provide the most value.
What does strategic planning involve?
Determining long-term objectives by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, studying opportunities and threats in the business environment, predicting future trends, and projecting the need for new products and services.
What does SWOT stand for, and why is it called Internal-External analysis?
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the organization; opportunities and threats are external factors.
What is a mind map?
A technique that uses branches radiating out from a core idea to structure thoughts and ideas; it helps in identifying potential projects.
What three things do organizations do in project selection, as part of strategic planning?
Identify potential projects; use realistic methods to select which projects to work on; formalize project initiation by issuing a project charter.
List the four methods for selecting projects.
Focusing on broad organizational needs; categorizing IT projects; performing financial analyses; using a weighted scoring model.
Define problem, opportunity and directive as project categories.
Problem: undesirable situations that prevent an organization from achieving its goals. Opportunity: chances to improve the organization. Directive: new requirements imposed by management, government, or some external influence.
What are the three primary methods for determining the projected financial value of projects?
Net present value (NPV) analysis; return on investment (ROI); payback analysis.
Define net present value (NPV).
A method of calculating the expected net monetary gain or loss from a project by discounting all expected future cash inflows and outflows to the present point in time.
Give the NPV formula and what each symbol means.
NPV = Σ (t = 0 … n) A_t / (1 + r)^t, where t is the year of the cash flow, n is the last year, A is the amount of cash flow each year, and r is the discount rate.
How is the discount factor for a year calculated?
Discount factor = 1 / (1 + r)^t. At 8%: year 0 = 1, year 1 = .93, year 2 = .86, year 3 = .79.
How is NPV calculated from discounted values?
NPV = Σ discount benefits − Σ discount costs.
How is ROI calculated, and which project is better?
ROI = NPV / total discount costs. The higher the ROI, the better project to select.
What is payback analysis, and when does payback occur?
The amount of time an investment takes to recover its initial cost. Payback occurs when the net cumulative discounted benefits equal the costs.
What is the payback formula when cash inflows are even?
Payback period = initial investment / net cash flow per period (e.g. $25,000 / $10,000 = 2.5 years).
What is the payback formula when cash inflows are uneven, and what are A, B and C?
Payback = A + (B / C). A: last period with a negative cumulative cash flow. B: absolute value of cumulative net cash flow at the end of A. C: total cash inflow during the period following A.
What is a weighted scoring model?
A tool that provides a systematic process for selecting projects based on many criteria.
What are the four steps to create a weighted scoring model?
1) Identify criteria important to project selection. 2) Assign weights (percentages) to each criterion so they add up to 100%. 3) Assign scores to each criterion for each project. 4) Multiply the scores by the weights and get the total weighted scores.
What is a project charter?
A document that formally authorizes the work to begin on a project and provides an overview of objectives and resource requirements; key stakeholders sign it; it is a key output of the initiation process.
What is a project management plan?
A document used to coordinate all project planning documents and help guide a project's execution and control; it should be dynamic, flexible and subject to change.
Define organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors.
Organizational process assets: the plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases specific to and used by the performing organization. Enterprise environmental factors: influences not under the control of the project team that affect the project, e.g. government rules and industrial standards.
What are the outputs of directing and managing project work?
Work performance data; change requests; project management plan updates; project documents updates.
What is integrated change control, and what are its outputs?
Identifying, evaluating, and managing changes throughout the project life cycle. Outputs: approved change requests, a change log, updates to the project management plan and to project documents.
What does closing a project or phase involve?
Finalize all activities and transfer the completed or cancelled work to appropriate people.
What does scope refer to?
All the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processes used to create them.
What does project scope management include?
The processes involved in defining and controlling what is and is not included in a project.
Name the six scope management processes and their process groups.
Planning: plan scope management, collect requirements, define scope, create WBS. Monitoring and controlling: validate scope, control scope.
What does the scope management plan contain?
How to prepare a detailed scope statement; how to create a WBS; how to maintain and approve the WBS; how to obtain formal acceptance of completed deliverables; how to control requests for changes to the scope.
List the categories of requirements.
Hardware, software, functional, service, performance, quality, and training requirements.
List the six requirement collection techniques.
Interviewing stakeholders one on one; focus groups; questionnaires; observation; prototyping; benchmarking.
What is the trade-off between one-on-one interviews and focus groups?
Interviews are often very effective but can be expensive and time-consuming; focus groups are normally faster and less expensive.
What is a requirements traceability matrix (RTM)?
A table that lists requirements, their various attributes, and the status of the requirements to ensure that all are addressed.
What is the main purpose of an RTM?
To maintain the linkage from the source of each requirement through its decomposition to implementation and validation.
What are the key inputs for preparing the project scope statement?
The project charter, requirements documentation, and organizational process assets such as policies and procedures related to scope statements.
What should a project scope statement include?
A product scope description, product user acceptance criteria, detailed information on all project deliverables; project boundaries, constraints, and assumptions; and reference supporting documents.
What is a WBS?
A deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in a project that defines the total scope of the project; a foundation document for planning and managing schedules, costs, resources, and changes.
What are the main inputs to creating the WBS?
The project scope management plan, scope statement, requirements documentation, organizational process assets.
What is decomposition?
Subdividing project deliverables into smaller pieces — the main tool or technique for creating the WBS.
What is a work package, and what is a sub-task?
A work package is a task at the lowest level of each branch of the WBS; it cannot be sub-divided and is the level the project manager monitors and controls. Tasks that are sub-divided are called sub-tasks (ST).
List the five approaches to developing a WBS.
Using guidelines; the analogy approach; the top-down approach; the bottom-up approach; the mind-mapping approach.
What is the difference between the top-down and bottom-up approaches?
Top-down starts with the largest items of the project and breaks them down; bottom-up starts with the specific tasks and rolls them up.
What is a WBS dictionary?
A document that provides detailed information about each WBS item — a definition of the work involved that clarifies the summary description in the WBS.
What are the outputs of creating the WBS?
Scope baseline and project requirements updates.
What is scope creep, and how is it minimized?
The tendency for project scope to keep getting bigger and bigger. To minimize scope changes, it is crucial to validate project scope.
What does scope validation involve?
Formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables, often achieved by a customer inspection and then sign-off on key deliverables.
What are the goals of scope control?
Influence the factors that cause scope changes; assure changes are processed according to integrated change control procedures; manage changes when they occur.
What is variance analysis?
An important tool to perform scope control; variance is the difference between planned and actual performance.
What is project time management?
The processes and methods required to create and manage appropriate schedules to complete the project; the processes required to ensure timely completion of a project.
List the seven time management processes.
Plan schedule management; define activities; sequence activities; estimate activity resources; estimate activity durations; develop schedule; control schedule.
What is an activity (task)?
An element of work normally found on the WBS that has an expected duration, cost, and resource requirements.
What are the outputs of defining activities?
Activity list (name, number, brief description); activity attributes (predecessors, successors, relationships, resources, constraints, imposed dates, assumptions); milestone list (significant events with no duration).
What does sequencing activities mean?
Determining the dependencies, or relationships, between project activities or tasks.
Give the three reasons for creating dependencies, with an example of each.
Mandatory (hard logic): inherent in the work — you cannot test code until it is written. Discretionary (soft logic): best practice — no detailed design until users sign off the analysis. External: project and non-project activities — installing software depends on hardware delivery from a supplier.
What are the two network diagram formats, and what is the key drawback of ADM?
Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM / activity-on-arrow) and Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM). ADM can only show finish-to-start dependencies.
What are bursts and merges in an AOA diagram?
A burst occurs when a single node is followed by two or more activities; a merge occurs when two or more nodes precede a single node.
What is a dummy activity?
An activity with no duration and no resources, occasionally needed on AOA diagrams to show logical relationships; drawn as a dashed arrow.
State the four task dependency types.
Finish-to-start: B cannot start until A finishes. Start-to-start: B cannot start until A starts. Finish-to-finish: B cannot finish until A finishes. Start-to-finish: B cannot finish until A starts.
Give three reasons PDM is preferred over AOA.
Most project management software uses PDM; PDM avoids the need for dummy activities; PDM shows different dependencies, whereas AOA uses only finish-to-start.
What is estimating activity resources?
Estimating the type and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity.
What is a resource breakdown structure?
A hierarchical structure that identifies the project's resources by category and type (e.g. programmers → COBOL programmers, Java programmers).
Define effort, duration and elapsed time.
Effort: number of work units required. Duration: total time without holidays or non-working days. Elapsed time: calendar time including holidays and non-working days.
What are the tools for schedule development, and what is a Gantt chart?
Gantt chart, critical path method, critical chain scheduling. A Gantt chart lists project activities and their start and finish dates in a calendar format.
What do the Gantt chart symbols mean?
Black diamonds: milestones. Thick black bars: summary tasks. Lighter horizontal bars: durations of tasks. Arrows: dependencies between tasks.
What is the critical path?
The series of activities that determines the earliest time by which the project can be completed — the longest path through the network diagram, i.e. the shortest time the project can be completed.
Define free slack and total slack.
Free slack: time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following activities. Total slack: time an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the planned project finish date.
Give the formulas for total slack and free slack.
Total slack = LS − ES = LF − EF. Free slack = early start of next task − early finish of current task.
What do the forward pass and backward pass determine?
The forward pass determines the early start and finish dates; the backward pass determines the late start and finish dates.
What is crashing, and what is its main disadvantage?
Making cost and schedule trade-offs to obtain the greatest schedule compression for the least incremental cost. Its main disadvantage is that it often increases total project costs.
What is fast tracking, and what is its main disadvantage?
Doing activities in parallel that you would normally do in sequence. It can lengthen the schedule because starting tasks too soon increases risk and results in rework.
What is critical chain scheduling?
A method that considers limited resources when creating a project schedule, adding duration buffers to maintain focus on the planned activity durations.
What is multitasking, and why does critical chain scheduling minimize it?
A resource working on more than one task at a time. It can delay task completions and often involves wasted setup time, which increases total duration.
What are a project buffer and feeding buffers?
Project buffer: additional time added before the project's due date. Feeding buffers: additional time added before tasks on the critical path.
What are the goals of schedule control?
To know the status of the schedule; influence the factors that cause schedule changes; determine that the schedule has changed; manage changes when they occur.
What is cost?
Something given up in exchange; costs are usually measured in monetary units like dollars.
What is project cost management?
The processes required to ensure that the project is completed within an approved budget.
List the cost management processes.
Planning cost management; estimating costs; determining the budget; controlling costs.
What is a control account, and what is a control threshold?
Control account: the WBS component used for project cost accounting, often with a unique accounting code. Control threshold: the variation allowed before action is needed, e.g. ±10% of the baseline cost.
Give the three types of cost estimates with their accuracy.
Rough order of magnitude (ROM): −50% to +100%. Budgetary: −10% to +25%. Definitive: −5% to +10%.
When is a ROM estimate done and why?
Very early in a project, or even before it officially starts (often 3–5 years before completion), to provide an estimate of cost for selection decisions.
What is a budgetary estimate used for?
To allocate money into an organization's budget (puts dollars in the budget plans); done early, 1–2 years out.
What is a definitive estimate used for?
It provides an accurate estimate, used for many purchasing decisions and for estimating final project costs; done later, less than 1 year out.
Name and define the three cost estimating tools.
Analogous (top-down): the actual cost of a previous, similar project. Bottom-up: estimate individual work items and sum them. Parametric modeling: project characteristics in a mathematical model.
What does determining the budget involve?
Allocating the project cost estimate to individual work items over time.
What is the main goal of cost budgeting, and what is a cost baseline?
To produce a cost baseline for measuring performance and funding requirements. A cost baseline is a time-phased budget used to measure and monitor cost performance.
What does project cost control include?
Monitoring cost performance; ensuring only appropriate changes are included in a revised cost baseline; informing stakeholders of authorized changes that affect costs.
What is earned value management (EVM)?
A project performance measurement technique that integrates scope, time, and cost data.
Define planned value (PV) and give its formula.
The portion of the approved total cost estimate planned to be spent on an activity during a given period (the budget). PV = BAC × % of work planned.
Define actual cost (AC).
The total of direct and indirect costs incurred in accomplishing work on an activity during a given period.
Define earned value (EV) and give its formulas.
An estimate of the value of the physical work actually completed. EV = original PV × RP, or EV = BAC × % of actual work completed.
What is the rate of performance (RP)?
The ratio of actual work completed to the percentage of work planned: RP = % of actual work completed / % of work planned.
How do you interpret cost variance and schedule variance?
CV = EV − AC: negative means the work cost more than planned. SV = EV − PV: negative means it took longer than planned.
How do you interpret the CPI?
CPI = EV / AC. Equal to 1: planned and actual costs equal; less than 1: over budget; greater than 1: under budget.
How do you interpret the SPI?
SPI = EV / PV. Equal to 1: on schedule; less than 1: behind schedule; greater than 1: ahead of schedule.
How are the estimate at completion and the estimated time to complete calculated?
EAC = BAC / CPI. Estimated time to complete = original time estimate / SPI.
On an earned value chart, what does an EAC point above and to the right of the BAC point mean?
The project is projected to cost more and take longer than planned.
Define quality (ISO 9000:2000).
The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements.
What is the difference between conformance to requirements and fitness for use?
Conformance: the project's processes and products meet written specifications. Fitness for use: the product can be used as it was intended.
What is project quality management?
The processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.
List the quality management processes.
Planning quality management; performing quality assurance; controlling quality.
What is the purpose of planning quality?
To identify relevant quality standards for each project and design quality into the products and the processes of managing the project.
How are defects prevented in quality planning?
Selecting proper materials; training people in quality; planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome.
List the scope aspects of IT projects that affect quality.
Functionality and features; system outputs; performance; reliability; maintainability.
Define reliability and maintainability.
Reliability: the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions. Maintainability: the ease of performing maintenance on a product.
What is quality assurance?
All the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project; another goal is continuous quality improvement.
What are benchmarking and a quality audit?
Benchmarking: generating improvement ideas by comparing practices or product characteristics to other projects or products. Quality audit: a structured review of quality management activities that identifies lessons learned.
What is the main goal of quality control, and what are its main outputs?
To improve quality. Outputs: acceptance decisions, rework, process adjustments.
What tools and techniques help perform quality control?
The seven basic tools of quality; statistical sampling; Six Sigma; testing.
Name the seven basic tools of quality.
Cause-and-effect diagrams; control charts; check sheet; scatter diagrams; histogram; Pareto chart; flowcharts.
What is a cause-and-effect diagram?
A diagram that traces quality problems back to the responsible operations to find the root cause; also called a fishbone diagram; can be used with the 5 Whys technique.
What is a control chart, and what does “in control” mean?
A graphic display of the results of a process over time. In control: variations are caused by random events and no adjustment is needed; out of control: nonrandom events, adjust the process.
What is a check sheet?
A form used to collect and analyze data, sometimes called a tally sheet or checklist.
What do a scatter diagram and a histogram show?
Scatter diagram: whether there is a relationship between two variables. Histogram: a bar graph of a distribution, bar height = frequency.
What is a Pareto chart and the 80-20 rule?
A histogram that helps identify and prioritize problem areas; 80 percent of problems are often due to 20 percent of the causes.
What are flowcharts?
Graphic displays of the logic and flow of processes, showing activities, decision points, and the order of how information is processed.
Give the sample size formula and how the acceptable error is found.
Sample size = 0.25 × (certainty factor / acceptable error)². Acceptable error = 1 − percent certainty / 100.
What is DMAIC?
The five-phase Six Sigma improvement process: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.
Name the four testing types.
Unit testing (each component); integration testing (functionally grouped components); system testing (entire system); user acceptance testing (independent test by end users).
What is risk?
An uncertainty that can have a negative (threats) or positive (opportunities) effect on meeting project objectives.
What are the objectives of risk management?
To identify, address and minimize risks before they become threats to the successful completion of a project.
List the six risk management processes.
Planning risk management; identifying risks; qualitative risk analysis; quantitative risk analysis; planning risk responses; monitoring and controlling risks.
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative risk analysis?
Qualitative: prioritizing risks based on their probability and impact. Quantitative: numerically estimating the effects of risks on project objectives.
According to many experts, what is the greatest threat to project success?
A failure to communicate — especially in IT projects.
What chain leads from communication to project success?
Communication → cooperation → coordination → project harmony → project success.
List the communications management processes and their process groups.
Plan communications management (planning); manage communications (executing); control communications (monitoring and controlling).
What does a communications management plan describe?
Stakeholder requirements; information to communicate (format, content, detail); who receives and produces it; methods or technologies; frequency; escalation procedures; revision procedures; a glossary.
What does managing communications include?
Using technology to enhance information creation and distribution; selecting the appropriate communication methods and media; reporting performance.
What is a push method, and what is its limitation?
Information sent to recipients without their request (reports, e-mails, faxes, voice mails). It ensures distribution, but not that the information was received or understood.
What is a pull method?
Information sent to recipients at their request via websites, bulletin boards, e-learning, knowledge repositories like blogs and wikis.
What is an interactive method?
Two or more people exchange information via meetings, phone calls, or video conferencing — usually the most effective way to ensure common understanding.
What does performance reporting do?
Keeps stakeholders informed about how resources are being used to achieve project objectives, and motivates workers to have some progress to report.
What is the main goal of controlling communications?
To ensure the optimal flow of information throughout the entire project life cycle.
List the five keys to good communications.
Focusing on group and individual needs; formal and informal methods; distributing important information effectively and on time; setting the stage for bad news; determining the number of communication channels.
Give examples of formal and informal communication methods.
Formal: reports, e-mails, web pages, formal meetings. Informal: informal meetings, personal social media.
How should bad news be communicated?
Put it in context, know how the problem will affect the whole project and the organization, and recommend steps to mitigate it.
What is the formula for the number of communication channels?
n(n − 1) / 2, where n is the number of people involved.
How many communication channels do 2, 3, 4 and 5 people have?
1, 3, 6 and 10 channels.
What is procurement?
Acquiring goods and/or services from an outside source (outside of the project team); also called purchasing and outsourcing.
Why outsource?
To reduce fixed and recurrent costs; focus on core business; access skills and technologies; provide flexibility; increase accountability.
Define fixed costs and recurrent costs.
Fixed costs: paid independent of any business activity. Recurrent costs: maintaining and operating a program after the initial, one-off investment.
What is a contract?
A mutually binding agreement that obligates the seller to provide the specified products or services and obligates the buyer to pay for them.
List the procurement management processes.
Planning procurements; conducting procurements; administering procurements; closing procurements.
What happens in planning procurements, and what is its important output?
Decide what to outsource, determine the type of contract, describe the work for sellers. Important output: the make-or-buy decision.
Name and describe the three contract types.
Fixed price/lump sum: fixed total price for a well-defined product. Cost reimbursable: payment for direct and indirect costs. Time and material: a hybrid of both, often used by consultants.
What is make-or-buy analysis?
A technique to determine whether an organization should make a product or service inside the organization or buy it from someone else; often involves financial analysis.
Lease for $800/day, or buy for $12,000 + $400/day: when is buying better?
12,000 + 400d = 800d → d = 30; if the item is needed for more than 30 days, purchasing is more economical.
What are the tools for planning purchases and acquisitions?
Make-or-buy analysis; expert judgment; market research.
What is the procurement management plan?
A plan describing how the procurement processes will be managed, from developing documentation for outside purchases to contract closure.
What is a statement of work (SOW)?
A description of the work required for the procurement; a type of scope statement. Used in a contract for only that contract's work, it is a contract SOW.
What is the difference between an RFP and an RFQ?
RFP solicits proposals when there are different approaches for meeting buyer needs. RFQ solicits quotes or bids giving pricing for standard items clearly defined by the buyer.
What factors should source selection evaluate?
Technical approach, past performance, price and management approach — with criteria prepared preferably before issuing a formal RFP.
What does conducting procurements involve?
Deciding whom to ask; sending documentation to potential sellers; obtaining proposals or bids; selecting a seller; awarding a contract.
What is a BAFO?
A best and final offer, often prepared by sellers on the short list.
What is a constructive change order?
An oral or written act or omission by someone with actual or apparent authority that can be construed to have the same effect as a written change order.
What does closing procurements involve?
Completing and settling contracts and resolving open items; checking all work was completed correctly, updating records, archiving information.
Name the tools for contract closure.
Procurement audits (lessons learned); negotiated settlements (smoother closure); records management system (organize, find and archive documents).
What is a project team?
A small number of people with complementary skills committed to a common purpose, performance, goals and approach, directly or indirectly accountable to the project manager.
List the four human resource management processes.
Planning human resource management; acquiring the project team; developing the project team; managing the project team.
What does planning human resource management do, and what is its output?
Identifies and documents project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships. Output: human resource plan.
Describe acquiring and developing the project team.
Acquiring: getting the needed personnel assigned to and working on the project. Developing: building individual and group skills to enhance project performance.
What does the human resource plan include?
Project organizational chart; responsibility assignment matrixes; a staffing management plan; resource histograms.
What is the difference between a WBS and an OBS?
WBS: defines the total scope (work) of the project. OBS: shows which organizational units are responsible for which work items.
What is a responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)?
A matrix that maps the work in the WBS to the people responsible for performing it as described on the OBS.
In a RAM for a very large project, what do R and P mean?
R: responsible organizational unit (execution and management of cost, schedule and performance of the WBS segment). P: performing organizational unit (performs the task).
What does RACI stand for, and when is it used?
Responsibility (who does it), Accountability (who signs off), Consultation (who has needed information), Informed (who must be notified). Used to assign individuals to WBS activities in smaller projects.
What is a staffing management plan?
A plan describing when and how people will be added to and taken off the team: types of people, number per month, and how they are acquired, trained, rewarded, reassigned.
What is a resource histogram?
A column chart that shows the number of resources assigned to a project over time.
What are the three topics related to acquiring the project team?
Resource assignment, resource loading, resource leveling.
Give two approaches to hiring and retaining IT staff.
Offer existing employees incentives for helping recruit and retain personnel; provide benefits based on personnel need (e.g. four-day weeks, working from home).
Define resource loading and overallocation.
Resource loading: the amount of individual resources a schedule requires during specific periods. Overallocation: not enough resources available for the assigned work in a period.
What is resource leveling and its main purpose?
A technique for resolving resource conflicts by delaying tasks; its main purpose is a smoother distribution of resource usage.
What is the main goal of team development, and what are its tools?
To help people work together more effectively to improve project performance. Tools: training, team-building activities, reward and recognition systems.
What tools are used for managing the project team?
Observation and conversation; project performance appraisals; interpersonal skills; conflict management.
Compare relationship conflict and task conflict.
Relationship (personal) conflict can be detrimental (sources: roles, communications failure, stakeholder relationships, rewards). Task (ideas) conflict can encourage alternatives and better-justified decisions (sources: resources, technical approach, schedule, priorities).
List the six steps of the conflict resolution process.
Understand the conflict; agree on resolution goals; identify causes; identify potential solutions; pick the desired solution; implement it.
Name the five conflict resolution styles.
Forcing/competing; withdrawing/avoiding; smoothing/accommodating; compromising; collaborating/problem solving.
When is compromising appropriate?
Only when an agreement is unlikely, both sides have equal power, and each is willing to get part of what they want without taking more time.
When is smoothing/accommodating appropriate?
Only when we know we are wrong, it is more important to the other party, or we are after something bigger later.