Project Management Essentials with CAPM® Prep

Costs of Conformance

Costs incurred to ensure good quality.

Costs of Nonconformance

Costs incurred to fix poor quality.

Tornado Diagram

A tornado diagram is a type of horizontal bar chart. It helps you communicate which items have the greatest variability or uncertainty. It's created by placing the bars so that the longest bar is at the top and the shortest is at the bottom, giving it the appearance of a tornado. Associated with Sensitivity Analysis.

Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)

A visual representation that displays all project resources by type. They're broken down into three basic categories: people, equipment, and materials. And as with the WBS, the RBS shows each category decomposed to the desired level.

Accept (5)

Active Acceptance: a contingency reserve is established and funded by the expected monetary value (EMV) of those risks. Passive Acceptance: For low-priority risks place them on a watch list and monitor as needed.

This technique is used to consolidate ideas created through individual brainstorming sessions into a single display so that items are grouped together by their commonality.

Affinity diagram

Calculating Risk Probability

Every risk has two dimensions: the probability that the risk will occur and the expected impact to the project's objectives. Probability of occurrence can range from zero to 100%. To determine probability, you'll collect data points and calculate it using this formula: # of relevant Risks / by # of total possible events = probability

Communications Channels Formula

Formula: N x (N-1) / 2 A team of 9 people 9 x (9-1) / 2 = 36 A team of 18 people has 153 channels18 x (18-1) / 2 = 153

Which quality tool is most appropriate when you are trying to determine where to focus and prioritize team efforts?

Pareto diagram

Question 15, Incorrect, Multiple Choice Which of the following statements regarding staffing levels and life cycle phases is true?

Staffing levels typically are highest in the intermediate phases and low in the early and final phases.

This project closing type results when the customer cancels the project.

Starvation

SIPOC

Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers. A process improvement tool that summarizes inputs and outputs.

Norming Stage of Team Development

Team experiences good productivity as they focus on the work. During this phase, teams will be very conflict averse

Which of the following is a cost of conformance?

Testing

A project is officially authorized when

The Project Charter is Approved

RACI - Accountable

The accountable person assigns the task and often approves it.

Availability

The amount of time a resource can be committed to a work effort.

Project Management

The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

process that looks backwards at an event to prevent its future occurence

RACI chart

responsible, accountable, consult, and inform used to document responsibility of work.

Four team development stages

forming, storming, norming, and performing

Risk Planning

Establish the framework for identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing risks.

Histograms

Establishes and measures acceptable quality levels.

Knowledge Area

A complete set of concepts, processes and activities that make up a field of specialization.

Knowledge Area

A complete set of concepts, processes, and activities that make up a field of specialization.

cause and effect diagram

A decomposition technique that helps trace an undesirable effect back to its root cause.

Program

A group of related projects that are managed in a coordinated manner.

Lag

A lag time is the amount of time whereby a successor activity is required to be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity

Practice Standard for Project Risk Management

A logical way to approach developing responses to risk in a sequential order; Escalate (1), Avoid (2), Transfer (3), Mitigate (4) and Accept (5)

Costs of Quality (COQ)

A means to quantify the total cost of quality related efforts and deficiencies.

Risk Condition

A risk condition is a set of circumstances or assumptions that you build your project on. It could impact your schedule, your budget, or perhaps your resources.

Risk Event

A risk event is something (positive or negative) that occurs in a specific moment in time. It can be an incident or something important or more specifically impactful on the project.

Process

A systematic series of activities directed toward causing an end result.

Project

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

Analyze

Analyze high-priority risks in order to make recommendations about which risks require a formal response.

Avoid (2)

Avoid the risk altogether is by selecting an alternate approach.

Triangular Distribution Equation PERT

Optimistic (O) + Most Likely (ML) + Pessimistic (P) = X then X/3 = Activity Estimate

OBS

Organizational breakdown structure

Why should projects be grouped together as part of a portfolio?

Because they all align to the same strategic objective.

CPI-Cost Performance Index

CPI=EV/AC

Expected Monetary Value (EMV)

Calculated as part of quantitative risk analysis often in conjunction with decision trees to determine cost outcomes of a combination of risks. Expected Monetary Value = Impact of Occurrence x (Probability of Occurrence / 100)

Collecting and documenting lessons learned is part of which Process Group?

Closing

Key Concepts for Resource Planning

Competency, Capacity, Availability

Conflict management

Conflict management aims to prevent conflicts from occurring.

Conflict resolution

Conflict resolution is needed when conflict management fails.

RACI - Consult

Consult indicates those who must be consulted prior to decision-making.

Scatter Diagrams

Determines correlations between two variables

AFFINITY DIAGRAM

Determines groups or common themes

Which of the following is part of the Monitor and Control Project Work process?

Determining what corrective actions are required to get back on track.

The Project Charter is an input to which of the following Project Integration Management processes?

Develop Project Management Plan

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

Document responsibility in Project Resource Management Plan

Storming Stage of Team Development

During this phase, the team has the lowest productivity levels. Team members are trying to work out their relationships with each other, and it's characterized by high conflict.

Risk Response for Opportunities

Escalate (1), Exploit (2), Share (3), Enhance (4) and Accept (5)

Escalate (1)

Escalate to the sponsor so a decision can be made regarding whether it should be taken advantage of.

Escalate (1)

Escalation notifies the appropriate key stakeholders of the risk.

Identify

Identify risks using a variety of tools and techniques to prioritize risks based on their risks scores.

RACI - Inform

If someone may be impacted by the decision, we'll need to keep them informed.

Mitigate (4)

If transferring isn't an option, then there is a need to find ways to mitigate the risk by decreasing the probability or impact of a risk.

Manage Quality

Implementing quality activities to meet the quality objectives, process improvement and conducting audits to verify is following the processes in the first place. It's also responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance.

PUSH Communications

In push communications, the sender is responsible for distribution. Here communication is one-way, so you can't be certain that the information was received, read, or understood.

Delphi technique.

In this technique, you collect expert opinions in an attempt to gain consensus. Using Delphi, you'd meet with each expert individually so that they can't bias each other. Each offers expert opinions regarding what he or she feels are the biggest project risks.

Influence Diagrams

Influence diagrams provide a condensed view of a decision tree by showing a high-level interaction between decisions and values and the chance events that can impact them.

Which of the following is a common area of waste in a process?

Over-production

Contingency Reserve

Known unknown risks

Pareto Chart

Leverages statistics by focusing on popular areas

This is the process of auditing the quality requirements to ensure quality standards are used.

Managing Quality

Dotted Line Reporting Channels

Multiple reporting channels a person may be aligned to beyond the primary direct report manager.

Which of the following is an example of a schedule presentation?

Network diagram

Project Scope Statement Includes

Project Scope Statement, WBS, WBS Dictionary, Scope Baseline

Which of the following should be included in the Project Scope Statement?

Project Scope description, acceptance criteria, exclusions

Ishikawa Diagram

Provides a cause analysis

What Is Risk?

Risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives.

Plan Risk Responses

Risk responses allow the team to adequately prepare for taking advantage of the opportunities that positive risks represent while minimizing the impact negative risks that threaten the project's objectives.

Which of the following is NOT a quality data representation tool?

Root cause analysis

SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the organization, and opportunities and threats are external to the organization.

Uncertainty

Situation where the current state of knowledge is such that: 1) the order or nature of things is unknown, 2) the consequences, extent, or magnitude of circumstances, conditions, or events is unpredictable and 3) credible probabilities to possible outcomes cannot be assigned.

Forming Stage

The first stage of group development in which people join the group and then define the group's purpose, structure, and leadership

Performing Stage of Team Development

The fourth and final stage of team development, in which performance improves because the team has matured into an effective, fully functioning team

Calculating Risk Impact

The impact is how we measure the effect the risk could have on our projects. Impacts could affect any of the project's drivers, such as schedule, cost, scope, or quality. There are two parts we need to consider. One is the actual loss. The other is what it will take to get us to "normal" in the meantime. This is called the least cost to restore status quo. Here is the formula: Cost of Actual Loss + Least Cost to Restore Status Quo = Impact

Acceptable Quality Level (AQL)

The lowest level of quality that is still deemed acceptable.

Capacity

The maximum amount of work that can be done by the number of staff within a department at any given time. It's sometimes referred to as head count.

RACI - Responsible

The responsible person actually does the work.

Capacity

This is the maximum amount of work that can be done at any given time with the current staffing levels. It's sometimes referred to as head count. If you have five employees, then you have the capacity to do five employees' worth of work.

Composite or Hybrid Organizational Structure

This organizational structure is made up of a combination of two or more of the organizational structures.

Competency

This refers to a resource's ability to do the work and often describes specific skill sets needed to perform the work.

Competency

This refers to a resource's ability to do the work and often describes specific skill sets, knowledge, and qualifications needed to perform the work.

Availability

This refers to a resource's assignability. Can they commit to working on the project during the specified time period? Just because there are five employees, that doesn't necessarily mean that all five are available to work on your project now.

How should unknown unknown risks be handled or mitigated?

Through the management reserve

Transfer (3)

Transferring is when you deal with a risk by giving it to someone else.

Sensitivity Analysis

Used to determine which risks have the most potential impact on project outcomes.

Which process focuses on determining the acceptability of the project's deliverable in terms of compliance with defined specifications?

Validate Scope

Control Chart

Verifies that the process is stable

Collocate

When team members work in the same location regardless of what departments they come from.

Calculating the Risk Score

Which is the bigger risk? A risk with a high probability but low impact or a risk with a low probability and high impact?For that, you want to look at the risk score. To help get a handle on this question, you'll want to combine these two risk components—probability and impact—to come up with a single number. This is called the risk score and should be calculated for each risk. The risk score formula is: Probability X Impact = Risk Score

PULL communications

With pull communications, the receiver is responsible for accessing the information. You'll see pull communications when there's a large amount of information to convey, a large group of stakeholders, or both. Examples of pull communications: Knowledge repositories

Control Charts

Within the chart, we designate an upper and lower boundary, or control limit.

WBS

Work Breakdown Structure