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54 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Exam Essential
Know the difference between analogous, parametric and bottom-up estimating techniques. |
Analogous (a.k.a Top-down)
Uses expert judgment and historical data to provide a high-level estimate for the entire project, a phase of the project or a deliverable The least accurate estimating technique Parametric Use a mathematical model to create the estimates, and it most often uses the quantity of work multiplied by a rate Bottom-up Starts at the lowest level of the WBS and calculates the cost of each item within the work packages to obtain a total cost for the project or deliverable The most precise cost estimating technique |
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Exam Essential
Name the two discretionary funding allocations a project may receive What’s the difference between them? |
Contingency Reserve
Money or time set aside and dedicated to the project to be used to cover unforeseen costs or time that was not identified as part of the planning process. Examples: scope creep, risks, change requests, variances in estimate Management Reserve Set aside by upper management and are used to cover future situations that can’t be predicted during project planning. Spending authority and what it covers |
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Exam Essential
Explain the purpose of a cost baseline |
The cost baseline is the total approved, expected cost of the project.
It’s used in the Executing and Monitoring and Controlling processes to monitor the performance of the project budget throughout the project. |
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Exam Essential
Name the Quality Planning tools and techniques |
The Quality Planning tools and techniques are:
Cost-benefit analysis Used to consider the trade-offs of the cost of quality Benchmarking Compares previous similar activities to the current project activities to provide a standard to measure performance against. Flowcharting Uses diagrams that depict the relationship of various elements in the project Cost of Quality All of the work required to assure the project meets the quality standards. |
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Exam Essential
Define the cost of quality. Name the types of costs associated with the cost of quality |
The cost of all of the work required to assure the project meets the quality standards, includes required, planned and unplanned costs.
Prevention Costs Activities performed to avoid quality problems, including quality planning, training, and any product or process testing. Appraisal Costs Activities performed to examine the product or process and make certain the quality requirements are being met, includes inspection, testing, and formal quality audits. Failure Costs (Cost of poor quality) Product failure costs, including downtime, user support, rework and scrapping the project (internal/external) |
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Exam Essential
Explain the three (3) processes used to develop a risk management plan |
Risk Identification
The process of identifying and documenting the potential risk events that may occur on the project. Risk Analysis (initial Risk Assessment) Evaluates the severity of the impact to the project and the probability that the risk will actually occur. Risk Response Planning The process of reviewing the list of potential risks impacting the project to determine what, if any, action should be taken and then documenting it in a response plan. |
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Define: Risk and Risk List
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Risk
A potential future event that can have either a negative or positive consequences Risk List A list of risks that you can record on a spreadsheet and include a risk name, ID, description and owner |
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Exam Essential
Name the negative risk response strategies |
Avoid
Avoiding the risk altogether or eliminating the cause of the risk event Mitigate Reducing the impact or the probability of the risk Transfer Moving the liability for the risk to a 3rd party by purchasing insurance, performance bonds, and so on Accept Choosing to accept the consequences of the risk |
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Exam Essential
Name the positive risk (opportunity) response strategies |
Exploit
Looking for opportunities to take advantage of positive impacts Enhance Monitoring the probability or impact of the risk event to assure benefits are realized Share Assigning the risk to a 3rd party who is best able to bring about the opportunity |
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Key Terms
Benchmarking |
Compares previous similar activities to the current project activities to provide a standard to measure performance against.
It’s often used to derive ideas for quality improvements for the project. |
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Key Terms
Bottom-up Estimating |
Individually estimating each work package, all of which are then rolled up, or added together to come up with a total project estimate.
This is a very accurate means of estimating, provided the estimates at the work package level are accurate. |
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Key Terms
Cost Budgeting |
Assigning cost estimates to activities and creating the cost baseline, which measures the performance of the project throughout the project’s life.
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Key Terms
Cost Estimating |
Developing an estimation of the cost of all resources needed for each project activity.
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Key Terms
[Risk] Impact |
The consequences imposed if a risk even occurs on the project.
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Key Terms
[Risk] Probability What is the safest way to determine probability? |
The likelihood a risk event will occur. Probability is expressed as a number between 0.0 and 1.0.
Using expert judgment |
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Key Terms
Qualitative Risk Analysis |
Determining the impact of identified risks on the project and the probability they’ll occur.
Aligns risks in a priority order according to their effect on the project objectives. |
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Key Terms
Quality Management Plan |
• Describes how the project management team will enact the quality policy
• Outlines all the processes the project team and organization will use to satisfy quality requirements. • Documents the resources needed to carry out the quality plan. • Describes the responsibilities of the project team in implementing quality |
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Key Terms
Quality Metric Quality Checklist Exit Criteria |
Methods for measuring whether quality standards have been met:
Quality Metric A standard of measurement that specifically defines what will be measured and how it will be measured Quality Checklist A tool that lists a series of steps that must be taken to complete an activity or process – documents that steps were completed and when and by who Exit Criteria Criteria that must be met at the completion of the project. |
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Key Terms
Quality Planning |
Identifying the quality standards applicable for the project and how they’ll be fulfilled.
Quality must be planned! |
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Key Terms
Quantitative Risk Analysis Examples: |
A complex analysis technique that uses a mathematical approach to numerically analyze the probability and impact of risk events.
Examples: • Sensitivity analysis • Decision tree analysis • Simulation use Monte Carlo technique • Interviewing |
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Key Terms
Risk Planning |
Identifying, analyzing and determining how risk events will be managed for a project.
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Key Terms
Risk Triggers Who is responsible for monitoring them? |
An event that warns a risk is imminent and a response plan should be implemented.
The risk owner |
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Key Terms
Work Effort |
The total time it takes for a person to complete a task if they did nothing else from the time they started until the task was complete.
Also referred to as person-hour estimate |
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When is the cost estimating process started?
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After the resources for the project have been determined.
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When providing a cost estimate what must the project manager be very clear about?
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The accuracy of the estimate, especially those made early in the planning process.
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What must be done if a new estimate needs to be made or costs change during the project?
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Communicate the change with the stakeholders as quickly as possible.
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When is analogous estimating usually used and not used?
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During the business case development or during the early stages of scope planning
It is not usually used for individual work packages. |
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What are duration estimates and work effort used for?
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Duration Estimates
Help you define how long the project will take to complete Work Effort Used to define how much the project will cost |
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What are some cost estimating best practices?
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• Brainstorm with your project team
Use team members and SMEs to capture less obvious costs • Communicate the type of estimate you are providing Make sure stakeholders know the level of accuracy • Make use of any available templates Company provided cost estimating temples • Get estimates form the people doing the work • Document any assumptions you have made |
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What is the project budget used for?
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To track the actual expenses incurred against the estimates
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What questions should you ask to establish an understanding of your company’s processes regarding budgets, authority levels, expenses, etc.?
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• All expenses submitted to PM?
• Spending authority of PM? • Cost amounts PM can/cannot approve? • PM approves time-sheets? |
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Other than the Project Manager, who might track project expenses?
What is important for the PM to remember about this? |
• Accounting or Finance Dept.
• Project Management Office (PMO) Regardless of who does the tracking, the PM is still accountable for how money is spent on the project. |
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How should you track and classify project costs?
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Using the accounting departments categories.
Examples: • Salary • Hardware • Travel • Training |
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What is the goal of reviewing the project budget?
Who should be involved in reviewing the project budget? When should questions about budget categories or how dollars are being spent by addressed? |
What is the goal of reviewing the project budget?
Who should be involved in reviewing the project budget? When should questions about budget categories or how dollars are being spent by addressed? |
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What are the benefits of meeting quality requirements?
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• Increased stakeholder and customer satisfaction
• Less rework • Higher productivity among workers • Lower costs |
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What are the benefits of using flowcharting in quality management?
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• It can help you anticipate where and when a problem will occur
• You can build in checkpoints to assess quality before you continue Note: Data Flow Diagram (DFD) – similar to a flow chart but starts at context zero |
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Key Terms
Control Limits |
Control limits, also known as natural process limits, are horizontal lines drawn on a statistical process control chart, usually at a distance of ±3 standard deviations of the plotted statistic from the statistic's mean
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What is the difference between Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC)?
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QA – Process Oriented
I.e. does the process produce a quality product? QC – Product Oriented I.e. is the product produced of appropriate quality? |
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Key Term
Quality Baseline |
The agreed upon level of quality requirements the projects product or service must meet
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Key Terms
Chart of accounts (COA) |
A list of the accounts used by an organization
It assists in consistent posting of transactions |
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Who should be included in the risk identification process?
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Stakeholders, core team members, and any other SMEs who have experience or knowledge of the project
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What are some ways to jumpstart risk identification brainstorming?
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• Start with a list of common risks
• Devise a set of risk questions o Is the task on the critical path? o Is this a complex task? o Unfamiliar technology? o Multiple dependencies? o Inexperienced resources? o Adequate resources? o Familiarity with processes? |
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What might risk tolerance levels be based on?
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• Type of industry
• Corporate culture • Departmental culture • Individual stakeholder preferences |
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What is a risk probability and impact matrix?
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A tool to assign a risk score to assess the overall potential that a risk will impact the project.
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Key Terms
Contingency Planning |
Planning alternatives to deal with risks should they occur.
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Key Terms
Risk Register |
Looks like a risk list buy has more details (i.e. response plan (y/n) and risk owner).
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What are the key components of the Project Management Plan?
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• Scope Statement
• Project Schedule • Communications Plan • Resource Plan • Procurement Plan • Project Budget • Quality Management Plan • Risk Management Plan |
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What does a completed project plan serve as?
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A baseline for project progress
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Why is it important to get sign-off on the final Project Management Plan?
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It helps assure a common understanding of the objectives for the project, the budget, and the timeline and will ideally prevent misunderstandings once the work of the project begins.
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What are the challenges of maintaining a project management plan?
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• Keeping the plan current
• Communicating updates to the project team, sponsor and other key stakeholders |
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What does the Change Control Process document outline?
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• Change request forms needed
• The approval process for the changes • Turnaround times • How the changes and documents describing the change will be distributed/routed • The communication process for notifying of the change |
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Exam Essential
Explain the purpose and common components of a transition plan |
Describes how the transition of the final product or service of the project will be transition to the organization.
It includes: • Who the owner of the product or service of the project is once it’s transitioned • When the product will be transitioned • Training needs and schedules • Extended support schedules • Warranties that may be applicable |
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Holding a meeting to close out the planning process
is a great opportunity to what? |
Obtain stakeholder concurrence regarding the viability of the project business case and finalized project plan
It is your job as the project manager to make sure that everyone involved in the project understands and supports not only the end result of the project but also the plan to reach that end result. |
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What should you ask stakeholders at the end of the planning phase?
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If there is anything unresolved in their minds.
Don’t assume no issues exist just because you are unaware of them. |