Free PMP Project Management Certification Training Courses Online USA 2024

Hi PMP aspirant, welcome to AKVTutorials. Are you planning to make a career in Project Management and want to know how the project managers started their career. Then, you must know about the Project Management Professional PMP Certification Exam. Therefore, in this article, you will get the knowledge about Free PMP Project Management Certification Training Courses Online USA 2024.

Best PMP Exam Prep Course should be on your radar if you’re trying to ace the PMP (Project Management Professional) exam. For years, prospective project managers have relied on this priceless tool.

Project Management Professional PMP Exam Preparation Course information in this article  organized nicely and includes all the crucial ideas, methods, and tools you’ll need to ace the PMP exam.

200+ PMP Practice Test with Answer Keys

It’s an indispensable study companion because it includes thorough explanations, practice questions, and actual-world examples. You can also get a 441+ Short Notes for PMP Exam known as PMP Exam Flashcards.

FREE Project Management Certification Course Online

This PMP course is designed to prepare individuals for the Project Management Professional certification, a globally recognized credential in project management. In this section of PMP course, there are following topics included:

1. What is a Project?
2. How does the Project get started?
3. What does help a Project Management for an organization?
4. What are importance of a Project Management?
5. What are Programs?
6. What are Mega Projects?
7. What are Portfolios?
8. What is an overview of an organizational strategy through Projects?
9. What are Portfolios Management?
10. What is a Project Life Cycle?

What is a Project?

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product services or result. It is usually progressively elaborated. A project derives changes in organization and enables business value creation. They move an organization from one state to other states in order to achieve a specific objective. 

How do the Project get started?

A project is started according to following initiation context.

• Meet regulatory, legal or social requirements.
• Satisfy stakeholder requests or needs.
• Implement or change business or technological strategies and
• Create improve or fix products process or services.

What does help a Project Management for an organization?

A project management enables organization to

• Tie projects results to business goals,
• Compete more effectively in their markets,
• Sustain the organization and
• Respond to the impact of business environment changes on projects by appropriate adjusting project management plans.

What are importance of a Project Management?

There are following importance of a project management:

• Project Management meets business objective
• Project Management satisfy stakeholder expectations
• Project Management is more predictable,
• Project Management increases chances of success,
• Project Management deliver the right products at the right time,
• Project Management resolve problems and issues,
• Project Management responds to risks in a timely manner,
• Project Management optimize the usages of organizational resources
• Project Management identify, recover or terminate failing projects,
• Project Management manages constraints like scope quality schedule costs resources
• Project Management balance the influence of constraints on project,
• Project Management manages change in a better manner.

What are Programs?

A program is defined as a group of related projects, subsidiary programs and program activities managed in a coordinated manner to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually. 

What are Mega Projects?

A very large project may be referred to as megaprojects. As a guideline, megaprojects cost US$1 billion or more, affect 1 million or more people, and run for years.  

What are Portfolios?

A portfolio is defined as projects, subsidiary portfolios and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objective. Portfolio Components may not necessarily be related. 

What is an overview of an organizational strategy through Projects?

An overview of an organizational strategy through projects as below.

What are Portfolios Management ?

The aim of portfolio management ids to:

• Guide Organizational investment decisions.
• Select the optimal mix of programs and projects to meet strategic objectives
• Provide decision-making transparency.
• Prioritize team and physical resource allocation .
• Increase the likelihood of realizing the desired return on investment.
• Centralize the management of the aggregate risk profile of all the components.

What is a Project Life cycle?

A project lifecycle is the series of phases that the project passes through from its start to completion . It provides the basic framework for managing the project.

The phases may be sequential, iterative or overlapping 

1. Inception 
2. Elaboration
3. Construction 
4. Transition 
5. Analysis 
6. Design 
7. Implementation 
8. Testing 

Project life cycle can be predictive (as in Waterfall) or adaptive (as in Agile)

Within a project life cycle, there are general one or more phases that are associated with the development of the product, service or result. These are called a development life cycle. 

FREE Project Management Certification Online

This PMP Certification course is accredited according to the Project Management Institute (PMI), ensuring high-quality education. In this section of PMP Prep course, there are following topics included:

1. What is a Development Life Cycle?
2. What is Iterative Life Cycle?
3. What is Incremental Life Cycles?
4. What is Adaptive Life Cycles?
5. What is Hybrid Life Cycles?
6. What is a Product Life Cycles?
7. What are Project Phases?
8. What are Phase Gate Reviews?
9. What are five Process Groups?
10. What are ten Knowledge Areas?

What is a Development Life cycle?

• Development life cycles can be predictive, iterative, incremental, adaptive or a hybrid model. 
• In a predictive (waterfall) lifecycle , the project scope , time and cost are determined in the early phases of the life cycle.

What is a Iterative Life cycle?

• In an iterative life cycle , the project scope is generally determined as early in the project life cycle, but time and cost estimates are routinely modified as the project team’s understanding of the project increases.
• Iterations develop the product through a series of repeated cycles, while increments successively add to the functionality of the product. 

What is a Incremental Life cycle?

In an incremental life cycle, the deliverable is produced through a series of iterations that successively adds functionality within a pre-determined time frame. 

What is a Adaptive Life cycles?

Adaptive life cycles are agile, iterative or incremental. The detailed scope is defined and approved before the start of an iteration.

Adaptive life cycles are also referred to as agile or change-drive lifecycles.

What is a Hybrid Life cycles?

A hybrid Life cycle is a combination of  a predictive and an adaptive life cycle.

What is a Product Life cycles?

A product life cycle is the series of phases the represent the evolution of a product, from concept through delivery, growth, maturity, and to retirement. 

Project initially occurs here –

1. Sales
2. Development
3. Product Introduction 
4. Acceptance & Growth 
5. Maturity
6. Decline
7. End of life

What are Project Phases?

• Projects are typically broken down or measured in phases. Each phase is a collection of a logically related project activities, usually culminating in a completion of one or more deliverables.
• Phases have a Name , Number , Duration ,  Resource Requirement, Entrance criteria and Exit criteria 

What are Phase Gate Reviews?

• A key component used with project phases is the phase review. 
• A phase review ( aka stage gate , kill point , phase entrance or phase exit ) is held at the end of the phase to assess the project’s performance and progress against plans and business documents.  

What are the 5 Process Groups?

• Initiating: recognizing that a project or phase should begin and obtaining authorization.
• Planning: establish scope & objectives, and develop action plan.
• Executing: coordinating resources to carry out the plan.
• Monitoring and Controlling: Tracking , reviewing and regulating project progress and performance and managing changes.
• Closing: Executing: formalizing complete or close project, phase or contract. 

What are the 10 Knowledge Areas? 

A Project Management Knowledge Area is “an identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes , practices , inputs , outputs, tools and techniques”. There are 10 Knowledge Areas defined in the PMBOK® Guide2.

1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Schedule Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality Management 
6. Project Resource Management
7. Project Communications Management
8. Project Risk Management
9. Project Procurement Management 
10. Project Stakeholder Management

FREE Project Management Training Course Online

This PMP Certification Prep Online Course covers a comprehensive curriculum that includes project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. In this section of PMP Prep Online Course, there are following topics included:

1. What is a Project Management Data and Information?
2. What are Project Management Business Documents?
3. What are Project Business Case?
4. What is a Project Benefits Management Plan?
5. What are Enterprise Environment Factors?
6. About EEFS Internal to the Organization
7. About EEFS External to the Organization
8. What are Organizational Process Assets?
9. What are Organizational Knowledge Repositories?
10. What are Organizational Systems?
11. What are Organizational Governance Framework?

What is a Project Management Data and Information?

• Work performance data. raw observations and measurements (% complete).
• Work performance information. performance data collected and analyzed from various controlling processes (forecast estimates to complete ).
• Work performance reports. physical or electronic representation of work ( status reports )

What are Project Management Business Documents?

The project sponsor is generally accountable for the development and maintenance of the project business case document.

The project manager is responsible for providing recommendations and oversight to keep the project business case, project management plan, project charter and project benefits management plan success measures in alignment with one another and with one goals and objectives of the organization.

There are 2 documents we generally use for project management business.

Project Business Case 

A documented economic feasibility study used to establish the validity of the benefits of a selected component lacking sufficient definition and that is used as the basis for authorization of further project management activities.

Project benefit management plan 

The document explanation defining the processes for creating, maximizing and sustaining the benefits provided by a project. 

What are Project Business Case?

• The project business case is the documented economic feasibility study used to establish the validity of the benefits of a selected component.
• It lists the objective and reasons for project initiation.
• It helps measure the project success at the end of the project against the project objectives. 
• The business case is a project business document that is used throughout the product life cycle.
• The business case may be used before the project initiation and may result in go/non-go decision for the project.
• A needs assessment often precedes the business case.

What is a Project Benefits Management Plan?

• The project benefit management plan is the document that describes how and when the benefits of the project will be delivered , and describes the mechanisms that should be in at the place to measure those benefits.
• A project benefit is defined as an outcome of actions, behaviors , products, services or results that provide value to the sponsoring organization as well as to the project’s intended beneficiaries.
• The benefits management plan may include the following : Target benefits, Strategic alignment, Timeframe for realizing benefits , Benefits owner, Metrics , Assumptions and Risks.
• Development and maintenance of the project benefits management plan is an iterative activity. 

What are Enterprise Environmental Factors ?

Enterprise Environmental factors (EEFs) refer to the conditions (internal and external) , not under the control of the project team that influence, constrain, or direct the project.

EEFS Internal To The Organization

• Organizational culture, structure and governance
• Geographic distribution of facilities and resources
• Infrastructure
• Information technology software
• Resource availability
• Employee capability

EEFS External To The Organization

• Marketplace conditions
• Social and cultural influences and issues
• Legal restrictions
• Commercial databases
• Academic Research
• Government or industry standards
• Financial considerations
• Physical environmental elements
• Marketplace conditions 

What are Organizational Process Assets?

Organizational process assets (OPAs) are the plans, processes, policies, procedures and knowledge bases specific to and used by the performing organization.

Processes , policies and procedures – established by PMO

Organizational knowledge bases – updated throughput project.

Examples :

• Templates for common project documents
• Examples from a previous project plan
• Software tools
• Databases of a project information :
• Project files and records
• Historical information
• Lessons learned
• Process definitions
• Organization communication needs
• Criteria to complete (close)
• Financial infrastructure
• Issue management
• Change control processes
• Risk management
• Work authorization
• The corporate knowledge base
• Process data
• Configuration management 
• Organizational policies , procedures , and guidelines for any area ( risk, financial , reporting , change , control , etc.)

What are Organizational Knowledge Repositories?

The organizational knowledge repositories for storing and retrieving information include but are not limited to :

• Configuration management knowledge
• Financial data
• Historical information and lessons learned
• Issue and defect management data 
• Data repositories for metrics
• Project files from previous projects

What are Organizational Systems ?

• A system s a collection of various components  that together can produce results not obtainable by the individual components alone .
• The interaction of various system components creates the organizational culture and capabilities.

There are several principles regarding systems :

• Systems are dynamic, can be optimized, System components can be optimized, Systems and their components cannot be optimized at the same time and Systems are nonlinear in responsiveness ( a change in the input does not produce a predictable change in the output)

What are Organizational Governance Framework ?

Project governance refers to the framework, functions and processes that guide project management activities in order to create a unique product, service or result to meet organizational , strategic and operational goals.

Includes consideration of people, roles , structures and policies ; and requires providing directions and oversight through data and feedback .

• Rules
• Policies
• Procedures 
• Norms
• Relationships
• Systems
• Processes

FREE Project Management Training Online

This PMP Certification Prep Online Course focuses on preparing students for the PMP exam, which is required to obtain the certification. In this section of PMP Certification Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. What are the Factors to consider in selecting an Organizational Structure?
2. What are different types of organizational Structure types?
3. What is Project Management Office?
4. What is a Project Managers?
5. What does the Project Manager?
6. What are Project Manager Competencies?
7. What are Leadership Styles?
8. What are Different types of Leader styles?
9. What is Personality?
10. What is Performing Integration?

What are the Factors to consider in selecting an Organizational Structure ?

• Degree of alignment with organizational objectives
• Specialization capabilities
• Span of control ,efficiency and effectiveness
• Clear path for escalation of decisions 
• Clear line and scope of authority
• Delegation capabilities
• Accountability assignment
• Responsibility assignment
• Adaptability of design
• Simplicity of design
• Efficiency of performance
• Cost considerations 
• Physical locations
• Clear communications

What are different types of Organizational Structure Types?

• Organic or Simple
• Functional (centralized )
• Multi divisional ( may replicate functions for each divisions with little centralization )
• Matrix (strong) Matrix (weak) 
• Matrix ( balanced )
• Project- oriented ( composite , hybrid )
• Virtual 
• Hybrid
• PMO*

What is Project Management Office?

A project management office ( PMO) is an organizational structure that standardize the project- related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodology , tools and techniques. A PMO can be :

Supportive: provides templates, trainings ad keeps lesson learned. It serves as a project repository and has a low level of control.

Controlling: maintains compliance with a PM methodology or framework while providing support. Control is moderate.

Directive: takes control of the projects by directly managing the projects. Projects managers are assigned by and report to the PMO. The degree of control provided by the PMO is high.

What is a Project Manager?

• The role of a project manager can vary in a scope on different projects, and is different from functional or operations managers.
• The functional manager focuses on providing management oversight for a functional or a business unit.
• Operations managers are responsible for ensuring that business operations are efficient.
• The project manage is the person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.

What does the Project Manager?

The project manager

• leads the project team to meet the project’s objectives and stakeholders expectations.
• works to balance the competing constraints on the project with the resources available
• performs communication roles between the project sponsor, team members and other stakeholders.
• proactively interacts with other project managers.
• stays informed about current industry trends.
• Practices continuing knowledge transfer and integration
• educates other professionals regarding project management.

What are Project Manager Competencies?

Technical Project Management – knowledge, skills , behaviors related to specific domains of project, program and portfolio management. The technical aspect of performing one’s role.

Leadership – knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to guide, motivate and  direct a team, to help an organization achieve its business goals.

Strategic and business management – knowledge of an expertise in the industry and organization that enhanced performance and better delivers outcomes. 

What  are Leadership Styles ? 

The leadership style a project manager uses may change overtime based on the factors in play. Major factors to consider include but are not limited to :

1. Leader characteristics (e.g. , attitudes, moods, needs, values , ethics);
2. Team member characteristics (e.g. , attitudes, moods, needs, values , ethics);
3. Organizational characteristics (e.g. , its purpose, structure and type of work performed) and;
4. Environmental characteristics (e.g. , social situation, economic state and political elements)

What are Different Types of Leadership Styles

• Laissez-faire allowing the team to make their own decisions
• Transactional focus on goals, feedback and accomplishments to determine rewards; management by exception
• Servant leader demonstrates commitment to serve and put other people first type
• Transformational  empowering followers through idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational and motivations, 
• Charismatic  able to inspire, his high -energy, enthusiastic and self-confident 
• Interactional a combination of transactional, transformational and charismatic  

What is Personality?

Personality refers to an individual differences in characteristics patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. Characteristics or traits include:

• Authentic
• Courteous
• Creative
• Culture 
• Emotional
• Intellectual
• Managerial
• Political
• Service-oriented
• Social
• Systematic

What is Performing Integration?

The role of project manager is twofold when performing integration on the project:

• Project managers plays a key role in working with the project sponsors to understand the strategic objectives and ensures the alignment of the project objectives and results with those of the portfolio, program and business area. In this way, project managers contribute to the integration and execution of the strategy.
• Project managers are responsible for guiding the team to work together to focus on what is really essential at the project level. This is achieved through the integration of processes, knowledge and people.

PMP Certification Exam Preparation

This PMI authorized PMP Exam Prep Course often led by experienced instructors who are PMP certified themselves. In this section of PMP Certification Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. Three different levels of performing integration.
2. What is Integrity and Complexity?
3. Given an Overview of Project Integration Management Overview.
4. About Project Integration Management: Develop Project Charter
5. About Project Integration Management: Develop Project Management Plan
6. About Project Integration Management: Direct and Manage Project Work
7. About Project Integration Management: Monitor and Control Project Work
8. About Project Integration Management: Perform Integrated Change Control
9. About Project Integration Management: Close Project or Phase
10. What are Project Management Plan?

Three Different Levels of Performing Integration?

Process Level : Project management is a set of processes and activities that are undertaken to achieve the project objectives. The PM integrates the project processes where they interact.

Cognitive Level : The PM selects the suitable method to manage a project depending on specific characteristics of the project including its size, project or organization complexity and culture of the performing organization.

Context Level :  The PM considers the implications in the project context ( technology, social media, etc ) in communications , planning and knowledge management for guiding the project team. 

What is Integrity and Complexity? 

Complexity within projects is a result of the organization’s system , behavior , human behavior and the uncertainty and work in the  organization or its environment.

When approaching the integration of a project, the PM considers elements inside and outside of the project. Complexity ads  the characteristics or property of a project is defined as:

• Containing multiple parts,
• Possessing a number of connections between the parts
• Exhibit dynamic interactions between the parts, and
• Exhibiting behavior produced as a result of those interactions that cannot be explained as a simple sum of the parts.  

Give an overview of Project Integration Management Overview

Project Integration Management: Develop Project Charter 

1. Inputs

• Business documents
• Agreements enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data gathering
• Interpersonal and team skills
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Project charter
• Assumption log

Project Integration Management: Develop Project Management Plan 

1. Inputs

• Projects charters
• Outputs from other processes
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data gathering
• Interpersonal and team skills
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Project management plan 

Project Integration Management: Direct and Manage Project Work

1. Inputs

• Project management plan
• Project documents Approved changed requests
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgments
• Project management information system
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Deliverables
• Work performance data
• Issue log
• Change request
• Project management plan updates 
• Organizational process asset updates

Project Integration Management: Monitor and Control Project Work

1. Inputs

• Project management plan
• Project documents
• Work performance information
• Agreement
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques 

• Expert judgement
• Data analysis
• Discussion making
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Work performance reports
• Change requests
• Project management plans
• Project document updates

Project Integration Management: Perform Integrated Change Control

1. Inputs

• Project management plans
• Project documents
• Work performance reports
• Change requests
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Change control tools
• Data analysis
• Decision making Meetings

3. Outputs 

• Approved changed requests
• Project management plan updates
• Project document updates

Project Integration Management: Close Project or Phase

1.  Inputs

• Project charter
• Project management plans
• Project documents
• Accepted deliverables
• Business documents
• Agreements
• Procurement documentation
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data analysis
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Project documents updates Final product, service or result transition
• Final report  Organizational process assets updates

Preparation for PMP Certification Exam

There are various PMP courses offer flexible learning options, including online, in-person, and hybrid formats. In this section of PMP Certification Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. What does Project Document Contain?
2. About Direct and Manage Project Work
3. Manage Project Knowledge
4. Monitor and Control Project Work
5. Perform Integrated Change Control
6. Close Project or Phase
7. What is Project Scope Management?
8. What are Project Scope Management Processes?
9. What is the difference between Predictive vs Adaptive Lifecycles?
10. What are the Trends and Emerging Practices in Project Scope Management?

What are Project Management Plan

1. Scope management plan
2. Requirement management plan
3. Schedule management plan
4. Cost management plan
5. Quality management plan
6. Resource management plan
7. Communication management plan
8. Risk management plan
9. Procure management pan
10. Stakeholder engagement plan
11. Change management plan
12. Configuration management plan
13. Scope baseline
14. Schedule baseline
15. Cost baseline
16. Performance measurement baseline
17. Project lifecycle description
18. Development approach 

What does Project Documents contain?

1. Activity attributes
2. Activity lists
3. Assumption log
4. Basis of estimates
5. Change log
6. Cost estimates
7. Cost forecasts
8. Duration estimates
9. Issue log
10. Lessons learned register
11. Milestone list
12. Physical resource assignment
13. Project calendars
14. Project communications
15. Project schedule
16. Project schedule network diagram
17. Project scope statements
18. Project team assignments
19. Quality control measurements
20. Quality metrics
21. Quality reports
22. Requirements documents
23. Requirements traceability matrix
24. Resource breakdown structure 
25. Resource calendars
26. Resource Requirements
27. Risk register
28. Risk report
29. Schedule data
30. Schedule forecasts
31. Stakeholder register
32. Team charter
33. Test and evaluation documents 

Direct and Manage Project Work

1. Inputs

• Project management plan
• Project documents
• Approved change requests
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques 

• Expert judgement
• Project management information system
• Meetings

3. Outputs 

• Deliverables
• Work performance data
• Issue log
• Change requests 
• Project management plan updates
• Organizational process assets updates

Manage Project Knowledge?

1. Inputs

• Project management plan
• Project documents
• Deliverables
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques 

• Expert judgement
• Knowledge management
• Information management
• Interpersonal and team skills

3. Outputs

• Lessons learned register
• Project management plan updates
• Organizational process assets updates

Monitor and Control Project work

1.  Inputs

• Project management plan
• Project documents
• Work performance information
• Agreements
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data analysis
• Decision making
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Work performance reports
• Change requests
• Project management plan updates
• Project document updates

Perform Integrated Change Control

1.  Inputs

• Project management plan Project documents
• Work Performance reports
• Change requests
• Enterprise Environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Change control tools
• Data analysis
• Decision making
• Meetings

3. Outputs 

• Approved change requests
• Project management plan updates
• Project document updates

Close Project or Phase

1. Inputs

• Project charter Project management plan
• Project documents
• Accepted deliverables
• Business documents
• Agreements
• Procurement documentation
• Organizational process assets

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data analysis
• Meetings

3. Outputs

• Project document updates
• Final product, service or result transition
• Final report
• Organizational process assets updates

What is Project Scope Management?

• Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and the only work required, to complete the project successfully.
• Managing the project scope is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project .

In the project context the term ‘scope’ can refer to :

• Product scope. The features and functions that characterize a product, service or result.
• Project scope. The work performed to deliver a product, service or result with the specified features and functions. The term “project scope’ is sometimes viewed as including product scope. 

What are Project Scope Management Processes?

There are 6 processes in Project Scope Management:

• Plan Scope Management –  “creating a scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, validated and controlled”
• Collect requirements “determining, documenting and managing stakeholders needs and requirements to meet project objectives.”
• Define scope “developing a detailed description of product and project.”
• Create WBS “subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components.”
• Validate scope “formalizing acceptance of the competed project deliverables.”
• Control scope “monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline.” 

What is the difference between Predictive Vs Adaptive Lifecycle

• In a predictive life cycle, the project deliverables are defined at the beginning of the project and any changes to the scope are progressively managed.
• In an adaptive or agile life cycle, the deliverables are developed over multiple iterations where a detailed scope is defined and approved for each iteration when it begins.
• The overall scope of an adaptive project will be decomposed into a set of requirements and work to be performed, known as product backlog.
• At the beginning of the iteration, the team determined of how many of the highest-priority items on the backlog can be delivered within the next iteration.
• Three processes ( Collect requirements, Define scope and Create WBS) are repeated for each iteration.
• In a predictive project, these 3 processes are performed towards the beginning of the project and updated as necessary. 

What are the Trends and Emerging Practices in Project Scope Management ?

• As the global environment becomes more complex, organizations are starting to recognize how to use business analysis to their completive advantage by defining, managing and controlling requirement activities.
• Trends and emerging practices for Project Scope Management include a focus on collaborating with business analysis professionals to:

1. Determine problems and identify business needs,
2. Identify and recommend viable solutions for meeting those needs,
3. Elicit, document and manage stakeholders requirements in order to meet business and project objectives, 

• The process ends with the requirements closure, which transitions the product, service or result to the recipient in order to measure, monitor, realize and sustain benefits overtime.
• In a project with evolving requirements, high risk or significant, uncertainty, the scope is often not understood at the beginning of the project or it evolves during the project.
• Agile methods deliberately spends  less time trying to define and agree on scope with early stage of the project and spend more time establishing the process for its ongoing discovery and refinement.
• Agile methods purposefully build and review prototypes and release versions in order to refine the requirements.
• As a result, scope is defined and redefined through the project.
• In agile approaches, the requirements constitute the backlog. 

PMP Exam Prep Course Online

This course introduces PMP aspirants to the PMI framework and PMBOK Guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge). In this section of PMP Certification Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. What is the Plan Scope Management?
2. What is the Project Management Plan?
3. What is a Data Analysis?
4. Work Breakdown Structure Organization Chart
5. What is Scope Management Plan?
6. What is Requirement Management Plan?
7. What are Collect Requirements?
8. What is Collect Requirements?
9. What is a Requirement?
10. What is Collect Requirements Process?

What is the Plan Scope Management?

Plan Scope Management is the “process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project and product scope will be defined, validated and controlled. It provides guidance and direction on how scope will be managed throughout the project.

Inputs

• Project Charter
• Project management plan
  • Quality management plan
  • Project life cycle description
  • Development approach
• Enterprise environmental factors
• Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data analysis
  • Alternative analysis
• Meetings

Outputs

• Scope management plan
• Requirement management plan 

What is the Project Management Plan?

Quality management plan. The way the project and product scope will be managed can be influenced by how the organization’s quality policy, methodologies and standards are implemented on the project.

Project lifecycle description. The project lifecycle determines the series of a phases that the project passes through from its inception to the end of the project. 

Development Approach. The development approach defines weather waterfall, iterative, adaptive, agile or a hybrid development approach will be used/ 

What is a Data Analysis?

• A data analysis technique can be used for this process includes but is not limited to alternative analysis.
• Various ways of collecting requirements elaborating the project and product scope, creating the product, validating the scope and controlling the scope are evaluated. 

Work Breakdown Structure Organization Chart

• Automated Software system
• Prime mission project
• Platform integration  System Eng/ Program management
• System tests and evaluation
• Training  
• Data
• Peculiar support equip
• Common support equip
• Subsystem 1 specify names …
• PMP Application software
• PMP system software
• Equipment 
• Services
• Facilities
• Test & Measure equip
• Support and handling equip

What is Scope Management Plan?

• The scope management plan is a component of a project management plan that describes how the scope will be defined, developed, monitored, controlled and validated.
• It can be formal or informal, broadly framed or highly detailed, based on the needs of the project.
• The components of a scope management plan includes:

• • Process for preparing a project statement
  • Process that enables the creation of WBS from the detailed project scope statement:
  • Process that establishes how the scope  baseline will be approved and maintained: and
  • Processes that specifies how formal acceptance of the completed project deliverables will be obtained. 

What is Requirement Management Plan?

• The requirements management plan is a components of the project management plan that describes how project and product requirements will be analyzed, documented and managed. It is sometimes referred to as business management plan.
• Components of the required management plan includes:

• • How requirements activities will be planned, tracked and reported 
  • Configuration management activities such as how change will be initiated, how impacts will be analyzed, how they will traced, tracked and reported; as well as the authorization levels required to approve these changes.
  • Requirements prioritization process ;
  • Metrics that will be used and rationale and the rationale for using them and
  • Traceability structure that reflects the requirements attributes captured on the traceability metrics. 

What are Collect Requirements?

• Collect requirements is the process where we document what the customer requires out of the project. The resulting document should reflect both the project and product requirements and should include all stakeholders expectations.
• The project’s success is directly impacted by the efficiency of capturing and managing these requirements, as well as participation from stakeholders .
• These requirements are obtained by elicitation and analysis, and should be recorded in enough detailed to be used as acceptance criteria for the product delivery.
• The project charter and the stakeholder register are the starting points for developing requirements. 

What is Collect Requirements?

• Collect Requirements is the process where we document what the customer requires out of the project. The resulting document should reflect both of the project and product requirements and should include all stakeholders expectations.
• The project’s success is directly impacted by the efficiency of capturing  and managing these requirements, ads well as participation from Stakeholders.
• These requirements are obtained by elicitation and analysis, and should be recorded in enough detail to be used as acceptance criteria for project delivery.
• The project charter and the stakeholder register are the starting points for the developing requirements. 

What is a Requirement?

• A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a system, product, service, result or component, to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed document.
• Requirements includes the quantify and documented needs, wants and expectations of the sponsor, customers and stakeholders.
• Project Requirements can include the organizations business requirements, PM requirements, project delivery criteria, etc.
• Project Requirements can include information on technical specs, security and safety needs and performance expectations, etc. 

What is Collect Requirements Process?

Inputs

1. Project charter

2. Project management plan

• Scope management plan 
• Requirements management plan
• Stakeholders engagement plan

3. Project documents

• Assumption log
• Lessons learned register
• Stakeholder register

4. Business documents

• Business case

5. Agreements

6. Enterprise environmental factors

7. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

1. Expert judgement

2. Data gathering

• Brainstorming
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Questionnaires and surveys 
• Benchmarking

3. Data analysis

• Document analysis

4. Decision making

• Voting
• Multi-criteria decision analysis

5. Data representation

• Affinity diagram
• Mind mapping

6. Interpersonal and team skills

• Nominal group technique
• Observation/Conversation
• Facilitation

7. Context diagram

8. Prototypes

Outputs

1. Requirements documentation

2. Requirements traceability matrix 

Best PMP Exam Prep Course

This course introduces PMP courses offer opportunities for networking with other professionals in the field. In this section of PMP Certification Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. What are Inputs?
2. What is Expert Judgement?
3. What is Data Gathering?
4. Data Gathering – Questionnaires and Surveys
5. What is Data/ Document Analysis?
6. What is Decision Making?
7. What is Context Diagrams?
8. What is a Prototypes?
9. What is a Requirements Documentation?
10. What is a Requirements Traceability Matrix?

What are Inputs?

• Project Charter – it contains high level project and product requirements.
• Project management plan – contains the Scope management plan,  Requirements management plan, and Stakeholder engagement plan. 
  • The stakeholder engagement pan is used to understand stakeholders communication requirements and the level of stakeholders engagement in order to assess and adapt to the level of stakeholders participation in requirements activities.

• Project documents – such as Assumptions log , Lessons learned register and stakeholder register
• Business documents – such as business case ,
• Agreements – contracts
• EEF’s – such as culture, marketplace, infrastructure, personnel admin, etc
• OPA’s – such as policies, procedures, historical records 

What is Expert Judgement?

Expertise should be considered from individuals or groups with specialized knowledge or training in the following topics :

• Business analysis
• Requirements elicitation
• Requirements analysis
• Requirements documentation
• Project requirements in previous similar projects
• Diagramming techniques
• Facilitation and
• Conflict management 

What is Data Gathering?

Brainstorming : a technique used to generate and collect multiple ideas related to project and product requirement.

Interviews- formal or informal approach to elicit information from stakeholders by talking to them directly.

Focus groups – focus groups brings together prequalified stakeholders and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes about a proposed product, service or result. 

Data Gathering – Questionnaires and Surveys

Written sets of questions designed to quickly accumulate information from large number of respondents. It involves comparing actual or planned  products, processes, and practices to those of comparable organizations ( internal and  external ) to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement and provide a basis for measuring performance.

What is Data/ Document Analysis?

Document analysis consists of reviewing and assessing any relevant documented information to identify information relevant to the requirements.

Examples of documents that may be analyzed include:

• Agreements
• Business plans
• Business process or interfaces
• Business rules repositories
• Current process flows 

What is Decision Making?

Voting

• Unanimity. Everyone agrees
• Majority. More then 50% agrees
• Plurality. atleast a small group agrees

Autocratic (Dictatorship) one person makes the decision

Multi-criteria decision analysis. uses a decision matrix to provide a systematic analytical approach for establishing criteria, such as risk levels, uncertainty and valuation.

Affinity diagrams. Affinity diagrams allow large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis.

Mind Mapping. Mind Mapping consolidates ideas created through individual brainstorming sessions into a single map to reflect commonality and differences in understanding and to generate new ideas.

Nominal group technique.(aka Voting) enhances brainstorming with a voting process used to rank the most useful ideas for further brain storming or for prioritization.

Observation/conservation. provides a direct way of viewing individuals in their environment and how they perform their jobs or tasks ands carry out processes.

Facilitation. is used when focused sessions that brings key stakeholders together to define product requirements. Used in focused groups, workshops, JAD, QFD, user stories.  

What is Context Diagrams?

The context diagram is an example of an scope model.

Context diagram visually depict the product scope by showing a business system ( process, equipment, computer system, etc ) and how people and other systems (actors) interact with it. 

What is a Prototypes?

• Prototyping is a method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing the model of the expected product before actually building it.
• Examples of prototypes are small scale products, computer-generated 2D and 3D models, mock-ups or simulations.
• Prototypes allows stakeholders to experiment with a model of the final product  rather then being limited to discussing abstract representations of their requirements.
• Prototypes support the concept of progressive elaboration in iterative cycles of mock-up creation, user-experimentation, feedback generation and proto-type revision.  

What is a Requirements Documentation?

• Requirements documentation is the consolidated lists of stakeholders requirements.
• They represent the conditions or capabilities that the project must meet in order to meet the business needs for which it was initiated.
• Requirements needs to be properly documented.
• Once approved, they are considered baselined or any future change after the baselining will require approval first.
• Requirements can be grouped or categorized in order to better manager them. Requirements must be unambiguous ( measurable & testable), traceable, complete , consistent and acceptable   

What is a Requirements Traceability Matrix?

• The requirement traceability matrix helps trace every requirement to its source and then to proof that it was delivered.

• It links requirements to business objectives, thereby confirming the value to the project. Requirements can also be traced to stakeholders requests and solution requirements. Requirements ID, descriptions, rationale, owner , source, version, priority , current status date completed.

• To address stakeholders satisfaction, we should also add attributes such as stability, complexity and acceptance criteria. 

PMP Exam Course Online

This PMP exam course online covers the entire project lifecycle from initiation to closure. In this section of PMP Certification Exam Prep Course Online, there are following topics included:

1. What is a Requirements Documentation?
2. What is a Define Scope?
3. What is a Smart Project Objectives?
4. What are the Tools and Techniques?
5. What is a Project Scope Statement?
6. What is a Project Documents Updates?
7. What is Create WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)?
8. Create WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)
9. What is a Decomposition?
10. What is a Scope Baseline?

What is a Requirements Documentation?

Components of requirements documentations can include :

• Business requirements
• Stakeholders requirements
• Solution requirements
  • Functional requirements
  • Non-functional requirements

• Project requirements – SLA’s, KPI’s, Acceptance criteria, etc.
• Transition and Readiness requirements
• Quality requirements – tests, certifications, validations, etc. 

What is a Define Scope?

• This is where we define the deliverables that will be accomplished by the project. It sets boundaries and defines which of the collected requirements will be included and which will be excluded.
• Product deliverables – These describes the physical and functional features and characteristic of the fine deliverables.
• Project objectives – metrics or targets that the project must meet ni order to be considered a success ( quality, cost , schedule, targets)

Inputs

1. Project charter

2. Project management plans

• Scope management plans

3. Project documents

• Assumption log
• Requirements documentation
• Risk register

4. Enterprise environmental factors

5. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques 

1. Expert judgement

2. Data analysis

• Alternative analysis

3. Decision making

• Multicriteria decision analysis

4. Interpersonal and Team skills

• Facilitation

5. Product analysis

Outputs

1. Project scope statement

2. Project document updates

• Assumption log
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability matrix
• Stakeholders register 

What is a Smart Project Objectives?

Project objective should confirm to the SMART model.

• Specific. Objectives must be clear and well defined. The must define what the project include and excludes.
• Measurables. Objectives must be defined in a measurable terms which the project manager must be able to measure and report progress on. 
• Agreed upon. The stakeholders must agree on project objectives and end results.
• Realistic. Objectives must be achievable given the available resources, knowledge, skills and time.
• Time (cost) limited. Objectives must be framed within clear time (cost) goals.  

What are the Tools and Techniques?

• Expert Judgment – Experts such as consultants or SME’s are consulted to analyze what needs to be in Project Scope Statement.
• Data/ Alternative analysis – can be used to evaluate ways to meet the requirements and the objectives identified in the charter.
• Decision making (Multi- criteria) – uses a decision matrix to provide a systematic analytical approach for establishing criteria such as requirements, schedule, budget and resources in order to refine the project and product scope for the project.
• Interpersonal and Team skills – such as facilitation
• Product analysis – useful when the end result is the product. The analysis will help understand the what goes into making the product and thus the scope becomes clearer. Examples include product breakdown, system analysis , requirements analysis, system engineering , value engineering and analysis. 

What is a Project Scope Statement?

The project scope statement details is what is required on the project and what is excluded. Once approved all changes would need approval. It should include:

• Product scope description – gradually expands on the description of the final product expected from the project.
• Acceptance criteria – defines the criteria for accepting the final deliverable. Meeting the criteria will justify approval by the stakeholders involved.
• Deliverable – those are what the project was undertaken to produce including other non-product deliverables such as documents or reports.
• Project exclusion – states what is not included in the project. This helps to manage stakeholders expectations. 

What is a Project Documents Updates?

Some documents may need to be updated at this point, including :

• Assumption log – The assumption log is updated with additional assumptions or constraints that were identified during this process.
• Requirements documentation – it may be updated with additional or changed requirements.
• Requirements traceability matrix –  it may be updated to reflect updates in requirements documentation
• Stakeholder register – where additional information on existing or new stakeholders is gathered as a result of this process, it s recorded in the stakeholders register. 

What is Create WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)?

“This is the process of subdividing deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components”.

The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.

The planned work (deliverables) are contained within the lowest level of WBS components, which are called work packages.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Scope management plan

2. Project documents

• Project scope statements
• Requirements documentation

3. Enterprise environmental factors

4. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Decomposition

Outputs

Scope baseline

2. Project documents updates

• Assumption log 
• Requirements documentation 

Create WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)

The resulting structure is similar to an organizational chart, but the components or nodes represent project work with each descending level representing a more detailed description of the project work that needs to be delivered. The nodes at the very lowest level are called Work Packages and they contain schedule activities that are used in developing the project schedule.

Work Management System Project

• Needs Assessment
• Standards development
• System engineering
• Project management
• Current system audit
• Requirements determination
• Alternatives developments
• System requirements developments
• Components identification
• Gap assessment
• Alternatives identification
• Components analysis 
• Requirements changes identification
• Alternative analysis 

What is a Decomposition?

• Decomposition breaks the total project work into small pieces so that they are easier to manage, assign, and estimate.
• Entry level is the detailed explanation of the level above it.
• The WBS can be structured by the phases, major deliverables or sub-components.
• The WBS packages at the lowest levels collectively represents the full project scope (the 100% rule)
• Decomposition of the total project work into work packages generally involves the following activities:
  • Identifying and analyzing the deliverables and related work
  • Structuring and organizing the WBS
  • Decomposing the upper WBS levels into lower-level detailed components and
  • Verifying that the degree of decomposition  of the deliverables is appropriate. 

What is a Scope Baseline?

The scope baseline is made up of the following components:

• Project scope statement : This is the description of the project scope, major deliverables, assumptions and constraints.
• WBS : The WBS is developed as the result of the process. It contains the breakdown of the project scope and any control accounts.
• Work package : The lowest level of WBS is a work package with a unique identifier. Each work package is a part of control account. A control account is a management control point where scope, budget and schedule are integrated and compared to the earned value for the performance measurement.
• Planning package : A control account may include one or more planning packages. A planning package is a work breakdown structure components below the control account and above the work package with known work content but without detailed schedule activities.
• WBS Dictionary : The WBS dictionary is a document provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about each component in WBS.

Best PMP Exam Prep Courses

In this section of Best PMP Exam Prep Course Online, there are following topics included:

1. What does include in Work Breakdown Structure Organization Chart?
2. What is Validate Scope ?
3. Validate Scope : Tools and Techniques 
4. Validate Scope Outputs
5. What is Control Scope?
6. What is Data Analysis?
7. What are Outputs ?
8. What is a Project Schedule Management?
9. Trends and Considerations
10. What is Plan Schedule Management?

What does include in Work Breakdown Structure Organization Chart?

• Automated Software system
• Prime mission project
• Platform integration
• System eng/ Program mgt
• System test and evaluation
• Training
• Data
• Peculiar support equip
• Sub-system 1 (specify names)
• PMP application software
• PMP system software
• Equipment
• Services
• Facilities
• Test and measure 

What is Validate Scope ?

Validate scope is the process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables.

Validate scope confirms that stakeholders accept deliverables and are satisfied with the final outcome. Usually the project team will do a quality check against the requirements acceptance criteria before requesting sigh- off from the client. Once client verifies the scope delivered, they usually sign off and accept.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Scope management plan
• Requirements management plan
• Scope baseline

2. Project documents

• Lessons learned register
• Quality reports
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability matrix

3. Verified deliverables – they are project deliverables that are completed and checked for Correctness through Control Quality Process. 

4. Work performance data

Tools and Techniques

1. Inspection

2. Decision making

• Voting

Outputs

1. Accepted deliverables

2. Work performance information

3. Change requests

4. Project document updates

• Lessons learned register
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability matrix  

Validate Scope : Tools and Techniques 

Inspection : It includes activities such as measuring, examining and validating to determine weather work and deliverables meet requirements and product acceptable criteria. Inspections are sometimes called reviews, product reviews and walk throughs.

Decision Making : The project team may apply voting to reach conclusions when validating. 

Validate Scope Outputs

• Accepted Deliverables : Once the customer verifies the deliverables, they sigh- off and that document is forwarded to the closed project or phase process.
• Work Performance Information : discuss earlier
• Change Requests : If deliverables are not accepted, change requests could be made for defect repair.
• Project document updates : the project documents such as ( lessons learned register, requirements documentation, requirements traceability matrix ) will be updated with completed deliverables.  

What is Control Scope?

Control Scope is the process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline.

Scope creep refers to the uncontrolled expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost and resources.

Inputs

• Project management plan
• Scope management plan
• Requirements management plan
• Change management plan
• Configuration management plan
• Scope baseline
• Performance measurement baseline

2. Project documents

• Lessons learned and register
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability matrix

3. Work performance data

• Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

1. Data analysis

• Variance analysis
• Trend analysis

Outputs

1. Work performance information

2. Change requests

3. Project management plan updates

• Scope management plan
• Scope baseline
• Schedule baseline
• Cost baseline
• Performance measurement baseline

4. Project document updates

• Lessons learned register
• Requirements documentation
• Requirements traceability matrix 

What is Data Analysis?

Variance Analysis is used to compare the baseline to the actual results and determine if the variance is within the threshold amount or within the corrective or preventative action is appropriate.

Trend Analysis examines project performance overtime to determine if performance is improving or deteriorating.

Important aspects of project scope control include determining the cause and degree of variance relative to the scope baseline and deciding weather corrective or preventative action is required. 

What are Outputs ?

• Work performance information : includes correlated or contextualized information of how the project and product scope are performing compared to the scope baseline. It can includes the categories of changes received, the identified scope variance and the causes of how they impact schedule or cost and the forecast of the future scope performance.
• Change requests : if performance is not at acceptable levels, change requests can be accepted.
• Project management plan updates : if change requests are issued and approved, then the corresponding plans will need to be updated also.
• Project documents updates : the lessons learned register, as well as the requirement documentation and traceability matrix needs to be updated. 

What is a Project Schedule Management?

Project Schedule Management includes the processes required to mange the timely completion of the project. The process result in a developed schedule which is a baselined once approved and becomes the schedule performance baseline used n the Control Schedule Process.

There are 6 processes in Schedule Management   

• Plan schedule management
• Define activities
• Sequence activities
• Estimate activities durations
• Develop schedule
• Control schedule 

Trends and Considerations

• Iterative scheduling with the backlog. This is a form of rolling wave planning based on adaptive lifecycles, such as agile approach for product development. This approach welcomes changes throughout the development life cycle.
• On demand scheduling. This approach typically used in Kanban System, is based on the theory of constraints and pull-based scheduling concepts from learn manufacturing  to limit in team’s work in progress in order to balance demand against the team delivery throughput. The team pulls work from worklogs of backlogs as resources become available.
• Adaptive approaches. use short cycles to undertake work review, the result and adapt as necessary. 

What is Plan Schedule Management?

Plan Schedule Management is the process of establishing the policies, procedures and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing and controlling the project schedule.

1. Inputs

• Project charter – defines the summary milestones schedule
• Project management plan – includes scope management plan and development approach
• Enterprise environmental factors – Org may have scheduling software and commercial scheduling data.
• Organizational Process assets – Historical info, templates , policies and tools

2. Tools and Techniques

• Expert judgement
• Data analysis – alternative analysis can include determining which schedule methodology to use or how to combine various methods on the project.
• Meeting

3. Outputs

• Schedule meeting plan 

PMP Exam Prep Course

In this section of PMP Exam Prep Course Online, there are following topics included:

1. Schedule Management Plan
2. What is a Define Activities?
3. What is Activity List ?
4. What is an Activity Attributes?
5. What is Milestone List?
6. What is a Change Requests?
7. What is a Sequence Activities?
8. What is Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)?
9. What is Dependency, Determination and Integration?
10. What is a Leads and Lags?

Schedule Management Plan

This plan establishes the criteria and the activities for developing, monitoring and controlling the schedule.

It establishes the following

• Project schedule model development
• Release and iteration length
• Level of accuracy
• Units of measure
• Organizational procedures links
• Project schedule model maintenance
• Control threshold’s
• Rules of performance measurements
• Reporting formats 

What is a Define Activities?

Define Activities is the process of identifying and documenting the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables.

Inputs

1. Project management plans – contains Schedule Management plan and scope baseline
2. Enterprise environmental factors – Org culture, PMIS, commercial databases 
3. Organizational process assets – Lessons learned, templates policies, processes 

Tools and Techniques

1. Expert judgement
2. Decomposition – work packages are decomposed into activities 
3. Roofing wave planning – iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in near term is planned in detail , while working further in the future is planned at a higher level. It is a form of progressive elaboration applicable to work packages, planning packages and release planning when using an agile or waterfall approach. 
4. Meetings

Outputs

1. Activity lists
2. Activity attributes
3. Milestone lists
4. Change requests
5. Project management plan updates – schedule or cost baseline could be updated

What is Activity List ?

The activity list includes the schedule activities required on the project.

For project that use rolling wave planning or agile techniques, the activity lists will updated periodically as the project progresses. 

The activity lists includes the project identifier and a scope of work description for each activity in sufficient detail to ensure that project team members understand what work is required to be completed.

What is an Activity Attributes?

Activity attributes extends the description of the activity by identifying multiple components associated with each activity. Activity attributes are used for scheduled development and for selecting ordering and sorting the planned activities’ in various ways within reports.

The components for each activity evolves overtime. Examples include :

• Activity ID
• WBS ID
• Activity name
• Activity codes
• Activity description
• Predecessor description
• Successor activities
• Leads
• Lags
• Resource requirements
• Imposed dates
• Constraints
• Assumptions 

What is Milestone List?

• A milestone is a significant point or event in the project, and have zero duration.
• A milestone list identifies all project milestone and indicates weather the milestone is mandatory, such as those required by contract, or optional such as those based on historical information. 

What is a Change Requests?

• Once the project has been baselined, the progressive elaboration of deliverables into activities may reveal work that was not initially part of the project baselines.
• This may result in a change requests.
• Change requests are processed for review and disposition through the Perform Integrated Change Control Process. 

What is a Sequence Activities?

Sequence Activities is the process of identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities.

Activities are arranged in order that they should performed with each activity having a predecessor and successor, except for the first and last activities.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Schedule management plan
• Scope baseline

2. Project documents

• Activity attributes
• Activity list
• Assumption log
• Milestone list

3. Enterprise environmental factors 

4. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

1. Precedence diagramming method

2. Dependency, determination and integration

3. Leads and lags

4. Project management information system

Outputs

1. Project scheduling network diagrams

2. Project document updates

• Activity attributes
• Activity lists
• Assumption log
• Milestone list 

What is Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)?

• ‘PDM‘ is a technique used for constructing a schedule model in which a activities are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to be performed.
• This method is used in Critical Path Methodology (CPM) and is also called (Activity-On-Node (AON).

• Finish to start (FS) is the most commonly used type of precedence relationship. Successor activity cannot start until predecessor activity has been finished.
• Finish to start (FF) successor activity cannot be finished until predecessor activity has been finished. 
• Start to start (SS) successor activity cannot start until predecessor activity has been started.
• Start to finish (SF) successor activity cannot finished until a predecessor activity started.

  

What is Dependency, Determination and Integration?

Dependencies are things that influence which activities are must be performed first. There are four kinds:

• Mandatory dependencies – known as hard logic since mandatory dependencies is considered unmovable and cannot be broken.

1. Giving the example where paving the road is dependent upon grading it, the dependency is unavoidable or mandatory.
2. Inherent in the nature of the work.
3. Usually involve physical limitations.  

• Discretionary dependencies – they are known as soft logic or preferred logic or preferential logic.

1. When trying to fast track a project, these activities can be performed in parallel.
2. Example- remodeling of a house may have a discretionary dependency between painting the walls and carpeting the floors where painting must be completed before carpeting could be installed. There is no absolute rule that says the carpet could not be installed before the painting begins.  

• External dependencies – outside of the project control and scope.

1. Involve a relationship between a project activities and non project activities such as dependency on the economy, environmental factors and others.
2. Example- if an automobile is being developed to use an alternative technology, there may be an external dependency on a supplier providing a battery that meets certain specifications before the project can meets its schedule.  

• Internal dependencies – involves a precedence relationship between project activities and are within the project team’s control 

Example – a road must be graded before it can be paved. If grading and paved were the road of two activities on the project, then we would say that the start of the activity of the paving the road is dependent upon the finish of the activity of grading the road, thus these two activities has finish-to start relationship. 

What is a Leads and Lags?

A lead is the amount of time a successor activity can be advanced with respect to a predecessor activity. Foer example – on a project to construct a new office, the landscape should be scheduled to start 2 weeks prior to the schedule punch list completion.

A lag is the amount of the time successor activity will be delayed with respect to a predecessor activity, For example – a technical writing team may begin editing the draft of a large document 15 days after they begin writing it.

PMP Exam Preparation Course Online

In this section of PMP Exam Preparation Course Online, there are following topics included:

1. What is a Project Management Information System (PMIS)?
2. What is a Project Schedule Network Diagrams?
3. What is a Estimate Activity Durations?
4. Expert Judgement 
5. What is Analogous Estimating?
6. What is Bottom- up Estimating?
7. What is a Parametric Estimating?
8. What is Three- Point Estimating?
9. What is a Data Analysis ?
10. What is a Decision Making?

What is a Project Management Information System (PMIS)?

Project Management Information System (PMIS) includes scheduling software that has capability to help , plan , organize and adjust the sequence of the activities, insert the logical relationships, lead and lag values and differentiate the different types of dependencies. 

What is a Project Schedule Network Diagrams?

A project schedule network diagram is a graphical representation of a logical relationships also referred to as dependencies among the project schedule activities. Activities that may have multiple predecessor activities indicates a path convergence. Activities that have multiple successor activities indicate a path divergence. Activities with divergence and convergence are at greater risk as they are affected by multiple activities or can affect multiple activities. 

What is a Estimate Activity Durations?

It is the process of estimating the number of work periods needed to complete individual activities was estimated resources.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Schedule management plan
• Scope baseline

2. Project documents

• Activity attributes
• Activity lists
• Assumption log
• Lessons learned register
• Milestone list
• Project team assignments
• Resource breakdown structure
• Resource calendars
• Resource requirements 
• Risk registers

3. Enterprise environmental factors

Tools and Techniques

1. Expert judgements

2. Analogous estimating

3. Parametric estimating

4. Three-point estimating

5. Bottom- up estimating

6. Data analysis

• Alternative analysis
• Reserve analysis

7. Decision making

8. Meetings

Outputs

1. Duration estimates

2. Basis of estimates

3. Project document updates

• Activity attributes
• Assumption log
• Lessons learned register 

Estimate Activity Duration uses information from the scope of work, required resource type of skill levels, estimate resource quantities, resource calendars, constraints imposed on the duration, effort involved or type of resources (e.g. fixed duration, fixed effort or work, fixed number of resources).

The inputs for the estimates of duration originates from the person or group on the project team who is most familiar with the nature of the work in the specific activity.

The duration estimate  is progressively elaborated and the process considers the quality and availability of the input data.

For example, as more detailed and precise data are available about the project engineering and design work, the accuracy and quality of the duration estimates improve.

• It processes requires an estimation of the amount of work effort required to complete the activity and the amount of available resources estimated to completed the activity.

Other factors for consideration when estimating duration include:

• Law of diminishing returns – When one factor (e.g. resource ) used to determine the effort required to produce a unit of work is increased while all other factors remains fixed, a point will eventually be reached at which additions of that one factor start to yield progressively smaller or diminishing increases in output.
• Student syndrome – or procrastination –  when people start to apply themselves only at the last possible moment before the deadline.
• Parkinson’s Law – where work expands to fill the time for completion 
• Number of resources 
• Advances in technology
• Motivation of staff 

Expert Judgement 

Expertise should be considered from individuals or groups with specialized knowledge in the following topics:

• Schedule development, management and control
• Expertise in estimating and
• Discipline or application knowledge 

What is Analogous Estimating?

• Known as top- down estimating
• The previous actual time spent on the similar activity from a project previously performed within the organization is used to help estimate project duration when there is a limited amount of detailed information about the project.
• It is frequently used to estimate project duration when there is a limited amount of detailed information about the project.
• It is generally less costly and less time costly consuming then the other techniques, but it is also less accurate. 

What is Bottom- up Estimating?

• Sometime an activity cannot be estimated, either because it has not been broken down enough, or because it is simply too complex.
• Break down the activity into further progressively smaller pieces of work until these pieces may be estimated for their resource requirement.
• Once these estimation have been performed, the pieces may be summed up from the bottom back to activity level. 

What is a Parametric Estimating?

• It is an estimating technique in which an algorithm is used to calculate cost or duration based on historical data and project parameters.
• It uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables (e.g square footage in construction ) to calculate an estimate for square activity parameters such as cost, budget and duration.
• Works well for activities that are either linear or easily scaled.
• It is not effective for activities that have not been performed before.
• Example: linear extrapolation, if one team can install 100 feet of fence in one day then it would take 10 teams to install 1000 feet of fence one day. 

What is Three- Point Estimating?

PERT Stands for Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

PERT estimates uses three data points, instead of one

1. Pessimistic (tP)
2. Most likely (also known as realistic )(tM)
3. Optimistic (tO)

• In a triangular distribution,

• In a Beta distribution,

What is a Data Analysis ?

• Alternatives Analysis is used to compare various levels of resources capability or skills, scheduling compression techniques, different tools ( manual versus automated) and make, rent or by decisions regarding the resources.
• This allows the team to weigh resource, cost and duration variables to determine an optimal approach for accomplishing project work.
• Reserve Analysis is used to determine the amount of contingency and management reserve needed for the project, includes contingency and management reserves.  

What is a Decision Making?

• Decision making techniques that can be used in the process include voting.
• One variation of the voting method that is often used in agile based project is called the (first of five)
• In this technique, the project manager asks the team to show their level of support for a decision by holding up a closed first (indicating no support ) up to five fingers ( indicating full support). 

Online PMP Exam Prep Course

In this section of Online PMP Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. What is a Duration Estimates?
2. Basis of Estimates
3. What is Develop Schedule?
4. What is a Develop Schedule ?
5. What is a Schedule Network Analysis?
6. What is a Critical Path Method?
7. What is a Resource Optimization ?
8. What is a Resource Smoothing?
9. What is a Data Analysis?
10. What is Leads and Lags?

What is a Duration Estimates?

• Duration Estimates are quantitative assessments of the likely number of time periods, that are required to complete an activity, phase or project.
• They do not include any lags.
• Estimates may include some indication of the range of possible results. 

Basis of Estimates

• We must provide a clear or complete understanding of how the duration estimate was derived. Supporting details for duration estimates may include –
• Documentation of the basis of the estimate (i.e how it was developed)
• Documentation of all assumption made,
• Documentation of any known constraints
• Indication of the range of possible estimates to indicate that the duration is estimated between a range of values.
• Indication of the confidence level of the final estimate.
• Documentation of the individual project risk influencing this estimate. 

What is Develop Schedule?

It is the process of analyzing activity sequences, durations , resource requirements or schedule constraints to create a schedule model for a project execution and monitoring and controlling.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Schedule management plan
• Scope baseline

2. Project documents

• Activity attributes
• Activity lists
• Assumption log
• Basis of estimates
• Duration estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Milestones list 
• Project schedule network diagrams 
• Project team assignments
• Resource calendars
• Resource requirements 
• Risk registers

Tools and Techniques

1. Schedule network analysis 

2. Critical path method 

3. Resource organization

4. Data analysis

• What if scenario analysis
• Simulation 

6. Leads and lags

7. Schedule comparison 

8. Project management information system

9. Agile release planning 

Outputs

1. Schedule baseline

2.Project schedule

3. Schedule data

4. Project calendars

5. Change requests

6. Project management plan updates

• Schedule management plan
• Cost baseline

7. Project document updates

• Activity attributes
• Assumption log
• Duration estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Resource requirement
• Risk register 

What is a Develop Schedule ?

It is the process of analyzing the activity, sequences, durations, resource requirements and schedule constraints to create a schedule model for project execution and monitoring and controlling.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Schedule management plan
• Scope baseline

2. Project documents

• Activity attributes
• Activity lists
• Assumption log
• Basis of estimates
• Duration estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Milestones list
• Project schedule network diagram
• Project team assignments
• Resource calendars
• Resource requirements
• Risk registers

3. Agreements

4. Enterprise environmental factors

5. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

1. Schedule network analysis

2. Critical path method

3. Resource optimization

4. Data analysis

• What if scenario analysis
• Simulations

5. Leads ad lags

6. Schedule compression

7. Project management information system

8. Agile release planning

Outputs

1. Schedule baseline

2. Project schedule

3. Schedule data

4. Project calendars

5. Change requests

6. Project management plan updates

• Schedule management plan
• Cost baseline

7. Project document updates

• Activity attributes
• Assumption log
• Duration estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Resource requirements
• Risk registers 

What is a Schedule Network Analysis?

Schedule Network Analysis employs techniques such as critical path method, resource optimization and modeling techniques.

Additional analysis includes:

• Assessing the needs to aggregate schedule reserves to reduce the probability of a schedule slip when multiple paths coverage at a single point in time or multiple paths diverge from a single point n time, to reduce the probability of a schedule slip.
• Reviewing the network to see if critical path has high risk activities or long lead items that would nictitates use of schedule reserves or the implementation of risks responses to reduce the risk  on the critical path.

Schedule network analysis is the iterative process that is employed until the viable schedule model is developed. 

What is a Critical Path Method?

• Critical Path Methodology (CPM) is a method used to estimate the minimum project duration and determines the amount of schedule flexibility on the logical network paths within the schedule model.
• Early start and finish dates are calculated by means of a forward pass, using a specified start date.
• Late start and finish dates are calculated by means of backward pass, starting from a specified completion date, which sometimes the project early finish date determined during the forward path calculation.
• An activity on the critical path has zero total float and a delay in competing it will most likely delay the project delivery date.
• There could be multiple critical paths within a network. 

What is a Resource Optimization ?

Resource Levelling is used when your resource needs outgrow the organization’s ability to supply resource.

• It is used to address schedule activities that needs to perform to meet specified delivery dates, to address the situation where shared or required resources are :
• only available at certain times or
• only available in limited quantities or
• to keep selected resources usage at a constant level during specific time periods of the project work 

What is a Resource Smoothing?

This is the technique which adjusts the activities of a schedule model such that the requirement for the resources on the project do not exceed certain predefined resource limit. In smoothing, activities are only delayed within there free and total float. 

What is a Data Analysis?

• What- if Scenario Analysis – This is the process of evaluating scenarios in order to predict their effect, positive or negative on project objectives.
• Simulation-  Uses Monte Carlo Analysis to predict likely schedule outcomes for a project and identify the areas of the schedule that are the highest risk.
• It models the combined effect of individual project risks and other sources of uncertainty to evaluate their potential impact on achieving project objectives. 

  

What is Leads and Lags?

• Leads and Lags are refinements applied during network analysis to develop a viable schedule by adjusting the start time of a successor activities.
• Leads are used in limited circumstances to advance a successor activity with respect to a predecessor activity and lags are used in limited circumstances where processes require a set period of time to elapse between  the predecessor and successor without work or resource impact. 

Free PMP Exam Prep Course

In this section of Free PMP Exam Prep Course, there are following topics included:

1. What is Schedule Compression?
2. What is Agile Release Planning?
3. Develop Schedule – Outputs 
4. What is Project Schedule 1/2?
5. What is Project Schedule 2/2?
6. What is Control Schedule?
7. What is Control Schedule?
8. Control Schedule – Tools and Techniques
9. Control Schedule – Outputs

What is Schedule Compression?

Crashing involves adding resources to a project activity so that it will be completed more quickly. Crashing almost always increase costs. Increasing the number of resources does decrease the time but not by a linear amount. This is because activities will often encounter the law of diminishing returns when adding resources to an activity.

Fast Tracking. A schedule compression technique in which activities or phases normally done in sequence are performed in parallel for at least a portion of their duration. Fast tracking may result in rework and increase risk. It only work when activities can be overlapped to shorten the project duration on the critical path.  

What is Agile Release Planning?

It provides a high level summary timeline of the release schedule based on the product roadmap and the product vision for the product evaluation.

It also determines the number of iterations or sprints in the release and allow the product owner and team to decide how much needs to be developed and how long it will take to have a releasable product based on business goals, dependencies and impediments.

Since features represents value to the customers, the timeline provides a more easily understood project schedule as it defines which features will be available at the end of each iteration which is exactly the depth of information the customer is looking for. 

Develop Schedule – Outputs 

• Schedule Baseline
• Project Schedule
• Schedule Data
• Project Calendars
• Change Requests
• Project management pan updates
• Project documents updates 

What is Project Schedule 1/2?

The project schedule may be presented in a summary form, sometimes referred to as a master schedule or milestone schedule or presented in detail. Although a project schedule can be presented in tabular form, using one or more of the following formats.

• Bar charts
• Project schedule network diagrams 

What is Project Schedule 2/2?

Milestone Chart

• A milestone chart only represents key events ( milestones) for a project.
• It may be significant events or deliverables by you or external parties of the project.
• Milestones has no duration. Milestones charts because of a general level of information they provide should be reserved for brief, high level project presentations where a lot of schedule detail would be undesirable or even distracting. 

What is Control Schedule?

It is the process of monitoring the status of the projects to update project schedule and managing changes to a schedule baseline.

Inputs

1. Project management plan

• Schedule management plan
• Scope baseline

2. Project documents

• Activity attributes
• Activity lists
• Assumption log
• Basis of estimates
• Duration estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Milestones list
• Project schedule network diagram
• Project team assignments
• Resource calendars
• Resource requirements
• Risk registers

3. Agreements

4. Enterprise environmental factors

5. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

1. Schedule network analysis

2. Critical path method

3. Resource optimization

4. Data analysis

• What if scenario analysis
• Simulations

5. Leads ad lags

6. Schedule compression

7. Project management information system

8. Agile release planning

Outputs

1. Schedule baseline

2. Project schedule

3. Schedule data

4. Project calendars

5. Change requests

6. Project management plan updates

• Schedule management plan
• Cost baseline

7. Project document updates

• Activity attributes
• Assumption log
• Duration estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Resource requirements
• Risk registers 

What is Control Schedule?

Control Schedule is the process of monitoring the status of project to update project schedule, and managing changes to schedule baseline.

Inputs

• Project management plan
• Schedule management pan
• Schedule baseline
• Scope baseline
• Performance measurements baseline

2. Project documents

• Lessons learned register
• Project calendars 
• Project schedule
• Resource calendars
• Schedule data

3. Work performance data

4. Organizational process assets

Tools and Techniques

1. Data analysis

• Earned value analysis
• Iteration burndown chart
• Performance review
• Trend analysis
• Variance analysis
• What- if – scenario analysis

2. Critical path method

3. Project management information system

4. Resource organization

5. Leads and Lags

6. Schedule compression

Outputs

1. Work performance information

2. Schedule forecasts

3. Change requests

4. Project management plan updates

• Schedule management plan
• Schedule baseline
• Cost baseline
• Performance measurement baseline

5. Project document updates

• Assumption log
• Basis of estimates
• Lessons learned register
• Project schedule
• Resource calendars
• Risk register
• Schedule data

Updating the schedule model  requires knowing the actual performance date.

Any change to the schedule baseline can only be approved through the Perform Integrated Changed Control Process.

Control Schedule is concerned with 

• Determining the current status of the project schedule
• Influencing the factors that create schedule changes
• Reconsidering necessary schedule reserves.
• Determining if the project schedules has changed and
• Managing the actual changes as they occur

When an agile schedule is used, Control Schedule is concerned with:

• Determining the current status of the project by comparing the total amount of work delivered and accepted against the estimates of work competed for the elapsed time cycle,
• Conducting retrospectives (schedule reviews to record lessons learned) for correcting processes and improving if required.
• Reprioritizing the remaining work plan ( the backlog)
• Determining the rate at which the deliverables are produced, validated and accepted (velocity) in the given period iteration (agreed- upon work cycle ) duration typically 2 weeks or 1 months.
• Determining that the project schedule is changed and
• Managing the actual changes as they occur  

Control Schedule – Tools and Techniques

Data analysis

• Earned value analysis – Schedule performance measurements such as schedule variance (SV) and schedule performance index (SPI) are used to assess the magnitude of the variation to the original schedule 
• Iteration burndown chart – This chart tracks the work that remains to be completed in the iteration backlog. It is used to analyze with the variance with respect to an idea burndown based on the work committed from the iteration planning. 

• Performance reviews – Measure, compare and analyze schedule performance against the schedule baseline such as actual start and finish dates, percent complete and remaining duration for work in progress 
• Trend analysis – Examines project performance overtime, to determine weather the performance is improving or deteriorating
• Variance analysis – Looks at variances in planned versus actual start and finish dates and duration and the variance in float. It determines the cause and degree of variance relative t the schedule baseline, estimating the implications of these variances for future work to completion and deciding weather corrective or preventative action is required. 
• What- if  Scenario Analysis – used to access the various scenarios guided by the output from the Project Risk Management processes to bring schedule model into alignment with the project management plan and approved baseline. 
• Critical path method – Comparing the progress along the critical path can help determine schedule status. The variance on the critical path will have a direct impact on the project and end date. Evaluating the progress of activities on near critical paths can identify schedule risks. 
• Project management information system – It includes scheduling software that provides the ability to track planned dates versus actual dates to report variances to and progress made against the schedule baseline and to forecast the effects of changes to the project schedule model.
• Resource optimization – This technique involves the scheduling of activities and the resource required by those activities while taking into consideration both the resource availability and the project time. 
• Leads and lags – Adjusting leads and lags are applied during network analysis to find ways to bring project activities that are behind into alignment with the plan 

Schedule compression

• Re-estimating – Reduced the buffer allowed in activity duration that contains the most unknowns 
• Fast Tracking – Doing critical path activities in parallel that were originally planner in series. 
• Process improvement – Increasing productivity based on different processes , technologies and machinery. 
• Limited overtime – Increasing the number of hours per day/ week available to work on tasks. 
• Crashing – Adding more resources to critical path activities. 

Control Schedule – Outputs

• Work performance information – Calculated performance information obtained through Earned Value analysis such as SV and SPI is documented and communicated to project stakeholders. 
• Schedule forecasts –based on work performance information, forecasts are developed . 
• Change requests – changes could be initiated in order to bring project performance back in line with expectations. 
• Project management plan ( updates) – schedule and cost baselines , as well as the schedule management plan could be updated. 
• Project documents (updates)