Predictive Project Management Terms

Page 22, PMI Process Group:

A Practice Guide PROCESS GROUPS & KNOWLEDGE AREAS TABLE
Project Management Process Groups
Monitoring &
Initiating Planning Executing Controlling Closing

Develop Project Charter Develop Project Management Plan Direct and Manage Project Work Monitor and Control Project Work Close Project or Phase
Identify Stakeholders Plan Scope Management Manage Project Knowledge Perform Integrated Change Control
Collect Requirements Manage Quality Validate Scope
Define Scope Acquire Resources Control Scope
Create WBS Develop Team Control Schedule
Plan Schedule Management Manage Team Control Costs
Define Activities Manage Communications Control Quality
Sequence Activities Implement Risk Responses Control Resources
Estimate Activity Durations Conduct Procurements Monitor Communications
Develop Schedule Manage Stakeholder Engagement Monitor Risks
Plan Cost Management Control Procurements
Estimate Costs Monitor Stakeholder Engagement
Determine Budget
Plan Quality Management
Plan Resource Management
Estimate Activity Resources
Plan Communications Management
Plan Risk Management
Identify Risks
Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis
Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis
Plan Risk Responses
Plan Procurement Management
Plan Stakeholder Engagement
 Process
 Inputs, Outputs and Tools/Techniques combined to
execute a specific purpose on the project
 Input
 Starting point for the process, the raw materials to begin
the execution
 Could be the output of a previous process
 Tools and Techniques
 The actions or methods that are used to transform the raw
materials into the output
 Output
 The end result of our efforts. The raw materials into a
polished stone
 Maybe the input into another process

Input Process Output

Tools and
techniques
 Process Groups
 Initiating: Used to define a project or phase
of an existing project. Done to authorized the
start of the project and assign the project
manager.
 Planning: Done to establish the scope of the
project, define the course of action required
to attain the objectives
 Executing: Done to complete the work
defined in the project management plan
 Monitoring and Controlling: Done to track,
review, and regulate the progress and
performance of the project. Looks for any
areas in which changes to the plan are
required and initiate the corresponding
changes
 Closing: Done to formally complete or close
the project, phase, or contract.
 Process Groups

Page 70, PMI Process Group: A Practice Guide

 Process
 Inputs, Outputs and Tools/Techniques combined to
execute a specific purpose on the project
 Input
 Starting point for the process, the raw materials to begin
the execution
 Could be the output of a previous process
 Tools and Techniques
 The actions or methods that are used to transform the raw
materials into the output
 Output
 The end result of our efforts. The raw materials into a
polished stone
 Maybe the input into another process

Input Process Output

Tools and
techniques
Common ITTO’s

Don’t Memorize Them

 Inputs, Tools, Techniques,
and Outputs (ITTO)
 660+ Inputs, Tools, Techniques, and
Outputs across the 49 process
 Many process has the same ITTO’s
 Don’t memorize ITTO’s
 Understand them and why there are
their
 Common Inputs

 Common Inputs
 Project Management Plan
 Enterprise Environmental
Factors, (EEF)
 Organization Process Assets,
(OPA)
 Project Documents
 Enterprise Environmental
Factors (EEF)
 Things that impact the project but are not
part of the project itself
 Influence the organization,
the project, and its outcome
 It is essential to consider these internal
and external factors while planning the
project to determine their influence
 Can enhance or constrain project
management options and may have
negative or positive influences on the
outcomes
 Enterprise Environmental
Factors (EEF)

Company’s Organizational Structure and Governance

Organizational Culture
Organization’s and Stakeholders’ Appetite for Risk
Organization’s Established Communication Channels
Information Technology Software
Internal
Geographic Distribution of Facility and Resources

Infrastructure

Resource Availability

Employee Capability
Political Climate
Government or Industry Standards
External Commercial Databases
Legal Restrictions
Financial Considerations
 Organization Process Assets
(OPA)
 Organizations have assets such as information, policies,
procedures, documents, or knowledge bases which are
called Organizational Process Assets (OPA) to help
them in achieving their objectives
 Kept in some central repository so that they can be
used whenever required
 These elements affect several aspects of the project
 Project team members update and add to the
Organizational Process Assets throughout the project
 Examples:
 Project templates
 Software tool
 Historical information
 Project closure guidelines
 Risk control procedures
 Change control procedures
 Issue and defect management procedures
 Project Documents
 Any documents that are
related to the project
 Project documents are
additional documents that
are created and used
throughout the 49
processes that are not
part of the project
management plan
 “include but are not limited
to.”
Page 33, PMI Process Group: A Practice Guide
 Project Documents
Project Document Knowledge Area Where Created
1. Activity attributes Schedule Management
2. Activity list Schedule Management
3. Assumption log Integration Management
4. Basis of estimates Cost Management
5. Change log Integration Management
6. Cost estimates Cost Management
7. Cost forecasts Cost Management
8. Duration estimates Schedule Management
9. Issue log Integration Management
10. Lessons learned register Integration Management
11. Milestone list Schedule Management
12. Physical resource assignments Resource Management
13. Project calendars Schedule Management
14. Project communications Communications Management
15. Project schedule Schedule Management
16. Project schedule network diagram Schedule Management
17. Project scope statement Scope Management
18. Project team assignments Resource Management
19. Quality control measurements Quality Management
20. Quality metrics Quality Management
21. Quality report Quality Management
22. Requirements documentation Scope Management
23. Requirements traceability matrix Scope Management
24. Resource breakdown structure Resource Management
25. Resource calendars Resource Management
26. Resource requirements Resource Management
27. Risk register Risk Management
28. Risk report Risk Management
29. Schedule data Schedule Management
30. Schedule forecasts Schedule Management
31. Stakeholder register Stakeholder Management
32. Team charter Resource Management
33. Test and evaluation documents Quality Management
 Project Management Plan

 Defines how the project is

executed, monitored and
controlled, and closed
 18 components, 14 plans and
4 baselines
 “include but are not limited
to.”
 Project Management Plan

Project Plan Process Where Made

Scope Management Plan Plan Scope Management
Requirement Management Plan Plan Scope Management
Schedule Management Plan Plan Schedule Management
Cost Management Plan Plan Cost Management
Quality Management Plan Plan Quality Management
Resource Management Plan Plan Resource Management
Communication Management Plan Plan Communications Management
Risk Management Plan Plan Risk Management
Procurement Management Plan Plan Procurement Management
Stakeholder Management Plan Plan Stakeholder Management
Change Management Plan Develop Project Management Plan
Configuration Management Plan Develop Project Management Plan
Scope Baseline Create WBS
Schedule Baseline Develop Schedule
Cost Baseline Determine Budget
Performance Measurement Baseline Develop Project Management Plan
Project Life Cycle Description Develop Project Management Plan
Development Approach Develop Project Management Plan
 Expert Judgement

 One of the most common

tools in the planning process
 Includes hiring an expert or
subject matter expert (SME) to
help you to plan a process or
conduct a process
 People with specialized
knowledge or training in a
particular process, industry, or
technology
Data Gathering, Data Analysis,
Data Representation, Decision
Making
Data
Gathering

Data Analysis

Data
Representation

Decision
Making
 Data Gathering
 Gather data about a particular process that you’re working
on
 On certain processes, you will need to gather additional
data before coming up with an output for that process
 Methods:
 Brainstorming: Brainstorming is when you bring together a
group of stakeholders to get ideas and analyze them.
Brainstorming sessions are generally facilitated by the project
manager.
 Interviews: Any time you want to gather data from a particular
stakeholders, one of the best methods is to just interview them.
Ask them a series of questions and talk with them about their
thoughts and views.
 Focus groups: A focus group is when you bring together
subject matter experts to understand their perspectives and
how they would go about solving problems.
 Checklist: A checklist is generally created by the organization
and then given to potential stakeholders on a project for them
to identify items they may want on a project, things they may
not want on the project, and some success criteria they may
have for the project.
 Questionnaires and surveys: Questionnaires and surveys can
be given to stakeholders to better understand what they may
be looking for on a project and to better understand their
needs.
 Data Analysis
 To analyze the data that has been
gathered
 Methods:
 Alternative analysis: Alternative analysis
involves looking at different options or
ways to accomplish something.
 Root cause analysis (RCA): A root cause
analysis is used to identify the main
underlining reason for particular event.
 Variance analysis: Variance analysis is
used quite often to find the exact
differences between different things.
 Trend analysis: Trend analysis involves
looking at data over a period of time to
see if a particular trend is forming.
 Data Representation

 Illustrate different ways that a

data could be shown to
stakeholders
 Methods generally include
the use of charts, matrixes,
and different types of
diagrams
 Examples:
 Flowcharts
 Fishbone diagrams
 Histograms
 Decision Making
 Have to make a decision on what to
do with that data
 Methods:
 Voting: Voting is used by a group to
determine whether to proceed, change,
or reject something. Voting can be:
majority wins, unanimity, where
everyone agrees; or plurality, where a
majority is not obtained but that
decision is chosen.
 Multicriteria decision analysis: This is
when you make a table (matrix) that
lists different types of criteria, and then
evaluate an idea based on those
criteria.
 Autocratic decision making: This is
when one person makes a decision for
the entire team.
 Interpersonal and Team Skills
 All project managers need to have good
interpersonal and team skills in order to manage
the different stakeholders that will be on the
project
 most important tool in real-life project
management
 Methods:
 Active listening: Active listening is understanding,
acknowledging, and clarifying what others are saying to
you.
 Conflict management: Anytime you bring a team
together, bound to have conflicts on that team.
 Facilitation: Facilitation is the art of managing a group.
This can include bringing the group together, generating
ideas, solving problems, and dissipating the team.
 Meeting management: Meeting management
generally includes having an agenda, inviting the right
stakeholders, setting a time limit, and following up with
meeting minutes and action items.
 Meetings
 Meetings can be done face-to-face or
virtually.
 Have an agenda and distribute it to all
attendees before the meeting.
 Meetings must be timed, including
having set start and finish times for
topics and the entire meeting.
 Make sure that the meeting always stays
on topic and does not go off topic.
 Ensure that all attendees have input to
the topics.
 Distribute detailed meeting minutes
once the meeting is complete.
 Project Management
Information System (PMIS)
 Automated system that is used to help
the project manager optimize the
schedule or keep track of all the
documents and the deliverables
 Usually the computer system that a
given organization uses to manage its
projects
 It should include all the software and
hardware tools that we need to manage
the project from start to finish
 Includes the work authorization system
and the configuration management
system
 Change Request
 Proposal to change a document,
deliverable, or baseline
 Can include a request to add or remove
work from the scope, finish the project
faster, or complete the project more
cheaply
 Implements
 Corrective action: is something that’s taken
to ensure that the project gets back on
track.
 Preventive action: is something you put in
place to ensure the project stays on track.
 Defect repair is done to fix a broken
component on a project, such as if network
switch memory fails on a network upgrade
project.
Work Performance Data,
Information, Report

Page 24, PMI Process Group: A Practice Guide

 Work Performance Data

 Work performance data is

simply raw data
 It is the status of the work
that was done but does not
have any analysis applied to
it.
 It is not useful by itself.
 Usually outputs of executing
processes
 Work Performance
Information
 Information of the work that
was performed compared to
the plan
 It gives you actual status
about the deliverables
 Work performance
information is usually the
output of most monitoring
and controlling processes
 Work Performance Report
 overall status report of the actual
project
 It takes all the work performance
information and puts it together
into one comprehensive document
 You take the work performance data
and compare it against the plan to
come up with the work performance
information. Then you take all the
work performance information and
create the work performance reports.
In short, data feeds info and all the
info creates reports.
 Updates (Project Management
Plan, Project documents, EEF,
OPA)
 Updates is a catchall term
 Updates can include project
documents, the project
management plan, OPA and EEF
updates
 Expect to see this output many
times throughout the book