1. 2013Waleed El-Naggar, MBA, PMPhttps://www.facebook.com/waleed.naggarPMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS

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PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 1Table of ContentsProject Management Framework.................................................................................................................2Two-Minute Drill.......................................................................................................................................3Scope Management......................................................................................................................................5Time Management........................................................................................................................................7Cost Management.......................................................................................................................................10Human Resource Management..................................................................................................................11Communication Management....................................................................................................................15 3. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 2Project Management Framework Sunk costs, the money already spent on a project, should not be considered whendeciding if a project should continue. Instead, the cost of the work to complete is one ofthe elements that should be taken into consideration when considering when killing aproject. Remember that each phase creates a deliverable of some sort and allows the project tomove forward if the deliverables meet preset metrics. Projects dont last forever. Though projects may sometimes and seem to last forever,they fortunately do not. Operations, on the other hand, do go on and on. Projects passthrough logical phases to reach their completion, while operations may be affected orcreated, by the outcome of a project. The phases within a project create deliverables. The deliverables typically allow theproject to move forward from one phase to the next phaseor allow the project to beterminated based on the quality, outcome, or condition of the completed phasedeliverable. The project life cycle is different than the Project Management Life Cycle. The ProjectManagement Life Cycle is composed of the five project management processes(initiation, planning, execution, control, and closure). The project life cycle, meanwhile,is composed of the logical phases within the project itself. The project life cycle is affected by the project stakeholders. Project stakeholders have avested interest in the outcome of the project. Stakeholders include the project manager,project team, management, customers, communities, and anyone affected by theproject outcome. Project managers should scan the project outcome in order to identifyall of the stakeholders and collect and record their expectations, concerns, and inputregarding the project processes. The project managers power is relative to the organization structure he is operatingwithin. A project manager in a functional organization will have relatively low authority.A project manager in a matrix environment can have low, balanced, or high authorityover the project. A project manager in a projectized organization will have a high level of 4. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 3authority on the project. Essentially, the project managers authority is typically inverseto the authority of the functional manager. Project managers must scan the project for hidden stakeholders. The project managershould investigate all parties affected by the project to identify all of the stakeholdersnot just the obvious ones. Hidden stakeholders can influence the outcome of theproject. They can also add cost, schedule requirements, or risk to a project When it comes to stakeholder expectations, nothing beats documentation! Getstakeholder expectations in writing as soon as possible Know that customers can be internal or external but they all have the same theme:Customers pay for, or use, the product deliverables. In some instances, theyll pay for,and use, the deliverable. Leadership and management are interrelated. You wont have effective leadershipwithout management, and vice versa. Know that leadership can also come from projectteam members, not just from the project manager. The purpose of negotiations is to reach a fair agreement among both partiesTwo-Minute DrillProject Management and Organizations The Project Management Framework is the inner construction of project managementthat allows it to operate and fluctuate from organization to organization. Projects within each organization will follow the culture and expected practices of theorganization hosting the project. Projects, in any organization, operate to support theorganization and its purpose.Project Phase Create Projects Projects follow a logical sequence of phases to completion. Phases are typically differentfrom project to project since the project work will differ from one to the next. The pointof segmenting projects into phases is to allow for smaller, manageable sections, and toprovide deliverables in support of the ongoing operations. 5. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 4 The collection of the project phases, as a whole, is known as the project life cycle. Project life cycles define the beginning, middle, and end of a project. Projects have agreater risk and uncertainty in the early phases of the project life cycle than near its end.The project is also most susceptible to change, failure, and stakeholder influences at thebeginning of the life cycle than near its end. In tandem, project costs and demand forresources are generally low at the beginning of the project, have a tendency to peaknear the end of the project work, and then diminish.Identifying Project Stakeholders Project stakeholders are individuals, businesses, or communities that have a vestedinterest in the projects outcome. Typically, project stakeholders are involved in theproject process and their expectations drive the project requirements. Identifying stakeholders is an initiation process. It is essential to scan for hidden stakeholders early in the project life cycle to eliminatethe need for change when addressing stakeholder needs later in the project. There are several key stakeholders that have direct influence over the project. They are: Project manager: Manages the project Customer Pays for the project; uses the project deliverable Performing organization: The organization hosting the project Project team: The collection of individuals completing the project work Project Sponsor: Authorizes the project work and budgetOrganizational Structures Organizational structures have direct influence over the project. Organizationalstructures determine the procedures that the project manager must follow and theamount of authority the project manager possesses. A project office may overseeproject management activities and provide additional support in any of theorganizational structures. The organizational types and the level of authority a projectmanager can expect are shown in the following table: 6. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 5Organizational Structure Level of Power Beyond the concept of getting the work done, project managers must also consider thesocial, economic, and environmental influences that may sway a project. Specifically,the project manager must evaluate the project to see its social, economic, andenvironmental impactas well as note the projects surroundings. The project managermay have some external guidance in these areas in the form of standards andregulations. Standards are guidelines that are generally followed but not enforced or mandated.Regulations come in the form of laws and industry demands, which are enforced byvarious governing bodies.Scope Management Projects are initiated based on business and customer needs, as well as opportunities. Feasibility studies can help determine if a project should be selected for authorization. The product description is created to help direct the project planning and selectionmethod. The project charter is created and signed by senior management to authorize theproject. The project manager is named and appointed in the project charter. 7. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 6 There are two types of scope, project scope, and product scope. Unless the exam istalking about features and characteristics of the project deliverables, it will be referringto the project scope. If you think this through, it makes sense: think of all the billions ofdifferent product scopes that can exist the exam will offer big, old hints if its talkingabout product scope. Project scope, on the other hand, focuses on the work that has tobe done in order to create the product. Recall that the project scope is concerned withthe work requiredand only the required workto complete the project. Your favorite project management tool, the WBS, is the most important tool in yourproject management toolbox. It is used as input to five planning processes: Cost estimating Cost budgeting Resource planning Activity definition Risk management planning Heres a nifty hint: WBS templates come from previous projects and/or the projectmanagement office if the organization has one. WBS activities are defined in the WBSdictionary. Understand the purpose of the scope statement. The scope statement serves as abaseline for future project decisions. The project objectives and deliverables and theirquantifiable measurements are documented in the scope statement and are used by theproject manager and the stakeholders to determine if the project was completedsuccessfully. Be able to name the Scope Definition tools and techniques and outputs. The tools andtechniques from Scope Definition are decomposition and WBS templates.Decomposition is breaking the deliverables down into workable, manageable units ofwork. The outputs are the work breakdown structure and scope statement updates. Be able to describe the purpose of the scope management plan. The scope managementplan describes how scope changes will be handled during the project and how to 8. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 7request changes. It details how likely it is that scope changes will occur, their frequency,and their impact. Be able to define a WBS and its components. The WBS is a deliverables-orientedhierarchy. It uses the deliverables from the scope statement or similar documents anddecomposes them into logical, manageable units of work. Level one is the project level,level two is the major deliverable level or subproject level, and so on. The lowest level ofany WBS is called a work package. Scope validation is a control process and done by the customer. It is not a closureprocess. The customer measures the deliverable (actual result) against the requirementsdocument. Quality control is concerned with correctness and done by quality control team. Closure starts after scope validation is complete.Time Management You should understand how activity estimates are created. Estimating should be based on a WBS to improve the estimation accuracy. The person who will do the work is the best person to estimate it but he/she should alsobe trained on the estimation process. Historical information from past projects is a key to improving estimates. Once a baseline is created, it cannot be changed without a change request. Estimates prepared by team members or other stakeholders should be challenged bythe project manager for more refinement. Analogous estimates use historical information to predict how long current projectactivities will take place. These estimates are considered top-down estimates and arepart of expert judgment. Quantifiable estimates, on the other hand, use a quantity topredict how long activities will take. Consider any unit such as square feet painted perhour or number of units created per day. 9. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 8 GERT is the only network diagram that allows for loops and conditional branching basedon what the project has experienced to date. System dynamics is another example ofconditional advancement. When developing the schedule, the most common method is the CPM, though PERT andGERT may also be used. Lag is a positive time added to a task to indicate waiting. Lead isnegative time added to a task to hurry up. Fast tracking arranges activities to happenin tandem rather than in successionthis increases risk. Crashing adds more resourcesto activities to decrease their duration, which typically adds cost. Monte Carlo Analysis is typically a computer program to estimate the many possiblevariables within a project schedule. Monte Carlo simulations predict probable enddates, not an exact end date. Another tool the project manager can use is resourceleveling. Resource leveling smoothes out the project schedule so resources are not over-allocated. A result of this is that projects are often scheduled to last longer than initialestimates. The critical path in a project has zero float, and is the path with the longest duration tocompletion. There can be more than one critical path in a network diagram. Shoulddelays happen on non-critical paths, and all float is consumed, the critical path maychange. The project schedule is a calendar-based system used to predict when the project, andwork, will start and end. Gantt charts map activities against a calendar and may showthe relationship between activities. Milestone Charts show when key deliverables are expected; they do not show the relationshipbetween activities. When resources are needed but are not available, the project manager must negotiateto secure the resource. This may involve tradeoffs between projects or additionalexpenses as the activity is outsourced to a vendor to complete the work. The projectmanager does not want to delay the project waiting on a resource 10. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 9 The critical path is used to determine which activities have no float. It can also be usedto determine the earliest date for when the project may be completed. There can bemore than one critical path in a project. It is possible for the critical path to change. Youll encounter float, scheduling, and critical path activities on the PMP exam. Youhave to remember a few important rules: Always draw out the network diagram presented on your scratch paper; it maybe used in several questions. Know how to calculate float. (The complete process was shown earlier in theCalculating Float in a PND section) You may encounter questions that ask on what day of the week a project willend if no weekends or holidays are worked. No problem. Add up the criticalpath, divide by 5 (Monday through Friday), and then figure out which day of theweek the activity will end on. You may see something like Figure 6-7 when it comes to scheduling. When threenumbers are presented, think PERT; optimistic is the smallest number,pessimistic is the largest, most likely is somewhere between the two. When anumber is positioned directly over the tasks, it is the task duration. When anumber is positioned to the upper-right of a task, this represents the Early Finishdate. Projects cannot last foreverthankfully. To effectively finish and manage a project, aproject manager must be able to effectively manage time. Within a project there can bemany factors that affect the project length: activity duration, project calendars, resourcecalendars, vendors, activity sequencing, and more. Time management begins with theconstraints of the product schedule, the project calendar, the resource calendars, aswell as the activities and their expected duration. Many projects can rely on project templates that have worked before. Other projects,new and never-attempted technology, require that a project schedule be created fromscratch. The WBS contributes to the activity list, which in turn, allows the projectmanager and the project team to begin activity sequencing. 11. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 10 Activities to be sequences must be estimated. The project manager and the projectteam must evaluate the required time to complete the work packages. The projectmanager can rely on a number of estimating methods to come to a predicted durationfor activities. For example, a project manager may use analogous estimation of historicaldata to provide the needed estimate. Or, the project manager may use a parametricmodel to predict the amount of time for the activities. The importance of estimating isthat each work package is considered and its duration calculated. Within the process of activity sequencing there will be hard logic and soft logic. Hardlogic is the mandatory relationships between activities: the foundation must be in placebefore the house framing can begin. Soft logic allows the relationship and order ofactivities to be determined based on conditions, preferences, or other factors. Forexample, the landscaping will happen before the house is painted so that dirt and dustwont get onto the fresh paint. The relationships of activities are illustrated within a network diagram. Networkdiagrams show the path from start to completion and identify which activities are onthe critical path. Of course, the critical path is the path with the longest duration andtypically has zero slack or float. Activities on the noncritical paths may be delayed to theextent that they do not delay activities on the critical path.Cost Management The PMP examination requires the exam candidate to know how to estimate, budget,and manage costs. The WBS is an input to estimating costs, as it reflects the whole ofthe project. When creating the estimates, rely on documented historical informationover team members recollections. There are three estimating approaches: Analogous A top-down approach that is less costly and less accurate than othersand provides just an idea of what the project will cost. Bottom-up Starts with zero and adds up all the expenses. This is more costly andtakes longer, but gains team buy-in to the project. 12. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 11 Parametric modeling Uses a parameter for labor and goods to calculate the costof the project. The accuracy of the estimates is based on available information. As the project managerand the project team progressively elaborate the project plan, more details becomeavailable. The more details a project has, the more accurate the estimate. Know thesefacts on estimating: Rough order of magnitude: The accuracy of the estimate is 25 percent to +75percent and is used in the initiation process and in top-down estimating. Budget estimate: The accuracy of the estimate is 10 percent to +25 percent.This is used early in the planning process and also in top-down estimating. Definitive estimate: The accuracy of the estimate is 5 percent to +10 percent.This is used late in the planning process and in bottom-up estimating. The resources on a project can include people, materials, and equipment. If the peopleon a project do not have the necessary skill set to complete the work, either hire an SMEto guide the project implementation, outsource the project work, or train the currentpeople for the needed skills. Earned value management is a tool to measure project performance. Earned value is the budget at completion multiplied by the percentage of the projectwork that has been completed. The Cost Performance Index shows how well the project is performing financially. It iscalculated by dividing EV by the actual costs spent on the project. The most common formula for finding the estimate at completion, EAC=BAC/CPI.Human Resource Management Project human resource management questions on the exam center around three bigpoints: A role is who does what. A responsibility is who decides what. 13. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 12 Project managers are responsible for the project. Team members fill roles on theproject. Because project managers are responsible for the success of the project, they havepower to exert over the project team. There are five organizational theories you may encounter on the exam: Maslows Hierarchy of Needs People dont work for money, but for self-actualization. Herzbergs Theory of Motivation The presence of hygiene factors doesntmotivate people; the absence of hygiene factors, however, hinders peoplesperformance. McGregors Theory of X and Y: X people are lazy and do not want to work. Ypeople are self-led, motivated, and want to accomplish. Ouchis Theory Z Workers and management cooperate for the good of theorganization. Everyone wins! Expectancy Theory People expect to be rewarded for their effort. Within projects there will likely be conflicts and disagreements among the project teamand stakeholders. Conflicts typically stem from one of the following sources (indescending order):1. Schedules2. Priorities3. Resources4. Technical beliefs 14. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 135. Administrative policies and procedures6. Project costs7. Personalities Conflict Resolution Methods: Project human resource management focuses on utilizing the people involved in theproject in the most effective way. The people involved in the project are more than justthe project team members, though theyre the most obvious. The project manager cant forget to involve other stakeholders: customers,management, individual contributors, the project sponsor, and any other stakeholderunique to the project. Organizational planning calls on the project manager to identify the roles andresponsibilities of the project and the reporting relationship within the organization. Reporting relationships can be internal, such as to management, or external, such as toa customer or community. The relationships and the procedure to communicate withthese project interfaces must be documented. Because projects are often similar, the project manager can rely on templates to re-create the success of historical projects. Reporting structures, role and responsibilitymatrixes, and other human resource models can be replicated, and adjusted, betweenprojects. The staffing management plan describes the process that the project manager mustfollow to bring resources onto a project, or to dismiss them from a project when theresources are no longer needed. 15. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 14 The policies and procedures of the performing organization should be documentedwithin the staffing management plan to ensure the guidelines are followed asmanagement intends. The staffing management plan will also detail the policies of how the project managercan recruit project team members. The plan may also detail the procedure to procureresources for the project from vendors or consultants. Throughout the project, the project manager must work with the project team todevelop their ability to complete their project work, grow as a team, and focus oncompleting the project work accurately and on time. A reward and recognition system can help the project manager motivate the projectteam to perform as hoped. Special care to involve the project team must be given when the team is scatteredgeographically. The project manager can rely on face-to-face meetings,videoconferences, or teleconferences to promote non-collocated teams. Ideally, the project is collocated and has access to a war room to refer to projectinformation, research, schedules, and other project team members. The goal of team development is outstanding performance for the good of the project.Through training, the project team may increase their ability to work together andindividually with a higher level of confidence, performance, and teamwork. The result of team development is project performance improvements. Theimprovements should be noted in an honest appraisal of the project team memberseffort and contributions to the project. 16. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 15Communication Management Communication is the most important skill a project manager can have. Projectmanagers spend 90 percent of their time communicating. Since the project manager is expected to spend so much time communicating, you canbet the project manager needs a plan to determine what needs to be communicated, towhom, and when. The Communications Management Plan is the comprehensive plan the project managerand the project team rely on for all communication guidance. The organizational structure affects the level of communications the project managercan expect. Matrix structures have to include the functional managers of the projectteam from the different units within the organization, whereas a functional organizationdoes not have the same level of complexity in reporting. The basic communication model consists of a sender, a message, and a receiver. When technology is involved, the project can become more complex: encoders, themedium, and decoders are included. Consider sending a fax: you are the sender andJane is the recipient, and the message is the information on the page to be faxed. Theencoder is your outgoing fax machine, and Janes fax machine is the decoder. Thetelephone lines between the fax machines are the medium. Management, customers, and other concerned stakeholders will be interested in theperformance of the project. The project manager will need to meet their expectationson an established schedule or based on conditions within the project. The most common method for showing performance is through earned value analysis. Administrative closure happens at the end of each phase and at the end of the project. Administrative closure is the final documentation of the project; it includes the processof organizing, indexing, and archive all relevant project materials. The archived materialsshould show the project performance from start to formal acceptance that signalsproject closure. 17. PMP EXAM HINTS AND TIPS May 2013h t t p s : / / w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w a l e e d . e l n a g g a r Page 16Planning for Communication Communication centers on who needs what and on when and how you are going to giveit to them. Communication requirements are set by stakeholders. Communication planning is accomplished early in the planning processes. Communications are linked to the organizational structure of the performingorganization. Constraints and assumptions can affect the communications planning.Communications Management Plan Provides instructions on how to gather and disseminate project information. Provides instructions on the communications methods, such as hard copies, reports, andemail. Includes a schedule of expected communications, such as reports and meetings. Provides a method to access needed information between regularly scheduledcommunications.Performance Reporting Status reporting provides current information on the project. Progress reporting provides information on what the team has accomplishedand mayinclude information on what is yet to be accomplished. Forecasting provides information on how the remainder of the project or phase isexpected to go. Variance analysis examines the reason why cost, schedule, scope, quality, and otherfactors may vary from what was planned. Trend analysis is the study of trends over time to reveal patterns and expectations offuture results. Earned value analysis is a series of formulas that reveal and predict projectperformance. Change requests may stem from performance reports.