Assignments

Goal: PMP certification

Trainer: Mr. Shahid Nasser

Institute: IT Height

Student: Muneeb Shahzad Butt

Book: PMBOK 5 th Edition

24.1.2017, 29.1.2017

Introduction of training:-
This training which will be conducted during next 6 weeks will be comprises of 12 lecturer of 3.5 hours
and have two main objectives

a)- To understand the professional project management

b) - Preparation for PMP certification.

Main source of knowledge will be PMBOK 5th edition by PMI and lectures in class.
  Table of Content

o Assignment # 1 ( Notes for Chapter # 1)

o Assignment # 2 ( Notes for Chapter # 2 & 3 )

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Chapter # 1 (Introduction)
 A project is a temporary endeavor with a start and end date having specific goal to create a

unique outcome (product, service, improvement in existing product and services, or a result).

 Operation is day to day or routine work with similar result/product.

 Management is “Art of getting things done through other peoples.

 Project Management is application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to achieve

results.

 Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of

the 47 logically grouped project management processes, which are categorized into five
Process Groups and 10 knowledge areas. These groups are :
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, Closing.

 A program is defined as a group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain

benefits not available from managing them individually.

 A portfolio includes projects, programs and operational works to achieve long term or
strategic business goals. Portfolio of the company is managed by PMO (project Management
office)

 PMO is a department which act as governing body to centralize the management of the
projects to manage the interdependencies of the project amongst each other by prioritizing
projects and monitoring compliance. There are three types of PMO like :

 Supportive type of PMO with low degree of control act as consultative role by providing
policies, procedures, templates and lesson learned from other project.

 Controlling type of PMO with moderate degree of control provides trainings on project
management & project management software in addition to policies, procedures, templates
and lesson learned from other project

 Directive type of PMO having High level of control on projects by directly involvement in the
management of projects

 PROJECT MANAGER: Key attributes of a project manager are

a)- Skills ( project oriented)

b) - knowledge (product oriented)
c) - Interpersonal skill/Soft skills

Interpersonal skills can be described further as communication, problem solving,

negotiation, motivational, leadership, decision making Skills.

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 Graphical representation of some definitions

Program:

Portfolio

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Chapter # 2 (Organization Influences and Project Life Cycle)
 Following are the Influences which may effect the Projects:

 Organizational Influences: organization is systematic arrangement of entities aimed at

accomplishing a purpose which may involve undertaking of projects.

o Culture and Style of Organization may have strong influence on a project’s ability to
meet its objective. It may have following factors:

 Vision and mission  Working Environment

 Policies  Motivation and rewards
 SOPs  Core Values
o
 Working Hours
o

o
o

o
o

o Organizational Communications capabilities have great influence on how projects are

conducted. There are two aspects of communication which a project manager should
take care during execution of projects. i.e. communications are either Low context or high
context.

o Organizational Structure is an enterprises environmental factor which can have great

influence on how projects are conducted. There are mainly six types of the organization
structure.

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  Functional Organizational Structure:

Project PM Resources Project Budget PM Administrative

Characteristics Authority Availability manage by role Staff ( PM)
Influence Little or Little or FM Part time Part time
none none

- Staff has to do project work as well as their routine works

 Matrix Organizational Structure:

Balanced Matrix Organization:

Project PM Resources Project Budget PM Administrative

Characteristics Authority Availability manage by role Staff ( PM)
Influence Moderate Moderate Mixed Full time Part time

- PM with good Product knowledge but less Project management knowledge.

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 Strong Matrix Organization:

Project PM Resources Project Budget PM Administrative

Characteristics Authority Availability manage by role Staff ( PM)
Influence High High PM Full time Full time

- For resources PM has to coordinate to FM.

Weak Matrix Organization:

Project PM Resources Project Budget PM Administrative

Characteristics Authority Availability manage by role Staff ( PM)
Influence Little or Little or FM Part time Part time
none none

- No dedicated PM, Project Coordinator has some power to make decisions.

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  Projectized Matrix Organization:

Project PM Resources Project PM Administrative

Characteristics Authority Availability Budget role Staff ( PM)
manage by
Influence Complete High PM Full time Full time

- Project team may not have home all the time

 Composite Matrix Organization:

o Organizational Process Assets (OPA):

Organization process assets are the plans, policies, procedures and
knowledge bases specific to and used by the performing organization. They can
be grouped into two categories;

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  Processes and procedure like Guide lines, policies, SOPs, Templates, Project

documents.
 Corporate knowledge base like Data bases, Historical information and

lesson learned, project documents.

o Enterprise Environmental factors (EEF):

EEF refer to conditions, not under the control of the project

team, that influence, constrain or direct the project. These can be internal

(organizational) and external as well.

 Internal like Skillset of team, working environment; behavior of team

member, communications policies, weak processes.

 External like Economical, legal, political, geopolitical factors and

availability of resources locally, exchange rate.

 Project Stakeholder influences: Anyone who is connected/linked to project is called

stakeholder. This can be individual, groups or organizations. These are divided in two groups.

 Internal like project manager, Project Team; Sponsor etc.

 External like PMO, CEO, FM, Customer, User, sponsor etc.

o Project Governance enables organization to consistently manage project and maximize

the value of the project outcomes and align the projects with business strategy.

Client
Requirements

Project Goveranance

Company SOPs

o Project Success: Success of project can be measured in terms of completing project

within constraints of scope , time, cost , quality, resources and risks approved between
PM and PMO.

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 Project Team influences: Project team which has influence on project include PM staff,
Project staff, Supporting experts, User/Client, Vendors, BD etc.

o Composition of project team: project team can be consist of following two types of
personals.

 Dedicated: Team members who are associated with project as full time (full
day). They can be collocated or virtual existing and usually report to PM.

 Part time: Team members who are associated with project as part time (some
hour a day). They can be collocated or virtual existing and usually report to PM.

 Project Life Cycle: Project lifecycle is the series of the phases that a project possess from its
initiation to its closure. The life cycle provides the basic frame work for managing the project,
regardless of the specific work involved.

o Characteristics of the Project life Cycle: All projects can be mapped generically as
 Starting project
 Organizing and preparing
 Carrying out the project work
 Closing the project

-Cost and staffing levels across a generic project life cycle.

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 -Impact of Variable based on project time

o Project Phases: A project phase is collection of logically related project activities that
culminates in the completion of the one or more deliverables. Phases can be linked in
sequential or overlapping relationship.
- Single phase project

- Sequential Relationship phases

- Overlapping relationship

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o There are three major types of life cycle

 Predictive ( Waterfall ) Life Cycle: are ones in which whole project scope , time,
cost required to deliver that scope are determined as early in the project life cycle as

practically possible.

 Iterative and Incremental life Cycle: are ones in which project phases
intentionally repeat one or more project activities as understanding of product increases.
Iteration develops product through a series of repeated cycle while increments
successively add the functionality of product. Large and complex projects are

frequently executed by Iterative fashion. Duration of iteration is considerably long for

this life cycle.

 Adaptive life Cycle are intended to response to high levels of changes and
ongoing stakeholder involvement. Adaptive method are also iterative and incremental

but differ in that iteration are very rapid (usually with 2-4 weeks) and are fixed in time

and cost.

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Chapter # 3 (Project Management Processes)
 Project Management is application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to achieve

results.

 Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of

the 47 logically grouped project management processes, which are categorized into five
Process Groups and 10 knowledge areas. These groups are :
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, Closing.

 A Process is characterized by its Inputs, the tools and techniques that can be applied, and the
resulting output. A Procedure is defined as detailed series of steps to obtain results.

The project processes are performed by the project team with stakeholder interaction and
generally fall into one two major categories.

o Project Management Processes o Product management processes

 Good Practice  Industry specific

 Applicable across industry  Not useless
 47 Processes  Not mentioned in PMBOK
 Tailoring can be applicable

 Initiating Process group contains 2 processes and performed to define a new project or a
new phase of an existing project by obtaining authorization to start a phase.

 Planning Process group contains 24 processes and performed to establish the Scope of the
project, objectives and define course of action to attain objectives.

 Executing Process group contains 8 processes and performed to complete the Scope of the
project to satisfy the project specifications.

 Monitoring and Controlling Process group contains 11 processes and performed to

track, review and regulate the progress and performance of the project.

 Closing Process group contains 2 processes and performed to formally close the projects.

 Project Information: Throughout the project, a significant amount of data and

information is collected, analyzed, transformed and distributed in various
formats to project stakeholders.

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 o Work performance Data: The raw observations and measurements
identified during activities performed to carry out project.e.g. Percentage of
work physically completed etc.
o Work performance Data: The Performance data collected from various
controlling processes, analyzed in context and integrated based on
relationships across areas. e.g. status of deliverable etc.
o Work performance Data: The physical or Electronic representation of
work performance information compiled in project documents, intended to
generate decisions or raise issues, actions or awareness.

 Role of Knowledge areas: 47 Project Management processes are further grouped

into ten separate knowledge areas. A knowledge area represent a complete set of
concept, terms and activities that make up a project management field.

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