Projects are full of plans, reports, and other documents. Having a clear understanding of each of the document types and why they may or may not be needed in a project can help you, the Project Management Professional (PMP) or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) candidate, to answer exam questions correctly. The following is a list of project management elements:

Activity attributes    The activity characteristics such as the activity codes, predecessor and successor activities, leads and lags, resource requirements, dates, constraints, and assumptions.

Activity cost estimate supporting detail    This is the collection of documents that detail how the project’s cost estimate was created.

Activity duration estimate    An estimate of the likely time it will take to complete the project, a phase, or individual activities within the project.

Activity list    The collection of schedule activities.

Affinity diagram    A tool that helps the project team sort ideas and data. This simple tool clusters similar ideas; useful to use after a brainstorming session.

Analogous estimate    An estimate based on a previous similar project to predict the current project’s time or cost expectations.

Assumption log    All assumptions identified in the project are documented, and the status of each as an assumption is monitored. Assumptions need to be tested to determine risk likelihood.

Backlog    Narratives about the product requirements that need to be completed. These are often prioritized, numbered, and scheduled for creation based on time, budget, and stakeholder demand.

Bar charts    A histogram that typically depicts the project activities and their associated start and end dates. This is also known as a Gantt chart.

Bill of materials (BOM)    Defines the materials and products needed to create the items defined in the corresponding work breakdown structure (WBS). The BOM is arranged in sync with the hierarchy of the deliverables in the WBS.

Business case    A business case is often needed for the project charter to justify the project’s existence. Business cases document the financial reasoning for the project and the end result of a feasibility study.

Cause-and-effect diagrams    Also known as Ishikawa diagrams and fishbone diagrams. These illustrate how potential problems within a project may contribute to failure or errors within the project.

Change log    This document records all changes that happen during the project. It’s useful for scope verification, quality control, and tracking changes.

Change management plan    A project management plan that defines how the project will manage changes.

Change requests    A documented request to change the project’s scope is managed through the project’s integrated change control process.

Checksheets    Checklists that are used as part of requirements gathering, task execution, quality control, and other aspects of the project to ensure that a task or process is completed accurately.

Claim    A documented disagreement between the buyer and the seller. Claims are often settled through negotiations, mediation, or in the courts, depending on the terms of the contract.

Communications management plan    This subsidiary plan defines who needs what information, when the information is needed, the frequency of the communication, and the accepted modalities for the communication needs.

Configuration management plan    A project management plan that defines the configurable items and the formal process for how these items are allowed to be changed.

Contingency plan    Part of the monitor and control risk process includes the option of executing a contingency plan to respond to worst-case scenarios with risk impact.

Contract    A legal relationship between the buyer and the seller that describes the work to be completed, the fee for performing the work, a schedule for completing the work, and acceptance criteria to deem the contract complete. If a project is being completed by one organization for another organization, there is typically a contractual relationship between the seller and the customer. Contracts may be inputs for the project charter.

Contract management plan    A plan that is used for significant purchases. This plan directs the acquisition and adherence of both the buyer and the seller to the terms of the contract.

Contract statement of work    This document defines the products and services that are being procured to satisfy portions of the project scope statement.

Control charts    This quality control tool illustrates the stability of a process and allows the project management team to determine if the process may have trends and predictability.

Cost baseline    A time-phased budget that tracks the planned project expenses against the actual project expenses. This document is used to measure, monitor, and control project costs in conjunction with the cost management plan.

Cost management plan    A project management subsidiary plan that defines the structure for estimating, budgeting, and controlling project costs.

Cost plus fee or cost plus percentage of costs    A contract in which the buyer pays the seller a fee for the contract work or deliverable plus an additional fee based on the percentage of the total costs for the goods or services provided.

Cost plus fixed fee    A contract in which the buyer pays the seller the costs of the materials and/or labor to complete the contract work or deliverable, plus a predetermined fee.

Cost plus incentive fee    A contract in which the buyer pays the seller the costs of the materials and labor plus an incentive bonus for reaching objectives set by the buyer. Incentives are typically based on reaching schedule objectives.

Decision tree    A diagram that identifies and evaluates each available outcome of a decision and the decision’s implication, consideration of each choice, and the value of each decision.

Defect repair requests    Requests to repair defects within the project deliverables.

Fishbone diagrams    Also known as cause-and-effect diagrams and Ishikawa diagrams. These illustrate how potential problems within a project may contribute to failure or errors within the project.

Fixed-price or lump-sum contract    A contract that defines the total price for the work or product the organization agrees to purchase.

Flowchart    A flowchart is a visual representation of a process through a system.

Force field analysis diagrams    These plot the strengths and weaknesses of the forces (stakeholders) that have influence over project decisions.

Formal acceptance documentation    A document that formally records that the project customer and/or sponsor has accepted the project deliverables.

Gantt chart    A bar chart that shows scheduling information and relationships among tasks. Tasks are represented by nodes. The length of the node combined with the calendar shows the duration of the activity.

Histogram    A bar chart that shows the distribution of values.

Historical information    Past project documentation and lessons learned documents are often used as inputs and references for current projects. Current project documentation and lessons learned documentation become historical information for future projects within an organization.

Human resource plan    This project management plan defines how the project is staffed and how the project team will be defined, managed, and controlled. This plan also includes the staffing management plan.

Independent estimate    Also known as a third-party estimate and a should-cost estimate, this document serves as a means for evaluating estimates provided by potential vendors to complete the work the contract calls for. An independent estimate is often created by a third party for the performing organization for a fee.

Influence diagram    A chart that shows the relationships between and among causal factors, events, situations, and other project conditions.

Invitation for bid    A document inviting a prospective vendor to bid on the contents of the contract statement of work. This is a price-based decision model.

Ishikawa diagrams    Also known as cause-and-effect diagrams and fishbone diagrams. These illustrate how potential problems within a project may contribute to failure or errors within the project.

Lessons learned documentation    The results of quality control and other types of lessons learned are documented and become part of organizational process assets. Lessons learned documentation is created throughout the project’s life cycle.

Milestone chart    A chart that depicts the promised milestone completion and the actual milestone completion dates.

Milestone list    The documented collection of the project milestones and their attributes, deadlines, and requirements. The milestone list is part of the overall project management plan.

Nondisclosure agreement (NDA)    A procurement document that requires the vendor to not disclose information about the contract to anyone within or outside of the performing organization.

Organizational breakdown structure    There can be two versions of this document. First, there’s the decomposition of the project’s hierarchy of organizations, departments, and disciplines related to the work packages in the WBS. This document helps the project management team determine which disciplines or departments are responsible for which work packages as identified in the WBS. Second, this could depict the organization’s departments, teams, functional departments, and business units.

Organizational charts    A visual representation of the hierarchy of an organization depicting all of the positions and reporting structures of the organization’s members.

Parametric estimate    An estimate based on a parameter, such as a cost per metric ton or number of hours to complete a repetitive activity.

Pareto chart    A histogram that shows the categories of failure within a project. A Pareto chart ranks the failures from largest to smallest, which then allows the project management team to attack the largest problems within the project. Pareto charts are based on Pareto’s Law, which states that 80 percent of the problems are related to 20 percent of the causes.

Performance reports    The project’s communications management plan defines the expectations and frequency of the project performance reports. Performance reports update the necessary stakeholders on the status and progress information, and may include bar charts, S-curves, histograms, and tables. These reports provide documentation about the project and project team’s overall performance during the project execution. Performance can measure work results, time, cost, scope, quality, and other specifics within the project.

PMBOK Guide    A book published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) that serves as a guide to the project management body of knowledge. It is generally accepted in the project management discipline as providing good practices for most projects, most of the time.

Probability and impact matrix    Demonstrates through either a cardinal or an ordinal scale the probability, impact, and risk score of each identified risk event. The process is a result of risk analysis.

Process improvement plan    This project management subsidiary plan instructs the project management team on how to identify and react to any non-value-added activities and waste that may exist or creep into the project.

Procurement management plan    This subsidiary plan of the overall project management plan defines the processes and policies for choosing, selecting, and working with a vendor on the project. The plan defines the contracts that should be used, the standard procurement documents, and the conditions to work with (and sometimes manage) the client–vendor relationship.

Product scope    The features and functions of the product, service, or result that a project may bring about.

Product scope description    This document defines the product, service, or condition that the project promises to create. As the project moves through planning, the product scope description becomes more detailed.

Project calendar    The time when project work is allowed to happen within the project.

Project charter    The document that authorizes the project or project phase. It identifies the business needs and the new product, service, or result the project will bring about in the organization.

Project closure documents    The documentation of the project’s completion, closure, and transfer of the project deliverables to other parties within the organization or to the project customers. If the project has been canceled, the project closure documents detail why the project has been canceled and what has happened to the project deliverables that may have been created during the limited project execution.

Project management plan    This document defines all of the accepted project management processes for the current project, including how the project will be initiated, planned, executed, monitored, controlled, and closed. The project management plan is comprised of the following subsidiary plans:

Project notebook    The project team may elect to keep their individual project records in a project notebook. The project notebooks then become part of the organizational process assets.

Project organization chart    A chart that shows the interrelationship of the project manager, the project sponsor, the project team, and possibly stakeholders.

Project presentations    Formal communication often happens in the form of project presentations. These presentations then become part of the organizational process assets.

Project records    All of the project documentation and communication should be kept and managed by the project management team. These project records become part of the organizational process assets.

Project reports    Project reports vary by organization, but generally include information on the project’s status, lessons learned, issue logs, and project closure. Project reports become part of the organizational process assets.

Project schedule network diagram    A visual representation of the sequence of project activities. The most common project schedule network diagram is the precedence diagramming method, which uses predecessors and successors to illustrate the flow of the project work.

Project scope management plan    This is a subsidiary plan of the overall project plan. It defines how the project scope will be defined, documented, verified, managed, and controlled. This plan also defines how the project’s WBS will be defined, maintained, and approved. The scope validation process is also documented within the project scope management plan. Finally, this plan defines the scope change control process the project will adhere to.

Project scope statement    This document defines the scope of the project and the work required to deliver the project scope. The project scope statement provides several pieces of project information:

Project statement of work    The project statement of work, often just called a SOW, defines the products or processes that the project will provide. This document is an input to the project charter.

Proposal    A response to a Request for Proposal (RFP), which often includes project approaches, ideas, and suggestions to complete the procured work, in addition to a price.

Published estimating data    A collection of production rates, material costs, labor trades, and industry-specific price guidelines.

Qualified seller lists    A list of vendors that are qualified to do business with the performing organization.

Quality baseline    This document defines the quality objectives for the project. Results of project performance measurement are compared against the quality baseline so that improvements may be made. If the work is acceptable, the project may continue.

Quality checklists    A checklist, as the name implies, is a project management tool used to ensure that a series of steps have been performed as planned and required by the project management team.

Quality management plan    This subsidiary project management plan defines how the project management team will adhere to and implement the requirements of the performing organization’s quality policy.

RACI chart    A responsibility assignment matrix that documents the project roles and the responsibilities for each within the project. In a RACI chart, the activities of responsible, accountable, consult, and inform are used (hence, the acronym RACI).

Requirements management plan    This project management plan defines how requirements will be identified, documented, and managed during the project.

Requirements traceability matrix    A table that identifies each requirement at its origin and traces the requirement throughout the project.

Request for Proposal (RFP)    A request from the buyer to potential vendors to provide a price, approaches, and ideas on how to complete the proposed work to be procured.

Request for Quote (RFQ)    A document inviting a prospective vendor to bid on the contents of the contract statement of work. This is a price-based decision model.

Resource breakdown structure (RBS)    A hierarchical decomposition of the resources required to complete the deliverables within the project.

Resource calendar    The calendar that defines when people and equipment are available for the project’s use. The resource calendar identifies if a resource is idle, on vacation, or being utilized on the current project or another one within the organization.

Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)    Illustrates the connection between the project work and the project team members who will complete the project work.

Risk breakdown structure (RBS)    The project risks are depicted in a hierarchy of risk categories.

Risk management plan    This defines how the risk management activities within the project will occur. A risk management plan is a subsidiary plan of the overall project management plan. The risk management plan includes:

Risk register    A component of project management planning that documents the outcome of all risk management activities. The risk register includes:

Risk-related contractual agreements    Should the planned response to a risk event use transference, a contractual agreement is often demanded.

Run charts    Similar to a control chart, these charts show measured trends over time.

Scatter diagram    A quality control diagram that shows the relationship between two variables within a project.

Schedule activities    The work package is decomposed into the tasks needed to create the work package deliverable. The collection of schedule activities may also be called the activity list.

Schedule baseline    A baseline depicting the expected start and completion dates of project activities, dates for the milestones, and finish dates for the entire project or project phase.

Schedule comparison bar charts    A bar chart that depicts the discrepancies between the current activity status and the estimated activity status. This is often referred to as a tracking Gantt chart.

Schedule network templates    An organization that repeats the same type of projects may elect to use a schedule network template. These templates are prepopulated with activities and their preferred sequence. Often, schedule network templates are based on previous similar projects and are adapted for the current project.

Scope baseline    The project’s scope baseline comprises the project’s scope statement, the WBS, and the WBS dictionary.

Staffing management plan    The project management subsidiary plan that defines when and how staffing needs will be fulfilled in the project’s life cycle. The plan defines, at a minimum, the process of staff acquisition, the timetable for resource utilization, release criteria, training needs, the rewards and recognition for the project, human resource compliance, and safety issues for the project team members.

Stakeholder register    A directory of the project stakeholders and their characteristics.

Strategic plan    An organization’s strategic plan is considered when a project is being chartered. All projects within an organization should support the organization’s strategic plan.

Subnetwork template    When a project includes repetitive work, such as the creation of identical floors within a skyscraper, the network diagram may use a subnetwork template to illustrate the repetition in the project.

Summary budget    Project charters often refer to a summary budget, which may address the predetermined budget allotted for a project or a rough order of magnitude estimate based on the preliminary project scope statement.

Summary milestone schedule    A schedule of when the project management team can expect the milestones within the project to be reached. This schedule is part of the project charter.

Teaming agreement    A contract that defines the limited relationship between two or more organizations in their attempt to seize an opportunity. When the opportunity is done, the contractual relationship defines how the teaming agreement may end.

Text-oriented responsibility formats    When roles and responsibilities need more documentation than a RACI or RAM chart can provide, a text-oriented version is used. These may also be known as position descriptions or role-responsibility-authority forms.

Three-point estimate    An estimate based on the average of the optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic time estimates.

Time and materials contract    A simple contract type in which the buyer pays the seller for the time and materials to deliver the product or service the contract calls for. This contract type should have a not-to-exceed clause to cap the contract’s total costs.

Tree diagram    A hierarchical chart that shows the relationship of parent–child objects. Technically, the WBS can be a tree diagram.

WBS dictionary    This is a companion document to the WBS and details each item in it. Every entry in the WBS dictionary includes its related code of account identifier, responsible organization, schedule, quality requirements, and technical references, and may include charge numbers, related activities, and a cost estimate.

WBS template    A WBS from a previous similar project or the organization’s methodology that has been adapted and modified to map to the current project’s deliverables.

Work breakdown structure (WBS)    A document that visualizes the deliverables that comprise the project scope. The WBS uses a code of accounts to number and identify the elements within the decomposition. The smallest item within the WBS is called the work package.

Work package    The smallest item in the WBS that cannot, or should not, be decomposed any further as a project deliverable.

Work performance information    This is an input to quality control measurement and includes work completion information, status of project deliverables, status of corrective actions, and overall technical performance measurements.