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Implementing Project Integration Management

What the heck is project integration management? Project integration management is the heart of project management and is made up of the day-to-day processes the project manager relies on to ensure that all of the parts of the project work together.

Put simply, project integration management is the way the gears of the project work together.

Within any project there are many moving parts: time management, cost management, schedule conflicts, human resource issues, iterative planning, and much, much more. Project integration management is the art and science of ensuring that your project moves forward and that your plan is fully developed and properly implemented. Project integration management requires that your project—regardless of its size and impact—meshes with the existing operations of your organization.

Project integration management requires finesse. You, as the project manager, will have to negotiate with stakeholders to resolve competing project objectives. This requires organization, since you’ll have to develop, coordinate, and record your project plan. It requires the ability to accomplish your project plan. It requires leadership, record keeping, and political savvy, given you’ll have to deal with potential changes throughout your project implementation. And, perhaps most importantly, it requires flexibility and adaptability throughout the project plan execution.

In this chapter, I’ll cover the big topics you have to master to pass your PMP exam, as well as the skills necessary to successfully implement projects out in the real world. These topics include the following:

Developing the project charter

Developing the project plan

Directing and managing the project execution

Monitoring and controlling the project

Managing integrated change control

Closing the project or the project phase

As you’ve learned already, all projects need a project plan—it’s up to the project manager and the project team to create one. Then the project manager must work with the project team to ensure the work is being completed as planned. Finally, the project manager must work throughout the project to control changes across all facets of the project. Figure 4-1 shows the complete picture of project integration management.

FIGURE 4-1    Project integration management coordinates the project from launch to close.

Developing the Project Charter

Let’s not linger. You know what the project charter is and what it does: It authorizes the project and allows the project manager to assign resources to the project work. It’s all about power. The project manager is officially identified in the project charter, though the project manager should be selected as early as possible during the project—hopefully while the charter is being developed.

The project manager, however, doesn’t issue the project charter. Nope. The project charter, which the PMBOK may call the project initiator, comes from outside of the project. Specifically, the project charter should be issued outside the confines of the project by any of the following:

An enterprise

A government agency

A company

A program organization

A portfolio organization

And the reason why a project is chartered? It can be because of opportunities, problems that need to be solved, business requirements, and lots of other reasons. The project manager or business analyst may create a business case that defines why a project needs to be chartered. A business case determines if the investment is worth making in the project. The business case will define the project purpose and characteristics, such as:

Market demand

Business need

Customer request

Technological advance

Legal requirements

Ecological impacts

Social need

Creating the Project Charter

The point of the charter, other than authorizing the project and the project manager, is to officially launch the project and allow the project manager to go about the business of getting the project work planned and then finished. The project charter needs to clearly communicate all of the following directly or through references to other documents:

Project requirements for satisfaction     The charter must identify what it’ll take to complete the project—in other words, it should identify the metrics for success.

Project approval requirements     The project charter needs to clearly state what it takes for the project to be successful and who signs off on project deliverables, project decisions, and project completion.

Project manager     The project charter defines who the project manager is and what level of power the project manager has in the project.

Project sponsor     The project charter defines who the project sponsor is; if the project sponsor is not the person signing the project charter, it should define who is authorizing the project (it’s almost always the project sponsor who signs the charter).

The big picture     The charter should identify the high-level purpose of the project, the business need the project aims to accomplish, and/or the product requirements the project will create.

Project purpose     The charter needs to answer why the project is being launched and why it’s important to the organization.

Milestone schedule     Milestones are timeless events that show the progress within a project.

Stakeholder influences     The charter needs to identify the stakeholders who will influence the project.

Risks     Any of the known risks should be referenced in the project charter.

Functional organizations     Functional organizations, such as departments, communities, agencies, and other stakeholders, should be identified and their expected level of participation should be addressed.

Summary budget     The charter should have a summary budget.

Contract     If the project is being completed for another entity that is an external customer, a contract is also needed. I’ll discuss contracting in detail in Chapter 12. Until then, curb your excitement.

Relying on the Project Statement of Work

The statement of work (SOW) is a summary of what the project will provide and is an input to creating the project charter. For organizations completing an internal project, the SOW provides the business needs of the project, the product the project must create, or the service the project will create. For organizations that complete projects for external customers, the SOW is typically provided by the customer to the vendor. The vendor then responds with a proposal, quote, or bid—depending on what the customer asked for. In either case, the SOW includes the following:

The business need for the project

The product scope description

How the project fits within the strategic plan

Considering Enterprise Environmental Factors

Project managers know there are many things that influence a project’s success; it’s not all planning, execution, and good luck. Projects take place within organizations, and there are many components of any organization that can, and will, affect a project’s success. These are enterprise environmental factors that have to be considered throughout the project and that should be identified in the project charter. Enterprise environmental factors include the following:

Organizational cultures and structures

Government and industry standards

Organizational infrastructures, such as facilities and equipment (or the lack thereof)

The availability of human resources and their competencies

Personnel administration

A work authorization system

Marketplace conditions

Stakeholder risk tolerances

Standardized cost estimating databases

Project management information system (PMIS)

Examining the Project Selection Criteria

Project selection methods are about resolving the unknown, predicting the likelihood of project success, and determining the expected value of that project’s success—or the cost of its failure. The process of selecting those projects to keep and those to discard is based on the following two methods:

Benefit measurement methods

Constrained optimization methods

Benefit measurement methods are the most common approaches to project selection. Benefit measurement methods are tools that allow management and key stakeholders to examine the benefits of a project and how the project completion will contribute to the organization. Constrained optimization methods are also tools for selecting projects, but their approach is much more scientific and math-driven. Don’t worry. You won’t need to know much, if anything, about constrained optimization on the PMP exam. I’ll examine both selection types later in this chapter.

Project selection is also known as Go/No Go decision making. Projects with many variables are excellent candidates for phase gates. The project is allowed a Go decision to the end of the first phase. Another Go/No Go decision happens at the end of each phase based on the performance and deliverables.

Meet Tracy. Tracy has a great project she’d like to see authorized. She has to “sell” the project to management in order to have it authorized. She needs to determine what’s so great about her project and why management should buy into it. She is looking for project selection criteria—reasons why her project should be authorized. Possible considerations Tracy can include might be the following:

Return on investment

Realized opportunities

Market share

Customer perspective

Demand for the product

Social needs

Increased revenues

Reduced costs

Historical Information

Has anyone ever done something like this before? Historical information is an organizational process asset that resource project managers can use to make decisions about their current projects. Historical information provides proven documentation of the success or failure of performance, and can be referenced for project selection criteria. For instance: Has management squelched similar projects for specific reasons? Historical information can be referenced for comparable projects and how they performed through to execution, as well as how the deliverables of the project performed according to prediction.

In addition, historical information is one of the key elements in determining if an existing project should move forward into the next project phase. If the completed project phase has proven successful and provided some merit or value, it’s likely to move forward. Projects that don’t prove valuable—based on the performance of the phase or less-than-desirable phase results—will likely be axed.

Examining Benefit Measurement Methods

There are several different benefit measurement methods. These methods are all about comparing values of one project against the values of another. As you might expect, the projects with higher, positive values typically get selected over projects with low values. The following sections describe some common benefit measurement methods you may encounter.

Murder Boards

Murder boards are committees full of folks that ask every conceivable negative question about the proposed project. Their goal is to expose strengths and weaknesses of the project—and kill the project if it’s deemed worthless for the organization to commit to. Not a pleasant decision-making process.

Scoring Models

Scoring models (sometimes called weighted scoring models) are models that use a common set of values for all of the projects up for selection. For example, values can be profitability, complexity, customer demand, and so on. Each of these values has a weight assigned to it—values of high importance have a high weight, while values of lesser importance have a lesser weight. The projects are measured against these values and assigned scores by how well they match the predefined values. The projects with high scores take priority over projects will lesser scores. Figure 4-2 demonstrates the scoring model.

FIGURE 4-2    The weighted model bases project selection on predefined values.

Benefit/Cost Ratios

Just like they sound, benefit/cost ratio (BCR) models examine the cost-to-benefit ratio. For example, a typical measurement is the cost to complete the project plus the cost of ongoing operations of the project product compared against the expected benefits of the project. For example, consider a project that will use $575,000 to create a new product, market the product, and provide ongoing support for the product for one year. The expected gross return on the product, however, is $980,000 in year one. The benefit of completing the project is greater than the cost to create the product.

The Payback Period

How long does it take the project to “pay back” its costs? For example, the AXZ Project will cost the organization $500,000 to create over five years. The expected cash inflow (income) on the project deliverable, however, is $40,000 per quarter. From here, it’s simple math: $500,000 divided by $40,000 is 12.5 quarters, or a little over three years to recoup the expenses.

This selection method, while one of the simplest, is also the weakest. Why? The cash inflows are not discounted against the time it takes to begin creating the cash. This is the time value of money. The $40,000-per-quarter five years from now is worth less than $40,000-in-your-pocket today. Remember when sodas were a quarter? It’s the same idea. The soda hasn’t gotten better. The nickel is just worth less today than it was way back then.

I originally said that sodas were a nickel and my editor corrected me. Who ever remembers soda being a nickel? Gee-whiz, do I feel like an old man. The lesson learned, however, is that time does change the value, or the perceived value, of the project’s worth. And I’m not an old man, I was just thinking from my brother’s perspective.

See the video Future Value and Present Value.

Considering the Discounted Cash Flow

Discounted cash flow accounts for the time value of money. If you were to borrow $100,000 from your uncle for five years, you’d be paying interest on the money, yes? (If not, you’ve got a great uncle.) If the $100,000 were invested for five years and managed to earn a whopping sixpercent interest per year, compounded annually, it’d be worth $133,822.60 at the end of five years. This is the future value of the money in today’s terms.

The magic formula for future value is FV = PV (1 + i)ⁿ, where:

FV is future value

PV is present value

i is the interest rate

n is the number of time periods (years, quarters, and so on)

Here’s the formula with the $100,000 in action:

1. FV = 100,000(1 + .06)⁵

2. FV = 100,000(1.338226)

3. FV = 133,822.60

The future value of the $100,000 five years from now is worth $133,822.60 today. So how does that help? Now we’ve got to calculate the discounted cash flow across all of the projects up for selection. The discounted cash flow is really just the inverse of the preceding formula. We’re looking for the present value of future cash flows: PV = FV ÷ (1 + i)ⁿ.

In other words, if a project says it’ll be earning the organization $160,000 per year in five years, that’s great. But what’s $160,000 five years from now really worth today? This puts the amount of the cash flow in perspective with what the projections are in today’s money. Let’s plug it into the formula and find out (assuming the interest rate is still six percent):

1. PV = FV ÷ (1 + i)ⁿ

2. PV = 160,000 ÷ (1.338226)

3. PV = $119,561

So … $160,000 in five years is really only worth $119,561 today. If we had four different projects with various times to completion, costs, and expected project cash inflows at completion, we’d calculate the present value and choose the project with the best PV, since it’ll likely be the best investment for the organization.

Calculating the Net Present Value

The net present value (NPV) is a somewhat complicated formula, but allows a more precise prediction of project value than the lump-sum approach found with the PV formula. NPV evaluates the monies returned on a project for each time period the project lasts. In other words, a project may last five years, but there may be a return on investment in each of the five years the project is in existence, not just at the end of the project.

For example, a retail company may be upgrading the facilities at each of their stores to make shopping and purchasing easier for their customers. The company has 1,000 stores. As each store makes the conversion to the new facility design, the project deliverables will begin, hopefully generating cash flow as a result of the project deliverables. (Uh, we specifically want cash inflow from the new stores, not cash outflow. That’s some nerdy accounting humor.) The project can begin earning money when the first store is completed with the conversion to the new facilities. The faster the project can be completed, the sooner the organization will see a complete return on their investment. In this example, an interest rate of six percent per year is assumed.

The following outlines how the NPV formula works:

1. Calculate the project’s cash flow per time unit (typically quarters or years).

2. Calculate each time unit total into the present value.

3. Sum the present value of each time unit.

4. Subtract the investment for the project.

5. Take two aspirins.

6. Examine the NPV value. An NPV greater than zero is good and the project should be approved. An NPV less than zero is bad and the project should be rejected.

When comparing two projects, the project with the greater NPV is typically better, though projects with high returns (PV) early in the project are better than those with low returns early in the project. The following is an example of an NPV calculation:

I bet you’re wishing you could try some of these out for yourself, right? You’re in luck. On McGraw-Hill Professional's Media Center site (see Appendix A) you'll find a Microsoft Excel file called Time Value of Money Worksheet with a few exercises and all of the formulas to test your work. Enjoy!

Considering the Internal Rate of Return

The last benefit measurement method is the internal rate of return (IRR). The IRR is a complex formula to calculate when the present value of the cash inflow equals the original investment. Don’t get too lost in this formula—it’s a tricky business, and you won’t need to know how to calculate the IRR for the exam. You will need to know, however, that when comparing multiple projects’ IRRs, projects with high IRRs are better choices than projects with low IRRs. This makes sense. Would you like an investment with a high rate of return or a lower rate of return?

Examining Constrained Optimization Methods

Constrained optimization methods are complex mathematical formulas and algorithms that are used to predict the success of projects, the variables within projects, and tendencies to move forward with selected project investments. For the exam, thankfully, all you need to know about these selection methods is that they are not typically used for most projects, being instead utilized for multiphase, complex projects. The following are the major constrained optimization methods:

Linear programming

Nonlinear programming

Integer algorithms

Dynamic programming

Multiobjective programming

Adopting a Project Plan Methodology

A project plan methodology is a structured approach to developing the project plan. Methodologies can be simple or complex and based on the project type, the requirements of the performing organization, or multiple inputs. Organizations can use hard or soft tools to lead the project plan methodology. In its choice of hard tools, one organization may require that the project team create a project plan based on a checklist of plan requirements, while another organization may require that project teams complete a computer-based project template.

Soft tools include project meetings, business analysts to investigate and research all facets of the problem or opportunity, and subject matter experts’ interviews of stakeholders and project team members. A methodology used in creating the project plan can include the following:

Project templates

Paper and electronic forms

Monte Carlo simulations for risk management

Project simulations for expected results

The design of experiments

Project startup meetings

Interviews

Employing a Project Management Information System (PMIS)

A PMIS is typically a computer-driven system (though it can be paper-based) to aid a project manager in the development of the project. It is a tool for, not a replacement of, the project manager. A PMIS can calculate schedules, costs, expectations, and likely results. It cannot, however, replace the expert judgment of the project manager and the project team. The goal of the system is to automate, organize, and provide control of the project management processes. A typical PMIS software system has:

Work breakdown structure creation tools

Calendaring features

Scheduling abilities

Work authorization tools

Earned value management controls

Quality control charts, program evaluation and review technique (PERT) charts, Gantt charts, and other charting features

Calculations for the critical path, EVM, target dates based on the project schedule, and more

Resource tracking and leveling

Reporting functionality

Relying on Expert Judgment

Have you ever heard the expression “To be successful, surround yourself with smarter people than yourself”? That’s the idea of expert judgment. When it comes to project selection, another tool that management (and the project manager throughout the project) can rely on is expert judgment. Expert judgment is referenced over and over as a tool and technique in the PMBOK. So, what is it? Expert judgment is a technique to rely on the experts within your organization, consultants, stakeholders (including the project customers), professional associations, or industry groups for advice. These experts can contribute to the project selection method by offering their opinion, research, and experience.

Developing the Project Plan

The project plan is not a museum piece. You’ll use, wrinkle, update, and depend on your project plan like a Super Bowl coach depends on the playbook. The project plan is developed with the project team, stakeholders, and management. It is the guide to how the project should flow and how the project will be managed, and it reflects the values, priorities, and conditions influencing the project.

Project plan development requires an iterative process of progressive elaboration. The project manager will revise and update the plan as research and planning reveal more information and as the project develops. For example, an initial project plan may describe a broad overview of what the project entails, what the desired future state should be, and the general methods used to achieve the goals of the plan. Then, after research, careful planning, and discovery, the project plan will develop into a concise document that details the work involved in, and the expectations of, the project; how the project will be controlled, measured, and managed; and how the project should move. In addition, the project plan will contain all of the supporting details, specify the project organization, and allow for growth in the plan through a disciplined change control process.

Understanding the Project Plan’s Purpose

The project plan is more than a playbook to determine what work needs to be accomplished. The project plan is a fluid document that will control several elements.

Provide structure     The project plan is developed to provide a structure that advances the project toward completion. It is a thorough but concise collection of documents that will serve as a point of reference through the project execution, monitoring and controlling, and project or phase closing.

Provide documentation     “Noggin plans”—the kind between your ears—are not good. A documented project plan is needed for truly successful projects. They provide a historical reference and the reasoning for why decisions were made. A project plan must provide documentation of the assumptions and constraints influencing the project plan development.

Provide communication     Project plans are documents that provide the information, explanations, and reasoning underlying the decisions made for the project. The project plan serves as a source of communication among stakeholders, the project team, and management on how the project plan will be controlled.

Provide baselines     A project plan contains several baselines. As the project moves toward completion, management, stakeholders, and the project manager can use the project plan to see what was predicted as far as costs, scheduling, quality, and scope—and then see how these predictions compare with what is being experienced.

Preparing to Develop the Project Plan

To effectively develop the project plan, the project manager and the stakeholders must be in agreement with the project objectives. For this agreement to exist, the project manager works with the stakeholders to negotiate a balance of expectations and required objectives. Competing objectives is a recurring theme in project management (and on the PMP exam). Project managers must be able to negotiate among stakeholders for the best solution to the problem or opportunity. The project plan is created based on the organization’s project management methodology, the nature of the work to be implemented, and the overall scope of the project.

The triple constraints of project management provide an excellent negotiation tool. No side of the equilateral triangle can change without affecting the other sides. The goal is for all sides of the triangle to remain even. Want to change the project end date to something sooner rather than later? Okay, but you’ll have to add more resources to get it done—which means a bigger budget. Don’t have enough cash in the old budget to complete the work? Okay, then just reduce the project scope. This type of triangle is sometimes called the “Iron Triangle.”

Applying Tools and Techniques for Project Plan Development

All the planning is done, right? Of course not. The planning processes are iterative and allow the project manager and the project team to revisit them as needed. But at what point do we push back from the planning buffet and move on with a working, feasible plan? Every project is different when it comes to planning, but a project team will continue in the planning stage until it is knowledgeable about the project work and has a clear vision of what needs to be done.

Figure 4-3 depicts the evolution of the planning to action process for a typical technology project. Once the business and the functional requirements have been established, the planning processes move into the specifics. Recall that the business requirements establish the project vision and that the functional requirements establish the goals for the project. The technical requirements and the design plan shift the focus onto the specifics the project will accomplish.

FIGURE 4-3    The planning processes require documentation and a logical, systematic approach.

All of the inputs to the project plan should be readily available for the project manager, because he or she may need to rely on this information for additional planning. With all of the “stuff” the project manager has to work with, it should be a snap to create the actual project plan, right? Well, not exactly. The project manager, the project team, stakeholders, and management will work together to finalize the project plan. The contributions from each include the following:

Project manager     Leadership, facilitation, organization, direction, and expert judgment

Project team members     Knowledge of the project work and time estimates; they also influence the schedule, provide advice and opinions on risk, as well as expert judgment

Customer     Objectives, quality requirements, expert judgment, and have some influence over budget and schedule

Management     Influence budget, resources, project management methodology, quality requirements, and project plan approval

Using a Project Management Information System

The PMBOK will repeatedly recommend using a project management information system (PMIS). Here’s the scoop: It’s an automated system to quickly create, manage, and streamline the project management processes. In the development portion of the project, the PMIS can be used to help the project management team create the schedule, estimates, and risk assessments, and to gather feedback from stakeholders.

The PMIS also includes a configuration management system. Configuration management is an approach for tracking all approved changes, versions of project plans, blueprints, software numbering, and sequencing. A configuration management system aims to manage all of the following:

Functional and physical characteristics of the project deliverables

Control, track, and manage any changes to the project deliverables

Track any changes within the project

Allow the project management team to audit the project deliverables to confirm conformance to defined criteria for acceptance

The configuration management system also includes the change control system. The change control system defines all of the rules and procedures for how a change may enter the project, or be declined, and how each proposed changed is documented.

Let’s say that, for the moment, the project manager and the project team have finished their project plan. Before the project team can set about implementing it, the plan must be approved. Let’s hear that again: The project plan is a formal, documented plan that must be approved by management. Once management has signed off on the project plan, the work is truly authorized to begin.

Examining the Typical Project Plan

The project plan is actually a bunch of plans and documents. Which ones, you ask? Well, let’s take a peek.

The Project Scope Management Plan

The scope management plan details how the project scope should be maintained and protected from change, as well as how a change in scope may be allowed. The plan also provides information on how likely it is that the project scope will change, and if changes do occur, how drastic those changes may be. I’ll discuss scope management and change control in Chapter 5.

The Project Change Management Plan

The change management plan works in tandem with the scope management plan. When changes are approved for a project, including time, cost, scope, or contract, there needs to be a plan on how the project team will manage these new changes within the project. I’ll discuss scope management and change control in Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 12.

The Schedule Management Plan

The project plan details the scheduled work, milestones, and target completion dates for the project phases and the project itself. The schedule management plan, on the other hand, identifies circumstances that may change the project schedule, such as the completion of project phases or the reliance on other projects and outside resources. The schedule management plan identifies the likelihood that the schedule will change and the impact of such changes, should they occur. Finally, the schedule management plan details the approval and accountability process for changes within the project. Along with the schedule management plan, the project manager creates the schedule baseline. I’ll discuss the schedule management and schedule baseline in Chapter 6.

The Cost Management Plan

The project plan includes the project budget, the cash flow forecast, and procedures for procurement and contract administration. The subsidiary cost management plan explains how variances to the costs of the project will be managed. The plan may be based on a range of acceptable variances and the expected response to variances over a given threshold. The project plan also includes a cost performance baseline to measure accuracy of estimates and budgeting. Variances are revealed by comparing the actual project costs to the original cost performance baseline. I’ll cover cost management in Chapter 7.

The Quality Management Plan

The quality management plan describes how the project will operate and meet its quality expectations. It details the quality improvement and quality controls, and how the project will map to the quality assurance program of the performing organization. The quality management plan provides information on the required resources and time to meet the quality expectations. I’ll discuss quality management in Chapter 8.

The Process Improvement Plan

No project is perfect, but the process improvement plan strives to find ways to make the project better. It identifies methods to track and eliminate waste and non-value-added activities in order to reduce the work and deliverables that don’t contribute to the project value. I’ll discuss this plan in Chapter 8.

Human Resources Plan

The project plan includes information on the resources needed to complete the project work. The human resources plan, however, provides details on how the project team members will be brought onto the project and released from the project. For example, a project may have a need for an electrical engineer for three months during a ten-month project. The human resources plan will then determine how the engineer’s time is accounted for on the project and how the employees can be released when they’re no longer needed on the project. I’ll discuss staffing management in Chapter 9.

The Communication Management Plan

It’s been said that project managers spend 90 percent of their time communicating. When you consider all of the different requirements and communications of a project, it’s easy to believe that statistic. The communication management plan describes the required communications and how they will be fulfilled. It also explains the methods used for gathering, storing, and dispersing information to appropriate parties.

In addition, the communication management plan maps out the schedule of when the expected communication needs will be met. For example, milestone reports, timely status reports, project meetings, and other expected communication events are included in the communications management plan. The communication schedule also will include accepted procedures to update, access, and revise communications between scheduled communication events. I’ll discuss communications in Chapter 10.

The Risk Management Plan

The risk management plan details the identified risks within the project, the risks associated with the constraints and project assumptions, and how the project team will monitor, react, or avoid the risks. The risk management plan, and the processes to create it, will be detailed in Chapter 11.

The Procurement Management Plan

If the project includes vendors, the project plan needs a procurement management plan. This plan describes the procurement process from solicitation to source selection. The plan may also include the requirements for selection as set by the organization. The selected offers, proposals, and bids from vendor(s) should be incorporated into the procurement management plan. I’ll discuss procurement processes in Chapter 12.

There are loads of project plans and documents covered in this chapter. I highly recommend that you know all of the project plans and documents. Knowing these documents will help you in all of the other knowledge areas, too, as you’ll see these plans there. Keep at it—if it were easy, everyone would do it.

Project Documents and Files

Besides the compilation of project management subsidiary plans, there are also many project documents that you’ll rely on to help plan and execute the project. These are not officially part of the project plan, but you should be familiar with them for your PMP exam.

Project charter     Every project needs a charter. Charters authorize the project and give the project manager power over the project resources.

Milestone list     A listing of the project milestones and anticipated completion dates.

Forecasts     Throughout the project, the project manager will create forecasts about the expected project completion date and projected project costs.

Activity list     A shopping list of all the activities the project team must complete in order to satisfy the project. This list is an input to the project network diagram.

Activity attributes     Activities with special conditions, requirements, risks, and other conditions should be documented.

Activity cost estimates     The cost of resources, including materials, services, and, when warranted, labor should be estimated.

Project funding requirements     In larger projects, this document identifies the timeline of when capital is required for the project to move forward. This document defines the amount of funds a project needs in order to reach its objectives and when the project funds are needed.

Duration estimates     The prediction of how long the project work will take to complete.

Supporting detail for estimates     The project manager should document how time and cost estimates were created.

Resource calendars     You’ll need to know when people and facilities are available or scheduled to work on the project.

Resource requirements     The identification of what resources are needed to complete the project work is required as a supporting document for planning. This includes people, materials, equipment, facilities, and services.

Resource breakdown structure     This chart identifies the resources utilized in the project in each section of the WBS.

Responsibility assignment matrix     This is a table that maps roles to responsibilities in the project.

Roles and responsibilities     This maps project roles, such as carpenter, to project activities, such as framing the house.

Teaming agreement     A contractual agreement that defines the roles, responsibilities, considerations, and partnerships of two or more organizations that work together in a project. It’s not unlike a partnership or subcontractor relationship.

Sellers list     A listing of the vendors an organization does business with. You might know this document as a preferred vendors list in your company.

Source selection criteria     A predefined listing of the criteria to determine how a vendor will be selected—for example, cost, experience, certifications, and the like.

Statement of work     Defines the work that a vendor is to complete for the buyer. Statement of work documents accompany procurement documents so vendors can bid, quote, or create proposals for the project work. Internally, statement of work documents define the requirements of the project.

Requirements traceability matrix     A table that identifies all of the project requirements, when the requirements are due, when the requirements are created, and any other pertinent information about the requirements.

Procurement documents     All of the documents for purchasing, such as request for quotes, invitation to bid, request for proposal, and the responses, are stored as part of the project documentation.

Proposals     Proposals are an exposé on ideas, suggestions, recommendations, and solutions to an opportunity provided by a vendor for a seller. Proposals include a price for the work and document how the vendor would provide the service to the buyer.

Contracts     A legally binding agreement between the buyer(s) and seller(s) that defines the roles and responsibilities of all parties in the agreement.

Assumption log     A document that clearly identifies and tracks assumptions that are made in the project. All assumptions need to be tested for their validity, and the outcome of the test should be recorded.

Issue log     Issues are decisions that are usually in disagreement among two or more parties. They are recorded in the issue log, along with an issue owner designation, an issue date for resolution, and the eventual outcome of the issue.

Risk register     A risk is an uncertain event or condition that can have a positive or negative effect on the project. All risks, regardless of their probability or impact, are recorded in the issue log, and their status is kept current.

Change log     As changes to the project time, cost, or scope enter the project, they should be recorded in the change log for future reference.

Performance reports     These formal reports define how the project is performing on time, cost, scope, quality, and any other relevant information.

Work performance information     The current status of the project work. This includes the results of activities, corrective and preventive action status, forecasts for activity completion, and other relevant information. You might know this information as a status report.

Work performance measurements     These are predefined metrics for measuring project performance, such as cost variances, schedule variances, and estimate to complete.

Quality control measurements     Quality control is an inspection-driven process; quality control measurements are predefined values that signal problems with quality within the project deliverables. These can vary, based on the discipline the project centers on, for example, manufacturing or information technology.

Quality metrics     Predefined values that the results of project work should match in order to be acceptable for the project deliverables and project performance.

Quality checklists     These are ideal for repetitive activities to ensure that each activity is done identically to the other activities in the project. They are also ideal for safety procedures.

Project organizational structure     This document defines the reporting relationships within and without the project. This is especially useful for large virtual project teams.

Stakeholder analysis     The examination and documentation of the project stakeholders and their requirements for the project deliverables.

Stakeholder registry     All stakeholders, their position towards the project, contact information, and other characteristics are recorded in this document.

Stakeholder requirements     As a result of stakeholder analysis, the stakeholder requirements are identified. These can be project deliverables, approval requirements, and communication demands.

Stakeholder management strategy     Larger projects will generally have more stakeholders than smaller projects. The attitude and position of the project stakeholders will affect how the project manager communicates and manages the project stakeholders.

Team performance assessments     Often at the end of project phases and the end of the project, the project manager reviews the project team members performance and contribution to the project’s success or failure.

Executing the Project Plan

So you’ve got a project plan—great! Now the work of executing the project plan begins. The project manager and the project team will go about completing the promises made in the project plan to deliver, document, measure, and complete the project work. The project plan will communicate to the project team, the stakeholders, management, and even vendors what work happens next, how it begins, and how it will be measured for quality and performance.

The product of the project is created during these execution processes. The largest percentage of the project budget will be spent during the project execution processes. The project manager and the project team must work together to orchestrate the timings and integration of all the project’s moving parts. A flaw in one area of the execution can have ramifications in cost and additional risk, and can cause additional flaws in other areas of the project.

As the project work is implemented, the project manager refers to the project plan to ensure that the work is meeting the documented expectations, requirements, quality demands, target dates, and more. The completion of the work is measured and then compared against the cost, schedule, and scope baselines as documented in the project plan. Should there be—GASP!—discrepancies between the project work and the baselines, prompt and accurate reactions are needed to adjust the slipping components of the project.

Executing the project plan includes the following:

Doing the work to satisfy the project objectives

Spending funds to satisfy the project objectives

Managing, training, and leading the project team

Completing procurement requirements

Acquiring, managing, and using resources such as materials, tools, facilities, and equipment to get the project work completed

Managing risks

Fleshing approved changes into the project

Managing communications

Collecting project data on schedules, costs, quality, and overall project progress—and then reporting on these components

Completing lessons-learned documentation

Applying Corrective Action

Things go awry. Corrective actions are methods the project manager and the project team can take to bring the project back into alignment with the project plan—for example, a delay in the project work has now shifted the project schedule by a month. The project manager, the project team, and even the stakeholders can examine the project schedule to see what possible alternatives can be taken in the schedule to complete the project on time. Solutions may include additional resources, fast-tracking, changing the order of work packages, and so on. Corrective actions bring the project performance back in line with the project plan. In addition to communicating, project managers spend a great deal of their time applying corrective actions.

Considering Preventive Actions

Do you wear your seat belt? Take an umbrella when there’s a chance of rain? These are preventive actions against some risk. In project management, preventive actions are steps the project manager and the project team can take to prevent the negative outcome of possible risk events. Preventive actions are documented methods to avoid risks and keep them from influencing the project success in a negative way. Preventive actions take risk events out of play.

Managing Change Requests

As the project team completes the work, the project manager will be faced, challenged, or even bombarded with change requests. Part of project execution is to evaluate the worthiness of the proposed change, feed the change through the change control system, and then act on the approval or denial of the change request. All change requests are documented for future reference, while approved changes are incorporated into the project plan.

Managing Defect Repair

Sometimes the project team will screw up. Defect repair is the action to fix the problem and to fix it correctly. The project manager will need to ensure that the actions taken to fix the problem have indeed corrected the defect and allowed the project to move forward as planned. Sometimes when a project team member faces a defect, he will rush through the defect repair, causing errors and waste again. The project manager must work with the project team to ensure that the defect is fixed efficiently and properly.

Implementing Tools and Techniques for Project Execution

You have completed a workable, approved project plan. Now it’s time to implement the thing. This is the heart of project management: taking your project plan and putting it into action. You’ll act, do, adjust, and repeat. The project manager will use several tools and techniques to execute the project plan.

Project Management Methodology

Every performing organization has rules and regulations that are specific to the industry it operates within. In addition, the performing organization will likely have standard operating procedures that determine the order, approach, and autonomy of the project manager and the project team.

For example, an organization operating within the construction industry must operate according to the laws and regulations of the country, state (or province), and city. In addition, the performing organization may require its construction crew to adhere to its safety standards, quality inspections, and other company rules that are not mandated by a government agency. The project manager must work within not only the law, but also the additional constraints the organization has added to the project.

Collaborative PMIS packages can also serve as a work authorization system—if they are configured and used properly. Any PMIS, electronic or paper-based, is only as good as the person (or persons) keeping the information up-to-date.

Examining the Outputs of Project Plan Execution

The project is being completed; there is visible evidence that it is moving towards the desired future state. Inspections by the project manager and scope verification by the customer also prove the project team is completing their work as planned. Status meetings provide opportunity for the project team to report their work and evaluate it against the WBS and the network diagram. Things are moving along smoothly.

And then it happens. The project team begins to slip on the quality of the project work. Team members begin to take longer than what was planned to complete their project work. The scope verification with the clients takes longer—and their satisfaction with the project work begins to wane. What’s a project manager to do?

This scenario is typical of project plan execution. The team completes the work, and then the project manager reviews the work and makes adjustments to bring the project back into alignment with the baselines created in the project plan. There are several major components of project plan execution that happen throughout project execution, not just at the end.

Project deliverables

Change requests

Project management plan updates for approved change requests

Work performance information

Project document updates

Examining the Project Work Results

The team completes their work based on the project plan. The end result of the work should be measured against the quality metrics, scope requirements, and expected outcomes of the work as defined in the project plan. In addition, the project manager must examine the time and cost required to reach the work results and compare them against the baselines recorded in the project plan. Any difference between what was experienced and what was planned is a variance.

Work results are not always physical, tangible things: the creation of a service, the completion of a training class, the completion of a certification process—these, too, can be measured as work results.

Examining Change Requests

How many times have stakeholders begged, pleaded, or demanded a change in the project scope? Probably more times than you can count, right? Change requests are any requested deviation from, or addition to, the project scope, schedule, budget, quality, or staffing. Change requests will predominantly trickle (or flood) to the project manager during project plan execution. Change requests almost always affect one of four facets of a project.

Schedule     This is a desire to shorten or lengthen the project duration—for example, a key stakeholder would like the project to be completed before a particular business cycle begins. If the project can’t be completed by that time, the project will be delayed until the business cycle has completed, so the project won’t interfere with the business operations.

Cost     This is a reduction or increase in the project’s budget. For example, the project’s priority has been reduced in the organization, so the budget may, unfortunately, be reduced as well. Budgets can also be increased: A functional manager may want to spend the entire remaining departmental budget at the end of the fiscal year so that next year’s budget may meet or exceed the current year’s budget. In this questionable instance, additional funds, new features, and more resources, needed or not, are added to a project’s budget to “help” the functional manager spend the budget.

Scope     This is the most common instance of change. Stakeholders may request additional features, different features, or small changes to the project product. Each change must be evaluated against the project plan, the project scope, and supporting details to determine the cost, time, and risks implied.

Combination     This is a change made to the schedule, cost, or scope that may affect more than one facet of the project. This goes back to the idea of the Triple Constraints of Project Management. For example, a change to finish the schedule faster may be reasonable if more resources are applied to the project to complete the work faster. More resources, in turn, mean more money.

Updating the Project Documents

Change is expected in projects, though not always welcome. When changes are approved, the project management plan should be updated to reflect the approved changes. This means that the project management scope baseline, schedule baseline, and the cost baseline should all be updated to reflect the new project deliverables. You’ll also need to update the project activities lists to reflect the new activities the project changes will require, and, in turn, you’ll update the project network diagram. Finally, changes can cause a ripple effect into the project management subsidiary plans and the project documents that all need to be updated to reflect the changes in the project.

Monitoring and Controlling the Project Work

Sure, sure, it’d be nice to have a project plan and a team that follows orders and to have all the work requests completed on budget and on time every time—but this isn’t fiction. One of the key activities for the project manager is to monitor the project team and control the work that they complete as part of the project. This is the hands-on portion of the project management career.

The project manager, with the project management plan in hand, will examine what was promised in the plan and what’s been executed by the project team. This means the project manager needs work information—work results—to inspect in order to ensure that the project is being completed as planned.

Using Monitoring and Controlling Tools and Techniques

Recall that the product scope is the vision of what the customer expects, while the project scope is the work completed by the project team to create the product scope. This means that if the project team is completing activities outside of the project scope, they are not contributing to the project scope, which in turn means they’re creating a product scope that’s different from what the customer is expecting. Not a good thing. This leads to waste, frustration, delays, and unhappy customers—and unhappy project managers. We don’t want this. We want control and accuracy.

Using a Methodology

A project management methodology is more than just a philosophy for project management. It’s an approach to project management that follows a documented, proven model for completing projects. Many organizations have a project management methodology that requires the project manager to complete checklists, follow standards, and report on the accuracy of the project completion. The goal of the project management methodology is to assist all project managers within an organization to accurately execute the project management plan.

Another tool that complements the project management plan is a project management information system (PMIS). A PMIS can automate some of the procedures, questions, and prompts to assist all project managers within an organization to ask the right questions in order to retrieve answers, status, and information on task completion. A PMIS does not replace the project manager—it only assists the project manager.

Relying on Earned Value Management

Earned value management (EVM) is a set of formulas that help a project manager determine the overall success and performance of a project. I’ll discuss this in detail in Chapter 7. For now, know that EVM is a set of tools to measure project performance from initiation to project closure. It’s loads of fun.

Relying on Expert Judgment

Project managers should use expert judgment. Expert judgment is simply relying on a resource that’s smarter in one or more areas than the project manager to help the project manager make the best decision. Expert judgment can come from many different sources.

Third-party consultants

Subject matter experts

Project team members

Stakeholders

Individuals within the organization that may not be directly affected by the project

Examining the Results of Project Work

As a project moves towards completion and the project manager monitors and controls the project, there will be evidence of the project’s success, failures or, at a minimum, some results of the work as performed by the project team. Here’s the business you can expect to be tested on when it comes to the PMP exam.

Requested changes     Yep, change requests can come out of monitoring and controlling. I’ll talk more about change control in Chapter 5, but for now, know that change requests usually mean that the project scope will widen—although in some instances, the project scope may be trimmed due to lack of funds, time, or other possibilities.

Recommended corrective actions     Corrective actions are actions that must be followed to bring future project results into alignment with expected project performance. These require documented change requests to implement.

Recommended preventive actions     These are actions to ensure that mistakes don’t get repeated within a project. For example, if a piece of equipment fails if it gets too hot, the project manager and the project team will take action to ensure that the equipment doesn’t overheat and delay the project work. These require documented change requests to implement.

Recommended defect repair     Quality control is an inspection-driven process to find mistakes or errors with the project work results before the customer does. When a defect is found, the project manager should document the defect and then, usually, require the project team to fix the problem. Defects require documented change requests to implement.

Forecasts     Forecasts are harbingers of things to come. They provide information based on current and past project performance to predict when a project may finish and what the estimate at completion (the project’s final costs) and the estimate to complete (how much more the project will cost) the project will be. EVM is an example of a tool that can provide forecasts.

Project document updates     When project work changes, the project manager has to update the corresponding project documents and project plans. This is a recurring theme throughout project management, so you can bet dollars to donuts you’ll see this concept on your PMP exam.

Reacting to Change

When changes are proposed to the project, the project manager must route the proposed changes through a change control system (CCS). The CCS may also include the review of proposed changes through a change control board (CCB). Changes may be discarded or approved on the basis of different criteria, such as benefit/cost ratios (BCRs), value-added changes, risk, and political capital.

When changes are approved, the project manager must then update the project baselines, as changes will likely affect a combination of scope, cost, and time. The updated baselines allow the project to continue with the new changes fleshed in and provide for accurate measurement of the performance of the project as changed.

This is an important concept: Update the project baselines. Consider a project to which work has been added but for which the schedule baseline has not been updated: The project’s end date will thus be sooner than what is possible, because the project baseline does not reflect the additional work that should extend that date. In addition, a failure to revise the project baseline could skew reporting, variances, future project decisions, and even future projects.

Consider a project manager who does not update the project baseline after a change. The completion of the project goes into the archives and can serve as historical information for future projects. In such cases, the historical information would be skewed, since it doesn’t accurately account for the added work and the projected end date or budget.

Changes, small or large, must be accounted for throughout the project plan. Notice how the integrated change control processes influence the communications of the change, including the change approval or denial. That’s the whole point: to integrate proposed changes into the project processes. Figure 4-4 details integrated change control.

FIGURE 4-4    All change requests must pass through integrated change control.

Implementing Tools and Techniques for Integrated Change Control

Given that changes, or requests for change, are likely to happen in the project, what tools are available to squelch, evaluate, and approve the proposed changes? And how can the project manager organize change requests in an orderly system so he or she is not constantly evaluating change requests instead of focusing on project completion? And how do change requests get approved, worked into the project plan, and accounted for in costs, schedule, and risk?

Many tools can be applied to requests for change: consistency, scope comparison, benefit/cost ratios, risk analysis, and the estimate of the time and cost to incorporate the change, among others. The tools will guide the project manager, the project team, and the stakeholders through the process of approving and declining changes. The best approach for integrated change control is a constant, purposeful process of reviewing, considering, and evaluating, followed by a decision as to whether the change is needed.

Relying on a Change Control System

A change control system is a formal process of documenting and reviewing proposed changes. It establishes the flow of change from proposal to decision. The change control system is a process that describes how project performance will be monitored, how changes may occur, and then how the project plan may be revised and sent through versioning when the changes are approved.

A change control system is a collection of documented activities, factors for decisions, and performance measurements—not a computer program. While many electronic project management information systems offer a change control system, know that a change control system is a documented approach to change, not an automated approval structure.

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Some organizations may have a change control system that is used across all projects and maps to common guidelines within the organization. If the performing organization does not have a change control system, it is the responsibility of the project manager and the project team to create one. A change control system is mandatory for effective project management.

Within a change control system there may be a collection of management, key stakeholders, and project team members that review the changes for approval or denial. This board is defined in the project plan, and its roles and responsibilities are defined prior to project plan execution. Common names for the board include the following:

Change control board (CCB)

Schedule change control board

Technical review board (TRB)

Technical assessment board (TAB)

Engineering review board (ERB)

Implementing Configuration Management

Configuration management focuses on controlling the characteristics of a product or service. It is a documented process of controlling the features, attributes, and technical configuration of any product or service. When it comes to project management, configuration management has a focus on the project deliverables. In some organizations, configuration management is a part of the change control system, while in some industries, such as manufacturing, configuration management refers to the control of existing operations. In a general sense, configuration management consists of the following:

Configuration identification     The documentation and labeling of the features, characteristics, and functions of a product or service

Configuration status accounting     The management and coordination of efforts to change the product or service. This includes status of proposed changes, both pending and implemented

Configuration verification and audit     The process of documenting any changes to the product or service. It is the ongoing auditing of products and services to ensure their conformance to documented requirements, including tracking approved changes to the product’s features and functions

Applying Performance Measurement

The end result of project plan execution must be measured to see if the implementation of the plan meets the expected results of the project plan. The most common measurement of project plan execution is earned value. Earned value is a collection of formulas to measure the project worth, performance, and likelihood of the project completing on time and on budget.

Revisiting Planning Processes

Planning is iterative. As project plans rarely, if ever, happen exactly the way the project team and project manager planned them, the project freely moves between the controlling, executing, and planning processes. This is most evident when changes enter the project scene. The project manager and the project team must evaluate the proposed changes for additional cost, time, and risk concerns.

If the project work slips from the expected performance, quality, or schedule, adjustments are needed. These adjustments will require the consideration of project activities, the critical path, resources, cost, sequence of activities, and other refinements to the project plan.

Evaluating the Outputs of Integrated Change Control

As the project follows the project plan and changes are presented, the project manager will implement integrated change control. Some changes will be denied, documented, and archived for reference if needed. Other changes will be approved and factored into the project scope and have their time, cost, and risks documented and accounted for. The process of integrated change control is ongoing until project closure. Integrated change control can spur the following:

Approved change requests

Rejected change requests

Project plan updates

Project scope statement updates

Approved corrective actions

Approved preventive actions

Approved defect repair

Project deliverables

Closing the Project or Phase

The project management plan defines what the project or phase is, how the project or phase will be completed, and finally—the good part—how the project or phase will be closed. The close project processes are those activities that the project manager, the project management team, vendors, and the organization’s management will undertake to close out the project work. If a project has multiple phases, as most projects do, the closing processes will be implemented at the end of each phase.

Preparing to Close the Project or Phase

The project manager must rely on several documents to prepare the close project processes. Specifically, the project manager relies on the project management plan to guide the required actions needed to close out the project. Of course, other components contribute to the start of the closing processes.

Contract documentation     When a project is being completed for another organization, the contract serves as a guide for how the project may be closed. The contract will define provisions for change, the criteria for acceptance, product description, and payment details.

Enterprise environmental factors     Recall that the organization’s culture, project management approach, standards and regulations, human resource requirements, and tolerance for risk all affect how a project is initiated. These same factors also affect the procedures for project closure.

Organizational process assets     An organization may have procedures and processes that every project manager must follow to close a phase or project. These can include financial, reporting, and human resource obligations.

Work performance information     The success of the project is based on more than just a declaration of completion. The work performance information defines the schedule, costs, and deliverables that have been met as part of the project work.

Deliverables     The project has to create something, so it’s no surprise that the deliverables serve as input to the project closing processes.

Formally closing the project or phase involves documenting and archiving all of the work necessary to formalize the closing process. This requires more than just the project manager, instead involving the project team, the project sponsor, key stakeholders, and vendors. Administrative closure includes all of the following activities:

Collecting and assembling all project records

Analyzing the project’s success or failure

Gathering lessons-learned documentation

Archiving project information for future reference

At the end of the project, project teams and the project manager are often rewarded. How will you reward yourself for finishing the project to pass your PMP exam? Set a reward for earning your PMP—you’ll deserve it!

Completing Contract Closure

If a contract has been involved with the project work, the project manager must work with the vendor or customer, depending on the scenario, to finalize the project or phase closure. The contract will serve as the guide for what constitutes the successful completion of the purchase. Contract closure includes the following:

Product verification

Early contract termination conditions

Payment terms

Formal acceptance documentation

Project files

Project closure documents

Historical information

The terms of the contract define how the project work is to be executed, managed and controlled, and then finally closed. I’ll discuss contracting and procurement details in Chapter 12. Something to look forward to!

CERTIFICATION SUMMARY

Project integration management is an ongoing process the project manager completes to ensure the project moves from start to completion. It is the gears, guts, and grind of project management—the day-in, day-out business of completing the project work. Project integration management takes your project plans; coordinates the activities, project resources, constraints, and assumptions; and massages them into a working model.

Of course, project integration management isn’t an automatic process; it requires you, the project manager, to negotiate, finesse, and adapt to the project’s circumstances. Project integration management relies on general business skills such as leadership, organizational skills, and communication to get all the parts of the project working together.

The process of project management can be broken down into three chunks.

Developing the project plan     Project plan development is an iterative process that requires input from the project manager, the project team, the project customers, and other stakeholders. It details how the project work will accomplish the project goals. The project plan provides communication.

Executing the project plan     Now that the plan has been created, it’s time to execute it. The project execution processes authorize the work to begin, manage procurement and quality assurance, host project team meetings, and manage conflict between stakeholders. On top of all these moving parts, the project manager must actively work to develop the individuals on the project to work as a team for the good of the project.

Managing changes to the project     Changes can kill a project. Change requests must be documented and sent through a formal change control system to determine their worthiness for implementation. Integrated change control manages changes across the entire project. Change requests are evaluated and considered for impacts on risk, costs, schedule, and scope. Not all change requests are approved—but all change requests should be documented for future reference.

As the project moves from start to completion, the project manager and the project team must update the lessons-learned documentation. The lessons learned serve as future historical information to the current project and to other future projects within the organization. The project manager and project team should update the lessons learned at the end of project phases, when major deliverables are created, and at the project’s completion.

Project Integration Management

Project integration management relies on project plan development, project plan execution, and integrated change control. Integrated change control manages all the moving parts of a project.

Project integration management is a fancy way of saying that the project components need to work together—and the project manager sees to it that they do. Project integration management requires negotiation between competing objectives.

Project integration management calls for general management skills, effective communications, organization, familiarity with the product, and more. It is the day-to-day operations of the project execution.

Planning the Project

On your exam, you’ll need to know that planning is an iterative process and that the results of planning are inputs to the project plan. The project plan is a fluid document, authorized by management, and guides all future decisions on the project.

The project plan is a fluid work in progress. Updates to the plan reflect changes to the project, discoveries made during the project plan execution, and conditions of the project. The project plan serves as a point of reference for all future project decisions, and it becomes future historical information to guide other project managers. When changes occur, the cost, schedule, and scope baselines in the project plan must be updated.

Project Constraints

Projects have at least one or more constraints: time, cost, and scope. These are known as the Triple Constraints of Project Management. Constraints are factors that can hinder project performance.

Time constraints include project deadlines, availability of key personnel, and target milestone dates. Remember that all projects are temporary: They have a beginning and an end.

Cost constraints are typically predetermined budgets for project completion. It’s usually easier to get more time than more money.

Scope constraints are requirements for the project deliverables, regardless of the cost or time to implement the requirements (safety regulations or industry mandates are examples).

Managing Change Control

Integrated change control is the process of documenting and controlling the features of a product, measuring and reacting to project conditions, and revisiting planning when needed.

Projects need a change control system to determine how changes will be considered, reviewed, and approved or declined. A change control system is a documented approach to how a stakeholder may request a change and then what factors are considered when approving or declining the requested change.

Configuration management is part of change control. It is the process of controlling how the characteristics of the product or service the project is creating are allowed to be changed.

KEY TERMS

If you’re serious about passing the PMP exam, memorize these terms and their definitions. For maximum value, create your own flashcards based on these definitions and review them daily.

activity attributes Activities that have special conditions, requirements, risks, and other conditions should be documented.

activity cost estimates The cost of resources, including materials, services, and, when warranted, labor should be estimated.

activity list A shopping list of all the activities the project team must complete in order to satisfy the project. This list is an input to the project network diagram.

assumption log A document that clearly identifies and tracks assumptions that are made in the project. All assumptions need to be tested for their validity, and the outcome of the test should be recorded.

benefit measurement methods Project selection methods that compare the benefits of projects to determine which project the organization should invest its funds into.

benefit/cost ratios Shows the proportion of benefits to costs; for example 4:1 would equate to four benefits and just one cost.

change control board A group of decision makers that review proposed project changes.

change control system A predefined set of activities, forms, and procedures to entertain project change requests.

change log As changes to the project time, cost, or scope enter the project, they should be recorded in the change log for future reference.

change management plan When changes are approved for a project, including time, cost, scope, or contract, there needs to be a plan on how the project team will manage these new changes within the project.

communications management plan Defines the required communications and how they will be fulfilled; explains the methods used for gathering, storing, and dispersing information to appropriate parties. In addition, the communications management plan maps out the schedule of when the expected communication needs will be met.

configuration management The control and documentation of the project’s product features and functions.

constrained optimization methods Complex mathematical models to determine the likelihood of a project’s success in order to determine if the organization should invest its funds into the project.

constraints Anything that limits the project manager’s options; for example, time, cost, and scope are always project constraints.

contract A legally binding agreement between the buyer(s) and seller(s) that defines the roles and responsibilities of all parties in the agreement.

cost management plan Explains how variances to the costs of the project will be managed. The plan may be based on a range of acceptable variances and the expected response to variances over a given threshold.

duration estimates The prediction of how long the project work will take to complete.

earned value management A suite of formulas to measure the project’s overall performance for time and costs.

forecast Throughout the project, the project manager will create forecasts about the expected project completion date and projected project costs.

future value A formula to predict the current amount of funds into a future amount of funds. The formula is Future Value = Present Value(1+i)ⁿ, where i is the value of return and n is the number of time periods.

historical information Any information created in the past that can help the current project succeed.

human resources plan Details on how the project team members will be brought onto and released from the project.

internal rate of return A benefit measurement formula to calculate when the present value of the cash inflow equals the project’s original investment.

issue log Issues are decisions that are usually in disagreement among two or more parties. Issues are recorded in the issue log, along with an issue owner designation, an issue date for resolution, and the eventual outcome of the issue.

lessons learned Ongoing collection of documentation about what has and has not worked in the project; the project manager and the project team participate in lessons-learned creation.

murder board A group of decision makers that may determine to “kill” a proposed project before it is officially launched, based on the board’s findings on the likelihood of the project’s success.

net present value A benefit measurement formula that provides a precise measurement of the present value of each year the project generates a return on investment.

payback period The duration of time it takes a project to earn back the original investment.

performance reports These formal reports define how the project is performing on time, cost, scope, quality, and any other relevant information.

PMIS A project management information system is typically a software system, such as Microsoft Project, to assist the project manager in managing the project.

present value A benefit measurement formula to determine what a future amount of funds is worth today. The formula is Present Value = Future Value/(1+i)ⁿ, where i is the value of the return and n is the number of time periods.

process improvement plan Identifies methods to track and eliminate waste and non-value-added activities.

procurement documents All of the documents for purchasing, such as request for quotes, invitation to bid, request for proposal, and the responses, are stored as part of the project documentation.

procurement management plan Describes the procurement process from solicitation to source selection. The plan may also include the requirements for selection as set by the organization.

project baselines Three baselines in a project are used to measure project performance: cost, schedule, and scope.

project charter A document that authorizes the project, defines the high-level requirements, identifies the project manager and the project sponsor, and provides initial information about the project.

project funding requirements In larger projects, this document identifies the timeline of when capital is required for the project to move forward. This document defines the amount of funds a project needs and when the project funds are needed in order to reach its objectives.

project integration management One of nine knowledge areas that is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the other eight knowledge areas.

project plan A comprehensive document comprised of several subsidiary plans that communicates the intent and direction of the project.

proposals Proposals are an exposé on ideas, suggestions, recommendations, and solutions to an opportunity provided by a vendor for a seller. Proposals include a price for the work and document how the vendor would provide the service to the buyer.

quality management plan Details the quality improvement, quality controls, and how the project will map to the quality assurance program of the performing organization.

requirements traceability matrix A table that identifies all of the project requirements, when the requirements are due, when the requirements are created, and any other pertinent information about the requirements.

resource breakdown structure This chart identifies the resources utilized in the project in each section of the WBS.

resource calendar You’ll need to know when people and facilities are available or scheduled to work on the project.

resource requirements The identification of what resources are needed to complete the project work is needed as a supporting document for planning. This includes people, materials, equipment, facilities, and services.

responsibility assignment matrix This is a table that maps roles to responsibilities in the project.

risk management plan Details the identified risks within the project, the risks associated with the constraints and project assumptions, and how the project team will monitor, react, or avoid the risks.

risk register A risk is an uncertain event or condition that can have a positive or negative effect on the project. All risks, regardless of their probability or impact, are recorded in the issue log and their status is kept current.

roles and responsibilities Maps project roles to responsibilities within the project; roles are positions on the project team, and responsibilities are project activities.

schedule management plan Identifies circumstances that may change the project schedule, such as the completion of project phases or the reliance on other projects and outside resources. The schedule management plan details the approval and accountability process for changes within the project.

scope management plan Details how the project scope should be maintained and protected from change, as well as how a change in scope may be allowed.

scoring models A project selection method that assigns categories and corresponding values to measure a project’s worthiness of investment.

sellers list A listing of the vendors an organization does business with. You might know this document as a preferred vendors list in your company.

source selection criteria A predefined listing of the criteria to determine how a vendor will be selected—for example, cost, experience, certifications, and the like.

statement of work A document that defines the project work that is to be completed internally or by a vendor.

supporting detail for estimates The project manager should document how time and cost estimates were created.

teaming agreement A contractual agreement that defines the roles, responsibilities, considerations, and partnerships of two or more organizations that work together in a project. It’s not unlike a partnership or subcontractor relationship.

work performance information The current status of the project work; includes the results of activities, corrective and preventive action status, forecasts for activity completion, and other relevant information.

work performance measurements These are predefined metrics for measuring project performance, such as cost variances, schedule variances, and estimate to complete.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL

Developing the Project Charter

The project charter authorizes the project and names the project manager.

It is not authorized by the project manager, but by a person or party that has the power to grant the project manager the authority over the project resources.

The project charter defines the high-level requirements for the project and the conditions for success.

Developing the Project Plan

The project plan is a collection of subsidiary project plans.

The project plan communicates the intent of the project.

Project planning is an iterative process that may require updates to the project plan and other project documents.

Executing the Project Plan

The project team executes the project plan in order to create the requirements of the project.

The majority of the project’s time and budget are spent during project execution.

Team development and team management are executing processes.

Execution is also where the procurement requirements are completed.

Monitoring and Controlling the Project Work

Monitoring and controlling processes happen in tandem with the project execution processes.

Earned value management is a suite of formulas that can help the project management team monitor the project performance.

Expert judgment is relying on someone with more experience to help the project manager make the best decision.

Change requests include scope changes, recommended corrective actions, recommended preventive actions, and defect repair.

Closing the Project or Phase

Closing the project or phase requires the project manager to follow the guidelines of the organization and the project plan.

The project’s contract documentation can help guide the procedures for closing a project or phase when the project is being completed by a vendor for a buyer.

Project documentation should be archived as part of project closure.

SELF TEST

1. You are a project manager for your organization. Management has asked you to help them determine which projects should be selected for implementation. In a project selection model, which of the following is the most important factor?

A. Business needs

B. The type of constraints

C. The budget

D. The schedule

2. On any project, the lessons-learned document is created by which of the following?

A. The customers

B. The project sponsor

C. The project team

D. The stakeholders

3. Your project is moving ahead of schedule. Management elects to incorporate additional quality testing into the project to improve the quality and acceptability of the project deliverable. This is an example of which one of the following?

A. Scope creep

B. Change control

C. Quality assurance

D. Integrated change control

4. All of the following are true about change requests except:

A. They happen while the project work is being done.

B. They always require additional funding.

C. They can be written or verbal.

D. They can be requested by a stakeholder.

5. You are the project manager for a pharmaceutical company. You are currently working on a project for a new drug your company is creating. A recent change in a law governing drug testing will change your project scope. Since the project must be completed within two years, what’s the first thing you should do as project manager?

A. Create a documented change request.

B. Proceed as planned, since the project will be grandfathered beyond the new change in the law.

C. Consult with the project sponsor and the stakeholders.

D. Stop all project work until the issue is resolved.

6. During project execution activities, a project sponsor’s role in a functional organization can best be described as doing which one of the following?

A. Acting as a sounding board for the project stakeholders

B. Helping the project manager and stakeholders resolve any issues ASAP

C. Deflecting change requests for the project manager

D. Showing management the project progress and status reports

7. You are the project manager for the HALO Project. You and your project team are preparing the project plan. Of the following, which one is a project plan development constraint you and your team must consider?

A. The budget as assigned by management

B. Project plans from similar projects

C. Project plans from similar projects that have failed

D. Interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs) who have experience with the project work in your project plan

8. Which of the following is the primary purpose of the project management plan?

A. To define the work to be completed to reach the project end date

B. To define the work needed in each phase of the project life cycle

C. To prevent any changes to the scope

D. To define how the project is executed, monitored, controlled, and then closed

9. Of the following, which one is an input to project plan development?

A. The project scope statement

B. Project planning methodology

C. EVM

D. Business needs

10. What is the difference between a project baseline and a project plan?

A. Project plans change as needed, while baselines change only at milestones.

B. Project plans and baselines do not change—they are amended.

C. Project plans change as needed, while baselines are snapshots of the project plan.

D. Baselines are control tools, while project plans are execution tools.

11. Which one of the following is not beneficial to the project manager during the project plan development process?

A. Gantt charts

B. PMIS

C. The project management methodology

D. Stakeholder knowledge

12. Which one of the following represents the vast majority of a project’s budget?

A. Project planning

B. Project plan execution

C. Labor

D. Cost of goods and services

13. The project plan provides a baseline for several things. Which one of the following does the project plan not provide a baseline for?

A. Scope

B. Cost

C. Schedule

D. Control

14. Which of the following can best help a project manager during project execution?

A. Stakeholder analysis

B. Change control boards

C. PMIS

D. Scope verification

15. You are the project manager for your organization. When it comes to integrated change control, you must ensure that which one of the following is present?

A. Supporting detail for the change exists

B. Approval of the change from the project team

C. Approval of the change from an SME

D. Risk assessment for each proposed change

16. The project plan provides what in regard to project changes?

A. A methodology to approve or decline CCB changes

B. A guide to all future project decisions

C. A vision of the project deliverables

D. A fluid document that may be updated as needed based on the CCB

17. You are the project manager for the DGF Project. This project is to design and implement a new application that will connect to a database server. Management of your company has requested that you create a method to document technical direction on the project and to document any changes or enhancements to the technical attributes of the project deliverable. Which one of the following would satisfy management’s request?

A. Configuration management

B. Integrated change control

C. Scope control

D. The change management plan

18. Baseline variances, a documented plan to management variances, and a proven methodology to offer corrective actions to the project plan are all part of which process?

A. Change management

B. The change control system

C. The scope change control

D. Integrated change control

19. One of the requirements of project management in your organization is to describe your project management approach and methodology in the project plan. You can best accomplish this requirement through which one of the following actions?

A. Establishing a project office

B. Establishing a program office

C. Compiling the management plans from each of the knowledge areas

D. Creating a PMIS and documenting its inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs

20. You have just informed your project team that each team member will be contributing to the lessons-learned documentation. Your team does not understand this approach and wants to know what the documentation will be used for. Which one of the following best describes the purpose of the lessons-learned documentation?

A. Offers proof of concept for management

B. Offers historical information for future projects

C. Offers evidence of project progression as reported by the project team

D. Offers input to team member evaluations at the project conclusion

21. Which one of the following is a formal document to manage and control project execution?

A. WBS

B. The project management plan

C. The organizational management plan

D. The work authorization system

22. Configuration management is a process for applying technical and administrative direction and surveillance of the project implementation. Which activity is not included in configuration management?

A. Controlling changes to the project deliverables

B. Scope verification

C. Automatic change request approvals

D. Identification of the functional and physical attributes of the project deliverables

23. Which set contains parts of the project plan execution?

A. PMIS, WBS, and EVM

B. General management skills, status review meetings, and EVM

C. Project management methodology and the PMIS

D. General management skills, status review meetings, and interpersonal skills

24. EVM is used during the _______________.

A. Controlling processes

B. Executing processes

C. Closing processes

D. Entire project

25. You are the project manager for your organization. Management would like you to use a tool that can help you plan, schedule, monitor, and report your findings on your project. This tool is which one of the following?

A. PMIS

B. EVM

C. Status review meetings

D. Project team knowledge and skill set

SELF TEST ANSWERS

1. You are a project manager for your organization. Management has asked you to help them determine which projects should be selected for implementation. In a project selection model, which of the following is the most important factor?

A. Business needs

B. The type of constraints

C. The budget

D. The schedule

2. On any project, the lessons-learned document is created by which of the following?

A. The customers

B. The project sponsor

C. The project team

D. The stakeholders

3. Your project is moving ahead of schedule. Management elects to incorporate additional quality testing into the project to improve the quality and acceptability of the project deliverable. This is an example of which one of the following?

A. Scope creep

B. Change control

C. Quality assurance

D. Integrated change control

4. All of the following are true about change requests except:

A. They happen while the project work is being done.

B. They always require additional funding.

C. They can be written or verbal.

D. They can be requested by a stakeholder.

5. You are the project manager for a pharmaceutical company. You are currently working on a project for a new drug your company is creating. A recent change in a law governing drug testing will change your project scope. Since the project must be completed within two years, what’s the first thing you should do as project manager?

A. Create a documented change request.

B. Proceed as planned, since the project will be grandfathered beyond the new change in the law.

C. Consult with the project sponsor and the stakeholders.

D. Stop all project work until the issue is resolved.

6. During project execution activities, a project sponsor’s role in a functional organization can best be described as doing which one of the following?

A. Acting as a sounding board for the project stakeholders

B. Helping the project manager and stakeholders resolve any issues ASAP

C. Deflecting change requests for the project manager

D. Showing management the project progress and status reports

7. You are the project manager for the HALO Project. You and your project team are preparing the project plan. Of the following, which one is a project plan development constraint you and your team must consider?

A. The budget as assigned by management

B. Project plans from similar projects

C. Project plans from similar projects that have failed

D. Interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs) who have experience with the project work in your project plan

8. Which of the following is the primary purpose of the project management plan?

A. To define the work to be completed to reach the project end date

B. To define the work needed in each phase of the project life cycle

C. To prevent any changes to the scope

D. To define how the project is executed, monitored, controlled, and then closed

9. Of the following, which one is an input to project plan development?

A. The project scope statement

B. Project planning methodology

C. EVM

D. Business needs

10. What is the difference between a project baseline and a project plan?

A. Project plans change as needed, while baselines change only at milestones.

B. Project plans and baselines do not change—they are amended.

C. Project plans change as needed, while baselines are snapshots of the project plan.

D. Baselines are control tools, while project plans are execution tools.

11. Which one of the following is not beneficial to the project manager during the project plan development process?

A. Gantt charts

B. PMIS

C. The project management methodology

D. Stakeholder knowledge

12. Which one of the following represents the vast majority of a project’s budget?

A. Project planning

B. Project plan execution

C. Labor

D. Cost of goods and services

13. The project plan provides a baseline for several things. Which one of the following does the project plan not provide a baseline for?

A. Scope

B. Cost

C. Schedule

D. Control

14. Which of the following can best help a project manager during project execution?

A. Stakeholder analysis

B. Change control boards

C. PMIS

D. Scope verification

15. You are the project manager for your organization. When it comes to integrated change control, you must ensure that which one of the following is present?

A. Supporting detail for the change exists

B. Approval of the change from the project team

C. Approval of the change from an SME

D. Risk assessment for each proposed change

16. The project plan provides what in regard to project changes?

A. A methodology to approve or decline CCB changes

B. A guide to all future project decisions

C. A vision of the project deliverables

D. A fluid document that may be updated as needed based on the CCB

17. You are the project manager for the DGF Project. This project is to design and implement a new application that will connect to a database server. Management of your company has requested that you create a method to document technical direction on the project and to document any changes or enhancements to the technical attributes of the project deliverable. Which one of the following would satisfy management’s request?

A. Configuration management

B. Integrated change control

C. Scope control

D. The change management plan

18. Baseline variances, a documented plan to management variances, and a proven methodology to offer corrective actions to the project plan are all part of which process?

A. Change management

B. The change control system

C. The scope change control

D. Integrated change control

19. One of the requirements of project management in your organization is to describe your project management approach and methodology in the project plan. You can best accomplish this requirement through which one of the following actions?

A. Establishing a project office

B. Establishing a program office

C. Compiling the management plans from each of the knowledge areas

D. Creating a PMIS and documenting its inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs

20. You have just informed your project team that each team member will be contributing to the lessons-learned documentation. Your team does not understand this approach and wants to know what the documentation will be used for. Which one of the following best describes the purpose of the lessons-learned documentation?

A. Offers proof of concept for management

B. Offers historical information for future projects

C. Offers evidence of project progression as reported by the project team

D. Offers input to team member evaluations at the project conclusion

21. Which one of the following is a formal document to manage and control project execution?

A. WBS

B. The project management plan

C. The organizational management plan

D. The work authorization system

22. Configuration management is a process for applying technical and administrative direction and surveillance of the project implementation. Which activity is not included in configuration management?

A. Controlling changes to the project deliverables

B. Scope verification

C. Automatic change request approvals

D. Identification of the functional and physical attributes of the project deliverables

23. Which set contains parts of the project plan execution?

A. PMIS, WBS, and EVM

B. General management skills, status review meetings, and EVM

C. Project management methodology and the PMIS

D. General management skills, status review meetings, and interpersonal skills

24. EVM is used during the _______________.

A. Controlling processes

B. Executing processes

C. Closing processes

D. Entire project

25. You are the project manager for your organization. Management would like you to use a tool that can help you plan, schedule, monitor, and report your findings on your project. This tool is which one of the following?

A. PMIS

B. EVM

C. Status review meetings

D. Project team knowledge and skill set