Get Ready For The PMP Exam

The process for managing projects follows an old saying “plan, do, check, act”.  However since a project has a definite beginning and a definite end, we will start the project and end it also.  So this is how the process is broken down and mapped into the PMP exam processes:

Initiating (Start)
Planning (Plan)
Executing (Do)
Monitoring and Controlling (Check, and act)
Closing (End)

The Project Management Process encompasses all of the project management process groups.  Important processes inside each of the process groups are the following:

Initiating
Select  project manager.
Understand the business case for the project.
Determine the culture and systems of the company.
Acquire historical information, processes, etc. from past projects.
Discover requirements and risks.
Identify stakeholders and their needs.
Create project charter and stakeholder management strategy.

Planning
Create a strategy for developing project plans.
Determine final requirements.
Create a project scope statement.
Decide what you will purchase and what will be developed in house.
Select project team.
Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and WBS dictionary.
Develop activity list.
Produce network diagram.
Estimate resources, time, and cost.
Discover critical path.
Create a schedule and a budget.
Create measurable metrics, milestones, and quality standards.
Divide up roles and responsibilities.
Create communication plan.
Perform risk analysis, both quantitative and qualitative.
Create project baselines.
Receive formal approval.
(some of the above steps are iterative)
Also, break large projects into phases and do each step for each phase.

Executing
acquire the final team.
Perform the work according to the management plan.
Request changes, but only implement approved changes.
Make changes to the affected baselines.
Continuously improve processes.
Provide for a common understanding across the team and stakeholders.
Manage stakeholders.
Evaluate team and project performance.
Do team-building activities.
Recognize and reward project participants.
Handle conflict resolution.
Create issue logs.

Monitoring and Controlling
Measure performance against baselines.
Calculate variances, determine if changes are needed.
Request only needed changes, and influence the factors that cause change.
Approve or reject changes.
Present changes to stakeholders.
Manage the configuration.
Perform quality control.
Perform process improvement.
Perform risk audits.
Procure purchases.
Report on performance.
Execute on integrated change control.

Closing
Complete work to specifications.
Complete performance reporting.
Complete procurement processes.
Get formal acceptance of deliverable s and the project.
Index and archive records.
Release resources.

With in these steps can be multiple phases and multiple iterations as the project grinds through to completion.  Pay attention to the critical path, it is the project bottle neck and will determine the length of the project.  All aspects of the project processes are important, but some may be coalesced and condensed.  This is the project management process, and it is comprised of the PMP project management processes.  There is a table in the PMBOK guide that spells out these processes in more detail and in table format.

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