PMP-Basics you Need to

know
By: Pradeep
Patel PMP

What is a Project
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.
Temporarymeans that every project has a definite beginning and a definite end.
Unique means that the product or service is different in some distinguishing way from all other
products or services.
Additional features that a project exhibits:
A project phase has deliverables.
These deliverables are spanned across various stages that every project goes through, namely
Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and Control and finally Closing.
TRIPLE Constraints
Time
Cost
Scope

These three are called triple constraints as the project whole purpose of project management
revolves around these three.
These constraints are very tightly linked with each other, If one is altered, other two gets affected.
If the Scope of deliverables increases, the associated cost and time are bound to increase.
Alternatively, if Time is a constraint ,Scope of deliverables will be reduced, that will result in
decreased costs.

Project Management Life Cycle

All projects follow a life cycle from start to close. Generic

life cycle can be thought of as Starting, Preparing,
Executing and Closing.
Project can have multiple phases. Each Phase is like a new
project and goes through Project Life cycle. Phases would
generally have one of the following relationships
Sequential New Phase can only start after completing
current phase
Overlapping New Phase will start before ending current
phase.
Iterative Only one phase is planned initially and new
Initiating
phase will be planned later as the work continues in the
current phase.

Project Phase Relationship Types

Sequential Relationship:
Phases happen one after another and do not overlap.
Next phase cant start until the previous finishes i.e. the phases are highly interlinked or
interdependent.
Every phase end has a deliverable, that might (might not) serve as an input to the next
phase.
Overlapping Relationship:
The phases are not interdependent and can finish (follow all 5 processes) or start
independent of each other.
The whole team works at the same time.
Since all the work is happening at the same time, there is high RISK and the team
might need to do a lot of rework.
Iteration:
Executing the current phase and PLANNING the Next phase.(Agile Software
development is based on this approach). While the teams in Executing for the first
phase, theyre also in Initiating and Planning for the second one.
Highly useful in the environment which is highly uncertain or where there are a lot of
RAPID changes. By the time the team is done with the first phase, the team is already

Basic Terminologies
Fast Tracking
Fast tracking means doing project phases in Parallel(rather than following Sequential
Processes approach).
Crashing: This is the approach in which additional resources are added to the project
to finish it on schedule. A corporate joke Project manager is a person who thinks 9
ladies can produce a baby in one month could have its roots from this .
Progressive Elaboration:
Move toward the project plan in incremental steps as the ideas about the final product
are refined and more and more information about the requirements is made available in
a progressive fashion.
Types of Progressive elaborations
Rolling Wave Planning/ Moving Window planning :
Planning the project progress as things make clear, while doing the work. In this
approach there can be repetitive project phases inside a project phase.
Consider an example, where scope of work is not clear in the beginning. We plan and
start the work, once we are inching towards the end of the phase, things become more
clear and we plan upcoming work and repeat the cycle again.
Prototypes: a Tangible working model or Mock up is created initially, on which
feedback is taken and, it is on this prototype that the further additions are made.

Organisation Types and Role of Project Manager

.

Organization
Structure

Functional

Matrix

Projectized

Project
managers
authority

None to low

Low to high

High to full

Project
Part-time
managers role

Part-time to fulltime

Full-time

Project
management
administrative
staf

Part-time to fulltime

Full-time

None to parttime

Project
Functional
Manager
manager project
manager, or both
Matrix organizations are further classified as Weak Matrix and Strong Matrix and Balanced
manager
Project budget
controlled by

Functional
manager

Matrix.
Weak matrix exhibits features of Functional organization while strong Matrix is inclined
towards Projectized organization. Balanced Matrix has mixed features of both Functional and
Projectized organization.

Organizational Structures
Organization
Types
Functional

Authority

PE/PC

FH

Team Reports
To
FH

Projectized

PM

PM

---------

Weak Matrix

FH

FH

PE &PC

PM& FH

----------

PM &FH

-----------

Balanced Matrix
Strong Matrix

FH=PM
PM

PE/PC

FH=Functional Head PM=Project Manager PE=Project Expeditor

Project expediter
PC=Project Coordinator
The person documents what is happening on the project and does not have any
decision making powers. The person is not responsible for success/failure of the
project. The persons main job is to keep everybody informed.
Project coordinators are like expediters, except that coordinators typically report to
higher-level managers and have some decision-making ability.
Coordinators usually report to somebody who is pretty high up in the organization,
while expediters are more like assistants to the functional manager.

How Projects Come into

Existence

Inputs, Tools and Techniques

,Outputs-ITTO

All of 42 processes(refer to my earlier presentation ) will have

some Inputs, some tools and techniques and provide some
Output(s).
ITTOs form a specific quantity of questions in the PMP exam
and should be well versed, before taking the exam.
ITTOs, against the general misconception, should not be
memorized.Rather there is always a logical relation
between them that should be streesed upon rather than
cramming them.
Output from one process can serve as an Input to other.
Inputs
There
can be common Tools and Techniques across the
processes.

Enterprise Environmental Factors

Enterprise Environmental factors: These are the factors, tools and
policies that companies formulate or follow in daily routine
functioning of the organization.
Some of the Enterprise Environmental Factors are listed below
Organizational culture & structure, Infrastructure,
Government rules, guidelines, regulations or industry standards,
Marketplace conditions,
Stakeholder risk tolerances,
Project management information systems(PMIS),
Existing human resources factors like skills, knowledge, disciplines,
Personnel administration like hiring, performance review guidelines, training,
Published commercial information or databases for estimations,risk data
Company work authorization system.
These factors play critical role in the project lifecycle. These factors are inputs
to almost all the processes across all process groups and Knowledge Areas()

Configuration Management System

PMIS

Configuration Management System is a part of the overall Project

Management Information System (PMIS). Change Management System is a
subset of the Configuration Management System.
Detailed Document about this would soon be available (in the process of creating it)

Organizational Process Assets

Organizational process assets include any or all processes
related to the assets from an organization(s) involved in a
project that can be used to influence the projects success.
OPAs include the following
Any formal/informal plans
Organizations standard processes, policies, procedures/methodologies,
Guidelines,
Lessons learned
Historical information (case studies or information gathered from similar
projects in the past.)
Lessons Learned is the term that is very common in usage in PMP
context.It is the responsibility of the project team to document the
details and the new lessons learned during the Project.
This can serve as a valuable information for the future projects that are
similar in nature and can be used as a reference to start with.

Stakeholders
Stakeholder, in simple terms is any one with an interest or impact on
your organization or Project or Business.
Going by the above definition, stakeholders can be categorized into
Corporate stakeholders
Project Stakeholders

Corporate stakeholders are the individuals that form the

Organization(Right from TOP guns to lower clerical staff).
Project Stakeholders are the inviduals who can add to or negate from
Project progress and Success.
Stakeholder identification is a critical process that results in the list
of stakeholders. This list is sometimes referred to as Stakeholders
Register.
In corporate and Project level communication, the stakeholder register
forms the basis for formulation Communication Management plan,
policies and procedures.

Thank You!
For Any Queries/Suggestions
Please mail me at :
pradeeppatelpmp@gmail.com
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