PMP Certification Questions

This section identifies and describes the five Project Management Process Groups required for any project. These five process Groups have clear dependencies and are performed in the same sequence on each project.

The five Process Groups are :

Initiating  Process Group - Defines and authorizes the project or a project phase

Planning Process Group - Defines and refines objectives, and plans the course of action required to attain the objectives and scope that the project was undertaken to address.

Executing Process Group - Integrates people and other resources to carry out the project management plan for the project

Monitoring and Controlling process Group - Regularly measures and monitors progress to identify variances from the project management plan so that corrective action can be taken when necessary to meet project objectives.

Closing Process Group - Formalizes acceptance of the product, service or result and brings the project or a project phase to an orderly end.

I. Inputs

• Enterprise environmental factors


• Organizational process assets


• Roles and responsibilities 


• Project organization charts


• Staffing management plan

II. Tools and Techniques

• Pre-assignment


• Negotiation


• Acquisition


• Virtual teams

III. Outputs

• Project staff assignments


• Resource availability


• Staffing management plan (updates)

I. Inputs

• Organizational process assets


• Project scope statement


• Activity list


• Activity attributes


• Project schedule network diagrams


• Activity resource requirements


• Resource calendars


• Activity duration estimates 


• Project management plan

                - RisK register

II. Tools and Techniques

• Schedule network analysis


• Critical path method


• Schedule compression


• What-if scenario analysis


• Resource leveling


• Critical chain method


• Project management software


• Applying calendars


• Adjusting leads and lags 


• Schedule model

III. Outputs

• Project schedule


• Schedule model data


• Schedule baseline


• Resource requirements (updates)


• Activity attributes (updates)


• Project calendar (updates)


• Requested changes


• Project management plan (updates)

                 - Schedule management plan(updates)

I. Inputs

• Communications management plan

II. Tools and Techniques

• Communications skills 


• Information gathering and retrieval systems


• Information distribution methods


• Lessons learned process

III. Outputs

• Organizational process assets (updates)


• Requested changes

The project management life cycle describes high-level processes for delivering a successful project.

The project management life cycle is usually broken down into four phases:

1. Initiation and Planning,

2. Execution,

3. Project Monitoring and Control, and

4. Project Closing.

I. Inputs

• Schedule management plan


• Schedule baseline


• Performance reports


• Approved change requests

II. Tools and Techniques

• Progress reporting


• Schedule change control system


• Performance measurement


• Project management software


• Variance analysis


• Schedule comparision bar charts

III. Outputs

• Schedule model data (updates)


• Schedule baseline (updates)


• Performance measurements


• Requested changes


• Recommended corrective actions


• Organizational process assets (updates)


• Activity list (updates)


• Activity attributes (updates)


• Project management plan (updates)

I. Inputs

• Organizational process assets


• Project scope statement 


• Risk management plan


• Risk register

II.  Tools and Techniques

• Risk probability and impact assesment


• Probability and impact matrix


• Risk data quality assessment


• Risk categorization 


• Risk Urgency assessment

III. Outputs

• Risk register (updates)

I. Inputs

• Quality management plan


• Quality metrics 


• Quality checklists


• Organizational process assets


• Work performance information


• Approved change requests


• Deliverables

II. Tools and Techniques

• Cause and effect diagram


• Control charts


• Flow Charting


• Histogram


• Pareto chart


• Run chart


• Scatter diagram


• Statistical sampling


• Inspection


• Defect repair review

III. Outputs

• Quality control measurements


• Validated defect repair


• Quality baseline (updates)


• Recommended corrective actions


• Recommended preventive actions


• Requested changes


• Recommended defect repair


• Organization process assets (updates)


• Validated deliverables


• Project management plan (updates)