The Transcender Team Weblog

As I stated in Part 1 of my PMP study plan, there are six objectives covered in the PMP exam:

• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring and Controlling
• Closing
• Professional and Social Responsibility

In this installment, I’ll cover the Planning process group. (But remember: this overview only highlights the changes from 3rd Edition PMBOK to 4th Edition.)

Process Group Two: Planning

In the PMBOK 3rd Edition, the Planning phase had 21 processes. In the PMBOK 4th Edition, it has 20 processes. Process names were changed, processes were consolidated, and one process was replaced completely. The Planning phase processes in the PMBOK 4th Edition are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Processes in the Planning Phase

A few changes have been made in the Develop Project Management Plan process. The project charter has been added as an input to the Develop Project Management Plan process; it is an output of the Develop Project Charter process. In addition, only expert judgment remains as a tool used in the Develop Project Management Plan process. The other two tools from the PMBOK 3rd Edition, project management methodology and project management information system, have been removed. The output of this process, the project management plan, has not changed.

The Collect Requirements process is a completely new process in the PMBOK 4th Edition. This process has two inputs: the project charter and stakeholder register. The project charter is created in the Develop Project Charter process, and the stakeholder register is created in the Identify Stakeholder process. Eight tools are used in the Collect Requirements process:

• interviews
• focus groups
• facilitated workshops
• group creativity techniques
• group decision making techniques
• questionnaires and surveys
• observations
• prototypes

The three outputs of the Collect Requirements process are the requirements documentation, requirements management plan, and requirements traceability matrix. The requirements documentation lists how each requirement meets a business need, and acts as an input to the Define Scope, Create WBS, Verify Scope, and Control Scope processes. The requirements management plan details how each requirement will be analyzed, documented, and managed for the project. The requirements traceability matrix documents the requirement origins and links them to project objectives. The requirements management plan is part of the project management plan, and the requirements traceability matrix is part of the overall project documents repository.

Several changes have been made in the Define Scope process, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Changes to the Define Scope Process

The changes to the Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) process are not quite as pronounced. The requirements documentation has been added as an input to the Create WBS process. It is an output of the Collect Requirements process. Two inputs from the PMBOK 3rd Edition, the project scope management plan and approved change requests, have been removed. In addition, only decomposition remains as a tool used in the Create WBS process. The other tool from the PMBOK 3rd Edition, work breakdown structure templates, has been removed. Project document updates, specifically updates to the requirements documentation and approved changes, have been added as outputs of the Create WBS process. The project scope statement (updates), project scope management plan (updates), and requested changes have been removed as outputs of the Create WBS process.

Only minor changes have been made in the Define Activities process. The project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary have been removed as inputs to the Define Activities process. In addition, one tool — the planning component — has been removed from the Define Activities process. Finally, requested changes are no longer an output of the Define Activities process.

In the Sequence Activities process, approved change requests have been removed and organizational process assets have been added as an input. The Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM) has been removed as a tool in this process because it is considered obsolete. Requested changes are no longer listed as an output of the Sequence Activities process. A new output called project document updates has been added. The project document updates output consolidates two separate outputs from the PMBOK 3rd Edition, activity lists and activity attributes, with the risk register.

In the Estimate Activity Resources process, the project management plan is no longer listed as an input, and the resource availability input has been renamed the resource calendar. None of the tools used in this process changed. A new output called project document updates has been added, which consolidates two separate outputs from the PMBOK 3rd Edition, activity attributes and resource calendars, with the activity list. Requested changes are no longer listed as an output of the Estimate Activity Resources process.

The project management plan is no longer listed as an input to the Estimate Activity Durations process. All other inputs and the tools and techniques in this process have remained the same. However, the formula for the three-point estimates tool has been changed. While it includes the most likely, optimistic, and pessimistic estimates, the most likely estimate is given a larger weight in the formula. The revised formula is as follows: estimate = [most likely + (4 * optimistic) + pessimistic] / 6. A new output called project document updates consolidates activity duration assumptions with an output from the PMBOK 3rd Edition, activity attributes.

The Develop Schedule process was changed as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Changes to the Develop Schedule Process

Several changes have been made to the Estimate Costs process, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Changes to the Estimate Costs Process

The next process in the Planning phase, the Determine Budget process, has been changed as shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Changes to the Determine Budget Process

Moving into the Project Quality Management process group, the changes to the Plan Quality process are shown in Table 6.

Table 6: Changes to the Plan Quality Process

Control charts define the upper control limit and the lower control limit. A process is considered out of control if seven consecutive points are above or below the mean. The proprietary quality management methodologies include Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Quality Function Deployment, and many others.

Only a small number of changes have been made to the Develop Human Resources Plan process. The three outputs listed in the PMBOK 3rd Edition, roles and responsibilities, project organization charts, and the staffing management plan, have been consolidated into a single output called the human resource plan. The inputs of the process and the tools used in the process have not changed.

The project scope statement and project management plan are no longer listed as inputs to the Plan Communications process. The stakeholder register and stakeholder management strategy have been added as inputs to the Plan Communications process. Communication models and communication methods have been added as tools used in the Plan Communications process. Project document updates have been added as an output of the Plan Communications process.

The project management plan has been replaced as an input to the Plan Risk Management process with the cost management plan, schedule management plan, and communications management plan. The tools used in the Plan Risk Management process and the outputs of the process have not changed.

The project management plan has been replaced as an input to the Identify Risks process with the cost management plan, schedule management plan, and communications management plan. In addition, five other inputs have been added to the Identify Risks process: activity cost estimates, activity duration estimates, scope baseline, stakeholder register, and project documents. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis and expert judgment have been added as tools used in the Identify Risks process. The output of the Identify Risk process has not changed.

The only change to the Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis process is that expert judgment has been added as a tool used in the process.

The project scope statement is no longer listed as an input to the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process. Expert judgment has been added as a tool used in the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process. No changes have been made to the output of the Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis process.

Expert judgment has been added as a tool used in the Plan Risk Responses process. Project document updates have been added as an output of the Plan Risk Responses process.

The Plan Procurements process is completely new in the PMBOK 4th Edition. This process has eleven inputs:

• scope baseline – this input is an output of the Create WBS process.
• requirements documentation – this input is an output of the Collect Requirements process.
• teaming agreements – this input is a legal contract that defines the buyer-seller relationship.
• risk register – this input is an output of the Identify Risks process.
• risk-related contract decisions – this input is an output of the Plan Risk Responses process.
• activity resource requirements – this input is an output of the Estimate Activity Resources process.
• project schedule – this input is an output of the Develop Schedule process.
• activity cost estimates – this input is an output of the Estimate Costs process.
• cost performance baseline – this input is an output of the Determine Budget process.
• enterprise environmental factors – this input includes marketplace conditions, marketplace products and services, suppliers, terms and conditions, and unique local requirements.
• organization process assets – this input include formal procurement policies, procedures, and guidelines, management systems, and the supplier systems.

Three tools are used in the Plan Procurements process: make-or-buy analysis, expert judgment, and contract types. Make-or-buy analysis is a management technique that determines whether the product should be created within the organization or from outside sources. Expert judgment can help to evaluate proposals and contracts to ensure the Project Procurement Management process group is completed appropriately. Contract types include three basic types of contracts: fixed-price contracts, cost-reimbursable contracts, and time and material (T&M) contracts. The three types of fixed-price contracts are firm fixed price (FFP), fixed price incentive fee (FPIF), and fixed price with economic project adjustment (FP-EPA) contracts. The three types of cost-reimbursable contracts are cost plus fixed fee (CPFF), cost plus incentive fee (CPIF), and cost plus award fee (CPAF) contracts. The six outputs of the Plan Procurements process include the following:

• procurement management plan – this output is part of the project management plan and defines how procurements will be managed from document development through contract closure.
• procurement statements of work – this output defines the procurement item in detail.
• make-or-buy decisions – this output defines which products will be purchased from an external organization and which will be produced internally.
• procurement documents – these documents include the request for information (RFI), invitation for bid (IFB), request for proposal (RFP), request for quotation (RFQ), tender notice, invitation for negotiation, and seller initial response.
• source selection criteria – this output defines the criteria used to rate seller proposals.
• change requests – this output includes changes to any portion of the project management plan, and must be submitted to the Perform Integrated Change Control process for approval or rejection.

Goodness, I hope you’re still with me. But keep in mind that planning is essential to project management.

Happy Studying! Coming soon: Part III – Executing

-Robin