PMP Examination Preparation - Common Input , Tools and Techniques and Outputs ( ITTO's )

Commonly referenced Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs 

Common Inputs

Enterprise Environmental Factors
 
Enterprise environmental factors are those factors which are not under the control of the project team and yet they influence, control or constrain the project. They are an input to many planning processes.

Some common examples of enterprise environmental factors include
 

Organizational Process Assets

Organizational process assets are plans, processes, procedures, knowledge bases and policies which are specific to and used by any organization and are used to successfully plan for any project. Organizational process assets can be successfully categorized into
 
1) Processes & procedures
2) Corporate Knowledge

A few examples of organizational process assets are:
 

Special corporate competencies 

According to the experts in the profession, anything that can help you on your current or future project may be considered as an organizational process asset. You could keep contributing to these assets as and when possible.

Project Management Plan

The project management plan is a culmination of all planning processes. It is, therefore, crucial for project management practitioners and PMP® aspirants to understand what it is, where it comes from and how it is used.

The project management plan defines how a project is monitored, controlled, executed, and closed.

According to the PMBOK® Guide, the Develop Project Management Plan is the process of defining, preparing, and coordinating all subsidiary plans and integrating them into a comprehensive project management plan.

The project management plan could be documented at a summary level or may be very detailed.

Some of the components of a project management plan are:

Work Performance Information

Any valuable piece of information about the project that is a result of Direct and Manages Project Execution process could be considered work performance information. Work performance information provides a sound foundation for project decisions.

Work performance information begins to flow as the actual work on the project is executed. Project stakeholders including team members and customers’ needs to be informed regarding the status of the deliverables, how things are performing against cost and schedule goals, how project team is performing and how the product meets the quality standards.

A few other examples of work performance information are implementation status for change requests and forecasted estimates to complete.
 

Common Tools

Project Management Information System (PMIS) 

The project management information system is an important concept to know for the exam.It provides access to tools such as scheduling tools, a work authorization system, a configuration management system, or interfaces to other online automated systems. The PMIS is sometimes considered to be an enterprise environmental factor since it is a part of the environment in which the project is performed.

Expert Judgment

This concept is used throughout the PMBOK® Guide. The expert judgment could be used from within the organization, from paid consultants or from any other person whenever project managers and team members don’t have sufficient expertise. However, as PMP® aspirants, you would need to understand that this tool is highly favored and very commonly found on planning processes.

Common Outputs 

Change Requests

As work is performed on a project, it is quite common for changes to be requested. There could be many types of changes including a change request to increase or decrease a scope of the project, alter the quality standards, or increase or decrease the budget.

All changes are brought into the process of integrated change management control where they are evaluated for the impact on the project and ultimately approved or rejected. Approved change requests usually modify the project management plans including the baselines such as cost baselines etc.

Change requests are usually related to defect repair, preventive action (changes made to avoid the occurrence of a problem), or corrective action (any change to bring future results in line with the plan).

Updates

Updates are yet another concept that is commonly used throughout the PMBOK® Guide. Updates to plans come out of planning, executing, and monitoring and controlling processes. Updates in a project are a common occurrence.

Conclusion

PMP® aspirants should study the inputs, tools, and techniques, & outputs (ITTO's) of each process as they are an important study topic for the PMP® certification exam.

Some of the ITTO's are referenced repeatedly throughout the PMBOK® Guide. Studying these commonly used ITTO's of various processes initially could help PMP® aspirants in reducing the time required to study the processes in each knowledge area.

PMP and PMBOK are registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. 

Reference:

Book: PMP exam - How to pass your exam on your first try - By Andy Crowe
Book: PMP exam prep - By Rita Mulcahy