PMP certification Exam – Important Terms and Concepts - Part III

"Reality: What a concept!" - Robin Williams

In my last article, we took a look at some important terms and concepts which are important for the PMP® Certification exam. By studying these terms and concepts initially, aspirants can reduce their time to prepare for the knowledge areas, process groups and the processes. In this article, we will go through the following important terms and concepts, which are important for the PMP® project certification exams. am.

Change Request
Change requests are any requested change to a documented baseline. Change requests are typically only implemented once the scope, cost, quality, schedule, quality is baselined. Change requests are processed according to the change control system and configuration control systems. Every documented change request needs to be either approved or rejected by  a responsible person, either the project sponsor or the project manager.

• Enterprise Environmental Factors Enterprise Environmental Factors are any factors outside of the projects control that influences the project. This could include organizational attitudes, culture, reporting relationships, government, the economy, laws etc.
• Organizational Process Assets All historical information or knowledge that an organization has at its disposal, which may be used to help future projects. Examples of organizational process assets include templates, forms, research results, work breakdown structures, quality standards, benchmarks, previous plans, contracts.

Rolling Wave Planning
Rolling wave planning is  a planning technique that does not plan all project activities in the beginning. Only imminent project activities are planned in detail, while activities further in the future are planned at a higher level. Assume that you are in the edge of the field. You may be able to see a few blades of grass near your feet. The farther off you look, the less detail you may be able to perceive. Distant objects, such as mountain ranges located miles away, would appear hazy.

Similarly, Rolling wave planning, is a tool, which assumes that things in the near future should be relatively clear, while project activities in the distant future may not be as detailed or clear. With this perspective in mind, project managers may decompose a few work packages  into one or more schedule activities, anticipating their execution in the near term, while delaying the analysis of other work packages that will not be accomplished until later in the project.

• Resources Resources are people, organizations, or materials that can be used on a project.

Requirement
Requirement could be considered as something that the product or service must do in order to satisfying an underlying need. For instance, requirements may include requests about how work is managed ("the office is closed down on saturdays - so you cannot perform certain jobs on saturdays")  features that stakeholders  would like to see in their product such as a particular functionality should  be incorporated in the system.

• Variance Variance is the difference between the original plan and the executed results.

Variance Analysis
Variance Analysis is a technique for determining the cause and degree of difference between the baseline and the actual performance. Project performance measurements are used to assess the magnitude of the variation from the original scope baseline. Important aspects of the project scope control include determining the cause and degree of variance relative to the scope baseline and deciding whether corrective or preventive  action is required.

Conclusion:
PMP aspirants need to work on some of the important terms and concepts before they can focus on the process areas, processes and knowledge areas. By understanding these terms and concepts properly, aspirants could reduce their time to study for the PMP® certification exam.

PMP is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.