TAPUniversity's Blog

March 31, 2009

Negative Risk Strategies

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 1:45 pm
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For a project manager, a risk is an uncertain event. This potential event could be either desired (positive) or undesired (negative). A positive risk may be referred to as an opportunity, and a negative risk may be referred to as a threat. There are three unique strategies used for handling negative risk (avoid, transfer, and mitigate), and one strategy that can be used for either positive or negative risk (accept). These are described as a tool and technique of the fourth edition PMBOK®’s Plan Risk Responses process. Below are some examples of the negative risk strategies as related to Katy baking a wedding bake for her daughter’s wedding.

Avoid means that plans are modified to completely eliminate the threat. Katy originally planned to bake a five-tier wedding cake, but she is so afraid that it will collapse, that she has decided to avoid the risk of collapsing altogether by baking the five cakes and setting them each on their own platter beside each other on the cake table.

Transfer means that the ownership and consequences of the risk are transferred to another party. Katy decides to buy cake insurance from a local baker—so that if the risk of her cake being ruined occurs, the baker will be able to bring a replacement cake in time.

Mitigate means that the probability or impact of the risk is lessened. Katy found a sturdy silver stand with five platforms for the five layers of cake. Although it appears that the cakes are balanced on top of each other, they actually aren’t. Because of this, it is very unlikely that the risk of the cake collapsing will occur.

Accept means that plans are not changed due to the risk, and the consequences of the risk event happening are simply accepted. Katy decides to make the five-tier cake. In the unlikely case that it becomes ruined, there simply won’t be wedding cake for the guests to eat.

March 30, 2009

Milestone List

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 1:07 pm
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A milestone is stone along a roadway carved with information for travelers such as how many more miles to the next town. Today, we see the common metal road signs and mile markers which serve the same purpose. They provide an indication to travelers on how close they are to their destination and which way they should go. Similarly, milestone lists are utilized in project management as an indication of progress through the achievement of a major project accomplishment. A project milestone is a significant project event or point in time. Milestone lists are an output of the fourth edition PMBOK®’s Define Activities process and an input to the Sequence Activities process. The milestone list is considered a project document that is not part of the project management plan. The list contains all the project milestones along with information indicating whether they or not they are mandatory to achieve. Dates may be included that correspond with the milestones, which is especially useful for the Sequence Activities process and later scheduling.

March 27, 2009

Risk Register

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 1:05 pm
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The Risk Register is an important project management document. It originally appears as the only output to the Identify Risks process of the fourth edition PMBOK®. As more analysis, planning, and monitoring occurs throughout the four risk processes that follow it (Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis, Plan Risk Responses, and Monitor and Control Risks), the risk register is updated as part of performing each of these processes. As each of these risk processes are performed, more information is added to the expanding document. Eventually it may contain a list of all identified risks, along with information describing them including their causes, categorization, probability of occurrence, impact if they occur, planned responses, person responsible, qualitative and quantitative risk analyses, and current status. The risk register is also used as an input to three other processes outside of the risk knowledge area—Estimate Costs, Plan Quality, and Plan Procurements.

March 26, 2009

Plan Risk Management Process

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 12:22 pm
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Plan Risk Management is one of the 42 project management processes described in the fourth edition PMBOK®. It’s one of the six Risk knowledge area processes, and one of the twenty Planning processes. The purpose of this process is to develop the Risk Management Plan which lays the foundation for the other risk processes on how risk activities will be performed for the project. The Project Scope Statement is referenced to better understand the project and its deliverables as every project has a unique set of risks. A project that involves unchartered territory will have more unknowns involved than a more routine project based on a history of similar projects. Understanding the contingencies in place for risks affecting the budget and schedule can be accomplished through examining the Cost Management Plan and the Schedule Management Plan. Knowing with whom to discuss project risks and responses may be found in the Communications Management Plan (from the Plan Communications process). Interestingly, Planning Meetings and Analysis is the only tool and technique of this process. This demonstrates that planning for risk management essentially is determined by a group of stakeholders discussing and deciding what is best for the particular project at hand. The result of these discussions is the only output of Plan Risk Management—the Risk Management Plan which describes what risk activities will be performed and how they will be performed throughout the project.

March 24, 2009

Plan Communications Process

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 11:30 pm
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Plan Communications is one of the 42 project management processes described in the fourth edition PMBOK®. It’s one of the five Communications knowledge area processes, and one of the twenty Planning processes. The purpose of this process is to create the Communications Management Plan based on the communication needs of the stakeholders. It must be documented who should receive what information, how often, in what format, and from whom. Information about the key stakeholders can be found in the Stakeholder Register and Stakeholder Management Strategy (both documents are from the Identify Stakeholders process). This is the starting place for performing Communication Requirements Analysis, which is the identification of the unique communication needs of the various stakeholders. In developing the Communications Management Plan, one needs to know what type of communication technology is available (phone, email, video-conferencing, etc.) and should have knowledge of Communication Models and Communication Methods. The primary output of the Plan Communications process is the Communications Management Plan, which becomes part of the overall Project Management Plan. This document can contain much information depending on the size and formality of the project, including stakeholder communication requirements, what information should be communicated and why, who is responsible for communications, when communications should occur, the time and budget allowed for communication activities, communication constraints, and information flowcharts.

Please also see the related, earlier posts of Identify Stakeholders Process (posted February 19, 2009) which is a predecessor to this process, and PMP Exam – Communication Formula (posted February 3, 2009), which is part of performing Communication Requirements Analysis.

Develop Human Resource Plan Process

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 12:20 pm
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Develop Human Resource Plan is one of the 42 project management processes described in the fourth edition PMBOK®. It’s one of the four Human Resource knowledge area processes, and one of the twenty Planning processes. The purpose of this process is to create the Human Resource Plan. The Activity Resource Requirements document (from the Estimate Activity Resources process) is needed as a reference for knowing what human resources are needed for the project. To document the roles and responsibilities in the Human Resource Plan, the organization’s Organizational Charts and Position Descriptions are used, which outline reporting relationships. Networking in order to know more people, and to know people better is especially helpful at the beginning of the project when people are being selected for the team. Having an understanding of how people work together and are motivated is also helpful in putting together a good team, and this is called Organizational Theory.

The Human Resource Plan contains the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the project, organization charts outlining reporting relationships specific to the project, and the staffing management plan. There is much information contained in the staffing management plan, including a description of how staff will be acquired and released, resource calendars, training needs, how safety and compliance issues will be addressed, and how rewards will be given to team members.

March 23, 2009

Cost of Quality

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 12:17 pm
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How much should be invested in quality efforts? Cost of Quality is a tool and technique of the fourth edition PMBOK®’s Plan Quality process. These are the expenses associated with the investment to make a quality product and the costs of failing to meet quality standards. Cost of Quality is broken down into these two major categories which are called the Cost of Conformance and the Cost of Nonconformance. The Cost of Conformance may be further broken down into Prevention Costs and Appraisal Costs. Prevention Costs represent the investment of keeping the defects from happening at all. This could include extra training for staff members and sophisticated equipment that accurately assembles a product. Appraisal Costs are the expenses of checking the product in order to find any defects that may have occurred. This could include visually inspecting the product, turning the product on to see if it works, and using equipment that detects products that are not within the set parameters. The Cost of Nonconformance may also be broken down into two categories—Internal Failure Costs and External Failure Costs. If a defective product is discovered in-house before being sent to the customer, the costs of scrapping or re-doing the product are Internal Failure Costs. If the product is sold to the customer, the costs of handling returns, complaints, lawsuits, and lost business are called External Failure Costs.

March 20, 2009

Leads and Lags

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 1:10 pm
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Applying Leads and Lags is a tool and technique of the fourth edition PMBOK®’s Sequence Activities process; and Adjusting Leads and Lags is a tool and technique of the Control Schedule process. In order to manage a project schedule, a project manager should understand the simple concepts of leads and lags. Leads and lags are sometimes needed in order to more accurately describe the relationship among project activities. For example, the relationship between two project activities may be that one is the predecessor (it needs to be done before the successor activity) and the other activity is the successor (it occurs after the predecessor). If one activity is mixing cake ingredients and the other activity is placing the cake batter in the oven, then the relationship between these two activities is that mixing cake ingredients is the predecessor and placing the cake batter in the oven is the successor.

A lead allows the successor activity to begin more quickly, and a lag means there is a delay before the successor activity may begin. For example, the activity of turning the oven on may take less than 1 minute, and the successor activity of placing the cake batter in the oven may take less than 1 minute. The schedule would be flawed, however, if only a couple minutes were allowed for completing both turning on the oven and placing the cake batter in the oven. This is because there is a lag of the time it takes for the oven to heat to the desired temperature. We may need to add a lag of 15 minutes to account for the oven heating before we can place the cake batter inside the oven. However, even though the oven is not done heating, we could be mixing cake ingredients while it is heating, which gives us some lead time (the ability to start on this activity sooner).

March 19, 2009

Plan Quality Process

Filed under: project management — lhilkemann @ 1:40 pm
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Plan Quality is one of the 42 project management processes described in the fourth edition PMBOK®. It’s one of the three Quality area processes, and one of the twenty Planning processes—which should not be difficult to remember with its name. The purpose of this process is to decide what quality requirements and standards should apply to the project and develop a plan (Quality Management Plan) to assure compliance with them. The Scope Baseline includes acceptance criteria for the project which is especially useful in the development of the Quality Management Plan.

The quality processes contain many tools and techniques. In fact, after listing Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cost of Quality, Control Charts, Benchmarking, Design of Experiments, Statistical Sampling, Flowcharting, and Proprietary Quality Management Methodologies as tools and techniques of this process, “Additional Quality Planning Tools” is listed. See earlier posting of Control Chart (posted February 17, 2009). The Cost of Quality technique examines costs of conformance (prevention and appraisal costs) and nonconformance (internal and external failure costs). The primary output of this process is the Quality Management Plan, which describes how the conformance to the selected quality standards will occur. The Quality Management Plan is then used to guide the other two quality processes—Perform Quality Assurance and Perform Quality Control.

March 18, 2009

CBAP Exam Changes

Filed under: Uncategorized — lhilkemann @ 1:36 pm
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For Business Analysts studying for their CBAP (Certified Business Analyst Professional) certification, be aware that the exam will be changing. The current exam is based on the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) version 1.6. The new version, BABOK 2.0 is being released on March 31st, 2009, according the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) which is the organization that awards the CBAP. The exam will not change with the release of the new BABOK however, and the IIBA states that the current BABOK should be used to study for the exam. A date has not yet been provided for the exam change, but IIBA states that candidates will be “informed well in advance” of the test change date (http://www.theiiba.org). Here at TAPUniversity our online and in-person CBAP courses for those preparing for their exam are currently based on BABOK 1.6, as suggested by the IIBA, and we’ll change to using the BABOK 2.0 for our courses when recommended by the IIBA. If you are planning to take the exam in the future, simply be sure that you are studying from the correct version of the BABOK.

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