PgMP Program Management Professional All-in-One Exam Guide

449 Pages·2008·7.24 MB·English

by  Joseph Phillips

ALL IN ONE
PgMP® Program
Management
Professional
E X A M G U I D E
Joseph Phillips
New York • Chicago • San Francisco • Lisbon
London • Madrid • Mexico City • Milan • New Delhi
San Juan • Seoul • Singapore • Sydney • Toronto
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permit-
ted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means,
or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
0-07-154928-5
The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-154927-7.
All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked
name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trade-
mark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps.
McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training
programs. For more information, please contact George Hoare, Special Sales, at [e-mail] or [phone].
TERMS OF USE
This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”) and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work.
Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy
of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit,
distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill’s prior consent. You may use the work for
your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated
if you fail to comply with these terms.
THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO
THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUD-
ING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND
EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WAR-
RANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or
guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free.
Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the
work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the
work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential
or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or
otherwise.
DOI: 10.1036/0071549277
For my brother Steve Phillips, a great friend and mentor.
If it weren’t for Steve’s encouragement to write when I was a little guy
I’d probably be selling t-shirts on the beach by now.
Thanks, Steve!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph Phillips, PgMP, PMP, Project+, is the Director of Education for Project Semi-
nars. He has managed and consulted on projects for industries, including technical,
pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and architectural, among others. Phillips has served as
a project management consultant for organizations creating project offices, maturity
models, and best-practice standardization.
As a leader in adult education, Phillips has taught organizations how to successfully
implement project management methodologies, information technology project man-
agement, risk management, and other courses. He has taught for Columbia University,
University of Chicago, and Indiana University, among others. He is a certified technical
trainer and has taught over 10,000 professionals. Phillips has contributed as an author
or editor to more than 30 books on technology, careers, and project management.
Phillips is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is active in lo-
cal project-management chapters. He has spoken on management, management certi-
fications, and management methodologies at numerous trade shows, PMI chapter
meetings, and employee conferences around the world. When not writing, teaching, or
consulting, Phillips can be found behind a camera or on the working end of a fly rod.
You can contact him through www.projectseminars.com.
About the Technical Editor
Julie Wiebell, MBA, PMP, CSM, is a project management consultant and part-time uni-
versity instructor working on her Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences
with a specialization in Information Systems Management. Her project management
experience spans more than 12 years working with private, public, nonprofit, Fortune
100, and IT consulting firms. She is also an active member of the Project Management
Institute (PMI), including her local East Tennessee Chapter, and served as Secretary of
the PMI Central Ohio Chapter Board of Directors from 2005-2006.
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. Click here for terms of use.
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
Part I Program Management Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Earning the Program Management Professional (PgMP)
Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2 Defining Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter 3 Introducing the Program Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Part II Program Management Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 4 Exploring Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Chapter 5 Initiating the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter 6 Working with Planning Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 7 Executing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Chapter 8 Monitoring and Controlling the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Chapter 9 Closing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Part III Managing Projects and Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Chapter 10 Program Knowledge Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Chapter 11 Programs and Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Part IV Appendixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Appendix A Understanding the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct . . . . 375
Appendix B Program and Project Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Appendix C PgMP Exam Passing Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Appendix D About the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Glossary Glossary of Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
v
This page intentionally left blank
For more information about this title, click here
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Part I Program Management Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Earning the Program Management Professional (PgMP)
Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Qualifying for the PgMP Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Identifying the Program Management Professional Candidate . . . . 5
Screening for PgMP Qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Verifying Your Program Management Professional Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Verifying Your Months of Program Management Experience . . . . . . 8
Documenting Your Hours of Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Summing Your Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Completing the PgMP Exam Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Paying for the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Getting a Refund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Completing a PMI Audit Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Submitting to the Review Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Taking the Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Reviewing the Exam Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Examining the Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Mastering the Exam Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Reviewing the Exam Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Retaking the PgMP Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Considering Special Exam Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Adhering to the Security Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Identifying Yourself to the Testing Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Canceling Your Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Participating in the Multi-Rater Assessment (MRA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Reassessing the Multi-Raters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Using the MRA as a Development Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Abiding by the PMI Certification Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Reviewing Your Exam Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Appealing a PMI Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Maintaining Your Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Agreeing to the PMI Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 2 Defining Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Relying on The Standard for Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
ExploringThe Standard for Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Exploring the PMBOK Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
vii
PgMP Program Management Professional All-in-One Exam Guide
viii
Introducing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Introducing Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Identifying Big Bad Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Managing Large Projects as Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Exploring the PMBOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Working as a Program Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Identifying Program Management Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Linking Projects and Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Exploring Portfolio Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Launching a Portfolio’s Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Managing a Portfolio’s Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Closing a Portfolio’s Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Exploring Program Management and Project Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Exploring Project Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Exploring Program Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Exploring Organizational Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Reaping the Benefits of Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Exploring Program Benefits Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Managing Program Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Managing Program Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 3 Introducing the Program Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Exploring the Program Management Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Working with Program Life Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Examining a Program Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Identifying Program Life Cycle Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Enforcing Benefits Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Managing the Program Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Enforcing Program Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Exploring the Program Management Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Completing the Pre-Program Set Up Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Completing the Program Set Up Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Establishing Program Management and Technical Infrastructure . . . . 87
Delivering the Program Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Closing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Part II Program Management Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter 4 Exploring Program Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Exploring the Program Management Life Cycle Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Managing the Program Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Managing the Program Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Creating a Stakeholder Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Adhering to Program Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Contents
ix
Exploring Program Management Process Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Exploring the Initiating Process Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Exploring the Planning Process Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Monitoring and Controlling the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Closing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 5 Initiating the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Initiating the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Performing Program Initiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Examining Process Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Examining Program Initiating Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Examining Initiating Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Examining Authorize Project Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Defining the Authorize Projects Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Gathering the Program Team Process Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Examining the Outputs of the Initiate Team Process . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 6 Working with Planning Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Developing the Program Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Examining the Program Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Updating the Program Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Develop the Program Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Planning for Program Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Referencing Program Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Updating the Risk Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Creating a Stakeholder Analysis Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Examining the Results of Interface Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Planning for Program Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Creating the Transition Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Creating the Transition Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Determining Program Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Creating the Resource Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Defining the Resource Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Defining the Program Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Relying on the Program Initiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Examining Scope Definition Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Creating the Program Work Breakdown Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Creating the Program Work Breakdown Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Updating the Program Management Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Developing the Program Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Considering the Duration Estimating Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Creating the Program Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Creating a Program Estimate and Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Preparing the Program Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180