Association for Project Management Qualification (APM PMQ) Planning for Success Syllabus

Planning for Success syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Planning for Success in Association for Project Management Qualification (APM PMQ), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Scope Management

   5 topics

   • Defining and managing scope
     • Product scope versus project scope
     • Scope creep and its control
   • Product breakdown structure (PBS)
   • Work breakdown structure (WBS)
     • Decomposing work into work packages
     • Work package definitions and ownership
   • Cost and organisational breakdown structures
     • Cost breakdown structure (CBS)
     • Organisational breakdown structure (OBS)
     • Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM/RACI)
   • Requirements management and benefits mapping
2. 2

   Scheduling and Resource Management

   5 topics

   • Estimating techniques
     • Analogous (comparative) and parametric estimating
     • Bottom-up and three-point estimating
     • The estimating funnel and improving accuracy
   • Critical path analysis
     • Network diagrams and activity dependencies
     • Forward and backward pass, float and critical path
   • Gantt charts and milestones
     • Bar charts for communicating the schedule
     • Milestone planning and tracking
   • Critical chain and buffer management
   • Resource management
     • Resource smoothing versus resource levelling
     • Resource scheduling and constraints
3. 3

   Budgeting and Cost Control

   5 topics

   • Developing the project budget
     • Cost types: fixed, variable, direct, indirect
     • Aggregating estimates into a budget
   • Contingency and management reserves
     • Distinguishing contingency from management reserve
     • Linking contingency to risk
   • Cost phasing and cash flow
     • Time-phased budgets and the cumulative cost (S) curve
   • Cost baselining and the funding profile
   • Cost monitoring and forecasting
4. 4

   Quality Management

   4 topics

   • Quality planning
     • Quality criteria and acceptance criteria
     • The quality management plan
   • Quality control versus quality assurance
     • Inspection and testing (control)
     • Process audits and assurance
   • Continual improvement
     • Plan-Do-Check-Act (Deming) cycle
     • Lessons learned and process improvement
   • Cost of quality

Planning for Success flashcards for Association for Project Management Qualification (APM PMQ)

22 of 52 cards from the Planning for Success deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In APM project planning, what is 'scope' and what does scope management involve?

   Scope is the totality of the outputs, outcomes and benefits, and the work required to produce them. Scope management is the process of identifying, defining and controlling all the work needed to deliver the project, ensuring that only the agreed work (no more, no less) is carried out.

2. What is 'scope creep' and how is it controlled?

   Scope creep is the uncontrolled, incremental expansion of project scope without corresponding adjustments to time, cost and resources. It is controlled through robust change control / configuration management and a clearly baselined scope.

3. What is a Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)?

   A hierarchical, deliverable-oriented structure that breaks the project's final product down into its constituent sub-products or deliverables. It defines WHAT is to be produced, not the work, and is typically created before the WBS.

4. What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and what is a 'work package'?

   A WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work into progressively smaller, more manageable elements. The lowest level is the work package — the smallest unit of work that can be assigned, estimated, scheduled and controlled.

5. What is the difference between a PBS and a WBS?

   A PBS is product/deliverable oriented and shows the components of the final product (the 'what'). A WBS is work oriented and shows the activities/work packages needed to create those products (the 'how/work'). The PBS usually feeds the WBS.

6. What is a Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS)?

   A hierarchical breakdown of a project into cost elements, mapping the costs associated with each component of the WBS/PBS. It allows costs to be aggregated and controlled against the structure of the work.

7. What is an Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS) and how does it relate to the WBS?

   An OBS is a hierarchical model showing the organisational structure and reporting relationships responsible for the project's work. Intersecting the OBS with the WBS produces the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), linking work packages to responsible parties.

8. What is a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) and a common form of it?

   A RAM maps WBS work packages to the OBS to show who is responsible for each element of work. A common form is the RACI chart, identifying who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed for each task.

9. In requirements management, distinguish between a project's outputs, outcomes and benefits.

   Outputs are the tangible deliverables/products created. Outcomes are the changed circumstances or capabilities resulting from using the outputs. Benefits are the measurable improvements arising from the outcomes that are perceived as advantageous by stakeholders.

10. What is requirements management?

    The process of capturing, analysing, documenting, prioritising, agreeing and controlling stakeholder requirements throughout the project, ensuring the solution delivered meets the agreed needs.

11. What is a benefits map (benefits mapping)?

    A diagram that shows the logical links between project outputs, the enabling and business changes, the resulting outcomes, and the end benefits and objectives. It demonstrates how delivering outputs leads to the realisation of benefits.

12. What is the difference between estimating accuracy at concept stage versus a definitive estimate?

    Early (concept/order-of-magnitude) estimates have wide tolerances (e.g. roughly $-25\%$ to $+75\%$) because little is known. Definitive estimates, made later with detailed information, are far more accurate (e.g. roughly $\pm 5\%$ to $\pm 10\%$).

13. What is the difference between top-down (analogous) and bottom-up estimating?

    Top-down (analogous) estimating uses data from similar past projects to estimate the whole quickly but less accurately. Bottom-up estimating sums detailed estimates of each individual work package, giving greater accuracy but requiring more time and detailed information.

14. What is parametric estimating?

    An estimating technique that uses a statistical or mathematical relationship between historical data and other variables (e.g. cost per square metre, cost per line of code) to calculate an estimate.

15. What is the 'estimating funnel'?

    The concept that estimate accuracy improves as the project progresses and more information becomes known. The range of uncertainty is wide at the start and narrows (like a funnel) as the project moves through its life cycle.

16. What is comparative (analogous) estimating based on?

    It is based on comparison with similar previous projects or work, scaling their actual data to produce an estimate for the current project. It relies on the availability of relevant historical information.

17. What is the three-point estimating formula for the expected (PERT/beta) duration?

    $$t_E = \frac{O + 4M + P}{6}$$ where $O$ = optimistic, $M$ = most likely, and $P$ = pessimistic estimate.

18. In three-point (PERT) estimating, how are the standard deviation and variance of an activity calculated?

    $$\sigma = \frac{P - O}{6}, \qquad \text{Variance} = \sigma^{2} = \left(\frac{P - O}{6}\right)^{2}$$ where $P$ = pessimistic and $O$ = optimistic estimate.

19. What is critical path analysis (CPA)?

    A network-based scheduling technique that identifies the sequence of dependent activities (the critical path) that determines the shortest possible project duration. Any delay to a critical activity delays the whole project.

20. What is the critical path of a project network?

    The longest path of dependent activities through the network, which determines the minimum project duration. Activities on it have zero total float.

21. How are early start (ES) and early finish (EF) calculated in a forward pass?

    $$EF = ES + \text{Duration}$$ The ES of an activity is the latest EF of its predecessors. The forward pass works left to right from the start, taking the maximum where activities merge.

22. How are late finish (LF) and late start (LS) calculated in a backward pass?

    $$LS = LF - \text{Duration}$$ The LF of an activity is the earliest LS of its successors. The backward pass works right to left from the end, taking the minimum where activities merge.

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