Chartered IT Professional (CITP) Project and Programme Delivery Syllabus

Project and Programme Delivery syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Project and Programme Delivery in Chartered IT Professional (CITP), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Project Management Foundations

   3 topics

   • Project Lifecycle and Methodologies
     • PRINCE2 stages and themes
     • Agile and hybrid delivery
     • Tailoring methods to context
   • Scope, Schedule and Resources
     • Work breakdown and estimation
     • Critical path and scheduling
     • Resource and capacity planning
   • Project Risk and Quality
     • Risk and issue management
     • Quality planning and assurance
2. 2

   Programme and Portfolio Management

   3 topics

   • Programme Management
     • Managing interdependent projects
     • MSP principles and governance
   • Portfolio Governance
     • Prioritisation and balancing
     • Stage gates and assurance reviews
   • Stakeholder and Communication Planning
     • Stakeholder mapping and engagement
     • Reporting and escalation
3. 3

   Delivery Assurance and Governance

   3 topics

   • Project Governance
     • Roles, boards and accountability
     • Decision rights and approvals
   • Estimation and Planning Techniques
     • Story points and velocity
     • Three-point and parametric estimation
   • Lessons Learned and Continuous Improvement
     • Retrospectives and reviews
     • Knowledge capture and reuse

Project and Programme Delivery flashcards for Chartered IT Professional (CITP)

18 of 51 cards from the Project and Programme Delivery deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the four typical phases of a generic project lifecycle?

   Initiation (define and justify), Planning (detail scope, schedule, resources), Execution (deliver and monitor/control), and Closure (handover, evaluate, release resources).

2. What distinguishes a predictive (waterfall) lifecycle from an adaptive (agile) lifecycle?

   Predictive fixes scope up front and delivers sequentially with change tightly controlled; adaptive fixes time/cost and iterates in short increments, evolving scope through feedback and prioritised backlogs.

3. In PRINCE2, what are the seven principles?

   Continued business justification, learn from experience, defined roles and responsibilities, manage by stages, manage by exception, focus on products, and tailor to suit the project environment.

4. What is the purpose of a 'manage by exception' tolerance in PRINCE2?

   It sets permitted deviation limits (time, cost, scope, quality, risk, benefit) so a level only escalates to the level above when a tolerance is forecast to be exceeded, reducing micromanagement.

5. Define an iterative versus an incremental delivery approach.

   Iterative repeatedly refines the same product through successive passes to improve it; incremental delivers the product in separate usable pieces that add up to the whole. Agile typically combines both.

6. What is the 'iron triangle' (triple constraint) of project management?

   The interdependent constraints of scope, time (schedule), and cost, often shown with quality at the centre. Changing one usually forces a change in the others.

7. What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?

   A hierarchical, deliverable-oriented decomposition of the total project scope into progressively smaller work packages that are easier to estimate, assign, schedule and control.

8. What is scope creep and how is it controlled?

   The uncontrolled expansion of scope without adjustments to time, cost or resources. It is controlled through a defined scope baseline and formal change control / a change control board.

9. Distinguish a project's 'product scope' from its 'project scope'.

   Product scope is the features and functions of the deliverable; project scope is the work required to deliver that product. Product scope is measured against requirements, project scope against the plan.

10. What is the critical path in a project schedule?

    The longest sequence of dependent activities through the network, which determines the shortest possible project duration. Activities on it have zero float; delaying any of them delays the project.

11. Define total float (slack) and how it is calculated.

    The amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the project end date. $$\text{Total Float} = LS - ES = LF - EF$$ where LS/ES are late/early start and LF/EF are late/early finish.

12. What is the difference between free float and total float?

    Free float is the time an activity can slip without delaying any immediate successor; total float is the time it can slip without delaying the project completion. Free float $\leq$ total float.

13. Name the four logical dependency types in precedence diagramming.

    Finish-to-Start (FS), Start-to-Start (SS), Finish-to-Finish (FF), and Start-to-Finish (SF). FS is the most common.

14. What is resource levelling versus resource smoothing?

    Levelling adjusts start/finish dates to resolve over-allocation, which may extend the critical path; smoothing adjusts activities within available float so the end date is unchanged while flattening resource peaks.

15. In Earned Value Management, define PV, EV and AC.

    PV (Planned Value) = budgeted cost of work scheduled; EV (Earned Value) = budgeted cost of work actually performed; AC (Actual Cost) = real cost of the work performed.

16. Give the formulas for Schedule Variance (SV) and Cost Variance (CV).

    $$SV = EV - PV \qquad CV = EV - AC$$ Negative values indicate behind schedule and over budget respectively.

17. Give the formulas for SPI and CPI, and what a value below 1 means.

    $$SPI = \frac{EV}{PV} \qquad CPI = \frac{EV}{AC}$$ A value $< 1$ means behind schedule (SPI) or over budget (CPI).

18. How is Estimate at Completion (EAC) calculated assuming current cost performance continues?

    $$EAC = \frac{BAC}{CPI}$$ where BAC is the Budget at Completion. This projects the total cost if present CPI persists.

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