Starting a Project and Integration

This chapter discusses the key processes, tools, and artifacts for starting a project and integration management. The following topics are covered:

• What Is Integration Management?: Review the project management plan and learn how each component is integrated to create the plan.

• Initiating a Project: Review the common processes, tools, and artifacts needed to start the project.

• Planning a Project: Examine the common processes, tools, and artifacts needed to plan the project.

• Executing the Project: Learn the common processes, tools, and artifacts needed to execute the project to deliver value.

• Monitoring and Controlling the Project: Review the common processes, tools, and artifacts needed to determine the performance of the project. Although change control is discussed in detail here, other important concepts of monitoring and controlling are discussed in Chapter 14, “Project Measurement.”

In this chapter, we discuss in detail the initiating, planning, and executing aspects of integration management as needed for the PMP exam. The monitoring and controlling aspects of change control are discussed here, but other important concepts of monitoring and controlling are discussed in Chapter 14, “Project Measurement.” Chapter 15, “Closing a Project,” discusses the closing processes in detail.

We discuss the principles related to the PMBOK^® Guide, Sixth Edition; the PMBOK^® Guide, Seventh Edition; and the Exam Content Outline (ECO).

This chapter addresses the following objectives from the PMP Exam Content Outline:

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz

The “Do I Know This Already?” quiz allows you to assess whether you should read this entire chapter thoroughly or jump to the “Exam Preparation Tasks” section. If you are in doubt about your answers to these questions or your own assessment of your knowledge of the topics, read the entire chapter. Table 4-1 lists the major headings in this chapter and their corresponding “Do I Know This Already?” quiz questions. You can find the answers in Appendix A, “Answers to the ‘Do I Know This Already?’ Quizzes and Review Questions.”

Table 4-1 “Do I Know This Already?” Section-to-Question Mapping

1. Who should the project manager interact with when performing integration processes?

1. The sponsor

2. Team members

3. Key decision makers on the project

4. Any stakeholder

2. Which of the following is not documented in the project charter?

1. Requirements

2. Business justification

3. Team ground rules

4. Identified resources

3. Of the following, which represent the purpose of creating the project charter? (Choose two.)

1. Officially authorizes the project to begin

2. Documents the baseline budget for the project

3. Creates the detailed scope of the project

4. Ensures stakeholders have a clear and common understanding of the project

5. Details the deliverables and timelines of the project

4. When is the project management plan baselined?

1. When all stakeholders have approved and signed off

2. When the sponsor and senior management have approved and signed off

3. When all the required stakeholders have approved and signed off

4. When the project team has approved and signed off

5. You are near the end of a sprint when a stakeholder identifies some additional requirements they would like to include. What should you do?

1. Decline the request because you are near the end of the sprint.

2. Add the requirement to the product backlog.

3. Perform an impact analysis and send a change request to the change control board.

4. Implement the additional requirement.

6. The project manager has completed the project management plan and sent it to the sponsor, other key stakeholders, and team leads for their approval. Upon review, one of the team leads notices an important activity is missing and requests that it be added to the project management plan. What should the project manager do?

1. Perform an impact analysis of the missing activity.

2. Submit a change request because the team lead has already performed the impact analysis and stated that the activity needs to be added.

3. Advise the team lead that adding the activity at this stage is gold plating.

4. Add the missing activity to the project management plan.

7. You are requesting a status from your team. One team member states that they are 60 percent complete and the activity has cost $48,000 so far. How would you classify these results?

1. Work performance information

2. Work performance data

3. Work performance figures

4. Work performance reports

8. Which of the following are examples of business value? (Choose three.)

1. 25 percent increase in sales

2. Finish by September 30

3. 3 percent increase in market share

4. Our product will be well-known nationwide

5. Project budget of $150,000

9. Your team lead has approached you with an issue that you think might be a quick and easy fix. However, this was not in the original scope of the project. What should you, as project manager, do next?

1. Tell the team lead to go ahead and fix the issue because it’s a quick and easy fix.

2. Perform an impact analysis.

3. Document and submit the change request to the change control board.

4. Inform the sponsor.

10. You are managing a project for a client to move a data center and call center offshore. Many changes have been made throughout the project, but you notice that during meetings team members frequently refer to different versions of the same document, which is causing confusion. What would have prevented this?

1. Assigning one team member to ensure all documents are up to date

2. Implementing an adequate change control system

3. Ensuring the file management system procedures are being followed

4. Implementing an adequate configuration management system