Integration Management: Fast tracking the project adds risk as more activities are done in parallel.

Think about what is involved in integration: project management plan development, project management plan execution, and integrated change control. In order to integrate the project components into a cohesive whole, communication is key when one activity will interface with another, one team member will interface with another, and any other form of interfacing will occur. A project manager must manage a project. If all activities are delegated, chaos ensues and team members will spend more time jockeying for position than completing activities. The project manager's primary responsibility is to complete the project he was chartered and approved to complete. He also has a secondary responsibility to make sure the project is still necessary, or determine whether it needs to change based on the customer's needs. Any document created by someone else should be considered copyrighted information. Asking permission would be the best choice before making use of such document. A work authorization system helps tell the team when work should begin on work packages. A change control system helps track, approve or reject, and control changes. A project management information system helps the project manager know how the project is going. Only a configuration management system addresses controlling documents. Monitor and Control Project Work occurs during integration management. If a project is lower priority, it would be wise to limit control activities to the needs of the project.

The business case, should be looked at to determine if the project is still viable and worth going to the customer or working overtime. A project manager should be looking at where changes are coming from and doing whatever is necessary to limit the negative effects of change on the project. He needs to find the root cause, so future changes may be avoided. Confidential information should be respected (not disclosed to third parties without the express approval of the client). The company code of conduct should cover items such as bribes, guidelines for situations, and other business practices. The schedule baseline is there for you to determine how the project is progressing. Follow your change management process, and continue to track against your baseline. Lessons learned can only be completed after the work is completed. Expected Value is the probability times impact of an opportunity and net present value is the benefits less costs over many time periods. It is the final plan and not the components that require authorization. Otherwise, there is extra work for everyone. All theft must be reported. The number of years is already included in the calculation of NPV. You simply pick the project with the highest NPV. Integrated change control requires coordinating changes across knowledge areas. For example, a proposed schedule change will often affect cost, quality, risk, and resources. A project manager must evaluate the situation before making a decision. In this case, the project manager would need to know more about the added functionality before a decision can be made about what to do. A project is complete when all work, including all project management work, is complete and the product of the project, not just deliverables, is accepted.

When project closure occurs at the end of the project (as opposed to at the end of a phase), the project management plan would not need to be updated. A vast majority of the project's budget will be expended during the executing process group. You want to present options to your boss. During the executing process group, updates are recommended to the PM plan. When a large project scope is completed, analyze project success or failure. In a situation of a conflict with another PM, professional and social responsibility dictates that you should confront the situation first with the other project manager to find out if the other project is really on schedule and thereby confirm or deny your information. When a problem arises in managing a project, resolve it with resources you control, go to resource manager and then go to customer If a project team member asks for more time to complete an activity on a project, submit the information to change control board, determine if this event might impact future work and inform team member of the boards decision. If a general contractor offers favours while working on a project, decline the offer and report to your supervisor. The best method to control changes on a project is to look for source of changes. A Project Management plan is a formal approved document used to control the project. During project executing, the project manager should be focused on integrating the work of others into a cohesive whole. This is more important than just coordinating or leading. In order to gather, integrate and disseminate the outputs of all project management processes, a PM should concentrate on creating a better Project Management Info. System.

The best use of historical records from a previous project is used in estimating, risk management and project planning. If a PM is running out of funds during a project due to unexpected changes, he should re-evaluate risk analysis and contingency funding. When a major scope change occurs on a project, calculate the risks associated with this change. That means looking for time, cost, quality, risk, resources, and customer satisfaction impacts. When helping another PM with their project, you should offer your assistance without doing the work. When performing administrative closure during Close Project phase, upon completion you will have project archives, formal acceptance and lessons learned. When consulting on project, if you retain the intellectual property rights, you can re-use the work without issue. If not, you cannot re-use your efforts with another company. Project baselines should be changed for all approved changes. Only baselines are included in the project management plan. The milestone list and risk register are parts of project documents. Lessons learned are an organizational process asset. Lessons learned from previous projects may be an input to the project management plan, but they are not part of it. When taking over a project from another PM, you have to know what YOU are going to do. Developing the management strategy will provide the framework for all the rest of the choices presented and the other activities that need to be done. If management requests a change, while a project is being completed. First, you need to understand the scope of the change so you and the team can evaluate the impact. Next, come up with options, which you present to the change control board. The change control board then decides whether to include the change and its corresponding impacts on the project.

For a new PM that has never managed a project, it would be best to rely on historical information to improve chances of success on an assigned project. As the project manager, it is your professional and social responsibility to ensure that company policies are followed throughout the project. Inform other PMs in your company if one your common supplier is having resource or labour issues. Determining a project is following policies and procedures is done in Perform Quality Assurance process, and accepting work results is done in Verify Scope process. As a project manager, it is your responsibility to provide criteria to the contracts department based on the project needs and to protect your project along the way. An employee does not have the option of choosing whether to follow company policy. Nor, generally, can a manager override company policy. Only the owner of the policy can do that. A project manager must follow policy. The role of a PM relating to integrating is ensuring that the various project elements are properly co-ordinated. When you have several people sign-off on project charter, this situation implies that there are several areas concerned with this project. In addition to added communications requirements, you should be concerned with competing needs and requirements impacting your efforts on configuration management. For a project that is out of control; without adequate documentation, it is impossible to know what was agreed upon and the status of the project. It is professional and social responsibility to disclose conflicts of interest to the customer, management, and others. The risk audit is done during monitoring and controlling, not closure. The Create WBS process consists of subdividing major project deliverables (scope) into smaller, more manageable work packages.

The Define Activities process defines the activities that must take place to produce those deliverables.
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If a project team members ethnicity is being discussed before the meeting, the PM should begin the meeting with a discussion of diversity and professional behaviour. To determine the purpose of a project, look at the project charter documents, the project description and need of the client. The project risk management plan is created in the planning process group of a project. Benefit measurement and Constrained Optimization are examples of project selection methods. Integration is most important at key interface points. The change control system must also include procedures to handle changes that may be approved without prior review, for example, as the result of emergencies. If a customer wants to make a change to project scope, the PM must evaluate the effect of change on schedule, cost, quality and risk. It is the project manager's job to investigate impacts, as the project manager is the only one who can tell how a change impacts the project as a whole. An "end-of-phase review meeting" is the same as an administrative closure meeting when a phase of the project is closed out. Cancelling the project has the most impact on the project team and project direction and therefore, would be the most difficult. Most often, projects outsourced outside of the country encounter communication and time zone barriers. The procurement process should have assured the project manager that the sellers were skilled before selecting them. Corrective actions are implemented in the Direct and Manage Project Execution process.

The project manager should not necessarily prevent all scope or cost changes and the sponsor is not involved in all changes. Changes found early will have less of an impact on the project. In the real world, problems often repeat. Without a record of what was done, there is no opportunity to consider the same solution for future problems. Documentation is critical to projects. Because documentation becomes part of the historical records database. The project management plan contains more than just a bar or Gantt chart and the project manager's plan for completing the work. It includes all the management plans for the project. Remember that control relates to measurement. It is important to realize that delays or cost increases do not automatically result in changes to baselines. Changes can be made to the baselines, but only when they are officially approved. Changes are not listed in the scope management plan or in the project charter. A PM must determine if a change is needed, if a change is beneficial and notify stakeholders affected by the change. The person requesting the change usually formulates the change and creates a change proposal. The performing organization usually creates the procedures regarding changes. The change control board reviews requests for changes, evaluates both the positive and negative impacts and then approves or rejects the changes. The larger the BCR, SPI and CPI the better. A project with high priority normally holds more senior commitment. The change control system should already have methods of making changes described. If resources that were promised at the beginning become unavailable, explain the impact to the project sponsor. If the project manager is asking how to make a change. The procedures, forms, sign-offs, and other similar requirements for handling changes should have already been determined in the change management plan. Because they weren't, the project manager will waste valuable work time trying to figure it out after the fact.

The change management process should be formal so changes don't "just happen." You manage them. You want them documented for historical purposes so there is an audit trail indicating why you made the changes. If the same department is submitting all changes, then you must talk to the department to understand the reason of changes. The best way to deal with this problem is to discover the root cause. Putting all pieces together in a cohesive whole describe a PMs role as a project integrator. The project management plan is used to guide the project and it is the project manager's integration role. If you signed a confidentiality agreement, you may not speak about project details even if you dont agree with them. A poor communications management plan is not likely to cause the volume of changes on a project that is experiencing many late change requests. You need to follow a new employers procedures while you try to influence improvement via the change management processes. For a defective product, although insurance would cover the risk, it is best to recall the product and fix the problem in all instances. All projects, even those that do not have a completion date (yes, they do exist), should be planned and have a schedule, if for no other reason than to control the project and prove project success. However, if there is no end date, the schedule should allow for resources being removed and other such delays. The project manager is neither empowered nor competent to determine the legality of company procedures. NOTE: There is an important distinction between practices and procedures. All unethical practices should be reported. For example, a project manager must report an act of fraud. Fraud is not a company procedure (normally). However, a project manager is not in a position to determine whether company procedures comply with existing law. A project manager must understand what led to problems with team dynamics, project scope, etc., in order to decide what to do and with

whom to meet to resolve the problem. One cannot meet with the sponsor until the reasons for the problems are known. It is more appropriate to meet only with the team members involved. Double declining balance is a form of accelerated depreciation. The sponsor issues the project charter and so he or she should help the project manager control changes to the charter. The primary responsibility lies with the sponsor. Operations and maintenance usually occur after the project is completed. Linear programming is a type of constrained optimization project selection method. Sunk costs are expended costs. The rule is that they should not be considered when deciding whether to continue with a troubled project. A project without a charter is a project without support. The information provided for the other projects does not justify selecting them. Even the number of resources is not relevant, since the number of resources for the new project is not supplied. A PM must be able to weigh the benefits of change versus the costs and compare them to other possible changes. Team members should do what was asked of them. If project deliverables and baselines have changed several times on a project, it is mainly due to clear direction from the sponsor. Project archives are created during Close Project or Close Phase process. The project charter is created in initiating. The project management plan and risk plan are products of the planning processes. If a customer has requested change during application testing, the first action would be to formally document the requirements, and then follow the project change control process. If you are assigned as a PM to lead a new project, the first plan to create is project scope statement.

As a PM you need to do more than just monitor and track changes; you have to work on influencing the causes of change. You want to capture data at the end of each phase of a project. If you wait until the end, you may forget important information. Project Charter gives PM the authority on a project. The details of what needs to be done are found in the WBS dictionary. The names of team members are included in responsibility assignment matrix and other documents. Project history is found in the lessons learned and other project documents. Rejected change requests are an output of Integrated Change Control. Changes made via the change control system will be documented in some part of the project management plan and/or project documents. The project charter is issued by the sponsor. If many changes are being requested and made, it indicates that the scope definition was incomplete. A thorough review of the project scope with the stakeholders will help identify where problems exist and allow you to focus on fixing them. If you need to make a decision over the allotted budget, discuss the impact with the customer and ask for a decision. With any project, you need to focus on the needs of the stakeholders. By understanding their needs, you will be far ahead in developing a structured approach that fits their needs. Higher NPV is better The project manager needs to analyze the problems and identify what caused them before making a decision. If you receive a request that does not affect the scheduled and easy to complete; you must evaluate the impact on other project constraints. As a PM you must always determine what the common practices in a country are, when starting a project in a foreign country. A change management plan includes the processes and procedures that allow smooth evaluation and tracking of changes. Lessons learned

are reviews of the processes and procedures to improve them; they are not part of the system.
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If a project remains over the budget limit, review expensive requirements that add least benefit. If a customer requested functionality that was not available at the start of the project, but becomes available at a later stage. Inform the customer and of the upgrade and impacts to timeline and functionality. Value analysis is a way of making sure that the least expensive way is found to do the work. The Close Contract process may happen before the project as a whole is complete. Approved corrective action is an input to Direct and Manage Project execution. Lack of sponsor commitment can lead expanding scope, increasing cost and lengthening timelines. Earned value analysis is a progress reporting tool. Pareto is a quality tool. Expert interviews simply provide information from individuals, while the Delphi Technique leads to consensus of expert opinion and is therefore best. Lessons Learned help to avoid future pitfalls and use the good ideas of past projects. This leads to improvements in future projects. A project control system is set up during the planning process group, not during project executing. A WBS is created in project planning, but can be used to help manage the project during project executing. If you cannot determine how many changes are being reviewed, the problem lies with change control system and project scope management plan. Recollections are less reliable than other documented results. Project baselines are not useful in creating WBS. The business need of a project is included in a Project Charter.

When working with team members of different ethnicities, learn something unique about their cultures at the start of a project. Releasing the team is the last thing to do in project closure. You need your team to do the work of project closure. If customer demands changes to specification that can add time to critical path, consult with sponsor about the options. The project manager must manage professional and social responsibility. There may be many business reasons to make major changes, but from a project management perspective, major additions to the project are generally discouraged. In this case, the question is trying to imply that the new work is a self-contained unit of work, has no overlap with the existing work and needs a different skill set. Therefore, it is generally best to make it a new project and create a project charter. Project managers should be pro-active. Must prevent unnecessary change. The biggest problem is retaining team members until closure of the project. People start looking for their next project and leave before administrative closure is complete. A Lessons Learned document describes more than just the decisions made. It should help recall what went right, wrong, progress, etc. Configuration management involves making sure that everyone is working off the same documents. The law of diminishing returns has nothing to do with choosing between projects. The opportunity cost is the value of the project that was not selected; the lost opportunity. Straight line depreciation uses the same amount each time period. Lowest payback period is best when choosing projects. If there is an impact to the critical path, use a contingency reserve and find out how much later an activity will be.

A work authorization system is used to co-ordinate when and in what order the work is performed so that work and people may properly interface with other work and other people. If a project no longer ties in to the companys objectives, the best thing to do is extend the schedule. The cost of choosing one project over another is called opportunity cost. The internal rate of return is similar to the interest rate you get from the bank. The higher the rate is, the better the return. If you discover that certain project deliverables have been attained without performing all associated work packages in WBS. Review the packages and deliverables to determine impact. Recommend changes to project management plan. Making sure all changes have been approved by management, is not part of project monitoring and controlling processes. If a deviation has occurred from the plan, the first thing is always to evaluate the impact of the change on the project. A good thing to do next might be to see what the contract states and then meet with the customer. A project phase is concluded when the deliverables are accepted. A project is considered closed when the archives are completed. The higher the benefit cost ratio, the better. If you cant get a project charter approved for a project that is about to begin, the best thing to do would be to show the impact. This is the only choice that prevents future problems - always the best choice. Because net present value is the value in today's dollars of different cash flows, the project with the highest NPV is the best one. The number of years is included in the NPV calculation. What is PV? It is todays value of future cash flows. Control Scope focuses on controlling the scope of project and Perform Integrated Change Control focuses on determining the impact of a change of scope on time, cost, quality and resources.

Sunk costs are expended costs. Value analysis involves finding a less costly way to do the same scope of work. A direct cost is directly attributable to an activity. Amount of funds available for a company to invest in projects is called Working Capital. Formal acceptance of a project means customer sign-off on the product being delivered. Until the customer formally accepts the project's product, you do not have acceptance. If you discover better ways to complete a scheduled work package. Look for how this schedule change will impact the cost to complete the work package and quality of the product of work package. A Project Management Information System is a method to gather, integrate and disseminate what and how the project is doing. If a customer is unhappy with the performance of a project, you need to find out why the customer is not happy. Then meet with the team and determine options. If you learn that functionality was added to the project, after the fact and there was no impact on cost and schedule. You need to understand what change has taken place and then evaluate the impact and options. The payback period is how long it will take the company to recoup their investment in the project. If you discover that a project will take twice the time to complete as previously mentioned in plan, you must report your assessment to the sponsor. If a stakeholder wants to make changes to the work breakdown structure, that wont affect time or cost on the project. The best thing to do is look for other impacts on the project. The project manager is responsible for obtaining upper management buy-in to provide adequate resources, set realistic schedules and promote team building.

If customer requests a change to scope which was not previously approved, you should follow the change control process. If customer wishes to expand the project scope, after performance measurement baselines have been established. Customer will need to follow integrated change control process. If you make new discoveries in your part of programs project, make sure to share them with other project managers on the program. Develop Project Management Plan and Plan Quality involve preventing rework, conflict and coordination problems. One of the ways to check if a change should be approved is to determine whether the work falls within the project charter. If not, it should be rejected, assigned to a more appropriate project or addressed as a project of its own. You create the change management plan before you need it; in the planning process group. If a milestone is completed on time and on budget, the project manager has some measure of the status of the project. Milestones are effective measures of progress on a project. Getting acceptance of the project management plan would have meant acceptance of project planning assumptions, project planning decisions regarding alternatives chosen, communication among stakeholders, key management reviews, the baseline for progress measurement and project control. Product acceptance criteria are included in the project scope statement. Not in project charter. Pay Back period, is how long will it take to get back your initial investment from the project. The faster you get your money back, the faster you can re-invest that money in another endeavour. The shorter the time the better. Only with formal acceptance can the project manager be sure the project work is really complete.

"Who creates the project management plan?" The best answer is that project management plans are created by the project manager but require input from the team. The project charter is issued by the sponsor. The project manager may have a role in its creation. Only a work authorization system helps with integrating work packages into a whole. A work authorization system helps ensure that work is done at the right time and in the right sequence. Meeting the baseline is one indicator of project success. Performance is compared against the project management plan or the project baselines. Changes made by the customer should be paid for by the customer and not require the use of seller's reserves. It is unlikely that the requested changes could all be accomplished without impacting cost. Sometimes the best way to resolve a problem is to sit down with all parties, discuss the issues, and find a solution that works for everyone. The needs of the stakeholders and not just the sponsor must be taken into account on all projects. A single high-level executive can end an entire project if he or she is not satisfied with the results, even if that person has, by choice, been only tangentially involved in the project. It is critical to ensure that all of the final decision makers have been identified early in a project in order to ensure that their concerns are addressed. Project Charter and Project Management Plan should thoroughly be explained to and be reviewed by the client. The project is NOT completed until formal acceptance is received and any requirements stated for project closure in the contract are met. Project Manager loses credibility and performance by using overtime. This would likely create a cost impact on the project, or impact other projects or other work. If time available to complete a project is less than time needed, and management will not change the date. The best choice in this situation is to consider cutting the scope.

Train on cultural differences in other countries when working with international teams or clients. Kickoff meetings occur during project planning. Perform Quality Assurance occurs during project executing. A scope verification plan is part of the scope management plan, created earlier in the project and used during project monitoring and controlling, not closing. All types of closure must make sure that the actual product of the project meets the requirements for the product. Close Procurements and Close Project both involve product verification. If a PM asks to move resources from Project A to B, then a problem has caused delay beyond PM`s control. The project charter is completed prior to the development of the project management plan. Benefit cost analysis is done earlier in the project to help select between alternatives. The company gets large value in finishing. Perhaps they can sell the finished product to someone else. Completing the project will meet your company objectives and help you gain the expertise you need if the client agrees and proprietary client data is not required to complete the work. When implementation is concerned, you need to wait until management approves the effort. A Change Management Plan should include a method for controlling schedule. Distribute Information is the only process that does not have recommend corrective actions as an output. You must report any illegal activities to your manager. The project manager is an integrator. The need for integration is one of the major driving forces for communication in a project. If a PM has made change to the project, he should revise the project management plan and other project documents.

Performance measurement baselines are developed during project planning. The others are parts of a preliminary project scope statement. Outputs of the Close Project or Phase process include archives, lessons learned, and project closure. However, some project resources (people, computers, telephones) must be used to perform these closing activities. Once completed, the project can release its resources. Remember, project length is incorporated when computing NPV. You would choose the project that provides the most value, in this case the project with the highest NPV. The Verify Scope process occurs during the monitoring and controlling process of the project, not at the end. A similar activity during closure is product verification. You and the team need to work through the project planning processes and then decide what the impact of the cost and schedule requirements will be on the project. You would not accept the requirements without proper evaluation. It is the project manager's responsibility to manage the project scope completion within budget and reserves. Problem solving begins with defining the causes of the problem. It is better to evaluate before taking action. You must get complete requirements before starting work. If your estimates are accurate, you are ethically bound to stand by them. Management's only option to cut cost is to support the project manager looking for alternatives related to all project constraints. Always provide accurate estimate of the actual costs and be able to support your estimates. If you discover a deliverable is late and project will not be completed early, you must inform the customer and work out a mutually agreeable solution. Rules for when a change should formally be made are discussed or set up during project planning and must follow any company policies. These plans would be included or referenced in the project's change control system.

A payback period is the amount of time it takes to recoup the investment in a project. With everything going well on the project, the only choice that makes sense is to review the management plans for the project. As you work on a project, you need to constantly re-evaluate the project objectives and how the project relates to other concurrent projects. Is your project still in line with corporate objectives? If the other project will impact yours, you need to be proactive and work on options now. Historical records, they are collected throughout the project, but are only archived during the Close Project or Phase process. You cannot accept a gift from the client, or any gift of the magnitude of a car. BCR of 2.1 means, payback period is 2.1 times the cost. The product of the project is completed at the end of the project. If you do not know what was planned, there isn`t further information available to make sound judgement calls. Approved defect repair, validated defect repair, rejected change requests and approved corrective actions are all part of the Perform Integrated Change Control process. When facing problems on a project, describe the problem to management and sponsor but also provide your plan of action to resolve the problem. Integration is done by the project manager. Any software created by a company is owned by that company. You cannot use software created by another company on your project. Project managers have a professional and social responsibility to ensure that any conflicts of interest do not compromise the legitimate interests of the customer. If the project manager knows that the customer will benefit from the information and then he must present it.

Whenever a large number of changes occur on a project, it is wise to confirm that the business case, as stated in the project charter, is still valid. If a PM is spending lots of time solving problems that arise, it would be best for him to identify additional risks and follow the risk management process. The creation of a project control system is done during project planning. Variances are measured during project monitoring and controlling. It is the sponsor's role to determine objectives. These objectives are described in the project charter. The project management plan is the only choice that meets the objectives of guiding work in Execution and Monitoring & Controlling.