PMP Exam Preparation Based on PMBOK 6th

Chapter Two

The Environment In Which Projects Operate

Dr. Mohamed Harb

MSc, PhD, PMP, Scrum, Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Content

 Overview
 Enterprise Environmental Factors
 Organizational Process Assets
 Organizational Systems
 Questions

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Overview

 Two major categories of influences are enterprise environmental factors

(EEFs) and organizational process assets (OPAs).

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 EEFS Internal to The organization

vision
Experts and skilled HR

Factory location

Subcontractors Facilities & Equipment

Scheduling software tools

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 EEFS External to The Organization

Competitors

Working conditions
& weather Political climate &Ethics

Currency exchange
rates &Inflation

Laws & Regulations

Codes and Standards Cost estimating &

industry risk studies

Industry study & publications

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 Organizational Process Assets (OPAs)
 Plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases specific to and used
by the performing organization.

Include the following benefits:

 Practice, or knowledge
 Organization’s lessons learned from previous projects
 Historical information
 Project files from previous projects
 Financial data (budget)

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 Organizational Systems

Impact:
 Management elements,
 Governance frameworks, and
 Organizational structure types.

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 Management elements
The key functions or principles of management include but are not
limited to:
 Division of work using specialized skills and availability to perform work
 Authority given to perform work
 Responsibility to perform work appropriately
 Discipline of action (e.g., respect for authority, people, and rules)
 Unity of command (only one person gives orders)
 Unity of direction (one plan and one head)
 General goals of the organization take precedence over individual goals
 Paid fairly for work performed
 Optimal use of resources
 Right materials to the right person for the right job at the right time

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 Governance frameworks
Rules

Framework includes but is not limited to:

Processes Policies
 Rules,
 Policies,
 Procedures,
 Norms, Systems, and Procedures
 Relationships,
 Systems,
 Processes. Relationships Norms

This framework influences how:

 Objectives of the organization are set and achieved,
 Risk is monitored and assessed,
 Performance is optimized.

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 Organizational structure

Factors to consider in selecting an organizational structure include but are not

limited to:
 Degree of alignment with organizational objectives,
 Specialization capabilities,
 Span of control, efficiency, and effectiveness,
 Clear path for escalation of decisions,
 Clear line and scope of authority,
 Delegation capabilities,
 Responsibility assignment,
 Simplicity of design,
 Efficiency of performance,
 Cost considerations,
 Physical locations (colocated, regional, and virtual),
 Clear communication (policies, status of work, and organization’s vision).
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 Organizational structure

 Organizational structure is an enterprise environmental factor,

which can affect the availability of resources and influence how
projects are conducted.

They are classified into:

 Functional
 Weak Matrix
 Balanced Matrix
 Strong Matrix
 Projectized
 Composite

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 Organizational structure

 Functional Organization

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 Organizational structure

Weak Matrix
 The PM is an expediter (coordinator)

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 Organizational structure

Balanced Matrix
 The PM has moderate authority

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 Organizational structure

Strong Matrix
 PM with considerable authority (Full time )
 project staff (Full time )

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 Organizational structure

Project Oriented
 No home for staff
 PM with full authority (Full time )

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Influence of Organizational structure

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Project Management Office (PMO)

 An organizational structure that standardizes the project-related

governance processes and
 Facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.

 Its role may be supportive (consultative), Controlling or Directive (higher

degree of control).

 Make recommendations,
 Lead knowledge transfer,
 Terminate projects, and
 Take other actions, as required.

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Project Management Office (PMO)

PMO’s Primary function is to support PM in :

 Managing shared resources across projects in its domain.
 Project Management methodology, best practices and
standards.
 Coaching ,mentoring, training and oversight.
 Project policies, procedures and templates.
 Project audits.
 Managing communications across projects.

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Questions

 Q1) Understanding the culture, policies, and procedures of

the organization in which the project is being performed is
most challenging in :

 A. Global organizations
 B. Manufacturing organizations
 C. Small organizations
 D. Agile organizations

Answer is A

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Questions

 Q2) A project manager is trying to complete a software

development project, but cannot get enough attention for the
project. Resources are focused on completing process-related
work, and the project manager has little authority to assign
authorities. What form of organization must the project
manager be working in:

 A. Functional
 B. Matrix
 C. Expediter
 D. Coordinator

Answer is A
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Questions

 Q3) A project manager has little project experience, but she

has been assigned as the project manager of a new project.
Because she will be working in a matrix organization complete
her project, she can expect communications to be:

A. Simple
D. Open and accurate
C. Complex
D. Hard to automate

 Answer is C
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Questions

 Q4) A project team member is talking to another team

member and complaining that many people are asking him to
do things, if he works in functional organization, who has the
power to give direction to the team members

A. The project manager

B. The functional manager
C. The team
D. The PMO

 Answer is B
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Questions

 Q5) All the following are characteristics of a project except:

A. It is temporary.
B. It has a definite beginning and end.
C. lt has interrelated activities.
D. It repeats itself every month.

 Answer is D

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