Learning all the activities for the planning processes group in the correct order.

Submitted by Deekster on Mon, 03/02/2015 - 21:35

My question is that I am looking at page 50 of Rita’s Process Charts (list all the Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring  & controlling, and closing process).  Rita says the planning process group has a set order.  The order of some of the activities just doesn’t make sense to me so I began looking in the PMBOK for supporting information.  I don’t see in the PMBOK that the same activities for the planning processes group are listed or the supporting detail to support the order.  I feel like I have to be missing something so please share if you can help.

Forums: 
PMP / CAPM exam Question bank
  • Log in to post comments
  • 439 reads

Deekster

Mon, 03/02/2015 - 22:00

Below are some specific examples of my question…

Specifically why do I have to "Finalize procurement documents" before "I can Create change management plan"?  I don't see the dependency.

In the above case it seems to me that the change management plan is a generic plan about how to manage, document, and get approved any changes.  This could affect procurement or not, but still the change management plan could be develop prior to finalizing procurement.

 

Specifically why do I have to "Develop a budget" before "Determine quality standards, processes, and metrics"?

In this case know the quality standards and metrics seem like they could affect estimates for the budget, so this seems backwards to me.

coolpmp69

Tue, 03/03/2015 - 15:06

coolpmp69

Tue, 03/03/2015 - 15:10

Let me give it a try

1. Specifically why do I have to "Finalize procurement documents" before "I can Create change management plan"? I don't see the dependency.

There is a dependency between "Finalize procurement documents" and "Create change management plan" and let me explain to you how...
After PM creates procurement management plan and procurement documents, the project management team & PM go thru iterations to finalize procurement documents. In planning stage, PM proactively think as to where changes can come from and how to manage them. Changes can come from all the KAs including procurement. So PM should be able to visualize to prepare a plan as to how changes in the procurements should be submitted, who will submit those changes and who can approve those changes. So such changes will be handled under contract change control plan and this is also documented in change management plan. Any changes to procurement go thru Procurement change control system and this is integrated with change control system. The "Create change management plan" defines all about managing such changes

2. Specifically why do I have to "Develop a budget" before "Determine quality standards, processes, and metrics"?

Although "Develop a budget" steps comes earlier than "Determine quality standards, processes, and metrics" the budget is still being finalized and that's why there is "Go back- Iterations" step in the chart to include all the cost related to quality, risk, communications etc. after team determines and finalizes them. Once all the cost related to quality, communication, risks etc. are computed, these becomes a part of your project budget. So Changes can be made until the PM finalizes all the management plans but of course before approval :)

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions

rkraneis's picture

rkraneis

Tue, 03/03/2015 - 16:37

Deekster,

As a PMP trainer, using Rita's book for a course in January 2014, I decided that Rita's page 50 was a poor use of my class time.  (I know, that's shocking.)

I taught a PMP class last year (2014) using Rita's book and of course, PMBOK 5.

When I saw Rita's page 50 I was shocked.  Rita has 85 processes while PMBOK 5 has only 47.  What did I do???

Here are my notes from my page 50, as I wrote them a year ago as a PMP trainer:

  1. Active - Memorize the 47 Processes.
  2. Passive - Study Rita's processes.  Don't memorize them.

So I told my class to memorize the 47 processes perfectly and not worry or obsess on Rita's 85 processes (yes, she has 85).

When I studied for the PMP I had two instructors (good people, nice people).  But one of those instructors would quiz us at the start of his class on memorizing "his PMP processes".  As a PMP student I looked up the PMP processes in PMBOK and discovered our instructor was NOT teaching us the official PMP processes.  Pretty darn confusing.  I'm afraid other teachers and obviously Rita does the same thing.

As a PMP student I made a decision to NOT follow my instructor's advice to memorize his PMP processes.  Instead, I chose to memorize the official PMP processes from PMBOK.  In fact, during one class quiz, everyone wrote down "his" PMP processes when I wrote down PMBOK's PMP processes.

Deekster, everyone considers Rita Mulcahy's book to be an authority on PMBOK.  As a PMP trainer and a training consultant, I consider PMBOK to be the final authority on studying for the PMP.  Rita (who died almost 5 years ago) is a legend in PMP books and training.

But if I were your PMP trainer, I'd tell you not to memorize or even worry to much about Rita's "85 processes".  Rita's book is an excellent resource for studying for the PMP.  I just don't believe her page 50 and 85 processes were useful to my PMP students.  They would be great for a project management class but you're not taking a project management class.

Since you're studying to pass the PMP, focus your attention on memorizing the 47 PMP processes.

Best Wishes on Passing the PMP,

Richard Kraneis, PMP
Chicago, IL  USA
www.RichardKraneis.com
Richard on YouTube