Subtitles of the Movie

In this section, we'll touch on the five exam domains of the PMI SP Certification Exam. The idea of this section is to help clarify what the exam domains are really testing. For instance, the first domain is schedule mission management. Many people aren't too clear on exactly what that means and therefore what they should study. By the way, this domain encompasses nine percent of the exam. That means that of the 150 scored questions, roughly 13 questions will fall in this category. There are a few questions that fall in this category but it's an important piece of project scheduling. Not getting this right jeopardizes the entire schedule. Here are a few exam objectives that fall under this domain. We have integrate the scheduling component into other project management plans, establish configuration management procedures, establish scheduling policies, establish scheduling procedures, perform scheduling-related training and become proficient with project management software. Now that you see this list, you can probably understand why it's so important. It's part of the foundation of the schedule and the schedule-related processes. For instance, our first item refers to several project plans that are a part of the overall project management plan. This includes communications plan, risk management plan, the cost management plan, quality assurance plan and naturally the time management plan. But there is more. We have integration, scope and also procurement. Taking into account the scheduling element within these subsidiary plans is important and at this point you may be realizing that this means you need to be familiar with the overall PMBOK Guide. Remember that in the first section of this course I recommended going through at least the introductory sections of each chapter within the PMBOK Guide as part of your study plan. This is an important reason why. It's relevant to project scheduling. If you have PMP, then you've already gone through a great deal of exposure to the PMBOK Guide and already understand how all of these knowledge areas are intertwined. We can't really talk about project scheduling without these other areas. At the end of the course we'll go through the various subsidiary plans to make sure that you're covered. Next, we have establish configuration management procedures. This refers to those procedures within the configuration management system that pertains to schedule storage, maintenance and control. Establishing these types of procedures is important to making sure that the data is managed properly from archiving it to retrieving it. Things to consider here are what procedures exist for documenting changes, for managing the scheduling-related information and are there any best practices relating to the configuration management system. Our next object we have establish scheduling policies. You may view this one as self-explanatory. Most companies already have these in place so you're not necessarily creating new policies for every project but you should be aware of and follow these policies or establish them if your company does not have any and that's known to happen, particularly with startups or smaller companies. These policies can encompass the performance thresholds, the standards, parameters, level of accuracy, earned value management implementation, approval requirements and integration of the project schedule components. In our next objective we have establish new scheduling procedures and that's somewhat similar in the sense that typically these already exist within an organization. This may include procedures for planning or updating and maintaining the schedule. Next, we have perform scheduling-related training across the project team. This is important for the team members to understand the various roles of the scheduler and also what the scheduling procedures are that I just mentioned. Everyone should be informed and on the same page and as you probably know, policies and procedures are pointless if they're not being followed. And lastly we have become proficient with project management software. These days particularly in relation to project schedule, software is invaluable and this can include tools for day-to-day scheduling-related tasks as well as troubleshooting and interfacing with the client. In retrospect, it's only nine percent of the exam but this section is important to keep all of the other parts moving. It's important on the front end and in the overall big picture. On that note we'll bring this movie to a close and move on to the next exam domain in the movie that follows.