Project Management
This domain tests whether you can plan, control and close a project using standard tools, and interpret performance data rather than just report it. Items commonly ask you to read earned value figures, identify the critical path, or choose the right response to a scope change.
Scope, schedule, control
Define scope in a work breakdown structure; anything outside it needs change control, not a quiet favour. The triple constraint - scope, time, cost - moves together, with quality as the balancing concern. The critical path is the longest sequence of dependent tasks; its float is zero, so any delay there delays the project. Crashing adds resources to critical-path tasks; fast-tracking overlaps tasks and raises risk.
Earned value
- PV planned value, EV earned value, AC actual cost.
- Schedule variance SV = EV - PV; cost variance CV = EV - AC.
- SPI = EV / PV; CPI = EV / AC. Below 1.0 means behind schedule or over budget.
- EAC forecast = BAC / CPI where the current cost trend continues.
Worked example
At the end of month three, a project with BAC 300,000 reports PV 100,000, EV 80,000 and AC 90,000. SPI = 80,000 / 100,000 = 0.80, so the project is 20% behind plan. CPI = 80,000 / 90,000 = 0.89, so it is overspending. Forecast EAC = 300,000 / 0.89 = approximately 337,000. Reasoning: EV measures work actually completed, not money spent, so the honest statement is 'we have earned 80k of planned work, spent 90k and are running at 89 cents of value per pound' - not 'we are 90% through the budget'.
Traps that cost marks
- Reporting percentage complete from subjective judgement rather than earned value.
- Treating SPI and CPI as quality measures; they measure time and cost only.
- Gold-plating scope without change control.
- Crashing without checking the added cost and risk on critical-path tasks.
- Skipping lessons learned and handover at closure, so the next project repeats the errors.