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GAQM CPD: Project Management (GAQM CPD)

GAQM CPD · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Project Management (GAQM CPD)

What this domain tests

This section of the GAQM CPD project-management certification portfolio examines whether you can govern a project from authorization through closure: translating a business case into a scope, schedule and cost baseline; controlling integrated change; managing risk, quality, procurement and stakeholder communication; and confirming benefits handover. At director level, questions often test judgment about baselines, tolerances and escalation rather than definitions alone.

Core rules to apply

  • A project exists only after authorization. The charter names the sponsor, purpose, high-level scope and success criteria. The project manager then builds the stakeholder register and scope baseline; the WBS decomposes deliverables, not activities.
  • Baselines are control points, not estimates. Scope, schedule and cost baselines change only through integrated change control, with impact analysis on all three plus risk and quality.
  • The critical path is the longest path through the network and has the least total float. Crashing adds resources and usually cost; fast tracking overlaps activities and usually risk.
  • Earned value: CV = EV - AC; SV = EV - PV; CPI = EV/AC; SPI = EV/PV. A CPI below 1 means cost inefficiency; if the trend continues, EAC = BAC/CPI.
  • Risk responses are planned before they become issues. Contingency reserve covers known risks; management reserve covers unknown-unknowns and needs sponsor authority.
  • Quality assurance is process-focused; quality control is deliverable-focused. Prevention is cheaper than inspection and rework.

Worked example

A project has BAC $500,000. At the end of month four, PV is $200,000, EV is $180,000 and AC is $210,000. CPI = 180/210 = 0.857, so $1 of earned value costs about $1.17. CV = -$30,000; SV = -$20,000. If the cost trend continues, EAC = 500,000/0.857 = $583,333, an overrun of about $83,333. The director should not simply demand a faster schedule: SPI = 0.9 shows slippage, and compressing may worsen CPI.

Traps that cost marks

Confusing contingency with management reserve; changing a baseline without change control; treating all float as free; calling a risk an issue before it occurs; and closing the project before contract closure, benefits handover and lessons learned are complete.