ICDL Project Planning (ICDL) study guide
ICDL Project Planning · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ICDL Project Planning certification is a multiple-choice credential that tests whether a candidate can build and maintain a project plan rather than simply recite project terminology. It belongs to the ICDL professional family of qualifications and is typically taken by team leaders, coordinators, junior project managers and support staff who are asked to plan, track and report on workstreams without holding a formal project management title. The ICDL Project Planning study guide has 5 sections and about 1,727 words.
01Project planning fundamentals and the project life cycle
A project is a temporary, unique endeavour undertaken to produce a defined outcome; operations are ongoing and repetitive. Candidates should distinguish projects from programs (related projects managed together) and portfolios (a collection aligned to strategy).
336 words, about 2 min02Scope definition, deliverables and stakeholder analysis
Scope definition turns the project objective into a clear boundary: what is included, what is excluded, and what acceptance looks like. A scope statement lists objectives, major deliverables, assumptions, constraints and exclusions.
348 words, about 2 min03Scheduling, activities, dependencies and resource allocation
Scheduling starts with an activity list, estimates of duration and resources, and sequencing. Precedence diagrams show dependencies: finish-to-start (most common), start-to-start, finish-to-finish and start-to-finish, with lead or lag where needed.
345 words, about 2 min04Cost estimation, budgeting and risk planning
Cost management estimates the cost of resources, then aggregates estimates into a cost baseline and adds reserve to form the budget. Estimation methods include analogous (top-down, similar past project), parametric (cost per unit), bottom-up (WBS work packages) and three-point/PERT.
323 words, about 2 min05Monitoring, progress reporting and project closure
Monitoring compares actual performance with the baselines for scope, schedule, cost and quality. Earned value management (EVM) integrates them: planned value (PV) is authorised budget for scheduled work; earned value (EV) is budgeted value of completed work; actual cost (AC) is money spent.
375 words, about 2 min