Essential Terminology

You Need To Know For The

PMP Exam

Essential Terminology You Need To Know For

The PMP Exam

Introduction
If you are a project manager who is looking forward to take a leap in his/her career, passing a
PMP Project Management Professional Certification Exam is a necessity. Passing the exams
can sound like a tough task in the beginning but it is not a daunting task as many usually
propagate. While preparing for this exam, you must also remember that knowing everything
in project management is not possible.
Once you map out your study plan very carefully, then the exams will be easy for you. As it is
very essential for a project manager to understand key concepts, you must be intimately
familiar with the five process groups and ten knowledge areas and understand project
management terminology and learn to think like PMI.
In this whitepaper, we introduce and explain the most important terminology you need to
know to pass the exam. Set your study goal, make your success schedule, and dedicate
yourself completely to pass the exams in order to obtain your PMP credential.
The information depicted in this whitepaper can help you on your way to PMP certification
and prepare you for your PMP boot camp. Every basic term you need to understand prior to
the Boot Camp are listed in this document with details. You can, without an iota of doubt, can
use this information as a step to your success.

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Essential Terminology You Need To Know For

The PMP Exam

Terminology

As we mentioned earlier, you need to be a smart player while facing the PMP exam as you are
supposed to familiarize yourself with a large volume of terminology associated with project
management. Learning these terms will give you an edge while appearing for the prestigious
PMP exam. The keywords you must learn before attending your PMP boot Camp are listed
below:

Baseline

Baseline can be defined as an approved plan that offers a point of comparison for the real
performance. It comprises of both the original plan and all approved changes. It can be
modified based only on formally approved changes through established change control
process.

Analogous Estimating

It is a process of estimating based on a similar previous project or activity. When put in

simpler terms, it is almost like telling an analogy comparing two similar things.

Change Control System

Change Control System, an approved way to make changes to project documentation or

deliverables, is the part of Configuration Management System. This is the formal system that
documents how the changes to the project will be identified, evaluated and approved or
rejected.

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Essential Terminology You Need To Know For

The PMP Exam

Contingency Reserve

It is used to reduce the risks associated with going beyond the schedule or budget. It is the
amount of time or funds required above the estimate to deal with known-un-knowns.

Critical Path

Critical path is the longest time path through the usual project activities workflow. The series
of scheduled activities are connected in a logical and flowing manner.

Crashing

A schedule compression technique that focuses on the critical path is called as Crashing. Its
objective is to reduce the duration by adding many more resources to those activities.

Earned Value Management

This management methodology is used to forecast future project performance and determine
present project status. It offers a means to evaluate the integrated performance of schedule,
cost and scope to determine the present project status.

Fast Tracking

Fast Tracking is a method of doing the work in a parallel stream, which otherwise used to be
done in a sequence. When your project falls behind the schedule, you can use it as a way to
compress the schedule.

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Essential Terminology You Need To Know For

The PMP Exam

Functional Organization

Functional organization, as you know, is a work organization where employees are grouped by
various specialized departments such as marketing, operations, accounting that are captained
by a particular department manager.

Matrix Organization

In a Matrix organizational structure, project managers share their responsibilities with functional managers for assigning and prioritizing the work. This is a work environment where
both functional managers and project managers share resources.

Weak Matrix Organization

You can call an organization as a weak matrix organization if its functional managers preserve
authority over the resources that might be devoted to the project only on a part time basis.

Parametric Estimating

This is the way of using the historical data to establish a measurable unit which can be used to
assess an estimate for a similar project.

Portfolio

Portfolio is often used for achieving a strategic business objective. It can be defined as the
collection of various programs or projects and other works that can be assembled as a group
in order to achieve a strategic business objective.

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Essential Terminology You Need To Know For

The PMP Exam

Program

A program can be defined as a specific group of projects, sub programs and activities that are
handled together to gain control, efficiency and unity of effort that could not be gained when
handling them separately.

Progressive Elaboration

Progressive elaboration, as the name denotes, is the continuous improvement and refinement
of a plan as more updated information becomes available. This helps to achieve an accurate
and complete plan.

Risk

Risk is an unpredictable event or condition that can make an impact on the projects prime
objectives. The nature of the impact can either be positive or negative.

Scope

Scope is what the project is supposed to achieve. It is the total sum of all the services,
products, and results to be delivered as the entire project.

Statement of Work (SOW)

Statement of Work is a detailed description of all the services, products or results of the
project.

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Essential Terminology You Need To Know For

The PMP Exam

Variance

Variance is a measurable deviation against an already established baseline or value. Once

Variance is identified, it is observed and analyzed to determine the cause so that attempts can
be made to restore the performance back in line with the estimated plan.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the tool which is used to define and group the discrete
work packages of a project in a way that it facilitates to define and organize the total work
scope of the project. A data, service, product or any special combinations of these elements
can be called as a work breakdown structure element. This tool can also offer the essential
framework of detailed cost estimation and control along with giving guidance for schedule
control and development

Conclusion
To pass the PMP exams with flying colors, you need to learn much more than these
basic terminologies. But learning these basic terms is a very important step in your
journey towards the PMP exam success. Passing the PMP exams is your prime and most
important goal so it is necessary to remember the requirement for 35 contact hours of
instruction that you need to site for the exams. It will make the academic position of the
requirement more manageable if you know the project management terminology prior
to stepping into those 35 hours.
Good luck !

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