Earned Value Calculations:
PV (Present Value or Budgeted Cost of Work Schedule)
EV (Earned Value or Budgeted Cost of Work Performed)
AC (Actual Cost or Actual Cost of Work Performed)
CV = EV – AC
CPI = EV / AC (Greater than or Equal to 1 is good, means Under Budget)
SV = EV – PV
SPI = EV / PV (Greater than or Equal to 1 is good, means Under Schedule)
ETC = BAC – EV [Future Variances are Atypical or Not Consistent or Di similar]
ETC = (BAC – EV) / CPI [Future Variances are Typical or Consistent or No variances or Similar thru the project]
EAC = BAC / CPI [Typical or Consistent or No variances or Similar thru the project]
EAC = AC + ETC [Original or Initial Estimates are flawed]
EAC = AC + BAC – EV [Future variances are Atypical or Not Consistent or Di similar]
EAC = AC + BAC – EV / CPI [Future Variances are Typical or Consistent or No variances or Similar thru the project]
VAC = BAC – EAC
CV% = CV / EV x 100
SV% = SV / PV x 100
Float/Slack:
LS - ES or LF – EF
PERT:
PERT = (O + 4M + P) / 6
Standard Deviation = (P – O) / 6
Task Variance = [(P - O)/6 ] squared OR Std. Dev ^ 2
SIGMA Levels:
1 Sigma = 68.26 %
2 Sigam = 95.46 %
3 Sigma = 99.73 % (2700 per Million)
6 Sigma = 99.99 % (1.5 per Million)
Channels of Communication
(N x (N – 1)) / 2
Project Selection
Cash Flow = Cash Inflow – Cash Outflow
Discounted Cash Flow = CF x Discount Factor
ARR = Cash Flow / No. of Years
ROI = (ARR / Investment) * 100 % --- Bigger is better
BCR = (Benefit Cost Ratio) = Benefits / Cost --- Bigger is better
(Where Benefit is Revenue or Payback )
NPV = (Net Present Value) -- Bigger is better
IRR = Internal Revenue Return -- Bigger is better
Payback Period -- Less is better
Friday, August 08, 2008
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
PMP - My Experience
PMP - If you never heard about this word before just close this post and read on something else. If you do know about, you are in better place to get to know more and even get the PMP certification in few months from now.
I have secured the PMP certification at my first attempt yesterday (Aug 5, 2008) in Chicago area. I would like to share my experience from application process to pass the exam, to the ones who are in the preparation or yet to start the preparation.
Zero Steps:
-- As part of my organization policy, I must complete 10 courses on any area (technical or professional management) in every year from Mindleaders.com where my employer has licenses for each employee. So I took all courses in two months time (on and off) from the list of courses what MindLeaders had as PMI accredited and got the 35 hours for the application. -- Became a PMI Member on 09/01/2007
-- Got a PMBOK book from my employer site.
-- Finally had a change to prepare the application details and applied for PMP exam eligibility. -- Got an approval on 12/12/2007.
Study Steps:
-- I was unable to start the exam preparation for the first four months after I got the eligibility approval due to busy life and hard winter with my son being sick all times. Finally I put a study plan and kicked off from June 1st.
-- Studied PMBOK guide for 3 weeks in average 2 hours a day in morning (had few days break in between). After 3 weeks, I completely understood what the PMBOK tries to tell. At that time, I was familiar with all 5 Process Groups and 9 Knowledge Areas and 44 Processes and most importantly their interactions (Page 70). I was able to write that page in a paper at anytime from that time.
-- What I left at this point was to memorize the Inputs, TT and Outputs for each process. As that was hard to memorize when I tried, so I decided to tackle them by learning more about them individually.
-- When I was reading the PMBOK for 3 weeks, I was going thru each individual forum including the PMHub to choose the next level of preparation materials and tips. Finally made a decision to buy Rita’s Exam Preparation book alone from Amazon and I had it on time when I have done with PMBOK.
-- Study plan changed from 2 hours to 3 hours (added an hour in the evening)
-- Now Rita became my friend. Yes, she is talking thru the book which really made a difference between the PMBOK and her book. I uncovered a lot of topics when I was reading her book and it helped to get the Inputs, TT and Outputs in my mind without an extensive memorization. I would recommend that book as a best choice to read after the PMBOK. But always start with PMBOK.
-- After 3 weeks of morning tutorials and mini exams at the end of each chapter from Rita, I was so familiar with all processes and knowledge areas including the ITTO. I was able to score 80% average at the chapter end exams.
-- Now I decided to go with PMBOK and Rita’s book side by side for each chapter as a second review for both books. This was done in a week as I had done in-depth reading at the first time itself on both books. I studied extra 4 hours on Friday and Saturday nights as I can sleep well on next morning.
-- As my confident level at this point was very good so I scheduled the exam on August 5th and only slot was available at 5:30 PM.
-- During these weeks when I was fast tracking the PMBOK and Rita’s book, I was in dilemma that whether I need to buy any practice exams or not. So I gone thru all forums and LL again and finally decided to go with Rita’s FASTrack. (a costly decision but is really, again REALLY worth to buy, as I was looking for anyone tell the exact same thing)
Exam Steps:
-- FASTrack CD arrived on 07/28/2008 and now I’m less than 2 weeks away from my exam date. This got me little frustrated. Right after the installation, I took the very first full test without taking any individual Knowledge Area or Process Group tests; I scored 75% which made me to keep the confident level still high.
-- Then put a plan for a week to take the test on each Knowledge area and fill the gaps by going back to PMOK and Rita’s book. I was constantly scoring 85-90% on each exam. Also I was using free tests from http://ajithn.com/login.php site and pmstudy which were also helpful.
-- After this, I was taking another 3 full tests from FASTrack and scored the same level. At this time, I did notice that the questions were so familiar to me so I have decided to not to take any more tests. But did the Super PMP, just two days before the exam day and scored only 75%.
-- In parallel with above, I was also going thru handout notes from Prad_Raj Rani_2.doc from PMHUB just few days before the exam day which was a very helpful one to cross check your overall study with few additional information which PMBOK and Rita’s book NOT covered so far.
-- Didn’t study anything on the day before the exam but a high level look at the Prad_Raj Rani_2.doc.
-- On August 5th, 2008, took the Exam and passed. This was simple because of the above hard work. Yes, everything helped me but I felt like I over studied.
-- The exam was really like one of the Rita’s full test and mostly similar to her questions but not the same questions and NOT anywhere close to her Super PMP which I feel so hard.
Now it is your turn. All the Best!
Some useful links:
http://ajithn.com/
http://www.pmpexamguide.com/
http://www.pmhub.net/
http://projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/
http://zo-d.com/blog/archives/taking-the-pmp-exam.html
http://www.pmconnection.com/
http://www.flashcardexchange.com/tag/pmi
http://mypmguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/pmbok-ready-reckoner.html
http://www.preparepm.com/
I have secured the PMP certification at my first attempt yesterday (Aug 5, 2008) in Chicago area. I would like to share my experience from application process to pass the exam, to the ones who are in the preparation or yet to start the preparation.
Zero Steps:
-- As part of my organization policy, I must complete 10 courses on any area (technical or professional management) in every year from Mindleaders.com where my employer has licenses for each employee. So I took all courses in two months time (on and off) from the list of courses what MindLeaders had as PMI accredited and got the 35 hours for the application. -- Became a PMI Member on 09/01/2007
-- Got a PMBOK book from my employer site.
-- Finally had a change to prepare the application details and applied for PMP exam eligibility. -- Got an approval on 12/12/2007.
Study Steps:
-- I was unable to start the exam preparation for the first four months after I got the eligibility approval due to busy life and hard winter with my son being sick all times. Finally I put a study plan and kicked off from June 1st.
-- Studied PMBOK guide for 3 weeks in average 2 hours a day in morning (had few days break in between). After 3 weeks, I completely understood what the PMBOK tries to tell. At that time, I was familiar with all 5 Process Groups and 9 Knowledge Areas and 44 Processes and most importantly their interactions (Page 70). I was able to write that page in a paper at anytime from that time.
-- What I left at this point was to memorize the Inputs, TT and Outputs for each process. As that was hard to memorize when I tried, so I decided to tackle them by learning more about them individually.
-- When I was reading the PMBOK for 3 weeks, I was going thru each individual forum including the PMHub to choose the next level of preparation materials and tips. Finally made a decision to buy Rita’s Exam Preparation book alone from Amazon and I had it on time when I have done with PMBOK.
-- Study plan changed from 2 hours to 3 hours (added an hour in the evening)
-- Now Rita became my friend. Yes, she is talking thru the book which really made a difference between the PMBOK and her book. I uncovered a lot of topics when I was reading her book and it helped to get the Inputs, TT and Outputs in my mind without an extensive memorization. I would recommend that book as a best choice to read after the PMBOK. But always start with PMBOK.
-- After 3 weeks of morning tutorials and mini exams at the end of each chapter from Rita, I was so familiar with all processes and knowledge areas including the ITTO. I was able to score 80% average at the chapter end exams.
-- Now I decided to go with PMBOK and Rita’s book side by side for each chapter as a second review for both books. This was done in a week as I had done in-depth reading at the first time itself on both books. I studied extra 4 hours on Friday and Saturday nights as I can sleep well on next morning.
-- As my confident level at this point was very good so I scheduled the exam on August 5th and only slot was available at 5:30 PM.
-- During these weeks when I was fast tracking the PMBOK and Rita’s book, I was in dilemma that whether I need to buy any practice exams or not. So I gone thru all forums and LL again and finally decided to go with Rita’s FASTrack. (a costly decision but is really, again REALLY worth to buy, as I was looking for anyone tell the exact same thing)
Exam Steps:
-- FASTrack CD arrived on 07/28/2008 and now I’m less than 2 weeks away from my exam date. This got me little frustrated. Right after the installation, I took the very first full test without taking any individual Knowledge Area or Process Group tests; I scored 75% which made me to keep the confident level still high.
-- Then put a plan for a week to take the test on each Knowledge area and fill the gaps by going back to PMOK and Rita’s book. I was constantly scoring 85-90% on each exam. Also I was using free tests from http://ajithn.com/login.php site and pmstudy which were also helpful.
-- After this, I was taking another 3 full tests from FASTrack and scored the same level. At this time, I did notice that the questions were so familiar to me so I have decided to not to take any more tests. But did the Super PMP, just two days before the exam day and scored only 75%.
-- In parallel with above, I was also going thru handout notes from Prad_Raj Rani_2.doc from PMHUB just few days before the exam day which was a very helpful one to cross check your overall study with few additional information which PMBOK and Rita’s book NOT covered so far.
-- Didn’t study anything on the day before the exam but a high level look at the Prad_Raj Rani_2.doc.
-- On August 5th, 2008, took the Exam and passed. This was simple because of the above hard work. Yes, everything helped me but I felt like I over studied.
-- The exam was really like one of the Rita’s full test and mostly similar to her questions but not the same questions and NOT anywhere close to her Super PMP which I feel so hard.
Now it is your turn. All the Best!
Some useful links:
http://ajithn.com/
http://www.pmpexamguide.com/
http://www.pmhub.net/
http://projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/
http://zo-d.com/blog/archives/taking-the-pmp-exam.html
http://www.pmconnection.com/
http://www.flashcardexchange.com/tag/pmi
http://mypmguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/pmbok-ready-reckoner.html
http://www.preparepm.com/
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