APM - PFQ: Project Management Fundamentals

This module is the first of two modules covering project management in more detail. This module will cover project management planning including scope management and scheduling and resource management.

The business case is used to gain funding for the project based upon demonstrating the overall viability of the project and its fit with the corporate strategy.

The business case is created in outline during the concept phase detailed during the definition phase. The business case is then maintained throughout the project and it’s on-going use ensures the project remains viable and in line with organizational requirements.

While the project manager normally authors and maintains the business case, the business case is ‘owned’ by the sponsor.

Organisational roles are the roles performed by individuals or groups in a project. Both roles and responsibilities within projects must be defined to address the transient and unique nature of projects and to ensure that clear accountabilities can be assigned. These roles include the project manager, project sponsor, project steering group/board, project team members, project office and end users. 

The success or failure of projects is often determined by the choice of project sponsor. The project manager cannot operate in isolation and needs senior commitment and support to help them deliver the project’s requirements. 

The project management plan brings together all the plans for a project.

The purpose of the project management plan is to document the outcomes of the planning process and to provide the reference document for managing the project. The project management plan is developed and owned by the project manager and approved by the project sponsor. The PMP is intended to be read by any legitimate stakeholder.

The Project Management Plan is the primary tool for Stakeholder communication and will enable stakeholders to understand the bigger picture of the project and the part they play in it.

This is the first of three lessons covering project scope. This introductory lesson explains what scope is, the following two lessons will explain how to identify the project scope.

Scope is defined as the sum of work content that needs to be done in order to achieve the project objectives and meet the success criteria

Product Breakdown Structures take the end product of the project and break it down into its component parts. It is important to consider what we will be delivering before we think about how we will deliver it. If we do not do it this way, we will end up with the wrong result.

Once we have identified the products, we identify the tasks needed to produce them. This is called a work breakdown structure.

The Cost Breakdown Structure is used to identify the different types of cost which will be incurred by the project. Using a Cost Breakdown Structure helps to ensure all costs which are attributable to the project are considered which helps to ensure that estimates are made on a sound basis.

The Responsibility Assignment Matrix is used to allocate to work identified in the Work Breakdown Structure to the Organizational Breakdown Structure.

This is commonly shown as a RACI (pronounced racey) diagram. R indicates that the person is responsible for doing the task, A indicates that the role is accountable for the task, C indicates that the person needs to be consulted and I indicate that the person will just be kept informed without any input.

Scheduling is the process used to determine the overall project duration and when activities and events are planned to happen. This includes identification of activities and their logical dependencies, and estimation of activity durations, taking into account requirements and availability of resources.

This lesson looks at the first step in scheduling - that is to produce the activity network. 

The Gantt Chart shows activities against time and is a good visual representation of the schedule of work. The start point in creating the Gantt Chart is the activity network.

Once the schedule has been produced it is baselined which provides a reference against which the project is monitored and controlled.

Milestones are key events where the sponsor is likely to want to be aware of progress. This helps the sponsor focus on the big picture rather than the detail. Milestones are also often used to identify points at which stage payments will be made to suppliers, this payment being made once the milestone has been achieved.

Resource Management identifies and assigns resources to activities so that the project is undertaken using appropriate levels of resources and within an acceptable duration.

Resources are not just the people needed to undertake the work. Other resources will also be needed.

A resource histogram is used to plot the number of resources we need over time.

Projects are typically either time-constrained or resource-constrained.

Time-constrained projects must complete at a specified time whereas resource-constrained projects have a limit as to the number of resources that can be allocated.

An estimate is an approximation of project time and cost targets. Estimates need to be refined throughout the project life cycle to ensure they reflect the current reality based on experience gained so far.

The estimating funnel represents the increasing levels of estimating accuracy that can be achieved through the phases of the lifecycle.

Estimating uses a range of tools and techniques to produce estimates. These include comparative, parametric and analytical estimating.

This brings you to the end of this module, Please take time to reflect on and consolidate your learning:

• Consider whether you have met the module learning objectives, you may repeat any or all of the lessons
• If you are confident that you have met these objectives, review the module tasks (accessible under resources)
• Review and act on the feedback from the module test.
• Progress to the next module in your learning.

This module is the second of two modules covering project management in more detail. This module will cover project management control including risk and quality management, change control, information management and people management.

Project risk management is a process that allows individual risk events and overall risk to be understood and managed proactively, optimising success by minimising threats and maximising opportunities.

Information about risks are entered and maintained on a risk register.

Project quality management is a discipline for ensuring that outputs, benefits and the processes by which the outputs are delivered meet stakeholder needs and are fit for purpose. Quality is broadly defined as fitness for purpose or more narrowly as the degree of conformance of the outputs and process.

Quality Planning is about making sure we can deliver products from the project which are fit for purpose.

Quality Assurance is about making sure that processes for quality are in place and being used effectively.

Quality Control is about making sure the individual products are fit for purpose.

Continual Improvement is about using our experiences to improve the
quality we deliver in future projects. 

Change control is the process that ensures that all changes made to a project’s baselined scope, time, cost and quality objectives or agreed benefits are identified, evaluated, approved, rejected or deferred.

In order to maintain control, the agreed change control process must be adhered to by everyone including the sponsor, steering group, users and team members.

In order to achieve an effective change control system, we must have a change request form to capture information about any proposed change, a report explaining the result of the analysis of the change and a log or register to ensure the status of all changes is documented and understood.

Issue management is the process by which concerns that threaten the project objectives and cannot be resolved by the project manager are identified and addressed to remove the threats they pose. Issues are escalated to the project sponsor.

An issue occurs when the project manager predicts project tolerances may
be exceeded, without intervention. 

Configuration management encompasses the administrative activities concerned with the creation, maintenance, controlled change and quality control of the scope of work.

A product, whether it is a physical thing such as a motor car or something less tangible such as software, is made up of many inter-related components. These include documents such as specifications, designs and plans as well as deliverable components.

The totality of items, the car parts and the manuals etc. is known as the Configuration.

As a product is developed it will undergo addition and change.  Changes to one configuration item may impact
others, it is therefore necessary to control and manage these inter-related
effects. This is the purpose of Configuration Management. 

Information management is the collection, storage, dissemination, archiving and appropriate destruction of project information. It enables teams and stakeholders to use their time, resource and expertise effectively to make decisions and to fulfil their roles.

The information management plan will define the reporting requirements which will support decision-making through the project management hierarchy.

The required controls will be agreed at each level, together with the content and frequency of reports. 

Communication is the means by which information or instructions are exchanged. Successful communication occurs when the received meaning is the same as the transmitted meaning.

There are many channels of communication available to us. These range from the more personal styles such as meetings, telephone, presentations to the more impersonal such as newsletter, contracts and internet. 

The project communication plan is derived from the stakeholder analysis. We start work on the communication plan during the concept phase then build on this during definition.

Procurement is the process by which products and services are acquired from an external provider for incorporation into the project. It includes development of the procurement strategy, preparation of contracts, selection and acquisition of suppliers, and management of the contracts.

Many projects will make use of external providers and we need to make sure the most appropriate providers are selected to deliver the required products and services for our projects. 

Teamwork is a group of people working in collaboration or by cooperation towards a common goal.

Effective team working develops over time. During that period a lot of learning and development takes place and the team collectively goes through a number of developmental phases, classically referred to by Tuckman as Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Some people add a fifth step – adjourning. 

Leadership is the ability to establish vision and direction, to influence and align others towards a common purpose, and to empower and inspire people to achieve project success. It enables the project to proceed in an environment of change and uncertainty.

It is important that the sponsor, project manager and team leaders all demonstrate good leadership if the project is to deliver successfully. 

This brings you to the end of this module, Please take time to reflect on and consolidate your learning:

• Consider whether you have met the module learning objectives, you may repeat any or all of the lessons (accessible under the Lesson List on the Navigation Bar).  

• If you are confident that you have met these objectives, review the module tasks (accessible under the Support Materials on the Navigation Bar)     

• Progress to the next module in your learning.

This module explains the format of the APM Project Fundamentals qualification. 

There are various qualifications available for APM. These are –

• Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ)
• Project Management Qualification (PMQ)
• Project Professional Qualification (PPQ)

More information can be found about the qualifications at the following web site: http://www.apm.org.uk/APMQualifications

The PFQ exam consists of classic multiple-choice style questions. You need to identify the correct answer from a choice of four answers. It is important to know that there will only ever be one correct answer for each exam question.  

It is advisable to approach the exam by going through the exam paper three times.

Your first run through the exam paper should be to answer the questions that you know the answer instantly. Do not worry if you feel that you are missing a number of questions. You will find that when you return to these questions on your second run, many will appear easier.

Your second run should be to answer the questions that require more thought. By now, any nerves that you were feeling should have reduced, and you should now be able to more confidently analyse the question and use your knowledge to identify the answer.

Your final run through the exam paper will be to complete the questions that you have not answered. These are likely to be the lengthy worded questions, or a negative question. Use a process of elimination approach to give yourself a better opportunity of marking the correct answer. If the question asks which statement is false, look to eliminate the answers have true statements in order to break the question down.

We hope that your use of these materials has prepared you well for your certification and future project management career.

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