Chapter 7. Project Control

Terms you'll need to understand:

• Change control

• Integrated change control

• Control system

• Scope verification

• Gold plating

• Baselining

• Corrective action

• Lessons learned

• Feedback loop

• Variance

• Earned Value Management

• Risk trigger

• Budget at completion

• Estimate at completion

• Earned value

• Planned value

• Actual costs

• Change control board

• Configuration management

• Quality audit

• Pareto chart

• Risk response

• Workaround

Techniques and concepts you'll need to master:

• What factors cause change

• What the purpose of performance reporting is

• How change is approved

• What scope control and the WBS are

• What the difference between scope verification and quality control is

• What the quality control tools are

• How risk response control fits within the overall risk management process

• What "workarounds" are and when they should be used

Project Control Planning is the fourth project management process to execute in the project lifecycle. Project Control Planning comprises eight of the 39 PMBOK processes. Although the exam questions regarding the Controlling processes tend to be straightforward, and many project managers have considerable experience performing these activities, this is a subject area not to be taken lightly. The techniques and terms utilized in real-life project controls risk management and scope change are not always consistent with PMI's methodology and are used to varying degrees within projects. To streamline your exam preparations, we will focus on the "gotta-know" concepts and terms that are important to PMI and the "common" gaps between exam questions related to the core Project Management processes.