PMP Domain #2: Planning

Introduction

In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about the second domain of the PMP exam: Planning. Planning covers 24% of  the PMP exam, meaning that approximately 42 questions will be employed to test your ability to perform the tasks needed to plan a project or a phase of a project.

Planning involves properly defining the scope and objectives of the project and outlining the course of action to follow in order to achieve those objectives. To effectively deliver a project, you need to be able to create and follow a project plan; the project plan is usually a series of specific plans, such as how you’ll manage scope, requirements, schedule, cost, quality, communications, resources, risks, procurement and stakeholders. The project plan is a living document, which means it can be updated or changed when necessary as the project progresses. Ideally, once the scope, time and cost baseline is determined, the project plan should only be changed through the defined change control process. The level of detail required in the project plan and additional planning documents needed depends on the particular project and its needs.

There are 13 tasks within the planning domain. They are:

Task 1: Review and assess detailed project requirements, constraints, and assumptions with stakeholders based on the project charter, lessons learned, and by using requirement gathering techniques in order to establish detailed project deliverables.
Task 2: Develop a scope management plan, based on the approved project scope and using scope management techniques, in order to define, maintain, and manage the scope of the project.
Task 3: Develop the cost management plan based on the project scope, schedule, resources, approved project charter and other information, using estimating techniques, in order to manage project costs.
Task 4: Develop the project schedule based on (Read more...)