planning package a work breakdown structure component below the control account with known work content but without detailed scheduled activities so a planning package is something that is created during the planning process to identify the work that's needed to be done but yet we don't have the ability to schedule because maybe we're missing some information so it allows us to put an earmark inside of our planning documents so we can set money aside our time or ask for resources with the understanding with management that we just can't schedule it quite yet so it's just a planning package earmarked work package the work defined at the lowest level of the work breakdown structure for which cost and duration are estimated and managed think of this the work package is the culmination of the planning of all the work for that specific area that must be done for example if you're installing a fence a work package may be installing the post so the work package would describe all the activities needed to install the post for that particular specific work installing the pickets on the fence will be a different work package because it's a different resource and different skill set so work package is that lowest level just installing one component scope Baseline the approved version of a scope statement work breakdown structure and its Associated work breakdown structure dictionary that can be changed using formal Change Control procedures only and is used as a basis for comparing actual results to what you had planned to do so the scope Baseline is basically an understanding of what the project is going to deliver what are the things the project is going to deliver now don't confuse that for the schedule baseline or the cost Baseline those two things measure when the scope will be delivered and cost is how much is the scope going to be when I deliver it user stories short descriptions of required functionality told from the user's point of view think of this as the description of how the user is going to use it when they finally receive it this is a very good tool used to collect requirements so if the user can tell you how they're going to use it then we can translate that into how we're going to build it foreign plan this is a component of the project or program management plan that establishes the criteria and activities for developing monitoring and controlling the schedule it's the document that says how we're going to manage schedule not what the schedule is the schedule's the schedule this is the plan on how we're going to manage track and report on schedule progress project activity a distinct scheduled portion of work performed during a project basically it's just something we're going to do along the timeline of our project it's a project activity a feature a set of related requirements that allows the user to satisfy a business subjective or a need a feature is an artifact or something that the item must do a feature an epic is a very large collection of user stories epics can be spread across many Sprints but think of an epic as the large Viewpoint of how many users are going to be using the item so if you're developing a software tool and you've got a user story for a little tiny piece of it over here and then you get another user story for another tiny piece over there and then another user story for a tiny piece over there and epic puts them all together for one useful tool milestones a significant point or event in a project program or portfolio think of a milestone as something that is done at the very end of a series of activities for example obtaining your PMP certification is a milestone but all the steps prior to getting your PMP such as getting your application such as paying for the course such as studying such as the practice test all those are events leading to the milestone of getting certified activity dependency a logical relationship that exists between two project activities the idea that you must preheat the oven before you bake the cookies is an example of an activity dependency get chart this is a bar chart of scheduled information where activities are listed on on a vertical axis dates are shown on a horizontal axis and the activity durations are shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates basically it's a it's a doggone schedule folks don't don't get too too scared here basically it's a schedule you've been using them your whole life it shows from point A all the way to point triple Z all the activities along the way and by the way on the exam they're not going to show you an example of a Gantt chart and have you tell you tell them whether you're on schedule or not at least not not yet go path method this is using estimates where we estimate the minimum project duration and determines the amount of schedule flexibility on The Logical network path within the schedule model so basically the critical path method is looking at your entire schedule and finding what path goes through your schedule that happens to be the longest path and the ability to subsume all the smaller paths inside that long path for example let's say you're baking cookies and it takes 45 minutes from start to finish but along the way you've got you've got things that you can do in conjunction while the cookies are baking for example you could be mixing up the ingredients while the oven is preheating then you could be washing dishes while the cookies are are being baked so the critical path is the path that takes the longest to complete which is probably going to be mixing the ingredients preheating the oven and baking the cookies because those three things must be done in that order to some degree and so the critical path is the longest path along that Network critical path activity is an activity on that critical path inside the project schedule so the most critical item of the cookie example that we just talked about is likely going to be preheating the oven let's say or maybe even baking the cookies those two things are going to be on the same path because you have to have it in in that order so an activity is in a critical like path activity is something on that path doing dishes which is something that could be done outside of that critical path is not an example of something on the critical path activity but the preheating the oven and the bacon the cookies would absolutely be a critical path activity cost Baseline this is the approved version of the time phase project budget excluding management Reserves I don't know why PMI makes this any more confusing than it needs to be cost based on it simply how much money you need to do your project and don't forget the and part contingency reserves for risk that you predicted that may not happen so again cost Baseline is the money you need for your project and extra money for risk that you believe you need in case certain risks pop up please remember that these risks must be pre-identified because if they're not pre-identified they're not contingency reserves those are management reserves and if you look at the definition here management reserves are not part of the cost Baseline funding limit reconciliation the process of comparing the planned expenditure of project funds against any limits on the commitment of funds for the project to identify any variances between the funding limits and the Planned expenditures this is a great example of how PMI just over complicates things a funding limit reconciliation is simply looking at how much money you spend compared to how much money you said you were going to spend and ensuring that you don't spend money you don't have that's what it means and by the way sometimes we need to reschedule to allow another drop of money let's say next next month's budget before we buy this month's requirements so sometimes funding limit reconciliations requires us to reschedule events quality the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill the requirements the requirements come from scope however quality defines how good the scope must be so if all you need is to go to lunch because you don't want to dive before dinner of starvation that is then a peanut butter and jelly sandwich might work fine the quality of that one doesn't matter but if your lunch was something like let's say a business interview then the quality of lunch would likely bump up a couple notches to include a restaurant or something like that because the requirement is different it's not just eating to survive it's eating for a meeting so if it's if you're if you're eating from eating then quality would probably be higher quality management plan this is a component of the master plan or the project management plan that describes how applicable policies procedures and guidelines will be implemented to achieve quality objectives the quality management plan outlines how we as a team are going to manage quality on the project for example are we going to have inspectors are we going to request Auditors are we going to have quality meetings every week that kind of quality management planning goes inside the quality management plan quality audit a structured independent that means outside organization independent process to determine if the project activities comply with organizational project policies processes and procedures think of the IRS being an independent review of how you filed your taxes they don't work for you they're not in your family they have to be outside looking at the process now quality inspections which you'll see later and inspections are are us they are internal and audit is external looking at processes and inspections are internal looking at deliverables statement of work otherwise known as a sound this is a narrative description of products services or results to be delivered by the project I have Lawn Service here in my home because I travel too much and the statement of work describes all the things they do while I'm on the road I would say that I'm going to cut the grass I'm going to weed it I'm going to blow the trimmings off the sidewalk I'm going to do weed control in the flower beds I'm going to trim the bushes all that statement of work is described in the original contract that I approved when I chose that vendor procurement management plan this is a component of the project or program management plan that describes how a project team will acquire goods and services from outside the Performing organization when you hear the word procurement on the exam I want you to think procurement means outside the organization I'm going to go purchase something from outside when you think of resources on the team I want you to think of internal resources so there's there's a Nuance there resources mean the organization already own it procurement means that the organization has to go get it so this is the way procurement management plan is the way we're going to manage those procurements who's going to sign off who's going to approve the vendor's work who's going to deliver it who's going to accept delivery that kind of stuff is inside of the procurement management plan