1)List and briefly describe the three project quality management processes. Quality Planning: Identify which quality standards are relevant to project & how to satisfy. Quality Assurance: periodically evaluate overall project performance to ensure it will satisfy quality standards. Quality Control: monitoring project results to ensure they comply with standards & Identify ways to improve overall quality.

2) What are the three main outcomes of quality control 2) What are the three main outcomes of quality control? Briefly describe each. Acceptance Decisions: determine if products or services produced as part of project will be accepted or rejected. Rework: is action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements. Process Adjustments: correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements.

3) What are the five phases in the DMAIC process 3) What are the five phases in the DMAIC process? Briefly describe each one. Define: define the problem/opportunity, process, & customer requirements. Measure: Define measures, then collect, compile, & display data. Analyze: Scrutinize process details to find improvement opportunities. Improve: Generate solutions & ideas for improving the problem. Control: Track & verify the stability of the improvements & predictability of the solution.

4) Describe the relationship between Six Sigma and Statistics 4) Describe the relationship between Six Sigma and Statistics. What statistical concepts are involved in the Six Sigma philosophy? The term sigma means standard deviation, which measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data. Standard and normal distribution

5) What are the five major cost categories related to quality 5) What are the five major cost categories related to quality? Briefly describe each category. Prevention cost: cost of planning & executing a project so it is error free or in acceptable error range. Appraisal cost: cost of evaluating processes & their outputs to ensure that a project is error free or within acceptable error range. Internal Failure Cost: A cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product. External Failure Cost: A cost that relates to all errors not detected & not corrected before delivery to customer. Measurement & Test Equipment Costs: The capital cost of equipment used to perform prevention & appraisal activities.

6) List and briefly describe the four processes involved in Human resource management. Human Resource Planning: Involves identifying & documenting project roles, responsibilities, & reporting relationships. Acquiring the Project Team: involves getting the needed personnel assigned to & working on the project. Developing the Project Team: Involves building individual & group skills to enhance project performance. Managing the Project Team: Involves tracking team member performance, motivating team members, providing feedback, resolving issues & conflicts, & coordinating changes to enhance project performance

7) Describe Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. How does it relate to information technology projects? Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that people’s behaviors are guided or motivated by a sequence of needs. Bottom 4 needs – physiological, safety, social, & esteem – are deficiency needs & self-actualization is a growth need. Most people working on an IT project will probably have their basic physiological & safety needs met.

8) What are the five main types of power? Briefly describe each type. Coercive: involves using punishment, threats, or other negative approaches to get people to do things they don’t want to do. Legitimate: getting people to do things based on a position of authority. Expert: involves using personal knowledge & expertise to get people to change their behavior. Reward: using incentives to induce people to do things. Referent: based on an individual’s personal charisma.

9) What is a staff management plan? Describes when & how people will be added to & taken off the project team.

10) What are the five stages of the Tuckman model 10) What are the five stages of the Tuckman model? Briefly describe each stage. Forming: involves introduction of team members. Storming: team members have different opinions as to how team should operate. Norming: achieved when team members have developed a common working method, & cooperation & collaboration replace the conflict of previous stage. Performing: when emphasis is on reaching team goals, rather than team processes.. Adjourning: the breakup of the team after they complete the work.

11) What are four main processes in project communications management 11) What are four main processes in project communications management? Briefly describe each process. Communications Planning: determining the information & communications needs of the stakeholders. Information Distribution: making needed information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner. Performance Reporting: collecting & disseminating performance information. Managing Stakeholders: managing communications to satisfy the needs & expectations of stakeholders & to resolve issues.

12) Describe the concepts of informal methods for distributing information. How do they compare to formal methods for distributing information?

13) How do you determine the number of communications channels 13) How do you determine the number of communications channels? How does the number of people involved in a project affect this value? How can project managers control this value? The number of communications channels can be calculated as: Number of communications channels=n(n-1)/2 where n is the number of people involved. The more people the more channels. Project managers should try to limit the size of teams to avoid making communications too complex.

14) What is performance reporting 14) What is performance reporting? What are some methods used for performance reporting? Performance Reporting: keeps stakeholders informed about how resources are being used to achieve project objectives. Status Reports: describe where the project stands at a specific point in time. Progress Reports: Describe what the project team has accomplished during a certain period. Forecasts: predict future project status & progress based on past information & trends.

15) List and briefly describe Blake and Mouton's five basic modes for handling conflicts. Which mode(s) are most commonly used by project managers? Confrontation: Directly face a conflict using a problem solving approach. Compromise: use a give & take approach to resolving conflicts. Smoothing: de-emphasize or avoid areas of differences & emphasizes areas of agreement. Forcing: can be viewed as the win-lose approach to conflict resolution. Withdrawal: retreat or withdraw from an actual or potential conflict. Confrontation is most commonly used by PM’s.

16) List and briefly describe the six major processes involved in risk management. Risk Management Planning: deciding how to approach & plan risk management activities for project. Risk Identification: determine which risks are likely to affect a project & document characteristics of each. Qualitative Risk Analysis: prioritize risks based on their probability & impact. Quantitative Risk Analysis: numerically estimate the effects of risks on project objectives. Risk Response Planning: taking steps to enhance opportunities & reduce threats to meeting project objectives. Risk Monitoring & Control: monitor identified & residual risks, identify new risks, carry out risk response plans, & evaluate effectiveness of risk strategies for the life of the project.

17) List and describe four methods for identifying risks

18) Describe Decision Trees and Expected Monetary Value. Decision Tree: a diagramming analysis technique used to help select the best course of action when future outcomes are uncertain. Expected Monetary Value: is the product of a risk event probability & the risk event’s monetary value.

19) What are the basic steps in performing a Monte Carlo analysis? Monte Carlo analysis basic steps: Access range of variables being considered. Determine the probability distribution of each variable. For each variable select a random value based on the probability distribution for the occurrence of the variable. Run a deterministic analysis or one pass through the model using the combination of values selected for each variable. Repeat steps 3 & 4 many times to obtain the probability distribution of the model’s results.

20) What are the four basic response strategies for negative risks 20) What are the four basic response strategies for negative risks? Describe each strategy. Risk Avoidance: eliminating a specific threat. Risk Acceptance: Accepting the consequences should a risk occur. Risk Transference: shifting the consequence of a risk & responsibility for its management to a 3rd party. Risk Mitigation: reducing the impact of a risk event by reducing the probability of its occurrence.