PgMP® Certification

Complete Reference
Version 1

Dharam Singh, PgMP®, PMP® Authored By:

vCare Project Management  Dharam Singh, PgMP®, PMP®
www.VCareProjectManagement.com.au
Phone +61422418076  Anup Kumar, PgMP®, PMP®
 Rajat Arora, PgMP®, PMP®
"PMI", the PMI logo, "PMBOK", "PgMP", "PMP", the PMP logo, and "CAPM" are marks or
registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. in the United States and/or other nations
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 Course Goal

The course goal is to provide the

necessary information &
knowledge to the candidates
about all the 3 stages of the
PgMP® evaluation process
which are needed to obtain the
PgMP® credential successfully

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 About The Author

Dharam Singh PMP® PgMP®

Managing Director
vCare Project Management Pty Ltd.

Dharam is a Project and Program Management professional with over 19 years

experience in the IT, Telco, Government, Banking and Insurance industries
He has successful track record in managing large teams in a strongly customer focused
service environment and delivering complex and multiple multi-million dollar projects.
He has conducted numerous PgMP Bootcamps around the world. So far he has trained
more than 50 PgMP aspirants. He has been teaching, coaching and mentoring aspiring
PgMPs and PMPs since 2008. He is former Certification Director for Project
Management Institute (PMI) Sydney.
He has received his PMP® & PgMP® certifications in the year 2004 & 2010 respectively.

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 About The Author

ANUP KUMAR S PMP® PgMP®

Anup has extensive experience in IT industry since 2000 in managing various

Information Technology Projects & Programs for Multi National Banks like Standard
Chartered Bank, HSBC Bank, Barclays, Western Union within India, Qatar & UK.
He managed implementing high critical applications like Anti-Money laundering,
Implement IT-Security Policies & Procedures. ISO 27001-2005 implementation,
CMMI Level 5 implementation, Develop PMO & implement PMI best practices across
the organization through PMO initiatives etc. for various banks & financial institution
across the globe.
Received PMP® & PgMP® certifications in the year 2010 & 2012 respectively.

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 About The Author

Rajat Arora PMP® PgMP®

Rajat is Graduate in Engineering , an MBA from Premier Indian Institute and

possesses good experience in IT/Telecom space since 1998. He has managed
several strategic Program/Projects across industry verticals involving multiple time
zones and cultures
He is very active in imparting knowledge & experience for Project & Program
Certifications. Received PMP® & PgMP® certifications in the year 2008 & 2011
respectively.

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 PgMP® Framework

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 Purpose of strategic plan

• The purpose of strategic planning is to set overall goals

for your program and to develop a plan to achieve them.
• The key components of 'strategic program management’
includes an understanding and development of the
program vision, mission, values and strategies. The vision
and mission are often captured in a Vision Statement
and Mission Statement.

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 Elements to Strategic Planning
1. Communication Strategy - determine who will be
involved in the planning process, how will they be
involved and what is being communicated to whom
on the staff.
2. Strategic Planning Task Force - team of
organizational leaders develop effective creation of a
strategic plan.
3. Vision Statement –roadmap for the future. The
direction of the organization should be broad to
include all areas of impact but narrow enough to
clearly define a path.
4. Mission Statement – an organization’s mission is a
definition of whom and what they are. Often mission
statements include core goals and values of the
organization.

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 Elements to Strategic Planning…

5. Values
 organization’s fundamental beliefs in how they operate.
 provide a guideline for management and staff for
acceptable organizational behavior.
 relate to the organization’s organizational culture.
6. Goals –broad based strategies needed to achieve
organization’s mission.
7. Objectives – objectives are specific, measurable, action
oriented, realistic and time bound strategies that achieve
the organization’s goals and vision.
8. Tasks – tasks are specific actionable events that are
assigned to individuals/departments to achieve. Should
be specific, measurable and time bound.

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 Program Selection Methods

• Benefits Cost Ratio (BCR) – Is the ratio of benefits to costs.

Ratio >1 – benefits are greater than costs
• Economic Value Add (EVA) – How much wealth created for
its stakeholders
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR) – shows returns as interest
rate
• Present Value (PV)– How much the project worth right now
• Net Present Value (NPV) - Same as Present Value, also
factor cost. The bigger is better
• Opportunity Cost – Cost of opportunities, if we invest in
this program. Smaller is better
• Payback Period - How long will it take to recover the cost?
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 Program / Project Selection Methods Cont...

• Return On Investment (ROI) - % of shows what return it will

make by investing in this program. Bigger is better
ROI = (Profit– Cost)
Cost
Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) - For every $ I invest what will
be the return
ROIC = Net Income (after tax)
Total Capital invested

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 Program Road Map

• A Program Road Map provides a coordinated picture

of the various parts of an overall development of
program such that the diverse and dispersed efforts
can be seen as part of the whole and can be justified
as such. Monitoring of progress against the overall
objectives is possible.
 Chronological representation of the program’s intended direction
 Shows interdependencies between major milestones
 Summarizes end-point objectives
 A valuable tool to manage program execution
 Shows organization of components
 Communicates high-level scope
 Bridges program activities and expected benefits

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 Benefit optimization
• Once the "Benefits Realization Plan" is prepared, the Program
manager would continuously look for other alternatives to exploit /
enhance the possible opportunities available internally / externally in
the Program to realize the planned benefits in more smarter / better
efficient ways.
• "Benefits Optimization" not necessarily increasing more benefits. The
planned benefits depict how efficiently it can be realized by the
possible alternative means.
• Examples:
1. Making some changes in schedule to reduce the timelines for the critical path
activity so that the intended benefit can be achieved 1 month earlier than the
earlier schedule
2. Adopting a new technology which can provide 30% performance improvement
than the type of IT infrastructure which was planned in the Program Management
Plan a year ago.

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 Business value measurement

• Value Management identifies and tracks the

realization of benefits for the client and
organization.
• Program benefits may include enhanced efficiency,
economy, and effectiveness of future operations.
• The purpose of this procedure is to define the
benefit tracking procedures that will be used to
allow the program to effectively identify, manage
and achieve all program benefits.

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 Important Definitions

Project • A temporary endeavor undertaken to

create a unique product, service, or result

• A group of projects managed in a

Program coordinated way to obtain benefits and
control not available from managing them
individually

• A collection of projects and/or programs

Portfolio and other work grouped together to
facilitate effective management of that
work to meet strategic business objectives

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 Important Definitions…

Project •Project management is the application of

knowledge, tools, skills and techniques to project
Management activities to meet the project requirements.

•Program management is the centralized

coordinated management of a program to achieve
Program the program’s strategic objective and benefits and
Management involves aligning multiple projects to achieve the
program goals and allows for optimized or
integrated cost, schedule and effort.

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 Program Manager Knowledge and Skills

People management

Leadership

Political

Communications

Technical Knowledge

Environmental Awareness

Strategic Visioning

Program Management

Time Management

Organizational

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 INITIATE PROGRAM (4.1)

Tools and Techniques

1. Expert judgment
2. Feasibility studies
3. Comparative
Inputs advantage analysis
1. Strategic directive 4. Cost/ benefit analysis
2. Business case Outputs
3. Existing 1. Assignment of
organization program
structures and manager
policies 2. Program
INITIATE PROGRAM
4. Existing charter
(4.1)
organizational 3. Business case
work updates
5. Existing 4. Program
components roadmap
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 Expected Monetary Value

Decision Trees
Given the following decision tree:
Value EMV
250 k 150 k
60%
aggressive Choice $110,000
event 40% -100 k - 40 k
Choice
event - 45 k -9 k
Choice 20%
conservative event
$7,000
80% 20 k 16 k

Aggressive schedule EMV = $110,000

Conservative schedule EMV = $7,000
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 What is Program Governance?

 Governance for programs is different

than governance for most projects,
because the scope and impact of a
program is typically complex.
 Examples of factors contributing to
this complexity are:
 Multi-year timelines
 Competition between projects for
scarce resources
 Diverse stakeholder requirements
 Inter-project and enterprise-level
risks and issues.

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 Governance Roles & Responsibilities

 By answering the following questions, the overall

roles and responsibilities for a program Governance
can be identified and described:
 What is the composition of the program board?
 What is the frequency of meetings?
 How are issues escalated to the board?
 How does the board communicate its decisions?
 What is the role and responsibility of the program
executive sponsor and constituent sponsors?
 What are the roles and responsibilities of the
program director and constituent component
owners?

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 Sample Stakeholder Matrix

Program Interest Internal / External to

S:No: Name Role / Designation Responsibilities / Objective Positive / Negative the Organization Influence Communication Strategy

Financing the Program

Provide Program resources
Responsible for Overall program Regular Program briefing,
benefits Strategy / Meetings, Status reports, emails,
1 Victor Program Sponsor Investment decision Positive Internal Prioritization calls

Defining the direction of the Regular Program briefing,

Program Strategy / Meetings, Status reports, emails,
2 Tom Senior Manager Investment decision Positive Internal Prioritization calls

Regular Project briefing, Meetings,

3 Sandra Project Manager Deliver Project benefits Positive Internal Delivering benefits Status reports, emails, calls

Provide necessary Technology

resource to the Program,
IT Infrastructure support, maintain the IT Technology & IT
4 Harry Manager resources Positive Internal solution, support Meetings, Emails, Phone calls
Provide Program Human
5 Laurel Functional Manager resources Positive Internal Resource approvals Meetings, Emails, Phone calls
Program Phase gate briefing,
Governance Go / No-Go decision during Phase gate Meetings, Status reports, emails,
6 Henry Manager phase gate reviews Positive Internal Decisions calls
Regular Program briefing,
Provide support to program & Program Meetings, Status reports, emails,
7 Stephen PMO Manager project team Positive Internal architecture calls

Provide Program requirement &

Governmental set expectation for the overall Overall Program Meetings, Status reports, emails,
8 body Customer Program objective Positive External success or failure calls

Competing Market supply / Only emails by Senior Management

9 ABC Company Organization Not Applicable Negative External demand / Corporate Development
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 PgMP® Mapping
Processes with Domain
Tasks
Version 1

Dharam Singh, PgMP®, PMP® Authored By:

vCare Project Management  Dharam Singh, PgMP®, PMP®
www.VCareProjectManagement.com.au
Phone +61422418076  Anup Kumar, PgMP®, PMP®
 Rajat Arora, PgMP®, PMP®
"PMI", the PMI logo, "PMBOK", "PgMP", "PMP", the PMP logo, and "CAPM" are marks or
registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. in the United States and/or other nations
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 Tasks involved in Strategic Program Management

Domain 1 Task 5
Evaluate the organization’s capability by consulting with
organizational leaders in order to develop, validate, and
assess the program objectives, priority, feasibility, readiness,
and alignment to the organization’s strategic plan.
PROCESS - 4.1 INITIATE PROGRAM

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 Tasks involved in Strategic Program Management

Domain 1 Task 6
Identify organizational benefits for the potential program using
research methods such as market analysis and high-level cost-
benefit analysis in order to develop the preliminary program
scope and define benefits realization plan.
PROCESS - 4.1 INITIATE PROGRAM

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 Tasks involved in Strategic Program Management

Domain 1 Task 8
Evaluate program objectives relative to regulatory and legal
constraints, social impacts, sustainability, cultural
considerations, political climate, and ethical concerns in order
to ensure stakeholder alignment and program deliverability.
PROCESS - 4.1 INITIATE PROGRAM

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 Tasks involved in Strategic Program Management

Domain 1 Task 10
Identify and evaluate integration opportunities and needs (for example,
human capital and human resource requirements and skill sets, facilities,
finance, assets, processes and systems) within program activities and
operational activities in order to align and integrate benefits within or
across the organization.

PROCESS - 4.1 INITIATE PROGRAM

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Tasks involved in Planning the Program (Contd..)

Domain 2 (Sub-domain 2) Task 9

Establish the program management plan and schedule by integrating
plans for constituent projects and creating plans for supporting
program functions (for example, quality, risk, communication,
resources) in order to effectively forecast, monitor, and identify
variances during program execution.
PROCESS – 4.2 DEVELOP PROGRAM MANAGEMENT PLAN &
6.1 DEVELOP PROGRAM SCHEDULE

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PgMP® Question Bank
Version 1

Dharam Singh, PgMP®, PMP® Authored By:

vCare Project Management  Dharam Singh, PgMP®, PMP®
www.VCareProjectManagement.com.au
Phone +61422418076  Anup Kumar, PgMP®, PMP®
 Rajat Arora, PgMP®, PMP®
"PMI", the PMI logo, "PMBOK", "PgMP", "PMP", the PMP logo, and "CAPM" are marks or
registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. in the United States and/or other nations
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 Practice Question 1

You have performed Market analysis & Cost benefit analysis and
shared high level benefits & proposed governance structure to
Steering committee. What is the next step you are likely to consider
to initiate?
a) Document everything in a program charter and get approval and
proceed further in planning
b) Request steering committee approval to initiate the program and
recognize your role as program manager for this program
c) Document all details in the Benefit realization Plan and proceed
to implement those benefits
d) Prepare Program plans based on the information available

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 Practice Question 1 (Answer & Explanation)
You have performed Market analysis & Cost benefit analysis and shared high level
benefits & proposed governance structure to Steering committee. What is the next
step you may consider to initiate?
a) Document everything in a program charter and get approval and proceed further
in planning
b) Request steering committee approval to initiate the program and recognize your
role as program manager for this program
c) Document all details in the Benefit realization Plan and proceed to implement
those benefits
d) Prepare Program plans based on the information which are available

Options "a,c,d" are in-correct choice because the program is not yet initiated.
Option "b" is a perfect choice requesting Steering Committee approval to initiate the
program as a part of the phase gate approval to move to the next stage &
recognizes Program Manager's role & appointment

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 Practice Question 2
During the initiation stage of your program, you present various benefits
that your Program is expected to deliver, to the Steering Committee . One of
the key stakeholder disagrees on one particular benefit and he proposes
another one. What is your response to that?
a) Accept stakeholder's view point and update your plan accordingly
b) Advise that stakeholder how the benefit you proposed meets the
expected organizational objective
c) Advise that stakeholder how the benefit you proposed meets the
expected organizational objective & request him to provide more
clarity about the benefit he proposed
d) Ignore his comment. Your program is going to be signed by sponsor and
he didn’t raise any concern about the stated benefits.

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 Practice Question 2 (Answer & Explanation)
During the initiation stage of your program, you present various benefits
that your Program is expected to deliver, to the Steering Committee . One of
the key stakeholder disagrees on one particular benefit and he proposes
another one. What is your response to that?
a) Accept stakeholder's view point and update your plan accordingly
b) Advise that stakeholder how the benefit you proposed meets the
expected organizational objective
c) Advise that stakeholder how the benefit you proposed meets the
expected organizational objective & request him to provide more
clarity about the benefit he proposed
d) Ignore his comment. Your program is going to be signed by sponsor and
he didn’t raise any concern about the stated benefits.
Options "a & d" are irrelevant
Option "b" is partially correct where as
Option "c" is the perfect choice

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 Practice Questions 3
You are working on Organizational level Process Improvement
Program. Your Sponsor who is also the Senior Manager informed you
that some of your project managers will be reassigned to other
projects. What is your next action?
a) Inform Project Managers about this change and get the resource
commitments
b) Do nothing. Let Program sponsor manages this because he is the
one who initiated it.
c) Inform Project Managers about this change and get consensus
d) Escalate to governance board for further actions

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 Practice Questions 3 (Answer & Explanation)
You are working on Organizational level Process Improvement Program.
Your Sponsor who is also the Senior Manager informed you that some
of your project managers will be reassigned to other projects. What is
your further action?
a) Inform Project Managers about this change and get the resource
commitments
b) Do nothing. Let Program sponsor manages this because he is the
one who initiated it.
c) Inform Project Managers about this change and get consensus
d) Escalate to governance board for further actions
Reference : Option "b" is incorrect choice based on PMI best practice (TIP: In
general "Do Nothing" may not be the correct choice). Option "d" is incorrect
because there is nothing to do with Governance as for as this situation is
concerned. Option "c" is incorrect

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 Practice Questions 4
You have 3 projects within your program. Projects X, Y & Z
• Project Y has high visibility in Management level because its expected to
provide huge monetary benefits once its completed.
• Project Z is not priority can be delayed
• Some of the Project X deliverables need to be completed for Project Y to be
completed
To accelerate Project Y what is your best course of action?
a) Keep project Z on hold and move resources to Y
b) Keep project Z on hold and move resources to X
c) Keep project Z on hold and move resources between projects X & Y
d) Continue with X, Y and Z and follow the change control process

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 Practice Questions 4 (Answer & Explanation)
You have 3 projects within your program. Projects X, Y & Z
• Project Y has high visibility in Management level because its expected to provide huge
monetary benefits once its completed.
• Project Z is not priority can be delayed
• Some of the Project X deliverables need to be completed for Project Y to be completed
To accelerate Project Y what is your best course of action?
a) Keep project Z on hold and move resources to Y
b) Keep project Z on hold and move resources to X
c) Keep project Z on hold and move resources between projects X & Y
d) Continue with X, Y and Z and follow the change control process

• Reference : Options "a,b,c" are incorrect due to the simple reason that those options
don’t support the Change Management Process and those options are very reactive
mode.
• (TIP: Remember there will be such options in the exam where it will be highly tempted
to pick an incorrect choice. But stick to the necessary Process defined by SPM & PMI
way of thinking. Any option which are mentioned in the list which violates the process /
non-PMI method don't pick that option. As simple as that)

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 Practice Questions 5
Most of the projects in your program are facing Quality issues. There
is no standard management processes available across the
Organizational level. What is the likely action you will take?
a) Recruit a Six Sigma Quality Professional and he will play a consultant
role across all projects.
b) Recruit a Schedule Management Professional and let him manage
the Quality Management Plan for all projects within the program
c) Strictly inform all Project managers to follow best practices
recommended in Organizational level
d) Document the Quality issues and update the issue register
accordingly

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 Practice Questions 5 (Answer & Explanation)
Most of the projects in your program are facing Quality issues. There is
no standard management processes available across the
Organizational level. What is the likely action you will take?
a) Recruit a Six Sigma Quality Professional and he will play a consultant
role across all projects.
b) Recruit a Schedule Management Professional and let him manage the
Quality Management Plan for all projects within the program
c) Strictly inform all Project managers to follow best practices
recommended in Organizational level
d) Document the Quality issues and update the issue register accordingly
Reference : Options "c & d" are irrelevant will not save the purpose.
Option "b" is partially correct interims of recruiting a Quality Professional but
expecting him to manage Quality Management Plan for all projects may loose
the purpose because the Primary responsibility of managing Quality for all the
Component Projects will be with Project Managers & the Project teams. Option
"a" is the perfect choice where the Quality Management Professional is
recruited & plays a consultant role across projects within the Program

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 Practice Question 6

You have realized that the Program Manager should have

strong skill sets in Controlling the Program. Which is an
example of "Controlling Program"?
a) Tracking risks & issues on time
b) Monitoring performance of the projects & program
c) Checking the actual & planned and initiate necessary
corrective actions
d) Tracking benefits based on benefits realization plan

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 Practice Question 6 (Answer & Explanation)
You have realized that the Program Manager should have strong skill
sets in Controlling the Program. Which is an example of "Controlling
Program"?
a) Tracking risks & issues on time
b) Monitoring performance of the projects & program
c) Checking the actual & planned and initiate necessary corrective
actions
d) Tracking benefits based on benefits realization plan

Options "a, b &d" are examples of Monitoring.

Option "c" is the Perfect choice because it talks about "Corrective Actions". Any
Preventive / Corrective action as a result of Monitoring can be considered as a
good example of "Controlling"

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 Practice Question 7

You are managing Program ABC and its nearing completion. You have
received mail from one of your key stakeholder that your program is no
longer providing benefit for the organization. How do you respond?
a) Enclose Program charter, business case & Benefits realization report in
the mail and advise him to compare the achieved benefits with these
documents
b) Arrange a meeting with that stakeholder to address the issue
c) Document the issue in issue register
d) Do nothing. Forward the mail to Program sponsor and let him decide

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 Practice Question 7 (Answer & Explanation)
You are managing the Program ABC and its nearing completion. You have received mail
from one of your key stakeholder that your program is no longer providing benefit for the
organization. How do you respond?

a) Enclose Program charter, business case & Benefits realization report in the mail and
advise him to compare the achieved benefits with these documents
b) Arrange a meeting with that stakeholder to address the issue
c) Document the issue in issue register
d) Do nothing. Forward the mail to Program sponsor and let him decide

Option "a" may not fix the underlying issue.

Option "c" may be a good choice if the question asks "what do you do next?"
TIP: Follow the direction of the question very carefully. Slight change in direction may have
huge change in selection of the right option.
Option "d" is irrelevant choice with respect to PMI best practices.
Most closer choice is Option "b"

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 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This publication is a derivative work of The Standard for
Program Management and PMBOK, which are copyrighted
material of and owned by, Project Management Institute,
Inc. (PMI). Unauthorized reproduction of this material is
strictly prohibited. The derivative work is the copyrighted
material of and owned by, VCare Project Management Pty
Ltd, copyright (2012).

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© VCare Project Management Pty Ltd, 2012
Dharam Singh, PgMP, PMP, PRINCE2, ITIL
vCare Project Management Pty Ltd, ABN 28 154 672 269
Mobile: +61 422418076,
Mail to : [email protected]
Web: www.vcareprojectmanagement.com.au

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