Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Exam Prep

Full overview

ProTrain is proud to have Darrel Erickson as its subject matter expert/instructor for all project management related courses. Darrel is an Associate Faculty member for the University of Phoenix, Hawaii Campus in the College of Information Systems and Technology. His areas of teaching expertise include Analysis and Communication, as well as teaching various courses in IS&T, Project Management, Technical Writing, and work in the School of Business, Operations Management and Project Management at the Graduate level. Darrel continues to teach both classroom and online Management courses for Wayland Baptist University. Additionally, he consults and provides services to organizations as they assess and implement technology projects. He is also an active member of Project Management International (PMI) Honolulu Chapter and volunteer in their Professional Development Committee and PMP Exam Prep course. Trained in formal Project Management in Undergrad and Graduate studies in Project Management, with military program and project experience, Darrel obtained certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) in 2005. He holds a Master of Science Degree (Technology Management) and a Bachelor of Science (Management Studies) from the University of Maryland (UMUC).

This course prepares the student to take the Project Management Institute (PMI) Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification exam.

This lesson will provide students with an overview of the Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide (PMBOK® Guide) Seventh Edition (7e) and PMI’s Agile Practice Guide (APG), as well as a course overview of assigned readings, slide presentations, drill activity, practice activity, quiz, and final test. Students will start with readings on core concepts from the Agile Practice Guide in this lesson. These core concepts are basic to an understanding of the contemporary project methodology that is usually applied in the field of project management.

This lesson will cover core concepts, relationships among Portfolio Management, Program Management, Project Management, and Organizational Project Management. In addition, we will derive some insight from the various roles in the project environment with both predictive and adaptive methodologies. Key concept is selecting the correct project approach from either an adaptive/agile approach or a predictive/waterfall approach. This course uses the terms methodology or approach interchangeably. How an organization chooses to bound or manage projects is a good indicator of future success - or better said - it’s an organization’s “system for value delivery.”

If you are building a career in management, you will need to prepare for increased responsibility and authority. Your career is in focus here. Examining how you can build your personal competency can start right here by learning these and examining your own by an assessment of your individual skill. A wise saying, “accentuate your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.”

This lesson will cover Performance Domains 1 – 3. These are the first three of the eight performance domains. The projects performance is the point, which is not separate from organizational performance, in that the project goal is to build upon an organizations value delivery capability or the components which lead to the advancement of business or services provided.

This lesson will cover Performance Domains 4-5: the Planning Performance Domain (2.4) and the Project Work Performance Domain (2.5).The projects planning and work performance covered in our reading, paying particular attention to the planning performance domain as it will be our activity and represents a significant level of information that if mastered will help you with test questions and answer identification.

This lesson will cover Performance Domains 6-7: The delivery Performance Domain (2.6) and the measurement Performance Domain (2.7).The project’s execution includes this lesson’s domain focus areas to deliver results, measure performance, and deal with the inevitable uncertainty. Project team and leadership engagement in the various activities and competencies in this lesson are determinative to e projects success. Many focus items in this lesson are not only core project principles but also focus areas for the CAPM exam preparation.

This lesson covers the Performance Domain (2.8): Uncertainty. The lesson also covers selected readings in GUIDE chapter 3 covering an introduction to the topic of Tailoring. The sub-topic of Risk will also be covered in this lesson.

Every organization will make decisions on employment of various Models, Methods, and Artifacts (MMAs). While MMAs all fall into the approach (methodology) chosen and discussed in many of the previous lessons, MMAs are a roster or slate of players and tactics to be employed in a particular portfolio or project. MMAs are found in PMBOK Guide 7e, Chapter 4; Models, Methods, & Artifacts pp. 153-195. Readings in the APG will introduce the concepts of lean framework and its own MMAs (while not necessarily listed as MMAs.) Understand all possible MMAs are not covered in the PMBOK Guide, and it may not be possible to implement all that are covered fully. Because the Guide introduces them, we will cover them.

This lesson wraps up the coverage of core and CAPM prep topics with a focus on Agile team requisites that of the Sponsor, Product, and Agile Team composition. While Glossary is assigned, students can choose to review it to a level they require, which is based on each one’s own confidence level. This lesson will cover core concepts and with additional coverage of the division between the adaptive and predictive projects. The glossary is not assigned to read per se but to use as a resource to improve vocabulary of projects. Study tip would be to tag those acronyms and terms you think most important and study them your way. Add them to the slide set is one way to drill on them.

This course prepares the student to take the Project Management Institute (PMI) Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification exam.

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