Tips to document portfolio management experience for PfMP®

In my previous posts related to Project Management Institute (PMI)’s most recent and coveted Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)® credential. , I have shared 

• What is Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)® Credential?
• My Lessons Learned for (PfMP)® Exam and
• Portfolio Management Knowledge Areas, Process Groups & Processes

and this post is for sharing some tips on how to fill application for PfMP. Note that for obtaining (PfMP)® credential, there are two evaluations that needs to be cleared. 

Evaluation 1—Panel Review: The initial evaluation occurs through an extensive application review during which a panel of portfolio managers will assess your professional experience based on your responses to the Portfolio Management Experience Summaries provided on the application.

Evaluation 2—Multiple-Choice Examination: The next step occurs with the multiple-choice examination in which you will be called upon to demonstrate your competence in both situational and scenario-based questions. 

So its important to fill application with appropriate answers to pass panel review. 

Note that there are lot of folks who actually fail panel review and are given only one more chance to reapply with updated answers 

Following experience summary questions are asked in align with 5 knowledge areas of Portfolio Management (Strategic Management, Governance, Portfolio Performance Management, Portfolio Risk Management and Portfolio Communication Management) and you can select either option A or B for each question to map your answer with

Experience Summary #1: Strategic Alignment
A. Identifying and prioritizing portfolio criteria and evaluating portfolio component priorities based on the organization's strategic goals and objectives
B. Creating and/or updating a high level portfolio roadmap using scenarios that helped the organization to align and operationalize the portfolio in accordance with the organization's strategic goals and objectives

Experience Summary #2: Governance

A. Securing authorization to execute the portfolio through identification and justification of recommendations regarding the portfolio

B. Ensuring effective and efficient portfolio management by implementing and/or optimizing the portfolio management plan including key components applicable to your portfolio 

Experience Summary #3: Portfolio Performance

A. Managing portfolio changes to optimize resource utilization and/or ensure portfolio effectiveness and efficiency
B. Evaluating continuous progress toward the achievement of business or strategic goals through the collection, consolidation, and measurement of portfolio value

Experience Summary #4: Portfolio Risk Management
A. Developing and/or updating the portfolio risk management plan
B. Enabling the organization to capitalize on an opportunity(ies) or manage threat(s) based on portfolio risk management processes, methods, and/or techniques

Experience Summary #5: Communications Management

A. Developing, and/or updating a portfolio communication strategy and plan

B. Engaging stakeholders to set and manage expectations and influence the success of the portfolio

Tips on how to document Portfolio Management Experience Summary

#1. How the Portfolio you managed was aligned with strategic goals of the Organization. Remember that Portfolio is a collection of components (i.e. projects, programs, portfolios and other work such as maintenance and related ongoing operations) that are grouped together to facilitate the effective management of that work in order to meet the strategic business objectives. So need to make sure that when you define your portfolio, it clearly defines components and how they were grouped to align with goals.

#2. Make sure that strategic goals are well defined that are tangible and fits acronym SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time bound)

#3. Use empirical data such as $ (Money and try putting in USD), # (Number like # of years, # of Projects, Programs or Portfolios) or # of direct reports, # of team members, # of projects), % (percentage of increase in efficiency, growth, revenue increase, scalable)

#4. Use more empirical data and less verbiage. Try using more universally known acronyms like Org, SME, PMI, PMP, PgMP, PfMP, others to save on verbiage

#5. Remember that Portfolio is more strategic in nature than projects, programs or operations so include words like strategy, objectives, benefits, org goals, how your portfolio was aligned with the org goals. Do not use words that would reflect 'how' you managed teams because that would be more Project Mgmt. Use words where it mentions more on 'Why/What' of Portfolio and ‘How’ you did governance management to keep it aligned.

#6. Before filling your application make sure to read Pfmp® Handbook and if possible “The Standard for Portfolio Management” to understand how PMI is defining Portfolio and what standards are being suggested to do Portfolio Management (Strategic Management, Governance, Portfolio Performance Management, Portfolio Risk Management and Portfolio Communication Management). While filling in your application, you would need to clearly define how you used each of the 5 knowledge areas to manage your Portfolio in your answer(s)

#7. Portfolio management includes processes to identify, categorize, monitor, evaluate, select, prioritize, balance, and authorize portfolio components within the portfolio. So explain in your answer(s) what those processes were in your case to work on portfolio components

#8. All Portfolio Components have following common features including                    

• Be representative of investments made or planned by Organization
• Be aligned with Org. strategic goals and objectives
• Grouped together for effective management
• Have the ability to be quantifiable
• Can be measured, ranked and prioritized
• Share and compete for Org. resources

So explain in your answer(s) how your portfolio(s), programs, projects & operations that are possible Portfolio components have above mentioned feature(s)

#9. Portfolios have an organizational scope that changes with the strategic objectives of the organization so explain in your answer(s) what was the scope and how it changed (most often it does) with strategic objectives of org

#10. Portfolio managers continuously monitor changes in the broader internal and external environment so explain in your answer(s) how you were monitoring the changes

#11. Portfolio managers create and maintain necessary processes and communication relative to the aggregate portfolio so explain in your answer(s) how you were communicating and using what processes

#12. Portfolio success is measured in terms of the aggregate investment performance and benefit realization of the portfolio so explain in your answer(s) how they were measured and what was the benefit realization

#13. Portfolio managers monitor strategic changes and aggregate resource allocation, performance results, and risk of the portfolio so explain in your answer(s) how they were monitored including portfolio risks

#14. Portfolio managers may manage or coordinate portfolio management staff, or program and project staff that may have reporting responsibilities into the aggregate portfolio so explain in your answer(s) how as a portfolio manager you were coordinating the portfolio staff

#15. Portfolio Management balances conflicting demands between programs and projects, allocates resources (e.g., people, funding) based on organizational priorities and capacity, and manages so as to achieve the benefits identified.  Explain in your answer(s) how you were balancing conflicting demands

#16. In your answer(s) try including references to Portfolio Charter, Portfolio Strategic Plan, Portfolio Roadmap, PMO, Portfolio Governance, Portfolio Sponsors, Portfolio Risk Management Plan, Portfolio Risk Register, Portfolio Communication Management Plan and how they were used in your Portfolio wherever applicable.

Sample points that could be used in your answer(s)

·       Establishing and maintaining a framework, governance model, and methodology (policies and procedures) for portfolio management to achieve organizational strategies and objectives.

·       Guiding the selection, prioritization, balancing, and termination of portfolio components to ensure the alignment with strategic goals and organizational priorities.

·       Providing key stakeholders with assessment of portfolio component selection, prioritization, and performance, as well as identification of portfolio-level issues and risks that are impacting performance.

·       Measuring and monitoring the value to the organization through portfolio performance metrics and targets.

·       Supporting senior-level decision making by ensuring timely and consistent communication to stakeholders on progress, changes, and impact on portfolio components.

Portfolio Management Knowledge Areas, Process Groups & Processes

As mentioned in previous My Lessons Learned for (PfMP)® Exam blog post, I am sharing Portfolio Management Knowledge Areas, Process Groups & Processes for quick reference. 
You can download PDF version from my PfMP folder in box.net

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My Lessons Learned for (PfMP)® Exam

This post is for sharing my lessons learned while successfully obtaining Project Management Institute (PMI)’s most recent and coveted Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)® credential.

Journey To Obtain PfMP® Credential 

#1. Submitted PfMP® application on 06/16 and got a mail next day from PMI stating that my (PfMP)® application has been accepted and asked me to proceed to make the payment

---Will be sharing tips on filling PfMP application in a later post---

                                 

#2. Made the payment same day and immediately was notified that my application was selected for auditing

   

                                     

 #3. Got the audit package endorsed by one of my portfolio sponsor & supervisor (COO) and Fedex'ed it to PMI on 06/19. Package reached PMI on 06/24 and same day got the mail stating that i have cleared the audit process and moved to first evaluation, the Panel review

                               

#4. In the handbook it is stated that Panel review takes 10 working days and I was getting impatient as the days passed because it actually took more than 10 working days when finally got the mail on 07/11 stating that I have passed the first Panel review evaluation

                               

#5. Referred my PfMP notes, below reference materials and sample exam references and scheduled for taking the exam on 07/16 (exactly one month after applying), obtaining PfMP® credential. 

                               

Exam Tips
#1. Exam is 4 1/2 hours long so make sure you are mentally preparing yourself to sit for that long and devoting with full concentration. Even though this seems very obvious but professionals who have been managing portfolios would have empathy that in our professional daily life, which is packed with meetings, presentations, submitting/reviewing proposals, training & mentoring resources, one seldom gets an opportunity to sit in front of system for that long and not to mention answering bunch (read 170) of questions while concentrating on which answer(s) to eliminate as more often than not, more than one answer can be applicable. 

#2. One can answer some questions based on their practical Portfolio experience but since not all Portfolios are managed ideally the way it is described in the The Standard for Portfolio Management, its important to think from what is described in the The Standard for Portfolio Management while answering the questions in the exam  

#3. Its important to understand all process groups, knowledge areas, processes & their respective ITTOs (Input, Tools & Techniques and Outputs). Expect some direct questions and some indirect questions on ITTOs. 
---Will be sharing my Study Aid on ITTOs in a separate post---

#4. Expect few questions that are related to analyzing which Portfolio component to select or not to select (NPV, IRR, Weighted Ranking & Scoring, etc.) 

#5. Personally I did not get many questions from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) or The Standard for Program Management but understand from other's experiences that folks did see questions referred from the two standards. 

#6. As stated in #1 there are few questions for which more than one answer could be applicable so key is to eliminate the least applicable (or select the most applicable). In my case, answering first few questions made me feel uncomfortable as I was not 100% sure of which is most applicable answer so 'marked' the questions. After marking initial questions, I got into the mode and was able to answer subsequent questions with more ease. Having said that, I did continue marking questions and would have marked ~35% (~60) of my questions.  

#7. Personally I always recommend taking a break to rejuvenate, so after finishing answering 170 questions while marking ~60 of them, I took a break. It took me little less than 2 hours to finish answering 170 questions so i could afford a break. After the break, I went through all 'marked' questions and now could think more clearly. It helped me to change answers to almost ~10 questions and feeling more confident on the answers. This time I took more time to go over 'marked' questions and finally finished my exam in 3 hours time. 

#8. To keep things simple for me, I always rely on notes and tend to joggle down points so that I do not need to strain myself while trying to remember. So in the first 10 minutes, while tutorial was running, used scribbling pad provided to me in prometric center to joggle down all ITTOs mapped with processes & respective KA's

#9.  Its important to understand the difference between Strategic Plan, Portfolio Charter, Portfolio Roadmap, Portfolio Management Plan, Portfolio and Portfolio Process Assets. In practical we do use in our Portfolios all of them in some form but sometimes there are overlaps, so its important to understand how The Standard for Portfolio Management clearly segregates their respective inputs, contents and timing of updates. 

#10. My personal experience about PfMP® exam was that I found it easier than any of my previous exam. This was maybe because I now have a sense of understanding of what PMI recommends in terms of standards and how the layout of questions would be. 

Reference Materials
1. Pfmp® Handbook
2. The Standard for Portfolio Management, Third Edition
3. The Standard for Program Management, Third Edition
4. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fifth Edition
5. PfMP Examination Content Outline
6. PfMP® Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide 
7. Managing Change In Organizations
8. Business Driven Project Portfolio Management: Conquering the Top 10 Risks
9. Mastering Project Portfolio Management
10. Managing Change in Organizations (PMI Article)
11. Portfolio Risk Management (PMI Article)
12. Agile Processes A Unifying Approach for the Future of Projects (PMI Article)
13. Do's and Don'ts for Portfolio Managers (PMI Article)
14. The Power of Portfolio Management (PMI Article) 
15. Strategic Portfolio Management Governance Financial Discipline
16. Unified Portfolio Management Model Paper
17. Use PfM to maximize IT spending
18. PfM keeps IT aligned with business strategy
19. Portfolio Kanban
20. Priority Systems Glossary 
21. Efficient Frontier 
22. Using project portfolio management to improve business value (IBM Article)
23. Project Selection and Portfolio Management
24. Enterprise Risk Management
25. Project Portfolio Risk Management 

Sample Exam References 
1. PfMP® Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide
2. http://www.pmoadvisory.com/live/pfmp_training/
3. http://www.cheat-test.com/Samples/PfMP-Exam.html  

What is Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)® Credential?

This post is for sharing information on Project Management Institute (PMI)’s most recent Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)SM credential.

PfMP® recognizes the advanced experience and skill of portfolio managers. The PfMP® credential Professional demonstrates proven ability in the coordinated management of one or more portfolios to achieve organizational objectives.

PfMP® credential holders are responsible for the execution of the portfolio management process, communication around portfolio progress, and recommendations for action. Where project and program managers are responsible for “doing work right,” this is an ideal credential if one is responsible for ensuring your organization is “doing the right work.”

Portfolio management is much more than simply managing multiple projects or programs. It is the management of the entire portfolio in a way that maximizes the impact of projects, programs, portfolios and operations to the overall success of the organization. Effective portfolio management aligns a company’s investments, people, and programs with its overall strategic objectives. It is a continual process that integrates business strategy with operational performance to synchronize resources, strategies, and schedules.

Earning PfMP® credential helps one get international recognition as the professional who demonstrates a proven ability to manage and align a portfolio of projects and programs to realize organizational strategy and objectives

PMI recognizes Portfolio Manager to play more strategic role in an Organization, helping translate an organization's business strategy into a portfolio of projects, programs and portfolios' benefits and results, which are delivered by project managers or program managers and their respective teams.

In summary, PfMP® credential, in my opinion, is right for all those who play a very strategic role in their respective Organizations including responsibilities that include but not limited to
• Balancing conflicting demands between programs and projects, allocates resources (e.g., people, funding) based on organizational priorities and capacity, and manages so as to achieve the benefits identified
• Aligning with organizational strategies by selecting the right portfolios, programs or projects, prioritizing the work and providing the needed resources
• Assist in the development of portfolio, program and project process standards and lead the adherence to the processes and standards.
• Responsible for communicating the organization''s ability to execute its prioritized strategic projects and strategic plan and who significantly interacts with cross-functional departments within the company and excellent communication and relationship management.
• Engaging the Review Board leadership team and other leadership teams in the organization to prioritize, select, and resource load strategic projects & programs.

PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®) Certificate

This post is for Project Management Institute (PMI)’s Agile Certified Practitioner(PMI-ACP) Certificate. Exam for this certificate is meant to test skills of agile practitioners. Pre-requisite for appearing in the exam includes having prior experience in general project management (2000+ hours) and agile specific project management (1500+ hours). Folks having prior PMP^® or PgMP^® automatically satisfy general project management experience and hence need not elaborate the experience while filling the form. Also pre-requisite requires having 21 contract hours earned in agile practice, which could include imparting or participating in agile training [Certified Scrum Master (CSM®), In-house agile training, Coaching Client, etc.]

My experience of the exam includes following tips

1. This exam tests knowledge on tools, techniques, processes, artifacts, etc. of those practicing agile. It includes knowledge on Scrum, XP, Kanban & Lean including each of the terminologies, ceremonies/meetings, roles, etc. associated with them

2. Its important to be familiar with agile specific principles and keywords including

• Agile Manifesto
• Agile Twelve Principles
• Adaptive Leadership, 
• Affinity Estimating,
• Agile Scaling Model
• Agile Leadership
• Agile Triangle
• Agile Earned Value Management (EVM)
• Definition of Done
• Burn Down Charts
• Burn Up Charts
• Chartering in Agile
• Collaboration
• Collocated or Distributed Teams
• Conflict Types or Levels of Conflict
• Continuous Integration
• Cumulative Flow Diagrams
• Customer Valued Prioritization
• Emotional Intelligence
• Empirical Process Control
• Escaped Defects
• Exploratory Testing
• Extreme Programming (XP) including roles, principles, TDD, CI, Pair Programming, etc.
• Fractional Assignments
• Information Radiator
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
• INVEST Model
• Iteration and Release Planning
• Lean including process, value, five why's, etc.
• Kanban including process, principles, task boards, etc.
• Kano Model
• Osmotic Communication (Open space or collocation advantage) 
• Pareto Principle
• Payback Period
• Relative Sizing 
• Refactoring
• Retrospections
• Risk Burn Down Charts
• Risk Exposure
• Scrum Ceremonies/Meetings (Release Planning, Sprint/Iteration Planning, Daily Scrum Meetings, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospection)
• Servant Leadership
• Signal Card
• Story points (how to calculate them) 
• Use Cases
• Technical Debt 
• Triangulation
• User Stories
• Value Stream Mapping
• Velocity

3. I have been practicing Agile for 6 years and have digested most of the recommended reference books by PMI for this certification. Having said that when I tried answering the sample questions, was not getting more than 60%. That's when I realized that there are some gaps between practical and standard defined under PMI. After doing some googling, found AgileExams having some good set of questions and brought package of $49 for 9 months. 

4. Have to confess that going through this certification process was definitely beneficial for me as there are lot of things that I learned, which helped me improve upon certain processes that I follow. For example, how to control daily scrum meetings to not exceed more then 15 minutes, how earned value (Cost, Schedule) should be calculated for agile projects, getting familiar with keywords like osmotic communication, triangulation, servant leader, mapping agile values to my current projects, etc. 

5. I spent ~10 hours practicing the exams (short & long) and scheduled the exam in a prometric center, which luckily for me turned out to be less than a mile from my home and was having an opening slot within a day.

6. Allocated exam time is 3 Hours and consists of 120 questions. When I started the exam, I did answer the first question and then instead of 'marking' (middle button), pressed 'review' button (right bottom). It opened the review screen and I missed a beat, phew!!! :). I then went back to the exam screen and being little more attentive this time. After answering initial 2 -3 questions, found my rhythm & confidence and finished the exam within 40 minutes, marking ~10 questions. Took a break for using the restroom and finished reviewing the marked questions in next 5 minutes. I then spent some 1-2 minutes answering survey question about the prometric center and then it came on my screen something like " Congratulations on passing the PMI-ACP® examination"

7. I have prepared some notes on Agile Certified Practitioner exam, similar to my notes on My Notes on PMP® or My Notes on PgMP®, which I will be sharing in my next post. 

Following are some useful links which have free sample tests

1. http://www.agileexams.com/

2. http://starpmo.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

3. http://agiletraining.com/2011/09/24/pmi-acp-agile-certification-exam-study-tips/

4. http://pmiacptraining.com/

5. http://whitewaterprojects.com/pmi-acp-sample-exam/#

6. http://www.agiledream.com

7. http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=pmiacp

8. http://www.rmcproject.com/pmi-acp/pmi-acp-FreeContent.aspx

9. https://www.keysurvey.com/votingmodule/s180/survey/349789/69ea/

10. https://insite.velociteach.com/pmi_acp_practiceTest_A.aspx

PgMP Exam Objectives

Following are Project Management Institute (PMI)'s Program Management Professional (PgMP) Exam Objectives

DEFINING THE PROGRAM

• Perform a program assessment by defining the program objectives,requirements and establishing a high-level road map in order to ensure program alignment with the enterprise strategic plan or mission.
• Support business analysis functions in identifying marketplace needs for potential program offering in order to ensure program viability through researching, market analysis, and high-level cost-benefit analysis.
• Develop benefits realization plan by estimating the costs and benefits (ROI) of the program in order to establish the program feasibility and obtain funding.
• Perform a preliminary stakeholder analysis through RFP, contract, experience, and input from other sources in order to assess their position relative to the program.
• Establish alliances with other departments and organizations by recognizing dependencies in order to assess potential partnerships and commitment to the program.
• Evaluate the organization's capability by consulting with the groups involved with delivery in order to validate the program priority and alignment to the strategic objectives.
• Request authorization to proceed by presenting the program assessment for approval to the governance authorities in order to initiate the program.

INITIATING THE PROGRAM

• Define the program mission statement by assembling the stakeholders' concerns and expectations in order to establish program direction and set a baseline for any further action.
• Translate strategic objectives into high-level project scope statements by negotiating with stakeholders in order to create a program scope description.
  
• Develop a high-level milestone plan using goals and objectives of the program, applicable historical information, and other available resources in order to align program with expectations of sponsors and stakeholders.
• Develop an accountability matrix by identifying and aligning program roles and responsibilities in order to build the core team and to differentiate between the program and project resources.
• Establish project management standards within the program (governance, tools, finance and reporting) using industry best practices and enterprise standards in order to drive efficiency and consistency among projects.
• Define meaningful measurement criteria for success by analyzing stakeholder expectations and requirements across the constituent projects in order to accurately control program performance.
• Obtain senior management approval for the program by presenting the program charter with its high-level costs and benefits for the organization in order to receive authorization to proceed to the next phases.
• Conduct program kick-offs with stakeholders by holding a series of meetings in order to familiarize the organization with the program

PLANNING THE PROGRAM

• Develop a detailed program scope statement by incorporating program vision, objectives, out-of-scope items, schedule, financial milestones and legal/regulatory/safety concerns in order to aid in overall planning.
  
• Develop program scope definition using Work Breakdown Structure in order to determine the program deliverables and tasks.
• Establish the program management plan and baseline by integrating the plans for the constituent projects and creating the plans for the supporting program functions including management of scope, schedule, finance, benefits, quality, resource, procurement, risk response, change and communications in order to effectively forecast, monitor, and identify variances during program execution.
• Optimize the program plan by reviewing and leveling resource requirements (materials, equipment, facilities, finance, human capital, etc.) in order to gain efficiencies and synergies among projects.
• Define project management information system (PMIS) by selecting tools and processes to share knowledge, intellectual property and documentation across constituent projects in order to maximize synergies and savings.
• Develop the transition plan by defining exit criteria, policies and processes to ensure all administrative, commercial, and contractual obligations are met upon program completion

EXECUTING THE PROGRAM

• Consolidate project/program data (documented issues, status reviews, risks, financial reports, resources, etc.), using predefined reporting tools and methods to monitor program performance.
• Charter constituent projects by assessing project managers and allocating appropriate resources in order to meet program objectives.
• Motivate the team using appropriate tools and techniques in order to increase commitment to the program objectives.
• Establish program consistency by deploying uniform standards, resources, infrastructure, tools and processes in order to enable informed program decision making.
• Capture program status and data by ensuring the population of the program management information system (PMIS) in order to maintain accurate and current program information for the use of stakeholders.
• Execute the appropriate program plans (quality, risk, communication, staffing, etc.) by using the tools identified in the planning phase and by auditing the results of the use of these tools in order to ensure the program outcomes meet the stakeholder expectations and standards.
• Approve closure of the constituent projects upon completion through appropriate processes and procedures in order to obtain acceptance

CONTROLLING THE PROGRAM

• Analyze variance of costs, schedule, quality and risks by comparing actual values to planned values from the program plan, trends, and extrapolation in order to identify corrective actions necessary.
• Identify potential corrective actions by forecasting program outcomes using simulations, what-if scenarios and causal analysis in order to incorporate correctives actions into the program management plan.
• Manage change in accordance with the change management plan to control scope, quality, schedule, cost, and contracts.
• Address program level issues by identifying and selecting a course of action by taking into account the program constraints and objectives in order to enable continued program progress.

CLOSING THE PROGRAM

• Complete a performance analysis report by gathering final values and comparing to planned values for quality, cost, schedule, and resources data in order to determine program performance.
• Manage program completion by executing the transition plan (initiate benefits realization measurement, release the resources and acknowledge individual performance, perform administrative closure, obtain acceptance, transfer ongoing activities to functional organization) in order to close out the program.
• Conduct the stakeholder post-review meeting by presenting the program performance report in order to obtain feedback and capture lessons learned.
  
• Report lessons learned via appropriate methodologies to support future program or organizational improvement