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Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Course Review: ManagementYogi’s RMP 30 Contact Hours Online – A Crisp Course to Learn Risk Management and Go for PMI-RMP Exam

 By Prasad Ramamurthy Kadambi, PMP

 

I’m a certified PMP since 2020. To continue with your earned PMP credential, one needs 60 PDUs, which I had very little of as of 2022 end. I reached out to Satya to know how best to get these PDUs and with best possible learning. 

Satya asked which one do I use the most in my profession, to which I informed: Risk Management! Satya advised me to go with RMP 30 contact hours, which I immediately followed, made the payment and subscribed to the RMP 30 Contact Hours Online course within hours.

Four months down the line, I not only achieved all the needed PDUs 114 days before my PMP renewal date, in the process I also learned a lot, which includes learning from Satya’s Management Review sessions. 

Indeed, I met all my goals with which I started.

My review of this online course is outlined below.

Why this Course – ManagementYogi’s RMP 30 Contact Hours

Risk Management is vital for a Project Manager as it will be the responsibility of a Project Manager to mitigate the risks throughout the project life cycle. 

Risk Management should be known in depth by the Project Managers, otherwise it affects the deliverables.

Following are the other top reasons I subscribed to the course:

  • This course outlines the need for better Risk Management and enables us to appear for PMI-RMP exam as it is mandatory to have 30 contact hours. 
  • I work as a Program Manager, and I see a lot of interlocks between the projects, and this would increase the risk multiple times.
  • Satya’s Management Review Sessions: It is very unique. With Satya, we get an opportunity to ask our questions and he doesn’t mind explaining the concept in detail which supports osmotic learning. For example, recently, I requested Satya to explain ‘Probability Distribution’ and he covered it exhaustively for 2 hours. This is something what we will NOT get with others.

Course – ManagementYogi’s RMP 30 Contact Hours: Key Features

In my view, below are the key features of this course. 

  • The course gives a bird’s view of PMI-RMP certification, and it is very crisp.
  • It covers areas of Advance Risk Management as well, e.g., Probability Distribution, Hybrid-Agile management etc. 
  • The lesson end questions and three full length question sets are very challenging. It’ll improve your understanding by leaps and bounds.
  • The 50-question assessment that will be finally taken is of very high quality. Post the assessment, I received the 30 RMP Contact Hours Certificate in 2 days.
  • Satya’s course content will ensure that we read Risk Management Standards (Foundational and Practice), PMBOK Guide 7th edition and PMBOK Guide 6th edition. 
  • In the Management Review Sessions, you will learn many aspects of Agile and Hybrid in detail.
  • Another unique thing about the course is that the course is constantly updated as needed, and updates are shared free of cost.
  • RMP Formula Gold Cards are very helpful as they can be downloaded for our reference.

Personally, I like the Risk Monitoring lesson the most. In addition, practical hands-on demonstrations will be shown in Management Review Sessions with various tools. I liked the course as it made me read a lot and there is a lot of learning too.

Lessons in the Course – ManagementYogi’s RMP 30 Contact Hours

First and foremost, I want to inform you that the questions in this course will be very tricky and unless the concepts are clear it will be difficult to answer. These are high quality questions. 

Next, I’ve outlined the following high-level information for the various lessons of the course.

  1. Lesson – 1: Welcome: It enumerates the Course Structure.
  2. Lesson – 2: Introduction: It explains the PMI-RMP exam in detail.
  3. Lesson – 3: Fundamentals of Risk and Risk Management: It explains Performance Domains and Life Cycles.
  4. Lesson – 4: Risk Management Framework and Life Cycle: You’ll learn in detail about Processes in Risk Management and framework. Emphasis is given on flow and interactions.
  5. Lesson – 5: Risk Management and Other Knowledge Areas: This the most important Lesson which explains the impact of Risk Management on other Knowledge Areas and vice-versa.
  6. Lesson – 6: Risk Management Planning: It explains Process and ITTOs.
  7. Lesson – 7: Risk Identification: I primarily focused on the Data gathering and Data Analysis Technique in this lesson.
  8. Lesson – 8: Qualitative Risk Analysis: This lesson goes into much more detail when compared to the content we had for PMI-PMP.
  9. Lesson – 9: Quantitative Risk Analysis: This lesson also goes in more detail when compared to the content we had for PMI-PMP. In fact, it’s far advanced.
  10. Lesson – 10: Risk Response Planning: This lesson explains Process and ITTOs with other needed information. 
  11. Lesson – 11: Risk Response Implementation: It explains the process, ITTOs and various unknown areas before. 
  12. Lesson – 12: Risk Monitoring: I like this lesson the most as I can co-relate to my regular work at the Program Level.

In essence, these lessons cover Risk Management exhaustively to apply for the 30 contact hours, get it approved and above all, learn professional risk management.

Brief Profile: Prasad Ramamurthy Kadambi, PMP
Project Manager, HP Inc.

 

More RMP 30 Contact Hours Course:





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Sunday, April 23, 2023

Install, Set-up, Run and Test Primavera P6 Professional Project Management Release 22.x on Windows 10/11

 

To be a master management practitioners, you can't rely on a single software tool. In fact, you have to master, or at least know many, spanning across Project-Program-Portfolio Management, Risk Management, Agile Management, Issue Management, Bug/Defect Management, Scaled Agile Management, Estimation, Reporting, Earned Value Management (EVM), among others. 

I've been using Oracle Primavera P6 Professional PM and EPPM tools since 2014 and have written a number of articles on it. Recently, I tried my hands on the latest release of Oracle Primavera P6 Professional Project Management (PM) - Release 22.12. At this stage, it's important to note that Primavera P6 is a widely used and popular project management software tool.

This software was released towards the end of 2022.The newly released software maintains its robust functionalities like its previous versions. In addition, a new set of functionalities are available. In fact, there are quite a few new functionalities when compared with R18.x! 

This article informs on how to set-up and run the software. There are just four steps you need to follow to install and test the software, which are:

  1. Step – 1: Download and Install the software
  2. Step – 2: Configure Primavera P6 Professional DB
  3. Step – 3: Launch Primavera P6Professional PM
  4. Step – 4: Create Project and Activities with Professional P6 Professional 22.x

It's not that difficult you understand any software and its installation. Towards the end I'll show a simple example of creating one project with a few activities. So, let's begin.

Step – 1: Download and Install Primavera P6 Professional

You can download the software from Oracle's e-Delivery platform: http://edelivery.oracle.com/

If you don't have an account, just create an account and get started. When you search for Primavera P6 Professional PM, the following screen will come-up. Select them all or the needed ones and download.


After you've downloaded the software, you can use the "V1032852-01.zip" file to extract and it'll have the needed executable to install. This is shown below.

Double click and run the software Step-by-step instructions are given in the associate PDF file towards the end of this article. 

Step – 2: Configure Primavera P6 Professional PM Database

Post installation, you'll be asked to configure the database (DB). The DB can be the enterprise level Oracle DB or a light-weight SQL DB. I prefer the lightweight one as it's quick and efficient. It also has almost all the functionalities. 

After you have the DB and associate the configurations, test the DB as shown below. It'll display a message of being successful.


Step – 3: Launch (Run) Primavera P6 Professional PM

Your installation and configuration are done and now you can launch the software When you launch, provide the needed user name and password and the P6 software will be launched. 

Post launching for the first time, you've to change a few settings which is explained in the below linked PDF. It's explains all steps in a detailed manner.

Step – 4: Create Project and Activities with Primavera P6 Professional 22.x

This is the final step, where you will test with a freshly created project and activities. Post creation of the project, activities, linking among the activities and scheduling, your view will come as shown below.

Conclusion: Check the Detailed PDF

You can visualize the step-by-step instructions to download, install, set-up, run and test Primavera P6 Professional int the below document. It's a long one! To get a PDF copy (public link below), send an email to managementyogi@gmail.com.  

The document is available for viewing in PDF format - Link.


Primavera P6 as mentioned in the beginning is robust project management software tool and it's quite useful to know. I hope this article guides in that regard.

In many of my courses and books related to Project Management, Risk Management, Practical Project/Risk Management et al., I've extensively used Primavera P6 software to demonstrate schedules, work breakdown structure (WBS), risk breakdown structure (RBS), risk register etc.


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Monday, April 17, 2023

Building A Velocity Histogram with MS Project Agile

 

Like velocity is one of the widely used metrics in Agile, the velocity histogram is one of the most used reports used by Scrum Masters and Product Owners. It’s simple, effective and acts as an information radiator.

I frequently interact with professionals who use my CHAMP certification course or Master Course for MS Project Agile. This came as a question from one of the aspiring CHAMPs and hence this post. Before getting into this article, I’d definitely suggest that you read the below two:

To download and use the MS Project Agile, you can use the following step-by-step installation guide.

Step-by-Step Guide: Install, Set-up and Run MS Project Agile

 Now, let's start with the histogram basics.

Histogram Basics

Histograms are widely used by management practitioners – product, program, portfolio or otherwise. It can defect histogram, resource histogram, earned value measurement (EVM) histogram, among others. 

Simply put, it’s a graphical representation of numerical data, and it’s usually a vertical bar chart. Nevertheless, variations exist. 

Considering Velocity Histogram, it’s a vertical bar chart showing two bars for every Sprint in a release and/or project. While one bar is for the Planning Velocity, the other one is for Actual Velocity. A simple velocity histogram is shown below. 


Use A Histogram Template

To create a new velocity histogram using MS Project Agile:

Go to the Reports tab > View Reports group > New Report > Chart. 

As shown above, the chart selected has a histogram figure and it’ll create a histogram with certain default fields. 

In the popped-up Report Name (shown below), enter the report name as Velocity Histogram Report. This will create the report with three default fields:

  • Actual Work
  • Remaining Work
  • Work


As you’d have correctly guessed, we are not going use to these fields, but MS Project Agile will have these fields. We are going to change these fields in a moment. 

Removing the Histogram’s Default Fields

As you can understand, velocity has nothing do with the fields of Actual Work, Work or Remaining Work. Hence, we have to remove these fields. To remove these fields, select the chart area of the created report, right click and use Show Field List command from the drop-down menu. 


Now, in the right pane of Field List, we have the individual fields of Actual Work, Remaining Wok and Work. Right-click on them one-by-one and use the Remove Field command to remove those fields. Now the chart area will be completely empty. 


Customizing the Histogram with Velocity Fields

Next, we are going to customize this histogram (completely empty) with the needed fields. As we have seen earlier and mentioned in the two linked articles of this post, we need only two fields:

  • Planned Velocity: The velocity planned for the Sprints across the releases or the entire project.
  • Actual Velocity: The determined actual velocity for the Sprints across the releases or the entire project.

We are going to make use of those fields now.

In the right pane of Field List:

  • Go to the Number field.
  • Go to the Custom field under Number field. 
  • Choose Planned Velocity and Actual Velocity, both custom number fields.  


As you can see in the above figure, we now have Planned Velocity and Actual Velocity fields available in the chart area of our histogram. Next, change the Grouping the field list to Group by: Sprint. This will result in the following view. 


Removing the Non-Sprint Columns

As you’d have noticed above, there is a non-Sprint column and we don’t need that. To do so: 

  • Select the chart area.
  • On the right-hand side three small icons will come-up. Select the last Filter (Funnel) icon.
  • In the popped-up Values pane, deselect the category of Sprint: No Sprint.
  • Click on the Apply button below. 

 

With it, we will only the data related to Sprint 1, Sprint 2 and Sprint 3. If you have planned for more Sprints, then those data will also be available. 

Adding the Data Labels 

Now that we have the needed fields and only Sprints’ related velocity data, let’s customize the available velocity histogram a bit more. For this purpose, select the vertical blue bar (for planned velocity), right click, and select Add Data Labels as shown below.  

Similarly, select the other vertical orange bar (for actual velocity), right click and add the data labels. With these changes, as you can see, our first cut of Velocity Histogram for the three planned Sprints (Sprint 1, Sprint 2 and Sprint 3) is available.  

Interpreting the above figure, you can see the planned velocities for Sprint 1, Sprint 2 and Sprint 3 are 16, 10 and 3 respectively, whereas the actual velocities for Sprint 1, Sprint 2 and Sprint 3 are 8, 0 and 0, respectively.

Customizing the Data Labels 

Next, let’s customize this chart more with the color coding changes. As we make a few more adjustments, you will have the following view. 

To generate this report, I’ve:

  • Filled the vertical bars with different colors.
  • Formatted the data labels with a lighter version of respective colors.
  • Filled the color coding for the report label: Velocity Histogram Report.


Conclusion

MS Project Agile comes with a large number of reports, which you can use to your advantage. For example, this chart can be created in a matter of seconds, if you know the software tool well. 

Also, you don’t have to update the Velocity Histogram as you keep completing the Sprints and sprint for upcoming Sprints. The histogram will take the latest data and reflect them in the report. 


As shown in the above figure, we now have the inputs from Sprint: Sprint 2 and they are reflected in the Velocity Histogram report. 

And of course, you can export to a PDF format to share it with other stakeholders, team members and make them available as part of your project repository. 


References:

[1] Book: I Want To Be A PMI-ACP: The Plain and Simple Way, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Master Course: Mastering MS Project Agile, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Video Course: Microsoft Project Live Lessons, by Satya Narayan Dash.



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Thursday, April 13, 2023

Calculating Velocity with User Stories in MS Project Agile (Scrum)


Velocity is a widely used metrics by Scrum practitioners, though velocity is not specifically mentioned in the Scrum Guide, 2020. With MS Project Agile software you can have this metric quite quickly, if you are working with user stories and story points. 

This came as a question in one of the recent international webinars, where participants wanted to know on the applicability of velocity. As per the question, the development is happening with work items estimated in stories, and they are not breaking them down into individual tasks. Can velocity be calculated in such a scenario?

You can watch the webinar and related questions here:

Practical Scrum using MS Project Agile (3 of 3) by MPUG

To answer the question on velocity: yes, absolutely you can have velocity metrics in MS Project Agile! In this article, we learn about this capability. To download and use the MS Project Agile, you can use the following step-by-step installation guide.

Step-by-Step Guide: Install, Set-up and Run MS Project Agile 

In-depth explanation with Velocity, User Stories, Velocity Histogram, Release Histogram etc. are explained in the following course:

Mastering MS Project Agile – Scrum, Kanban and ScrumBan

Important Note: Before proceeding further with this article, I’d strongly recommend that you understand the basics of User Stories and Story Points and how they are used with MS Project Agile (Scrum). The link is below:

Working with User Stories and Story Points in MS Project Agile (Scrum)

Velocity Basics

Velocity is simply the sum of stories delivered at the end of the Sprint, considering you are using the Scrum framework. There are no complicated formulas to calculate. Simply add the number of story points! 

Let’s take an example to understand.

You have three work items planned for the upcoming Sprint 1, estimated with following story points:

  • Work item 1:  5 story points
  • Work item 5: 8 story points
  • Work item 9: 5 story points

Why not work item 1, followed by work item 2 and work item 3? This is because of prioritization of bcklog work items, which you can also do with MS Project Agile.  

In the previous linked article with respect to working with User Stories, we have already created the Story Points custom field. We will build-upon that custom field. 

“Planned Velocity” Custom Field

The “Planned Velocity” custom field is not available by default in MS Project Agile. To have this custom field:

Go to the Task Sheet Tools > Format tab > Columns > Custom Fields command.  

The created custom field for Planned Velocity is shown below. As you can see, it’s just below the Story Points custom field that we have created earlier.  

As you create this custom field, do note the following:

  • It’s a number custom field, specially I’ve used Number 3.
  • The formula applied is simple. It directly equals “Story Points” custom field earlier or specifically Number 2.
  • Do note that roll-up has been applied for the calculation of summary tasks. And, when you use the roll-up, have the Sum function. 

“Actual Velocity” Custom Field

The “Actual Velocity” custom field is also not available by default in MS Project Agile. To have this custom field, again:

Go to the Task Sheet Tools > Format tab > Columns > Custom Fields command. 

Again, with the custom field command we will create this new “Actual Velocity” custom field. It’s quite simple and straightforward. This is shown below. 

As you create this custom field, do note the following:

  • It’s a number custom field, specially I’ve used Number 4.
  • The formula applied is simple. If the percent of complete (% Complete field) is 100%, then Actual Velocity will equal Planned Velocity, otherwise it won’t.
  • Again, do note that roll-up has been applied for the calculation of summary tasks. And, when you use the roll-up, have the Sum function. 

Backlog with User Stories, Planned Velocity and Actual Velocity

As we have added these custom fields, we can now visualize them in the Task Board Sheet view, Sprint Planning Sheet view or even the Gantt Chart view. You can choose any view you want. 

Considering the Sprint Planning Sheet view, which has information for all the Sprints, we will get the following view. While going for the view, I’ve applied the built-in Sprint grouping. Re-read the last line. It’s important! 


Obviously, as we have not tracked any item, the “Actual Velocity” for Sprint 1 is informed to be zero, whereas the Planned Velocity is 16.

Switching to the Gantt Chart and applying the Sprint group again, we have the following view. Do note that I’ve added a new column of % Complete. 


Interpreting the above figure, we can say:

  • Sprint 1 has three items estimated at 5, 8 and 3 story points, respectively.
  • When rolled-up the Planned Velocity is 16, which is basically the summation of all stories, i.e., 16 story points = 5 story points + 8 story points + 3 story points.
  • The Actual Velocity is 0, because we have not tracked any work items. In other words, the team has not started working on the items.

Track the Work Items – Current Sprint 

After you have planned for the current Sprint (Sprint 1 in our case), you can track the items in the Current Sprint Board view. For tracking, you have to just drag and drop the work items across the workflow states. 

Consider that we are on the final day of the current Sprint (Sprint 1) and we have made progress on a number of story items. This is shown below. 


Interpreting the above figure, we can say:

  • The work item of “As a user, I can log into the online systems…” has been completed, so also the work item of ‘As a user, I can buy a stock…”. These are 100% complete.
  • The work item of “As a user, I can create a new user…” is still under progress and it’s 50% complete. 

Visualize Actual Velocity – Current Sprint 

Now, you can switch back to the Gantt Chart view to see the Actual Velocity value being populated based on % Complete. This is shown in the below figure. 

Interpreting the above figure, we can say:

  • Sprint 1 has three items estimated at 5, 8 and 3 story points, respectively. Hence, the Planned Velocity is 16. We have seen this earlier. 
  • The Actual Velocity is 8, because we two work items estimated at 5 and 3 story points, respectively are now complete. Hence, the rolled-up value is 8.
  • One work item is 50% complete and it doesn’t count towards velocity, i.e., the work item of “As a user, I can create a new user…”. 

Conclusion

Is it really that simple to calculate velocity with MS Project Agile? Yes, it is!

As we saw in this article, with a minimal set of steps, you can calculate the velocity for any Sprint in a Scrum project. All you have to do is to have a couple of custom fields and use the available views and group to calculate the velocity for you.

If you want to see use the Current Sprint Sheet view, there too you can visualize the Planned Velocity and Actual Velocity.  


Another question that comes up: 

Can one plot a Velocity Histogram with these values? 

Yes, absolutely you can. As the fields are properly populated, you can quickly create a histogram with Report functionality of MS Project Agile. 


I hope this article helps you in planning your Sprint or Backlog plan with velocity and it helps in your work. If you have any comments or inputs, do put them below in the comment section.

References:

[1] Book: I Want To Be A PMI-ACP: The Plain and Simple Way, by Satya Narayan Dash

[2] Master Course: Mastering MS Project Agile, by Satya Narayan Dash

[3] Video Course: Microsoft Project Live Lessons, by Satya Narayan Dash.

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