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Milestone Training Center

Tools and Techniques

No

Tools & Techniques

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Acquisition

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Definitions

Obtaining human and material resources necessary to perform project

activities. Acquisition implies a cost of resources, and is not necessarily
financial.
Additional Quality Planning Tools A set of tools used to define the quality requirements and to plan effective
quality management activities. They include, but are not limited to:
brainstorming, force field analysis, nominal group techniques and quality
management and control tools.
Advertising
The process of calling public attention to a project or effort.
Alternative Analysis
A technique used to evaluate identified options in order to select which
options or approaches to use to execute and perform the work of the
project.
Alternatives Generation
A technique used to develop as many potential options as possible in
order to identify different approaches to execute and perform the work of
the project.
Analogous Estimating
A technique for estimating the duration or cost of an activity or a project
using historical data from a similar activity or project.
Analytical Techniques
Various techniques used to evaluate, analyze, or forecast potential
outcomes based on possible variations of project or environmental
variables and their relationships with other variables.
Approved Change Requests Review A review of the change requests to verify that these were implemented as
approved.
Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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009

Assumptions Analysis

010

Benchmarking

011

Bidder Conference

012

Bottom-Up Estimating

013

Change Control Tools

014

Checklist Analysis

015

Claims Administration

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Colocation

017

Communication Methods

018

Communication Models

A technique that explores the accuracy of assumptions and identifies risks

to the project from inaccuracy, inconsistency, or incompleteness of
assumptions.
Benchmarking is the comparison of actual or planned practices, such as
processes and operations, to those of comparable organizations to
identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement, and provide a
basis for measuring performance.
The meetings with prospective sellers prior to the preparation of a bid or
proposal to ensure all prospective vendors have a clear and common
understanding of the procurement. Also known as contractor conferences,
vendor conferences, or pre-bid conferences.
A method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the
estimates of the lower-level components of the work breakdown structure
(WBS).
Manual or automated tools to assist with change and/or configuration
management. At a minimum, the tools should support the activities of the
CCB.
A technique for systematically reviewing materials using a list for
accuracy and completeness.
The process of processing, adjudicating, and communicating contract
claims.
An organizational placement strategy where the project team members
are physically located close to one another in order to improve
communication, working relationships, and productivity.
A systematic procedure, technique, or process used to transfer
information among project stakeholders.
A description, analogy or schematic used to represent how the
communication process will be performed for the project.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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019

Communication Technology

Specific tools, systems, computer programs, etc., used to transfer

information among project stakeholders.

020

Communication Requirements
Analysis

021

Conflict Management

An analytical technique to determine the information needs of the project

stakeholders through interviews, workshops, study of lessons learned
from previous projects, etc.
Handling, controlling, and guiding a conflictual situation to achieve a
resolution.

022

Context Diagrams

023

Contingent Response Strategies

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Contract Change Control System

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Cost Aggregation

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Cost Of Quality

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Cost-Benefit Analysis

A visual depiction of the product scope showing a business system

(process, equipment, computer system, etc.), and how people and other
systems (actors) interact with it.
Responses provided which may be used in the event that a specific trigger
occurs.
The system used to collect, track, adjudicate, and communicate changes
to a contract.
Summing the lower-level cost estimates associated with the various work
packages for a given level within the projects WBS or for a given cost
control account.
A method of determining the costs incurred to ensure quality. Prevention
and appraisal costs (cost of conformance) include costs for quality
planning, quality control (QC), and quality assurance to ensure
compliance to requirements (i.e., training, QC systems, etc.). Failure
costs (cost of nonconformance) include costs to rework products,
components, or processes that are non-compliant, costs of warranty work
and waste, and loss of reputation.
A financial analysis tool used to determine the benefits provided by a
project against its costs.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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028

Critical Chain Method

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Critical Path Method

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031

Data Gathering And

Representation Techniques
Decomposition

032

Dependency Determination

033

Design Of Experiments

034

Diagramming Techniques

035

Document Analysis

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Documentation Reviews

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Earned Value Management

038

Expert Judgment

039

Facilitated Workshops

A schedule method that allows the project team to place buffers on any
project schedule path to account for limited resources and project
uncertainties.
A method used to estimate the minimum project duration and determine
the amount of scheduling flexibility on the logical network paths within
the schedule model.
Techniques used to collect, organize, and present data and information.
A technique used for dividing and subdividing the project scope and
project deliverables into smaller, more manageable parts.
A technique used to identify the type of dependency that is used to create
the logical relationships between predecessor and successor activities.
A statistical method for identifying which factors may influence specific
variables of a product or process under development or in production.
Approaches to presenting information with logical linkages that aid in
understanding.
An elicitation technique that analyzes existing documentation and
identifies information relevant to the requirements.
The process of gathering a corpus of information and reviewing it to
determine accuracy and completeness.
A methodology that combines scope, schedule, and resource
measurements to assess project performance and progress.
Judgment provided based upon expertise in an application area,
knowledge area, discipline, industry, etc., as appropriate for the activity
being performed. Such expertise may be provided by any group or person
with specialized education, knowledge, skill, experience, or training.
An elicitation technique using focused sessions that bring key crossfunctional stakeholders together to define product requirements.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

Ms_2016_01

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Facilitation Techniques

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Focus Groups

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Forecasting

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Funding Limit Reconciliation

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Ground Rules
Group Creativity Techniques

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Group Decision-Making
Techniques
Historical Relationships

048

Independent Estimates

Brainstorming, conflict resolution, problem solving, and meeting

management are examples of key techniques used by facilitators to help
teams and individuals accomplish project activities.
An elicitation technique that brings together prequalified stakeholders
and subject matter experts to learn about their expectations and attitudes
about a proposed product, service, or result.
An estimate or prediction of conditions and events in the projects future
based on information and knowledge available at the time of the forecast.
The information is based on the projects past performance and expected
future performance, and includes information that could impact the
project in the future, such as estimate at completion and estimate to
complete.
The process of comparing the planned expenditure of project funds
against any limits on the commitment of funds for the project to identify
any variances between the funding limits and the planned expenditures.
Expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members.
Techniques that are used to generate ideas within a group of
stakeholders.
Techniques to assess multiple alternatives that will be used to generate,
classify, and prioritize product requirements.
Any historical relationships that result in parametric estimates or
analogous estimates involve the use of project characteristics
(parameters) to develop mathematical models to predict total project
costs. Such models may be simple (e.g., residential home construction is
based on a certain cost per square meter of space).
A process of using a third party to obtain and analyze information to
support prediction of cost, schedule, or other items.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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049 Information Gathering Techniques Repeatable processes used to assemble and organize data across a
spectrum of sources.
050

Information Management System

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Inspection

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Inspections And Audits

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054

Interpersonal Skills
Interviews

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Leads

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Lags

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Make-Or-Buy Analysis

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Management Skills

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Market Research

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061

Meetings
Modeling Techniques

Facilities, processes, and procedures used to collect, store, and distribute

information between producers and consumers of information in physical
or electronic format.
Examining or measuring to verify whether an activity, component,
product, result, or service conforms to specified requirements.
A process to observe performance of contracted work or a promised
product against agreed-upon requirements.
Ability to establish and maintain relationships with other people.
A formal or informal approach to elicit information from stakeholders by
talking to them directly.
The amount of time whereby a successor activity can be advanced with
respect to a predecessor activity.
The amount of time whereby a successor activity is required to be delayed
with respect to a predecessor activity.
The process of gathering and organizing data about product requirements
and analyzing them against available alternatives including the purchase
or internal manufacture of the product.
The ability to plan, organizes, direct, and control individuals or groups of
people to achieve specific goals.
The process of gathering information at conferences, online reviews, and
a variety of sources to identify market capabilities.
Meetings
Examples of modeling techniques include, but are not limited to:
What-If Scenario Analysis. Simulation.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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062

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

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Negotiation

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Networking

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Observations

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Organization Charts And Position

Descriptions

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Organizational Theory

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Parametric Estimating

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Payment Systems

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Performance Reporting

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Performance Reviews

072

Personnel Assessment Tools

This technique utilizes a decision matrix to provide a systematic

analytical approach for establishing criteria, such as risk levels,
uncertainty, and valuation, to evaluate and rank many ideas.
The process and activities to resolving disputes through consultations
between involved parties.
Establishing connections and relationships with other people from the
same or other organizations.
A technique that provides a direct way of viewing individuals in their
environment performing their jobs or tasks and carrying out processes.
Various formats exist to document team member roles and
responsibilities. Most of the formats fall into one of three types:
hierarchical, matrix, and text-oriented.
Organizational theory provides information regarding the way in which
people, teams, and organizational units behave. Effective use of common
themes identified in organizational theory can shorten the amount of time,
cost, and effort needed to create the Plan Human Resource Management
process outputs and improve planning efficiency.
An estimating technique in which an algorithm is used to calculate cost or
duration based on historical data and project parameters.
The system used to provide and track suppliers invoices and payments
for services and products.
Performance reporting is the act of collecting and distributing
performance information, including status reports, progress
measurements, and forecasts.
A technique that is used to measure, compares, and analyzes actual
performance of work in progress on the project against the baseline.
Various tools are available such as attitudinal surveys, specific
assessments, structured interviews, ability tests, and focus groups.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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Pre-Assignment

When project team members are selected in advance, they are considered
pre-assigned. This situation can occur if the project is the result of
specific people being identified as part of a competitive proposal, if the
project is dependent upon the expertise of particular persons, or if some
staff assignments are defined within the project charter.

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Precedence Diagramming Method

(PDM)

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Probability And Impact Matrix

A technique used for constructing a schedule model in which activities

are represented by nodes and are graphically linked by one or more
logical relationships to show the sequence in which the activities are to
be performed.
A grid for mapping the probability of each risk occurrence and its impact
on project objectives if that risk occurs.

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Process Analysis

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Procurement Audits

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Procurement Negotiations

A process analysis follows the steps outlined in the process improvement

plan to identify needed improvements.
The review of contracts and contracting processes for completeness,
accuracy, and effectiveness.

Procurement negotiations clarify the structure, requirements, and other

terms of the purchases so that mutual agreement can be reached prior to
signing the contract. Final contract language reflects all agreements
reached.
079 Procurement Performance Reviews A structured review of the sellers progress to deliver project scope and
quality, within cost and on schedule, as compared to the contract.
080
Product Analysis
For projects that have a product as a deliverable, it is a tool to define
scope that generally means asking questions about a product and forming
answers to describe the use, characteristics, and other the relevant
aspects of what is going to be manufactured.
Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

Ms_2016_01

081

Project Management Information

System (PMIS)

082

Project Management Software

083

Project Performance Appraisals

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Proposal Evaluation Techniques

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Prototypes

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Published Estimating Data

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Quality Audits

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Quality Management And Control

Tools

An information system consisting of the tools and techniques used to

gather, integrate, and disseminate the outputs of project management
processes. It is used to support all aspects of the project from initiating
through closing, and can include both manual and automated systems.
Project management software, such as a scheduling software tool, has the
capability to help plan, organize, and manage resource pools and develop
resource estimates.
Objectives for conducting performance appraisals during the course of a
project can include clarification of roles and responsibilities, constructive
feedback to team members, discovery of unknown or unresolved issues,
development of individual training plans, and the establishment of
specific goals for future time periods.
The process of reviewing proposals provided by suppliers to support
contract award decisions.
A method of obtaining early feedback on requirements by providing a
working model of the expected product before actually building it.
Several organizations routinely publish updated production rates and unit
costs of resources for an extensive array of labor trades, material, and
equipment for different countries and geographical locations within
countries.
A quality audit is a structured, independent process to determine if
project activities comply with organizational and project policies,
processes, and procedures.
They are a type of quality planning tools used to link and sequence the
activities identified such as:
Affinity diagrams.
Process decision program charts (PDPC).
Interrelationship digraphs.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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Tree diagrams.
Prioritization matrices.
Activity network diagrams.
Matrix diagrams.
Quantitative Risk Analysis And
Commonly used techniques for both event-oriented and project-oriented
Modeling Techniques
analysis approaches.
Questionnaires And Surveys
Written sets of questions designed to quickly accumulate information from
a large number of respondents.
Recognition And Rewards
Award decisions are made, formally or informally, during the process of
managing the project team through project performance appraisals
Records Management System
A specific set of processes, related control functions, and tools that are
consolidated and combined to record and retain information about the
project.
Reserve Analysis
An analytical technique to determine the essential features and
relationships of components in the project management plan to establish
a reserve for the schedule duration, budget, estimated cost, or funds for a
project.
Resource Optimization Techniques A technique that is used to adjust the start and finish dates of activities
that adjust planned resource use to be equal to or less than resource
availability.
Risk Audits
Examination and documentation of the effectiveness of risk responses in
dealing with identified risks and their root causes, as well as the
effectiveness of the risk management process.
Risk Categorization
Organization by sources of risk (e.g., using the RBS), the area of the
project affected (e.g., using the WBS), or other useful category (e.g.,
project phase) to determine the areas of the project most exposed to the
effects of uncertainty.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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Risk Data Quality Assessment

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Risk Probability And Impact

Assessment

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Risk Reassessment

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Risk Urgency Assessment

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Rolling Wave Planning

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Schedule Compression

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Schedule Network Analysis

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Scheduling Tool

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Seven Basic Quality Tools

Technique to evaluate the degree to which the data about risks is useful
for risk management.
Risk probability assessment investigates the likelihood that each specific
risk will occur. Risk impact assessment investigates the potential effect on
a project objective such as schedule, cost, quality, or performance,
including both negative effects for threats and positive effects for
opportunities.
Risk reassessment is the identification of new risks, reassessment of
current risks, and the closing of risks that are outdated.
Review and determination of the timing of actions that may need to occur
sooner than other risk items.
An iterative planning technique in which the work to be accomplished in
the near term is planned in detail, while the work in the future is planned
at a higher level.
Techniques used to shorten the schedule duration without reducing the
project scope like Crashing & Fast tracking.
The technique of identifying early and late start dates, as well as early
and late finish dates, for the uncompleted portions of project schedule
activities. See also backward pass, critical path method, critical chain
method, and resource leveling.
A tool that provides schedule component names, definitions, structural
relationships, and formats that support the application of a scheduling
method.
A standard toolkit used by quality management professionals who are
responsible for planning, monitoring, and controlling the issues related to
quality in an organization.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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Stakeholder Analysis

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108

Statistical Sampling
Strategies For Negative Risks Or
Threats

109

Strategies For Positive Risks Or

Opportunities

110

SWOT Analysis

111

Team-Building Activities

112

Technical Performance
Measurement

113

Three-Point Estimating
(PERT)

A technique of systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and

qualitative information to determine whose interests should be taken into
account throughout the project.
Choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.
Four strategies to deal with threats:
Avoid.
Transfer.
Mitigate.
Accept.
Four strategies to deal with opportunities:
Exploit.
Enhance.
Share.
Accept.
This technique examines the project from each of the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) perspectives to increase
the breadth of identified risks by including internally generated risks.
Team-building activities can vary from a 5-minute agenda item in a status
review meeting to an off-site, professionally facilitated experience
designed to improve interpersonal relationships.
Technical
performance
measurement
compares
technical
accomplishments during project execution to the schedule of technical
achievement. It requires the definition of objective, quantifiable measures
of technical performance, which can be used to compare actual results
against targets.
A technique used to estimate cost or duration by applying an average of
optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely estimates when there is uncertainty
with the individual activity estimates.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan

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To-Complete Performance Index

(TCPI)

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Training

116

Variance Analysis

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Variance And Trend Analysis

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Vendor Bid Analysis

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Virtual Teams

A measure of the cost performance that is required to be achieved with

the remaining resources in order to meet a specified management goal,
expressed as the ratio of the cost to finish the outstanding work to the
remaining budget.
Training includes all activities designed to enhance the competencies of
the project team members. Training can be formal or informal. Examples
of training methods include classroom, online, computer-based, on-thejob training from another project team member, mentoring, and
coaching.
A technique for determining the cause and degree of difference between
the baseline and actual performance.
Many control processes employ variance analysis to compare the planned
results to the actual results. For the purposes of controlling risks, trends
in the projects execution should be reviewed using performance
information.
Cost estimating methods may include analysis of what the project should
cost, based on the responsive bids from qualified vendors.
Virtual teams can be defined as groups of people with a shared goal who
fulfill their roles with little or no time spent meeting face to face.

Tel +249966208282 P.O.Box 7755, Sudapost Khartoum Sudan