The Inspiration for the BA Guide for CAPM^®

The inclusion of Business Analysis Frameworks (Domain 4) in the CAPM^® Certification curriculum has been a major source of frustration and distress among the CAPM^® aspirants so much so that many have put off their certification plans until more resource are avaiable to help them master this domain efficiently and effectively.

The CAPM^® Certification curriculum now includes Business Analysis (BA) Frameworks in addition to project management fundamentals, core concepts, traditional and agile methodologies. Th BA domain has a 27% weightage on the CAPM^® exam. Due to this, the CAPM^® Certification curriculum is far wider than that of the PMP^® Certification.

The CAPM^® aspirants need to study at least two business analysis guides - The PMI Guide to Business Analysis and Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide - in order to cover this 27% portion of the exam. Reading and understanding these two guides to learn business analysis can be very overwhelming especially when your main interest and focus is project management. It can easily take 4-6 weeks of study time and yet you may not get the big picture of how these two disciplines - business analysis and project management - complement each other. Moreover, not many good study resources are available for the business analysis domain that cater specifically to CAPM^® Certification.

Based on the feedback we received, we decided to put together a concise BA Guide specifically for CAPM^® aspirants to help them ace the business analysis domain confidently. This guide covers precisely what you need to know for the CAPM^® exam. It helps you get the big picture of how business analysis and project management complement each other in organizations, and the essential business analysis proceeses, tools, techniques, and artifacts, without overwhelming you with too much information.

And the best part, you can study this guide in about 8 hours and feel far more confident compared to reading the two big PMI^® guides over 4-6 weeks.

Why Choose this BA Guide?

Our BA guide is meticulously aligned with the latest 2023 CAPM^® Exam Content Outline published by PMI^®, ensuring you receive up-to-date and relevant information. Here’s how the new guide stands out:

• Comprehensive Coverage: The guide covers all the business analysis topics you need to know, saving you the time and effort of sifting through multiple sources.
• Time-Efficient: The BA Guide is designed to be consumed in about 8 hours, help you save 2-4 weeks of study time, and approach the exam with confidence.
• Alternative to PMI^® Guides: This guide serves as an effective alternative to reading “The PMI Guide to Business Analysis” and “Business Analysis for Practitioners: A Practice Guide.”

What’s Inside the BA Guide?

Our BA Guide dives deep into the core aspects of business analysis:

1. Understanding the Value of Business Analysis in Organizations:
   • Business analysis is a critical discipline that helps organizations identify and articulate the need for change and how to implement it effectively. The guide explains the strategic importance of BA, highlighting how it drives value by ensuring solutions deliver real business benefits.
2. The Essential Skillset and Expertise Required for the Business Analyst Role:
   • Business analysts must possess a unique blend of skills, including analytical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management. The guide outlines these skills, offering insights into how each contributes to successful business analysis outcomes.
3. How BA Supports Organizational Objectives:
   • Discover how business analysis aligns with organizational goals by translating business needs into actionable solutions. The guide provides real-world examples of how BA activities directly contribute to achieving strategic objectives and improving overall efficiency and effectiveness.
4. How Business Analysis and Project Management Complement Each Other:
   • Business analysis and project management are distinct but complementary disciplines. The guide clarifies the roles and responsibilities of business analysts and project managers, illustrating how their collaboration drives organizational success.
5. How Business Analysis lays the foundation for Project Initiation:
   • The guide explains how business analysts contribute to project initiation, from defining product scope and business case to identifying stakeholders and gathering initial requirements.
6. Business Analysis Processes:
   • Understand the business analysis processes, from needs assessment and planning to solution evaluation and implementation. The guide covers each process, providing a clear roadmap for conducting thorough and effective business analysis.
7. Essential Tools and Techniques of Business Analysis:
   • Business analysts use a variety of tools and techniques to gather and analyze information, prioritize requirements, and communicate findings. This section delves into key techniques such as elicitation, modeling, prioritization, and analysis, offering practical tips and examples of their application.
8. Key Business Analysis Artifacts:
   • Business analysis artifacts are crucial for documenting current state, decisions, requirements, and solutions. The guide explains the purpose and content of key artifacts, such as business analysis plan, business case, situation statement, and more, helping you understand their purpose and importance in the business analysis process.

Try Before You Buy

Several sections of the guide are available for FREE without any login requirement. Sample these sections to see if the guide fits your learning style and needs.

Get Started with CAPM^® Pro or CAPM^® Plus

The BA Guide is included in the CAPM^® Pro and CAPM^® Plus packages at no additional cost. In addition to the BA Guide, these packages also include other guides to cover all the domains of the CAPM^® Exam Content Outline:

1. CAPM Guide: Covers the CAPM^® Exam Content Outline
2. PM Fundamentals Guide: Covers Domain 1 and 2
3. Agile Guide: Covers Domain 3
4. BA Guide: Covers Domain 4
5. Study Notes: 70+ project management study notes

In addition to the guides, the BrainBOK CAPM^® Certification Program includes sample exams, flashcards, and other study tools.

Sign Up for BrainBOK

Click here to sign up for BrainBOK and start your journey towards CAPM^® Certification with confidence. I look forward to supporting you in your exam preparation and helping you achieve your career goals.

If you have any questions or comments about the new BA Guide or the CAPM^® Certification in general, feel free to post your comments in the section below.

CAPM Certification Changes 2023

Before we get into the details of the practice exams, you may want to read the post - CAPM Certification Changes 2023 - to learn about the major changes to the CAPM^® Certification program in 2023.

CAPM Practice Exams Development Process

The process started with a thorough review of the two PMI documents that provide insights on the new exam.

1. CAPM Exam Content Outline

The CAPM Exam Content Outline (ECO) outlines the 4 domains and the respective tasks that project management professionals at the entry and associate level are required to perform on their job. It also provides the proportion of questions from each domain as outlined below.

Each domain and its tasks were thoroughly analyzed to align the exams and sample questions with PMI’s specifications.

2. CAPM New Exam Reference List

PMI has published a list of 7 CAPM Reference Guides on which the majority of CAPM exam questions are based. As per PMI’s guideline, each exam question should be based on a minimum of two out of the seven references.

The CAPM New Exam Reference List is matrix that links the chapters/sections of the 7 reference guides with the ECO domains/tasks. In other words, this matrix identifies the specific chapters/sections of each guide that are in-scope for the exam.

We performed an in-depth analysis of this matrix and developed the sample questions covering every identified chapter/section, while calibrating the exams according to the proportion of questions in each domain.

Note that the CAPM New Exam Reference List matrix has some notable omissions. For example, Domain 2 / Task 1 says:

• Determine the activities within each process.
• Give examples of typical activities within each process.
• Distinguish the differences between various project components.

But project management processes are not included in any of the 7 references. To address this gap, we have included about 5% questions covering the project management processes and their inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs (ITTO) from the PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition.

CAPM Practice Exam Features

The post CAPM Exam Simulator explains the features of BrainBOK Exam Simulator application in detail. The section below emphasizes a few key areas that have been specifically improved for CAPM 2023.

1. 100% Coverage of the ECO

The new CAPM exams cover every single domain and task identified in the ECO. For the sake of transparency, here’s the breakdown of questions per domain and task in each practice exam.

2. Detailed Answer Explanations

The new CAPM sample questions include more detailed answers than before including explanation of every right and the wrong option. This is extremely significant because it helps develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and uncover knowledge gaps.

3. Multiple References

Each question has reference to one or more of the 7 reference guides. So, you can be assured that the questions are based on authoritative sources.

Many questions also include reference to the PM Study Guide articles for additional information on the subject.

4. Variety of Question Formats

The new exam includes the following formats of questions:

• Multiple choice with single answer
• Multiple choice with multiple answers
• Drag-and-drop
• Hot-spot
• Animations/comic strip

Our exam simulator supports multiple choice questions with one or more answers, and drag and drop type questions. We plan to support the other types in the future.

Summary

In conclusion, our new CAPM practice exams are a powerful tool to efficiently guide you towards achieving your CAPM^® Certification. Aligned with the 2023 CAPM ECO, these exams offer comprehensive preparation, lucid explanations, and authoritative references, ensuring an effective preparation process. Elevate your project management skills and confidently embark on the path to CAPM^® Certification success.

If you have any questions or comments about the new practice exams or the CAPM^® Certification in general, feel free to post your comments in the section below.

Get Started with CAPM 2023 Basics Assessment

We hope you are excited about the new CAPM^® Certification and eager to start your certification journey.

You can take the FREE 50-question CAPM Basics Assessment (2023) exam right now with the BrainBOK CAPM Exam Simulator.

Getting Started with CAPM^® Certification

If you are new to CAPM^® Certification and want to know only about the latest edition of the exam, and do not care about the changes from the previous edition, you can head over to the CAPM Introduction page.

What has NOT Changed

Before we get into the changes, let’s list out the major features that have not changed and get them out of the way. The CAPM application process, eligibility criteria, the number of exam questions including pretest questions, the exam duration, the exam fees, the exam administration, and the renewal requirements have not changed.

Major Changes in CAPM^® Certification Exam 2023

Let’s dive into the major changes in the exam.

1. Exam Content Changes

The previous edition of the exam was a test of mostly tradition predictive life cycle approach for project management. The PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition was the only reference guide. The new exam is divided into 4 domains.

As you can see, agile and business analysis frameworks and methodologies have been added to the exam and account for nearly 50% of the exam questions. This is a significant change.

i. Agile and Hybrid Approaches

The new edition tests your knowledge in predictive, adaptive (agile), and hybrid project environments.

This means that you need to understand agile project management, and agile frameworks/methodologies such as Scrum, eXtreme Programming (XP), Kanban, SAFe^®, etc.

Learning agile project management empowers project managers to adapt quickly to rapidly changing environments, embrace iterative approaches, and foster collaboration among team members.

By adopting agile principles, project managers can enhance project flexibility, responsiveness, deliver high-quality results efficiently, and improve stakeholder satisfaction, making them well-equipped to thrive in today’s dynamic and fast-paced business landscape.

ii. Business Analysis Discipline

The new edition includes an entirely new discipline - Business Analysis - which is not even included in the PMP^® Certification content. While this makes the CAPM^® Certification more challenging than the PMP^® Certification in some ways, it also adds more value to the CAPM credential.

The two roles - project manager and business analyst - require close coordination in product and project life cycles.

Learning business analysis can help project managers to be more effective in their roles by providing them with a better understanding of the stakeholders’ needs, identify and mitigate risks, and make informed decisions, leading to more successful project outcomes and improved stakeholder satisfaction.

Business analysis perspective should provide the project managers increased visibility and influence, enhanced career opportunities, and a broader understanding of the business.

2. Seven Reference Guides

The previous edition was based solely on the PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition. So, you only had one resource to master. But, with the addition of agile and business analysis, the new edition is based on 7 Reference Guides for CAPM including the PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition, Agile Practice Guide, and two business analysis guides.

So, preparing for the new edition of the exam is going to take more effort and be vastly more challenging than the previous edition.

3. New Formats of Questions

The previous edition included only multiple-choice questions with one or more correct choices, but the new edition includes additional formats such as drag-and-drop, hot-spot, and even animations/comic strip type questions.

Who knows, you might get a question based on your favorite Dilbert comic strip that makes you chuckle for the rest of your exam.

While this will make the exam more interesting and engaging, it will also make it more challenging. It will also be hard to find practice exams that cover all the formats of questions.

4. Two Sections with a Break

The previous exam had no breaks and the entire exam with 150 questions was presented as a single section. The new exam is divided into 2 sections of 75 questions each. You get a 10-minute break after completing the first section.

The caveat is that once you have submitted the first section, you cannot revisit it again. Overall, including a break in a 3-hour long exam is a positive change.

Summary

In summary, the new CAPM^® Certification seems to be a hybrid of PMP^®, PMI-ACP^®, and PMI-PBA^® certifications. The changes will surely add a lot more value to the CAPM credential. It should open more professional opportunities for the new credential holders, and set them up for career success.

Please let me know your thoughts about the CAPM^® Certification 2023 edition. Do you think it’s a positive change in the right direction? If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below.

Get Started with CAPM 2023 Basics Assessment

Hope you are excited about the new CAPM^® Certification and eager to start your certification journey.

You can take the FREE 50-question CAPM Basics Assessment (2023) exam right now with the BrainBOK CAPM Exam Simulator, which includes 7 practice exams for CAPM with a total of 1000 questions.

Functional organizational structures are used for businesses that produce and sell standard products, or in other words, do mass production of goods. In a functional organizational structure, resources are grouped into functions or departments according to their area of specialization. Each department or function focuses on technical excellence and cost competitiveness in order to support the company’s business goals.

For example, a large automotive company may have several functions such as Product Development or Engineering, Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing, Information Technology. Within Engineering, it may have departments for Engines, Transmission, Powertrain, Chassis, Body, Electrical and Electronics Systems, etc. Engine Engineering department may have sub-departments for Manual Transmission and Automatic Transmission Engines, and so on.

Another simple way to understand functional organizational structure is to think about the departments in your university or college. The faculty in the Science department only teaches science, the faculty in the Mathematics department only teaches Maths. They specialize in their own discipline.

Another analogy can be drawn with government departments. Most governments have departments for revenue, foreign affairs, education, public services, health etc. These departments usually function in “silos” and all communication and coordination is channeled through the top officials overseeing these departments.

Yet another example is armed forces - Army, Navy and Air Force - have very hierarchical and rigid structures.

Keep these examples in mind when you think of a functional organization structure.

Do Functional Organization have Projects?

Yes, projects do exist in functional organization. However, Project Manager’s role is very limited in a functional organization. Project generally run within a single department and the department manager is the one who is fully in charge of the project and controls the project budget and resources. The project manager reports to the department manager and has little or no authority over the project team members, who report to the department manager.

A company may also form a project team to take up key organization-wide initiatives such as cost reduction by improving design and manufacturing efficiency, implementation of a new corporate IT application, set up of a new plant, etc. To drive such initiatives, a cross-functional project team may be formed with resources pooled from different departments. These resources are usually assigned part-time to the project and continue to perform their regular functional duties while they work on the project. A project manager can be appointed from one of the functions or it could be one of the functional heads.

In such a structure, the project manager may not have authority over the project team members because the team members continue to report to their functional managers. When conflicts arise on the project, they are usually reported up the management hierarchy and resolved through the intervention of top executives or department heads. Decisions are usually made in favor of the strongest department. Even if the project manager is given decision-making authority by a top executive, decisions may favor the project manager’s own department, rather than the interests of the company as a whole.

Key Success Factors for Project Managers in a Functional Organization

Since Project Managers do not have power or authority to make decisions in a functional organization structure, they must rely on their leadership, negotiation, persuasion, networking, and other soft skills to gain consensus, resolve conflicts, and get the work accomplished in order to meet the project objectives.

Advantages of Functional Organization Structure

Functional organizational structure has the following advantages compared to Projectized and Matrix organizational structures:

• More operational efficiency is achieved through pooling together of similar resources into the same department
• No duplication of effort as each department focuses on one function.
• More flexibility in staff allocation and budgeting for projects.
• Well established communication channels (vertically).
• Better management of specialists as the departments are organized by areas of specialization.
• Employees have a clearly defined career path in their area of specialization. - They have opportunities to move up the hierarchical ladder while gaining expertise in their discipline.
• Better utilization of scarce resources.
• Clearly defined reporting structure. Each employee has one boss.
• Employees perform repetitive work and gain expertise in their discipline.
• Employees in a department share similar knowledge, education and experience, so they can learn from each other and further hone their skills.
• Projects are usually completed within cost.

Now you may ask why bother about other organizational structures if a functional organization has all these advantages. Well, for each positive, there’s a downside too. We’ll review those next.

Disadvantages of Functional Organization Structure

Functional organizational structure has the following disadvantages compared to Projectized and Matrix organizational structures:

• Departments operate in “silos” and communication among departments is inefficient and slow, leading to slower decision making and problem resolution (more red tape).
• No ownership of the projects - no central authority or individual responsible for the projects.
• No customer focal point – slower response to customer needs.
• There’s stronger allegiance to the function than to the project or the customer.
• Organization wide changes are harder to implement as it’s difficult to get all functional departments to collaborate on organizational goals.
• Decisions are made in favor of the strongest department.
• Poor horizontal (departments-to-department) dissemination of information. This makes communication and collaboration on projects extremely challenging.
• Functional units or departments do not always cooperate well with each other. Teamwork and collaboration with other functions is not promoted, and there is little or no cross pollination of ideas.
• While projects usually deliver within costs, they usually tend to fall behind schedule because integration of project activities is difficult in a functional structure as priority is given to the interests of the functional departments rather than those of the projects.
• Duplication of effort can occur on department-centric projects. From my own experience with such organizations, different departments within the same company hire their own IT staff to build very similar systems to those in the other departments. This results in waste for the organization as a whole.
• Since the nature of work within the departments is repetitive, employee morale and innovation may suffer.
• Organizations with a functional structure tend to be slow in responding to competition and change in market conditions.
• More involvement is required from upper management because of conflict arising from struggle for power among the functional units, and due to customer complaints.
• There is no clearly defined career path for project managers in a functional organization.

Tips for the PMP exam

• When it comes to the PMP exam, functional organizations are usually painted in bad light because they tend to give less authority to project managers.

• If the organizational structure is not mentioned on a PMP exam question, you should assume a Matrix Organization (I’ll do a future post on other Organizational Structures).

Summary

Functional organizational structure is used for businesses that mass produce goods with a focus on cost-effectiveness. Such organizations tend to lack customer focus and are slow to respond to competition and market changes. Communication channels are clearly defined vertically but there is little horizontal dissemination of information. Departments in such organizations tend to operate in “silos”. Projects usually take place within a single department, and Project Managers have little to no authority in such organizations.

References

• PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition
• Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 12th Ed by Dr. Harold Kerzner
• Successful Project Management - By Jack Gido, Jim Clements, Rose Baker

PMBOK 7th Edition PDF is available for download to all PMI Members for free. This edition of the guide reflects the evolving profession and enables you to get the job done and deliver value.

You need to login to the PMI website with your PMI user ID / password, to download the PMBOK Guide PDF. The PDF file is password-protected. You will be prompted for a password when you try to open it. In order to open the file, you will need to enter your PMI (www.pmi.org) password.

Note: PMI User ID is different from your PMI Member ID (printed on your PMI membership card).

Links to PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition

PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition PDF (soft copy) Download Link

Download PMBOK Guide, Seventh Edition

PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition (hard copy) Purchase Link

Note: PMI members also get a 50% discount on the hard copy purchased through IPG.

PMP Exam Prep 2021

If you are preparing for the PMP Exam 2021, check out our partner site BRAINBOK:

Instructions to Download PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition PDF from PMI Website

Step 1 - Go to the Download Page

Go to the PMBOK 7th Edition download page. You’ll need to be signed in to the PMI website using your PMI account, and have an active PMI membership in order to see the download button.

If you are not logged in, the download button will be disabled, and you’ll see the Login button as shown below:

Step 2 - Login with PMI Credentials

Login with your PMI credentials if you are not already logged in.

Step 3 - Join PMI for Non-Members

After login, if you are not an active PMI Member, the download button will be disabled, and you’ll see Join PMI button as shown below:

Step 4 - Download Button

If you are signed in and have an active PMI membership, you’ll see the download link.

Note: As of Aug 3, 2021, the PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition is only available in English. The other translations are expected to be released later this month.

Step 5 - Secure Download Page

Click the Download button to get to the Secure PDF Download page.</li>

Step 6 - Enter PMI Credentials to Download PDF

On the download page, enter your PMI.org password and click on the Download button.

Step 7 - Save PDF File on your device

When prompted, select “Save” to save the PDF to your device.

Download the Previous Edition

PMI members can still download the PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition. Simply scroll down on the same page and you’ll see the section PMBOK^® Guide - Sixth Edition with a drop down list for language selection, and a Download button.

Print PMBOK^® Guide

Note that the downloaded guide is purely for your personal educational use. Any form of distribution of the PMBOK Guide is strictly prohibited by PMI. Since the release of the 6th Edition of the Guide in 2016, PMI has revised its terms of use to completely prohibit any form of printing of the Guide. Read Why can’t I Print the PMBOK Guide PDF? for details.

Save Money with PMI Membership

If you are serious about PMP Certification, I can help you get a free and 100% legal copy of the PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition and also save $11 on your exam cost. Read 10 Benefits of PMI Membership to find out more.

Questions or Need Help?

If you have any questions or need help on this topic, please post them as comments below.

BrainBOK is giving away a free full-length CAPM certification practice exam to all CAPM certification aspirants for a limited time. Follow the simple steps given below to claim your free exam.

Steps to Claim the Free Exam

To claim the free exam follow the 3 simple steps:

1. Comment below to register your interest.
2. Register on BrainBOK App with a valid email address.
3. Contact Customer Support with your registered email address for them to add the subscription to your account.

Note for Existing Subscribers

All existing CAPM Pro and CAPM 5-Exam Pack subscribers will get this exam added to their subscription automatically.

The subscribers to other packages can also claim the exam by following the steps giving below.

About the New Exam

The new exam has more focus on the Agile topics compared to our other CAPM practice exams, while ensuring that all the questions are within the scope of the PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition.

The exam also has more multiple-answer questions, and the match-the-following (drag and drop) type questions compared to our other CAPM exams.

They will appreciate your feedback on the new exam.

Limited time offer

This is a limited-time offer and limited redemptions are available. So, claim your free exam soon.

Share with Friends and Colleagues

Please share this offer with your friends and colleagues who may benefit from it.

The EEF vs OPA drag and drop game has been designed to help you learn and master the Enterprise Environment Factors (EEF) and Organizational Process Assets (OPA) names in a project environment, for the PMP and CAPM exam. A good understanding of this topic can help you score 2-5 additional marks on the exam, and can make the difference between a pass and a fail.

Instructions

• Drag and drop values from the Available section to the EEF or OPA section.
• Submit button will be enabled when all the values are placed into EEFs or OPAs section.
• Grading will be done and score displayed when you hit Submit.
• Correct entries would be highlighted in green and incorrect in red.
• Total 100+ unique EEF/OPA values are in the pool.
• You have unlimited retries. Practice until perfect!

Your feedback and ideas for more such games are welcome.

The PMBOK Guide, 6th edition terms both EEFs and OPAs as “influences” on the project because they can influence the project outcome in favorable (positive) or unfavorable (negative) ways. Both EEFs and OPAs should be considered in order to achieve successful project outcomes.

Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs)

Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) refer to conditions, not under the control of the project team that influence, constrain, or direct the project.

Key Points about EEFs

• can be internal or external to the organization
• originate outside the project and often outside the organization
• may have an impact at the organizational, portfolio, program, or project level
• are used as inputs in many project management processes, especially Planning processes
• can enhance or constrain project outcomes
• can be positive or negative

Types of EEFs

EEFs can be of two types:

• Internal (to the organization)
• External (to the organization)

Examples of Internal EEFs

• Organizational culture and structure
• Organization’s infrastructure
• Project Management Information Systems (PMIS), e.g. Automated Tools; Configuration Management System; Scheduling Software, etc.
• Resource availability
• Resource capability

Examples of External EEFs

• Government or Industry standards
• Marketplace conditions
• Political climate
• Commercial Databases
• Cost Estimating Data; Risk Databases, etc.

Organizational Process Assets (OPAs)

Organizational process assets (OPAs) are the plans, processes, policies, procedures, and knowledge bases specific to and used by the performing organization.

Key Points about OPAs

• influence the management of the project
• are used as inputs in many project management processes
• are internal to the organization

Types of OPAs

OPAs are also of two types:

• Processes, policies, and procedures: these are usually established by the PMO, and not updated as part of the project work
• Organizational knowledge bases: these are updated throughout the project with project information

Examples of Processes, Policies, and Procedures

• Standards, policies, procedures, and guidelines related to:
  • Communication
  • Risks
  • Procurements
  • Costs
  • Change Control
  • Work Authorization
  • Closure
• Templates for project plans and documents
• Product and project life cycles, and methods and procedures
• Preapproved supplier lists and contractual agreements
• HR and Admin Policies

Examples of Organizational Knowledge Bases

• Project files
• Lessons learned knowledge base
• Issue and defect management databases
• Configuration management knowledge base
• Process measurement databases
• Financial databases

Common Pitfalls related to EEFs and OPAs

I noticed a few items that could be potential pitfalls. Take note of these for your exam.

1. Pg 38 lists “approved providers and subcontractors, and collaboration agreements” as an internal EEF., whereas Pg 40 lists “Preapproved supplier lists and various types of contractual agreements” as OPA for Initiating and Planning processes. My interpretation is that the (pre)approved suppliers/subcontractors are EEFs, whereas the processes, policies, and procedures guiding the contracts are OPAs.

2. Ethics and code of conduct are listed as both internal and external EEFs (Pg 38 and 39).

3. Configuration management systems are EEFs, where configuration management knowledge repositories are OPAs.

4. Commercial risk databases are EEFs, whereas risk categories are OPAs. Think of risk categories as those developed by the organization.

5. Work authorization systems are EEFs, whereas procedures for issuing work authorizations are OPAs.

6. Information technology systems including issue and defect management databases are EEFs, whereas issue and defect management data repositories (information that you store in those databases) are OPAs.

7. Human resources are EEFs, whereas human resource policy is an OPA.

8. Environmental policies are OPAs. Don’t get mislead by the word “environmental” and choose EEF.

Some Exam Tips on EEFs and OPAs

1. If it’s an organizational process, procedure, or policy, it’s an OPA. These are usually not updated by the project, but influence the project. For example, change control procedures, human resource policy, quality policy, etc.

2. If it’s an artifact (plan, document, report, file etc.) created by the project, it’s an OPA. For example, project management plan, risk register, traceability matrices, lessons learned, status reports, etc.

3. Anything outside of a process, procedure, or policy but pertaining to your organization is an EEF. For example, organizational structure, culture, facilities, systems (hardware or software), resources (internal and external) including manpower, etc.

4. Any influence from outside the organization is obviously an EEF. For example, market conditions, political climate, legal restrictions, commercial databases, governement or industry standards, etc.

5. If it’s a “system”, it an EEF, but if it’s a repository (think data) it’s an OPA. For example, configuration management system is an EEF, whereas configuration management knowledge repository is an OPA.

6. Templates developed or tailored by the organization are OPAs. But if it’s an industry standard template, then it would be considered an EEF.

Quiz Time

Now it’s time to test your knowledge on this subject. Click on the image below to head over to the EEF OPA Drag n Drop game, which I created recently to spice up to this otherwise dry topic.

Infographic on EEFs vs OPAs

Conclusion

I hope you found this post useful and it helps you get 1-2 more questions right on the exam. If you have other good examples that could enrich this post, please share them with me through the comments section below. Do give me some feedback on the game as well.

PMBOK 6th Edition PDF is available for download to all PMI Members for free. You need to login to the PMI website with your PMI user ID / password, to download the PMBOK Guide PDF. The PDF file is password protected and when you try to open it, it will prompt you for a password. In order to open the file, you will need to enter your PMI (www.pmi.org) password.

Note: PMI User ID is different from your PMI Member ID (printed on your PMI membership card).

Links to PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition

PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition PDF (soft copy) Download Link

Download PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition

PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition (hard copy) Purchase Link

PMP Exam Prep 2021

If you are preparing for the PMP Exam 2021, check out our partner site BRAINBOK:

Download PMBOK^® Guide, 7th Edition - NEW!

PMI has released a new edition of the PMBOK^® Guide - 7th Edition. Click on the image below to download the latest edition.

Complementary copy of the Agile Practice Guide

A big change in the 6th Edition of the PMBOK^® Guide is that it includes a complementary copy of the Agile Practice Guide. You’ll find the Agile Practice Guide appended to the end of the same PDF file that you’ll download for the PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition.

Instructions to Download PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition PDF from PMI Website

1. Go to the PMBOK 6th Edition download page. You'll need to be signed in to the PMI website using your PMI account, and have an active PMI membership in order to see the download button. If you are not signed in or you are not an active PMI member, you'll see the following page:
   
   
   
   
   
   


2. Scroll down on the above page to get to the section with the login link:
   


3. If you are signed in and have an active PMI membership, you'll see the download link:
   
   
   


4. Click the Download button to get to the actual download page.
5. On the download page, enter your PMI.org password.
   
   
   


6. Click on the Download button.
7. When prompted, select "Save" to save the PDF to your desktop.

Print PMBOK^® Guide

Note that the downloaded guide is purely for your personal educational use. Any form of distribution of the PMBOK Guide is strictly prohibited by PMI. With the release of the 6th Edition of the Guide, PMI has revised its terms of use to completely prohibit any form of printing of the Guide. Read Why can’t I Print the PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition PDF? for details.

Save Money with PMI Membership

If you are serious about PMP Certification, I can help you get a free and 100% legal copy of the PMBOK^® Guide, 6th Edition and also save $11 on your exam cost. Read 10 Benefits of PMI Membership to find out more.

PMBOK Guide 6th Edition Errata

If you downloaded the PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition soon after its release but do not have the PMI membership to download the latest copy, you may want to download the errata file below. The 4th printing of the errata was released on Jun 1, 2019.

If you have any questions on this topic, post them as comments below.

Many PMI Members who downloaded the PDF version of the PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition were surprised to find the “Print” button disabled on the PDF file. It caught my attention too, though I had no intention to waste 400 sheets of paper (for an 800-page guide). In an old blog post, I had emphatically stated that PMI allows you to legally print the PMBOK Guide PDF for your personal educational use. I had even linked to PMI’s Terms page and shared an email reply from their customer care confirming the same. I decided to investigate.

The first thing I did after noticing the disabled Print button was to hop over to PMI’s Terms page. On Sep 9, 2017, it had the following paragraph:

3.2 PMI Content. As a courtesy to our customers and members, we have posted to the Site certain PMI Content. Unless otherwise specifically set forth on the Site or we give you written permission, you may only use and access, download and copy the PMI Content (and print a single copy) for your personal use, and you agree you will not alter, erase or otherwise obscure our copyright, proprietary or other notices on the PMI Content.

It clearly stated that you were allowed to print a single copy of the Guide for your personal use. But if that’s the case, then why was the Print button disabled on the Sixth Edition of the guide? Was it due to a technical glitch or have the Terms changed? I thought it would be best to seek clarification from PMI directly. So, I immediately shot an email to PMI customer care.

My Email to PMI Customer Care

Here’s what I wrote in the email on Sep 9, 2017:

I’m a PMI member (membership ID: XXXXXXX). I would like to print 1 copy of the PMBOK Guide for my own personal educational use. However, the printing on the downloaded PDF is disabled.

PMI’s terms section 3.2 states that I can print a single copy of the PMI standards for personal educational use:

https://www.pmi.org/terms

How am I supposed to print the guide then if printing is disabled? Please clarify.

PMI’s Response

Here’s a response I received from PMI Customer Care 1 week later on Sep 16, 2017:

Dear Harwinder,

Although previous versions of the PMBOK® Guide were printable, the incidence of piracy has increased significantly in recent years. It is important for us to protect the integrity of our publications so that we can continue to bring you the information you need to drive successful outcomes. As a PMI member, not only can you enjoy read-only access to all of our standards and practice guides, you can also purchase the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition and the Agile Practice Guide bundle in print for 50 percent off the list price. Our terms are now consistent with this change.

We value you as a member and a credential holder.

Update to PMI’s Terms

I again headed over the PMI’s Terms page, and indeed they had been updated. Here’s how they read today on Sep 24, 2017:

3.2 PMI Content. As a courtesy to our customers and members, we have posted to the Site certain PMI Content. Unless otherwise specifically set forth on the Site or we give you written permission, you may only access and download the PMI Content for your personal use, and you agree you will not alter, erase or otherwise obscure our copyright, proprietary or other notices on the PMI Content. You may not do or allow anyone else to do anything with the PMI Content which is not specifically permitted under this Agreement. You acknowledge and agree that the PMI Content is made available for informational and educational purposes only without representation or warranty of any kind and is not a substitute for legal advice or your professional judgment. Your reliance upon PMI Content obtained by you on or through the Services is solely at your own risk. All rights not expressly granted in this Agreement are reserved to PMI.

Conclusion

So, long story short:

You are NOT allowed to Print the PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition even for your personal educational use.

Note that the same restriction applies to PMI’s other standards as well.

My Opinion on the Permissions Change

In my opinion, the move is unfortunate and PMI is going too far with their protectionist measures.

• In the Fourth Edition, they added password-protection and disabled the ‘copy’ feature on the PDF.
• In the Fifth Edition, they started stamping PMI Member Name and ID in the footer section of every page of the PDF version.
• In the Sixth Edition, they have added a big, bold and ugly watermark “Not for Distribution, Sale or Reproduction” running diagonally across every single page of the Guide. The watermark is super distracting, annoying, and directly interferes with the readability of the guide. On top of that, they have disabled the ‘print’ feature too.

If the trend continues, I anticipate that they would prohibit the download of the Seventh Edition of the PMBOK Guide, and only let you read it online by logging onto their website.

In my view, the latest move does more harm than good. The only good that it hopes to achieve is to stop piracy. But would it really stop piracy? For anyone determined to break the protection on a PDF file, it takes less than 5 minutes to do so.

On the other hand, it is going to cause lot of inconvenience to thousands of PMI members who prefer to read from a hard copy than from an eBook, despite paying a membership fee. They will now have to fork out more $$$ to buy a hard copy version as well (adding to PMI’s bottomline). It also harms PMI’s reputation as a “nonprofit” organization.

Let me know what you think about the move. Do you have a better suggestion for PMI to stop the piracy without compromising the readability and usability of their standards?

Looking forward to the comments.