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PMI PMP · 8 Essential Terms
PMP risk and people traps: the risk register, expected monetary value, qualitative versus quantitative analysis, secondary risk, RACI, the issue log, and the change control board.
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The living list of identified risks, their owners, responses, and often their probability, impact, and status.
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The living list of identified risks, their owners, responses, and often their probability, impact, and status.
Mnemonic. If it might happen later, it belongs in the risk register with an owner.
Exam trap. A risk with no owner is a note, not a managed risk. The exam expects an owner and a response, not only a title.
EMV is probability times the money impact of a risk or of a branch in a decision tree. It supports quantitative comparison, not a feeling about priority.
Mnemonic. EMV multiplies how likely by how costly, then lets you compare branches.
Exam trap. EMV is not required to rank every risk. A qualitative matrix can set priority. Use EMV when the stem gives probabilities and dollar impacts, especially in a decision tree.
Prioritizing risks by judging probability and impact on a scale, often in a matrix, so the team knows which risks deserve a closer look.
Mnemonic. Qualitative sorts the list. Quantitative puts numbers on the few that need them.
Exam trap. Jumping to a Monte Carlo model before anyone has ranked the list is the trap. Qualitative analysis is the screen.
A new risk created by a risk response. It did not exist, or was not relevant, until you acted on another risk.
Mnemonic. A secondary risk is the risk your response gave birth to. Residual risk is what is left of the original risk after the response.
Exam trap. Do not label a leftover piece of the original risk as secondary. Leftover is residual. New, caused by the response, is secondary.
The record of who the stakeholders are and what is known about their interest, influence, expectations, and classification.
Mnemonic. The register answers who they are and what they care about, before you plan how to engage them.
Exam trap. A RACI chart is not a stakeholder register. RACI assigns roles on work. The register identifies people and their stake, including people with no RACI letter.
A responsibility matrix: Responsible does the work, Accountable is the one owner of the result, Consulted is two-way, Informed is one-way.
Mnemonic. One A. The person who does the work may be a different letter, the R.
Exam trap. Two Accountable names for one deliverable are the trap. Consulted and Informed are also not interchangeable: Consulted answers back; Informed is told.
The record of issues that are happening now: a description, an owner, a due date, and the status. Issues are current problems, not uncertain future events.
Mnemonic. An issue has already arrived. A risk is still a maybe.
Exam trap. Parking a current defect in the risk register delays action and confuses reserves. If it is real today, log it as an issue and assign it.
The formally chartered group that reviews change requests and approves, rejects, or defers them when the project assigns that authority to a board.
Mnemonic. The board is the door a baseline change has to walk through when the plan says so.
Exam trap. The project manager does not bypass a chartered board because the customer is impatient. If the plan gives the board the authority, the path is the board.