Project Manager Examination — knowledge map
The 46 core concepts of Project Manager Examination and how they connect. Click a node in the map above to explore related terms and prerequisites; the list below indexes every concept with its definition and links to its prerequisites and related concepts.
Concepts (46)
EVM (earned value management)
A technique for managing project progress and cost using value-based metrics. From planned value (PV), earned value (EV), and actual cost (AC), it computes cost variance (CV) and schedule variance (SV) to quantify delays and cost overruns.
Prerequisites: Actual cost (AC)、Cost variance (CV)、Earned value (EV)、Planned value (PV)
Critical path
Among all the paths from a project's start to its finish, the one with the longest duration. If any task on this path slips by even one day, the overall project completion date slips as well.
Earned value (EV)
The value of work actually completed, measured in terms of the approved budget for that work. It represents "how much value the completed work is worth" and, combined with PV and AC, is the central figure used to compute every other earned value metric such as SV, CV, SPI, and CPI.
Schedule performance index (SPI)
An earned value management (EVM) metric that evaluates schedule performance. SPI = EV (earned value) ÷ PV (planned value); 1.0 means on schedule, below 1 indicates a schedule delay, and above 1 indicates ahead of schedule.
Prerequisites: EVM (earned value management)、Earned value (EV)、Planned value (PV)
Contingency reserve
A reserve included within the cost baseline to address identified risks (known unknowns). Its amount is estimated from risk analysis (e.g., expected monetary value), and it can be used at the project manager discretion. It is distinct from the management reserve, which is controlled by senior management for unidentified risks (unknown unknowns).
Prerequisites: Expected monetary value (EMV)
Related: Cost baseline、Management reserve
Subject groups (knowledge areas)
The collective term for the ten management domains defined by JIS Q 21500: integration, stakeholder, scope, resource, time, cost, risk, quality, procurement, and communication. Understanding that each subject group has activities spanning multiple process groups is important for grasping the overall structure of the PM standard.
Related: Process groups、JIS Q 21500
Risk treatment (reduction, avoidance, transfer, acceptance)
Four response strategies chosen based on risk assessment results. Reduction lowers likelihood or impact through controls; avoidance stops the activity causing the risk; transfer shifts the risk to a third party via insurance or outsourcing; acceptance tolerates the risk without further action when it falls within an acceptable range. The choice balances cost against effect.
Related: Risk assessment
Cost performance index (CPI)
An EVM metric that evaluates cost performance. CPI = EV (earned value) ÷ AC (actual cost); 1.0 means on budget, below 1 indicates a cost overrun (inefficiency), and above 1 indicates better-than-budgeted efficiency.
Prerequisites: Actual cost (AC)、Earned value (EV)
Actual cost (AC)
The cumulative cost actually incurred for the work completed during a given period (whether or not payment has been settled). Comparing it against EV yields cost efficiency (CPI), and on its own it shows how the budget is being consumed.
Cost baseline
The time-phased, approved project budget (cumulative cost by phase or period), which excludes the management reserve but includes the contingency reserve. Earned value PV is derived from this baseline and serves as the reference point against which actual performance is compared.
Prerequisites: Earned value (EV)、Planned value (PV)
Related: Contingency reserve、Management reserve
Crashing
A schedule compression technique that shortens activity durations on the critical path by adding resources such as staff or budget. Because it always increases cost, the optimal approach is to apply it first to the activity with the lowest additional cost per unit of time saved.
Prerequisites: Critical path
Integrated change control
The process of receiving change requests, assessing their impact on scope, schedule, cost, and quality, and having a change control board approve, reject, or defer them before updating baselines. It prevents uncontrolled changes (scope creep) and keeps change impact managed consistently across the project.
Related: Scope creep
Management reserve
A reserve set aside for unknown risks (unforeseeable in-scope work) that is not part of the cost baseline but is managed as part of the overall project budget. Unlike the contingency reserve, its use requires approval from a higher authority such as the sponsor, and confusing the two leads to an incorrect BAC scope in earned value calculations.
Prerequisites: Earned value (EV)
Related: Contingency reserve、Cost baseline
Process groups
The five groupings of project management activities defined in JIS Q 21500: initiating, planning, implementing, controlling, and closing. They are not simple chronological phases but can overlap and iterate within a project (e.g., planning and implementing repeat). Combined with the subject groups (knowledge areas) in a matrix, they form the framework for organizing which process belongs to which knowledge area.
Planned value (PV)
The cumulative approved budget authorized for work scheduled to be completed by a given point in time. It serves as the performance measurement baseline against which actual EV and AC are compared to compute schedule and cost variances (SV, CV).
Scope creep
The uncontrolled expansion of project scope without going through a formal change control process. Because added work escalates without its cost and schedule impact being assessed and approved, it is important to enforce integrated change control and detect early signs promptly.
Related: Integrated change control
Decision tree (decision analysis)
A management science technique that represents multiple options and their outcomes as a tree diagram, computing the expected value of each branch from its probability and payoff to guide optimal decisions. Used to evaluate investment decisions and project choices under uncertainty by comparing the expected value (sum of probability times payoff) of each branch.
PMBOK
A guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge) organizing the body of knowledge for project management. Through the 6th edition it was structured around 10 knowledge areas (scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, procurement, stakeholders, etc.) and process groups. Since the 7th edition (2021) it centers on 12 principles and 8 performance domains.
Prerequisites: Process groups、Subject groups (knowledge areas)
Arrow diagram
A diagram (PERT chart) that represents the sequencing of tasks and their durations using arrows and nodes. Summing the durations along each path allows the critical path and the earliest/latest start and finish dates to be calculated.
Prerequisites: Critical path
Configuration management
The activity of identifying and recording versions of deliverables, documents, and baselines, and applying only approved changes to keep them consistent. Working alongside integrated change control, it ensures the authoritative baseline version can always be uniquely traced.
Prerequisites: Integrated change control
Control chart (quality)
A chart that plots process measurements over time against upper and lower control limits to determine whether a process is in statistical control. Nonrandom patterns, such as seven consecutive points on one side of the mean, are flagged as out of control, making this important for statistically judging whether corrective action is needed.
Cost variance (CV)
A metric computed as CV = EV minus AC that indicates whether the project is under or over budget. A positive value means the project is within budget and a negative value means it is over budget; combining it with SV (for example, low SPI and low CPI together mean both delayed and over budget) is how corrective action is diagnosed.
Fast tracking
A schedule compression technique that shortens the schedule by performing activities in parallel that would normally be done sequentially. It adds no direct cost but can increase rework and risk, so the choice against crashing should weigh the trade-off of added cost versus added risk.
Prerequisites: Crashing
Cause-and-effect diagram (fishbone diagram)
A diagram that organizes the causes of a problem (the effect) into categories such as people, machines, methods, and materials, arranged in a fishbone shape. It is used for root cause analysis and helps ensure the response addresses the true cause rather than just the symptom.
JIS Q 21500
A Japanese Industrial Standard providing guidance on project management (JIS Q 21500:2018, aligned with ISO 21500:2012). It structures practice into five process groups (initiating, planning, implementing, controlling, closing) and ten subject groups (knowledge areas), and serves as the basis of the PM exam Part-A-II syllabus structure. Note that ISO 21500 was reorganized in 2021 into a governance standard with process details moved to ISO 21502, while the IPA exam follows the traditional process-group/subject-group framework.
Pareto chart
A chart that arranges defect or problem causes as bars in descending order of frequency, with a cumulative percentage line overlaid. Based on the empirical rule that a small number of causes account for most problems (the 80/20 rule), it is an important analysis tool for narrowing down which causes to address first.
Precedence relationship (FS/SS/FF/SF)
The type of sequencing constraint between activities: finish-to-start (FS), start-to-start (SS), finish-to-finish (FF), or start-to-finish (SF, rare), with FS being most common. Correctly expressing these dependencies in the schedule network diagram is the basis for computing the critical path.
Prerequisites: Critical path
Seven basic quality tools
The collective term for seven quality analysis tools: Pareto chart, cause-and-effect diagram, control chart, histogram, scatter diagram, check sheet, and stratification. They primarily handle numerical data, and selecting the right tool for the purpose — from cause analysis to trend detection — is an important judgment skill.
Prerequisites: Control chart (quality)、Cause-and-effect diagram (fishbone diagram)、Pareto chart
Project scope statement
A document that details a project deliverables, boundaries, exclusions, and acceptance criteria. It is the basis for creating the WBS and clarifies to all parties what is and is not included, helping prevent scope creep.
Prerequisites: Scope creep
Agile development and Scrum
Agile development is an umbrella term for development approaches that repeat short cycles (iterations) of planning, design, implementation, and testing to respond flexibly to changing requirements. Scrum is a representative agile method that repeats short cycles called sprints.
Burndown chart
A chart used in agile development that plots remaining work for a sprint or release over time, comparing an ideal line against actual progress. When the actual line diverges from the ideal, it enables early detection of delays or estimation errors, feeding into decisions such as scope adjustment.
Prerequisites: Agile development and Scrum
Cost-reimbursable contract (cost-plus)
A contract type that reimburses actual incurred costs plus an agreed fee (either fixed or a percentage of cost). Because the risk of cost overrun falls mainly on the buyer, it suits exploratory work with undefined requirements, but it places a heavier cost-monitoring and control burden on the buyer.
Expected monetary value (EMV)
A quantitative risk analysis metric calculated by multiplying a risk financial impact by its probability of occurrence (EMV = probability x impact). Because it converts multiple risk scenarios into comparable monetary terms, it is the basis for judging which option is favorable in expected-value terms in techniques such as decision tree analysis.
Prerequisites: Decision tree (decision analysis)
Fixed-price contract (FP)
A contract type in which a pre-agreed total amount is paid. It suits work where requirements are clearly fixed, and the risk of cost overrun falls on the vendor. Applying it to exploratory work with fluid requirements risks the vendor pricing in an excessive risk premium or cutting quality to compensate.
Free float
The amount of time an activity can be delayed without affecting the early start date of its immediate successor. It is less than or equal to total float and indicates local slack, used when judging the immediate impact of a delay on the next activity.
Prerequisites: Total float
Lead / lag
Lead is the amount of time a successor activity can be advanced ahead of its logical relationship (a negative offset), while lag is a deliberate waiting time that delays the start of a successor (a positive offset). Both are used for realistic schedule adjustments, and mixing up the sign leads to incorrect duration calculations.
Prerequisites: Precedence relationship (FS/SS/FF/SF)
Secondary risk
A new risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a response to an existing risk. For example, subcontracting work to a supplier (a transfer strategy) can create a new supplier-management risk; evaluating such risks created by the response itself, rather than overlooking them, is important for keeping risk response complete.
Prerequisites: Risk treatment (reduction, avoidance, transfer, acceptance)
Schedule variance (SV)
A metric computed as SV = EV minus PV that indicates whether the schedule is ahead or behind plan. A positive value means the project is ahead of schedule and a negative value means it is behind, and mixing up the sign leads to the wrong corrective-action decision.
Time and materials contract (T&M)
A contract type that combines a unit rate for labor hours with reimbursement for materials actually used. It has characteristics between fixed-price and cost-reimbursable contracts, suiting small-scale work such as enhancements or maintenance where scope is hard to fix upfront, but without a cost cap it risks open-ended cost growth.
Prerequisites: Cost-reimbursable contract (cost-plus)、Fixed-price contract (FP)
Total float
The maximum amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the overall project completion date (late start minus early start). The chain of activities with zero total float forms the critical path, and checking whether float is zero or positive is the basis for prioritizing responses to delays.
Prerequisites: Critical path
Velocity
In agile development, the average amount of work (such as story points) a team actually completes per sprint. It is calculated from past sprint results and used as the basis for estimating future sprint planning and release forecasts.
Prerequisites: Agile development and Scrum
ITIL
A framework summarizing best practices in IT service management, systematizing approaches such as incident management and change management. The latest edition, ITIL 4 (2019), is reorganized around the value-co-creation-centric Service Value System (SVS) and 34 practices (the former processes are carried forward as practices).
Prerequisites: Process groups
Precedence diagramming method (PDM)
A schedule network diagramming technique that represents activities as nodes (boxes) connected by arrows showing precedence relationships. Because it needs no dummy activities and can directly express all four dependency types (FS/SS/FF/SF), it is the standard technique used in modern project scheduling.
Prerequisites: Precedence relationship (FS/SS/FF/SF)
Resource leveling
A technique that adjusts activity start and finish dates to keep a specific resource allocation from exceeding its limit, thereby revising the schedule. Because the resource constraint takes priority, the critical path can change and the project end date usually extends, which distinguishes it from resource smoothing, which only adjusts within available float.
Prerequisites: Critical path
Residual risk
The risk that remains after risk treatment (reduction, avoidance, transfer) has been applied. Because risk can never be reduced to zero, management must judge whether the remaining level is acceptable and formally approve accepting it.
Prerequisites: Risk treatment (reduction, avoidance, transfer, acceptance)
Risk assessment
The process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating risk by surveying the threats and vulnerabilities affecting information assets. It quantifies risk magnitude (likelihood times impact) as the basis for subsequent risk treatment decisions, forming the core of the Plan phase in the ISMS PDCA cycle.
Related: Risk treatment (reduction, avoidance, transfer, acceptance)