Initiation, Planning and Baselines
Life cycle questions start with business case, project charter, stakeholder identification, scope statement, WBS, schedule, budget, baselines, and approval.
How to study for CompTIA Project+
Treat each Project+ item as a project-control decision: identify the phase, artifact, stakeholder, constraint, risk, and approval path.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Initiation authorizes the project and connects it to business need, sponsor support, and early stakeholder alignment.
Exam cue: Use charter for authorization and high-level alignment.
Concept 2
Planning decomposes work, estimates resources, sequences activities, budgets cost, and creates baselines.
Exam cue: Use WBS and estimates to build schedule and budget.
Concept 3
Baselines give approved reference points for measuring scope, schedule, and cost performance.
Exam cue: Measure performance against approved baselines.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Starting execution before the project is authorized.
Guardrail: Avoid answers that skip impact analysis, bypass change control, ignore stakeholders, close without acceptance, or omit operations handoff.
Creating a schedule without work decomposition.
Guardrail: Avoid answers that skip impact analysis, bypass change control, ignore stakeholders, close without acceptance, or omit operations handoff.
Changing a baseline informally after variance appears.
Guardrail: Avoid answers that skip impact analysis, bypass change control, ignore stakeholders, close without acceptance, or omit operations handoff.
Memory anchors
Business Case
A business case explains why the project is worth doing and what value it should deliver.
Project Charter
A project charter formally authorizes work and names high-level objectives, sponsor, and authority.
Scope Statement
A scope statement defines what is included and excluded from the project.
WBS
A work breakdown structure decomposes project scope into manageable deliverables or work packages.
Activity Sequence
Activity sequencing identifies dependencies and logical order of work.
Estimate
An estimate forecasts duration, effort, cost, or resources based on available information.
Schedule Baseline
A schedule baseline is the approved timeline used for performance comparison.
Cost Baseline
A cost baseline is the approved budget used for cost performance comparison.
Milestone
A milestone marks a significant point or decision in the project timeline.
Approval Gate
An approval gate confirms readiness before moving to the next phase or commitment.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
An executive proposes an automation project but has not shown how it supports strategy or saves money. What should be developed before authorization?
The sponsor approves a project informally, but functional managers will not release staff because no document names the project manager's authority. What is missing?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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