Welcome to this week’s clinical informatics exam practice question of the week. In last week’s post, we talked about nomenclatures, terminologies, and vocabularies. In this week’s post we’ll get a little less technical and a little more managerial. In particular, we’ll be discussing project management documents. Get excited for charters, scope statements, WBSs, and project management plans!
A Refresher in Projects and Project Management
Projects are temporary endeavors undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. They key to distinguishing projects from other activities in a business are that projects are temporary and unique.
Commonly repeated processes are not necessarily projects. For example, deploying a new series of servers in a dozen data centers can be a project, because it’s temporary (only 12 centers) and unique (assuming servers aren’t replaced regularly). However, pushing updates to servers every week or month is not a project, because it’s not temporary – it’s ongoing. It’s also not unique. While the updates may be unique – they generally follow the same processes to implement.
Project Management is the process of bringing these projects from inception to completion. To successfully manage a project, a project manager should bring their project to completion on schedule, on scope, and on cost. Easier said then done, of course.
Throughout this project management process, a project manager will encounter and create many different documents – ranging from requirements and communications documents to change requests and project schedules. In this week’s question, we’ll cover the doozies – the plans with the most impact on the outcome of the project. So let’s get into this week’s clinical informatics exam practice question.
Question
The project document that outlines the relationships between project deliverables and their components is known as the:
- Project schedule
- Project charter
- Work breakdown structure
- Project management plan
Answer and Explanation
The project schedule outlines all the activities that take place in a project and when they are to be started and completed. The project schedule builds upon the structure outlines in the work breakdown structure.
The project charter formally authorizes a project and documents the requirements expected by stakeholders. This is the official “go-ahead” for beginning a project.
The work breakdown structure outlines the relationships between deliverables and their components. The WBS breaks down deliverables into more manageable chunks. Project managers may choose to breakdown their work until they get to the smallest elements of the plan – tasks. It should be noted that even though the WBS can break down the projects into tasks, it does not assign dates, resources, or any other asset to tasks or deliverables.
The project management plan is the master plan that integrates and coordinates all subsidiary plans. For example, within the project management plan you may find the communications plan, the requirements management plan, the procurement management, the change management plan, and any other plans developed for the project.
Also of importance but not listed in the potential answers is the project scope statement. The scope statement outlines the formal limitations of the project and sometimes it’s expenditure of funds.
Therefore answer 3). The Work Breakdown Structure is the correct answer.
Further Studying
If you’re looking for more resource on clinical informatics, you can purchase our text – Clinical Informatics Board Review: Pass the Exam the First Time. It’s the only board review book for the clinical informatics exam and comes with a money back guarantee if you don’t pass the exam on your first attempt – it’s the only study material for the clinical informatics exam with one.
You can also sign up for practice questions through learn.informaticspro.com if you’re looking to test your readiness for the exam. A full-length practice exam should be coming in the next couple of weeks.
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References and Recommended Reading
Project Management Document Templates by PMI
Project Management Basics by Usability.gov