Book excerpt: Whether you're a current project manager seeking to validate the skills and knowledge acquired through years of practical experience or a newcomer to the PM field looking to strengthen your resume, the PMP® certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI®) provides you with the means to do so. This updated edition of the best-selling PMP®: Project Management Professional Study Guide was developed to help you prepare for this challenging exam, and includes additional study tools designed to reinforce understanding of critical subject areas. Key Topics Include: Project Initiation. Determining project goals, identifying constraints and assumptions, defining strategies, producing documentation. Project Planning. Refining a project, creating a WBS, developing a resource management plan, establishing controls, obtaining approval. Project Execution. Committing and implementing resources, managing and communicating progress, implementing quality assurance procedures. Project Control. Measuring Performance, taking corrective action, ensuring compliance, reassessing control plans, responding to risk event triggers. Project Closing. Documenting lessons learned, facilitating closure, preserving records and tools, releasing resources. Professional Responsibility. Ensuring integrity, contributing to knowledge base, balancing stakeholder interests, respecting differences. Note:CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. (PMI, PMP and Project Management Professional are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.)