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3.1: Mapping to exam content outline

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    Mapping to Exam Content Outline

    This chapter connects directly to Domain II: Governance, which accounts for 20% of the PfMP exam. It covers the mechanics of authorizing and steering a portfolio: distinguishing tactical oversight from strategic authorization, assigning clear accountability through tools like RACI, drawing on organizational and portfolio process assets rather than building governance from scratch, and using the charter, management plan, and stage gates to authorize and continually re-evaluate portfolio components. Exam scenarios in this area often test whether you understand that governance is a recurring, structured process rather than a single approval granted at the start of a portfolio.

    • Domain II: Governance (20% of exam, 5 tasks): This chapter covers the tasks spanning the establishment of a governance structure that separates strategic decision-making (the governance board) from tactical oversight (the steering committee), the assignment of clear accountability using RACI to ensure decisions have a single owner, the use of organizational and portfolio process assets to inform governance decisions, the development of the portfolio charter and management plan to formally authorize and guide execution, and the use of stage gates and exception-based authorization to continue, revise, or terminate components based on performance.
    • Related Knowledge and Skills: Governance structures, decision rights and escalation paths, responsibility assignment (RACI), organizational process assets, portfolio process assets, charter development, portfolio management plan development, and stage gate reviews.

    On the PfMP exam, questions in this area often present a scenario where a decision has stalled or been made by the wrong party, such as a project answering to two competing sponsors with no clear escalation path. Favor the answer that clarifies decision rights and accountability, typically through a defined governance structure or RACI assignment, rather than one that escalates informally or relies on personal relationships to resolve the conflict. When a scenario presents new information that changes the economics of a component, such as emerging technology partway through delivery, the correct response is almost always to raise it at the next stage gate for a formal continue, revise, or terminate decision rather than to unilaterally adjust course outside the governance framework.

    3.1: Mapping to exam content outline is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.