Preparing for and passing the PMP(R) exam is no small feat. Although the number of certified PMP(R)s continues at a phenomenal rate, the exam failure rate remains uncommonly high. PMP(R) Exam Challenge! is designed to help you pass the exam by giving you an easy-to-use, highly portable publication, containing key relevant topics you are certain to encounter on your exam. Featuring 660 practice questions, this sixth edition completely reflects the PMBOK(R) Guide, Fifth Edition and covers the guide's ten knowledge areas.

Recent healthcare reform and its provisions have pushed health information technology (HIT) into the forefront. Higher life expectancies, fewer medical errors, lower costs, and improved transparency are all possible through HIT.Taking an integrated approach, Impact of Healthcare Informatics on Quality of Patient Care and Health Services examines the various types of organizations, including nonprofit hospitals, for-profit hospitals, community health centers, and government hospitals. By doing so, it provides you with a comparative perspective of how different organizations adapt and use the technology.The first part of the book covers the basics of HIT. It explains the significant changes that the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) will bring about for stakeholders. This section includes coverage of key organizational cultural factors, management changes that will result from HIT, hospital financing changes that may take effect, a cost-benefit analysis of electronic medical records (EMRs), and the numerous organizational behavior changes stimulated by HIT.The second part of the book focuses on the broader community: the patient, the physician, government, and how HIT will impact each. These chapters cover quality of care and cost impacts on the patient from HIT, changes for patients of varying socioeconomic statuses, physician perceptions of HIT, medical malpractice lawsuits involving the use of HIT, bioterrorism, and use of EMRs. The book also includes a discussion about mobile health, and how a rapidly growing mobile health generation is changing the face of healthcare as we know it.

Grounded in practicality, this book explains the procedures for running a successful project and highlights the finer points of managing and controlling the project. Written specifically for those responsible for the hands-on managing of projects, the book is also useful to overall program managers and senior executives. Project managers will gain the confidence that comes from following a good recipe for success. Program managers will gain a perspective on the myriad of activities their project managers must perform to achieve a well-disciplined project. Senior managers will gain a perspective of the approach necessary at the beginning of a project to reduce the number of ill-advised projects and the effort required to achieve successful projects.

Nowadays software engineers not only have to worry about the technical knowledge needed to do their job, but they are increasingly having to know about the legal, professional and commercial context in which they must work. With the explosion of the Internet and major changes to the field with the introduction of the new Data Protection Act and the legal status of software engineers, it is now essential that they have an appreciation of a wide variety of issues outside the technical. Equally valuable to both students and practitioners, it brings together the expertise and experience of leading academics in software engineering, law, industrial relations, and health and safety, explaining the central principles and issues in each field and shows how they apply to software engineering.

Recognizing the importance of portfolio management, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has launched a new certification entitled the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP). PfMP Exam Practice Tests and Study Guide is the most comprehensive resource available to help you prepare for and pass the PfMP certification exam. It provides coverage that is current with The Standard for Portfolio Management, Third Edition and the PfMP Examination Content Outline (ECO), 2013.The book consists of five sections, each of which corresponds to one of the five domains described in the ECO. Each section includes study hints, a list of major topics that may be encountered on the exam, and 20 multiple-choice practice questions that illustrate the applicable task from the ECO. Each section also includes an answer sheet and answer key with the rationale for each correct answer and references to the Standard. Supporting references are also listed at the end of the book for each of the domains covered on the exam.Written by Dr. Ginger Levin, co-author of best-selling PMP and PgMP study guides, the book includes two complete practice tests, each consisting of 170 questions that follow the blueprint of the actual PfMP exam as described in the ECO. For example 25 percent of the questions relate to Strategic Alignment 20 percent relate to Governance 25 percent relate to Portfolio Performance 15 percent relate to Portfolio Risk Management 15 percent relate to Communications Management The two accompanying online tests feature a proprietary scoring algorithm to help you determine if you are Proficient, Moderately Proficient, or Below Proficient in each domain. Earning the PfMP certification is a prestigious accomplishment. By study

"Vivek Kale's Creating Smart Enterprises goes smack-dab at the heart of harnessing technology for competing in today's chaotic digital era. Actually, for him, it's SMACT-dab: SMACT (Social media, Mobile, Analytics and big data, Cloud computing, and internet of Things) technologies. This book is required reading for those that want to stay relevant and win, and optional for those that don't." -Peter Fingar, Author of Cognitive Computing and business technology consultant Creating Smart Enterprises unravels the mystery of social media, mobile, analytics and big data, cloud, and Internet of Things (SMACT) computing and explains how it can transform the operating context of business enterprises. It provides a clear understanding of what SMACT really means, what it can do for smart enterprises, and application areas where it is practical to use them. All IT professionals who are involved with any aspect of a SMACT computing project will profit by using this book as a roadmap to make a more meaningful contribution to the success of their computing initiatives. This pragmatic book: Introduces the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) business ecosystem confronted by the businesses today. Describes the challenges of defining business and IT strategies and of aligning them as well as their impact on enterprise governance. Provides a very wide treatment of the various components of SMACT computing, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and its constituting technologies like RFID, wireless networks, sensors, and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This book addresses the key differentiator of SMACT computing environments and solutions that combine the power of an elastic infrastructure with analytics. The SMACT environment is cloud-based and inherently mobile. Information management processes can analyze and discern recurring patterns in colossal pools of operational and transactional data. Analytics, big data, and IoT computing leverage and transform these data patterns to help create successful, smart enterprises.

This new edition has been updated with information relevant to the newest Basic Stamp, the BS2P, and revised to present more advanced projects. The result is a superb hands-on teaching text with dozens of completely new projects in addition to enhanced projects that take advantage of its latest features. (Computer Books - Languages/Programming)

Information Technology is applicable in all areas of life. As a result, computer science is essential to imagine the modern world. Recent advances in information technology represents only a small part of today's computing applications which were the subject of international cooperation between Kazakh, Ukrainian and Polish scientists. A wide range of issues and topics is addressed, from game theory to advanced control issues: - Application of new computational models and their security problems - The integro-differential game approach - Application of information technology for automated translation, from inflected languages to sign language - Mathematical problems of complex systems investigation under uncertainties Recent advances in information technology is of interest to academics and engineers, and to professionals involved in information technology and its applications.

In addition to test questions in each of the five domains and two practice tests in print and online, this all-in-one study guide also contains flashcards for learning terms. This book is current with The Standard for Program Management, Fourth Edition, and its author is the second person in the world to have earned the PgMP (R) certification. The online versions of the practice test simulate taking the actual exams and provide scoring as above target, target, below target, or needs improvement. Answers come with explanations and references. Questions are written to improve reading skills and teach how to select the best answer, which are key to passing the exam.

Network science is a rapidly emerging field of study that encompasses mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering. A key issue in the study of complex networks is to understand the collective behavior of the various elements of these networks. Although the results from graph theory have proven to be powerful in investigating the structures of complex networks, few books focus on the algorithmic aspects of complex network analysis. Filling this need, Complex Networks: An Algorithmic Perspective supplies the basic theoretical algorithmic and graph theoretic knowledge needed by every researcher and student of complex networks. This book is about specifying, classifying, designing, and implementing mostly sequential and also parallel and distributed algorithms that can be used to analyze the static properties of complex networks. Providing a focused scope which consists of graph theory and algorithms for complex networks, the book identifies and describes a repertoire of algorithms that may be useful for any complex network. Provides the basic background in terms of graph theory Supplies a survey of the key algorithms for the analysis of complex networks Presents case studies of complex networks that illustrate the implementation of algorithms in real-world networks, including protein interaction networks, social networks, and computer networks Requiring only a basic discrete mathematics and algorithms background, the book supplies guidance that is accessible to beginning researchers and students with little background in complex networks. To help beginners in the field, most of the algorithms are provided in ready-to-be-executed form. While not a primary textbook, the author has included pedagogical features such as learning objectives, end-of-chapter summaries, and review questions

The third book in the Healthcare Payment Systems series, Prospective Payment Systems examines the various types of prospective payment systems (PPS) used by healthcare providers and third-party payers. Emphasizing the basic elements of PPS, it considers the many variations of payment for hospital inpatient and outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term hospital care, and rehabilitation facilities along with other providers. The book describes the anatomy of PPS, including cost reports, adjudication features and processes, relative weights, and payment processes. It outlines the features and documentation requirements for Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRGs), the Medicare Ambulatory Payment Classifications (APCs), Medicare HHPPS, Medicare Skilled Nursing Resource Utilization Groups (RUGs), and private third-party payers. Provides a framework for understanding and analyzing the characteristics of any PPS Discusses Medicare prospective payment systems and approaches Includes specific references to helpful resources, both online and in print Facilitates a clear understanding of the complexities related to PPS covering specific topics at a high level and revisiting similar topics to reinforce understanding Complete with a detailed listing of the acronyms most-commonly used in healthcare coding, billing, and reimbursement, the book includes a series of case studies that illustrate key concepts. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges with PPS including compliance and overpayment issues to provide you with the real-world understanding needed to make sense of any PPS.

Software testing is at a very important crossroad, where it is going back to the roots on certain fronts while moving inexorably forward. For instance, test automation is growing in prominence, but manual testing is becoming a niche; we are increasingly collaborating with the developers, breaking the bounds of unrealistic independence in testing, and bringing in true conscious quality. At such an important stage, it is important to take stock of the past, present, and future to define both the direction the discipline will take as well as the careers it will entail for testers. This book looks at a range of topics covering where we are in the product development landscape today, what are the varied disciplines at play, what are the influencing factors bringing in a change in software testing, why is such change important, what did the past look like, what is current decade turning out to be like, and where are we heading. As for future, it looks at it both from near-term and long-term perspectives. It also considers whether the testing fraternity is ready to take on such changes and are empowered enough to do so, or are there gaps that need to be filled. The book closes with perspectives from industry experts on what is in store for the software testing discipline and community in the coming years. After reading the book, you will be confident that you can take on what is in store for testers in the coming years. You will also be positioned to help the industry move to the next level, and influence change not just amongst testers but also in the product engineering industry level as a whole.

Within this context, big data analytics (BDA) can be an important tool given that many analytic techniques within the big data world have been created specifically to deal with complexity and rapidly changing conditions. The important task for public sector organizations is to liberate analytics from narrow scientific silos and expand it across internally to reap maximum benefit across their portfolios of programs. This book highlights contextual factors important to better situating the use of BDA within government organizations and demonstrates the wide range of applications of different BDA techniques. It emphasizes the importance of leadership and organizational practices that can improve performance. It explains that BDA initiatives should not be bolted on but should be integrated into the organization's performance management processes. Equally important, the book includes chapters that demonstrate the diversity of factors that need to be managed to launch and sustain BDA initiatives in public sector organizations.

This desk reference for IT professionals in the insurance industry provides information about the latest technologies to improve efficiency and prediction. Topics include: imaging modeling management systems customer systems Internet commerce Issues affecting all financial service sectors, such as the year 2000 problem The Insurance Technology Handbook is geared toward all levels of technology management and financial services management responsible for developing and implementing cutting-edge technology.

Project Management covers the full range of issues of vital concern to IT managers working in today's hurry-up, budget-conscious business environment. The handbook provides valuable advice and guidance on how to get projects finished on-time, within budget, and to the complete satisfaction of users, whether a high-tech, low-tech, financial, manufacturing, or service organization. Project Management Handbook brings together contributions from an all-star team of more than 40 of experts working at leading enterprise organizations and consulting firms across America, and around the world. With the help of dozens of fascinating and instructive case studies and vignettes, reporting experiences in a wide range of business sectors, those experts share their insights and experience and extrapolate practicable guidelines and actions steps that project managers can put to work on their current projects.

Accounting for the rapid and often confusing changes currently underway in the information systems of organizations, such as the rush to replace mainframes with networks and the decentralization of data storage and processing, provides insights on the duties and challenges of a data center manager. Covers strategic planning, management practices, controls, systems and contingency planning, network technology, human resources, desktop computing, and future directions....

In business, driving value is a key strategy and typically starts at the top of an organization. In today's digital age, driving software value is also an important, and often overlooked, key strategy. Executives, and the corporate board, need to expect the highest level of business value from the software the organization is developing, buying, and selling. In today's digital transformation marketplace, it is imperative that organizations start driving business value from software development initiatives. For many years, the cost of software development challenged organizations with questions such as: How do we allocate software development costs? Should these costs be considered an overhead expense? Are we getting the most value possible for our investment? A fundamental problem has been built into these questions - the focus on cost. In almost every other part of the organization, maximizing profit or, in the case of a not-for-profit, maximizing the funds available, provides a clear focus with metrics to determine success or failure. In theory, simply aligning software spending with the maximizing profit goals should be sufficient to avoid any questions about value for money. Unfortunately, this alignment hasn't turned out to be so simple, and the questions persist, particularly at the strategic or application portfolio level. In this book, Michael D.S. Harris describes how a software business value culture-one where all stakeholders, including technology and business-have a clear understanding of the goals and expected business value from software development. The book shows readers how they can transform software development from a cost or profit center to a business value center. Only a culture of software as a value center enables an organization to constantly maximize business value flow through software development. If your organization is starting to ask how it can change software from a cost-center to a value-center, this book is for you.

Software is one of the most important products in human history and is widely used by all industries and all countries. It is also one of the most expensive and labor-intensive products in human history. Software also has very poor quality that has caused many major disasters and wasted many millions of dollars. Software is also the target of frequent and increasingly serious cyber-attacks. Among the reasons for these software problems is a chronic lack of reliable quantified data. This reference provides quantified data from many countries and many industries based on about 26,000 projects developed using a variety of methodologies and team experience levels. The data has been gathered between 1970 and 2017, so interesting historical trends are available. Since current average software productivity and quality results are suboptimal, this book focuses on "best in class" results and shows not only quantified quality and productivity data from best-in-class organizations, but also the technology stacks used to achieve best-in-class results. The overall goal of this book is to encourage the adoption of best-in-class software metrics and best-in-class technology stacks. It does so by providing current data on average software schedules, effort, costs, and quality for several industries and countries. Because productivity and quality vary by technology and size, the book presents quantitative results for applications between 100 function points and 100,000 function points. It shows quality results using defect potential and DRE metrics because the number one cost driver for software is finding and fixing bugs. The book presents data on cost of quality for software projects and discusses technical debt, but that metric is not standardized. Finally, the book includes some data on three years of software maintenance and enhancements as well as some data on total cost of ownership.

This is the story of an up-and-coming project manager that has been handed a large program to lead. Follow along as Susan Codwell, Program Manager for FitAtWork Inc., struggles, leads, stumbles, and grows into the role of program manager. Throughout this book you will gain a clear understanding of the core program management processes and components involved.An engaging story of what makes program management effective, From Projects to Programs: A Project Manager's Journey introduces key program management concepts in a manner that is easy to understand. It provides a backstage view into the workings of program management, program organization, team dynamics, and the skills required to manage programs. Presents new ideas on program organization and reporting Identifies the critical skills required of program managers Supplies helpful tips for managing project managers Includes reflections at the end of each chapter that reinforce key concepts Narrated through the eyes of a program manager, the book provides you with the opportunity to experience the ins and outs of real-world program management. Every project team member will find themselves somewhere in this story. Whether you are an aspiring program manager, a successful project manager, or a project team member, this book offers a fascinating glimpse into what it takes to run successful programs in today's business environment.

The instant access that hackers have to the latest tools and techniques demands that companies become more aggressive in defending the security of their networks. Conducting a network vulnerability assessment, a self-induced hack attack, identifies the network components and faults in policies, and procedures that expose a company to the damage caused by malicious network intruders. Managing a Network Vulnerability Assessment provides a formal framework for finding and eliminating network security threats, ensuring that no vulnerabilities are overlooked. This thorough overview focuses on the steps necessary to successfully manage an assessment, including the development of a scope statement, the understanding and proper use of assessment methodology, the creation of an expert assessment team, and the production of a valuable response report. The book also details what commercial, freeware, and shareware tools are available, how they work, and how to use them. By following the procedures outlined in this guide, a company can pinpoint what individual parts of their network need to be hardened, and avoid expensive and unnecessary purchases.

Governments, their agencies, and businesses are perpetually battling to protect valuable, classified, proprietary, or sensitive information but often find that the restrictions imposed upon them by information security policies and procedures have significant, negative impacts on their ability to function. These government and business entities are beginning to realize the value of information assurance (IA) as a tool to ensure that the right information gets to the right people, at the right time, with a reasonable expectation that it is timely, accurate, authentic, and uncompromised. Intended for those interested in the construction and operation of an IA or Information Security (InfoSec) program, Building a Global Information Assurance Program describes the key building blocks of an IA development effort including: Information Attributes System Attributes Infrastructure or Architecture Interoperability IA Tools Cognitive Hierarchies Decision Cycles Organizational Considerations Operational Concepts Because of their extensive and diverse backgrounds, the authors bring a unique perspective to current IT issues. The text presents their proprietary process based on the systems development life cycle (SDLC) methodology specifically tailored for an IA program. This process is a structured, cradle-to-grave approach to IA program development, from program planning and design to implementation, support, and phase out. Building a Global Information Assurance Program provides a proven series of steps and tasks that you can follow to build quality IA programs faster, at lower costs, and with less risk.

The primary cause of many project failures is that responsible executives, because of their lack of knowledge in project management, fail to demand that their managers and staff properly utilize the well-proven best practices, processes, systems, and tools that are now available in this field. This book remedies this situation by providing executives at all levels with the understanding and knowledge needed to best take advantage of the power of effective project management and thereby lead and manage innovations within their enterprise. In Leading and Managing Innovation: What Every Executive Team Must Know about Project, Program, and Portfolio Management, Second Edition, the authors present concise descriptions of The key concepts underlying project and program management The important characteristics of projects and programs How projects and programs are best governed and managed How to determine if the desired benefits have actually been achieved The book presents a list of 31 reasonable demands that executives can and must place on their staff members to ensure excellence in the way their programs and projects are created, selected for funding, planned, and executed. Placing these demands communicates to the entire enterprise that top management understands what it takes to achieve the best performance possible and fully supports the continuous improvement needed to ensure continued success. Leading and Managing Innovation explains how to measure the project management maturity level of an enterprise, benchmark against competitors, and identify where project management improvements are required. It discusses the many ways that an enterprise can derive substantial success and competitive advantage from increasing its project management maturity level. A helpful quick reference summary of all of the book's key information is included in the final chapter. Ar

Companies understand that their ability to compete is tied directly to their ability to leverage the very latest technology advances. Fortunately, deploying new technology has never been easier, primarily due to early maturity and cloud delivery. One approach that is helping companies rapidly pilot and affordably deploy new technologies is ready technology, a new category of information technology (IT). This book explains the ready technology adoption process in detail, enabling companies to exploit new technology immediately and effectively. In this book, the author challenges the traditional "requirements-first/technology-second" approach to technology deployment. Espousing a "technology-first/requirements-second" approach, the author explains how business solutions are "discovered" by deploying not studying ready technology. The book covers the latest trends and processes in ready technology. It also describes the characteristics of ready companies and recommends ready technology pilots that should be launched by the following industries: higher education, retail, and healthcare.

If you want to be a successful project manager, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there can be no success as a project manager. And, although all key success criteria point to the importance of developing soft skills as a project manager, few books exist about how to develop the power of influence for achieving better project and business results. Filling this need, The Influential Project Manager: Winning Over Team Members and Stakeholders supplies detailed guidance on how to improve your influence skills to achieve better business results. It explains how to set and meet ambitious goals for you, your team, and your stakeholders. The book describes how to listen actively to influence others and details how you can build partnerships that can pay dividends for a lifetime. Each chapter highlights real-world scenarios about a particular subject linked to the influencing skill being covered. Each chapter also includes practical forms, templates, helpful tips, and best practices to help you develop and refine your skills of influence. Details the ten keys to influencing others to support you and your ideas Outlines techniques for improving your listening skills Includes a trust assessment for determining your level of influence and if others see you as trustworthy Demonstrates how to build a network of informal alliances to achieve success Supplying you with the vision of influence from an experienced project manager's perspective, this book will help you procure the informal power required to become a successful influencer. After reading the text and performing the trust assessment, you will gain the understanding required to lead project members down the path to project success.

Making IT Lean: Applying Lean Practices to the Work of IT presents Lean concepts and techniques for improving processes and eliminating waste in IT operations and IT Service Management, in a manner that is easy to understand. The authors provide a context for discussing several areas of application within this domain, allowing you to quickly gain insight into IT processes and Lean principles.The text reviews IT Service Management, with reference to the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a framework for best practices explaining how to use it to accommodate Lean processes and operations. Filled with straightforward examples, it provides enough modeling tools so you can start your Lean journey right away. Examining the work of IT from an IT practitioner perspective, the book includes coverage of: The OM Perspective considers the work of IT from an Operations Management (OM) perspective, showing how many of the concepts that have been successfully applied within manufacturing can be applied to IT The Lean Improvement Model explains Lean concepts and practices and details the authors Lean improvement model Lean Problem-Solving (Identifying and Understanding Problems) considers operational work in IT and explains how to apply Lean practices related to problem identification and root cause analysis Lean Problem-Solving (Identifying and Managing Solutions) describes how to use good problem identification as the basis for identifying the right solutions Lean IT Service Management examines IT work from an IT Service Management perspective, using the ITIL framework as a guide Implementing and Sustaining Lean IT Improvements explains how to implement and sustain Lean IT improvements Throughout the book, the authors use a simple model for Lean Improvement as the framework