Up to date with the third edition of PMI's Program Management Standard, The PgMP(R) Exam Challenge! contains more than 300 practice questions to help readers hone their knowledge and test their skills. It covers all five of the program management domains: Strategic Program Management, Program Management Life Cycle, Benefits Management, Stakeholder Management, and Governance. It also examines all of the sub domains of the lifecycle domain. With an easy-to-use format, this is an ideal resource for those preparing to take the PgMP exam.

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

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.

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.

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

This new edition of Risk Management: Concepts and Guidance supplies a look at risk in light of current information, yet remains grounded in the history of risk practice. Taking a holistic approach, it examines risk as a blend of environmental, programmatic, and situational concerns. Supplying comprehensive coverage of risk management tools, practices, and protocols, the book presents powerful techniques that can enhance organizational risk identification, assessment, and management-all within the project and program environments. Updated to reflect the Project Management Institute's A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK (R) Guide), Fifth Edition, this edition is an ideal resource for those seeking Project Management Professional and Risk Management Professional certification. Emphasizing greater clarity on risk practice, this edition maintains a focus on the ability to apply "planned clairvoyance" to peer into the future. The book begins by analyzing the various systems that can be used to apply risk management. It provides a fundamental introduction to the basics associated with particular techniques, clarifying the essential concepts of risk and how they apply in projects. The second part of the book presents the specific techniques necessary to successfully implement the systems described in Part I. The text addresses project risk management from the project manager's perspective. It adopts PMI's perspective that risk is both a threat and an opportunity, and it acknowledges that any effective risk management practice must look at the potential positive events that may befall a project, as well as the negatives.Providing coverage of the concepts that many project management texts ignore, such as the risk response matrix and risk models, the book includes appendices filled with additional reference materials and supporting details that simplifying some of the most complex aspects of risk management.

Business-Driven IT-Wide Agile (Scrum) and Kanban (Lean) Implementation: An Action Guide for Business and IT Leaders explains how to increase IT delivery capabilities through the use of Agile and Kanban. Factoring in constant change, communication, a sense of urgency, clear and measurable goals, political realities, and infrastructure needs, it covers all the ingredients required for success. Using real-world examples, this practical guide illustrates how to implement Agile and Kanban in software project management and development across the entire IT department. To make things easier for busy IT leaders and executives, the text includes two case studies along with numerous templates to facilitate understanding and kick-start implementation. Explaining how IT and business management can work together to determine business goals that drive this IT-wide undertaking, the book arms you with actionable solutions that can be put to use immediately in any IT department, regardless of size.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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....

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.

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.

Your customers want innovation and value, and they want it now. How can you apply Lean principles and practices throughout your enterprise to drive operational excellence, reduce costs while improving quality, enable efficient growth, and accelerate idea-to-value innovation? Shingo Prize-winning author Steve Bell and other thought leaders show you how guiding you to more effectively align people and purpose, promote enterprise agility, and leverage transformative IT capabilities to create market-differentiating value for your customers. Combining research and insight with practical examples and in-depth case studies that can be put to immediate use, Run Grow Transform: Integrating Business and Lean IT is a must read for leaders and senior managers from all disciplines, showing you how to: Drive enterprise outcomes and strategy through adaptive Business/IT learning Maximize collaboration, leverage the knowledge and skills of your teams Overcome enterprise-wise obstacles commonly encountered by Agile development teams Improve infrastructure reliability and cost, learn how to get the best results from operations frameworks including ITIL, COBIT and ISO 20000 Apply Lean principles to Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Management disciplines Make informed, value-based choices about outsourcing Tap into big data and social media to listen to and interact with the virtual voice of your customers Streamline management, collaboration, and communication systems Identify and measure the right things that lead to customer value What readers are saying: This book focuses on the most critical and challenging issue for any aspect of the development or use of IT: creating a collaborative learning culture.Jeffrey K. Liker, Shingo Prize-winning Author of The

As hacker organizations surpass drug cartels in terms of revenue generation, it is clear that the good guys are doing something wrong in information security. Providing a simple foundational remedy for our security ills, Security De-Engineering: Solving the Problems in Information Risk Management is a definitive guide to the current problems impacting corporate information risk management. It explains what the problems are, how and why they have manifested, and outlines powerful solutions.Ian Tibble delves into more than a decade of experience working with close to 100 different Fortune 500s and multinationals to explain how a gradual erosion of skills has placed corporate information assets on a disastrous collision course with automated malware attacks and manual intrusions. Presenting a complete journal of hacking feats and how corporate networks can be compromised, the book covers the most critical aspects of corporate risk information risk management. Outlines six detrimental security changes that have occurred in the past decade Examines automated vulnerability scanners and rationalizes the differences between their perceived and actual value Considers security products including intrusion detection, security incident event management, and identity management The book provides a rare glimpse at the untold stories of what goes on behind the closed doors of private corporations. It details the tools and products that are used, typical behavioral traits, and the two types of security experts that have existed since the mid-nineties the hackers and the consultants that came later. Answering some of the most pressing questions about network penetration testing and cloud computing security, this book provides you with the understanding and tools needed to tackle today's risk management issues as well as those on the horizon.

The success of information backup systems does not rest on IT administrators alone. Rather, a well-designed backup system comes about only when several key factors coalesce business involvement, IT acceptance, best practice designs, enterprise software, and reliable hardware. Enterprise Systems Backup and Recovery: A Corporate Insurance Policy provides organizations with a comprehensive understanding of the principles and features involved in effective enterprise backups. Instead of focusing on any individual backup product, this book recommends corporate procedures and policies that need to be established for comprehensive data protection. It provides relevant information to any organization, regardless of which operating systems or applications are deployed, what backup system is in place, or what planning has been done for business continuity. It explains how backup must be included in every phase of system planning, development, operation, and maintenance. It also provides techniques for analyzing and improving current backup system performance. After reviewing the concepts in this book, organizations will be able to answer these questions with respect to their enterprise: What features and functionality should be expected in a backup environment? What terminology and concepts are unique to backup software, and what can be related to other areas? How can a backup system be monitored successfully? How can the performance of a backup system be improved? What features are just "window dressing" and should be ignored, as opposed to those features that are relevant? Backup and recovery systems touch on just about every system in an organization. Properly implemented, they can provide an enterprise with greater assurance that its information is safe. By utilizing the

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.

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.

Addressing the diminished understanding of the value of security on the executive side and a lack of good business processes on the security side, Security Strategy: From Requirements to Reality explains how to select, develop, and deploy the security strategy best suited to your organization. It clarifies the purpose and place of strategy in an information security program and arms security managers and practitioners with a set of security tactics to support the implementation of strategic planning initiatives, goals, and objectives. The book focuses on security strategy planning and execution to provide a clear and comprehensive look at the structures and tools needed to build a security program that enables and enhances business processes. Divided into two parts, the first part considers business strategy and the second part details specific tactics. The information in both sections will help security practitioners and mangers develop a viable synergy that will allow security to take its place as a valued partner and contributor to the success and profitability of the enterprise. Confusing strategies and tactics all too often keep organizations from properly implementing an effective information protection strategy. This versatile reference presents information in a way that makes it accessible and applicable to organizations of all sizes. Complete with checklists of the physical security requirements that organizations should consider when evaluating or designing facilities, it provides the tools and understanding to enable your company to achieve the operational efficiencies, cost reductions, and brand enhancements that are possible when an effective security strategy is put into action.

If IT companies seek to differentiate themselves from the competition, they must turn to consultative selling. Consultative selling is analyzing the needs and challenges of your customers and selling unique services that enable your customers to reduce costs, increase profits, and improve overall business performance. The Art of Consultative Selling in IT provides a practical framework for becoming a successful consultative seller and shows how to use the blue ocean strategy to identify opportunities in areas where there is no competition. The first section discusses the advantages of consultative selling and explores the concepts of blue oceans. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be established. The author explains how you can use consultative selling techniques to create your own blue oceans of unknown market space, where opportunities for growth are both rapid and profitable. In the second section, the author defines the consultative selling framework (CSF). This framework is based on proven processes, best practices, and real-time case studies to make consultative selling a reality. It provides clear guidelines for understanding your customer's current landscape and challenges, owning its priorities, and helping it to achieve its short-term and long-term goals. The author explains how to use CSF to generate innovative ideas and present them to your customer through profit improvement or efficiency improvement proposals. The book concludes with examples of several innovative business improvement ideas that you can present to your customers, including Agile project management, master data management (MDM), application portfolio rationalization, and business process management (BPM). The author discusses the benefits of each methodology and lists the trigger points to think about when deciding whether the methodology can add value to a pa

Top performing dotcoms share a common feature. It isn't a new software plug-in or a design gadget or any other piece of technology. These sites share a passionate focus on usability. This book is written by an international usability consultant, writer and trainer who specializes in the design and evaluation of web-based and wireless applications, e-commerce sites and interactive television. The author has worked with a number of blue-chip clients that value usability, including Hewlett-Packard, Thomas Cook, Philips, the Financial Times and Motorola. This guide is designed for software developers, project managers, business analysts and user interface designers, and does not require a background in human factors or usability. E-Commerce Usability: Tools and Techniques to Perfect the On-Line Experience presents a practical, structured, customer-centered design method that encourages innovation yet helps you make sure your final design is still easy to use.

The International Conference on Communications, Management, and Information Technology (ICCMIT'16) provides a discussion forum for scientists, engineers, educators and students about the latest discoveries and realizations in the foundations, theory, models and applications of systems inspired on nature, using computational intelligence methodologies, as well as in emerging areas related to the three tracks of the conference: Communication Engineering, Knowledge, and Information Technology. The best 25 papers to be included in the book will be carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions, then revised and expanded to provide deeper insight into trends shaping future ICT.