Podcast
Business Exam Prep
Hosted by Ran Chen, EA, CFP® · EN
Business Exam Prep is a free, daily podcast by OpenExamPrep covering the most in-demand business and management certification exams — including PMP, CAPM, Six Sigma, FPC (Payroll), CMP, and more. Each 5-minute episode breaks down one exam topic with concrete examples, common exam traps, and memory tricks to help you pass on your first attempt. No fluff, no filler — just the concepts you need to know, explained the way the exam tests them. This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation for everyone. For free practice questions, AI-powered explanations, flashcards, and full study guides, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ Subscribe and listen daily — your certification is closer than you think.
77episodes
Episodes
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PRINCE2 Exam Prep 46, Management Products — Baselines, Records, Reports
Jun 1600:03:45Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Management Products in PRINCE2 are divided into three types: Baselines, Records, and Reports. - Baseline products, like the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), are formally approved, version-controlled, and require a formal change process to be modified. - Records are dynamic, living documents that are updated continuously, such as the Daily Log for informal notes and Registers for tracking specific items like risks and issues. - Reports are point-in-time snapshots of project status, such as the time-driven Highlight Report or the event-driven End Stage Report. - A common exam trap is confusing report triggers; an Exception Report is only created when a stage is forecast to exceed its tolerances, not for every major issue. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 45, Process Model — How Processes Connect
Jun 1500:03:34Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Starting Up a Project (SU) is a pre-project process that produces the Project Brief, which triggers Directing a Project (DP). - The Project Board uses Directing a Project (DP) to authorize the initiation stage, which formally triggers the Initiating a Project (IP) process. - The key output of Initiating a Project (IP) is the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), which the board reviews to authorize the project itself. - During delivery stages, the Project Manager's Controlling a Stage (CS) process runs in parallel with the Team Manager's Managing Product Delivery (MP) process. - At the end of each stage, the Project Manager uses Managing a Stage Boundary (SB) to prepare reports and plans for the Project Board to authorize the next stage. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 44, Process — Closing a Project (CP)
Jun 1400:03:30Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The Closing a Project process provides a fixed point to confirm project objectives have been met and products are accepted. - The Project Manager recommends closure, but only the Project Board has the authority to authorize it, a common exam question. - Key outputs include the End Project Report, the Lessons Report, Follow-on Action Recommendations, and the updated Benefits Review Plan. - A frequent exam trap is confusing the update of the Benefits Review Plan during closure with the actual review of benefits, which often happens post-project. - Remember the core activities with the mnemonic PHEAR: Prepare closure, Hand over products, Evaluate the project, And Recommend closure. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 43, Process — Managing a Stage Boundary (SB)
Jun 1300:03:27Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The core purpose of the Managing a Stage Boundary (SB) process as a go/no-go decision point for the Project Board. - The key activities in the SB process: Plan the next stage, Update the Project Plan and Business Case, and Report stage end. - The critical difference between creating a Next Stage Plan and an Exception Plan, and what triggers the latter. - How the exam tests the distinction between the Managing a Stage Boundary process and the Closing a Project process. - Common exam traps, such as who approves the next stage and the constant need to verify continued business justification.
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 42, Process — Managing Product Delivery (MP)
Jun 1200:03:21Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The core purpose of the Managing Product Delivery (MP) process as the interface between the Project Manager and Team Manager. - The three key activities of MP: Accept a Work Package, Execute a Work Package, and Deliver a Work Package. - The distinction between the Project Manager's role in authorizing work and the Team Manager's responsibility for creating a Team Plan. - How to differentiate between Checkpoint Reports (from Team Manager to Project Manager) and Highlight Reports (from Project Manager to Project Board). - Why completing quality and configuration records is a mandatory part of formally delivering a Work Package. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 41, Process — Controlling a Stage (CS)
Jun 1100:03:08Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The purpose of Controlling a Stage (CS) as the Project Manager's day-to-day management activity. - How Work Packages are used to formally authorize work for Team Managers. - The critical difference between a Checkpoint Report (from Team Manager to PM) and a Highlight Report (from PM to Project Board). - When a Project Manager can take corrective action versus when they MUST escalate an exception to the Project Board. - The distinction between a risk (a potential future event) and an issue (an event that has already occurred). For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 40, Process — Initiating a Project (IP)
Jun 1000:02:58Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The primary purpose of the Initiating a Project (IP) process is to create the detailed foundation, the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), before committing to major project resources. - IP refines the outline business case from the pre-project stage into a detailed business case, justifying the project's continuation. - A core activity is creating the four key management approaches: Risk, Quality, Change Control, and Communication. - The PID is the key output of this process, which is baselined and requires Project Board approval before the first delivery stage can begin. - A common exam trap is confusing the detailed planning in IP with the high-level viability check in the Starting Up a Project (SU) process. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 39, Process — Directing a Project (DP)
Jun 900:03:05Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - That the Directing a Project (DP) process is exclusively for the Project Board and runs for the entire project lifecycle. - How the principle of 'Management by Exception' allows the board to govern without micromanaging. - The five key activities of the DP process: authorizing initiation, the project, stages or exception plans, giving ad-hoc direction, and authorizing closure. - How to avoid the common exam trap of confusing the board's 'directing' activities (DP) with the Project Manager's 'controlling' activities (CS). - A simple mnemonic to remember the five activities: "Go, Go, Go, Help, Stop." For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 38, Process — Starting Up a Project (SU)
Jun 800:03:45Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The purpose of the Starting Up a Project (SU) process is to verify project viability before any detailed planning begins. - The key trigger for the SU process is the Project Mandate, and its main output is the Project Brief. - Core activities include appointing the Executive and PM, capturing lessons, designing the team, and preparing an OUTLINE Business Case. - A common exam trap is confusing the pre-project SU process with the more detailed Initiating a Project (IP) process. - The SU process produces an outline Business Case and an Initiation Stage Plan, not the full Business Case or the complete Project Initiation Documentation (PID). For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
Transcribe →PRINCE2 Exam Prep 37, Exception Reports and Exception Management
Jun 700:02:58Tap to summarizeThis podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - An Exception Report is triggered by a forecast that tolerances will be breached, not after the breach has already happened. - The Project Manager's primary role is to produce the Exception Report, detailing the cause, impact, options, and a clear recommendation. - Once an exception is reported, the Project Manager's authority to act stops, and the Project Board takes over decision-making. - The Project Board's options include approving a change, requesting an Exception Plan, or prematurely closing the project. - An approved Exception Plan replaces the current Stage Plan for the remainder of that stage, not the entire Project Plan. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
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