Integration Management: The standard for Project Management

Project Management Processes

A product is a set of interrelated actions performed to achieve a per-specified set of product, results, or services. Processes fall into two categories:

1) Product processes are used to create the desired product and

2) Project processes are used to initiate, plan, execute, control and close the work of the project team.

PMI has organized project management processes into five groups 

1. Initiating: Defines and authorizes the project or phase
2. Planning: Defines objectives and plans a course of action to carry out the plan
3. Executing: Integrates people and other resources to carry out the plan
4. Monitoring and controlling : Regularly measures and monitors progress to identify variances from the plan so that corrective action can be taken when necessary
5. Closing: Formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end.

Important characteristics of these groups follow 

• They are linked by the results they produce; that is, the result of one becomes an input to another.
• They are overlapping & iterating rather than discrete, one-time events (for example: executing  the may uncover problems requiring an update  to the plan)
• The process groups occur in all phases of a project; that is, each phase needs to be initiated, planned, executed and so on. The processes also cross phase. Closing a phase becomes the input needed to initiate the next phase.

Typical Activities Associated with Each Process Group. The following lists match typical activities to the groups in which they most likely occur. 

Initiating:

• Select project
• Identify business need
• Establish goals and objectives
• Develop a preliminary (high-level) scope statement including: product description, major deliverable, constraints, assumptions, time estimates, cost estimates and resource requirements
• Conduct feasibility studies
• Define responsibilities of the PM
• Developing a project charter

Planning:

• Create a detailed scope statement and scope management plan
• Create project team
• Develop a WBS
• Finalize the team and create the resource management plan
• Develop WBS dictionaries (detailed descriptions of tasks in WBS)
• Estimate time and cost
• Determine the critical path
• Develop schedule and schedule management plan
• Establish budget
• Establish management plans (stakeholder, quality, risk, communication, procurement)
• Develop a formal project management plan
• Obtain formal approval of the project management plan
• Holed a kick-off meeting

Executing:

• set up a project organization
• Conduct team building and team development
• Established detailed technical specs
• Perform (execute) work packages
• Monitor project progress
• Distribute information in accordance with the communication plan

Monitoring and controlling:

• Implement integrated change control
• Execute change control plans: scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk and procurement
• Measure project performance
• Monitor project variances
• Take corrective action

Closing:

• Review and accept project results(customer acceptance)

* Procurement audits

* Product verification

            * Formal acceptance

• Evaluate results (lessons learned)
• Update and archive records
• Reassign resources (release team)

The next page shows the relationship among nine project management knowledge areas, forty-two project management processes and five project management process groups.

 The following mnemonic device may help you memorize the nine knowledge areas (the first letter of each word represents a knowledge area). The saying is,” I Should Take Control and Quit Customers Ruin Projects.”

I = Integration

S = Scope

T = Time

C = Cost

Q = Quality

H = Human Resource

C = Communication

R = Risk

P = Procurement

For the five process groups, you might try IPECC as a memory device.

I = Initiating

P = Planning

E = Executing

C = Controlling (official name is Monitoring and Controlling but is sometimes shortened to simply controlling)

C = Closing