Project Management Process Groups

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 Overview
• A process is a series of actions directed
toward a particular result
• Each process is characterized by its inputs,
the tools and techniques that can be applied,
and the resulting outputs

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 Overview
For successful project,
• Select appropriate processes required to meet the
project objectives
• Use a defined approach that can be adapted to meet
requirements
• Establish and maintain appropriate communication
and engagement with stakeholders
• Comply with requirements to meet stakeholder
needs and expectations
• Balance the competing constraints of scope,
schedule, budget, quality, resources, and risk to
produce the specified product, service, or result
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 Overview
• The project processes performed by the project team
with stakeholder interaction, generally fall into one of
two major categories
• Project management processes
Are concerned with describing and organizing the
work of the project
• Product oriented processes
Are concerned with specifying and creating the
project products
Project management can be viewed as a number of interlinked
processes

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Project Management Process Groups
• The project management process groups include:
– Initiating processes – recognize when project or phase
should begin
– Planning processes – designing and maintaining a scheme
which leads to successful accomplishment of a project
– Executing processes – coordinating people and resources
to carry out the plan
– Controlling processes – monitoring and measuring
progress and taking corrective actions when necessary
– Closing processes – analyzing acceptance of the project
or phase and bringing it to an end

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Project Management Process Interactions
• The project management processes are
presented as discrete elements with well-defined
interfaces. However, in practice they overlap
• The application of the project management
processes is iterative, and many processes are
repeated during the project
• The integrative nature of project management
requires the monitoring and controlling process
group to interact with the other process groups
• Monitoring and controlling processes occur at
the same time
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Project Management Process Groups

Project management process groups

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Project Management Process Interactions

Process groups interact in a phase or project

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Project Management Process Groups
• Process groups have clear dependencies and are
typically performed in each project and highly interact
with one another
• The process groups are not project life cycle phases.
In fact, it is possible that all process groups could be
conducted within a phase
• As projects are separated into distinct phases or
subcomponents, such as concept development
feasibility study, design prototype,
build, or test, etc., all the process groups would
normally be repeated for each phase or subcomponent
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Project Management Process Groups

• Level of activity and length of each process

group varies for every product
• On the average:
– Executing process requires 50-60% of the
resources and time
– The planning process requires about 15-25%
– The initiating and closing processes are usually
the shortest and require the least amount of
resources, usually 5 -10% each
– Monitoring and controlling is done throughout the
project and generally takes 5-15%
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Percentage of time spent on each
process group

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 Project Initiation
• Includes recognizing and starting a new project
• Some organizations use a pre-initiation phase,
while others include items like developing a
business case as part of initiation
• Main goal is to formally select and start projects
• Key outputs include:
– Assigning the project manager
– Identifying key stakeholders
– Completing a business case
– Completing a project charter and getting
signatures on it
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 Project Initiation Documents
• Business case
• Charter
• Note: Every organization has its own
variations of what documents are required for
project initiation
– It’s important to identify the need for
projects, who the stakeholders are, and
what the main goals are for the project

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 Project Planning
• Consists of processes performed to establish the
total scope of the effort, define and refine the
objectives, and develop the course of action
• Develop project management plan and the project
documents that will be used to carry out the project
• As more project information or characteristics are
gathered and understood, additional planning will
likely be required
• Progressive detailing of the project management
plan is called progressive elaboration, indicating
that planning and documentation are iterative and
ongoing activities
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 Project Planning
• The main purpose is to guide execution
• Every knowledge area includes planning information
• Key outputs includes: team contract, scope
statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), project
schedule( Gantt chart with all dependencies and
resources entered), list of prioritized risks (part of a
risk register)
• Project management plan and project documents
developed will explore all aspects of scope, time,
cost, quality, communication, human resources,
risks, procurements, and stakeholder engagement

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 Project Executing
• Consists of processes performed to complete the work
defined in the project management plan to satisfy the
project specifications
• Involves coordinating people and resources, managing
stakeholder expectations, integrating and performing
the activities of the project in accordance with the
project management plan
• Results may require planning which may include
changes to expected activity durations, changes in
resource productivity and availability, and unexpected
risks
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 Project Executing
• Such variances may affect the project management
plan or project documents and may require detailed
analysis and development of appropriate project
management responses
• Usually takes the most time and resources to
perform project execution
• Project managers must use their leadership skills to
handle the many challenges that occur during project
execution
• A milestone report can help focus on completing
major milestone

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 Monitoring and Controlling
• Consists of those processes required to track,
review, and organize the progress and
performance of the project; identify any areas
in which changes to the plan are required;
and initiate the corresponding changes
• The key benefit of this process group is that
project performance is measured and
analyzed at regular intervals, appropriate
events, or exception conditions to identify
variances from the project management plan
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 Monitoring and Controlling
• Involves measuring progress toward project
objectives, monitoring deviation from the plan, and
taking corrective action to match progress with the
plan

• Affects all other process groups and occurs during

all phases of the project life cycle

• Outputs include performance reports, requested

changes and updates to various plans

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 Project Closing
• Consists of those processes performed to
conclude all activities across all project
management process groups to formally
complete the project, phase, or
contractual obligations
• Involves gaining stakeholder and
customer acceptance of the final products
and services

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 Project Closing
• Even if projects are not completed, they
should be formally closed in order to reflect
on what can be learned to improve future
projects
• Outputs include project archives and lessons
learned, which are part of organizational
process assets
• Most projects also include a final report and
presentation to the sponsor or senior
management
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 Mapping the Process Groups to
the Knowledge Areas
• Knowledge areas provide a detailed description of
the process inputs and outputs along with a
descriptive explanation of tools and techniques most
frequently used within the project management
processes
• Knowledge areas cross the various process groups
including some key distinctions
– Planning process includes all KAs
– Integration management knowledge areas crosses all
processes

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Knowledge Initiating Planning Executing Monitoring Closing
Areas Process Process Process and Controlling Process
Process

Project Develop Develop Project Direct and Monitor and Close

Integration Project Management Plan Manage control project project
Management Charter Project work or phase
Work Perform integrated
change control

Project Plan scope management Validate scope

Scope Collect requirements Control scope
Management Define scope
Create WBS

Project Time Plan schedule management Control

Management Define activities schedule
Sequence activities
Estimate activity resources
Estimate activity durations
Develop schedule

Project Cost Plan cost management Control costs

Management Estimate costs
Determine budget

Project Plan quality management Perform quality Control quality

Quality assurance
Management

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 Knowledge Initiating Planning Executing Monitoring Closing
Areas Process Process Process and Process
Controlling
Process

Project Plan human resource Acquire project

Human Resource management team
Management Develop project
team
Manage project
team

Project Plan communications Manage Control

Communications management communications Communications
Management
Project Risk Plan risk management Control risks
Management Identify risks perform
Qualitative risk analysis
Perform quantitative risk
analysis
Plan risk responses

Project Plan procurement Conduct Control Close

Procurement management procurements procurements procurements
Management
Project Identify Plan stakeholder Manage Control
Stakeholder stakeholders management stakeholder stakeholder
Management engagement engagement

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