The new PMI standard for program management

Foundations and Processes for the Standard for Program Management

The Standard for Program Management describes generally accepted

processes for managing multiple projects and non-project activities within
a program environment. The terms program and program management
have been in widespread use for some time and have come to mean many
different things. Some organizations and industries refer to ongoing or
cyclical streams of operational or functional work as programs. The
recognized disciplines of operational or functional management address
this type of work; therefore, the standard does not apply to these
programs.

Alternatively, some organizations refer to large projects as programs. The

management of large individual projects remains within the discipline of
project management, and as such, is already covered in
the PMBOK® Guide. If a large project is split into multiple related projects
with explicit management of the benefits, then the effort becomes a
program, and then that standard applies.

The standard rests on these definitions:

1. Program: A group of related projects managed in a coordinated

way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing
them individually. Programs may include elements of related work
outside of the scope of the discrete projects in the program.

2. Program Management: The centralized coordinated management

of a program to achieve the program's strategic objectives and
benefits.

Exhibit 1 illustrates the relationships among portfolios, programs and

projects. The portfolio represents the organization's set of active
programs, projects, sub-portfolios, and other work at a specific point in
time.
Exhibit 1 Program and Portfolio Relationships

Programs, like projects, are a means of achieving organizational goals and

objectives, often in the context of a strategic plan. Although a group of
projects within a program can have discrete benefits, they often also
contribute to a common set of benefits as defined by the program.
Managing multiple projects via a program may optimize schedules across
the program, deliver incremental benefits, as well as enable staffing to be
optimized in the context of the overall program's needs. Projects may be
interdependent because of the collective capability they deliver, or they
may share a common attribute such as client, customer, vendor,
technology or resource. Program management focuses on these project
interdependencies and determines the optimal pacing for the program.
This enables appropriate planning and scheduling of the projects within
the program. In essence, all of these considerations of strategic benefits,
coordinated planning, shared resources and optimized pacing contribute
to determining whether multiple projects should be managed as a
program.

Organizations initiate programs to deliver benefits and accomplish agreed

outcomes that often affect the entire organization. The program
organization must take this into account and balance stakeholder
expectations, requirements, resources and timing conflicts across
competing projects. There are three broad management themes that are
key to the success of a program:

Benefits Management - Program benefits management assesses the

value and organizational impact of the program, identifies the
interdependencies of benefits being delivered among various projects
within the program, ensures that targeted benefits are realistic, analyzes
the potential impact of planned program changes on benefits outcome
and assigns responsibilities and accountability for the actual benefits
realization resulting from the program.

Stakeholder Management - Program stakeholder management

identifies how the program will affect stakeholders (e.g., the organization's
culture, current major issues, resistance or barriers to change, etc.) and
then develops a communication strategy to engage the affected
stakeholders, manage their expectations and improve their acceptance of
the objectives of the program. Program stakeholder management extends
beyond project stakeholder management to consider additional levels of
stakeholders and broader interdependencies among projects.

Program Governance - Program governance is concerned with providing

control of the organization's investment as well as monitoring the delivery
of benefits as the program progresses. This control is achieved via
monitoring progress reports and reviews at each of the different phases in
the program's life cycle. These reviews are an opportunity for senior
management or their representatives to assess the performance of the
program before allowing the program to move to the next phase or before
the initiation of another project.

There are five program management process groups required for any
program. These process groups are aligned to those defined in
the PMBOK® Guide, and are independent of application areas or industry
focus.

In practice, within the program, these process groups are not linear, can
overlap and are sometimes iterative. Interaction occurs both within a
process group and between process groups. As with projects, these
process groups do not bear any direct relationship to phases of a
program's life cycle. In fact, one or more processes from each group will
normally be executed at least once in every phase of a program life cycle.
The five process groups are:

 Initiating Process Group - defines and authorizes the program or

a project within the program, and produces the program benefits
statement and benefits realization plan for the program. The
processes associated with this group are:
  Initiate Program – defining the scope and benefit
expectations of the program. This also ensures that
authorization and initiation of the program are linked to the
organization's ongoing work and strategic priorities.

 Authorize Projects - the program management activities

that initiate a project within the program.

 Initiate Team - getting needed human resources assigned to

and working on the program.

 Planning Process Group - plans the best alternative courses of

action to deliver the benefits and scope that the program was
undertaken to address. The processes associated with this group
are:

 Develop Program Management Plan - the process of

consolidating the outputs of the other planning processes,
including strategic planning, to create a consistent, coherent
set of documents that can be used to guide both program
execution and program control.

 Scope Definition – the process of developing a detailed

program scope statement.

 Create Program WBS - the process of producing a program

WBS that communicates from the program-level perspective
a clear understanding and statement of the technical
objectives and the end item(s) or end product(s), service(s),
or result(s) of the work to be performed.

 Schedule Development - defining the program components

needed to produce the program deliverables, determining the
order in which the components should be executed,
estimating the amount of time required to accomplish each
one, identifying significant milestones during the
performance period of the program, and documenting the
outcome.

 Cost Estimating and Budgeting - the process of

aggregating all costs at the program level into a program
estimate. This includes all program activity, project and non-
project activity.
  Quality Planning - identifying the standards that are
relevant to the program and specifying how to satisfy them.

 Human Resource Planning - identifying, documenting, and

assigning program roles, responsibilities, and reporting
relationships.

 Communications Planning - determining the information

and communication needs of the program stakeholders, who
needs what information, when they need it, how it will be
given to them and by whom.

 Plan Program Purchases and Acquisitions - determining

what to procure and when, validating product requirements,
and developing procurement strategies.

 Plan Program Contracting - identifying the type and detail

of documentation required to implement contracts for
suppliers either external to or within the organization.

 Risk Management Planning and Analysis - the process of

deciding how to plan and analyze risk management activities
for a program, including risks identified in the individual
program components.

 Interface Planning - the process of identifying and mapping

interrelationships that exist within a program, with other
programs in active portfolios, or with factors outside the
program.

 Transition Planning - the process of identifying and

planning for transitions from the program team to the
recipients of on-going activities that result from the program.

 Resource Planning - the process of determining the people,

equipment, materials and other resources that are needed,
and in what quantities, in order to perform program activities
and optimize the use of available resources across the
program.

 Executing Process Group - integrates people and other resources

to carry out the plan for the program and deliver the program's
benefits. The processes associated with this group are:
  Direct and Manage Program Execution - the process of
delivering the program's intended benefits.

 Perform Quality Assurance - evaluating overall program

performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the
program will comply with the relevant quality policies and
standards.

 Acquire Program Team – providing human resources for

the program through selection of internal or external
candidates.

 Develop Program Team - the process of building individual

and group competencies to enhance program performance.

 Information Distribution - providing timely and accurate

information to program stakeholders, in useful formats and
appropriate media.

 Request Seller Responses - the process of issuing

requests for information (RFI), request for proposals (RFP),
and request for quotation (RFQ), and obtaining the responses.

 Select Sellers - the process of reviewing offers, choosing

among potential sellers, and negotiating the details of the
contract, including technical terms and conditions, roles and
responsibilities, deliverables, and final cost.

 Monitoring and Controlling Process Group - requires that

progress is regularly measured and monitored to identify variances
from the program management plan, and coordinates corrective
actions to be taken when necessary to achieve program benefits.
The processes associated with this group are:

 Monitor and Control Program Work - the process of

collecting, measuring and consolidating performance
information, and assessing measurements and trends to
generate improvements.

 Integrated Change Control - coordinating changes across

the entire program, including changes to cost, quality,
schedule, and scope.

 Scope Control - the process for controlling changes to the

 program scope.

 Schedule Control - ensuring that the program will produce

its required deliverables and solutions on time.

 Cost Control - the process of controlling changes to, and

producing information from, the program budget.

 Perform Quality Control - monitoring specific program

deliverables and results to determine if they fulfill quality
requirements.

 Performance Reporting - the process of consolidating

performance data to provide stakeholders with information
about how resources are being used to deliver program
benefits.

 Risk Monitoring and Control - tracking identified program

risks, identifying new risks to the program, executing risk
response plans, and evaluating their effectiveness in reducing
risk through the program life cycle.

 Program Contract Administration - managing the

relationship with sellers and buyers at the program level,
excluding such processes performed at the component level.
The process includes purchases and procurement of outside
resources that span the program domain and that are not
covered by a specific project.

 Issue Management and Control - the process of

identifying, tracking, and closing issues effectively to ensure
that stakeholder expectations are aligned with program
activities and deliverables.

 Communications Control - managing communications to

inform the stakeholders about the program and resolve
issues of interest to them.

 Closing Process Group - formalizes acceptance of a product,

service or result, brings the program or program component (e.g.
project) to an orderly end. The processes associated with this group
are:

 Close Program - the process of formalizing the acceptance

 of the program's outcome by the sponsor or customer.

 Contract Closure - the process of closing out a contract

executed during the program and on behalf of the program,
in accordance with the contract's terms and conditions.

 Component Closure - the process of performing the

program management activities to close out a project or
other, non-project activity within the program.

Summary

The new standards for program and portfolio management address the
broader issues of managing multiple projects in organizations. By
complementing PMI's Standard for Portfolio Management,
the PMBOK® Guide and OPM3®, these two new standards enable managers
and organizations with a comprehensive approach to managing the project
environment.