Appendix F

Summary of Project Management Knowledge Areas

Project Integration Management

Project Integration Management includes the processes and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the Project Management Process Groups. In the project management context, integration includes characteristics of unification, consolidation, articulation, and integrative actions that are crucial to project completion, successfully meeting customer and stakeholder requirements, and managing expectations. The Project Integration Management processes include:

• Develop Project Charter—developing the project charter that formally authorizes a project
• Develop Preliminary Project Scope Statement—developing the preliminary project scope statement that provides a high-level scope narrative
• Develop Project Management Plan—documenting the actions necessary to define, prepare, integrate, and coordinate all subsidiary plans into a project management plan
• Direct and Manage Project Execution—executing the work defined in the project management plan to achieve the project’s requirements defined in the project scope statement
• Monitor and Control Project Work—monitoring and controlling the processes required to initiate, plan, execute, and close a project to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan
• Integrated Change Control—reviewing all change requests, approving changes, and controlling changes to the deliverables and organizational process assets
• Close Project—finalizing all activities across all of the Project Process Groups to formally close the project.

Project Scope Management

Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully. Project Scope Management is primarily concerned with defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project. The Project Scope Management processes include:

• Scope Planning—creating a project scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, verified, and controlled, and how the work breakdown structure (WBS) will be created and defined
• Scope Definition—developing a detailed project scope statement as the basis for future project decisions
• Create WBS—subdividing the major project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components
• Scope Verification—formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables
• Scope Control—controlling changes to the project scope.

Project Time Management

Project Time Management includes the processes required to accomplish timely completion of the project. The Project Time Management processes include:

• Activity Definition—identifying the specific schedule activities that need to be performed to produce the various project deliverables
• Activity Sequencing—identifying and documenting dependencies among schedule activities
• Activity Resource Estimating—estimating the type and quantities of resources required to perform each schedule activity
• Activity Duration Estimating—estimating the number of work periods that will be needed to complete individual schedule activities
• Schedule Development—analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule
• Schedule Control—controlling changes to the project schedule.

Project Cost Management

Project Cost Management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget. The Project Cost Management processes include:

• Cost Estimating—developing an approximation of the costs of the resources needed to complete project activities
• Cost Budgeting—aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish a cost baseline
• Cost Control—influencing the factors that create cost variances and controlling changes to the project budget.

Project Quality Management

Project Quality Management includes the processes and activities of the performing organization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken. It implements the quality management system through policy and procedures, with continuous process improvement activities conducted throughout, as appropriate. The Project Quality Management processes include:

• Quality Planning—identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them
• Perform Quality Assurance—applying the planned, systematic quality activities to ensure that the project employs all processes needed to meet requirements
• Perform Quality Control—monitoring specific project results to determine whether they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

Project Human Resource Management

Project Human Resource Management includes the processes that organize and manage the project team. The project team is comprised of the people who have assigned roles and responsibilities for completing the project. While it is common to speak of roles and responsibilities being assigned, team members should be involved in much of the project’s planning and decision-making. Early involvement of team members adds expertise during the planning process and strengthens commitment to the project. The type and number of project team members can often change as the project progresses. Project team members can be referred to as the project’s staff. Project Human Resource Management processes include:

• Human Resource Planning—Identifying and documenting project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships, as well as creating the staffing management plan
• Acquire Project Team—Obtaining the human resources needed to complete the project
• Develop Project Team—Improving the competencies and interaction of team members to enhance project performance
• Manage Project Team—Tracking team member performance, providing feedback, resolving issues, and coordinating changes to enhance project performance.

Project Communications Management

Project Communications Management includes the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval, and ultimate disposition of project information. The Project Communications Management processes provide the critical links among people and information that are necessary for successful communications. Project managers can spend an inordinate amount of time communicating with the project team, stakeholders, customer, and sponsor. Everyone involved in the project should understand how communications affect the project as a whole. Project Communications Management processes include:

• Communications Planning—determining the information and communications needs of the project stakeholders
• Information Distribution—making needed information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner
• Performance Reporting—collecting and distributing performance information, including status reporting, progress measurement, and forecasting
• Manage Stakeholders—managing communications to satisfy the requirements of, and resolve issues with, project stakeholders.

Project Risk Management

Project Risk Management includes the processes concerned with conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, responses, and monitoring and control on a project. The objectives of Project Risk Management are to increase the probability and impact of positive events and decrease the probability and impact of events adverse to project objectives. Project Risk Management processes include:

• Risk Management Planning—deciding how to approach, plan, and execute the risk management activities for a project
• Risk Identification—determining which risks might affect the project and documenting their characteristics
• Qualitative Risk Analysis—prioritizing risks for subsequent further analysis or action by assessing and combining their probability of occurrence and impact
• Quantitative Risk Analysis—numerically analyzing the effect on overall project objectives of identified risks
• Risk Response Planning—developing options and actions to enhance opportunities and to reduce threats to project objectives
• Risk Monitoring and Control—tracking identified risks, monitoring residual risks, identifying new risks, executing risk response plans, and evaluating their effectiveness throughout the project life cycle.

Project Procurement Management

Project Procurement Management includes the processes to purchase or acquire the products, services, or results needed from outside the project team to perform the work. This chapter presents two perspectives of procurement. The organization can be either the buyer or seller of the product, service, or results under a contract.

Project Procurement Management includes the contract management and change control processes required to administer contracts or purchase orders issued by authorized project team members. Project Procurement Management also includes administering any contract issued by an outside organization (the buyer) that is acquiring the project from the performing organization (the seller) and administering contractual obligations placed on the project team by the contract. Project Procurement Management processes include:

• Plan Purchases and Acquisitions—determining what to purchase or acquire, and determining when and how
• Plan Contracting—documenting products, services, and results requirements and identifying potential sellers
• Request Seller Responses—obtaining information, quotations, bids, offers, or proposals, as appropriate
• Select Sellers—reviewing offers, choosing from among potential sellers, and negotiating a written contract with a seller
• Contract Administration—managing the contract and the relationship between the buyer and the seller, reviewing and documenting how a seller is performing or has performed to establish required corrective actions and provide a basis for future relationships with the seller, managing contract related changes and, when appropriate, managing the contractual relationship with the outside buyer of the project
• Contract Closure—completing and settling each contract, including the resolution of any open items, and closing each contract.