Methods according to PMI

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (short PMBOK-Guide) is a widely used project management standard and central reference of the US-American Project Management Institute (short PMI), by which it is also published and maintained.

PMBOK is one of the leading project management methods worldwide, alongside PRINCE2 and IPMA Competence Baseline (IPMA, GPM).

In its introduction, the work describes itself as a "summary of knowledge in the field of project management". It refers to the knowledge of the procedures that are widely regarded as best practice. The methods described can be applied to projects in various fields of application, including construction, software development, mechanical engineering and the automotive industry.

The PMBOK Guide is process-oriented, i.e. it uses a model according to which work is done through processes. A project is carried out by the interaction of many processes. The PMBOK-Guide uses the processes to structure the collected methodological knowledge. (Wikipedia)

Process Groups

A total of 49 processes are defined, which are classified into the following five process groups:

• Initiation

Processes for formal authorization of the project. Results are the project order (assignment of the project manager) and the preliminary scope statement.

• Planning

Determination of the project scope (result is the scope statement) and determination of how the individual fields of knowledge are planned (result project management plan as "meta-plan"), in addition execution of the planning (results: Work breakdown structure plan, time schedule, cost plan, procurement plan, risk plan and others).

• Design

Ensure that the activities are carried out as planned. The most important result is the actual delivery item of the project. This process group also includes processes such as quality assurance, building the project team and selecting suppliers.

• Monitoring and control

The associated processes collect and evaluate project performance information as planned in the project management plan. Risk monitoring also belongs to this process group. Important results are suggestions for corrective or preventive actions.

The Integrated Change Control process regulates the processing of change requests (CR).

• Closing

The two processes in this group are contract termination (especially contracts with customers and suppliers) and project closure (where the project order is declared closed).

A matrix clearly assigns each process to a process group and a knowledge area. For each process, the process group in which most of the activities of the process take place was chosen. (Wikipedia)

The easiest way to map these phases is to use the board representation of smenso Cloud. The following structure can be used like this or in a modified form for PMI projects:

We use the project folders as phases to map the PMI phases. Here is a short introduction video.

Project phase (renamed field "Project folder"):

• Initiation
• Planning
• Implementation (execution / monitoring and control)
• Closing

In the following the individual knowledge areas are considered and provided with one or more links below to the respective functions in smenso Cloud. 

Fields of knowledge

The main focus of the PMBOK Guide is the section on knowledge areas. One chapter is dedicated to each field of knowledge. All processes are described in detail. Input and output artifacts as well as methods and tools are described for each process.

The knowledge areas, to which the individual processes from the process groups are clearly assigned, are called

• Integrationsmanagement

The knowledge area of integration management in projects comprises the processes and procedures required to identify, define, combine, standardize and coordinate the various processes and project management procedures in the project management process groups. In the project management context, integration includes unifying, consolidating, and structuring features, as well as integrative actions that are critical to completing projects, successfully meeting the needs of customers and other stakeholders, and managing expectations.

Link to the functions:

• Project Life Cycle
• Project Portfolio Management
• (Main) project / subprojects
• Content and scope management

• Content and scope management
  
  Content and scope management in projects includes the processes necessary to ensure that the project includes all the work required, or only that work, to complete it successfully. This is primarily about defining and controlling what is included in the project and what is not.
  
  

Link to the functions:

• Master data
• Quality Register
• Schedule management

Aimed at meeting the time frame and should involve all target groups involved. The project plan serves primarily as a communication medium.

Link to the functions:

• Scheduling

• Cost Management

Aiming for budget compliance. For this purpose, the cost trend must be recorded. If necessary, countermeasures are to be initiated.

Link to the functions:

• Cost management
• Reporting

• Quality Management

Requires standardization of PM processes, documentation of work and results, and appropriate action management.

Link to the functions:

• Quality Register
• Status
• Reporting
• Amendments
• Documents

• Personnel Management

Personnel management in projects includes the processes that organize and manage the project team. The project team consists of the employees who have assigned roles and responsibilities to complete the project.

Link to the functions:

• Resource Management
• Master data
• Task Management
• Meeting minutes

• Communication Management

Communication management in projects is the field of knowledge in which the processes are applied that are necessary for the timely and appropriate creation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and use of project information.

Link to the functions:

• Notifications
• Master data
• Project analysis
• Documents
• Task Management
• Meeting minutes

• Risk Management

Risk management in projects comprises the processes related to the implementation of risk management planning, identification, analysis, measures, monitoring and control in a project; most of these processes are updated during the course of the project. The objectives of risk management in projects are to increase the probability and impact of positive events and to reduce the probability and impact of events that are unfavorable to the project.

Link to the functions:

• Risk management

• Procurement Management

Procurement management in projects includes the processes for purchasing or acquiring the products, services and results needed from outside the project team to carry out the work. Procurement management in projects includes the contract management and change control processes required to manage the contracts or purchase orders issued by authorized project team members. Procurement management in projects also includes the management of all contracts issued by an external organization (the buyer) that acquires the project from the sponsoring organization (the seller) and the management of contractual obligations imposed on the project team by the contract.

Link to the functions:

• Cost Management
• Amendments
• Contract Management

• Stakeholder Management (from the fifth edition)

Stakeholders are the individuals or collectives affected in some way by a project or its outcome. Edition five puts together its own processes for those closely or remotely involved in the project to emphasise the impact of the various interests, hopes and needs of the stakeholders and to make project managers particularly aware of them. The processes newly added in edition five or bundled in a new process group include the identification of stakeholders as well as the planning, active management and monitoring of the stakeholders.

Link to the functions:

• Stakeholders
• Task Management
• Quality RegisterQualitätsregister

The individual task areas occur at different points in the course of the project. (Wikipedia)