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I am starting a project of going through the 6th Edition of the PMBOK® Guide and blogging about its contents.    The 6th Edition was released on September 22nd by the Project Management Institute, and now that I am done reviewing the first three chapters on projects, the environment in which they are done, and the role of the project manager, I am excited to start the fourth chapter on the first of the 10 knowledge areas, that of Project Integration Management.

In the past two posts, I gave some preliminary information on what types of integration (vertical, horizontal) that integration management requires, and also what the major trends are in integration management.

Today I start on the general overview of integration management and the 7 project management processes it encompasses.

Integration management

This is the knowledge area which is used to unity and coordinate the various processes and activities within the five project management processes and the other 9 knowledge areas.   This means more specifically that there is a lot of connection between these 7 integration management processes and the other 42 processes.   To give you an example, the monitoring and controlling process group for all of the other 9 knowledge areas produces the output of change requests related to each area, and these change requests are then input into process 4.6 Perform Integrated Change Control.   As another example, the planning process group for all of the other 9 knowledge areas produces the output of management plans for each area, and these individual management plans are then inputs into 4.2 Develop Project Management Plan.

For those teaching courses to prepare students for the PMP exam, it is often a legitimate question as to whether teach material in chapter 4 Integration Management first (because it’s the first chapter out of 10 covering knowledge areas) or last (because understanding its contents are so dependent on understanding the contents of the other knowledge areas which it integrates).   I’m going to follow the order they are presented in the PMBOK® Guide and present them first.

7 processes

Initiating Process Group

4.1 Develop Project Charter–formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with authority to apply organizational resources to project activities

Planning Process Group

4.2 Develop Project Management Plan–coordinates all individual project management plan components derived from other knowledge areas and consolidates them into the overall Project Management Plan

Executing Process Group

4.3 Direct and Manage Project Work–leads the performance of all work defined in the project management plan and to implement any approved changes to that plan in order to achieve the project objectives.

4.4 Manage Project Knowledge–uses existing knowledge and creating new knowledge (lessons learned) to achieve the project’s objectives and to contribute to organizational learning.

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

4.5 Monitor and Control Project Work–tracks, reviews, and reports on overall progress to meet the performance objectives defined in the project management plan.

4.6 Perform Integrated Change Control–reviews all change requests, approves and manages changes to the deliverables or to the project management plan.

Closing Process Group

4.7 Close Project or Phase–finalizes all activities in the project relating to the completion of deliverables, the resources used on the project, or the documentation of the project.

These are THE key activities on any project, which is why Integration Management processes are vital to learn and to deeply understand.   So we’ll start with the first process, 4.1 Develop Project Charter, in the next post.

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