PMBOK 8th Edition Process Chart Study Notes

Course Metadata and Context

• Framework Standard: PMBOK 8th Edition Process Chart
• Course: PMP Exam Prep Course
• Instructor: Andrew Ramdayal
• Institution: TIA Technical Institute of America

Project Focus Areas (Process Groups)

The process architecture is organized into five primary Focus Areas across the project lifecycle:

• Initiating Focus Area: Processes performed to define a new project or a new phase of an existing project by obtaining authorization to start the project or phase.
• Planning Focus Area: Processes required to establish the scope of the project, refine objectives, and define the course of action required to attain the objectives that the project was undertaken to achieve.
• Executing Focus Area: Processes performed to complete the work defined in the project management plan to satisfy the project requirements.
• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area: Processes required to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of the project; identify any areas in which changes to the plan are required; and initiate the corresponding changes.
• Closing Focus Area: Processes performed to formally complete or close a project, phase, or contract.

Governance Performance Domain

The Governance Performance Domain establishes the overarching framework for directing, aligning, executing, monitoring, and closing project work.

• Initiating Focus Area:

  • Initiate Project or Phase: Formal authorization of a new project or project component.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Integrate and Align Project Plans: Consolidation and alignment of individual subsidiary management plans into a cohesive overall project management strategy.
  • Plan Sourcing Strategy: Determining the approach for acquiring external goods, services, and procurement needs.

• Executing Focus Area:

  • Manage Project Execution: Directing and performing the work planned to achieve project deliverables.
  • Manage Quality Assurance: Audit quality requirements and quality control measurements to ensure appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are utilized.
  • Manage Project Knowledge: Utilizing existing knowledge and creating new knowledge to achieve project objectives and contribute to organizational learning.

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor and Control Project Performance: Tracking, reviewing, and reporting project progress to meet performance objectives defined in the project management plan.
  • Assess and Implement Changes: Reviewing all change requests, approving changes, and managing changes to deliverables, organizational process assets, project documents, and the project management plan.

• Closing Focus Area:

  • Close Project or Phase: Finalizing all activities across all project management process groups to formally complete the project or phase.

Scope Performance Domain

The Scope Performance Domain focuses on defining, structuring, and controlling what is and is not included in the project.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Plan Scope Management: Creating a scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, validated, and controlled.
  • Elicit and Analyze Requirements: Determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives.
  • Define Scope: Developing a detailed description of the project and product.
  • Develop Scope Structure: Deconstructing total project scope into smaller, more manageable components (such as a Work Breakdown Structure).

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor and Control Scope: Monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline.
  • Validate Scope: Formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables by stakeholders.

Schedule Performance Domain

The Schedule Performance Domain addresses the timely completion of the project through proper planning and monitoring.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Plan Schedule Management: Establishing the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule.
  • Develop Schedule: Analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule model.

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor and Control Schedule: Monitoring the status of project activities to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline.

Finance Performance Domain

The Finance Performance Domain focuses on planning, estimating, budgeting, and controlling project expenditures.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Plan Financial Management: Establishing processes for managing, estimating, budgeting, and controlling financial resources for the project.
  • Estimate Costs: Developing an approximation of the monetary resources needed to complete project work.
  • Develop Budget: Aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized cost baseline.

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor and Control Finances: Monitoring the status of the project to update project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline.

Stakeholders Performance Domain

The Stakeholders Performance Domain covers activities related to identifying, engaging, and communicating with key project stakeholders.

• Initiating Focus Area:

  • Identify Stakeholders: Identifying people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Plan Stakeholder Engagement: Developing approaches to involve project stakeholders based on their needs, expectations, interests, and potential impact on the project.
  • Plan Communications Management: Developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications activities based on the information needs of each stakeholder or group.

• Executing Focus Area:

  • Manage Stakeholder Engagement: Communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, address issues, and foster appropriate engagement.
  • Manage Communications: Creating, collecting, distributing, storing, retrieving, and managing project information in accordance with the communications management plan.

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor Stakeholder Engagement: Monitoring project stakeholder relationships and tailoring strategies for engaging stakeholders through modification of engagement strategies and plans.
  • Monitor Communications: Ensuring the information needs of the project and its stakeholders are met.

Resources Performance Domain

The Resources Performance Domain focuses on securing, managing, and leading physical and team resources.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Plan Resource Management: Defining how to estimate, acquire, manage, and use team and physical resources.
  • Estimate Resources: Estimating team resources and the type and quantities of materials, equipment, and supplies required to perform project work.

• Executing Focus Area:

  • Acquire Resources: Obtaining team members, facilities, equipment, materials, supplies, and other resources necessary to complete project work.
  • Lead the Team: Guiding, motivating, and supporting the project team to fulfill their roles and achieve project objectives.

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor and Control Resourcing: Ensuring that the physical resources assigned and allocated to the project are available as planned, as well as monitoring the utilization of resources and taking corrective action as needed.

Risk Performance Domain

The Risk Performance Domain encompasses risk planning, identification, analysis, response design, implementation, and ongoing oversight.

• Planning Focus Area:

  • Plan Risk Management: Defining how to conduct risk management activities for a project.
  • Identify Risks: Identifying individual project risks as well as sources of overall project risk, and documenting their characteristics.
  • Perform Risk Analysis: Assessing priority of identified risks by evaluating and combining their probability of occurrence, impact, and other characteristics.
  • Plan Risk Responses: Developing options, selecting strategies, and agreeing on actions to address overall project risk exposure, as well as to treat individual project risks.

• Executing Focus Area:

  • Implement Risk Responses: Implementing agreed-upon risk response plans.

• Monitoring and Controlling Focus Area:

  • Monitor Risks: Monitoring the implementation of agreed-upon risk response plans, tracking identified risks, identifying and analyzing new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness throughout the project.