Introduction

Overview

The Project Management Institute (PMI®) has published A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Fourth Edition [1]. The PMBOK® Guide identifies the subset of the project management body of knowledge generally recognized as good practice (PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.4). For convenience, that document shall simply be referred to in the rest of this book as PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. For the same reason, Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition [2], which explains the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, will be mostly referred to as This Book in the rest of this text.

Occasional references will also be made to:

- Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide [3], the first book in this series that explains A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) 2000 Edition.

- Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide Third Edition [4], the second book in this series that explains A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Third Edition.

- The PMBOK® Guide Third Edition: An Analysis [5], which examines A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Third Edition.

- The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition: An Analysis [6], which examines A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Fourth Edition.

One important aspect of the first, base and spin book in this series (3) does, however, remain constant; Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide editions continue to provide you with the closest available analysis of the PMBOK® Guide editions. The series should serve as an independent explanation of fundamental contents of the PMBOK® Guide in both a technical and a practical surroundings.  We decided to write This Book because we recognized the need to better address the questions that still bound the PMBOK® Guide.

This Book is necessary for dedicated readers of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. Although This Book is useful in preparing for the PMP® exam, however, it is a must for practitioners, authors, educators, contributors and reviewers of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. To follow the material in This Book, readers will need to at least refer to the copies of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition (1) and An Analysis of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition (6).

The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition is devoted almost entirely to identifying, explaining, and relating its forty-two project management processes. These processes are classified in two different ways to show:

1. How processes interact within project management process groups.

2. Which project management knowledge area each process belongs to.

Accordingly, each of the forty-two project management processes is associated with both a project management process group and a project management knowledge area. For example, Process 8.1 (Plan Quality) belongs to the Planning Process Group and to the Project Quality Management knowledge area (PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.43).  

For the purpose of grouping the processes by interactions, the processes have been classified into the following five Project Management Process Groups (PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.39):

1. Initiating Process Group

2. Planning Process Group

3. Executing Process Group

4. Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

5. Closing Process Group

For the purpose of grouping the processes by areas of project management, the processes have been classified into the following nine Project Management Knowledge Areas (PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.67):

1. Project Integration Management

2. Project Scope Management

3. Project Time Management

4. Project Cost Management

5. Project Quality Management

6. Project Human Resource Management

7. Project Communications Management

8. Project Risk Management

9. Project Procurement Management

While describing and grouping project management processes, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition also illustrates the following three types of relationships:

1. Relationships between process groups.

2. Relationships between processes.

3. Relationships between inputs and outputs within each process.

The Relationships between process groups and the relationships between processes are defined, described, and shown graphically at the process group level and the process level respectively. See Figure 3-3 and Figures 3-5, 3-8, 3-29, 3-38, 3-49 (PMBOK®  Guide Fourth Edition p.42-65). In effect, this means that each relationship description or diagram arrow indicates the existence of a certain relationship, but it does not specify what information is being exchanged.

The PMBOK® Guide in general, including the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, differs substantially from other project management systems by its output/input characteristic (6, Abstract). As a result, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition clearly specifies what inputs are involved and what outputs are obtained for each process (i.e., what information is being exchanged within the process). In addition, by listing the inputs and the outputs of each process and presenting their relationships in Data Flow Diagrams, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition implies that the relationships between process groups and between processes also consist of the output/input relationships (6, Introduction, Conclusion).

In an effort to provide process relationships at the output/input level, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition uses Data Flow Diagrams (PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.74-342). This move is the first successful strategic step by the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition project team to show the relationships between processes by means of output/input. For example, process 4.1 (Develop Project Charter) is related to process 5.1 (Collect Requirements) through the component ‘Project charter’ (see Figure 4-3, PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.74). This solution of “the input comes from” and “the output goes to” was crafted in detail for the 2000 Edition (3, p.31-108, 277-288) and Third Edition (4, p.21-112). Data Flow Diagrams are a graphical form of original design and cannot show numerous process relationships in a comprehensive manner. Therefore, we will continue to use the structured text to show how inputs and outputs are related.

Although Data Flow Diagrams show how each process relates with other processes, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition does not have other components of process handling to make Data Flow Diagrams effective. For example, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition does not cover:

- A set of sustainable rules for the analysis of process relationships that must be used to establish the context for each input, output, and process described in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. This could enable the reader to apply a specific method and extract the required project management logic out of scattered process contexts in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. Consequently, without the definition of complete relationships, the reader cannot understand the logic of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, or what the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition says.

- A comprehensive procedure needed for transforming the project management logic into a sequence for the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition inputs, outputs, and processes. Consequently, without such a sequence the reader will not be able to understand full meaning of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- A guideline to apply the project management logic and sequence of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition and reveal the practical meaning of “recognized good practices” portrayed in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. Consequently, without directions for applying the knowledge from the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition the reader must ask how to use the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition in a real project.  

For the above reasons, the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition leaves an information gap, where explicit relationships and chronological ordering of inputs, outputs, and processes are left without solutions.   

This Book bridges the information gap left in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. It describes a pragmatic way to get a better understanding of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition’s prospective.


The Purpose of This Book

As mentioned earlier, one of the objectives of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition is to define and describe the relationships between process groups and the relationships between processes. However, to interface a system with a user’s factual project documentation, successfully initiate, plan, implement, control, and close any project and to measure the performance of each supplier, an explanation of relationships in terms of items that can be documented (i.e., inputs and outputs) is required.

The relationships that are defined in terms of inputs and outputs are the foundations for revealing project management logic and sequence number for each input and output mentioned in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

Accordingly, the objectives of This Book are:

- To show the relationships between processes in terms of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition’s inputs and outputs,

- To show the chronological order (i.e., the sequence) of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition’s outputs and inputs.

By fulfilling these two objectives, This Book lays a strong foundation for analyzing, understanding, modifying, summarizing, and disseminating information at any higher level of the system (process level, process group level, project level, or program level).

Based on the analysis of standard project management practices as described in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, This Book does the following:

- Helps the reader to understand the relationships for each process in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Shows a data base information about inputs and outputs relationships in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Exposes the accurate contexts of each input, output, and process defined in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Aids the reader in developing the project management logic of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Assists in assigning a step number for each input, output, and process given in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Shows how to compile a sequence of critical outputs of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Tells how the knowledge of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition can be used for a real project.

- Reduces the gap between the spectacular circulation of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition on the one hand, and its modest application on the other by exposing the application features of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

- Converts a static position of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition processes into a dynamic entity and possibility for adjusting processes to different project management requirements.

Therefore, since This Book provides information of practical value, it facilitates the acceptance of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition as a reference for conducting education programs in project management and a practicum for doing project management business.

The reader most likely to benefit from This Book is a professional who has found the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition a valuable resource of project management knowledge and who wants to base her or his competency development framework on the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

Finally, unlike many books about project management, This Book describes complex technical details. For that reason, This Book should not be considered the sole source of information. The reader must at least refer to the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition while reading This Book. Also, both books are particularly useful when used as the reader’s desk references, since most of its text explains to the reader how to do something with the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, not just what to know about it.


Chapter Descriptions

The author had originally intended for This Book to be structurally identical to Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide, (3). However, numerous customer requests for a similar analysis of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition influenced the author to write and publish this abbreviated version of This Book.   

The selected sections represent the material's foundation and the core substance, which will enable the reader’s quick transition from the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition to the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition.

With the possible writing of the expanded edition of This Book in mind and to help gauge the level of interest in such a publication, the following chapter or sections descriptions are provided in This Book:

1. Project Management Knowledge Areas and Process Relationships chapter identifies relationships between inputs and outputs of each process and inputs and outputs of other processes defined in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. By revealing a data base information about inputs and outputs relationships, this chapter helps the reader gain an instant overview of the context of each input and output in respect to each process in which the input or output occurs. Accordingly,

- A context of an input or an output, with respect to a particular process, is the unique set of occurrences of that input or output in other processes. By extension, the context of a process is the unique set of contexts associated with each input and output of that process.

- By knowing the contexts of inputs and outputs, the reader is able to develop a more complete picture of the relationships between the process groups and the relationships between processes defined in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. This is true because all relationships within the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, including relationships between process groups and between processes, are determined by the output/input relationships.

- Finally, the reader is able to start applying the output/input relationships in defining the project management logic necessary for managing a particular project. Having thus revealed the relationships between inputs and outputs of each process and inputs and outputs of other processes defined in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, the reader can easily answer many important questions related to the application of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. For detailed examples, refer to Chapter 1 of This Book.

2. Project Management Processes and Process Sequencing chapter derives and appropriately assigns a sequence number to each input and output defined in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition by first examining the material described in Chapter 3 of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, (PMBOK®   Guide Fourth Edition p.37-65). Accordingly,

- The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition shows global relationships between process groups and processes. Based on the representation of the relationships in terms of process inputs and outputs revealed and described in the Chapter 1 of This Book, it becomes possible to take the next logical step in fully describing the relationships. That is, it becomes possible to chronologically sequence the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition’s inputs and outputs.

- The sequence of outputs (which implies the corresponding sequence of preceding inputs) can be further used to develop sequences of all processes, and process groups. The developed sequences are in fact procedural templates that give the reader the ability to understand and directly apply the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition in managing a real project. Having revealed the flow of information from process to process for all process groups given in the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, the reader can easily answer many important questions related to the application of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. For detailed examples, refer to Chapter 2 of This Book.

- Process Iterated Loop section is introduced in this chapter to help apply the sequence of project management logic to the development and updating of the project management plan of a real project. The process iterated loop reveals how the feed-forward and feedback exchange of information takes place between inputs and outputs. By examining Figure 3-3, Project Management Process Interactions (PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition p.42), we have found that understanding this flow between process groups is crucial for the application of the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition to any real project. However, understanding the flow of information between process groups can be much easier if we replace Figure 3-3 with Figure 26, Process Iterated Loop from This Book. This will give us more realistic insight into the function of the process iterated loop (6, Process Iterated Loop).

- Example section is introduced in this chapter to  presents a narrative explanation of critical output sequences. Unlike many other narratives about project management, this presentation is unique in its substance and is strictly based on the inputs and outputs from the PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition. However, the critical output/input sequence, which is the shell for this example, has been derived in This Book. The narrative explanation is also important because complex technical details, derived and described in terms of process inputs and outputs, could perhaps be more easily absorbed and understood when presented in such a simplified form.

- Section Figures mostly support the development of the ‘Example’, which is described within Chapter 2 of This Book. This Book shows a selection of figures that are necessary to follow when studying the above procedures for process relationships and process sequencing.

References

[1] A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®Guide) Fourth Edition, ©2008 Project Management Institute Inc., Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3209, USA.

[2] Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition, ©2009 Project Management Publications, Louisville, USA. (www.pmpublications.net/brainstorm).

[3] Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide, 2000 Edition, ©2004 Project Management Publications, Louisville, USA. (www.pmpublications.net/brainstorm).

[4] Brainstorming The PMBOK® Guide Third Edition, ©2005 Project Management Publications, Louisville, USA. (www.pmpublications.net/brainstorm).

[5] The PMBOK® Guide Third Edition: An Analysis, ©2005 Project Management Publications, Louisville, USA , (www.maxwideman.com).

[6] The PMBOK® Guide Fourth Edition: An Analysis, ©2009 Project Management Publications, Louisville, USA, (www.maxwideman.com).

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