Initiating Process Group
Starts a new project or a phase of a project. The project can be in varying states during this process, it may have had its feasibility study done or not done, the project may have to be selected from a list of projects, etc.
Inputs -
- Business Need.
- Product description or requirements known up till this point of time.
- How the project supports the organizations strategic plan.
- Likely stakeholders.
- Any contract work.
- Industry Standards.
- Change Process.
- Company's define processes and procedures.
- Past relationship with sponsor.
- Templates from past projects.
- Historical word breakdown structures and estimates.
- Company culture.
- List of people who may be good team members.
Actions -
- Select project from list of projects.
- Select Project Manager and her level of authority.
- Collect historical information.
- Divide large project into phases.
- Convert stakeholders needs, wants and expectations into requirements.
- Document business needs, assumptions and constraints.
- Attempt to refine product scope.
- Understand how the project fits into the organizations strategic objectives.
- Facilitate resolution of conflicting objectives.
- Understand organization culture, structure and how it does business.
- Work with customer to determine the acceptance criteria and what is and isn't in the project.
- Document the known risks.
- Determine any milestones needed.
- Finalize project charter.
- Obtain approval on project charter.
- Create preliminary project scope statement.
Planning Process Group
Organize the project before starting it. Determine if the project charter can be accomplished, address project management processes and knowledge areas, and determine which process from PMBoK are appropriate.
Actions -
- Document plans for Scope, Time, Cost, Risk Quality and Procurement.
- Refine requirements from Initiation.
- Describe project deliverables and work required to complete those deliverables.
- Determine team.
- Determine and get approval for final project scope statement.
- Create WBS and WBS dictionary.
- List activities from WBS and sequence them.
- Estimate resource requirements.
- Gather resource commitments.
- Decide on level of accuracy for estimates and estimate time and cost.
- Determine project duration without compressing the schedule.
- Develop preliminary schedule and budget.
- Determine quality standards.
- Determine and convey roles and responsibilities for all team members and stakeholders.
- Determine what information you will need from other projects.
- Understand communication requirements of all stakeholders.
- Complete risk identifications, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis and response planning.
- Determine what to procure and procurement documents.
- Determine what meetings, reports and other activities you will use to control the project.
- Finalize project management plan and performance measurement baseline.
- Get formal approval on the plan.
- Hold kick off meeting and gather buy-in from everyone.
Executing Process Group
Complete the work in the project management plan.
Actions -
- Set and manage expectations of all stakeholders.
- Ensure common understanding of work.
- Implement the original project management plan or the revised plan as a result of control activities.
- Complete work packages.
- Collect and document lessons learned.
- Establish and manage communication channels.
- Evaluate teams effectiveness a.
- Implement approved changes, corrective actions, preventive actions and defect repairs.
- Implement quality assurance procedures.
- Produce project reports.
- Hold team building activities, training for team members.
- Follow ground rules at team meetings.
- Distribute information to remove roadblocks.
- Achieve results which meet requirements.
- Keep managers apprised of when their resources will be needed on the project.
- Guide, assist, communicate, lead, negotiate, help, coach.
- Authorize work on work packages through work authorization systemm.
- Hold progress meetings
- Focus on preventing problems rather than dealing with them when the arise.
- Ensure all team members have the skills, information and equipment needed to complete their work.
- Focus on looking for exceptions to the approved project plan instead of baby sitting team members.
- Recommend changes and corrective actions to be handled in integrated change control.
- Follow organization policies, processes and procedures.
- Increase the effectiveness of processes.
- Ensure continued agreement to project plan.
- Keep everyone focused on completing to the project charter, scope and plan.
- Reevaluate the project business case when a severe problem occurs.
- Solve problems.
- Implement recognition and reward system.
- Determine team members who could not be identified during planning process.
- Implement approved process improvements.
- Implement contingency plans or workarounds as required.
- Request seller responses to procurement documents.
- Review bids and quotes and select sellers.
- Expend and monitor project funds.
Monitoring & Controlling Process Group
Involves measuring the performance of the project to the plan, approving change requests, preventive actions, defect repair and managing changes.
Actions -
- Measure project performance according to the measures in the management plans.
- Measure against performance measurement baselines.
- Determine variances and if they warrant a recommendation for corrective action or change.
- Exercise judgement to determine which variances are important.
- Recommend changes, defect repairs, preventive and corrective actions.
- Facilitate conflict resolution.
- Create forecasts.
- Control schedule, cost and quality to their baselines.
- Identify root causes of problems.
- Recommend updates to the project management plan.
- Obtain formal acceptance on deliverables from customers.
- Identify need for re-planning.
- Manage time and cost reserves.
- Recalculate project cost and duration.
- Obtain additional funding when needed.
- Hold periodic inspections.
- Make decisions to accept or reject work.
- Evaluate effectiveness of implemented corrective actions.
- Spend time trying to improve quality.
- Get information from stakeholders to determine if project controls need to be updated.
- Identify and analyze trends.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of risk responses in a risk audit.
- Look for newly arising risks.
- Reanalyze existing risks.
- Observer.
- Measure team members performance.
- User variance reports to correct small problems before they become serious.
- Calculate estimate to complete.
- Do project performance appraisals.
- Ensure that only approved changes are implemented.
- Work with change control board.
- Manage stakeholders.
- Contract administration.
- Hold status review meetings.
Closing Process Group
Apart from completing the product scope, project completion includes administrative activities such as collecting and finalizing paperwork, technical work to validate the product of the project is acceptable, transfer of the completed project to those who will use it and returning all the resources.
Actions -
- Confirm that all requirements in the project have been met.
- Verify and document that the project or project phase meets completion or exit criteria set in place during the planning process group.
- Obtain formal/legal sign off on the product/project from the customer.
- Document reasons for early termination.
- Make final payments and complete cost records.
- Gather lessons learned.
- Update project records.
- Ensure all project management processes are complete.
- Update corporate processes, procedures and templates based on lessons learned.
- Add new skill acquired by team members to their HR records.
- Perform procurement audit.
- Complete contract closure and administrative closure.
- Analyze and document the success and effectiveness of the project.
- Create and distribute final report on the project performance.
- Index and archive project records.
- Measure customer satisfaction.
- Hand off completed project deliverables to maintenance and operations.
- Release resources.
- Celebrate!
Starts a new project or a phase of a project. The project can be in varying states during this process, it may have had its feasibility study done or not done, the project may have to be selected from a list of projects, etc.
Inputs -
- Business Need.
- Product description or requirements known up till this point of time.
- How the project supports the organizations strategic plan.
- Likely stakeholders.
- Any contract work.
- Industry Standards.
- Change Process.
- Company's define processes and procedures.
- Past relationship with sponsor.
- Templates from past projects.
- Historical word breakdown structures and estimates.
- Company culture.
- List of people who may be good team members.
- Select project from list of projects.
- Select Project Manager and her level of authority.
- Collect historical information.
- Divide large project into phases.
- Convert stakeholders needs, wants and expectations into requirements.
- Document business needs, assumptions and constraints.
- Attempt to refine product scope.
- Understand how the project fits into the organizations strategic objectives.
- Facilitate resolution of conflicting objectives.
- Understand organization culture, structure and how it does business.
- Work with customer to determine the acceptance criteria and what is and isn't in the project.
- Document the known risks.
- Determine any milestones needed.
- Finalize project charter.
- Obtain approval on project charter.
- Create preliminary project scope statement.
Planning Process Group
Organize the project before starting it. Determine if the project charter can be accomplished, address project management processes and knowledge areas, and determine which process from PMBoK are appropriate.
Actions -
- Document plans for Scope, Time, Cost, Risk Quality and Procurement.
- Refine requirements from Initiation.
- Describe project deliverables and work required to complete those deliverables.
- Determine team.
- Determine and get approval for final project scope statement.
- Create WBS and WBS dictionary.
- List activities from WBS and sequence them.
- Estimate resource requirements.
- Gather resource commitments.
- Decide on level of accuracy for estimates and estimate time and cost.
- Determine project duration without compressing the schedule.
- Develop preliminary schedule and budget.
- Determine quality standards.
- Determine and convey roles and responsibilities for all team members and stakeholders.
- Determine what information you will need from other projects.
- Understand communication requirements of all stakeholders.
- Complete risk identifications, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis and response planning.
- Determine what to procure and procurement documents.
- Determine what meetings, reports and other activities you will use to control the project.
- Finalize project management plan and performance measurement baseline.
- Get formal approval on the plan.
- Hold kick off meeting and gather buy-in from everyone.
Executing Process Group
Complete the work in the project management plan.
- Set and manage expectations of all stakeholders.
- Ensure common understanding of work.
- Implement the original project management plan or the revised plan as a result of control activities.
- Complete work packages.
- Collect and document lessons learned.
- Establish and manage communication channels.
- Evaluate teams effectiveness a.
- Implement approved changes, corrective actions, preventive actions and defect repairs.
- Implement quality assurance procedures.
- Produce project reports.
- Hold team building activities, training for team members.
- Follow ground rules at team meetings.
- Distribute information to remove roadblocks.
- Achieve results which meet requirements.
- Keep managers apprised of when their resources will be needed on the project.
- Guide, assist, communicate, lead, negotiate, help, coach.
- Authorize work on work packages through work authorization systemm.
- Hold progress meetings
- Focus on preventing problems rather than dealing with them when the arise.
- Ensure all team members have the skills, information and equipment needed to complete their work.
- Focus on looking for exceptions to the approved project plan instead of baby sitting team members.
- Recommend changes and corrective actions to be handled in integrated change control.
- Follow organization policies, processes and procedures.
- Increase the effectiveness of processes.
- Ensure continued agreement to project plan.
- Keep everyone focused on completing to the project charter, scope and plan.
- Reevaluate the project business case when a severe problem occurs.
- Solve problems.
- Implement recognition and reward system.
- Determine team members who could not be identified during planning process.
- Implement approved process improvements.
- Implement contingency plans or workarounds as required.
- Request seller responses to procurement documents.
- Review bids and quotes and select sellers.
- Expend and monitor project funds.
Monitoring & Controlling Process Group
Involves measuring the performance of the project to the plan, approving change requests, preventive actions, defect repair and managing changes.
Actions -
- Measure project performance according to the measures in the management plans.
- Measure against performance measurement baselines.
- Determine variances and if they warrant a recommendation for corrective action or change.
- Exercise judgement to determine which variances are important.
- Recommend changes, defect repairs, preventive and corrective actions.
- Facilitate conflict resolution.
- Create forecasts.
- Control schedule, cost and quality to their baselines.
- Identify root causes of problems.
- Recommend updates to the project management plan.
- Obtain formal acceptance on deliverables from customers.
- Identify need for re-planning.
- Manage time and cost reserves.
- Recalculate project cost and duration.
- Obtain additional funding when needed.
- Hold periodic inspections.
- Make decisions to accept or reject work.
- Evaluate effectiveness of implemented corrective actions.
- Spend time trying to improve quality.
- Get information from stakeholders to determine if project controls need to be updated.
- Identify and analyze trends.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of risk responses in a risk audit.
- Look for newly arising risks.
- Reanalyze existing risks.
- Observer.
- Measure team members performance.
- User variance reports to correct small problems before they become serious.
- Calculate estimate to complete.
- Do project performance appraisals.
- Ensure that only approved changes are implemented.
- Work with change control board.
- Manage stakeholders.
- Contract administration.
- Hold status review meetings.
Closing Process Group
Apart from completing the product scope, project completion includes administrative activities such as collecting and finalizing paperwork, technical work to validate the product of the project is acceptable, transfer of the completed project to those who will use it and returning all the resources.
Actions -
- Confirm that all requirements in the project have been met.
- Verify and document that the project or project phase meets completion or exit criteria set in place during the planning process group.
- Obtain formal/legal sign off on the product/project from the customer.
- Document reasons for early termination.
- Make final payments and complete cost records.
- Gather lessons learned.
- Update project records.
- Ensure all project management processes are complete.
- Update corporate processes, procedures and templates based on lessons learned.
- Add new skill acquired by team members to their HR records.
- Perform procurement audit.
- Complete contract closure and administrative closure.
- Analyze and document the success and effectiveness of the project.
- Create and distribute final report on the project performance.
- Index and archive project records.
- Measure customer satisfaction.
- Hand off completed project deliverables to maintenance and operations.
- Release resources.
- Celebrate!
