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The PMBOK® Guide has organized project management into 49 processes that are goruped in 5 process groups and 10 knowledge areas.

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Quick reference

PMBOK® Guide Processes

The PMBOK® Guide has organized project management into 49 processes. These processes are allocated across the project management process groups of Initiating, Planning, Executing, Closing, and Monitoring and Controlling; and across the ten knowledge areas are Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Resources, Communication, Risk, Procurement, and Stakeholders.

When to use

The processes of the PMBOK® Guide should be used on every project.  Different processes apply at different stages in a project lifecycle. Also, based upon the unique characteristics of a project some processes may not be required. (For example if there are no suppliers being used on an in-house project, the Procurement processes are not required.) The specific timing for each process will be addressed when that process is discussed.

Instructions

Knowing all of the processes found in the PMBOK® Guide will prepare an individual to manage a project. These processes are project management processes, which mean that they are universally applicable across industries and project type. 

Not included in the PMBOK® Guide are product management processes which are unique to the type of product or the industry.  For instance there are no processes for managing software quality assurance, processes for managing construction permits, or processes for managing the preparation of an automotive PPAP.  The product development processes are important for a project manager to know and manage, but those are related to the unique product, industry, or project type and therefore are not covered in the PMBOK® Guide, which is meant to be a universal standard.

Each process is described using the format of: inputs, tools & techniques, outputs. The inputs and outputs are often the linkages between the processes as an output from one process becomes an input to another process.  The tools and techniques are the best practices that have been identified for accomplishing the process. Your organization may have its own unique practice for accomplishing the process. Those listed are the universally accepted practices.

Process groups

The 49 processes are allocated across the five process groups which address a type of project management activity.  These are:

  • Initiating – start the project or phase.
  • Planning – define the course of action.
  • Executing – complete the work.
  • Monitoring & Controlling – regulate progress.
  • Closing – close the project or phase.

The relationship between the process groups is shown in this figure.

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Figure X3-3, Page 668.

Knowledge areas

The processes have also been allocated across ten knowledge areas. Each of these knowledge areas has a dedicated chapter in the PMBOK® Guide. Each knowledge area represents a category of project management activity. For convenience and as a memory aid, I have color-coded the knowledge areas. This coding is unique to this course, but I have found it helpful when trying to remember which processes are related.

  1. Project Integration Management
  2. Project Scope Management
  3. Project Time Management
  4. Project Cost Management
  5. Project Quality Management
  6. Project Resource Management
  7. Project Communication Management
  8. Project Risk Management
  9. Project Procurement Management
  10. Project Stakeholder Management

  The processes are shown in the table below, allocated by process group and knowledge area.

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Table 1-4, Page 25.

 PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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  • 00:04 Hi this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Let's talk now about the project management processes
  • 00:09 that are described in the Project Management Body of Knowledge, the PMBOK Guide.
  • 00:13 In particular, I wanna go through and explain the knowledge areas and
  • 00:17 the process groups that are used to organize these processes.
  • 00:21 Project Management Body of Knowledge,
  • 00:24 the PMBOK Guide defines process as a systematic series of
  • 00:29 activities directed towards causing an end results such that one or
  • 00:34 more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs.
  • 00:38 Well that's a pretty standard definition of a process.
  • 00:42 Let's apply this though to project management.
  • 00:45 The PMBOK Guide processes provide direction on the ways to use the tools and
  • 00:49 techniques associated with managing projects.
  • 00:52 These deal with the process of project management.
  • 00:55 PMI has worked hard to write the processes in a way that ensures that they apply
  • 00:59 globally across many different industry groups and types of projects.
  • 01:04 Within the PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition, there are 49 project management processes.
  • 01:10 The PMBOK guide does not include product oriented processes.
  • 01:14 These would direct the use of tools and
  • 01:16 techniques that are specific to the nature of the work of the project.
  • 01:20 They are not in the PMBOK Guide because they are not generic.
  • 01:23 An example would be a software design review process or
  • 01:27 debugging processes on an IT project.
  • 01:31 The project management processes that are found in the PMBOK Guide are documented
  • 01:35 by describing the inputs and outputs of the process and
  • 01:38 then listing several tools and techniques that could viewed as best practices for
  • 01:43 doing the work of the process.
  • 01:46 The 49 project management processes are divided into five process groups.
  • 01:51 Each process group represents different types of project management activities
  • 01:56 associated with the project life cycle.
  • 01:58 But be careful, the process groups are not the life cycle.
  • 02:02 In a multi phase life cycle, you can be initiating one phase, planning another,
  • 02:07 executing in the third and doing closing in the fourth phase all the same time.
  • 02:13 At the beginning there are initiating processes.
  • 02:15 On large projects you may need to do these at the beginning of each phase.
  • 02:20 Next is planning.
  • 02:21 These processes define how the work will be done and describing the schedule,
  • 02:25 the resources and how risk will be managed and communicated.
  • 02:29 Once the plan is in place the next set of processes are used
  • 02:33 to manage the execution of the plan.
  • 02:36 The PMBOK Guide next talks about the monitoring and controlling processes.
  • 02:40 Monitoring and
  • 02:41 controlling are occurring from day one until day last on the project.
  • 02:46 Which brings us to the final process group which is closing.
  • 02:49 Although not shown on this figure, it must be done also.
  • 02:52 This process ensures that the project or phase is complete.
  • 02:56 In addition to the five process groups,
  • 02:58 the PMBOK Guide separates the 49 processes into ten knowledge areas.
  • 03:04 Where process groups are focused on the categories of activities that are often
  • 03:07 happening at the same time, the knowledge areas
  • 03:11 organize the processes into categories based upon the nature of the work or
  • 03:15 the type of project management interactions.
  • 03:18 The ten knowledge areas are integration management,
  • 03:21 which brings all of the pieces together from across the project management areas.
  • 03:26 Scope management, which is defining the work the project will do.
  • 03:29 Time management, which defines the timing and sequencing of events.
  • 03:32 Cost management, which defines how much money the project will spend.
  • 03:36 Quality management, which helps the project manager understand
  • 03:39 whether the project is being done correctly.
  • 03:42 Resource management, which defines the team and other physical resources and
  • 03:46 how they will be managed.
  • 03:47 Communication management, which is the communication of all this activity
  • 03:51 between the teams and the stakeholders.
  • 03:53 Risk management is understanding what are the threats and
  • 03:56 opportunities to the project and managing those.
  • 03:59 Procurement management, which is working with suppliers and
  • 04:02 if the project is being done under contract working with the customer.
  • 04:05 And finally, stakeholder management, which deals with those stakeholders
  • 04:09 who can influence success or failure on the project.
  • 04:13 We'll look at each of these specific processes in much more detail
  • 04:16 in later lessons.
  • 04:19 This is a summary chart showing the 49 processes
  • 04:22 split up across the different process groups and knowledge areas.
  • 04:25 The colors are something that I've added to help with understanding and study.
  • 04:29 When we start to review individual processes and look at the connections
  • 04:32 between them, the colors will help to keep things straight as to what's happening.
  • 04:36 One thing that is quickly apparent looking at this chart is that
  • 04:40 half of the processes are in the planning group.
  • 04:42 But you may remember that only about one-fourth of the test
  • 04:46 dealt with planning processes.
  • 04:48 While there are lots of processes there,
  • 04:50 the questions will be spread pretty thin across them.
  • 04:53 By the same token, nearly 13% of the questions
  • 04:56 will be coming from the initiation group, and 7% from closing.
  • 05:00 Yet these groups have only two and one process respectively.
  • 05:05 If I were you, I would make sure that I studied these processes well.
  • 05:09 The meat of the exam is the project manager processes.
  • 05:13 Understanding their grouping will make it easier to understand how they all relate.

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PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

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