Overview of Project Management Process Groups

Project management processes are concerned about the tools and techniques involved in applying the skills and capabilities in the management of the project. (PMBOK, 2008) The actions and decisions taken in a particular process may result in the change of one or more other processes; hence the project manager should balance the conflicting requirements of the stakeholders by managing these processes and this may result in processes to be iterated to achieve the expected outcome.

Project management processes are clustered into the following five process groups;

·         Initiating Process Group – In order to receive the approval for new project or a phase, the processes which are necessary to define these projects play a vital role and these processes are grouped here.

·         Planning Process Group – The processes which are performed to establish the scope of the project, objectives and develop the plan of the activities need to perform in order to achieve the identified objectives. Project plan is a repetitive and an ongoing process as when the project is in the operation mode more information are available and it is necessary to change the project plan in order to steer the project to its success.

·         Executing Process Group – The processes which are necessary to carry out the project plan specified in the Planning process group are grouped here and the necessity to change the project plan occurs due to the experience gained in the project execution.

·         Monitoring and Controlling Process Group – The processes required to track, review and regulate the progress and the performance of the project with regard to the cost and the time baseline, are gathered under this group. These processes identify the necessity for a change in the plan and initiate the changes.

·      Closing Process Group – The processes performed to close a project or a phase by conducting end-of-phase/project reviews, meetings and obtaining the customer acceptance and closing the project procurements. Some processes in this process groups update the organizational process assets.

(PMBOK, 2008) (Schwalbe, 2010)  

References

·  PMBOK Guide, 2008. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fourth Edition.

·  Schwalbe K. , 2010. Information Technology Project Management. 6th ed. United States of America: Thomson Learning.