Project Life Cycle and PMI Project Management Processes

Project Life Cycle and PMI Project Management Processes (#5 in the series PMI Project Life Cycle)
By Brian Denis Egan, B.Sc, M.Sc., M.B.A., PMP – Global Knowledge Course Director

As explained, the project life cycle has five stages (initiate, plan, execute, control and close). The PMI refers to these stages as “process groups” for reasons that will be explained.

In order to understand project management according to PMI, it is necessary to understand the boundaries between the project-life-cycle stages or process groups. For example, it is necessary to know when initiating is over and what documents must be ready in order to begin execution.

In order to understand the boundaries between the stages, it is necessary to know what management activities (called processes) are included within each of the stages (called process groups).

The five stages in the project life cycle are subdivided by PMI into 44 management processes as illustrated in the table below. Each column represents a stage. Within each column are a number of management activities that PMI refers to as processes.

PMI Project Management Processes

PMI Project Management Processes (click to enlarge)

To know what management activities are included in each of the columns is to understand PMI’s version of project management.

About the Author

Brian Denis Egan is CEO of a manufacturing company (Book Box Company) and a management consultant. He has written three professional development manuals and numerous white papers on aspects of management science. Since 2000, Brian has been a part-time instructor for Global Knowledge within the Management product line.

This article was originally published in Global Knowledge’s Business Brief e-newsletter. Global Knowledge delivers comprehensive hands-on project management, business process, and professional skills training. Visit our online Knowledge Center at www.globalknowledge.com/business for free white papers, webinars, and more.

© Copyright 2008, Global Knowledge. All rights reserved.

PMHut Team

PMHut Team

PMHut.com is a website dedicated to providing PM articles, detailed project management software reviews, and the latest news for the most popular web-based collaboration tools.

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