Chapter 3:

The Project Management

Process Groups
Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition
Note: See the text itself for full citations

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

• Describe the five project management process groups, the

typical level of activity for each, and the interactions among
them
• Relate the project management process groups to the project
management knowledge areas
• Discuss how organizations develop project management
methodologies to meet their needs
• Review a case study of an organization applying the project
management process groups to manage an project, describe
outputs of each process group, and understand the
contribution that effective initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring and controlling, and closing make to project
success
Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

• Review a case study of the same project managed with an

agile focus and compare the key differences between an agile
approach and a predictive approach
• Describe several templates for creating documents for each
process group

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Introduction

• Project management consists of 10 knowledge areas

• Integration, scope, schedule, cost, quality, resource, communications,
risk, procurement, and stakeholder management
• Projects involve five project management process groups
• Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing
• Tailoring these process groups to meet individual project needs increases the
chance of success in managing projects

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Project Management Process Groups (1 of 2)

• A process is a series of actions directed toward a particular

result
• Project management can be viewed as a number of related
processes
• Project management process groups
• Initiating processes
• Planning processes
• Executing processes
• Monitoring and controlling processes
• Closing processes

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Project Management Process Groups (2 of 2)

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for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Mapping the Process Groups to the Knowledge
Areas

• You can map the main activities of each PM process group

into the ten knowledge areas using the PMBOK® Guide, Sixth
Edition
• Note that there are activities from each knowledge area under the
planning process groups
• Table 3-1 provides a big-picture view of the relationships among the
49 project management activities, the process groups in which they
are typically completed, and the knowledge areas into which they fit

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Developing an IT Project Management

Methodology

• Many organizations develop their own internal project

management methodologies
• A methodology describes how things should be done
• A standard describes what should be done
• Different project management methodologies
• PRojects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2)
• Agile
• Six Sigma

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Project Pre-Initiation and Initiation

• Initiating includes recognizing and starting a new project

• Right kinds of projects for the right reasons
• Strategic planning should serve as the foundation for deciding
which projects to pursue
• Expresses the vision, mission, goals, objectives, and strategies of the
organization
• Provides the basis for project planning

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

Pre-initiation Tasks

• It is good practice to lay the groundwork for a project before it

officially starts
• Senior managers often perform several pre-initiation tasks
• Determine the scope, time, and cost constraints for the project
• Identify the project sponsor
• Select the project manager
• Develop a business case for a project
• Meet with the project manager to review the process and
expectations for managing the project
• Determine if the project should be divided into two or more smaller
projects

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Initiating (1 of 5)

Knowledge Area Initiating Process Initiating Process

Project Integration Develop project charter Project charter

Management Assumption log
Project Stakeholder Identify stakeholders Stakeholder register
Management Change requests
Project management plan
updates
Project documents updates
Source: PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition, 2017

Table 3-3 Project initiation knowledge areas, processes,

and outputs

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole
or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-
protected website for classroom use.

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Initiating (2 of 5)

Name Position Internal/ Project Role Contact Information

External
Joe Fleming CEO Internal Sponsor joe_fleming@jwdconsulting.co
m
Erica Bell PMO Director Internal Project erica_bell@jwdconsulting.com
Manager
Michael Senior Consultant Internal Team Member michael_chen@jwdconsulting.c
Chen om
Kim Phuong Business Analyst External Advisor kim_phuong@client1.com

Louise Mills PR Director Internal Advisor louise_mills@jwdconsulting.co

m
Table 3-4 Stakeholder Register

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole
or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-
protected website for classroom use.

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 Initiating (3 of 5)

Name Level of Level of Potential Management Strategies

Interest Influence

Joe High High Joe likes to stay on top of key projects and make
Fleming money. Have a lot of short, face-to-face meetings
and focus on achieving the financial benefits of the
project.
Louise Low High Louise has a lot of things on her plate, and she does
Mills not seem excited about this project. She may be
looking at other job opportunities. Show her how
this project will help the company and her resume.

Table 3-5 Stakeholder Management Strategy

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Initiating (4 of 5)

• Drafting the project charter

• See Table 3-6 for an example
• Holding a project kick-off meeting
• It’s good practice to hold a kick-off meeting at the beginning of a
project so that stakeholders can meet each other, review the goals of
the project, and discuss future plans

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Initiating (5 of 5)

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Project Planning (1 of 3)

• The main purpose of project planning is to guide execution

• Every knowledge area includes planning information (see Table 3-7)
• Key outputs Team contract
• Project scope statement
• Work breakdown structure (WBS)
• Project schedule, in the form of a Gantt chart with all dependencies
and resources entered
• List of prioritized risks (part of a risk register)
• See sample documents

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Project Planning (2 of 3)

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Project Planning (3 of 3)

Ranki Potential Risk

ng
1 Lack of inputs from internal consultants

2 Lack of inputs from client representatives

3 Security of new system

4 Outsourcing/purchasing for the article retrieval and Ask the Expert

features
5 Outsourcing/purchasing for processing online payment transactions

6 Organizing the templates and examples in a useful fashion

7 Providing an efficient search feature

8 Getting good feedback from Michael Chen and other senior

consultants
9 Effectively promoting the new system

10 Realizing the benefits of the new system within one year

Table 3-10 List of Prioritized Risks
Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole
or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-
protected website for classroom use.

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 Project Execution

• Usually takes the most resources to perform

• Project managers must use their leadership skills to handle the many
challenges that occur during project execution
• Table 3-11 lists the knowledge areas, executing processes, and
outputs of project execution
• Many project sponsors and customers focus on deliverables related
to providing the products, services, or results desired from the
project
• It is equally important to document change requests and update
planning documents
• A milestone report can help focus on completing major
milestones

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Project Monitoring and Controlling

• Involves measuring progress toward project objectives,

monitoring deviation from the plan, and taking correction
actions
• Affects all other process groups and occurs during all phases of the
project life cycle
• Outputs include performance reports, change requests, and
updates to various plans
• See Table 3-13

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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 Project Closing

• Involves gaining stakeholder and customer acceptance of the

final products and services
• Even if projects are not completed, they should be closed out to learn
from the past
• Outputs may include project files and lessons-learned reports
• Also may include a final report and presentation

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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Chapter Summary

• The five project management process groups are initiating,

planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing
• You can map the main activities of each process group to the
ten knowledge areas
• Some organizations develop their own project management
methodologies

Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except
for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.

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