PMBOK

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a project management guide, and an internationally recognized standard, that provides the fundamentals of project management as they apply to a wide range of projects, including construction, software, engineering…

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) was first published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) as a white paper in 1987 in an attempt to document and standardize generally accepted project management information and practices. The first edition was published in 1996 followed by the second edition in 2000.

In 2004 the PMBOK Guide – Third Edition was published including major changes from the first edition. The English-language PMBOK Guide – Fourth Edition was released on December 31, 2008. Ten additional language versions will become available later in 2009.

The PMBOK Guide is process-based, meaning it describes work as being accomplished by processes. This approach is consistent with other management standards such as ISO 9000 and the Software Engineering Institute’s CMMI. Processes overlap and interact throughout a project or its various phases. Processes are described in terms of:

* Inputs (documents, plans, designs, etc.)
* Tools and Techniques (mechanisms applied to inputs)
* Outputs (documents, products, etc.)

The Guide recognizes 44 processes that fall into five basic process groups and nine knowledge areas that are typical of almost all projects.

* The five process groups are : Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Monitoring, and Closing.
* The nine knowledge areas are : Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management.

Each of the nine knowledge areas contains the processes that need to be accomplished within its discipline in order to achieve an effective project management program. Each of these processes also falls into one of the five basic process groups, creating a matrix structure such that every process can be related to one knowledge area and one process group.

The PMBOK Guide is meant to offer a general guide to manage most projects most of the time. A specialized standard was developed as an extension to the PMBOK Guide to suit special industries, for example the Construction Extension to the PMBOK Guide and the Government Extension to the PMBOK Guide.