This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
What Is Integration Management?
Project management processes and procedures are performed throughout the project multiple times, simultaneously. Although technical project work may be performed once on certain projects (especially on predictive projects), the project management processes themselves are performed throughout. The constraints of budget, schedule, resources, risks, scope, quality, regulations, and standards all impact one another, so the project manager must balance all of these factors simultaneously when managing a project. The project manager must guide the team and ensure they are collaborating and working together to achieve project success. The project manager must also understand the strategic objectives of the project and ensure they align with the goals and expectations of the program and the portfolio.
Integration management is the key to performing these processes and a critical success factor on projects. It is an essential skill set for project managers. This is also the first knowledge area of the PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, which describes integration management as “the processes and activities to identify, define, combine, unify and coordinate the various activities within the project management process groups.”
As with any definition, it may sound a little confusing, so let’s examine what it means. Knowledge areas represent the areas of project management that need to be properly planned, managed, and controlled, and integration management is the area in which the project manager must have expertise. A failure in any one knowledge area may lead to a failure of the project. However, all knowledge areas impact one another, so the processes and activities of all knowledge areas must be performed simultaneously. For example, the scope of the project directly impacts the cost and schedule, and vice versa. When you are determining any changes to the scope of a project, you simultaneously think about the impact to the budget, timeline, resources, risks, quality, and other factors. If material prices suddenly increase, your project may end up going over budget, and this may result in a reduction of the scope of the project. A sudden increase in processing of raw materials is usually accompanied by delays in delivery of said raw materials, which in turn has an impact on the project schedule.
As a project manager, you must balance all these constraints and processes to ensure project success.
Integration management is not a standalone knowledge area by itself, but moreover it is a combination of all the other knowledge areas. The fact that you are performing the tasks of all the knowledge areas simultaneously means that you are integrating the processes of your project. Integration management is sometimes known as the “master” knowledge area because it includes all other knowledge areas and essentially means that processes are performed concurrently.
Whereas the tasks of other knowledge areas may be delegated to team members and specialists (such as development of the schedule, budget, and risk management process), the processes of integration can be performed only by the project manager because the PM brings all of these processes together as a unified whole. The project manager brings teams and team members together to perform all the tasks of the project in unison. Thus, on predictive projects the project manager is ultimately accountable for the project by ensuring that all these processes work in unison.
Table 4-2 shows the PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition, integration management processes and the process groups each process relates to. This is an extract from page 25 of the process map in the PMBOK® Guide, Sixth Edition.
Table 4-2 Integration Management Processes and Process Groups
Process Group Knowledge Area |
Initiating |
Planning |
Executing |
Monitoring and Controlling |
Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.0 Project Integration Management |
4.1 Develop Project Charter |
4.2 Develop Project Management Plan |
4.3 Direct and Manage Project Work 4.4 Manage Project Knowledge |
4.5 Monitor and Control Project Work 4.6 Perform Integrated Change Control |
4.7 Close Project or Phase |
Notice that this is the only row of the process map that is fully populated, further signifying the importance of this knowledge area. In performing each of these processes of integration management, the project manager performs all the respective processes in the knowledge areas that fall below integration management on the process map.