Project Integration Management Chapter 2 PDF

Chapter 2 Project Integration Management What’s Coming Ahead… Integration Management: Big Picture Developing the Project Charter Obtaining Project Charter Approval Developing the Project Management Plan Monitoring and Controlling Project Work Performing Integrated Change Control Performing Project C...

Chapter 2 Project Integration Management What’s Coming Ahead… Integration Management: Big Picture Developing the Project Charter Obtaining Project Charter Approval Developing the Project Management Plan Monitoring and Controlling Project Work Performing Integrated Change Control Performing Project Closure The Finishing Touch Introduction As you learned in Chapter 1, a project is performed by using processes that belong to five process groups and nine knowledge areas. The activities and results of most of these processes need to be integrated to drive the project to a successful conclusion. This integration is facilitated through the processes in the integration management knowledge area. First, the project needs to be chartered (authorized), which is accomplished during project initiation. After the project has been initiated, you need to develop a project management plan, which becomes the primary source of information for how the project will be planned, executed, monitored and controlled, and closed. After you have performed the project planning by using the processes in the planning process group, you need to manage the project execution by using the processes in the executing process group. The execution efforts are coordinated by using the integration management process called Direct and Manage Project Execution. Furthermore, the project throughout its lifecycle needs to be monitored and controlled. These efforts are coordinated and integrated by using the processes in integration management, namely Monitor and Control Project Work and Perform Integrated Change Control. Upon completion or cancellation, a project needs to be properly closed. The closing efforts are coordinated by the integration management process called Close Project or Phase. So, the central question in this chapter is: How are the efforts in a project coordinated and integrated to complete the project? In search of an answer, we will explore three fundamental underlying topics: launching (initiating and planning) a project; directing, managing, and controlling the project execution; and closing the project. Integration Management: Big Picture The integration management knowledge area deals with defining, identifying, unifying, and coordinating various activities and processes within each project management process group. For example, the Develop Project Management Plan process coordinates the efforts of all the processes in the planning process group and integrates the results into the project management plan. The tasks of the integration management knowledge area are accomplished by using the integration management processes shown in Table 2.1 along with their major outputs. Integration Management: Big Picture Table 2.1 The Processes of Integration Management and Their Major Outputs Process Group Integration Management Processes Major Output Initiating Develop Project Charter Project charter Planning Develop Project Management Plan Project management plan Executing Direct and Manage Project Execution Deliverables, work performance information, and change requests Monitoring and controlling 1. Monitor and Control Project Work 2. Perform Integrated Change Control 1. Change requests 2. Change request status updates, such as approval or rejection of change requests Closing Close Project or Phase Product transition As Table 2.1 demonstrates, the integration management contains processes from all the five process groups. These processes interact among themselves in complex ways. Some of the interactions are shown in Figure 2.1 and described in the following list. 1. The Develop Project Charter process generates the project charter, which, along with output from other processes, becomes an input item to the Develop Project Management Plan process, which in turn generates the project management plan. 2. The project management plan becomes an input to all four other processes of integration management: Direct and Manage Project Execution, Monitor and Control Project Work, Perform Integrated Change Control, and Close Project or Phase. 3. The Direct and Manage Project Execution process generates the work performance information, which becomes an input item to the Perform Integrated Change Control process and also implicitly to the Monitor and Control Project Work process in the form of performance reports. 4. The Monitor and Control Project Work process generates the change requests, including recommendations for corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs. These change requests or recommendations become input items to the Perform Integrated Change Control process for evaluation. 5. The deliverables from the Direct and Manage Project Execution process become an input item to the Close Project or Phase process after they are verified. 65 66 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT FIGURE 2.1 Big picture of interactions and data flow among different processes of integration management. So, integration management spans all the process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. To initiate a project, one must coordinate and integrate efforts to develop the project charter. Developing the Project Charter The project charter is a document that states the initial requirements to satisfy the stakeholders’ needs and expectations, and it also formally authorizes the project. The single most important task for the Develop Project Charter process, the standard process used to develop the project charter, is to authorize the project. To accomplish that, it is necessary to document the business needs and the new product or service that the project will launch to satisfy those needs. This way, the project charter links the proposed project to the ongoing work in the organization and clears the way to authorize the project. NOTE The project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project, which includes naming the project manager and determining the authority level of the project manager. Developing the Project Charter The output of the Develop Project Charter process is, of course, the project charter, and this output is generated by applying the tools and techniques to the input of this process, as shown in Figure 2.2. FIGURE 2.2 The Develop Project Charter process: input, tools and techniques, and output. The input to developing the project charter comes from the origin of the project and from within the organization that will perform the project. The possible input items for the process of developing a project charter are the following: Business case. The origins of the business case are pretty much the same as the origins of a project, discussed in Chapter 1. The business case is built on the business need addressed by the project that justifies the project. This will determine whether the project is worth the effort and the investment. The business case may contain the cost benefit analysis described further in Chapter 1. The business case is written either by the person or group within the performing organization that is proposing the project or by an external organization or the customer who is requesting the project or the product that will be produced by the project. If the organization that is requesting the project is a separate legal entity than the organization that is performing the project, both may have their own business cases. In this case, the business case that goes into the project is the business case of the performing organization. The business case of the requesting organization will make its way to the project through the contract or the statement of work. TIP The periodic reviews of the business case in the early stages of a project help to confirm that the project is still required. If the project has multiple phases, the business case may be reviewed at the beginning of each phase to ensure that the project is still on track to deliver the business benefits. 67 68 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT Project statement of work (SOW). The statement of work is a document that describes the products, services, or results that will be delivered by the project. For an internal project, the SOW is provided by the project initiator or the project sponsor, whereas for an external project, the SOW is received from the customer as part of a bid document, such as a request for proposal, a request for bid, or a request for information; or it could come as part of the contract. The SOW includes or refers to the business need that the project will satisfy, the product scope, and the strategic plan of the organization supported by the project. CAUTION Do not confuse the project scope with the product scope: These are related though different concepts. Product scope is defined as features and functions that characterize a product, service, or result to be delivered by the project, whereas the project scope is the scope of the whole project and is defined as the entire work required to create the project deliverables. Enterprise environmental factors. During the development of the project charter, you must consider the performing organization’s environmental factors relevant to this task, which include the following: ◆ Government and industry standards, such as legal requirements, product standards, and quality standards relevant to the project ◆ Performing organization’s infrastructure, such as facilities and equipment to do the project ◆ Marketplace conditions relevant to the project Note that the environmental factors can be internal to the performing organization, such as the organization’s culture, or external to the organization, such as market conditions. Organizational process assets. As you learned in Chapter 1, the organizational process assets are typically grouped into two categories: processes and procedures for conducting work, and a corporate knowledge base for storing and retrieving information to help the processes. For example, the performing organization might have its own guidelines, policies, and procedures, whose effect on the project must be considered while developing the project charter and other project documents that will follow. Another example of an organization’s process assets are the knowledge and learning base acquired from the previous projects. Here are some specific examples from the organizational process assets that can be useful in developing the project charter: ◆ Templates to support some project management tasks, such as project charter templates ◆ Standard policies and procedures of the organization relevant to developing the project charter Developing the Project Charter ◆ Procedures for issuing work authorizations ◆ Knowledge base of the organization that contains historical information from previous projects, such as lessons learned Contract. A project for a customer who is external to the performing organization is usually done based on a contract. The contract may provide key information required for the charter, such as customer-side stakeholders and payment terms. To summarize, the input items to developing the project charter may include the business case, statement of work, enterprise environmental factors, organizational process assets, and possibly a contract. You take the available input and apply the relevant tools and techniques to develop the project charter. The most important (and according to PMI, the only) tool used in developing the project charter is the expert judgment described in Chapter 1. The output of the Develop Project Charter process is a formal document called the project charter. It is a high-level document that summarizes the business needs, the understanding of customer requirements and needs, and how the new product or service will satisfy these requirements. To be specific, the project charter should include the following information. ◆ The project justification, which includes the purpose of the project and the business case for the project, which in turn may include return on investment. ◆ A high-level project description that includes the business needs that the project addresses and the high-level product requirements. ◆ High-level project requirements based on the needs of the customer, the sponsor, and other stakeholders. ◆ Project objectives and success criteria. This section is derived from the purpose section. It explains what exactly will be accomplished to meet the purpose—that is, what will be the outcome of the project. Each objective should be measurable and have a success criterion assigned to it. The project objectives must be measurable. ◆ High-level risks. The risks will be identified during the project planning. However, some high-level risks may be apparent during the time of developing the project charter. ◆ Milestone schedule. The charter should include some kind of high-level schedule, such as a milestone schedule. ◆ A budget summary. A high-level summary of the project budget—that is, how much money is required and at what times during the project. ◆ Project approval and acceptance requirements. The name and responsibility of the person or committee that will approve and accept the project when it’s finished. ◆ What constitutes project success? ◆ Who decides whether the project is successful? ◆ Who signs off on the project completion? 69 70 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT ◆ An assigned project manager and specified responsibility and authority level for that project manager. ◆ Project sponsor. The name and authority level of the project sponsor authorizing the project charter. Depending on the project and the organization, the charter may include other elements as well, such as a list of participating functional departments of the organization and their roles in the project; and organizational, environmental, and external assumptions and constraints. Assumptions and constraints. An assumption is a factor that you consider to be true without any proof or verification. For example, an obvious assumption that you might make during planning for an in-house project could be the availability of the required skill set to perform the project. It’s important to document assumptions clearly and validate them at various stages of the project because assumptions carry a certain degree of uncertainty with them, and uncertainty means risk. Assumptions can appear in both the input and the output of various processes. A constraint is a restriction (or a limitation) that can affect the performance of the project. It can appear in both the input and the output of various processes. For example, there could be a schedule constraint that the project must be completed by a predetermined date. Similarly, a cost constraint would limit the budget available for the project. The project charter provides the project manager with the authority to use organizational resources to run the project. Remember that formally speaking, project charters are prepared external to project management by an individual or a committee in the organization. In other words, project management starts where the project charter ends. However, practically, the would-be project manager might actually be involved in writing the project charter or a part of it. The project approval and funding will still be external to the project management boundaries. NOTE Some organizations might perform a feasibility study or its equivalent to justify the project before developing the project charter and initiating the project. The feasibility study may itself become a project. Once you have the project charter, you know the high-level product (or service) requirements that the project will satisfy. However, a high-level requirement written in a certain way might mean different things to different stakeholders. So after you get the project charter, one of your next tasks will be to develop a common understanding of the project among the project stakeholders. You accomplish this by drawing boundaries around the project—that is, what is included and what is not—thereby spelling out what exactly the deliverables are. By doing Obtaining Project Charter Approval this, you are determining the scope of the project. However, the project charter, once completed, must be approved before you proceed to the next tasks. The project does not initiate until the project charter is approved. NOTE If a project includes multiple phases, the initiation process may be performed at the beginning of each phase to validate the assumptions made during the previous phases. STUDY CHECKPOINT 2.1 Q. True or false: It is the responsibility of the project manager to develop the project charter. Obtaining Project Charter Approval The single most important outcome of the project initiation process group is the project charter approval. In other words, a project is initiated through an approval of the project charter by an appropriate person in the performing organization. Who this person is depends on the organization and the project. This person, for example, could be the CEO of the company, the project sponsor, or a representative of the project selection committee. With the approval of the project charter, the project is officially authorized, the project manager is officially assigned, and the authority level of the project manager is determined. In practice, it does happen that the (future) project manager participates in developing the project charter, but project approval and resource assignments such as funding generally happen outside the boundaries of project management. CAUTION It’s important to realize that approval and funding of a project occur outside the boundaries of the project. However, the project management team may help and be involved in writing the project charter. After the project has been chartered, it’s time to plan the project. Project planning involves determining exactly what will be done and how it will be done. Executing a project means implementing the project management plan for that project. Therefore, the project management plan contains the project scope that defines what needs to be done to meet the project objectives. But, how is the project management plan actually developed? 71 72 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT Developing the Project Management Plan Congratulations, you have already defined your project and initiated it with the project charter. You can’t wait to begin executing. But hold on! I have a couple of questions for you. First, when you are executing your project, how will you know that you are on the right track? Second, during the execution, how will you know that the project is performing in such a way that it will end with success? To address these two and other related questions, you will need to do some planning before you begin the execution. So, once the project has been initiated, it is time to do some planning. Project planning starts with the process of developing a project management plan, which defines, prepares, coordinates, and integrates all subsidiary plans, such as scope and risk management plans, into one plan called the project management plan. Most of the subsidiary plans are prepared as part of other processes. One of the the goals here is to develop a source of information that will work as a guideline for how the project will be planned, executed, monitored and controlled, and closed. One reason why it is important to develop a project management plan is that not all projects need all the planning processes and to the same degree. Therefore, the content of the project management plan will depend upon a specific project. As the project goes through different stages, the project management plan may be updated and revised through the change control process. Following is an incomplete list of issues that a project management plan addresses. ◆ Which project management processes will be used for this process, what the level of implementation for each of these processes will be, and what the inputs and tools and techniques for these processes are ◆ How the changes will be monitored and controlled ◆ What the needs and techniques for communication among the stakeholders are ◆ How the project lifecycle looks, including the project phases if the project is a multiphase project Depending upon the complexity of the project, the project management plan can be either a summary or a collection of subsidiary plans and components, which might include the following: ◆ Standard plans from the project planning process group, such as the cost management plan, communication management plan, process scope management plan, and risk management plan. ◆ Other components, such as the milestones list, resource calendar, and baselines for schedule, cost, and quality. A baseline is a reference plan against which all the performance deviations are measured. This reference plan can be the original or the updated plan. The process of developing the project management plan, illustrated in Figure 2.3, falls in the knowledge area of integration management because it coordinates the various processes and activities. Therefore, output from other planning processes, in addition to the project charter, Directing and Managing Project Execution are the obvious inputs to this process. The other inputs are enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets. To develop the project management plan, you apply expert judgement as a tool and technique. FIGURE 2.3 The Develop Project Management Plan process: input, tools and techniques, and output. Once the project execution begins, it needs to be managed, which is accomplished using the Direct and Manage Project Execution process. Directing and Managing Project Execution The project work defined in the project management plan is performed using the Direct and Manage Project Execution process. While executing this process, you will be interacting with other processes and departments in your organization. In general, a project team includes people from different departments. Usually, the reporting relationships within the same department are very well defined and structured. However, the relationships between different departments (especially between individuals from different departments at the same level of authority) are not well defined. So, managing such project interfaces is a crucial function of a project manager during project execution. Generally speaking, project interfaces are the formal and informal boundaries and relationships among team members, departments, organizations, or functions—for example, how the development department and the QA department interact with each other while working on the same project. Directing and managing project execution is the process used to manage various technical and organizational interfaces in the project to facilitate smooth execution of the project work. The main purposes of directing and managing project execution are: ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ Producing the project deliverables by executing the project management plan Implementing the approved changes, defect repairs, and other actions Implementing the planned methods, processes, and standards Producing and distributing the status information 73 74 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT The key words during execution are implement, manage, and inform (status). Figure 2.4 illustrates the Direct and Manage Project Execution process with its input, tools and techniques, and output. FIGURE 2.4 The Direct and Manage Project Execution process: input, tools and techniques, and output. Input to Directing and Managing Project Execution The input to directing and managing project execution mainly consists of the items that need to be implemented. The information on the project work that needs to be performed to produce project deliverables is the major input to this process. The specific input items are discussed in the following list: Project management plan. Directing and managing project execution is all about implementing the project management plan, which contains all the major subsidiary plans, such as the scope management plan, cost management plan, and schedule management plan. Obviously, it will also include important outputs from other planning processes, such as the scope baseline, the schedule baseline, the cost baseline, and the quality baseline. It also describes how the work will be executed to meet the project objectives and produce deliverables that satisfy the planned requirements. Approved change requests. The following approved change-related items are input to the project execution because they must be implemented. ◆ Change requests. The approved requests for changes to the project schedule, scope, cost, policies, procedures, and project management plan need to be implemented, and therefore are the input to the execution process. These change requests are scheduled for execution by the project management team. ◆ Defect repairs. This is the list of the defects found during the quality assurance (QA) process that have been approved for repairs. This may also include the defects that were repaired, but the repair was not good enough to be accepted. Directing and Managing Project Execution ◆ Corrective actions. The QA process can recommend corrective actions to improve quality, which are directions for executing the project work to bring expected project performance into conformance with the project management plan. The approved corrective actions must be scheduled for implementation. ◆ Preventive actions. These are the directions to perform an activity that will reduce the probability of negative consequences associated with project risks. These preventive actions are recommended by the QA process during process analysis. These change requests and recommendations are approved before execution by using the Perform Integrated Change Control process described further on in this chapter. Enterprise environmental factors. Items in this category that can be useful or need to be considered in directing and managing project execution include organizational structure and culture; company infrastructure, such as facilities and equipment; personnel administration, such as hiring and firing guidelines; and project management information systems. Stakeholder risk tolerance is also an important input factor to directing and managing project execution. Organizational process assets. Items in this category that can be useful or need to be considered in directing and managing project execution include standardized work guidelines, workplace security requirements, project files from previous projects, and issue and defect management databases. For example, a defect management database may contain a list of validated defect repairs with information on whether a previously performed defect repair has been accepted or rejected. This will tell you whether you need to implement the defect repair again. Communication requirements and the process measurement database are also important inputs to directing and managing project execution. In a nutshell, the project management plan and approved change requests are the major inputs to directing and managing project execution because executing the project is all about implementing the project management plan along with the approved change requests. You direct and manage the execution by using some tools, which will be discussed in the next section. Tools and Techniques for Directing and Managing Project Execution The major tool to direct and manage project execution is the project management information system, which is a collection of tools and techniques—manual and automated—used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the output of project management processes. This may include automated scheduling tools; a configuration management system; an information entry, storage, and distribution system; and interfaces to other online systems. This system is used to facilitate processes from the initiation stage all the way to the closing stage. Microsoft Project, a product that lets you create a project schedule, is an example of such a tool. Another tool used in directing and managing project execution is expert judgment, which, depending on the issue and the available resources, can be provided by the project manager, other individuals from other departments and groups within the organization, consultants, stakeholders, or professional associations. 75 76 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT The project is executed to produce some results, the deliverables, which will be the output of directing and managing the execution. Output of Directing and Managing Project Execution When the project is being executed, at each point in time there are some deliverables with parts thereof completed, and there is a status for the project that can be reported to the stakeholders. These two important output items, along with others, are discussed in the following list: Deliverables. A deliverable is a unique and identifiable product, service, or result identified in the project management plan that must be generated to complete the project. The core purpose of executing the project management plan is to produce deliverables. When you are directing and managing the project execution, obviously the items are being implemented. In addition to the work that produces original deliverables, the following items are implemented during project execution: ◆ Approved change requests ◆ Approved corrective actions recommended by the QA process ◆ Approved preventive actions recommended by the QA process ◆ Approved defect repairs recommended by the QA process Change requests. During the execution of the project work, requests for changes may arise from sources such as issues and may affect certain aspects of the project such as the following: ◆ Project scope ◆ Project cost ◆ Project schedule ◆ Policies or procedures These change requests might come from inside or outside the performing organization and can be optional or mandated legally or contractually. These change requests must be approved before they can be processed and implemented. These change requests can include the following types: ◆ Direct change requests. These are changes that are not a result of any other action, such as defect repair. Examples are requests for changes to scope, schedule, and cost. Of course, these changes can also result from other change requests listed below. ◆ Indirect change requests. These include: ◆ Defect repairs. This is the list of defects found during the quality assurance (QA) process that have been approved for repairs. ◆ Corrective actions. The QA process can recommend corrective actions to improve quality, which are directions for executing the project work to bring expected project performance into conformance with the project management plan. The approved corrective actions must be scheduled for implementation. Directing and Managing Project Execution ◆ Preventive actions. These are the directions to perform an activity that will reduce the probability of negative consequences associated with project risks. These preventive actions are recommended by the QA process during process analysis. After some change requests are approved, you may need to change some elements of the project management plan, such as the project baseline, human resource management plan, requirements management plan, or communication management plan. Work performance information. Monitoring the project status is one of the crucial functions of a project manager during project execution. Work performance information is basically the project status information that is regularly collected and distributed among the stakeholders during project execution. It includes the following items: ◆ The schedule progress information: ◆ Schedule activities that have been finished and those that have started ◆ Estimate to complete the schedule activities that have started and hence are in progress ◆ The portion of each in-progress activity completed in a percentage—for example, Activity A is 30% complete ◆ Deliverables that have been completed and those that have not yet been completed ◆ Incurred costs compared to authorized costs ◆ Resource utilization details ◆ How well the quality standards are being met ◆ Lessons learned and added to the knowledge base In a nutshell, the main outputs of directing and managing project execution are the project deliverables specified in the project management plan and the performance data as the work progresses. Between planning the project and producing the deliverables, many things need to happen, and you need to manage them by: ◆ Distributing information ◆ Managing stakeholder expectations ◆ Acquiring, developing, and managing the project team ◆ Performing quality assurance ◆ Conducting procurements Therefore, the Direct and Manage Project Execution process is a high-level umbrella process, and to execute it you need to perform some other processes of the executing process group too, which are discussed in the forthcoming chapters. However, all these processes need to be monitored and controlled. 77 78 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT In the monitoring and controlling process group, the Monitor and Control Project Work process and the Perform Integrated Change Control process belong to project integration management. Monitoring and Controlling Project Work Monitor and Control Project Work is the high-level process for monitoring and controlling the project progress to ensure that the project is on its way to meet its objectives laid out in the project management plan. Some of the major tasks performed during this process include the following: ◆ Monitoring project performance by measuring it against the project management plan in terms of parameters such as cost, schedule, and scope ◆ Monitoring the project by collecting information to support status reporting, progress measurement, and predictions ◆ Evaluating performance to determine whether it needs to be controlled by taking corrective or preventive actions ◆ Monitoring risks by tracking and analyzing the already identified project risks and by identifying new risks ◆ Controlling risks by managing the execution of risk response plans when the risks occur ◆ Maintaining an accurate and timely information base regarding the project as it progresses ◆ Monitoring and controlling changes and monitoring the implementation of approved changes ◆ Monitoring and controlling quality and administering procurements The Monitor and Control Project Work process is illustrated in Figure 2.5. The major inputs to this process are the performance reports, which are compared to the performance baseline in the project management plan. From this comparison, some changes may be requested as an output of this process; these may include recommendations for corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs. The performance report consists of current project status, accomplishments, scheduled activities, forecasts, and current issues. This report is generated by using the Report Performance process discussed in Chapter 7, “Project Communication Management.” Monitoring and Controlling Project Work FIGURE 2.5 The Monitor and Control Project Work process: input, tools and techniques, and output. Enterprise environmental factors used as input to this process include the project management information system, the work authorization system of the performing organization, the risk tolerance level of the stakeholders, and industry and government standards. The organizational process assets that can be used to perform this process include financial control procedures, the company’s communication requirements, management procedures regarding issues and defects, risk control procedures, the process measurement database, and lessons learned from past projects. As a result of performing this process, you may need to update some parts of the project management plan, such as scope baseline, schedule baseline, cost baseline, schedule management plan, cost management plan, and quality management plan. These updates often result from change requests made by various monitoring and controlling processes. CAUTION Monitor and Control Project Work is a high-level umbrella process. Most of its tasks are actually performed by using the lower-level, more specific processes discussed in the upcoming chapters. STUDY CHECKPOINT 2.2 Q. The performance of a project is measured against which planning element? 79 80 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT As mentioned earlier, the change requests arising from monitoring and controlling the project or originating from any other source, such as the stakeholders, must be processed through the integrated change control process formally called Perform Integrated Change Control. Actually, one of the important tasks of monitoring and controlling the project is to influence the factors that tend to circumvent the integrated change control process and ensure that only those changes are implemented that are approved through the integrated change control process. Performing Integrated Change Control The Perform Integrated Change Control process is used to manage changes to the project from project initiation through project closure. A project rarely runs exactly according to the project management plan, and therefore changes will inevitably occur. The change requests can come from evaluating the project performance to bring the project in line with the project management plan, or they can come from other sources, such as the stakeholders. Regardless of where they originate, all changes need to be managed (monitored and controlled), which includes getting the changes rejected or approved, seeing the approved changes implemented, and changing the affected plans accordingly. You, the project manager, must manage changes proactively, which includes the following activities: ◆ Identify changes. Identify a change that has occurred and receive a change request. ◆ Process changes. Get the requested changes approved or rejected. Depending on the project and the performing organization, the authority to determine whether a change is eventually rejected or approved might lie with the project manager, a customer, a sponsor, or a committee. ◆ Manage approved changes. Monitor and control the flow of approved changes, which includes: ◆ Making sure they are implemented. ◆ Maintaining the integrity of the project baseline (cost, schedule, and scope) by updating it to incorporate the approved changes. ◆ Coordinating changes and their impact across the project and updating the affected documentation. For example, an approved schedule change might impact cost, quality, risk, and staffing. ◆ Documenting the complete impact of the changes across the project. ◆ Protect the integrity of the process. Make sure that only the approved changes are implemented. Performing Integrated Change Control TIP Especially in a startup organization, you will notice quite often changes making their way through the back door—for example, a product manager talking to an engineer directly and introducing changes. Do not consider yourself an opponent of changes by default, but you do need to manage changes and make sure each change goes through the integrated change control process. So, when it comes to changes, the key word is control, and not necessarily oppose. At this point, you can ask a question: Who will actually approve or reject a change request? The answer to this question will be determined during project planning. Depending on the project and the performing organization, different possibilities exist. For example, there will be a category of change requests that the project manager may be authorized to approve or disapprove. Other types of changes may be reviewed by a change control board (CCB) that may consist of individuals from upper management and other stakeholders. The roles and responsibilities of the CCB should be clearly spelled out in the change control and configuration control procedures. Figure 2.6 shows the integrated change control process. The change requests that need to be approved are the obvious input to this process. FIGURE 2.6 The Perform Integrated Change Control process: input, tools and techniques, and output. 81 82 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT Input to Integrated Change Control Each requested change and recommended action must be processed through the integrated change control process. The approved changes have their effects on the project management plan, and therefore the plan needs to be updated accordingly. Following are the input items to the integrated change control process: Project management plan. This is needed to help identify the changes and make updates after the changes have been approved. Work performance information. The performance information is input because performance deviations from the plan will trigger change requests or recommended corrective or preventive actions to improve the situation. Furthermore, it provides a current snapshot of project performance that the change requests will be evaluated against. Change requests. These are obvious inputs. A requested change goes through an approval process, where it can be approved, rejected, or delayed. These change requests come from various monitoring and controlling processes or from stakeholders. The change requests may include the following types of recommendations: ◆ Recommended corrective actions ◆ Recommended preventive actions ◆ Recommended defect repairs These recommendations might arise from performance evaluations, and they are the output of various processes. Enterprise environmental factors. The enterprise environmental factors that can influence the integrated change control process include the project management information system. This is a collection of tools and techniques (manual and automated) used to gather, integrate, and disseminate the output of project management processes. This system is used to facilitate processes from the initiation stage all the way to the closing stage. Microsoft Project, a product that lets you create a project schedule, is an example of such a tool. Another example of a component of the project management information system could be a document management system to create, review, change, and approve documents to facilitate the change control procedure. The project management information system may include scheduling software, an information collection and distribution system, a configuration management system, and web interfaces to other automated information systems. The configuration management system can be used to monitor and control the changes, and it may have a knowledge base that can also be used. Organizational process assets. The following items in the organizational process assets can influence the change control process: ◆ Organizational procedures. Your organization may have proper procedures related to change control—for example, how to modify documents, such as plans; how to process (evaluate, approve, or reject) changes; and how to implement the approved changes. Performing Integrated Change Control ◆ Measurements. A database of process measurements. ◆ Project files. Project files from previous projects may be a useful input to the change control process in order to learn from the past. ◆ Change knowledge base. This is the knowledge base that can be used for configuration management, such as official company standards and policies and project documents. So what tools and techniques are available to process these requests and recommendations? Tools and Techniques for Integrated Change Control Expert judgment and change control meetings are the two main tools for the integrated change control process. You can also use the technical expertise of the stakeholders to evaluate change requests. The project management team can also use the experts on the change control board to evaluate change requests and also to make approval or rejection decisions about change requests. If there is a formal change control board for the project, it will conduct meetings to review, evaluate, approve, reject, or delay the change requests. Roles and responsibilities of the change control board are clearly defined and agreed upon by the stakeholders, and board decisions are well documented. The rejection or approval of the change request is an obvious output of the integrated change control process. Output from Integrated Change Control The changes that are processed through the integrated change control process will either be rejected or approved. As a result of the approved changes, the project management plan might need to be updated. Accordingly, following are the output items of the integrated change control process: Change request status updates. The items processed through the integrated change control process will ultimately be either approved or rejected. In the meantime, each change request must have some status that could be reported. Here are some examples of status: ◆ Being processed ◆ Approved ◆ Rejected ◆ Implemented ◆ Implementation validated Document updates. As a result of approved changes, items such as the project management plan and the project scope statement might need to be updated. The baselines in the project management plan and any subsidiary plan may need to be updated as a result of the change. 83 84 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT STUDY CHECKPOINT 2.3 Q. Many processes in the monitoring and controlling process group generate change requests. Name the process in this process group that is used to approve or reject the change requests. The project deliverables that have been accepted through the scope verification process still need to go through final transition to the appropriate party, such as the customer or the sponsor. In other words, the project needs proper closure. Performing Project Closure Closing the project means finalizing all activities across the project. You also need to determine and coordinate the procedures required for verifying and documenting the project deliverables. The items that describe what the project was planned to deliver and what it has delivered would be the obvious inputs to the process of closing the project. The formal name of the project closure process is Close Project or Phase because it can also be used to close a phase in a multiphase project. The process is illustrated in Figure 2.7 with its input, tools and techniques, and output. FIGURE 2.7 The Close Project or Phase process: input, tools and techniques, and output. Input to the Close Project Process You need a list of project deliverables that have been verified through the Verify Scope process and will go through the transition procedure. The project management plan contains guidelines on how to close the project. These and other input items are discussed in the following list: Performing Project Closure ◆ Project management plan. This defines how to close the project and will be useful in establishing the project closure procedure. The project management plan is also used in verifying and accepting the project deliverables because it explains what deliverables are expected. Note, however, that the Verify Scope process belongs to the scope management knowledge area and is covered in Chapter 3. ◆ Accepted deliverables. These are the deliverables that have been verified through the scope verification process. That means these deliverables meet the scope requirements and are accepted by the customer. It includes the deliverables from procurements that have been accepted through the procurement closure process. ◆ Organizational process assets. These can include project closure guidelines or requirements—for example, product validation and acceptance criteria, final project audits, and project evaluations. Also, you can learn from the historical information what kind of project documents you need to archive and in what detail you want to review the project to gather and store lessons learned. Your organization may also have a transition criteria or procedure on handing the product of the project to the appropriate party. These input items provide information about what the project was supposed to deliver and what it has delivered. You use this input and some tools and techniques to carry on the project closure. CAUTION It’s important to understand the flow of project deliverables through different processes. They are generated by the Direct and Manage Project Execution process, validated through the Perform Quality Control process, accepted by the customer through the Verify Scope process, and transitioned to the appropriate party through the Close Project or Phase process. For example, you can use expert judgment in the various aspects of project closure, such as developing closure procedures and ensuring that the closure procedures are performed to meet the appropriate standards. You can also use the project management information system to perform closure activities, such as archiving project documents. STUDY CHECKPOINT 2.4 Q. What is the standard name for the process used to close a phase of a project? 85 86 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT You use these tools to carry on the project closure. CAUTION The formal name of the process to close the project or a phase of it is Close Project or Phase. However, like other processes, I also refer to it by informal names, such as close project or project closure. This is because you should not expect that the exam will always refer to the processes by their formal names. You should know the formal name of each process and then be able to recognize when it’s being referred to in an informal way. Output of the Close Project or Phase Process Project closure accomplishes three main elements—completion of all the closing procedures; final acceptance of the project deliverables by the customer, including handing over the deliverables to the appropriate party; and archival of project-related documents. These elements are described in the following list. Final delivery and transition. This means that the project product or output has been delivered and transitioned (handed over) to the appropriate party. This includes getting formal acceptance for the product—for example, in the form of a receipt that contains a formal statement to the effect that the requirements of the project have been met, including the terms of the contracts. One last time, make sure the following activities have been completed: ◆ Activities to define the requirements for getting approval from the stakeholders, such as customers and the sponsor on the project deliverables, and the approved changes that were supposed to be implemented ◆ Activities that are necessary to satisfy the project completion or exit criteria ◆ Activities related to the project completion, such as: ◆ Confirm that the project has met all requirements ◆ Verify that all deliverables have been provided and accepted ◆ Verify that the completion or exit criteria have been met Updates to organizational process assets. The closure process will add the following documents to the organizational process assets: ◆ Acceptance documentation. This is the documentation that proves the fulfillment of the project requirements have been confirmed, completion of the project has been verified, and the product has been formally accepted by the customer. In the case of a project termination, of course, the documentation should show that the exit criteria have been met. The Finishing Touch ◆ Project closure documentation. In addition to the acceptance documentation, you should also archive the other project closure documents, such as the closure procedure and the handing-over of project deliverables to an operation group. If the project was terminated, then the formal documentation indicating why the project was terminated should be included in the archive. ◆ Project files archive. This includes the documents from the project’s lifecycle, such as the project management plan, risk registers, planned risk responses, and baselines for cost, schedule, scope, and quality. ◆ Lessons-learned database. The documentation on lessons learned should be saved in the organization’s knowledge database so that future projects can benefit from it. STUDY CHECKPOINT 2.5 Q. The Verify Scope process belongs to which process group? Some important elements that are usually part of the details of project closure are discussed in more detail in the next section. The Finishing Touch Reviewing the project, releasing the project resources, and turning over the project deliverables to another group are the elements of the administrative aspect of project closure that need to be explored further. Reviewing the Project Part of the details of project closure is to analyze project success or failure. You can accomplish this by collecting and generating project evaluation information, such as what went well and what did not. Some of this information already exists in the work performance reports. However, the final information can be gathered in various ways, such as a post-project review meeting with the team or a questionnaire. The most important output (and the whole purpose) of the review is the lessons learned. The review should be comprehensive and should cover the following: ◆ Both technical and nontechnical components ◆ Both positive and negative aspects—that is, the things that went well and the things that did not go well ◆ All stages and phases of the project 87 88 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT TIP The purpose of the post-project review, also called the post-project assessment, is to learn lessons that can be applied to future projects to run them more effectively. Do not let the review turn into a finger-pointing show. Also, the lessons are learned and documented throughout the project, not just during project closure. Project closure offers the final opportunity to explore and document lessons learned in a larger context. As part of the project review, you should also measure customer satisfaction from the customer feedback collected by using techniques such as interviews and surveys. This will help the organization establish and maintain a long-term relationship with the customer. An example of a survey is a 360-degree survey, which means feedback from all kinds of stakeholders in the project. In general, a 360-degree survey contains feedback from all around the entity being evaluated. For example, a 360-degree evaluation of an employee’s performance will be based on feedback from the employee’s peers, supervisors, customers that the employee deals with, other employees that this employee may be managing, and self-evaluation. The findings of the review should be recorded in a document that might have different names in different organizations, such as the post-project review report or the project assessment report. Your organization might even have a template or standard for such a report. Depending upon the size of the project, the review report might be part of the project closure report or a separate report. The report will be distributed among the stakeholders and will be added to the project archive. The project closure report can also include the final project performance as compared to the baselines, as well as a description of the final project product. Releasing the Resources For effective and efficient use of the organization’s resources, it is imperative that they be released in an efficient and proper manner. The release procedure might be included in the resource planning—for example, the staff management plan should address the issue of releasing the human resources. Well-planned release or transfer of team members reflects managerial professionalism, which requires that employees be treated with respect and dignity. By ensuring a well-planned release and a smooth transition to other projects, you are helping the employees focus wholeheartedly on the project toward the very end, rather than worrying about the next assignment. This will obviously improve the productivity of team members and the efficiency of the project. Following are some suggestions to consider for properly releasing human resources: ◆ Although it is possible that different team members will be released at different times, at the project closure you should organize some closure event to honor and thank the project team members, including the contractors, for their contributions. However, you must check your company policy regarding including contractors in company-sponsored events and giving them rewards. The Finishing Touch ◆ Plan ahead and do not wait until the last minute. Communicate with the functional manager ahead of time about when a staff member is going to be released. ◆ Work closely with your organization’s human resources department, which might have some guidelines or procedures that you need to follow. ◆ Write (or offer to write) recommendation letters for team members who have made outstanding contributions to the project. Once all the closure tasks are completed and the documents are finalized, the project might need to be turned over to another group in the organization—for example, to the maintenance or operations group. STUDY CHECKPOINT 2.6 A. What is the first process you perform in managing a project? B. What do you need before you can begin initiating your project? Saying Goodbye: The Project Turnover Depending upon the project, you might need to coordinate the turnover of the project deliverables to the customer or to another group in your organization, such as a maintenance or operations group. The turnover requirements, such as training help-desk employees, should have been included in the project management plan. The three most important takeaways from this chapter are: ◆ A project begins with issuing a project charter, followed by planning efforts, which are integrated into the project management plan. ◆ The execution of the project must be monitored and controlled to keep the project on track. ◆ Terminated or completed, a project must be properly closed by using the Close Project or Phase process. TIP Although the standard project processes are the same for each organization, the details and the manners in which they are implemented might be different for different organizations. Each organization can develop its own implementation details, which consist of items such as detailed steps for how to carry on the project processes, templates, meetings, and procedures. 89 90 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT Summary The project is initiated, planned, and executed in pieces, and all those pieces are related to each other and need to come together. That is where integration management comes in, which includes developing the project charter, developing the project management plan, directing and managing project execution, monitoring and controlling project work, performing integrated change control, and closing the project or a phase of the project. You develop the project management plan by taking the project charter and output of many other processes as an input. The project management plan becomes an input to many other processes, as executing the project means implementing the project management plan. As a project manager, you direct and manage project execution using the Direct and Manage Project Execution process, which will generate change requests that must be processed through the Perform Integrated Change Control process. Directing and managing project execution also generates deliverables, which, after verification, become input to the Close Project or Phase process. You need to monitor and control your project throughout its lifecycle, which includes monitoring and controlling project work, including procurements, performance, changes, quality, and risks. All these aspects of the project are monitored and controlled by using two high-level processes that belong to integration management: Monitor and Control Project Work and Perform Integrated Change Control. Finally, the project or a phase of a project must be closed properly by using the Close Project or Phase process. This is also true for terminated projects. We discussed high-level processes in this chapter, which includes the Develop Project Management Plan process. The input to this process is the project charter and the output of many other planning processes, including scope planning processes, which are part of scope management, the subject of the next chapter. Exam’s Eye View Comprehend ◆ All subsidiary project management plans are integrated into one plan called the project management plan, and executing a project means implementing the project management plan developed during project planning. ◆ Directing and managing project execution involves managing various technical and organizational interfaces in the project to facilitate smooth execution of the project work. ◆ The execution of a project is managed by performing the process called Direct and Manage Project Execution, a high-level umbrella process for the executing stage, which generates the project deliverables. ◆ You monitor and control the project by monitoring and controlling project work, performance, changes, quality, and risks. Summary ◆ All the individual control processes, such as risk control and quality control, can generate change requests and recommended actions, which must be processed through the integrated change control process, in which each of these requests and recommendations will be either rejected or approved. ◆ The two major output items of the Direct and Manage Project Execution process are project deliverables and work performance information, sometimes also called performance data. ◆ Only the approved change requests and recommendations for actions should be processed through the Direct and Manage Project Execution process for implementation. ◆ You, the project manager, manage the project closure. You can even recommend project closure to the project sponsor—for example, if you run out of resources and no more resources are available, but the authorization for project closure must come from the sponsor. ◆ Before going through project closure, the deliverables must be checked for their scope and accepted by the customer through the Verify Scope process. Before going through the Verify Scope process, the project deliverables must be validated through the Perform Quality Control process. Look Out ◆ One of the important tasks of monitoring and controlling the project is to influence the factors that tend to circumvent the integrated change control process and ensure that only those changes are implemented that are approved through the integrated change control process. ◆ The performance reports, generated by the Report Performance process, are an input to the Monitor and Control Project Work process. ◆ Although processes of the monitoring and controlling group generate change requests—which must be approved or rejected by performing the integrated change control process—change requests may also come from elsewhere. ◆ Approved change requests must be implemented by performing the Direct and Manage Project Execution process. ◆ Not only the completed projects, but also the terminated projects must be formally closed using the processes of the closing process group. ◆ The Verify Scope process belongs to the monitoring and controlling process group. ◆ The same process is used to close a phase of a project and the project itself: Close Project or Phase. 91 92 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT Memorize ◆ The project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project, which includes naming a project manager and identifying the project sponsor. ◆ The major output items of integration management are the project charter, deliverables, transition of deliverables, and the project management plan. ◆ The project statement of work is an input to the Develop Project Charter process, and not to the Develop Project Management Plan process. ◆ The project management plan is the major input to the Direct and Manage Project Execution process. ◆ Work performance information is an input to the integrated change control process and also to some other processes. ◆ Performance reports are an input to the Monitor and Control Project Work process, whereas work performance information is an input to the Perform Integrated Change Control process. ◆ Change requests are an output of the Monitor and Control Project Work process and the Direct and Manage Project Execution process. ◆ The Perform Integrated Change Control process generates updates to change requests as an output—that is, it approves, rejects, or postpones a change request. ◆ The project sponsor signs the final project closure documents. The sponsor can also authorize the closure of the project at any stage. ◆ The product acceptance is carried out using the Close Project or Phase process. Review Questions 1. Which of the following issues the project charter document? A. The performing organization’s higher management B. Any stakeholder C. The customer D. The project manager 2. What document is the result of the project initiation process group? A. Statement of work B. Project charter C. Scope plan document D. Preliminary scope statement Review Questions 3. The project charter is important for which of the following reasons? A. It authorizes the sponsor. B. It names the project manager and authorizes the project manager to use the organization’s resources for the project. C. It identifies all the stakeholders. D. It produces the stakeholder management strategy. 4. Which of the following is not included in the project charter? A. The purpose of the project B. High-level product requirements C. Budget summary D. Project schedule 5. You have been named the project manager for a project in your company codenamed Kill the Bill. The project must complete before Thanksgiving Day this year. This represents which of the following project characteristics? A. Assumption B. Constraint C. Schedule D. Crashing 6. Which of the following is true about assumptions in the project initiation? A. Because assumptions are a part of the project charter that you did not write, you don’t need to validate them. Just assume the assumptions are true, and if the project fails, it’s not your fault. B. Because assumptions represent risk, you must validate them at various stages of the project. C. An assumption is a condition that has been verified to be true, so you don’t need to validate it. D. You must not start a project until all the assumptions have been proven to be true. 7. You are preparing to develop the project charter for a project codenamed String Theory. As part of this effort, you are studying the project statement of work. You must be able to find the following three elements that the SOW includes or refers to: A. Project scope, business need, and strategic plan B. Contract, business need, and human resources C. Project manager, project sponsor, and work required D. Product scope, business need, and strategic plan 93 94 Chapter 2 8. PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT The initiating stage of a project produces the following documents: A. Project charter and preliminary project scope statement B. Project charter and stakeholder register C. Stakeholder management plan and detailed project scope statement D. Strategic plan and project charter 9. The three important output items of initiating a project are the project charter, stakeholder register, and: A. Stakeholder management strategy B. Organizational process assets C. Preliminary scope statement D. Statement of work 10. Which of the following is not the output of directing and managing project execution? A. Deliverables B. Implemented defect repairs C. Work performance information D. Recommended corrective actions 11. You are directing and managing the execution of your project. Which of the following is the correct order of executing the processes when you are executing them for the first time during this project? A. Quality planning, quality assurance, quality control B. Quality planning, quality control, quality assurance C. Quality assurance, quality planning, quality control D. Quality control, quality assurance, quality planning 12. You are directing and managing the project execution. You see that there are some change requests that some stakeholders are pushing for implementation. However, these change requests have no record of being approved. These change requests: A. Should be sent through the approval process and only implemented if approved B. Should be sent to the QA department C. Must be opposed if they are going to change the scope, schedule, or cost of the project D. Should be accepted if they come from an influential stakeholder REVIEW QUESTIONS 13. The integrated change control process is used to manage changes to the project at which stage? A. From initiating through closing B. Planning only C. Executing only D. Executing and closing only 14. A project manager is getting the risk-related recommended corrective actions approved. Which of the following processes is the project manager involved in? A. Integrated change control B. Risk response planning C. Risk identification D. Qualitative risk analysis 15. You have just submitted a few important change requests to the change control board for their evaluation and recommendations. What process are you executing? A. No process B. Direct and Manage Project Execution C. Perform Integrated Change Control D. Monitor and Control Project Work 16. Walking down the hallway, you heard a program manager saying to a project manager, “You need the performance reports to run this process.” Which process is the program manager referring to? A. Monitor and Control Project Work B. Perform Integrated Change Control C. Direct and Manage Project Execution D. Evaluate Performance 17. Which of the following scenarios will not trigger the closure stage of the project? A. The project plan was not accepted, and therefore the project never went to the execution stage. B. A schedule activity on a critical path is way behind schedule, and there is no way you can meet the project finish date. C. The project was cancelled when it was in the middle of the executing stage. D. The project sponsor has withdrawn support for the project. 95 96 Chapter 2 PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT 18. Your project has entered the closing stage, and you are planning for the project review. Which of the following guidelines will you follow for the review? A. Cover all the stages of the project and both its positive and negative aspects. B. The emphasis in the review should be on the schedule. C. The focus should be on the positive aspects of the project, where the team performed well. This will boost the morale of the team so the team will perform even better in future projects, and it will also help get funding for future projects. D. The focus of the review should be on risk management. 19. Your project has no phases. Almost all the project work has been performed. It has been a successful project. At which stage has this successful project arrived when the closing process starts? A. Initiating B. Planning C. Executing D. Closing 20. You heard a functional manager saying, “We are going to skip the closing stage. There is no need for formalities in this project; it’s a total waste of time.” For which kind of projects is it appropriate to skip the closing stage? A. Technical projects B. Small and simple projects C. Large and complicated projects D. No projects 21. Which of the following stakeholders can authorize the closure of a project? A. Project manager B. Customer C. Project sponsor D. Functional manager 22. You are preparing to close a project you have been managing. Which of the following is not an input to the Close Project or Phase process? A. Acceptance/transition criteria B. Project management plan C. Project deliverables validated through the quality control process D. Final project audits