Subtitles of the Movie

The structure of the PMBOK Guide will be reiterated several times throughout this course and the four-part course series. This movie will provide you with a more in-depth look at PMBOK Guide layout. Part of what we will be reviewing is the layout of the Knowledge Areas. Although we will only be covering a high-level overview of the nine Knowledge Areas during the latter part of this course, having an explanation of the layout will really help you visualize and understand the project management framework. So in other words, understanding the structure and the subject of the PMBOK Guide chapters helps you learn the material and in a short time, you'll begin to feel comfortable with the layout as the material becomes more familiar. The actual structure of the PMBOK Guide will no longer be new to you, but here's a quick review. It is made up of three sections; the project management framework, the standard for project management of a project and the project management Knowledge Areas. The framework provides an introduction and definition of what constitutes project management and also describes the environment surrounding a project. For example, it reviews the life of a project, which is made up of phases. It also explains how the structure of an organization itself impacts how a project may be managed. There are some organizations where a Project Manager has little power and others where they have a lot of power, so their capacity and authority will be different. Section two explains the five process groups of a project, which are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing. Section three covers the nine Knowledge Areas. What the Knowledge Areas do is essentially organize 44 existing processes. First, we have Project Integration Management, which integrates all the necessary pieces of bringing the project together and coordinating it. Next is Project Scope Management. This steers our focus into remaining on the original scope of the project, making sure we are accomplishing just what we set out to do; no more, no less. Project Time Management is just as it sounds; making sure that the project tasks and project overall is completed on time. This brings into the picture the project schedule, which is often confused for the Project Management Plan. Project Cost Management involves the planning, estimating, budgeting and controlling of costs. Project quality management checks to make sure that the project is satisfying the objectives it set out to accomplish. And just as this next one sounds, project human resources management deals with obtaining, developing and managing your resources. Project communications management manages the overall communications of and within a project; things like collecting, distributing, storing and generating information to the appropriate places and people. Project Risk Management is something many Project Managers skip, yet it is a critical piece of the project. This anticipates, prepares for and deals with risks affecting the project. Project procurement management involves the purchasing or acquiring of products and services. This is the process that manages contractors and sellers and helps to determine which is needed. You'll notice that with each section we dug a little bit deeper into how the project is managed. First we started with the basic structure. Then we moved into the lifecycle of the project. In section two we engaged in the five process groups of a project and digging a little deeper took us into the nine Knowledge Areas that are made up of the processes within the five process groups. Let's take a moment to put section two and section three together by looking at the Knowledge Area and process group diagram. You will find this document within your work files called Knowledge Area and process group diagrams. In this diagram, imagine that the process groups follow a cycle and that the Knowledge Areas interact with each other and do not follow an order. They only serve to group the related processes that also interact with each other and go through their own cycle. For example, let's take a quick look at quality, since the processes are fairly easy to decipher. You'll see the quality planning occurs in the Planning Process Group. You must first plan what you will do to ensure quality objectives before performing them. And you must perform quality before you can monitor it and control it. And you'll notice how logical the process flow is.