Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide 4th Edition
Chapter 4 – Project Integration Management

Core Definitions

• Project Integration Management (PIM) – Includes the processes and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the Project Management Process Groups. PIM is utilized in situations where individual processes interact.
• Project Charter – The project charter formally authorizes a project or a phase, documents initial requirements that satisfy the stakeholders’ needs and expectations, establishes a partnership between the performing organization and the requesting organization (or customer), and links the project to the strategy and ongoing work of the organization.
• Statement of Work (SOW) – A narrative description of products or services to be delivered by the project.
• Business Case (or similar document) – Provides the necessary information from a business standpoint to determine whether or not the project is worth the required investment.
• Project Management Plan – The Project Management Plan, which may include one or more subsidiary plans, defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled, and closed, and baselines schedule, scope, etc.
• Change Requests – Documented requests which may modify project policies or procedures, project scope, project cost or budget, project schedule, or project quality as a result of issues found while project work is being performed.
• Monitoring – Includes collecting, measuring, and distributing performance information, and assessing measurements and trends to effect process improvements. Continuous monitoring gives the project management team insight into the health of the project, and identifies any areas that may require special attention.
• Control – Includes determining corrective or preventive actions or replanning and following up on action plans to determine if the actions taken resolved the performance issue.
• Integrated Change Control – The process of reviewing all change requests, approving changes and managing changes to the deliverables, organizational process assets, project documents and the project management plan.

General Notes

• (4.0) Project Integration Management (PIM) Processes:
  • Develop Project Charter
  • Develop Project Management Plan
  • Direct and Manage Project Execution
  • Monitor and Control Project Work
  • Perform Integrated Change Control
  • Close Project or Phase
• (4.1) Projects are authorized by someone external to the project such as a sponsor, PMO, or portfolio steering committee. The project initiator or sponsor should be at a level that is appropriate to funding the project.
• (4.3) The Direct and Manage Project Execution process includes creating project deliverables, staffing/training/managing project team members, establishing/managing project communications channels (internal and external to project team), documenting of corrective actions, preventive actions, and defect repairs, and much more.
• (4.5) Changes may be requested by any stakeholder involved with the project, should always be recorded in written form and entered into the change/configuration management system, and may require information on estimated time and/or cost impacts.
• (4.6) Closing a project may include actions/activities necessary to: a) satisfy completion or exit criteria for the phase or project; b) transfer the project’s products, services, or results to the next phase, production, and/or operations; and c) collect project or phase records, audit process success or failure, gather lessons learned and archive project information for future use by the organization.