PMP Certification Study Notes 4 – Project Integration Management

Introduction: This part of the PMP exam study notes (already updated/will be updated for new PMP Exam in 2023) is based on Section 4 of new PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition. The study notes have been rewritten to reflect the latest changes in the PMBOK® Guide for the new PMP Exam. More information on my PMP certification exam preparation can be found at my PMP exam and certification journey here.

Please note that the study notes below is intended to include only the most important or esaily confused PMP concepts. It is by no means complete in the sense that one can rely on it to be fully prepared for the PMP Exam. Aspirants are advised to make use of this piece of study notes for revision purposes. Wish you PMP success!

Project Integration Management

Project Integration Management encompasses all the process and activities to identify, define, combine, unify and coordinate all the various project management processes and activities and manage the interdependencies.

• integration management is required when different project management processes interact
• tailoring of processes is a very important topic in the PMBOK® Guide 6th edition with a view to meeting project objectives
• of all the project management activities, communication is the most important one according to many project managers
• a PM Plan not meeting requirements is a defect

Develop Project Charter

• Inputs: Business Documents (including business case), Agreements, EEF, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Data gathering (including brainstorming, focus groups, interviews), Interpersonal and team skills (including conflict management, facilitation, meeting management), Meetings
• Outputs: Project Charter, Assumption log (records all assumptions and constraints of the project)

• to formally authorize the project and allow the PM to apply organizational resources
• well-defined project start and project boundaries
• the project charter is a several page document including high-level information of the project: project background, business case, goals (S.M.A.R.T. specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound), who is and the authority of the project manager, budget, risk, stakeholders, deliverables, approval criteria, etc.
  • the business case contains info to determine whether the project is justified
  • agreements are a group of project documents (either a contract (for external parties), letter of intent, service level agreement, etc. (can be legally binding or NOT)) that define initial intentions of the project
  • a charter is NOT a contract because there is no consideration
• signed off by the sponsor (the one who supply the money/resources)
• PMO may provide the expert judgement

Develop Project Management Plan

• Inputs: Project Charter, Outputs from other processes, EEF, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Data gathering, Interpersonal and team skills, Meetings
• Outputs: Project Management Plan 

• the project management plan is a formal written document on how the project is executed, monitored and closed, including all subsidiary management plans (scope, requirements, change, configuration, schedule, cost, quality, process improvement, human resource, communication, risk, procurement) and documents (cost baseline, schedule baseline, scope baseline, performance measurement baseline, cost estimate, schedule, responsibility for each deliverable, staff requirements) and some additional documents/plans (selected PM processes and level of implementation)
  • the contents to be tailored by the PM (tailoring) to suit each project
  • the PM plan may be progressively elaborated in iterative phases (as outputs from other processes), this must be the final process/iteration to consolidate the PM Plan
  • created by PM, signed off by destined KEY stakeholders (e.g. can be the project sponsor, project team, project manager)
  • when the project management plan is baselined (i.e. validated and then signed off by key stakeholders), it is subject to formal change control and is used as a basis for comparison to the actual plan
  • after baselining, the senior management must be consulted if these high level constraints are to be altered (whether to use the management reserves)
• the PM Plan can be re-baselined if significant changes are seen (scope change, internal changes/variances (for the project execution), external factors)
  • needed to be approved by sponsors/stakeholders/senior management, must understand the underlying reasons first (built-in costs is not usually a legitimate reason)
• cost baseline (specific time-phased budget), schedule baseline (-> knows when to spend money), scope baseline (includes scope statement, WBS, WBS dictionary): whether preventive/corrective/defect repair actions are needed
• the performance measurement baseline (PMB) is an approved scope-schedule-cost plan for the project work (to be used in earned value management), this includes contingency reserve but excludes management reserves
• configuration management (works with change control management plan), document all change versions of project deliverables and completed project components, PMIS includes: Configuration Management System (contains the updated deliverable/project specifications and processes) and Change Control System (contains formal documents for tracking changes)
  • configuration management system contains the most updated version of project documents
• Kick-off Meeting: at beginning of the project/phase, participants including project team+stakeholders, element including project review, responsibility assignment matrix, participation of stakeholders, escalation path, frequency of meetings

Direct and Manage Project Work

• Inputs: Project Management Plan, Project documents (including change log, Lessons learned register, risk register, project schedule, project communications, etc.), Approved change requests, EEF, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Project management information system, Meetings
• Outputs: Deliverables, Work performance data, Issue log, Change requests, Project management plan updates, Project documents updates, OPA updates

• The Direct and Manage Project Work process creates project deliverables, acquire/assign/train staff, manage vendors, collect data for reports, document lessons learned
  • most of the project time to be spent here
• the PM implements approved process improvement plans and changes, change requests include corrective actions, preventive actions, defect repair and updates (all considered to be change requests)
• if the PM discovers a defect, he/she should instruct the team to make defect repair during this process (need change request but may be approved by the PM only (if stipulated in PM Plan for minor changes))
• approved change requests – approved in the perform integrated change control, may include preventive, corrective and defect repair actions
  • change requests may arise as a result of implementing approved change requests
• a work authorization system (part of EEF) defines approval levels needed to issue work authorization (to allocate the work) and is used to prevent scope creep as formal approval must be sought before work begins
• Stakeholder risk tolerance is part of EEF
• Face-to-face meeting is considered to be most effective
• The PM Plan itself can be considered as a deliverable

Manage Project Knowledge (new to PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition)

• Inputs: Project Management Plan, Project documents, Deliverables, EEF, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Knowledge Management, Information Management, Interpersonal and team skills
• Outputs: Lessons learned register, Project management plan updates, OPA updates

• This newly added Manage Project Knowledge process is involved in documenting and using knowledge learnt from the project to achieve the project objectives and the whole organization to learn from the experiences.
• Documenting lessons learned from the project is a recurring process during the life cycle of the project.
• The lessons learned register is a new output (first mentioned the PMBOK® Guide) which records challenges, problems and successes throughout the project

Monitor and Control Project Work

• Inputs: Project Management Plan, Project documents, Work performance information, Agreements, EEF, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Data Analysis, Decision Making, Meetings
• Outputs: Work performance reports, Change requests, Project management plan updates, Project documents updates

• corrective and preventive actions usually don’t affect the baseline, only affect the performance against the baseline
• defect repair: considered as rework, deliverable not accepted, either rework or scrap, strongly advise defect prevention to defect repair
• the work performance info is fed from all other control processes (e.g. control schedule, control stakeholder engagement, control communications, control costs, control quality, etc.)
• Data Analysis Techniques include:
  • Alternatives analysis
  • Cost-benefit analysis
  • Earned value analysis
  • Root cause analysis
  • Trend analysis – forecasts future performance based on past performance
  • Variance analysis – analyzes the differences (or variances) between planned and actual performance
• Decision Making is a technique to achieve a decision e.g. by voting.

Perform Integrated Change Control

• Inputs: Project Management Plan, Project documents, Work performance reports, Change requests, EEF, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Change control tools, Data Analysis, Decision Making, Meetings
• Outputs: Approved change requests, Project management plan updates, Project documents updates

• changes in the project arise as a result of missed requirements, views of stakeholders, poorly designed WBS, misunderstanding, inadequate risk assessment
  • the PM should influence the factors that cause project change
• life cycle of a change request:
  1. identify needs
  2. assess the impact, response and alternatives
  3. create the change request
  4. meet with stakeholders
  5. obtain approval from CCB (change control board) or PM as defined in roles and responsibility document/PM Plan
     • customers/sponsors may need to approve certain decisions by CCB (if they are not part of CCB)
  6. request more funding if needed
• the whole process must be documented in the change log (which is a project document)
• changes need to be tracked using a change management system, also affect configuration management system
  • configuration control: changes to deliverables and processes
  • change control: identify/document/approve changes
• configuration management activities: configuration identification, configuration status accounting, configuration verification/audit to ensure the latest configuration is adopted and delivered
• communicate the resolutions (approve or reject) to change requests to stakeholders

Close Project or Phase

• Inputs: Project charter, Project Management Plan, Project documents, Accepted deliverables, Business documents, Agreements, Procurement documents, OPA
• Tools & Techniques: Expert Judgement, Data Analysis, Meetings
• Outputs: Project documents updates, Final product, service or results transition, Final report, OPA updates

• must ensure all procurements are closed before formal closure of the project/phase, all procurement documentation must be collected, indexed and filed
• obtain formal approval to close out the project/phase (administrative closure)
  • obtain approval and deliver the deliverables (maybe with training)
  • formal sign off by designated stakeholders/customer
• finish and archive documentation, lessons learnt and update to organizational process asset
• if the contract comes with a warranty, make sure that changes during the project are evaluated against the origin clauses, ensure alignment of the warranty and changes
• to close a project as neatly and permanently possible
• for multi-phase projects, this process will be performed once for every phase end and once for the whole project (5 times for project with 4 phases)
• The final report is a summary of the project performance, including:
  • Summary level description of the project or phase
  • Scope objectives
  • Quality objectives
  • Cost objectives
  • Summary of the validation information for the final product, service or result
  • Schedule objectives
  • Summary of how the final product, service, or result achieved the business needs
  • Summary of any risks or issues encountered on the project and how they were addressed
• litigation can be further pursued after the closure