What is PMP Process Chart? - A Complete Guide

 

PMP Process ChartIf you have searched online for PMP Process chart or Knowledge Areas, you surely have completed reading a few pages of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide. Well, if you want to gain an in-depth understanding of PMP Process Charts, you’re at the right place. This blog will help you understand everything related to Project Management Processes, Process Charts, and Project Management Knowledge Areas.

If you are up for the PMP exam preparation preparation, understanding the PMP Process Chart is crucial to passing the exam. Reading this blog will help you understand PMP Process Charts and Knowledge areas required to excel in the PMP Exam. Preparing a PMP Process Chart is also essential for delivering successful projects and bringing value to the organisation. Thereby, making it even more important for PMP aspirants to learn about PMP Process Charts.

Table of Contents

1) What is PMP Process Chart?

2) What are the Project Management Processes?

3) How to create and memorise the PMP Process Chart?

4) This is how your Process Chart Should look like

5) What are the five PMBOK Phases or Process Groups of Project Management?

6) The 10 Project Management Knowledge Areas

7) The difference between PMBOK Knowledge Areas and Process Groups

8) Conclusion

What is PMP Process Chart?

PMP Process Chart is an essential tool for anyone who aims to complete their task without any obstacles. This Chart  provides a visual representation of the Project Management Processes.

The Process Chart illustrates how various activities in the project lifecycle are interconnected to each other. The activity flow helps  understand the relationship between the components and how essential it is to finish the project. The Project Management Institute (PMI) has been a pioneer in helping organisations worldwide enhance their Project Management expertise. Additionally, PMI developed the Process Chart in order to help Project Management Professionals deliver successful projects efficiently.
 

 

What are the Project Management Processes?

In the PMBOK Guide, Processes are described as a set of actions performed to develop a product or service  in the form of a project. Project Management processes ensure the appropriate flow of the project activities throughout its completion.

The PMBOK Guide is divided into ten parts, where each part covers a particular Knowledge Area. This Guide describes 49 processes, each of which pertain to that specific Knowledge Area, and each process is classified as part of a Process Group.

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How to create and memorise the PMP Process Chart?

Each part of the PMBOK Guide expands on each Knowledge Area in the Process Chart. Hence, it would help if you memorised the chart for the exam. Let's discuss how we can remember this:

Stage 1: Start by drawing a 6X11 chart.

Draw a table with 11 rows and 6 columns to develop the Process Chart.

Stage 2: Then move on to writing your Process Groups and Knowledge Areas

On the top-most row, write down all 5 phases of project management – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing

Use this short  sentence to remember the Process Groups easily – “In Paris Emily May Cry Constantly”.

In the first column, list the ten Knowledge Areas.

The ten Knowledge Areas are –

a) Project Integration Management

b) Project Scope Management

c) Project Schedule Management

d) Project Cost Management

e) Project Quality Management

f) Project Resources Management

g) Project Communications Management

h) Project Risk Management

i) Project Procurement Management

j) Project Stakeholders Management

Use this short  sentence to remember the 10 Knowledge Areas easily – I Saw Two Crows Quietly Relishing Coffee and Reading Poetic Songs.

Now your PMP Process matrix should look something like this:
 

Stage 3: Now fill these corners.

Fill these four processes in the Process Chart: 

1) Developing the Project charter

2) Identifying Stakeholders

3) Closing the Project

4) Closing Procurement

This is how it will look after this stage:
 

Process Groups	Initiating	Planning	Monitoring and Controlling	Closing	Knowledge Areas
Project Integration Management	Developing Project charter				Closing the Project
Project Scope Management
Project Schedule Management
Project Cost Management
Project Quality Management
Project Resource Management
Project Communication Management
Project Risk Management
Project Procurement Management					Closing Procurement
Project Stakeholder Management		Identifying Stakeholders

Stage 4: There are 10 processes that begin with the word “Planning,” and they all fall in the Planning Process Group.

1) Planning Scope Management 

2) Planning Schedule Management 

3) Planning Cost Management 

4) Planning Quality Management 

5) Planning Resource Management 

6) Planning Communication Management

7) Planning Risk Management

8) Planning Risk Responses 

9) Planning Procurement 

10) Planning Stakeholder Management
 

Process Groups	Initiating	Planning	Monitoring and Controlling	Closing	Knowledge Areas
Project Integration Management	Developing Project charter	Developing Project Management Plan			Closing the Project
Project Scope Management		Plan Scope Management
Project Schedule Management		Planning Schedule Management
Project Cost Management		Planning Cost Management
Project Quality Management		Planning Quality Management
Project Resource Management		Planning Resource Management
Project Communication Management		Planning Communications Management
Project Risk Management		Planning Risk Management
Project Procurement Management		Planning Procurement Management			Closing Procurement
Project Stakeholder Management		Identifying Stakeholders	Planning Stakeholder management

Stage 5: Next stage is to fill in the "Estimate" processes into the Planning Process Group in the same way you did in stage 4. It is filled in at the intersection of the Planning Process Group and the Schedule Management Knowledge Area.
 

Process Groups	Initiating	Planning	Monitoring and Controlling	Closing	Knowledge Areas
Project Integration Management	Developing Project charter	Developing Project Management Plan			Closing the Project
Project Scope Management		Plan Scope Management
Project Schedule Management		Planning Schedule Management
Project Cost Management		Planning Cost Management
Project Quality Management		Planning Quality Management
Project Resource Management		Planning Resource Management
Project Communication Management		Planning Communications Management
Project Risk Management		Planning Risk Management
Project Procurement Management		Planning Procurement Management			Closing Procurement
Project Stakeholder Management		Identifying Stakeholders	Planning Stakeholder management

Stage 6: The next stage is to fill in the 4 Perform Processes.

1) Perform Integrated Change - From the Project Integration Management Knowledge Area

2) Perform Quality Assurance - From Project Quality Management Knowledge Area

3) Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis - From Project Risk Management Knowledge Area

4) Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis – From Project Risk Management Knowledge Area

Stage 7: Next fill in the Planning Process Group.

1) Develop Project Charter - From Project Integration Management Knowledge Area

2) Develop Project Management Plan - From Project Integration Management Knowledge Area

3) Develop Schedule - From Project Time Management Knowledge Area

4) Develop Project Team - From Project Resource Management Knowledge Area

Stage 8: Next fill in the Control Process Group. They fall under the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group.

1) Monitor & Control Project Work - From Project Integration Management Knowledge Area

2) Perform Integrated Change Control - From Project Integration Management Knowledge Area

3) Control Scope - From Project Scope Management Knowledge Area

4) Control Schedule - From Project Time Management Knowledge Area

5) Control Costs - From Project Cost Management Knowledge Area

6) Control Quality - From Project Quality Management Knowledge Area

7) Control Communications - From Project Communications Management Knowledge Area

8) Control Risks - From Project Risk Management Knowledge Area

9) Control Procurements - From Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area

10) Control Stakeholder Engagement - From Project Stakeholder Management Knowledge Area

Stage 9: Next coming to the Project Management process ‘Manage’ - there are three of them which fall under the Executing PMP Process Group

1) Manage Project Team - From Project Resource Management Knowledge Area

2) Manage Communications - From Project Communications Management Knowledge Area

3) Manage Stakeholder Engagement - From Project Stakeholder Management Knowledge Area

Stage 10: This is the last stage, where you have to fill the rest of the processes 

1) Validate Scope - From Project Scope Management Knowledge Area

2) Collect Requirements - From Project Scope Management Knowledge Area

3) Define Scope - From Project Scope Management Knowledge Area

4) Create WBS - From Project Scope Management Knowledge Area

5) Define Activities - From Project Time Management Knowledge Area

6) Sequence Activities – From Project Time Management Knowledge Area

7) Determine Budget - From Project Cost Management Knowledge Area

8) Acquire Project Team - From Project Stakeholder Management Knowledge Area

9) Conduct Procurements - From Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area

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This is how your Process Chart should look like

Let's see how these all come together under the 49 processes chart of Project management.
 

Process Groups	Initiating	Planning	Monitoring and Controlling	Closing	Knowledge Areas
Project Integration Management	Developing Project charter	Developing Project Management Plan	Directing and Managing project work	1. Monitoring and controlling project work  2. Performing integrated change control	Closing the Project
Project Scope Management		Plan Scope Management		Controlling the Scope
Project Schedule Management		Planning Schedule Management		Controlling the Schedule
Project Cost Management		Planning Cost Management		Controlling Costs
Project Quality Management		Planning Quality Management	Performing quality check	Controlling quality
Project Resource Management		Planning Resource Management	1. Acquiring Resources  2. Developing the Team  3. Managing the Team	Controlling the Resources
Project Communication Management		Planning Communications Management	Managing Communications	Monitoring Communications
Project Risk Management		Planning Risk Management	Implementing Risk Responses	Monitoring Risk
Project Procurement Management		Planning Procurement Management	Conducting Procurement	Controlling Procurement	Closing Procurement
Project Stakeholder Management	Identifying Stakeholders	Planning Stakeholder management	Planning Stakeholder Management	Managing Stakeholder Engagement

 

What are the five PMBOK Phases or Process Groups of Project Management?

Now, let's understand what are the Project Management Process Groups in PMBOK Guide:

1) Initiation of the Project

2) Planning of the Project

3) Execution of the Project

4) Monitoring and controlling the project

5) Closing or implementing the project

The 10 Project Management Knowledge Areas

There are 10 Knowledge Areas in PMBOK. Each Knowledge Area represents an area of specialisation, concepts, PMP tools, techniques, and tasks. In other words, to properly manage a project, you must be familiar with project completion factors such as schedule, budget, and quality level.

Knowledge Areas are used to group PMP Process, considering how challenging the processes are to memorise . You, as a PMP, must be able to distinguish between these areas and employ them in the projects based on the project's requirements. Let's understand what are these 10 PMBOK Knowledge Areas in detail:

 

1) Project Integration Management

Project Integration involves integrating the project components and the different Knowledge Areas together. The responsibility of the integration lies in the hands of the Project Manager. The Project Manager is designated the duty of an ‘integrator’, which lets them drive the project’s momentum to completion.

The Project Managers basically integrate the work of other employees in addition to the processes and tasks involved.

Integration Management contains seven PMP Processes, of which the Project Charter is the first key deliverable in the first process. All the project stakeholders come together to develop the Project Charter.

The Project Charter is a document derived from the original project’s business case and is utilised by organisations for authorising their internal projects.

This Knowledge Area has seven of the 49 processes which are spread across all five Process Groups.

2) Project Schedule Management

Project Schedule Management plays a crucial role in Project Management, as it can affect resources, costs and the project's overall success. Schedule Management teaches  the development, maintainence, monitoring, and evaluation of schedules.

You can stand out as a PMP, by integrating time into your project schedules, which are often overlooked by amateur PMPs. A quality project schedule involves precisely calculated work durations and applied constraints. 

Project Schedule Management contains seven of the 49 PMP processes involved. Six of these come under the planning process group and one under the monitoring and controlling process group.

3) Project Scope Management

The Project Scope Statement describes the project's objectives, needs, and limitations such as timing and budget. For the project to be successful, the Project scope must be accurately defined.

A Project Manager must ensure that they define, measure, monitor, and control the Project scope. They should ensure that there aren't any changes in the project that were not agreed upon earlier in the Project scope.

Project Scope Management contains six processes, four of which come under the planning process group and two under the monitoring and controlling process group.

4) Project Quality Management

Project Quality Management requires that you perform all tasks necessary to  ensure the project quality. The quality assurance includes conducting meetings, developing quality plans, managing project documents, and establishing project controls.

Project Quality Management has three processes from the planning, executing, and monitoring process groups.

5) Project Resource Management

Resource Management demands the  allocation of available resources to each project activity.

Additionally, integrating, managing, and monitoring the project resources for each activity is pivotal to the project’s progress. Defining the project boundaries is another important factor to manage the planned scope of the project.

There are six processes in the Project Resource Management Knowledge Area. They fall under the planning, execution, monitoring, and controlling Process Groups.

6) Project Cost Management

Each project in an organisation has an allotted budget. Budgeting, cost estimation, and tracking actual expenditures are the essentials of Project Cost Management.

Each project has a different budget based on the size, duration, resources involved, and complexity of the project. Keeping track of the budget of your other projects is very important, as it will help you foresee your affordability of new projects.

This area has four processes, divided into two process groups. Three belong to planning, while one belongs to the monitoring and controlling process group.

7) Project Communications Management

Communications Management aims to reduce the project's possible negative repercussions. As a Project Manager, you must maintain control over all internal and external project-related communications. It includes managing communication for both internal and external stakeholders.

This Knowledge Area has three processes from planning, execution, monitoring, and controlling Process Groups respectively. 

8) Project Procurement Management

Procurement Management is concerned with procuring products and services for projects, coordinating procurement operations, handling contractual problems relating to suppliers and vendor agreements, and assuring compliance with business rules.

This Knowledge Area has three of 49 processes, each of which falls under planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling.

9) Project Risk Management

Risk Management deals with identifying and assessing risks, managing risks, and developing contingency plans to mitigate or avoid them. Risks can affect the project's schedule, budget, quality, resources, and client satisfaction.

Seven PMP processes in this Knowledge Area are from the planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling Process Groups.

Also, check out our blog to know more about Risk Management in PMP!

10) Project Stakeholder Management

Finally, the success or failure of a project is determined by how your project is delivered to the stakeholders. The Project Stakeholder Management Knowledge Area deals with creating an organisational climate in which stakeholders' interests are critical to project success. This Knowledge Area includes four processes from the PMP's 49 processes.

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The difference between PMBOK Knowledge Areas and Process Groups 

The structure of Project Management includes both PMBOK Knowledge Areas and Process Groups. Below are a few differences which distinguish the PMBOK Knowledge Areas from Process groups:

1) PMBOK Knowledge Areas

The Knowledge Areas are standard Project Management guidelines which include terminology that pertains to what you need to know in Project Management.  , 2. Process Groups in PMBOK deal with the project activity during project management.   3. Knowledge Areas are twice as much in number as Process Groups and the differences can be interchangeably understood.4. Knowledge Areas provide distinct areas designed to assist you in reviewing your Project Management practices.5. Knowledge Areas are generally associated with the planning aspect of a project.

2) Process Groups: 

1) Process Groups in PMBOK tell you what you need to do in Project Management.  

2) They assist you in applying your knowledge of the various professional areas in Project Management.

3) Process Groups are a component of the structure of Project Management, in which they map out the steps necessary for project completion.

4) Process Groups are repeated throughout the project and have clearly defined dependencies. The groups are designed to interact with one another during the project.

5) The project work is usually carried out according to the Process Groups.

With your expertise in Processes, you will be able to guide your team throughout the  project

Conclusion

You will find it easier to learn about the PMP Process Chart after reading this blog. The Process Chart will be a great first step in your preparation for the PMP certification exam Remember that practice will get you well-versed with PMP concepts like PMP Processes. Process Chart and Knowledge Areas.