What is PMBOK's Role in Project Management and How to Use PMBOK?
A project management strategy is an essential need for organizations. It doesn't matter what size or type your organization is. PMBOK is proved very beneficial for organizations that are at high stakes such as health care. Project Management Body of Knowledge is a collection of best practices, specifications, guidelines, and processes all in a book. These mentioned standards are accepted in the project management company. PMBOK is now popular as a strategy, and a worthy investment for education. Its knowledge is growing day by day for practitioners to discover best practices.
- Part 1: What is PMBOK?
- Part 2: Why PMBOK is Important for Project Management?
- Part 3: How to Use PMBOK to Help Project Management?
- Part 4: Product Prototype Tool You May Need
What is PMBOK?
PMBOK is a book that is an effort of the Project Management Institute (PMI). It is a professional American nonprofit organization for project management, which is responsible for the publishing of PMBOK within the book popular in the market with a name (PMBOK Guide). PMBOK was first published early in 1966, the sixth edition (PMBOK 6) was published in 2017. If you are eager to find an all-in-one solution for all of your business complications, PMBOK will mystify you. The truth of managing projects at any level can be found in it. Just by its name PMBOK "Project Management Body of Knowledge", it is easy to guess what it holds.
You can take it as a guide to becoming a perfect project manager, but not everyone can familiarize with PMBOK. All the methods found in this book are well documented and proven to work with focus. The guide also mentioned all the possible outcomes that a manager can face and avoid them without frustration. Project management practices require the demands of individual organizations, but if project managers start fresh from a solid set of standards, they can execute smart revisions if required. If a project manager moves from one company to another, the same practices and standards can be applied there too.
Why PMBOK is Important for Project Management?
PMI PMBOK has its implications in many ways. It deals with every possible project management development from start to end. It discusses 47 processes briefly, that managers would tackle while working on a project. It organizes them further into five groups of processes. In the sixth PMBOK edition, the body of knowledge was created in such a way that it evolved over time and was recognized internationally by project managers as an important resource of information. The PMBOK methodology guide includes many specific topics related to project management but also mention in-depth themes such as planning, staffing, management science, budgeting, organizational behavior, and financial forecasting.
Keeping management standards aside, the PMBOK is formed around processes in such a manner that syncs and impact in result to complete a project. If we look into the guide, the three main project phases include tools, techniques, outputs, and inputs. These are later integrated into the project to outline management techniques and tactics. This book is being used as a popular tool and inspiration for project managers, especially for those who are looking forward to PMP or CAPM certifications. If you do more research you will find out that PMBOK has been accepted and recognized by many highly-esteemed organizations.
How to Use PMBOK to Help Project Management?
There are many practices to use from PMBOK to get knowledge regarding project management.
1. Project Integration: In this step of PMBOK project management, we will be focusing on the initiation of the project. The project initiation process indicates what you are trying to achieve with the project by when, with what resources, and why the project is initiated. It will also indicate funding needs and what kind of result the client expects when the project is completed. When giving the project introduction, project managers can analyze the contract and clarify any elements that need a clearer definition.
2. Project Scope: Project Scope is also very important because, during planning, human resources are designated, budgets are decided, timelines are plotted, contingency plans are made, acquiring plans are devised, risks and critical success factors are recognized. This process aims to cover every possibility to assure the success of a project. It holds together all of the project management information areas. The scope statement is further elaborated, adding the project manager's point of view on how the crew will fulfill the contract.
3. Time and Assurance: Aside from securing that contractors and teams will do the physical work of which the project consists, this process also includes project crew management, quality assurance, acquisitions, communication, and the management responsibility of stakeholder engagements. Although the PMBOK guide cannot specify the special details of every sort of project, it provides you a framework so you can apply the best available practices in these extended project management areas. Maybe the upcoming PMBOK 7 guide will have the ability to specify all the details of a project.
4. Cost and Quality: This process includes controlling the project costs, budget, and quality, schedule, validating results relative to the project range in agreement with stakeholders, and controlling procurements and communications. Any part or element of this process will be examined for modifications, and corrective action will be taken where needed. If the project manager wants to implement any changes into the project, they will be integrated into the project management plan data. However, every process has a specific reason.
5. Closure Management: Just so you should know that this process doesn't only apply at the end of the project. A large project of phases will also consist of closure procedures for each phase. However, there is one final closure process in which documentation is formally concluded and closed, external suppliers and contractors are released, the finished project then becomes fully functional, and finally, the communications are finalized. This process is very helpful in the end or even at any phase of a project.
6: Risk Management: Nobody knows at which point of the process what occurs. A skilled project manager should have the skills to assess any kind of risk and qualitative assessments of the project. A project manager is responsible for controlling and identifying threats to industry capital and profits. If you ignore these risks or threats, they could possibly grow into a wide variety of complications such as accidents, financial uncertainty, strategic management errors, legal liabilities, and vulnerability to natural disasters in the future.
7. Project Procurement Management: Project managers should be sure of getting the services and products required to complete the project. There are many subsets in this knowledge area such as solicitation planning, contract administration, contract closeout, and procurement planning. Project managers should create a relationship with outside product suppliers and vendors who will provide services and goods along the way until the completion of the project. This process comes with a few important steps such as selecting, monitoring, contract writing, initiating and planning, and more.
8. Project Communications Management: Communication is an aspect at which, project managers consume most of their time frame. They communicate with stakeholders and team members working on a project, whether they are external or internal to the organization levels. This process ensures the appropriate and timely collection, planning, distribution, production, accommodation, management, retrieval, control, monitoring of project information. Effective communication will result in creating a connection between diverse stakeholders who may have different organizational backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives, levels of expertise, and interests.
9. Human Resource Management: This process of project management is responsible for organizing, managing, and leading the project team. This team consists of many people with assigned responsibilities and roles for executing the project. Project team members have specific skill sets, assigned part or full-time, and maybe removed from the crew as the project advances further. The members working on a team are also recognized as project staff. The involvement of each team member is very beneficial in project decisions and planning.
10. Scheduling in project management: The process of scheduling in project management includes the deliverables, activities, and breakthroughs within a project. A schedule is basically planning of duration, start and end date, and resources. Project scheduling should be effective in order to achieve successful time management. A project schedule is responsible for the timeframe required for the completion of any task and with what resources. The schedule data can be collected and documented so all the work in the project will be delivered on time.
Product Prototype Tool You May Need
Wondershare Mockitt is an efficient project management tool used by all kinds of developers. Product managers use this platform to quickly complete a product wireframe to present to stakeholders. Creating project management flowcharts with this prototyping tool is very easy. It doesn't require any kind of experience to operate this tool. Users don't even have to worry about writing a single line of code. Wondershare Mockitt is a platform that assists many project managers and web developers with managing projects. Get your important project related task done cost-effectively and quickly. This platform offers its users a designed and sleek workspace. For user ease of access, a pre-defined library full of built-in templates and UI assets is added. Wondershare Mockitt features include timeless collaboration and witness real-time changes in projects made by the team members. This tool is proficient in designing multiple graphics that will be displayed on any Android and iOS projects or devices. A list of custom-sized layouts with manageable drag and drop features is provided by Wondershare Mockitt. Users can mix/edit object templates, add combos, and predefined widgets and icons into their graphic design projects. Users can now generate a QR code or URL and share their project details with clients and stakeholders and receive feedback on their current project. Don’t wait, try it today!
