PMBOK - Knowledge Areas versus Project Management Process Groups

The PMBOK recognises that Project management is "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements". And for this application of knowledge the PMBOK requires the effective management of a set of processes.

A process is "a set of interrelated actions and activities performed to achieve a pre-specified product, result, or service" and is characterized by a set of inputs, tools and techniques and outputs.

Now... The PMBOK groups the processes mentioned above in two distinct ways (categories):

• Project Management Process Groups;
• Knowledge Areas.   

The Project Management Process Groups can be seen (but they are not) as a project phase. The project phases, and in this case, the Project Management Process Groups, are typically completed sequentially, even though any experienced project manager knows that usually some (sometimes much) overlap do exist, and it is meant to exist.

Knowledge areas are areas of related knowledge, for instance, the 'Develop schedule' and the 'Control schedule' processes are different processes belong to the same 'Time' knowledge area.

Project Management Process Groups

The PMBOK groups the project management processes into five Project Management Process Groups (or just Process Groups), that in reality are five categories that can be seen (with care) also as phases of the project.

• Initiating Process Group - all processes performed to define a new project or a new phase of the project;
• Planning Process Group - all processes performed to establish the scope of the project, refine the objectives, and to establish a set of actions that allow to obtain the objectives that the project is required to; 
• Executing Process Group - all processes performed to implement the work that was defined in the project management plan;
• Monitoring and Controlling Process Group - all processes performed to track, review and regulate the progress of the performance of the project; all processes that identify and initiate necessary changes to the plan;
• Closing Process Group -  all processes performed to close all activities of the PMBOK processes with the goal to close the project or phase.

From the text in the 'Initiating' and 'Closing' process groups you can understand why I say that the process groups can be seen as a project phase but they are not a project phase: You can apply the 5 categories of processes (Process Groups) to a whole project, meaning, that you first perform the 'Initiating' processes of the project, then the 'Planning' processes, then the 'Executing', the 'Monitoring and Controlling' and finally the 'Closing' processes on the project, and voilà, you have the project completed. But you can also apply this full process (from 'Initiating' to 'Closing') to a given phase of the project. In this case imagine a very complex software project where you want to apply to the design phase of the software project the complete PMBOK methodology. In this case the design of this software project would be managed as a project.

Knowledge Areas

Additionally to gouping  the project management processes into process groups, the PMBOK also groups the same processes into what is called the Knowledge Areas. Knowledge areas are categories    where all processes share a common theme. For instance, the processes 'Plan quality', 'Perform quality assurance', and 'Perform quality control' all belong to the same knowledge area of 'Project Quality Management', even though all belong to different process groups, the first to 'Planning', the second to 'Executing' and the last to 'Monitoring & Control'.

The table  (based on the table available in section 3.2, page 43, of the PMBOK, 4th Edition) bellow shows all the PMBOK processes together with the mapping of the Project Management Process Groups and the Knowledge Areas.

Process Groups Knowledge Area	Initiating	Planning	Executing	Monitoring & Controlling	Closing
Integration	-  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
Scope		-  Collect requirements -  Define scope -  Create WBS		-  Verify scope -  Control scope
Time		-  Define activities -  Sequence activities -  Estimate activity resources -  Estimate activity durations -  Develop schedule		-  Control schedule
Cost		-  Estimate costs -  Determine budget		-  Control costs
Quality		-  Plan quality	-  Perform quality assurance	-  Perform quality control
Human Resources		-  Develop human resource plan	-  Acquire project team -  Develop project team -  Manage project team
Communications	-  Identify stakeholders	-  Plan communications	-  Distribute information -  Manage stakeholder expectations	-  Report performance
Risk		-  Plan risk management -  Identify risks -  Perform qualitative risk analysis -  Perform quantitative risk analysis -  Plan risk responses		-  Monitor and control risks
Procurement		-  Plan requirements	-  Conduct procurements	-  Administer procurements	-  Close procurements

This is key to understanding the PMBOK and study it. Because many people when starting to read this Guide quickly give up because of a lack of understanding on how the information is organised in the PMBOK. 

The PMBOK is organised by chapters where each chapter (with some exceptions, for instance, in the initial chapters) present a new Knowledge Area. Then inside each chapter the processes belonging to the Knowledge Area are presented one by one. This means that who reads the PMBOK end-to-end do not see a presentation of each process by the order of its execution in a given project or phase, but grouped in a thematic area. For instance, in section 7 it is presented the 'Project Cost Management' knowledge area that presents in sequence the 'Estimate Costs', the 'Determine Budget' and the 'Control Costs' processes. The first two should be implemented in the Planning 'phase' of the project whereas the last in conducted in the Monitoring and Control 'phase'. The result is that if you read the PMBOK sequentially you keep jumping on the natural order of execution of the project management tasks.

But if you understood the above, and the table that is here presented, you should be fine just by reading the PMBOK.