PMBoK

PMBoK

By Finlay Russell

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a **collection** of **processes** and **knowledge** areas generally accepted as best practice within **the project management discipline**.

Not specific to software development projects - its techniques can be used to manage virtually any project, from, building a house to designing an aircraft. It divides the project life cycle into **five** stages, called process groups.

As an internationally recognised standard (IEEE Std 1490-2003) it provides the fundamentals of project management, irrespective of the type of project be it construction, software, engineering, automotive etc. PMBOK recognises 5 basic process groups and 9 knowledge areas typical of almost all projects. The basic concepts are applicable to projects, programs and operations. The five basic process groups are:
 * 1) Initiating
 * 2) Planning
 * 3) Executing
 * 4) Monitoring and Controlling
 * 5) Closing

Much of PMBOK is unique to project management e.g. critical path and work breakdown structure (WBS). Some areas overlap with other management disciplines. General management also includes planning, organising, staffing, executing and controlling the operations of an organisation. Financial forecasting, organisational behaviour and planning techniques are also similar.

Agile & WaterfallDevelopment model Analysis – investigate what the current system is, needs of the client, possibility of a solution and whether to progress with a new solution. Design – Planning of a solution (including test plan) to meet the needs of the client identifies in the analysis Implement/development/Build – Creation of the system following the Design that was previously created. Test – ensuring that the system developed functions correctly as determined by the requirements Install – Installing the system (software and hardware) at the clients organization, possibly removing the old system, training of staff / users Maintenance – Updates / changes to fix bugs, improve performance, add new features – often large part of project cost in large systems
 * The SDLC **