- Definition
- Importance
- Goals
It is one of the knowledge areas within PMBOK (The Project Management Body of Knowledge) to identify, combine and coordinate various project management activities and processes determined by the Guide. Management of integration processes includes a series of actions for identification, consolidation and unification of the project activities critical to achieving success and meeting stakeholders’ expectations. The integrative management processes refer to making choices regarding concentrating resources, anticipating potential issues, dealing with risks, and coordinating workflows for successful project completion.
In order to perform the integration management processes, the project manager needs to choose between trade-offs among project objectives and alternatives. The integration will be achieved when the manager is able to unify and coordinate the discrete components of project management and create a productive work environment where processes and tasks are combined into a single workflow.
The importance of project integration management consists in the need for integrating the project management processes with each other. For instance, a cost estimate necessary for developing a contingency plan involves integration of the time planning processes. It covers high-level management plans such as Cost Management Plan, Time Management Plan and Risk Management Plan. When the manager is able to address most integration management issues, this person unifies and coordinates the constraints (time, cost and risk) and find effective solutions.
Project integration management is important because the manager can combine the deliverables with ongoing operations and create relations between outcomes and strategic expectations. It’s the way to succeed in strategic planning through solving future possible problems and exploiting identified opportunities.
- State and analyze the project scope. This goal refers to the identification and analysis of risks, requirements, assumptions, expectations, constraints, and other characteristics that have an impact to the project, and how each of the characteristics will be managed or addressed within the project lifecycle.
- Document specific criteria for project requirements. This goal refers to the need for documenting all the information regarding stakeholders’ expectations and defining a set of criteria for managing project requirements.
- Keep to the Management Plan. By achieving this objective the project manager can take appropriate actions to have the project performed as planned, on schedule and under budget.
- Monitor and control the project. The manager should follow this goal to make sure that the constraints are well estimated and managed, the team performs tasks, and the deliverables are produced as planned. In case of any deviations the manager needs to take corrective actions to solve the problem.
- Create the Project Charter. At the end of the initiation phase, one of the primary project management documents should be created. This is about the Project Charter. Integrated project management aims to facilitate the development of this document that clearly states the processes and activities required for starting the project, and also the boundaries of the project.
- Develop the Scope Statement. This process refers to stating a scope to identify and describe an amount of work required for accomplishing the project and producing deliverables.
- Design the General Plan. This process aims to create a foundation for developing a project management plan and decomposing the work into smaller, more manageable pieces, like tasks and jobs.
- Manage Implementation. This process requires using implementation tools to perform all the tasks and activities listed in the general plan. It also refers to unifying subsidiary plans with the project management plan.
- Monitor and Control Progress. The process aims to oversee the progress, manage changes, respond to risks, and measure performance in order to guarantee successful completion of project goals and objectives.
- Finalize and Close Project. The final process is to terminate all project activities, hand over the project to appropriate people and state a formal closure.