Table of contents
1 Overview of project integration management
Project integration management includes the processes of identifying, defining, combining, unifying and coordinating various processes and project management activities belonging to the project management process group. In project management, integration has the properties of unifying, merging, communicating and establishing links, and these actions should be carried out throughout the project.
Project Integration Management includes:
◆ Resource Allocation
◆ Balancing Competing Demands
◆ Researching Alternatives
◆ Tailoring Processes to Achieve Project Objectives
◆ Managing Dependencies Between Various Project Knowledge Areas
Core Concepts
Project Integration Management is at the heart of project management, It is to achieve mutual coordination among the various elements of the project,
and to find the best balance among contradictory or competing goals.
Project Integration Management is the responsibility of the project manager to integrate the results of all other knowledge areas and to have an overall
picture of the project. The project manager must take ultimate responsibility for the entire project and this responsibility cannot be delegated or transferred to another
party.
◆ Projects and project management are inherently integrated;
◆ There are often recurring links between processes in the project management process group;
◆ The more complex the project and the more diverse the expectations of stakeholders, the more comprehensive an integrated approach is required.
Integrated management is the guiding ideology of project management.
Integration management is carried out from the overall perspective of the entire project, and any content of the project management plan and any kind
of project documents can become the input of the execution, monitoring and closing process. In project activities,
whenever there are parts that need to be combined, integration management is required.
The most important role of the project manager is the integrator, who must coordinate through communication and
integrate through coordination.
Project integration management refers to:
◆ Ensure that products, services or results are delivered on schedule, consistent with project lifecycle and benefit management plans .
◆ Prepare a project management plan to achieve project objectives.
◆ Ensure that the project creates appropriate knowledge and applies it to the project, and obtains the necessary knowledge from the project.
◆ Manage the performance and changes of activities in the project management plan.
◆ Make comprehensive decisions on critical changes affecting the project.
◆ Measure and monitor project progress and take appropriate actions to achieve project goals.
◆ Collect data on results achieved, analyze data for information, and share information with interested parties.
◆ Completion of all project work to formally close phases, contracts and the entire project.
◆ Manage phase transitions that may be required.
The more complex the project and the more diverse the expectations of the stakeholders, the more comprehensive and integrated an approach is required.
Trends and Emerging Practices
◆ Use of Automation Tools
◆ Use of Visual Management Tools
◆ Project Knowledge Management
◆ Increased Project Manager Responsibilities
◆ Hybrid Approaches
Tailoring Considerations
◆ Project Lifecycle
◆ Development Lifecycle
◆ Management Approaches
◆ Knowledge Management
◆ Change
◆ Governance
◆ Lessons Learned
◆ Benefits
Considerations in an Agile/Adaptive Environment
Iterative and Agile methods enable team members to participate in integration management as domain experts, and team
members decide for themselves how the plan and its components are integrated.
In an adaptive environment, the project manager's expectations remain the same, but the planning and delivery of specific products is
delegated to the team for control. The project manager's focus is on fostering a collaborative decision-making environment and ensuring
the team's ability to handle change.
2 Develop a project charter
Developing a project charter is the process of writing a document that formally approves the project and authorizes the project manager to use organizational resources in project activities .
The key benefits of this process are to clarify the direct link between the project and the organization's strategy , to establish the project's formal status, and to demonstrate the organization's commitment to the project.
During the project initiation phase, the sponsor authorizes the project manager to:
◆ Conduct project evaluation.
◆ Identify high-level deliverables.
◆ Identify high-level schedule and cost requirements.
◆ Determine the level of overall project risk and its main sources.
◆ Identify assumptions and constraints.
◆ Identify and analyze key stakeholders.
◆ Prepare project charter, get approval and distribute it.
The sponsor hires a team of experts to carry out a business case, forms a business case report and a benefit management plan, and
signs a cooperation agreement with relevant institutions. The sponsor develops the project charter accordingly.
The business case is conducted to screen projects, and the project evaluation is conducted to confirm feasibility.
Projects that enter the process of formulating project charters will generally not be cancelled.
The project charter establishes a partnership between the project implementation organization and the demand organization. Once the project charter is approved
, it marks the official start of the project.
The project charter can be prepared by the sponsor, or by the project manager in cooperation with the sponsoring agency. Through this
collaboration, project managers gain a better understanding of project goals, objectives, and expected benefits in order to more effectively
allocate resources to project activities.
The project charter authorizes the project manager to plan, execute, and control the project.
The project charter must be signed by the project sponsor or senior management and published to the key stakeholders so that the
involved parties know that the project has officially started, that they all understand the main objectives of the project, that they all understand their respective roles and responsibilities, and that they can
secure funding for the project and Provide resources.
For joint projects, each sponsoring organization signs a cooperation agreement, and then the high-level executives of each organization jointly issue the project
charter.
The sponsor announces the approval of the project charter, the
formal establishment of the project, the determination of the high-level goals of the project, and the appointment of the project manager at the project initiation meeting (Initiating Meeting).
4W1H
Expert Judgment A reasonable judgment about current activities
based on professional knowledge of an application field, knowledge specialty, discipline, and industry . Interviews Talk directly with interested parties to learn about requirements, conditions, constraints, audit criteria, etc. Focus group Discussion by a group of people with similar backgrounds under the guidance of a moderator to obtain collective opinions. Brainstorming Under the guidance of the host, a group of people brainstorm and get a lot of ideas in a short time. Usually includes two parts: idea generation and idea analysis. Facilitation Facilitates consensus among stakeholders by building trust among participants, improving relationships, improving communication, etc. Meeting A means of brainstorming, either formally or informally, through a face-to-face or virtual meeting. Meeting management includes an action plan for preparing the agenda, securing invitees, and preparing and sending meeting minutes. Project Charter The project charter is a document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally approves the establishment of the project and authorizes the project manager to use the organization's resources to carry out project activities. It includes the project sponsor's initial vision for the project, and records high-level information about the project and the products, services, or results that the project is expected to deliver. Its main contents include: ◆ Project purpose ◆ High-level requirements ◆ Project approval requirements
◆ Project Exit Criteria
◆ Overall Project Risks
◆ List of Key Stakeholders
◆ Overall Milestone Schedule
◆ Pre-approved Financial Resources
◆ Assigned Project Manager with Responsibilities and Authority
◆ Measurable Project Objectives and Related Success Criteria
◆ High Level Strategy and operating assumptions and constraints
◆ High-level project description, boundary definitions, and key deliverables ◆ Name and authority agreement
of the sponsor or other person who approves the project charter
, the protocol has different uses and occasions
.
Before the start of the project, the agreement is used to define the original intention of starting the project, which is the activity before formulating the project charter
; in the procurement management process group, the agreement is used to stipulate the products, services, results and remuneration between the supplier and the buyer.
The content of the agreement text varies from project to project, but mainly includes the following elements:
◆ Procurement statement of work or key deliverables
◆ Performance reports
◆ Inspections, quality and acceptance criteria, warranties and follow-up product support
◆ Insurance and performance bonds
◆ Change request processing
◆ Schedules, milestones, or dates specified in schedules
◆ Pricing and payment terms
◆ Incentives and penalties
◆ Subcontractor approvals
◆ Termination clauses and alternative dispute resolution
3 Develop a project management plan
Developing a project management plan is the process of defining, preparing and coordinating all the components of the project plan and integrating them
into a comprehensive project management plan. The main benefit of this process is to produce a comprehensive document
that identifies the basis for all project work and how it will be carried out.
The project management plan is one of the main documents used to manage the project and is used together with the project documents for project management
. The project management plan defines how the project will be executed, monitored, and closed, and its level of detail
varies according to the project and application area.
The project management plan is based on the outputs of other planning processes and is compiled into a comprehensive, approved, realistic
, and formal project management plan that specifies how project planning, execution, monitoring, and closure
activities will be carried out.
In the process of preparing the project plan, the project manager and team members need to fully listen to
the opinions of other key stakeholders in order to reflect their needs in the project plan as much as possible.
The project team members prepare the project plan, the project manager takes overall responsibility and integration, and other important stakeholders also
participate in the preparation of the project plan.
The project management plan must be compiled from the bottom up, and reported and summarized layer by layer. The reference steps are as follows:
Step 1. Prepare each sub-item management plan.
Step 2 Determine the scope of the project.
Step 3 Determine the project duration.
Step 4 Determine project costs.
Step 5 Determine the project quality standards.
Step 6 Plan risk responses.
Step 7 Planning project procurement.
Step 8 forms the comprehensive plan.
The project management plan shall be benchmarked and at least shall define the scope, time and cost
This measures project execution and manages project performance; several updates may be required until a baseline is established;
once a baseline is established, it must be updated through the Implement Integrated Change Control process.
Before the end of the project, the project management plan needs to be updated gradually and detailed; for
projects belonging to the program or portfolio, a project management plan consistent with the program or portfolio management plan should be developed
.
A rolling planning method is usually used to prepare project plans, with detailed plans for short-term work,
rough plans for long-term work, and gradual refinement over time. The sponsor and the project manager review and approve the project management plan
with all relevant parties at the Kick-off Meeting, obtain the commitment and support of the relevant parties for the project, and announce the official launch of the project . Project management plan preparation process 4W1H Main difference between project management plan and project document ◆ Project management plan is a comprehensive plan, and project document is a collective name of various individual documents, and various documents that have not been compiled. ◆ The project management plan must be approved, and the project documents are usually compiled and used by the project team. ◆ The sub-item management plan in the project management plan is a procedural plan, while various project documents are substantive plans. ◆ Updates to the project management plan must be performed according to the change process, while project document updates usually do not require approval, or only require approval from the project manager. The essence of planning is to have a process of thinking, to guide practice, and to complete deduction on paper . Therefore, before starting any work, it is necessary to prepare a work plan.
4 Directing and managing project work
Directing and managing project work is the process of leading and executing the work defined in the project management plan
and implementing approved changes to achieve the project objectives. The key benefit of this process is
the integrated management of project work and deliverables to increase the likelihood of project success.
This process is the project manager and the project management team to guide the implementation of the planned project activities. Implement
the requirements of the plan and complete the deliverables by carrying out various activities in the project management plan; manage
various technical interfaces and organizational interfaces within the project; identify necessary project changes and make change requests; implement
approved Make changes and review the impact of all changes.
The process of directing and managing project work involves allocating available resources and managing their effective use, as well as implementing
changes to the project plan resulting from the analysis of work performance data and information, and is
directly affected by the application domain in which the project resides.
During project execution, work performance data is collected and communicated to appropriate controlling processes for further analysis
; the analysis of work performance data yields details about the completion of deliverables and
other details related to project performance. Work performance data also serves as input to the Monitoring Process Group and can be input as feedback into
lessons learned to improve the performance of future work packages.
In project execution, a work authorization system (a subsystem of the project management information system) is used, which
is a collection of formal written procedures for authorizing the start of work on a project.
The start of the execution phase is usually marked by a Kick-off Meeting.
4W1H
Change Request
A change request is a formal proposal to revise any document, deliverable or baseline, mainly including:
corrective actions for performance, and defect remediation for products.
Deliverables Verifiable
, measurable intermediate or final project results, tangible or
intangible, that must be delivered to complete a project or phase.
Project Management Information System
A Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a software tool that provides information technology (IT) and interfaces into
other online automation systems. Through the project management information system, it can help project managers
to carry out automated operations.
5 Managing project knowledge
Managing project knowledge is the process of using existing knowledge and generating new knowledge to achieve project goals and facilitate organizational
learning. The key benefit of this process is to use existing organizational knowledge to create or improve project outcomes
and to make knowledge created by current projects available to support organizational operations and future projects or phases.
Knowledge management aims to reuse existing knowledge and generate new knowledge, and the key
activities that contribute to these two goals are knowledge sharing and knowledge integration. Knowledge is divided into explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge:
◆ Explicit knowledge: Knowledge that can be expressed and recorded through words, pictures, etc.
◆ Tacit knowledge: Knowledge that exists in individual consciousness,
knowledge that is difficult to record in words and pictures.
From an organizational perspective, knowledge management refers to ensuring that the skills, experience
and expertise of the project team and other interested parties are utilized throughout the project lifecycle. Because knowledge exists in people's minds,
project managers need to create an atmosphere that encourages sharing of knowledge. Share not only
explicit knowledge in the form of numbers, words or graphics, but also tacit knowledge that exists in the heads of individuals.
◆ The focus of knowledge management is to organize and systematize existing knowledge so that it can be better utilized.
◆ Generate new knowledge based on existing knowledge and practices.
◆ Achieve project objectives and promote continuous learning by the implementing organization through continuous creation of new knowledge.
Systematic knowledge is more useful than scattered knowledge.
4W1H
Active Listening
Maintains interaction with the speaker and summarizes the conversation to ensure effective information exchange.
Interpersonal Interpersonal
Interpersonal is the exchange of information and connection with other people through interaction. Interpersonal interaction facilitates project managers
and their teams to improve performance by organizing informally to solve problems, influence stakeholder actions, and increase stakeholder
support for project work and outcomes.
Information management
Information management is used to create connections between people and knowledge, and can effectively facilitate
the sharing of simple and explicit explicit knowledge.
Political awareness
Political awareness refers to awareness of formal and informal power relationships and willingness to work within those relationships
.
Knowledge management
connects employees so that they can collaborate to generate new knowledge, share tacit knowledge, and integrate
knowledge held by different team members.
6 Monitor project work
Monitoring project work is the process of tracking, reviewing, and reporting overall project progress to achieve the
performance objectives identified in the project management plan. The key benefits of this process are to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the current state of the project and to acknowledge
actions taken to address performance issues, and to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the future
state of the project through cost and schedule projections.
This process is to monitor the project work to ensure that the project objectives defined in the project management plan are achieved.
Monitoring refers to discovering deviations, which is one of the project management activities throughout the project, including collecting, measuring
and analyzing measurement results, predicting trends, and driving process improvement. Ongoing monitoring allows the project management team
to gain insight into the health of the project and identify areas requiring special attention.
Control means analyzing deviations, including developing corrective or preventive actions or replanning, and tracking
the progress of action plans to ensure they are effective in addressing problems.
Monitoring also includes forecasting future performance, issuing change requests if deviations are too large, and implementing preventative
recommendations.
The monitoring work runs through the whole project, and the start-up, planning, execution, and closing work must be monitored;
the monitoring work focuses on the execution work. Monitoring project work process is high-level global monitoring at the entire project level. It is carried out on the basis of all 10 grass-roots local monitoring processes
in the last nine knowledge areas . It mainly focuses on: ◆ Comparing the actual work performance of the project with the planned work performance. ◆ Evaluate project performance regularly, decide whether to take corrective or preventive measures, and recommend necessary measures. ◆ Check the status of individual project risks. ◆ Maintain an accurate and up-to-date information base reflecting the status of the project and related documents throughout the project . ◆ Provides information for status reporting, progress measurement, and forecasting. ◆ Make forecasts to update current cost and schedule information. ◆ Monitor the implementation of approved changes; ◆ If the project belongs to a program, report the progress and status of the project to the program management; ◆ Ensure that the project is consistent with the business needs.
The "change request" in the "PMBOK Guidelines" is broad and includes not only
the modification proposals to the formally controlled project plan, but also the corrective action proposals, preventive action proposals and defect
remedy proposals.
4W1H
Change Request
A change request is a formal proposal to modify a document, deliverable, or baseline.
Decision-making
Decision-making refers to techniques for selecting a course of action from different alternatives, including Delphi techniques, autocratic
decision-making, voting, and multi-criteria decision analysis.
Alternatives Analysis
The technical evaluation of identified alternatives leading to a choice through a decision.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
A financial analysis tool used to estimate the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives in order to identify
the alternatives that would yield the best benefits.
Root Cause Analysis
Analysis of the root cause (systematic cause) of a problem or class of problems.
Variance Analysis
Reviews the variance between planned and actual performance of objectives.
Trend Analysis
Predict future performance based on past results.
Status Reports
Status reports are project performance reports used to moderately inform interested parties.
Simple status reports include percent complete, project status indicators, etc. Detailed reports include:
◆ Past performance analysis
◆ Project performance forecast
◆ Current risks and issues
◆ Current work status
◆ Current period change summary
◆ Next period planned work
◆ Required Other matters reviewed and discussed
7 Implement Integrated Change Control
Implementing Integrated Change Control is the process of reviewing all change requests, approving changes, managing changes to deliverables, project
documents, and the project management plan, and communicating the results of changes. This process reviews
all change requests to project documents, deliverables, or the project management plan and determines the
disposition of the change requests. The primary purpose of this process is to ensure a comprehensive review of documented changes in the project.
This process is a comprehensive review of change requests raised during project initiation, planning, execution, and monitoring
in order to approve or reject change requests.
Implement the Integrated Change Control process throughout the project, for which the project manager has ultimate responsibility.
A project change is the taking of corrective action, defect remedy or preventive action, and modification of the approved
project plan. Change management is about preventing unnecessary changes and proposing, reviewing, implementing and summarizing necessary
changes.
Changes need not be formally subject to this process until the baseline is established, and
change requests must be processed through this process once the project baseline has been established.
For a change request, there may be no reason for approval or rejection. At this time, an interim decision will be made—
the change request is temporarily suspended. At this time, it is often necessary to return to the proposer and ask them to supplement the information.
Anyone can make a change request, and an oral change request must be recorded in writing
; an informal change request cannot enter the subsequent change management procedure.
Changes, no matter how big or small, must go through a comprehensive review. Changes that do not affect the benchmark shall be approved by the project manager;
changes that will affect the benchmark shall be approved by the CCB; in case of emergency, the project manager may first approve and submit the
application later.
The change is inevitable, but it should not be too much or too large. If the change exceeds a certain amount or scale, the project
Therefore, effective control should be carried out on project changes to prevent disorderly, excessive, and
excessive changes. If there are too many and too large changes, the project charter may need to be revised, or even the project must be terminated and
a new project must be started.
Changes to terminate a project early are the largest changes that can occur on a project and can only be
approved by the sponsor.
During project execution, a change control management process must be followed regardless of the size of the change.
For changes during the closing period of the project, depending on the degree of impact of the changes, the strategy of creating a new project or persuading to cancel it can be adopted .
4W1H
Change Control Board
The Change Control Board (CCB) is a decision-making body in the project, and it is the decision-making body in the project. It
decides whether to approve the change application through review.
In change management activities, the project manager must respond to the proposer's request (not approval), and evaluate
the impact of the change and the response plan.
A change control tool
is a control tool for change management that can be used to identify, record, approve, reject, and
track changes.
Change Control System
The change control system is a collection of a series of formal written procedures for change management, specifying which
changes require which level of approval, and change approval in emergency situations.
Approved Change Requests
Approved Change Requests are the output of the Implement Integrated Change Control process, including
Change Requests reviewed and approved by the Project Manager and, if necessary, by the CCB.
Approved change requests are incorporated into the project schedule by the project team and implemented, possibly affecting the project or
impact on the project management plan and result in the need to modify the formally controlled project management plan or project documents.
Autocratic decision-making
Autocratic decision-making is when one person is responsible for making decisions.
Voting
Voting may be by unanimous, majority or relative majority to accept,
defer or deny a request.
Multi-criteria decision analysis
With the aid of a decision matrix, alternatives are evaluated and ranked using a systematic analysis method based on a set of predefined criteria
to make a choice.
Selection criteria that may be used include availability, cost, capability, experience, knowledge, skills, attitudes, international
factors, etc.
Change management process
Step 1 Any change request must be submitted to the project manager, and the project manager will write it into the change
log after review.
Step 2 Once a change request is written to the changelog, it enters the review phase. First, based on
the change plan in the change request, comprehensively review the impact of the change. If necessary, design other
alternatives for review.
Step 3 In the process of designing the change plan and conducting change review,
the opinions of the project team members should be sought first, and then the opinions of other relevant parties should be sought.
Step 4 According to the approval authority of the change, the PM, CCB, senior management meeting, and project sponsor
will approve the change request.
Step 5 Only approved changes can be implemented, tracked, reviewed and reported. After the change request
is approved, the project documents and project management plan shall be updated in a timely manner, and the affected
parties shall be notified in a timely manner.
8 Closing the project or phase
Closing a project or phase is the process of terminating all activities of a project, phase, or contract. The primary benefit of this process
is to archive project or phase information, complete planned work, and free up organizational team resources for new
work.
This process is the formal closure of a procurement contract, project phase, or entire project in accordance with a formal closeout procedure.
Completion of the project's product scope or full technical work does not mean that the project is complete. A project must go through a formal
closeout process before it can be officially closed.
At the conclusion of a project, the project manager needs to review the project management plan to ensure that all project work has been completed
and project objectives have been achieved.
During the closing process, the following tasks need to be carried out:
◆ Administrative closing: Actions and activities necessary to meet the completion or exit criteria of a phase or project.
◆ Ensures that all files and deliverables are up to date and that all issues are resolved
◆
Confirms that deliverables are delivered to and formally accepted by customer
◆ Ensures that all costs are charged to project costs
◆ Closes project Accounts
◆ Reassignment of personnel
◆ Disposal of excess project materials
◆ Reassignment of project facilities, equipment and other resources
◆ Preparation of detailed final project reports in accordance with organizational policies
◆ Contract closure: Activities necessary to close project contractual agreements or project phase contractual agreements .
◆ Confirmation that the seller's work has passed formal acceptance
◆ Final disposition of pending claims
◆ Update of records to reflect final results
◆ Archiving of relevant information for future use
◆ Activities necessary to complete the following:
◆ Collect project or phase records
◆ Audit project success or failure
◆ Manage knowledge sharing and transfer
◆ Summarize lessons learned
◆ Archive project information for future use by the
organization
Actions and activities necessary for a service or outcome.
◆ Gather suggestions for improving or updating organizational policies and procedures and forward them to the appropriate departments.
◆ Measure stakeholder satisfaction.
Whenever a project is terminated for any reason, it must be formally closed using the Close Project or Phase process.
If a project is terminated early, procedures must be in place to investigate and document the reasons for termination.
In order to close a project, the following closing activities must be performed:
Step 1 Complete remaining work to completion criteria
Step 2 Obtain final acceptance of project deliverables
Step 3 Hand over responsibility for project
deliverables Step 4 Financial close, processing dues Accounts received and payable
Step 5 Prepare and distribute final performance report
Step 6 Conduct satisfaction survey and collect feedback
Step 7 Organize project data
Step 8 Conduct post-project evaluation
Step 9 Summarize lessons learned and update organizational process
assets 10 steps to share project knowledge
Step 11 celebration banquet
Step 12 to release resources
Closing the project or phase process is to carry out administrative closeout and officially close the project. The last piece of administrative closeout
is to disband the project team, and once the team is disbanded, nothing can be done.
4W1H
regression analysis
Regression analysis is used to analyze the interrelationships between different project variables of project outcomes in order to improve
the performance of future projects.
Document Analysis
Analyze the documents in the project activities to judge the implementation of the activity process.
Project or Phase Closing Documents
Closing documents include formal documents indicating the completion of a project or phase, and formal documents used to hand over completed project or
phase deliverables to others. The main contents include:
◆ Closing
◆ Deliverables
◆ Deviations
Acceptable deliverables The deliverables that
meet the acceptance criteria, after being formally signed and approved by the sponsor or customer, prove the
formal acceptance of the project deliverables by relevant parties.
Step 1 The project team generates project deliverables according to the plan.
Step 2 After the internal quality inspection of the project, it is confirmed that the project deliverables meet the quality requirements, and the
verified deliverables are generated.
Step 3 After a scope check by the project team, it is confirmed that the verified deliverables meet the scope
requirements of the project.
Step 4: The project team invites the initiator or customer to check and accept the deliverables together, and after passing the acceptance, the
accepted deliverables are generated.
Final Report
The project final report summarizes project performance and includes:
◆ An overview of the project or phase.
◆ Scope objectives, assessment criteria for scope, and evidence of completion criteria.
◆ Quality objectives, evaluation criteria for project and product quality, relevant verification information, actual milestone delivery
dates, and reasons for deviations.
◆ Cost target, including acceptable cost range, actual cost, and reasons for deviations.
◆ A summary of validated information for the final product, service, or result.
Administrative and Contract Closure
For project activities, several procurement contracts may be involved and therefore several
contract closures are required.
In the case of contract work, the work involved may be divided into several phases and thus require
several administrative closeouts.