The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines 10 Knowledge Areas in its Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). These Knowledge Areas represent a framework of essential expertise that project managers need to successfully manage projects. Each Knowledge Area encompasses key processes, concepts, and tools relevant to a particular aspect of project management.
- Project Integration Management: Focuses on coordinating all aspects of the project to ensure that all parts work together seamlessly. It includes developing the project charter, project management plan, directing and managing project work, monitoring and controlling project work, and closing the project.
- Project Scope Management: Involves defining and managing the scope of the project, including collecting requirements, defining the scope, creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and controlling scope changes to prevent scope creep.
- Project Schedule Management: Focuses on planning, developing, managing, and controlling the project schedule. It includes activities such as defining activities, sequencing activities, estimating resources and durations, developing the schedule, and controlling the schedule.
- Project Cost Management: Involves planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget.
- Project Quality Management: Ensures that the project meets the necessary quality standards. It includes planning quality management, managing quality, and controlling quality.
- Project Resource Management: Focuses on identifying, acquiring, and managing the resources needed for the project. This includes both human resources and physical resources like equipment and materials.
- Project Communications Management: Involves ensuring timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval, and disposition of project information. It includes planning communications, managing communications, and monitoring communications.
- Project Risk Management: Focuses on identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risks. It includes risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning, and monitoring and controlling risks.
- Project Procurement Management: Involves acquiring goods and services from outside the organization to meet project requirements. This includes planning procurement, conducting procurements, controlling procurements, and closing procurements.
- Project Stakeholder Management: Focuses on identifying and managing all stakeholders involved in the project to ensure their expectations are met. It includes identifying stakeholders, planning stakeholder engagement, managing stakeholder engagement, and monitoring stakeholder engagement.
These Knowledge Areas are interrelated and help ensure that all aspects of a project are effectively planned, executed, monitored, and controlled. They form the foundation of professional project management practices as defined by PMI.