Planning: Integration
4.2 Develop Project Management Plan
Process Definition
During project planning the project manager develops an integrated project plan laying out the effort required to accomplish the entire scope of the project. Although this is the first item identified in the Planning Process Group column in the PMBOK matrix, Table 3-1, it is the last process performed in the planning process group since it pulls together all the other planning process outputs into a single integrated plan.
Process Assessment
The value of this process is questionable to me. In effect it is the last of the planning processes executed, since it compiles into a single document all the sub-plans, like scope, schedule, cost, risk, etc... However, the schedule, the budget, the risk plan, the HR plan and others are nearly always executed in isolation, using their individual plans and documents. That makes this comprehensive document redundant and usually quickly outdated unless it is also maintained and updated every time the rest of the plan is updated. If it serves no purpose other than as another document to update during the project, I see no point in creating a single, redundant document in the first place.
Figure 4. Develop Project Management Plan: Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs. Reprinted from "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), 5th Edition" by Project Management Institute, 2013, p. 72. Copyright 2013 by Project Management Institute, Inc. Reprinted without permission.
- Fence Construction Project Charter: Example of a project charter, developed for a project to build a backyard privacy fence. As an input to the "Develop Project Management Plan" process it serves as the foundational document from which the sub-plans are developed, which in turn also serve as inputs to this process.
- Developing a Project Management Plan: Homework essay from PMGT 501 on techniques for preparing a project management plan.
- Fence Project Management Plan: An example project management plan for building a fence, an output of the project management planning process. It combines into one place the scope, schedule, budget and other planning elements for the project.