Project Management

Project Management process areas cover the project-management activities related to planning, monitoring, and controlling the project.

The Project Management process areas of CMMI are as follows:

• Project Planning

• Project Monitoring and Control

• Supplier Agreement Management

• Integrated Project Management^[1]

  ^[1] In CMMI, Integrated Project Management (IPM) has two goals that apply only when using CMMI for the IPPD discipline. Keep this in mind when viewing the interactions with Integrated Teaming.

• Risk Management

• Integrated Teaming

• Integrated Supplier Management

• Quantitative Project Management

Fundamental Project Management Process Areas

The Fundamental Project Management process areas address the activities related to establishing and maintaining the project plan, establishing and maintaining commitments, monitoring progress against the plan, taking corrective action, and managing supplier agreements.

Figure 4.3 provides a bird's-eye view of the interactions among the Fundamental Project Management process areas and with other process area categories. As illustrated in Figure 4.3, the Project Planning process area includes developing the project plan, involving stakeholders appropriately, obtaining commitment to the plan, and maintaining the plan. When using IPPD, stakeholders represent not just the technical expertise for product and process development, but also the business implications of the product and process development.

Figure 4.3. Fundamental Project Management Process Areas

Planning begins with requirements that define the product and project ("What to build" in Figure 4.3). The project plan covers the various project management and engineering activities that will be performed by the project. The project will review other plans that affect the project from various relevant stakeholders and establish commitments with those relevant stakeholders for their contributions to the project. For example, these plans cover configuration management, verification, and measurement and analysis.

The Project Monitoring and Control process area includes monitoring activities and taking corrective action. The project plan specifies the appropriate level of project monitoring, the frequency of progress reviews, and the measures used to monitor progress. Progress is determined primarily by comparing project status to the plan. When actual status deviates significantly from the expected values, corrective actions are taken as appropriate. These actions may include replanning.

The Supplier Agreement Management process area addresses the need of the project to acquire those portions of work that are produced by suppliers. Once a product component is identified and the supplier that will produce it is selected, a supplier agreement is established and maintained that will be used to manage the supplier. The supplier's progress and performance are monitored. Acceptance reviews and tests are conducted on the supplier-produced product component.

Progressive Project Management Process Areas

The Progressive Project Management process areas address activities such as establishing a defined process that is tailored from the organization's set of standard processes, coordinating and collaborating with relevant stakeholders (including suppliers), managing risk, forming and sustaining integrated teams for the conduct of projects, and quantitatively managing the project's defined process.

Figure 4.4 provides a bird's-eye view of the interactions among the Progressive Project Management process areas and with other process area categories. Each Progressive Project Management process area depends on the ability to plan, monitor, and control the project. The Fundamental Project Management process areas provide this ability.

Figure 4.4. Progressive Project Management Process Areas

The Integrated Project Management process area establishes and maintains the project's defined process that is tailored from the organization's set of standard processes. The project is managed using the project's defined process. The project uses and contributes to the organization's process assets.

The management of the project ensures that the relevant stakeholders as so ciated with the project coordinate their efforts in a timely manner. It does this by providing for the management of stakeholder involvement; the identification, negotiation, and tracking of critical dependencies; and the resolution of coordination issues within the project with relevant stakeholders.

The Integrated Project Management process area contains additional information that creates the shared vision of the project. This shared vision should align both horizontally and vertically with both the organization's and the integrated team's shared visions, created in the Organizational Environment for Integration and Integrated Teaming process areas, respectively. These shared visions collectively support the coordination and collaboration among stakeholders. Finally, the Integrated Project Management process area implements an integrated team structure to perform the work of the project in developing a product. This team structure is typically based on the decomposition of the product itself, much like a work breakdown structure (WBS). This activity is accomplished in conjunction with the Integrated Teaming process area.

Although risk identification and monitoring are covered in the Project Planning and Project Monitoring and Control process areas, the Risk Management process area takes a continuing, forward-looking approach to managing risks with activities that include identification of risk parameters, risk assessments, and risk mitigation.

The Quantitative Project Management process area applies quantitative and statistical techniques to manage process performance and product quality. Quality and process-performance objectives for the project are based on the objectives established by the organization. The project's defined process comprises, in part, process elements and subprocesses whose process performance can be predicted. At a minimum, the process variation experienced by subprocesses critical to achieving the project's quality and process-performance objectives is understood. Corrective action is taken when special causes of process variation are identified. (See the definition of "special cause of process variation" in the glossary.)

The specific practices in the Integrated Teaming process area provide for the formation and sustainment of each integrated team. Part of sustaining the team is developing the integrated team's shared vision, which must align with the project's and the organization's shared visions developed in the Integrated Project Management and Organizational Environment for Integration process areas, respectively. The specific practices in the Organizational Environment for Integration and Integrated Teaming process areas then set the environment for enabling integrated teamwork. In addition, the Integrated Teaming process area interacts with other Project Management processes by supplying team commitments, work plans, and other information that form the basis for managing the project and supporting risk management.

The Integrated Supplier Management process area proactively identifies sources of products that may be used to satisfy project requirements and monitors selected supplier work products and processes while maintaining a cooperative project-supplier relationship. The specific practices of the Integrated Supplier Management process area cover selecting possible sources of products, evaluating those sources to select suppliers, monitoring selected supplier processes and work products, and revising the supplier agreement or relationship as appropriate.

The Integrated Supplier Management process area works closely with the Supplier Agreement Management process area during the supplier selection process. Integrated Supplier Management also shares monitoring information with the Engineering and Support process areas in the form of technical solution, product integration, and validation data as well as process and product quality assurance and configuration management data.