Project Integration Management

Project integration management is a component of project management that focuses on the individual procedures during the execution of a process. Project integration managers coordinate plans and help ensure that all processes within a project run efficiently and that team members stay on track toward their final goals.

Integration management can produce a series of high-quality deliverables, including the creation of the project charter, the project plan, and a preliminary project scope statement.

Creating a Project Charter

Before a project can be implemented, it’s important to create a project charter to provide an overall guide for project delivery. A project charter can benefit the organization by giving shareholders a step-by-step plan and convincing them to support the project. The charter also serves as a mission statement that can be consulted at various project stages. Project charters typically include the following points:

• Project vision: The project vision defines the overall purpose of the project, including clear goals and objectives, how the project will affect the organization and the deliverables that the project is expected to produce.
• Project organization: The next step is to define the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved in the project, including relevant stakeholders, their relationship to the project and the customers who will ultimately receive the deliverables.
• Implementation: The implementation plan can help keep customers and stakeholders aware of key company milestones, progress changes and specific dependencies toward project completion.
• Risk management: Identifies any obvious risks or areas of concern, including assumptions for smooth project delivery.

Developing a Project Management Plan

A project management plan is another important document that can act as a roadmap for project team members. It provides direction for a successful project delivery. Like the project charter, the project management plan is designed to introduce stakeholders to the project and ensure that all team members are fully informed of the overall expectations of the organization. Typical project management plans include the following aspects:

• An initial brainstorming meeting: This meeting is intended to bring key stakeholders together to discuss the project. It can also be an effective way to initiate the planning process and build trust among project team members.
• Explanation of overall project goals to stakeholders: The project management plan is designed to provide an overall direction for the project, but it is also important to acknowledge that it may change to meet new situations or complications.
• Duties of team members and stakeholders: Not every stakeholder will review all documents, so it’s necessary to determine who on the project should be responsible for approving different aspects of the project plan.
• A scope statement: The scope statement is designed to secure sponsorship and provide stakeholders with an overall definition of project outcomes to reduce miscommunication and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
• Develop baselines: There are several important baselines to specify, including details on all deliverables, costs, schedules and the steps project team members are expected to take to reach baselines expectations.
• Create a staffing plan: This plan shows the timeline for staff resource additions, including when resources are going to join the team and for how long they are expected to remain on the project.
• Analyze risks: This step includes assessing significant risks and trying to anticipate problems. The goal is to try to prevent errors before they occur, thereby ensuring satisfactory project quality for stakeholders and customers.
• Develop a communication plan: This plan specifies how often team members should report progress and to whom, as well as where project information will be stored and who can access it.

Direct and Manage Project Execution

After developing a project charter and project management plan, there are still three main subsidiary plans that should be updated throughout the project life cycle.

• Approved Change Requests: These are any documented and authorized changes that need to be made to the project’s scope, costs, plans or schedules.
• Enterprise Environmental Factors: Any internal or external factor that may have a positive or negative influence on the outcome of the project. Examples include infrastructure, market conditions, project management software and organizational structure and culture.
• Organizational Process Assets: Any asset involved in the project that may have influence on the project’s outcome. They include policies and procedures, historical information and formal and informal plans and guidelines.

Monitoring and Controlling Process Group

The monitoring and controlling process group is used by project managers to assess and control elements as the project is carried out. Once a project is officially underway, these elements can provide a guide for managers to ensure that they are on track and performing to the best of their ability.

• Provide consistent updates: Ongoing performance reports and status updates to stakeholders are useful for maintaining confidence in leadership and providing an overall guide to the project as it unfolds.
• Revisit the scope statement: Project scope should be revisited from time-to-time to ensure that changes are well-documented.
• Control baselines: The aforementioned cost and schedule baselines must continue to be considered during project execution. The key here is to document any adjustments, in order to keep everyone on track and focused on day-to-day responsibilities.
• Focus on quality control: Quality control is crucial to a project underway. It is not enough to start a project and leave it to its own devices. Rather, successful project managers constantly evaluate project components to verify that the project is proceeding as efficiently as possible.
• Monitor and control risks: While some risks should have been anticipated in the project management plan, it is also important to assess new risks at various project stages and adjust preventative measures accordingly.

Perform Integrated Change Control Process

The perform integrated change control process is designed to handle change requests at various stages of project completion. For example, if a change is suggested that would significantly impact one component of the project plan, project managers use this process to screen the change, decide if it should be approved and then manage its effect on the project. This way, changes can be made by a group and carried out in a structured environment.

Close Project or Phase Process

At the end of the project, the close project or phase process is used to provide a controlled environment in which the project can reach a conclusion. This process includes documentation, checking to see that contracts are met and recording any areas of difficulty for the benefit of future management efforts.

Project management can be used to achieve specific goals, but in so doing it can help managers better understand the nature of projects and ways that they might improve in additional attempts. In this way, each project builds upon the ones that have come before it, and managers shouldn’t hesitate to note problems or areas where the project plan didn’t work as expected.

A benefit of a structured project closure is that it ensures that projects do not continue past its finish date, incurring additional costs in the process. An official confirmation of project completion allows resources to be freed up for future projects and stakeholders to assess overall project success.