What is PMBOK in Project Management

What is PMBOK in Project Management?

15-19 minutes

Project Management has always been practiced informally, but began to emerge as a distinct profession in the mid-20th century. PMI published a manual entitled “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® Guide)” to identify the recurring elements for project management process. The complete Project Management Body of Knowledge includes proven traditional practices that are widely applied, as well as innovative emerging practices for the profession with widespread consensus as to their value and usefulness.

History of PMBOK

The first credential for PMI was the Project Management Professional (PMP), and the first certifications were awarded in 1984.

1969 – Birth of PMI – First Meeting is held in Atlanta, GA.

1984 – First PMP Exams are administered

1987 – March – “Project Management Body of Knowledge” is released – not hardcopy- sections A through H, 5-6 pages in each section.

1994 – August – New exposure draft of the “PMBOK Guide” is released – 64 pages. There are eight Knowledge Areas. (Integration Management is not included until the1996 First edition.) Test is a six hour exam of 320 questions! (There are 40 questions for each of the eight Knowledge Areas. Each question has five multiple-choice answers.)

1996 – PMBOK Guide, First Edition is released – 176 Pages. Nine Knowledge Area sand 37 processes.

2000 -PMBOK Guide, 2000 Edition is released. (Second Edition) – 211 Pages, Nine Knowledge Areas and 39 processes.

December 2004, – PMBOK Guide, Third Edition is released. 390 pages; 44Processes; 592 ITTO. August 2005 – Test changes to be based on Third Edition, and test becomes much more difficult! (PMI lowers the passing score to 61% to accommodate the increased difficulty of the exam.)

2007 – PMBOK Guide earns the ANSI/ISO/IEC

December 2008, – PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition is released. 467 pages; 42Processes; 517 ITTO.

August 2009 – Test changes to be based on Fourth Edition. August 31, 2011 – 30% of the questions are changed to conform to the latest 2011RDS (Role Delineation Study)

December 2012, – PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition is released. 589 pages; 47 Processes;619 ITTO! August 2013 – Test changes to be based on Fifth Edition.

January 11, 2016 – Test changes to conform to the latest 2015 RDS (Role Delineation Study)

What is a Project?

In project management, a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources. And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies.

The development of software for an improved business process, the construction of abuilding or bridge, the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of sales into anew geographic market – all are projects. And all must be expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on-budget results, learning and integration that organizations need.