PMI PMP: the key to understand Level 3

I particularly like the three-level approach towards the PMI PMBOK® Guide and PMP examination:

• Level 1: Process Groups (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling and Closing)
• Level 2: Knowledge Areas (Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Human Resources Communications, Risk, Procurement and Stakeholder Management)

Probably by this point that you have read, taken notes and exercised on everything that was considered as  Level 1 and Level 2... and found out that many of Project Management books just end here. Well let's look back at the PMBOK® Guide then... There is a slight difference between the Table of Contents of version IV and version V. In the old version IV the content was organized in three main sections:

• Section I is the Project Management Framework
• Section II basically contains the Process Groups
• Section III contains the Knowledge Areas

In verson V the content structure is more or less the same but rather than having sections you only have chapters (1-13). What is referred as Project Management Framework in version IV (chapters 1 and 2), in version V  are the stand-alone chapters 1 and 2 which content are consistent in both versions.

So where is Level 3 and more importantly what is in it? Let's assume that we are quite confident in Level 1 and Level 2 with their corresponding Sections II and III/chapters 3-13 in the PMBOK® Guide. Logically we should go back and investigate Section I: the Project Management Framework (chapters 1 and 2 in both versions). In it we find answers to questions like:

• What is the Purpose of the PMBOK® Guide?
• What is a Project?
• Portfolios vs. Programs vs. Projects?
• What is Project Management?
• Project Management vs. Organizational Project Management.
• Projects and Strategic Planning.
• What is the Project Management Office?
• What is the relationship between Project Management, Operations Management, and Organizational Strategy?
• Operations and Project Management and Organizations and Project Management
  Business Value.
• What is the Role of the Project Manager?
• What are the Responsibilities and Competencies of the Project Manager and the interpersonal skills?
• What is the Project Management Body of Knowledge?
• Organizational Influences on Project Management (culture, style, org structures, org communications, org process assets and the Enterprise Environmental Factors)
• Project Stakeholders and Governance
• What is the project team and its composition?
• What is the Project Life Cycle and the Project phases?

This is all based on the PMBOK® Guide- Fifth Edition Table of Contents: chapters 1 and 2. So based on the very same content that was outlined above we can say that the Project Management Framework is more or less a foundational level on which PMI builds the Process Groups and Knowledge Areas.

What we don't have is how they all come together and this is actually Level 3. In order to understand it we need below prerequisites:

1. Excellent understanding of Integration chapter, Level 1 and 2 (preferably gained from PMBOK®  Guide, textbooks and confirmed by testing tools).
2. PMBOK® Guide - Forth Edition Table of Contents (if you have it).

You need the above in order to make your own Knowledge Areas and Process Groups Mapping (can also be found on the Internet and within the PMBOK® Guide - Table 3-1). Once you have that table populated look at the PMBOK® Guide- - Forth Edition Table of Contents. In Section III you will find the process groups and their sub items (Knowledge Areas) exactly as they are in the Knowledge Areas and Process Groups Mapping table.

The last piece of the painting which together with Knowledge Areas and Process Groups Mapping table (considered as Level 3) is the PMP Examination Content Outline document (http://www.pmi.org/certification/project-management-professional-pmp/~/media/pdf/certifications/pmp%20examination%20content%20outline_2010.ashx). That document links domains, tasks, and knowledge and skill statements. In other words it explains how the elements come together.

If you have questions and/or comments you can find me on LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/dilov/