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3 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

3.9 role of the Knowledge Areas

The 47 project management processes identified in the PMBOK Guide are further grouped into ten separate
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Knowledge Areas. A Knowledge Area represents a complete set of concepts, terms, and activities that make up
a professional field, project management field, or area of specialization. These ten Knowledge Areas are used on
most projects most of the time. Project teams should utilize these ten Knowledge Areas and other Knowledge Areas,
as appropriate, for their specific project. The Knowledge Areas are: Project Integration Management, Project Scope
Management, Project Time Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management,
Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, Project Procurement Management and Project
Stakeholder Management. Each Knowledge Area within the PMBOK Guide is contained in a separate section.
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The PMBOK Guide defines the important aspects of each Knowledge Area and how it integrates with the
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five Process Groups. As supporting elements, the Knowledge Areas provide a detailed description of the process
inputs and outputs along with a descriptive explanation of tools and techniques most frequently used within the
project management processes to produce each outcome. A data flow diagram is provided in each Knowledge
Area (Sections 4 through 8). The data flow diagram is a summary level depiction of the process inputs and process
outputs that flow down through all the processes within a specific Knowledge Area (see Figure 3-6 for data flow
diagram legend). Although the processes are presented here as discrete elements with well-defined interfaces, in
practice they are iterative and can overlap and interact in ways not detailed here.

Table 3-1 reflects the mapping of the 47 project management processes within the 5 Project Management
Process Groups and the 10 Knowledge Areas.

Process outside of
Knowledge Area

External to a Process
Processes within a
Knowledge Area
Inter-knowledge area relationships
Extra-knowledge area relationships
Process flow

The data flow diagrams show basic steps and interactions. Many additional interactions are possible.

Figure 3-6. data Flow diagram Legend

60 ©2013 Project Management Institute. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) – Fifth Edition
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