Project Integration Management includes the processes and activities necessary to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate various project management processes and activities within the project management process groups.
In the context of project management, integration refers to characteristics such as unification, consolidation, articulation, and integrative actions — all of which are essential for completing the project, successfully managing stakeholder expectations, and fulfilling requirements. Integration management involves decision-making on resource allocation, resolving conflicts between competing objectives and alternatives, and managing interdependencies among project management knowledge areas.
According to the PMI PMBOK Guide, 5th Edition, Project Integration Management includes the following processes:
1. Develop Project Charter
This process involves developing a document that formally authorizes the project or project phase and documenting the initial requirements that meet stakeholders’ needs and expectations. It establishes a partnership between the performing organization and the requesting organization (or customer, in external projects).
An approved project charter formally initiates the project. The project manager is identified or assigned as early as possible — ideally during the development of the charter and definitely before planning begins. The project manager should participate in its development, as this document gives them the authority to utilize resources for project execution.
2. Develop Project Management Plan
This process documents the actions necessary to define, prepare, integrate, and coordinate all subsidiary plans. The Project Management Plan outlines how the project will be executed, monitored, controlled, and closed.
Its content varies depending on the application area and project complexity. It is developed through a series of integrated processes throughout the project’s lifecycle. The final outcome is a fully developed plan that is progressively elaborated, regularly updated, and formally approved through Integrated Change Control.
3. Direct and Manage Project Work
This is the process of leading and performing the work defined in the project management plan to achieve the project’s objectives. Activities include:
- Executing work to fulfill project requirements
- Creating project deliverables
- Selecting, training, and managing the project team
- Acquiring and using materials, tools, and facilities
- Applying planned methods and standards
- Managing internal and external communications
- Gathering project data such as cost, schedule, quality, and status to support forecasting
- Submitting change requests and adapting approved changes to project content, plans, and context
- Managing risks and executing risk responses
- Coordinating vendors and suppliers
- Capturing and documenting lessons learned
- Implementing approved process improvements
This process also requires implementing approved changes, including:
- Corrective actions to align future performance with the plan
- Preventive actions to reduce the likelihood of future risks
- Defect repair to document and address identified product issues
4. Monitor and Control Project Work
This process involves tracking, reviewing, and regulating progress to meet performance objectives defined in the project plan. Monitoring is ongoing and includes:
- Collecting, measuring, and disseminating performance data
- Evaluating metrics and trends for process improvement
- Understanding the overall health of the project
- Determining focus areas for corrective attention
- Recommending and tracking corrective or preventive actions
- Identifying new risks and monitoring existing ones
- Maintaining up-to-date and accurate project information
- Supporting status reporting, performance measurement, and forecasting
- Providing updates on cost and schedule performance
- Monitoring implementation of approved changes
5. Perform Integrated Change Control
This process involves reviewing all change requests, approving them as necessary, and managing changes to project deliverables, documentation, and plans.
It is executed from the start of the project through its completion. The change control process ensures that only approved changes are incorporated into the updated baseline. Activities include:
- Influencing factors that could bypass change control to ensure changes are reviewed and approved
- Timely review, analysis, and approval of change requests to prevent delays or budget overruns
- Managing approved changes
- Maintaining baseline integrity by updating only with approved changes
- Approving or rejecting corrective and preventive actions
- Coordinating changes across all aspects of the project (e.g., schedule changes may affect cost, risk, quality, or staffing)
- Documenting the full impact of each change request
6. Close Project or Phase
This is the process of finalizing all activities across all process groups to formally complete the project or a phase. During closure, the project manager reviews all prior phase closure information to confirm that all project work has been completed and that objectives have been achieved.
Since the project’s content is defined in the management plan, the manager reviews it to ensure all deliverables are complete before officially closing the project. If the project is terminated early, this process also captures and documents the rationale.
Closure activities include:
- Confirming exit or completion criteria are met
- Transferring deliverables to the next phase or operational use
- Archiving documentation
- Reviewing project success or failure
- Gathering and storing organizational knowledge for future use
