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In October 2004, PMI (Project Management Institute) updated its 2000 edition of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) by releasing the 3rd edition. Project Managers, those who manage project managers, PMI members, and all potential future PMP candidates should all be interested in the changes to the PMBOK Guide, as the new edition sets a new standard that will directly affect them. What has changed in the new 3rd edition Guide? How will it impact those running projects as well as those studying for the PMP (Project Management Professional) or CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) exam?
This white paper answers these questions by discussing:
- How the updates in the 3rd edition will affect practitioners, with a breakdown by Process
Group
- How the updates in the 3rd edition will affect those studying for the PMP and CAPM exams, with a breakdown by Knowledge Area
- Descriptions of new inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs introduced in the 3rd edition Guide, listed throughout this paper
How will the changes affect practitioners in their jobs?
Practitioners want to know how the changes to the new PMBOK Guide will affect them while running projects. In general, the new Guide has expanded on topics that were previously vague or implied. One of the objectives for the new, 3rd edition Guide was to expand and clarify certain areas, such as Initiating, Closing, and Integration Management, while not increasing its size. That PMI has done well.
The new Guide has many new inputs or tools, expanded descriptions, improved graphics, and an improved glossary. For example, Decomposition is now explained in three pages to emphasize its importance in creating a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) and in planning. The improved glossary now includes one of the terms input, tool, technique, or output in brackets after the expression being defined to better clarify how that expression is used by PMI. Also, no term is both an input and a tool and technique, avoiding the confusion created in the 2000 edition. Many of the items PMI has added to the Guide are either common sense items, techniques that many practitioners already use, or techniques that were implied but not specifically defined in the last version. These items will be covered throughout the rest of this paper.
How will the changes affect those studying for the PMP exam?
According to PMI at the time of this writing, the PMP exam will begin referencing the 3rd edition of the Guide on Friday, September 30, 2005. Exams issued through September 24, 2005 will be based on the 2000 edition of the Guide. There will be a one-week black-out period from September 25-29 where no exams will be offered. Global Knowledge?s PMP Exam Prep Boot Camp will reference the 2000 Guide through mid September (see Global Knowledge?s web site for updates to this). After this, the course will reference the new 3rd edition Guide. If you have already begun studying using the 2000 edition, make sure to take the exam prior to the changeover date.
The CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) exam changed on January 1, 2005 to be based on the 3rd edition.
Within the 3rd edition, the overall number of processes increased from 39 to 44, with 7 new processes and 2 deleted ones. 13 of the processes have been renamed to reflect a more active voice in a verb-object format, such as create WBS or plan purchases and acquisitions. More processes could have been renamed, but only so many changes can be made and accepted at one time. In addition, several processes have been rearranged. These will be covered in detail in the Comparison of Knowledge Areas sections of this paper.
There has been one change to the naming of the Process Groups. The Controlling phase of the Project Management life cycle is now called Monitoring and Controlling.
In general, the lists of inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs have grown longer. In addition to the lists being longer, several of the items in the lists are now combined, so that some list items contain several items from the 2000 Guide. For example, organizational process assets is now frequently seen as an input.
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