PMBOK® Guide - 4th Edition ::: Revisions & Important Dates

Dear Professionals,

Hope you are well, and putting your Project Management skills to best use.

I have been wanting to start a blog that is work related but time became the biggest constraint. Thanks to the Blogspot option to post from e-mail - it just made things so very simple!!!

The PMI® has released the PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition, and it is important that one is apprised of the changes to practice the latest and best of standards. This post is all about that...

The changes from the 3rd edition towards the 4th edition have been in the following areas:

• Consistency - This aspect relates to the use of standard verbiage across the document for easy understanding and implementation.
  
• Clarification - Some areas of the 3rd edition were quite ambigous wherein there were very thin line between certain processes and/or outputs etc, like - Project Charter and Preliminary Scope Statement, or Project Management Plan and Project documents. The 4th edition has attempted to resolve any ambiguity to provide clarifications regarding process interactions, and data flow diagrams have been added to clarify the Input-Output relation between processes. The latest edition also clarifies the Product description of the components by listing down its elements.

Also, items like Change requests, Corrective actions, Preventive actions, Defect repair, and requested changes have all been put under one general term, i.e. Change Request.

• Process Changes: The changes to the Framework has resulted in Deletion of two processes, two processes have been added, and four processes of Procurement Management have been merged into two. Hence, adding upto a total of Forty Two (42) processes, against 44 in the third edition.
  
• Process Group-wise changes: The 4th edition has the following break-up of processes in each of the Process groups:

Initiating Process group: 2
Planning Process group: 20
Executing Process group: 8
Monitoring & Controlling Process group: 10
Closing Process group: 2

• Knowledge Area-wise changes: The 4th edition has the following break-up of processes in each of the Knowledge Area:

Integration Management: 6
Scope Management: 5
Time Management: 6
Cost Management: 3
Quality Management: 3
HR Management: 4
Communication Management: 5
Risk Management: 6
Procurement Management: 4

• Appendices: A new appendix (G) on skill requirement for a Project Manager has been added.
  
• Glossary: Improved and updated to include all the latest terms as per the 4th edition.

In addition to the changes, its important to be aprised of the important dates w.r.t. the examination. The schedule of the examination(s) getting updated is as below:

Credential ExaminationUpdated
PMP® 30 June 2009
CAPM® 31 July 2009
PMI-SPSM 31 August 2009
PMI-RMPSM 31 August 2009
PgMP® 31 August 2009

If you intend to write the examination(s), you may want to know the general reference to be used:

Exam	Planned Date to sit for Examination	Study recommendation*
PMP®	Prior to 30 June 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition
PMP®	After 30 June 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition
CAPM®	Prior to 31 July 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition
CAPM®	After 31 July 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition
PMI-SPSM	Prior to 31 August 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition
PMI-SPSM	After 31 August 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition
PMI-RMPSM	Prior to 31 August 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition
PMI-RMPSM	After 31 August 2009	PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition
PgMP®	Prior to 31 August 2009	The Standard for Program Management—First Edition; PMBOK® Guide—Third Edition
PgMP®	After 31 August 2009	The Standard for Program Management—Second Edition; PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition

For more details on the PMBOK® Guide 4th edition, and for other schedules, check www.pmi.org.
Come and join us on the 5th International Project Management Leadership Conference [PML2009] in New Delhi: http://www.qaiglobal.com/minisites/PML-2009/index.htm
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Wishing you success and fulfilling returns.