PMP Exam: Process Groups & Knowledge Areas

This deck is built around the foundational vocabulary and frameworks that show up again and again on the Project Management Professional exam. The cards walk you through the five PMI process groups and the ten knowledge areas, then drill into the supporting terminology you'll need to recognize quickly: the project charter, the triple constraint, the differences between projects, programs, and portfolios, and the distinctions between deliverables, work packages, and activities. You'll also find cards on scheduling concepts like the critical path method, float, lead, lag, crashing, and fast-tracking, which are common sources of exam questions.

It's a good fit if you're just starting your PMP study journey and want to lock down the language before tackling deeper content, or if you're in the review phase and need a fast way to recall definitions and formulas side by side. The earned value section in particular is worth focusing on, since formulas like CV, SV, CPI, SPI, EAC, and VAC are easy to mix up under exam pressure.

Because the deck mixes short factual questions with formula-based ones, try mixing up the order of your reviews rather than going through it linearly. A short daily session, with breaks in between, will help the terminology stick more effectively than a single long cramming session. When you hit a formula card, say the formula out loud and write it down once or twice before flipping, since recalling it actively tends to work better than just reading the answer.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) organizes project management work into two intersecting dimensions. The first dimension is the five Process Groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing. These groups describe the lifecycle of project management effort, flowing chronologically from authorization through delivery and formal termination. The second dimension is the ten Knowledge Areas: Integration, Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Resource, Communications, Risk, Procurement, and Stakeholder. Each knowledge area groups together the specialized knowledge required to manage a particular aspect of a project, such as time, money, or people.

A process is a set of interrelated actions that produce one or more outputs, while a process group is a logical aggregation of processes that share similar functions. In the PMBOK 6th edition framework, there are 49 processes in total, and every process is mapped to exactly one Process Group and exactly one Knowledge Area. This creates a matrix view in which you can see, for example, that Integration contains seven processes, Risk contains six, and that Executing holds the largest number of processes because most of the project work and coordination happens there. Outputs of one process become inputs to another, and the process groups are not strictly linear; Planning is rarely done once without revision, and iterations across groups are the norm.

Understanding this matrix is the foundation for the exam because it explains where each deliverable lives and why. It also clarifies the relationship between a project, a program, and a portfolio. A project is a temporary endeavor producing a unique product, service, or result. A program is a group of related projects coordinated to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually. A portfolio is a collection of projects and programs aligned to strategic objectives. The triple constraint of scope, time, and cost frames every project decision: change one and at least one other moves, with quality often added as a fourth dimension.

The Initiating Process Group formally authorizes a project or a new phase. Its primary purpose is to define the initial scope of the project, commit organizational resources, and grant the project manager authority to apply those resources. The Planning Process Group then establishes the total scope of effort, refines objectives, and defines the course of action to achieve them, ultimately producing the Project Management Plan. The key output of Initiating is the project charter, which is signed by the sponsor — the person accountable for the project's success who provides resources, funding, and political sponsorship. The charter does not contain detailed scope, schedule, or cost baselines; those emerge later in Planning. Without a charter, the work is not officially a project.

Integration Management is the master knowledge area because it coordinates all the others. It contains seven processes spanning the entire lifecycle: Develop Project Charter and Develop Project Management Plan in the early groups; Direct and Manage Project Work, Manage Project Knowledge, Monitor and Control Project Work, and Perform Integrated Change Control during execution and control; and Close Project or Phase at the end. The single document that ties every baseline together is the Project Management Plan, which includes the scope, schedule, and cost baselines plus subsidiary plans for risk, communications, quality, and so on. Project documents, in contrast, are the artifacts produced during execution — issue logs, registers, and similar records. A Project Management Information System (PMIS) provides the tools and software used to collect, store, and distribute these outputs.

Stakeholder work begins in Initiating with Identify Stakeholders, performed early because stakeholder analysis drives the communications plan. Stakeholder analysis examines interest, power, influence, and impact to produce a stakeholder register and assessment matrix. Integration also covers phase transitions: at each phase end, the project manager reviews status with the sponsor and decides whether to continue, replan, or close, often through a phase or stage gate review. Manage Project Knowledge, an integration process, leverages existing organizational knowledge and creates new knowledge so lessons are not lost when the project ends.

Scope Management has six processes: Plan Scope Management, Collect Requirements, Define Scope, Create WBS, Validate Scope, and Control Scope. The team must distinguish product scope, which describes the features of the product or service, from project scope, which describes the work needed to deliver that product scope. Both end up in the scope baseline. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of total project scope into deliverables; the lowest level produces work packages that can be scheduled, cost-estimated, and monitored. Activities are the atomic actions inside the schedule that produce those work packages, while deliverables are the tangible results handed off to a customer. The 100% Rule states that every piece of work required to produce the deliverables must appear in the WBS, and the WBS must not contain work outside the project's scope.

The WBS dictionary describes each WBS element with its code, scope, owner, milestones, cost, and contract information. A control account is a WBS element placed at a management point where scope, schedule, and cost are integrated and tracked, which is the foundation for Earned Value Management. Validate Scope is the formal acceptance of completed deliverables with the sponsor or customer, typically through inspections and walkthroughs. Control Scope monitors scope and performance and manages scope creep — the uncontrolled expansion of project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources, usually caused by poorly managed change control. A requirements traceability matrix links each requirement to its WBS element, tests, and design to ensure full coverage.

Schedule Management also has six processes: Plan Schedule Management, Define Activities, Sequence Activities, Estimate Activity Durations, Develop Schedule, and Control Schedule. Activities can have three types of dependencies: mandatory (hard logic from physical limits), discretionary (soft logic chosen by the team), and external (outside the project's control). Network diagrams can be drawn using PDM (Precedence Diagramming with nodes and arrows), ADM (Arrow Diagramming with arrows as activities), or CCBM (Conditional/branching for iterative contexts). The four precedence relationships are Finish-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Start, and the rarely used Start-to-Finish.

The Critical Path Method identifies the longest path through the schedule network and sets the project duration; activities on this path have zero total float. Total float is how long an activity can slip without delaying the project finish date, while free float is how long it can slip without delaying any successor's early start. A near-critical path has total float close to zero and needs close monitoring. Float can be modified through lead (overlapping a successor before its predecessor finishes) or lag (a forced delay between activities). To compress schedules, crashing adds resources to shorten an activity at higher cost, while fast-tracking runs activities in parallel that were originally planned sequentially, accepting more risk. Resource leveling adjusts start and finish dates to balance demand and may extend the schedule, whereas resource smoothing adjusts only within float without changing the end date. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) adds buffers — project, feeding, and resource — to protect the schedule from student syndrome and Parkinson's Law. Milestones mark significant events with zero duration, and hammock activities are summary activities that span several underlying activities for reporting purposes without altering network logic. What-if scenario analysis models questions such as the delay of a key resource to assess schedule impact.

Cost Management contains four processes: Plan Cost Management, Estimate Costs, Determine Budget, and Control Costs. Cost estimates come in three levels of accuracy. A Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimate ranges from −50% to +100% and is used very early. A budget estimate ranges from −10% to +25%. A definitive estimate ranges from −5% to +10%. Analogous (top-down) estimating uses historical data from similar past projects, while parametric estimating uses a statistical relationship such as cost per unit multiplied by quantity. Bottom-up estimating estimates each work package or activity and rolls them up; it is the most accurate method but also the most time-consuming and expensive.

Three-point estimating, often called PERT or the beta distribution, uses \( TE = (O + 4M + P) / 6 \), where O is the optimistic estimate, M is the most likely, and P is the pessimistic. The standard deviation of this estimate is \( \sigma = (P - O) / 6 \), because the P − O range spans approximately six standard deviations. Cost aggregation sums costs by WBS element or activity, and the resulting time-phased, approved amount becomes the cost baseline, which is used to measure performance. The cost management plan specifies units of measure, precision, control thresholds, rules for measuring performance, and reporting formats. Funding limit reconciliation aligns planned expenditures against constraints such as fiscal-year disbursement limits, and a control account plan specifies the planned value (PV) of all work authorized for a given control account.

Earned Value Management compares three numbers. Planned Value (PV) is the authorized budget for work scheduled to be completed by a given point in time — what should have been earned. Earned Value (EV) is the value of work actually completed expressed in the budget for that work — what was physically earned. Actual Cost (AC) is the realized cost incurred for the work performed during a given period. The variances and indices derived from these are central to the exam: \[ CV = EV - AC \] (cost variance) and \[ SV = EV - PV \] (schedule variance). The indices are \[ CPI = EV / AC \] (cost performance index) and \[ SPI = EV / PV \] (schedule performance index). A CPI or SPI greater than 1.0 means performance is better than plan, equal to 1.0 means on plan, and less than 1.0 means worse.

Forecasting extends earned value to project completion. The Budget at Completion (BAC) is the original budget. The Estimate at Completion (EAC) is the forecast based on actual performance; the most common formula is \( EAC = BAC / CPI \), which extrapolates current cost efficiency to the end. The Estimate to Complete (ETC) is the remaining work, computed as \( ETC = EAC - AC \). Variance at Completion (VAC) is \( VAC = BAC - EAC \); a positive value means the project is forecast to finish under budget. The To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) is the efficiency required to finish on budget, computed as \[ TCPI = (BAC - EV) / (BAC - AC) \]. A TCPI greater than 1.0 means the remaining work must be performed more efficiently than the work already done.

Quality Management has three processes. Plan Quality Management identifies the quality requirements and standards the project must meet. Manage Quality (sometimes called Quality Assurance) audits the processes to ensure they will produce conforming outputs — it is process-focused. Control Quality monitors and records the results of quality activities against the requirements — it is product-focused, typically using inspection. Prevention keeps defects out of the process, while inspection keeps defects out of the customer's hands; prevention is cheaper in the long run.

The seven basic quality tools are cause-and-effect (Ishikawa or fishbone) diagrams for identifying potential root causes by category such as machine, method, material, measurement, man-power, and environment; flowcharts for showing process steps; check sheets for structured data collection; Pareto charts for prioritizing using the 80/20 rule (about 80% of problems come from 20% of causes); histograms for showing frequency distributions; control charts for plotting values against upper and lower control limits derived from the process mean plus or minus three standard deviations; and scatter diagrams for showing relationships between two variables. Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology targeting 3.4 defects per million opportunities and uses the DMAIC cycle: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. The Cost of Quality (COQ) is broken into prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs, and external failure costs — all four are trade-off costs of meeting quality.

Resource Management contains six processes: Plan Resource Management, Estimate Activity Resources, Acquire Resources, Develop Team, Manage Team, and Control Resources. Resources include both physical resources (equipment, materials, facilities) and human resources (people with skills and capabilities). A Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS) is a hierarchical representation of project resources by category and type. The RACI chart is a responsibility assignment matrix distinguishing Responsible (does the work), Accountable (ultimately answerable, exactly one per task), Consulted (provides input), and Informed (kept up to date). Acquiring resources obtains the people and equipment needed, developing the team improves competencies and interactions, and managing the team tracks performance, gives feedback, and handles changes.

Team development follows Tuckman's stages of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. Ground rules are documented, agreed-upon norms of conduct created early in Develop Team; a team charter goes further by covering mission, values, expectations, communication, decision rules, and conflict resolution. PMI's preferred order for conflict resolution is Confront or Collaborate (problem-solve), then Compromise, then Smooth (emphasize agreement), then Force (win-lose), and finally Avoid or Withdraw. The power/interest grid plots stakeholders by power and interest to determine engagement strategy — high-power, high-interest stakeholders must be managed closely.

Communications Management has three processes: Plan Communications Management, Manage Communications, and Monitor Communications. Communication channels grow according to the formula \[ n(n-1)/2 \] for n stakeholders, which is why complexity explodes as team size grows. Communication can be push (sender transmits to specific recipients, like email or memos), pull (recipients access information on demand, like an intranet or knowledge base), or interactive (two-way or multi-way exchanges like meetings and video calls, the richest form). Formal written communication includes contracts, plans, and reports; informal written communication includes emails and chat and is not typically part of formal records. Noise in the communication model — Sender, Encode, Message, Decode, Receiver — is anything that interferes with transmission or understanding, including language, distance, culture, and distractions. Manage Communications produces project communications, project management plan updates, and project documents updates including the lessons learned register and issue logs.

Stakeholder Management in PMBOK 6 contains four processes: Identify Stakeholders (Initiating), Plan Stakeholder Engagement (Planning), Manage Stakeholder Engagement (Executing), and Monitor Stakeholder Engagement (Monitoring & Controlling). Stakeholder engagement levels move from Unaware through Resistant, Neutral, Supportive, and Leading; the goal is to move each stakeholder toward the desired level through targeted communication. The stakeholder management plan is a subsidiary plan that describes engagement levels, communication requirements, and strategies, along with escalation paths that define when issues should be pushed upward to functional managers, PMO, or sponsor.

Risk Management has six processes: Plan Risk Management, Identify Risks, Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis, Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis, Plan Risk Responses, and Implement/Monitor/Control Risks. Individual project risks are uncertain events that affect objectives either positively or negatively, whereas overall project risk is the effect of uncertainty on the project as a whole. Risk appetite is the amount of uncertainty an organization is willing to accept, while a risk threshold is a specific metric around that appetite that triggers escalation. The Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) hierarchically decomposes risks by category, helping to ensure thorough identification, and the risk register typically contains ID, description, probability, impact, score, owner, response, status, and trigger for each identified risk.

Qualitative risk analysis uses a Probability and Impact Matrix to score each risk and prioritize, typically using Low/Medium/High or numeric scales. Quantitative risk analysis numerically analyzes the effect of risks using tools such as Monte Carlo simulation (which runs the schedule or cost model many times sampling risk distributions to produce a probability distribution of outcomes), decision trees, and Expected Monetary Value (EMV), where \( EMV = \sum (\text{probability} \times \text{impact}) \). For negative risks the four responses are Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate, and Accept; for positive risks they are Exploit, Share, Enhance, and Accept. Residual risk is what remains after responses have been applied; secondary risk is a new risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a response and must also be identified and managed. Contingency reserves cover known risks and are part of the cost baseline, while management reserves cover unknown-unknowns and are not in the cost baseline. A risk audit examines the effectiveness of responses, and a workaround is an unplanned response to an emerging risk not previously identified.

Procurement Management has three processes: Plan Procurement Management, Conduct Procurements, and Control Procurements. A make-or-buy analysis decides whether work should be performed in-house or purchased, weighing cost, capability, control, and risk. Contract types distribute risk differently. Firm Fixed Price (FFP) shifts most risk to the seller because the price stays the same. Fixed Price with economic price adjustment allows for inflation or currency changes. Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPIF) sets a price ceiling with a share-ratio for over- or under-runs. Time and Material (T&M) is a hybrid best used when scope is not well-defined; risk is shared, especially on materials. Cost-reimbursable contracts include CPFF (Cost Plus Fixed Fee), CPIF (Cost Plus Incentive Fee), and CPAF (Cost Plus Award Fee), under which the buyer reimburses costs and pays a fee — these shift more risk to the buyer. CPPO (Contractor Payment for Performance Outcomes) is used on outcome-based service contracts. A procurement statement of work describes the procurement item in detail. Single source means choosing a specific vendor even though competitors exist (preferred vendor); sole source means only one supplier can provide the item. Bidder conferences ensure all prospective sellers hear the same information and have an equal opportunity to ask questions, with documentation issued afterward. The most important output of Conduct Procurements is the signed agreement (contract) with the selected seller. Administrative closure in procurement confirms the work was completed satisfactorily, payments were processed, and records were archived.

The Executing Process Group completes the work defined in the Project Management Plan to satisfy project objectives and consumes the bulk of the project budget and resources. Direct and Manage Project Work produces the actual deliverables, work performance data, issue logs, change requests, and project management plan updates. The Monitoring & Controlling Process Group tracks, reviews, and regulates progress and performance, identifies areas where changes to the plan are required, and initiates corresponding changes. It is the only process group whose processes run in parallel with all the others. The Closing Process Group formally terminates the project, phase, or contract; verifies product acceptance; documents lessons learned; and releases resources. Closing is not always done only once — phases, contracts, and early-terminated projects can each go through Closing multiple times.

Change control is central to Monitoring & Controlling. A change request is a formal proposal to modify any baseline, plan, or document, and it must be routed through Integrated Change Control. Change requests come in three categories: defect repair (fixing a flaw), preventive action (reducing the probability of a future negative event), and corrective action (bringing future performance back in line with the plan). Perform Integrated Change Control reviews every change request, approves, rejects, or defers it, and updates the baselines as appropriate. The Change Control Board (CCB) is the group authorized to approve, reject, or defer change requests; it is defined in the Project Management Plan. Configuration management, distinct from change control, manages the product itself — its versions and baselines — whereas change control manages requested changes to baselines.

Lessons learned are collected throughout the project and formally documented during Closing; they should drive future improvements. Close Project or Phase produces the final product, service, or result transition; updates the lessons learned register; and issues the final report. Administrative closure confirms that contracts are settled and accounts are closed. A benefits management plan defines how and when the benefits of the project will be delivered and measured, often owned by a program or portfolio manager after the project ends.

Modern project management also embraces adaptive approaches. Predictive (waterfall) project management relies on detailed upfront plans and has a low tolerance for change. Agile project management is iterative, embraces change, and uses short feedback loops. Scrum, a common Agile framework, defines three roles: the Product Owner (prioritizes the backlog), the Scrum Master (facilitates the process and removes impediments), and the Development Team (delivers the product increment). The Scrum events are the Sprint itself, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. The Definition of Done is a team-agreed set of criteria for considering work complete — for example, passing tests, code review, and deployment to staging. Burn-down charts show remaining work over time, while burn-up charts show completed work plus total scope, making scope changes visible. These adaptive practices complement the predictive foundation of the process groups, giving project managers a richer toolkit for delivering value.