Process Interactions Index of /misc

S ECTION III Introduction Process Flow Diagrams A process flow diagram is provided in each Knowledge Area chapter Chapters 4 through 12. The process 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. 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. Figure III-1. Process Flow Diagram Legend A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK ® Guide Third Edition 2004 Project Management Institute, Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299 USA 73 The symbols for the process flow diagrams are explained in Figure III-1 and depict three types of information: 1. Knowledge Area processes, their interaction with other processes within the Knowledge Area, and their outputs to Chapter 4 integration processes. 2. Processes external to the Knowledge Area, whose outputs are used as inputs to the Knowledge Area processes under discussion. 3. Organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors are shown as inputs to the first process. The project management plan, and its subsidiary plans and components that are external to the Knowledge Area, are provided as input into the first process of the diagram, and are considered to be available in each subsequent process in their latest updated form. The organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors are shown as inputs to the first process to provide those items of information, policy, and procedure that are external to the project, but can impact the project planning and execution. These assets and factors, plus the external process outputs used as an input to a Knowledge Area process, are also considered to be available in each subsequent process in their latest updated form. The process flow diagram is not detailed and does not show all the possible interfaces with all external processes. It also does not show possible alternate process flow paths or feedback loops among the specific Knowledge Area processes or with processes external to the Knowledge Area. The iterative nature of most projects makes the permutations of the process flows and feedback loops very complex. Therefore, in the interest of keeping the flow diagrams easier to follow, alternate or iterative paths were not included with the diagrams. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK ® Guide Third Edition 74 2004 Project Management Institute, Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299 USA Figure III-2. Three Major Project Documents and their Relationship to their Components A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK ® Guide Third Edition 2004 Project Management Institute, Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299 USA 75