ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the important responsibility of integration management, including the development of the project charter and project management plan, directing and managing project work, controlling performance, and managing change. The critical processes of managing project knowledge and closing the project or phase are also discussed.
Even though project management is composed of over a dozen knowledge domains (and can be more depending on projects), projects are not managed discretely. A project manager cannot or at least should manage only the schedule and disregard scope, resources, or quality, for example. Integration management is the knowledge domain that ties all these together. Thus, sound decisions by project managers are likely be an optimized solution based on a holistic analysis of the many factors. Project managers are managers and leaders because they are responsible for looking beyond the details and make broader decisions that impact the entire project.
102This chapter addresses these three fundamental questions:
Why is project integration considered to be the most important knowledge domain?
What is project integration?
How to plan, direct, and control projects more holistically?
