Project Management: Ten Knowledge Areas and Quality Management Plan

This article discusses the ten knowledge areas of project management and the importance of quality management plan in ensuring project success. It also covers the components of a quality management plan, the role of stakeholders, and the need for training and protocols for project teams. The article is relevant for students studying project management and professionals in the field. Course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author Note

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TASK 1:
Project Management Institute known as PMI categorized the enormous areas of project
management into ten different parts, which are known as ten knowledge areas of the project
management. The areas of knowledge of Project management overlaps with the different
processing groups which are initiation of the project, project plan, execution of the project,
controlling and monitoring and project finishing. Generally, every project management process
is belonging to this five process groups. There is also ten other knowledge areas of project
management, which are a set of guidelines and standard terminology based on project
management. The knowledge areas are considered as a developing standard, which is updated
occasionally in the PMBOK. There is a strong matrix structure, which comprises both the
process groups and the areas of knowledge. The knowledge areas are designed to assist the
projects to achieve an efficient result. Every process groups and knowledge areas follow some
certain discipline and performed accordingly (Larson & Gray, 2015). The relation between
process groups and knowledge areas can be defined as the horizontal and vertical line where the
knowledge areas are the fundamental procedural subject matter and essential for operational
management. The ten project knowledge areas are followed:
Project stakeholder management:
The stakeholders play a very vital role in any projects. They must actively associate with
every task in order to complete the project successfully. Before starting any project, it is essential
to identify all the stakeholders even though it is a very crucial task.

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The stakeholder management is associated with listening to the stakeholder opinions and
prioritizing them. It is also necessary to calculate their impact on some certain tasks or on the
whole project. The communication management can be very useful to stay connected with the
stakeholders.
Project Procurement management:
The project procurement has a dramatic impact on the project schedule and budget. The
procurement planning usually starts by recognizing the environment requirement of the projects
and how the outsider will be involved in the projects. This deals with the outside procurement
such as hiring subcontractors.
Generally, this activity includes a request for proposals and choosing a vendor, work
statement, reference terms. The procurement control is needed to be monitored and manage
frequently and then closing the contractors once the deal is completed. The procurement
management is responsible for managing the outsider (Eastham et al., 2014).
Project Risk Management:
The risk management is used to identify the possible risks and categorized, prioritized
and itemized them. Performance based on qualitative risk analysis after the biggest risks have
been identified and thus classified in the forms of impact and likelihood, then prioritize them.
Then perform quantitative analysis according to their impact on the concerned project, such as its
schedule and budget.
Project Communication Management:

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The project communication management is regarded as one of the important knowledge
based areas and might be principal as they are able to inform every aspect of the project. The
communication is also essential in order to share information from one point to other. The team
and stakeholders must be stay communicated and this is the responsibility of the project
communication management (Morris, 2015). The communication management determined the
communication standards which is followed by every individual. Management of the
communications during the execution of the project would ensure it runs as planned.
Project Human resource management:
The team of the project is generally considered as the most important resources. The
project team must be constructed precisely while checking their expertise field and their job
description. After determining the job description, the positions need to fill with suitable
expertise and it is also essential to make them happy and satisfy as they are responsible for
providing the end results of any certain project. Management of the project team is an ongoing
responsibility manager of the project. The team should also be monitored tin order to ensure the
productivity rate and there are no internal conflicts.
Project Quality Management:
Even though the project can come on time and within a certain budget, if the quality is
not up to work, then the project is considered as a failure. Plan quality management is a part of
the knowledge area and considered as overall project management plan. The quality assurance
involves the process to make sure that the project met all certain requirements (Rees-Caldwell &
Pinnington, 2014). The quality control should be impacted to ensure the standards would be
outlining the quality management plan are being met.
Project Cost Management:

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This project area involves the budget estimation of any certain project. It has been
essential to use a good estimation tool to make sure that the initial fund does not extend (Kerzner
& Kerzner, 2017). The project tasks need to be monitored regularly and stakeholders need to be
informed as well.
The plan cost management would involve the methods in order to establish the budget,
which defines what and how the procedure will be used to control the budget allocation. Every
task will have to calculate in the context of equipment, materials and labor and other resources
which are essential to complete the tasks.
Project Time Management:
The management of the time of the project is considered as time-consuming. Generally,
the projects are broadly divided into small tasks and scheduled according to the project start and
deadlines. The project time management includes the change time management which means
revising the schedules often as necessary. Plan schedule management is also responsible for
creating the schedule of the project and defining responsibility (Nicholas & Steyn, 2013). This is
a different process than WBS where a task list is being constructed that links with every aspect
of the project. The dependencies are also set in this area. For instance, the necessary resources
for each task must be estimated and assigned. The dependencies are categorized as either finish
to first, finish to finish, start to start and start to finish. Generally, the dependencies are used in
the large project to avoid complexity.
Project Scope Management:
Project scope management is one of the ten knowledge key areas which includes the
process necessary to ensure that the project validating the scope and controlling the scope. There

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are certain activities involved in these areas such as defining the scope, collecting the
requirements and creating the WBS (Bryde, Broquetas & Volm, 2013). The scope definition is
also a vital aspect, which is necessary in order to reduce project risks. The work breaks down
structure is also another part of this area. The scope validation during the project is also lined
under these knowledge areas. The sponsors and stakeholders (Rose, 2013) must approve the
scope. This would occur during the controlling and monitoring processing of groups and is about
accepting the deliverables, not the specs laid out during the project planning. The scope changes
also must be considered if the schedule of the project is falling behind.
Project Integration Management:
The project integration management involves the process necessary to ensure that several
elements of the project management are properly synchronized. The project integration
management has several different processes which are contained in each project process groups
(Hwang & Ng, 2013). This several process is developing the performance of integrated change
control, managing and directing the project, the project management plan and developing the
project charter. The charter of the project is created during the initiation phase and it also
involves the creation of documents to set up the project and allocate the project manager (Pemsel
& Wiewiora, 2013). The project management plan is developed as a roadmap to achieve the
successful end. The stakeholders must approve the plan and track and monitored through a
changelog as the project progresses. The project integration management also involves managing
and directing the project. The process is essential in order to control or avoid any certain problem
that might occur.

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TASK 2:
Before starting any certain project, the quality management plan is constructed in order to
define the acceptable level of quality. The acceptance level is generally set by the customers. The
plan also describes the work process to ensure the level of required quality. The quality
management activities ensure that the work process is performed efficiently while following the
quality management plan. The project quality management plans also apply to the project
deliverables and project work process. Quality control activities monitor and verify that the
project deliverables meet the defined quality standard (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). In every project
quality management plan certain stakeholders are involved such as project sponsor, customer,
project manager and the project team. In every project, multiple project deliverables are made
and all the deliverables must adhere to the certain quality standard. Therefore, every deliveries
should be verified and validated before delivering to the customer. For that, there must be a
quality assurance function, which runs from the start to the end of the project. There are also
certain components of the project quality management plan such as training requirements, defect
Management, risks & mitigation, testing and quality assurance, development control and rigor,
design control, requirements scope, document management and control and responsibility of
management. The project teams are mainly responsible for providing the results. So, the quality
of any certain project very much depends on the total team effort and the effectiveness.
The project quality management plan also defines certain training and protocols for the
project team which is necessary in order to complete the project successfully. Generally, a skill
gap analysis is required to identify the training at the project initiation phase. Every project team
also must consist of required expertise who can complete certain tasks effectively. After picking

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the precise expertise, the team must be managed and monitored in order to work effectively and
avoid internal conflicts. In large projects, several teams are necessary due to multiple task
distribution and heavy workload. Every project team must communicate with each other or
follow the same standard in order to ensure a certain quality (Sallis, 2014). If every team work
individually, the quality of the end result will be very poor and in the worst case, it can lead to
the project failure. The quality management plan ensures that every team follows the defined
standard.
Different of the project has different requirements and deliverables. Some projects consist of
crucial scope which is very hard to achieve. The challenge occurs while selecting an optimal
team as everyone on the same team must not have the same set of skills. The skill difference can
create internal problems that can also slow the project progression. The quality management plan
also documented certain training process which can be used to familiarize the project team
members about the project standards and protocols. The defined standards and protocol is very
useful to maintain and monitor the project teams and track their progression. Every team member
must follow the predefined protocols in order to complete the given tasks efficiently and
effectively. the protocols also describe the responsibility to achieve the project goals and the
quality (Oakland, 2014). Since management is the monitoring and controlling function for the
project, project quality is the responsibility of management.
The quality management plan also used to develop an operational plan and processes,
containing quality control procedures and quality assurance, to accomplish aims. It considers
hazard and risk factors and the complication of the project and adapts procedures to deliver the
mandatory level of quality. The quality assurance protocols and standards are the documents in

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the risk management plan any project variations from the local QMP requirements (Kwon, Lee
& Shin, 2014).
The quality management plan manages specific project products to decide if they
encounter performance measurement thresholds defined in the quality management plan.
Organizations who are serious about their future growth rather than profit takes the quality
management plan seriously. Monitor exact project products to decide if they meet performance
measurement thresholds distinct in the quality management plan. Factors such as Monitor
specific project products to determine if they meet performance measurement thresholds defined
in the quality management plan is used to measure the quality (Taylor et al., 2013). The quality
management activities ensure that the work process is performed efficiently while following the
quality management plan. The project quality management plans also apply to the project
deliverables and work process. Quality control is a very useful factor which cannot be avoided in
order to provide the quality end results.

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