Dubbed as one of the most important roles on a project, Integration Management is the effective integration of various project management processes (listed below) that evolve from project management process groups to accomplish the objectives of the project. Across these processes, several tools/techniques can be used to improve the overall effectiveness of each process, and deliver end-to-end integration management that adds the expected value to a project and promotes excellence and quality in each project deliverable.
Project Charter
Description: Developing the Project Charter initiates the project. The derived project charter approves the project and gives the project manager the authority to act and apply organizational resources to the project.
Project Phase: Initiating
Inputs: Project Statement of Work, Business Case, Contract, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets
Tools/Techniques: Expert Judgement
By Expert Judgement, what is meant specifically is expression of opinion, based on knowledge and experience that experts make in responding to problems. Expert judgement is for the most part “uncertain data”, produced from the outcome of dialogue by experts (individuals who have the necessary knowledge) and analysts (individuals who drive the expert judgement exercise).
Applying such techniques as the Knowledge Engineering Expert Judgment Acquisition and Modeling (KEEJAM), which employs Knowledge Engineering techniques, and includes explicit modeling of the knowledge and problem solving procedure of the domain expert, can be a highly effective strategy to retrofit as part of the Integration Management process/role. The approach provides structured and disciplined support to the knowledge engineer in eliciting the knowledge and reasoning strategies of the experts, building consistent knowledge models, and applying these models to the solution of expert judgement task.
Develop Project Management Plan
Description: Developing the Project Management Plan includes all activities needed to create and integrate all subsidiary plans into the Project Management Plan. This plan will define how the project will be executed, managed, and monitored.
Project Phase: Planning
Inputs: Project Charter, Outputs from Planning Processes, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets
Tools/Techniques: Expert Judgement
Direct and Manage Project Execution
Description: This is the phase where the “actual work” of the project gets done. This is an implementation phase, where directing and managing Project execution is done. This phase involves orchestrating how the project team performs the actions to implement the Project Management Plan and complete the work detailed in the Project Scope Statement.
Project Phase: Execution
Inputs: Project Management Plan, Approved Change Requests, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets
Tools/Techniques: Expert Judgement, Project Management Information System
For Project Management Information System, this can be a mix of project planning software, or well-structured Excel sheets that track multiple variables across each deliverable. Typically, a project plan with tasks, resources, dependencies and timelines well laid out, supported by Excel sheets to track issues, risks and change management can prove to be effective. However, more mature tools such as using Agile/SCRUM methodology with flexible/functional tools such as SAP StreamWork can be better suited to fulfill the needs of today’s IT projects.
Monitor and Control Project Work
Description: Monitoring and Controlling Project work measures and balances the project’s progress and any corrective or preventative actions needed to ensure that all project objectives are met.
Project Phase: Monitoring and Control
Inputs: Project Management Plan, Performance Reports, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets
Tools/Techniques: Expert Judgement
Integrated Change Control
Description: Integrated Change Control is the change control process for the project which includes evaluating all change requests, authorizing changes, and managing changes to project plans and deliverables. The key benefit to this process is that only validated approved changes are implemented.
Project Phase: Monitoring and Control
Inputs: Project Management Plan, Work Performance Information, Change Requests, Enterprise Environmental Factors, Organizational Process Assets
Tools/Techniques: Expert Judgement, Change Control Meetings
Having effective Change Control Meetings involves the use of several key practices; namely the not-practiced-enough “meeting before the meeting”. Having a meeting prior to any Change Control Meeting with relevant stakeholders (i.e. business/technical stakeholders, change board reviewers and approvers etc.), helps to secure alignment, agreement and understanding on your change so as to avoid delays and/or having your change request fail approval quality gates.
The point of a Change Control Meeting is to get formal approval and sign-off. Change Control Meetings should be efficient and quick; limited to 5-10 minutes per change, and to be sure that change A and Change B don’t conflict etc. Change Control Meetings need a chair that rotates between everyone who is NOT a manager. This is a good thing for the team, as it gives people who otherwise wouldn’t speak during a meeting to practice in talking around this subject. It also emphasizes that the meeting is to make the job of the doers easier; at its root change control is not supposed to be a hierarchal management function.
Close Project
Description: Closing the project equates to completing all project activities, delivering the final project, turning over continual support to operations, and obtaining the client’s approval to formally close the project.
Project Phase: Closure
Inputs: Project Management Plan, Accepted Deliverables, Organizational Process Assets
Tools/Techniques: Expert Judgement
In short, although Integration Management involves several structured processes and steps, there is a certain level of magic that needs to occur for everything to come together. Namely, having a deep and wide view of the overall project solution, understanding the varied need of each functional stream, conveying the functional/technical issues and risks in a clear and concise manner, and being able to conduct meetings and bring conflicting teams and resources together to agree on next steps that break through roadblocks and showstoppers. A team player, with markings of a diplomat and peaceful negotiations with clarity and focus, the Integration Manager faces a significant challenge, and thus is known to be one of the most important roles on a project.