What is Project Integration Management

Imagine a situation where your senior executives ask you so many challenging questions at the same time. Wouldn’t that be overwhelming? If yes, then think about the overwhelming situations project managers face in a day. If your answer to the question is no, you are fit to challenge yourself to become a manager.

In any medium to large-scale organizations, employees carry out many tasks at the same time. And usually, a project manager handles the coordination of all the tasks. Project managers do this by using the project integration management process.

In this blog, we will discuss in detail project integration management. We will also talk about its importance to know the necessity.

Definition of Project Integration Management

Project integration management is the coordination of all tasks related to the project. It ensures that you execute the project in the right way to obtain desired results. Since project managers have a lot on their plate, a systematic approach in place will help them.

The project integration management handles everything from the start to the finish of the project. The project manager follows all steps of project integration management. This makes sure that everything stays under the project manager’s control.

If you do not follow the process, you end up compromising one thing or the other. Hence, this is a proven method to enhance the overall quality of the workflow. It points out the relation between the organization’s resources and your project. Thus, project integration management plays an important role in making any project a success.

Project Integration Management Process

Project management experts identify seven key processes for successful project integration management. We will discuss each process in order.

1. Develop the project charter

A project charter is typically a one-line explanation of what your project is. It also points out the objectives and how to achieve them. A typical project charter contains the following elements:

1. Why is the project being undertaken?
2. Objectives and constraints of the project
3. The stakeholders involved
4. Identified risks
5. Benefits of the project(Mainly business-related)
6. Budget outline

A project charter must also be short and straightforward. It should serve as a document that reminds the team of the original goal.

2. Develop the project management plan

This step of project management plans every process that happens here on now. This step defines how and when the tasks take place. But is it truly possible to determine the exact time each task will take? Of course not. But you can calculate the time needed for each task by consulting the departments involved.

Planning reduces the stress involved in managing a huge project. At this stage, you should also consider a meeting with the stakeholders to talk about cost, resources, and timeline.

3. Direct and manage project work

In this phase, you will be developing the project towards its completion. This step is the execution of all your laid-out project management plans. The project management plans also have dependencies in the tasks listed. This step ensures that every task takes place at the right moment so that all dependencies stay intact. The project manager also performs changes to the plans if needed during this stage.

4. Manage project knowledge

You might think that planning and executing is a straightforward process. But in reality, a project manager must have in-depth knowledge of what they are dealing with. To successfully execute the project integration management, one must have the required subject knowledge. The two kinds of generally identified project knowledge are as follows:

1. Explicit Knowledge: Found in process documentation
2. Tacit Knowledge: Learnt through experience and observation

Successful project knowledge management leads to effective decision-making in project management.

5. Monitor and control project work

It is common for some tasks to go off track while organizing a huge project. But, these off-track tasks create a delay in project delivery. Due to this, the task may get isolated from the rest. Or it might incur additional costs and resources. To tackle this issue, project integration management must undergo regular monitor and control.

After each stage of the project, the project manager performs an analysis. This analysis points out the discrepancies in the past steps. It gives a clear outline of what you should change in future steps. Controlling means keeping the time, cost, and resource constraints in check.

If the project had maintained all the constraints, the future stages must follow a similar approach. If not, you must alter the process to suit the constraints.

6. Perform integrated change control

Implementing changes to the project integration management is a hectic task. You must consider how a change can affect all the tasks of a project. Changes made must keep the project from derailing from its original scope. Usually, a change in the process brings conflicts between the teammates and the manager. But to obtain optimal results, it is vital to make necessary changes to the project management.

7. Close the project

This is the last step of project integration management. This is the official step where the project is complete. And the customer/client accepts the final result. In this step, the project manager collects and documents all the processes involved.

This method can save time for executing similar projects in the future. The project manager also relieves the team members of the responsibilities towards the project during this phase.

Thus, for effective project management, all of the above steps are crucial. Maintaining the project’s scope throughout all these steps is one of the key factors of the project’s success.

Importance of Project Integration Management

The following are some of the reasons why project integration management is important.

1. Streamlines the project workflow

A successful project integration management ensures a smooth workflow. With a proper plan in place, employees can avoid confusion and gain a deeper understanding of the process. Since every task gets connected in project integration management, it is easy to streamline the process.

2. Improves coordination

A huge project gets managed by different departments within an organization. Since project integration management connects all the tasks, it improves the coordination between departments. Project management is of huge help when the project moves from one phase to another. It points out the importance of teamwork and collaboration between departments.

3. Improves accountability

In well-structured project management, all roles and responsibilities are clear. So, every team member understands their roles and their duties clearly. This promotes accountability if something goes sideways. It also prevents employees from straying from their duties.

4. Facilitates the monitoring process

Every step of the project is laid out in the project integration management. So, tracking the project’s progress becomes easy. At any stage of the project, you can provide detailed reports of the progress to the stakeholders. By monitoring the progress, the decision-making process also becomes easier for the stakeholders.

5. Coordination improves the decision-making process

For any changes made to the project, you must consult the stakeholders. Since project management improves coordination, the decision-making process becomes quicker.

6. Easy performance management

Project integration management doesn’t only focus on the completion of the project. It also focuses on improving the performance of each task and activity. Every team member’s responsibility is pointed out in project management. So, this eases the process of measuring the performance of each employee too.

7. Integrates deadlines with each activity

Using project management encourages you to assign deadlines to every small task. This reduces the probability of delays within the project. Well-structured project management ensures the deliverables get delivered on time.

Why use a project management tool to employ project integration management?

Project integration management involves a lot of paperwork. To reduce the time spent on preparing the paperwork, a modern project management tool is necessary. A project management tool improves the workflow in the following ways:

1. Visualise each task for easy management
2. Organise each task based on the priority
3. Check the project’s progress
4. Task assignment with deadlines and goals
5. Create a Gantt chart to depict the project timeline
6. Create custom roles and access
   

All these features are necessary to maintain a successful project integration management. And all these features are available in project management software. PeppyBiz is home to one of the best project management software in the market.

Our project management software enables you to visualize your tasks using Kanban Boards. It facilitates your project integration management process. It allows you to create, manage and close a project in the proper order. With the use of smart notifications, your team will never miss a deadline.

We offer a free demo for you to understand how our software can help you grow. Check out our website to learn more.

Conclusion

Project integration management is becoming a necessary tool for every organization. It is the best way to complete a complex project. To sum up, project integration management can help you untangle the complications of a huge project.

It also helps you maintain the scope and productivity when doing a prolonged project. Click here to know more about how project management tools from PeppyBiz can help you further ease this process.