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the portfolio, which in turn should meet the strategic objectives of the business unit or

corporation.

Understanding Operations

Operations are ongoing and repetitive. They don’t have a beginning date or an ending
date, unless you’re starting a new operation or retiring an old one. Operations typically
involve ongoing functions that support the production of goods or services. Projects,
on the other hand, come about to meet a specific, unique result and then conclude.

It’s important to understand that projects and operations go hand in hand in many
cases. For example, perhaps you’ve been assigned to research and implement state-of-
the-art equipment for a shoe manufacturing plant. Once the implementation of the
equipment is complete, the project is concluded. A handoff to the operations team
occurs, and the everyday tasks the equipment performs become an ongoing operation.

Don’t be confused by the term service regarding the definition of a project.
Providing janitorial services on a contract is operations; providing contract Java
programmers for 18 months to work on an IT project is a project.

Let’s look at the definition of two more terms. Project management brings together a
set of tools and techniques—performed by people—to describe, organize, and monitor
the work of project activities. Project managers (PMs) are the people responsible for
applying these tools to the various project activities. Their primary purpose is to
integrate all the components of the project and bring it to a successful conclusion.

Managing a project involves many skills, including dealing with competing needs for
your resources, obtaining adequate budget dollars, identifying risks, managing to the
project requirements, interacting with stakeholders, staying on schedule, and ensuring
a quality product.

We’ll spend the remainder of this book describing the tools and
techniques you’ll use to accomplish the goals of the project, including the key

concepts you’ll need to know for the exam. Many of the standards surrounding
®
these techniques are documented in the PMBOK Guide .

Using the PMBOK Guide ®

Project management standards are documented in A Guide to the Project
®
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide ), published by the Project
®
Management Institute. PMI sets the global de facto standard in project management.

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