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4.0 Cisco IPT

Projects are managed via a series of processes, which have inputs that are needed to
initiate the process. Then, tools and or techniques are applied to transform the inputs
into outputs. A simple example is making a cup of coffee. The inputs are the beans,
water, a grinder, a pot, a heating mechanism, a filter, and a cup. The techniques you
use are grinding the beans and boiling the water. The output is a cup of coffee. Here are
the PMBOK Guide definitions for these terms.

Input: “any item, whether internal or external to the project, that is required by a
process before that process proceeds. May be an output from a predecessor process.”

Tool: “something tangible, such as a template or software program, used in performing
an activity to produce a product or result.”

Technique: “a defined systematic procedure employed by a human resource to perform
an activity to produce a product or result or deliver a service, and that may employ one
or more tools.”

Output: “a product, result, or service generated by a process. May be an input to a
successor process.”

Inputs can be outputs from previous processes, and outputs can become inputs to
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subsequent processes. PMI defines 47 (PMBOK 5 Edition) project-related processes
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used to manage projects. Note that PMBOK 4 Edition defined 42 processes.

Each process is part of one of five process groups described earlier. Another way of
looking at the project management processes is by grouping them in knowledge areas.
There are ten knowledge areas. In addition, each process belongs to one of the ten
knowledge areas:

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