Comparison between ISO 21500 and PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition.
Theoretical background and practical usage of ISO 21500 in IT projects.
Katarzyna Wojnar
Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...... 3 1.1. Problem statement ...... 3 2. ISO 21500 background and overview ...... 4 2.1. ISO organization ...... 4 2.2. The driver and development process of ISO 21500 ...... 4 3. Project definitions ...... 5 4. Project Management Processes ...... 5 4.1. Project Management Process Groups ...... 6 4.2. ISO 21500 Subject groups ...... 6 4.3. Structure of Processes ...... 7 4.4. Conclusion ...... 8 5. Practical usage of ISO 21500 ...... 9 5.1. Additional benefits of ISO 21500 ...... 10 6. Summary ...... 10 7. Literature and Internet sources ...... 11
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1. Introduction
Last two decades are the fastest time of changes in the companies in history. The ability of the enterprises to invent and implement changes in their operations is the key factor of company‘s success. This is also time when the lack of ability to implement change can cause the financial and organizational troubles in the company. It is noteworthy, that the way of managing the company is changing very fast now and the success relays on the pace of adapting to the changing environment. In the management, the trends of process management as well as project management became very important and the idea of dealing with processes and projects went into the highest level of Management. Project management is one of the key skill sets demanded by organizations around the world. Some facts: • One-fifth of the world‘s GDP, or more than $12 trillion, will be spent on projects each year in the decade 2010-2021. • In the coming years many skilled project management practitioners will be leaving the workforce due to retirement — a trend which will have a major strategic impact for over 60% of the organizations worldwide.
1.1. Problem statement
In today‘s world, investments and organizational changes are realized via projects and programs of related projects. For many of these projects a variety of disciplines and a mix of internal and external workers are involved. All these people need to cooperate in a proper way, everyone has to carry out his/her tasks effectively and, at the same time, all this work must be aligned and executed in a process-driven way. A great number of project management methods and practices exist. Who can apply these properly? Which method should be chosen in a multidisciplinary project? How does one communicate with the stakeholders? These questions do not have easy answers.
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2. ISO 21500 background and overview
2.1. ISO organization
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world‘s largest developer of voluntary International Standards. The organization was founded in 1947, and since then has published more than 19 500 International Standards covering almost all aspects of technology and business. From food safety to computers, and agriculture to healthcare, ISO International Standards impact all our lives. The ISO story began in 1946 when delegates from 25 countries met at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London and decided to create a new international organization ‗to facilitate the international coordination and unification of industrial standards‘. In February 1947 the new organization, ISO, officially began operations. Today they have members from 162 countries and 3 368 technical bodies to take care of standard development. More than 150 people work full time for ISO‘s Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.
2.2. The driver and development process of ISO 21500
In the past there have been a number of initiatives aimed at developing global project management standards, like Global Project Management Forum (from 1994), PMBOK Guide (ANSI standard, First Edition in 1996), Operational Level Coordination Initiative (OLCI, from 1999), Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS, from 2002) and ISO 10006 – Quality management systems - Guidelines for quality management in projects, 2003). They all failed to produce one body of project management knowledge that was accepted globally. ISO 21500 – Guidance for project management is the step towards the true world standard for project management. In 2006 the British Standard Institute, a member of ISO, has initiated a request toward ISO to work on defining a standard for Project Management. ISO launched a new ISO project committee ISO/PC 236, Project management. This committee started its activity in 2007 and has already produced the ISO 21500 standard titled ―Guidance on Project Management‖. ISO 21500:2012 was released on 10th of September 2012 and as of today, ISO 21500 is the fifth best-selling ISO standard in the world (ISO 9001 is the best-selling standard).
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After the release of ISO 21500, PC 236 became the permanent committee TC 258 and deals with the creation of standards for ―Project, Programme and Portfolio Management‖. The next standard to be created by ISO TC 258 is for Portfolio Management. ISO 21500 is the first in a planned family of project management standards. It is designed to align with related International Standards such as ISO 10006:2003, Quality management systems − Guidelines for quality management in projects, ISO 10007:2003, Quality management systems − Guidelines for configuration management, ISO 31000:2009, Risk management – Principles and guidelines, and some sector-specific standards in industries such as aerospace and IT.
3. Project definitions
The PMI definition describes project as temporary endeavor undertaken to create unique product, service or result. The PM BoK Guide definition is probably the last one, that says about producing deliverables. According to ISO 21500 project is a unique set of processes consisting of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective. Achievement of the project objective requires deliverables conforming to specific requirements, including multiple constrains such as time, cost and resources. Products are absent from the ISO 21500 definition, however the uniqueness in both definitions may be doubtful. When a project is initiated, the set of project processes is not defined. According to ISO 21500 the set of project processes are defined because of performing process 4.3.3 Develop project plans, long after project initiation. So you do not know whether this set of processes is unique (or have any other characteristics) when you initiate a project. So if you strictly follow such definition, you may initiate something what is not a project according to this definition.
4. Project Management Processes
The PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition gave the main idea for creation ISO 21500, so when analyzing ISO 21500 the associates to PMI are easy to identify.
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4.1. Project Management Process Groups
ISO 21500 the same as PMI divides the project processes into five process groups. There is only slightly different naming of those:
Table 1. Process groups in ISO 21500 vs. PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition
4.2. ISO 21500 Subject groups
Known from PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition ―Knowledge Areas‖ evaluated into ―Subjects‖ in ISO 21500, however they are called almost the same with minor change for ―Resource‖ vs. ―Human Resources‖.
Table 2. Subjects and Knowledge Areas
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4.3. Structure of Processes
The structure of description of processes in ISO 21500 differs from that in PMBOK® Guide. The main difference is that ISO 21500 does not provide description of tools and techniques. The description of each process in ISO 21500 consists of general description and a table containing primary inputs and primary outputs. ISO 21500 descriptions are also substantially shorter than those of PMBOK® Guide. In fact ISO 21500 describes 39 processes on 36 pages of guidance for project management, where 47 processes of PMBOK® 5th Edition are presented on over 400 pages of the guide.
Table 3. Processes of ISO 21500
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Table 4. Processes of PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition
4.4. Conclusion
The important consistency between the ANSI and the ISO standards will definitively help the profession. PMI certifications will continue to promote structured project managers and these project managers (or associates) will definitively help a lot of organizations to align their project management processes toward ISO recommendation. This mutual contribution is likely to continue since a new technical committee has been set-up to deal with program and portfolio management. And the organization of this new committee is the same than the committee producing the ISO 21500 standard. This might also lead PMI to certify portfolio managers in the future… PMI confirms its leading position to certify program managers, project managers and associates who will feel ―at home‖ in ISO oriented organizations. In the future, if ISO/DIS 21500 becomes the basis of a certification, there will be an advantage for companies to have PMI certified project and program managers onboard.
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5. Practical usage of ISO 21500
One can use the ISO 21500 guideline as follows: • As a reference in an audit If an organization‘s project management practice complies with the requirements and criteria of ISO 21500, it has a good foundation for competent project managers to achieve proper project results. At the same time, the organization can prove both internally and externally that it delivers quality projects, because they have based it on the independent standard. Indeed, this guideline does have direct influence on the project execution, but not on the project result as such; • As a link between different project management and business processes ISO 21500 can supplement the ISO 9001 for quality management, especially in the area of continuous improvement: realizing the necessary and wanted improvement processes in operations with minimal disturbance of the production and service processes; • As a checklist to prove the knowledge and skills of project managers and project workers in executing projects The guideline looks at one project at a time. It does not refer to more complex situations, like multi-project management or sub-projects. This makes the guideline accessible for a broad target group, who can simply relate their own role to the guideline. ISO 21500 strongly emphasizes the role that the environment plays during the execution of the project in order to maximize the added value of the deliverables of the project; • As a common reference (bridge function) between different methods, practices and models Existing project management methods like PRINCE2, collections of good practices like the PMBOK Guide, and competence models like ICB 3.0, provide an anchor to the project manager when running a project. A concise and clear guideline will attract parties that are not familiar with these existing methods, practices and models; • As a common language in project management ISO 21500 bridges the differences and reinforces the similarities between the many parties that often work together in a project: sponsor, project manager and his colleagues, project organization, project workers, customers, users and/or the internal organization. ISO 21500 supports the communication between the related parties by offering a common language. A common language is also essential with international and/or multi-disciplinary projects, where different teams work with different methods, and where cooperation is necessary. The
9 | P a g e guideline can then be a binding factor by relating the processes and deliverables of the different methods to those of ISO 21500.
5.1. Additional benefits of ISO 21500
Encourage transfer of knowledge between projects and organizations for improved project delivery Facilitate efficient tendering processes through the use of consistent project management terminology Enable the flexibility of project management employees and their ability to work on international projects Provide universal project management principles and processes
Karl Best, Secretary of the project committee, comments: ―In an increasingly global economy project managers need guidance to help them understand the basic principles of managing projects. ISO 21500 can help those involved in projects improve the success of a wide variety of project types.‖
6. Summary
ISO 21500:2012, Guidance on project management, can be used by any type of organization, including public, private or community organizations, and for any type of project, irrespective of complexity, size and duration.
Project management is now big business. According to the Anderson Economic Group study commissioned by the Project Management Institute, over 24.4 million employees were participating in projects in 11 major economies in 2006. By 2016, this demand will exist to support 32.6 million employees in the same countries.
ISO 21500 provides high-level description of concepts and processes that are considered to form good practice in project management. New project managers as well as experienced
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Miles Shepherd, Chair of the ISO project committee that developed the new standard, states: ―ISO 21500 enables people in any organization to understand how the discipline fits into a business environment. It is also intended to be used as a basic guide, aimed at the informed reader without an in-depth knowledge of project management.‖
7. Literature and Internet sources
ANSI 2013, A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) 5th Edition LABINET T., STS: Comparing PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition,PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition, and ISO 21500 REHACEK P.: Standards ISO 21500 and PMBOK® Guide for Project Management ZANDHUIS, A., STELLINGWERF R. 2013 ISO 21500 Guidance on Project Management. A Pocket Guide. http://www.sybena.pl/iso21500pmbok_ang.htm http://www.slideshare.net/Robert_/discussion-fifth-edition-pm-bo-k-and-iso-24920679 http://www.pmi.org/ http://blog.vanharen.net/project-management/iso-21500-guidance-on-project-management-in-3- minutes/ http://pmworldjournal.net/iso-tc-258-project-programme-portfolio-management-committee- meeting-sweden/ http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm
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