There’s a difference between planning for a project and really planning for a project. If there’s one area where obsessive attention to detail is welcome, it’s project management. A single seemingly small misstep can turn an entire project into a massive waste of time and resources. But don’t worry, there’s a proven framework to keep you on track.
The project management process groups, as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI), exist to give you a solid foundation for planning, managing, and executing your projects successfully. In this guide, we’ll cover what these five process groups are, why they matter, and how to master each one to drive more projects to the finish line, on time and within budget.
TL;DR: The five project management process groups are Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. They provide a structured, repeatable framework for managing any project from start to finish, and using a platform like monday.com helps integrate all five phases seamlessly.
What are the 5 project management process groups?
According to the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) Guide, the five project management process groups are: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. These groups aren’t just sequential phases; they are overlapping sets of processes that occur throughout the project life cycle.
Here’s a quick breakdown of each group:
- Initiating: Defines a new project or a new phase of an existing project by obtaining authorization to start. This includes processes like conducting a cost-benefit analysis and identifying key stakeholders.
- Planning: Establishes the total scope of the effort, defines and refines the objectives, and develops the course of action required to attain those objectives.
- Executing: Involves completing the work defined in the project management plan to satisfy the project specifications.
- Monitoring and Controlling: Tracks, reviews, and regulates the progress and performance of the project; identifies any areas in which changes to the plan are required; and initiates the corresponding changes.
- Closing: Finalizes all activities across all process groups to formally complete the project, phase, or contractual obligations. This includes project reviews and lessons learned.
The 5 project management process groups explained
1. Initiating process group
Inaccurate requirements gathering is a primary cause of project failure. The initiating process group is where you prevent this by answering the fundamental question: “What do we need to make this happen?” To start a project off right, you need to take this group seriously.
Key activities include:
- Using stakeholder analysis to figure out who should be involved in the project.
- Analyzing requirements to determine if the project is feasible with your current budget and time constraints.
- Identifying major risks to the project with an initial risk assessment.
- Running a cost-benefit analysis to confirm the project is worth the investment.
- Creating a project charter that outlines the business objectives, scope, deliverables, and high-level milestones.
2. Planning process group
Poor upfront planning is another leading cause of project failure. Tackling a large project with minimal planning is like trying to do your weekend shopping without a list—you spend more time and money and end up with almost none of the things you actually need. This is the most intensive process group, where you lay the entire foundation for the project.
Key activities include:
- Breaking larger deliverables down into stages, like design, development, and testing, and start planning project teams.
- Gathering more detailed requirements, estimating costs and time, and finalizing the project scope and budget.
- Planning how you’ll manage stakeholder relationships and facilitate communication.
- Breaking down the high-level plan into detailed activities and schedules using tools like Gantt charts.
- Using monday.com’s AI Assistant to help generate a task list from your high-level goals to ensure nothing is missed.
3. Executing process group
Even a masterpiece of a plan doesn’t matter without the right execution. This is where the work gets done. You need to stick to the plan and make it a reality by managing resources, facilitating communication, and keeping teams aligned.
Key activities include:
- Letting teams manage their own granular processes with dedicated team boards for greater autonomy and productivity.
- Holding regular team meetings to ensure everything is on schedule and address any upcoming roadblocks.
- Using collaborative tools like monday workdocs to keep all project communication and documentation in one place.
- Leveraging monday.com’s AI Assistant to summarize long updates or meeting notes to keep all stakeholders informed quickly.
- Initiating response plans if any foreseen risks come to pass.
4. Monitoring and controlling process group
No plan survives first contact with reality. The monitoring and controlling process group runs in parallel with the executing group to ensure the project stays on track. It’s about measuring performance against the plan and making adjustments as needed. Market conditions, customer needs, or internal priorities can change, and you need to be ready to adapt.
Key activities include:
- Monitoring individual and team performance to see that work goes according to plan. A custom monday.com dashboard can highlight the metrics and widgets you care about most.
- Checking project expenditures against the budget and ensuring teams meet milestones on time.
- Arranging reviews with key stakeholders to make sure the project continues to meet their changing needs.
- Managing any change requests through a formal process to prevent scope creep.
5. Closing process group
After you’ve completed a project and the final deliverable is ready, it’s easy to think the job is done. But proper closure is critical for recognizing success and learning from the experience. This is the time for formal sign-offs, releasing project resources, and documenting lessons learned.
Key activities include:
- Confirming the project is complete by having all deliverables tested and formally accepted by the client or stakeholder.
- Reviewing the accuracy of the initial budget and timeline versus the actual results.
- Recording any lessons, project challenges, and key takeaways during a post-mortem meeting.
- Saving repeatable workflows, templates, and deliverables for future use.
- Planning the phasing out of an old product or service if the project was a replacement.
Process groups vs. knowledge areas: What's the difference?
It’s common to confuse project management process groups with knowledge areas, but they serve different functions. Think of it this way: the 5 process groups are the “how” of project management—they describe the chronological flow of a project. The 10 knowledge areas are the “what”—they represent the specific fields of expertise required, such as Scope Management, Risk Management, and Stakeholder Management.
For example, during the Planning process group, you will apply processes from nearly all 10 knowledge areas, like defining the scope, creating a schedule (Time Management), and identifying risks (Risk Management). The two concepts work together to create a complete project management framework.
Putting process groups into practice with monday.com
While the PMBOK provides the theory, a Work OS like monday.com provides the practical application. Our platform unifies all five process groups into a single, collaborative workspace, turning abstract concepts into actionable workflows.
With monday work management, you can:
- Initiate with project charter templates and stakeholder registers.
- Plan using dynamic Gantt charts, workload views, and budget trackers.
- Execute with clear task assignments, automated status updates, and integrated workdocs.
- Monitor and Control with real-time, customizable dashboards that pull data from all your boards.
- Close with post-mortem templates and a centralized archive of all project assets.
Automations connect the phases seamlessly, while integrations bring all your other tools into one place, giving you a single source of truth for the entire project lifecycle.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Master your projects with a proven framework
Project management process groups provide the essential framework for successfully evaluating, planning, and executing a project from start to finish. By understanding and applying these five groups, you can bring structure to chaos and significantly increase your chances of success.
Ready to turn theory into successful execution? Use our project management plan template to follow along with each of the 5 groups and lay a solid foundation for your next project.
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