Project Management Professional Development
In late December, PMI will release the update of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide.) Below you will find important information about the new edition and recommendations for preparing for the exam.
When will the PMBOK Guide-4th edition be released and when will the the exam change?
The 4th edition of the PMBOK Guide is scheduled to be published on December 31, 2008. The Project Management Professional Certification Exam will be updated on June 30, 2009.
What are the differences between the 3rd edition and the 4th edition of the PMBOK Guide?
The Fourth Edition of the PMBOK reflects a focus on improved consistency and clarity. Great consideration was given by the project teams to remove redundant information and add clarifying statements where needed. Terminology was updated only to present process names consistently in a verb-noun format.
The major differences between the Third Edition and the Fourth Edition are summarized below:
• All process names are in a verb-noun format
• Enterprise Environmental Factors were more clearly defined to avoid confusion with Organizational Process Assets.
• A standard approach for discussing requested changes, preventive actions, corrective actions and defect repairs was employed.
• The processes decreased from 44 to 42. Two processes were deleted, two processes were added and 6 processes were reconfigured into 4 processes in the procurement Knowledge Area.
• To provide clarity a distinction was made between the project management plan and project documents used to manage the project.
• The distinction between the information in the Project Charter and the Project Scope Statement was clarified.
• The process flow diagrams at the beginning of chapters 4-12 have been deleted and replaced with data flow diagrams.
• A data flow diagram for each process has been created.
• A new appendix was added that addresses key interpersonal skills that a project manager utilizes when managing a project.
A complete list of changes will be found in Appendix A of the Fourth Edition.
Study Planning
There is still plenty of time to study for and take the exam based on the 3rd edition of the PMBOK. Click here for dates of our currently scheduled classes and information on UT Dallas' PMP Exam Review Course.