Integrate project planning activities
Integrate project planning activities
What you will learn
- Explain the difference between assembling subsidiary plans and actually integrating them.
- Describe how a change in one subsidiary plan affects the rest.
- Connect integration to the integrated baseline (scope + schedule + cost).
- Identify who owns final responsibility for integrating the project management plan.
It's easy to write a scope plan, a schedule plan, and a cost plan each on its own, but the common mistake is leaving them separate without ensuring they're consistent together. If the schedule plan assumes a resource is available full-time while the cost plan budgets them at half-time, the two plans aren't integrated even though they exist together in the same document.
Assembling vs. integrating
| Merely assembling | Actually integrating | |
|---|---|---|
| Consistency across plans | Not guaranteed — assumptions can contradict each other | Required — every decision checked against the rest of the plans |
| Effect of changing one subsidiary plan | May not show up in other plans right away | Its effect on every other plan is checked before approval |
What matters on the exam
- A question describing a contradiction between two subsidiary plans' assumptions (like schedule and resources) points to an integration gap, not an error in one plan in isolation.
- The project manager holds final responsibility for integrating the project management plan, even if a different expert wrote each subsidiary plan.
Integration is ongoing, not a single step
Integration doesn't happen once, only when the initial plan is approved. Any change later approved through change control (2.10) needs its effect on every other subsidiary plan re-checked, not just the plan the change requested modifying.
Quick check
Answer in your head first, then reveal.
Who holds final responsibility for integrating the project management plan?Reveal the answer
The project manager.
Does integration happen only once during initial planning?Reveal the answer
No, it continues with every change approved later.
What's an example of two subsidiary plans that aren't integrated despite being written?Reveal the answer
A schedule plan assuming a resource full-time while the cost plan budgets them half-time.
Sign in to track your progress on this topic.
Your next step
Read the lesson, then mark it complete
Sources
Used to verify the facts. The writing is original to Passuit.