Integration management

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Integration management is a branch of project management and is one of the most important tasks of a project manager . It serves the optimal integration of the project parts and the people or institutions involved.

The term is used - with a partly different meaning - also for the management of corporate mergers, as well as in the social area - see merger and integration (sociology) .

Projects in research, development, business

Here, integration management aims to coordinate the various project elements, phases and results adequately and as holistically as possible . This starts with the compilation of the project plan and continues during project implementation with the execution of this plan and the integrated change control. A strong alignment of the project management with the needs of the so-called stakeholders is sought - i.e. all persons and groups involved or interested in the project - which, however, can hardly be fully achieved (see below).

Three main processes and the project completion

The three main processes in integration management are (according to PMQS):

  1. Development of the project plan
    • Collecting, integrating and coordinating all individual project plans
    • Creation of a uniform overall project plan taking into account and cooperation of the stakeholders .
  2. Execution of the project plan
    • Implementation of the project plan (execution of the processes contained therein) by the project staff
    • appropriate structure and mechanisms, such as the release of work packages .
  3. Integrated Change Control ( Change Management )
    • Coordinate necessary changes across the entire project
    • Handling of the change requests taking into account quality, time requirements , costs and the interests of the stakeholders
    • Checking the consistency with the project plans defined in terms of content and scope.

In addition, an integrative project should include subject-specific communication steps in every important phase - even if no changes seem to be necessary, e.g. B.

  • in-depth contacts between project managers or service providers and potential users,
  • and especially towards the end of the project, further steps such as intensified evaluation or resource and post-calculation of individual sections as well as the overall project.
  • When its results are finally transferred to the application, they are to be made available to interested parties in a suitable form - for example as a cadastre of possible applications or as a specialist information system .

Involvement of the "stakeholders"

The bigger a project, the more difficult it is naturally to optimally involve all interested parties and participants. As far as project employees are concerned, good communication increases job satisfaction , which has a positive social and economic impact through better motivation . With regard to the possible users of the expected project results, an early involvement is advantageous for the definition of the project goals (applicability, needs, wishes of the customers , quality requirements, etc.), but it can also trigger competitive behavior.

On the interests of large company projects

In a company , a large project indirectly affects many decision-making persons, who often have conflicting interests. Here you have to weigh up between intensive communication and mere information . In an AG, the involvement of the owners is naturally limited by the number of shareholders. The extent to which other interest groups known as stakeholders in the economy , such as suppliers , lenders, environmental protection, associations , the public or the mass media , are (can) be involved depends, in addition to scientific and economic policy factors, above all on the project size and the specialist area (or industry) .

See also

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