PMBOK Planning Process Group: All 24 Processes Explained with a Worked Example
Planning is the biggest process group in the PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition: 24 of its 49 processes. Together they turn an authorized project into a plan the team can follow. This guide lists all 24 processes by knowledge area, explains what each produces, and then works through a small project with a scope breakdown, a schedule with the critical path, a three-point estimate, a budget and a risk register.
What the planning process group is
Abdullah Oguz’s open textbook Project Management describes the planning process group as the processes that establish the scope of the project, refine the objectives and define the course of action required to attain them. It also notes that planning does not stop when work starts: plans change as stakeholder needs, markets and technology change, so planning continues at a lower level of effort during execution.
Planning follows the initiating process group, which produces the project charter and the stakeholder register. It leads into executing. For how the groups relate to the project life cycle, see the 5 phases of project management.
A note on editions. The 24 processes below are from the Sixth Edition (2017). PMI’s page for the Eighth Edition (November 2025) says process guidance was reintroduced in a non-prescriptive way, and it does not describe the five groups by name. The planning ideas apply either way. Confirm which edition your course or exam uses.
All 24 processes
The list below follows the Visual Paradigm guide to PMBOK 6 knowledge areas and 49 processes. The “what you get” column is our plain-English summary.
| Knowledge area | Process | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Integration | Develop Project Management Plan | One plan that pulls all the subsidiary plans together. |
| Scope | Plan Scope Management | How scope will be defined, validated and controlled. |
| Collect Requirements | What stakeholders need, written down. | |
| Define Scope | A detailed description of the product and project. | |
| Create WBS | The work broken into manageable pieces. | |
| Schedule | Plan Schedule Management | Rules for building and controlling the schedule. |
| Define Activities | The list of tasks needed. | |
| Sequence Activities | Which tasks depend on which. | |
| Estimate Activity Durations | How long each task takes. | |
| Develop Schedule | The timeline with dates. | |
| Cost | Plan Cost Management | Rules for estimating and controlling cost. |
| Estimate Costs | An approximate cost for the resources needed. | |
| Determine Budget | Costs added up into an approved baseline. | |
| Quality | Plan Quality Management | Quality requirements and how you will check them. |
| Resource | Plan Resource Management | Roles, people and equipment, and how to manage them. |
| Estimate Activity Resources | The type and quantity of resources each task needs. | |
| Communications | Plan Communications Management | Who gets what information, when and how. |
| Risk | Plan Risk Management | How risk work will be done. |
| Identify Risks | A list of what could go wrong or right. | |
| Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis | Risks ranked by probability and impact. | |
| Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis | Numerical effect of risks on objectives. | |
| Plan Risk Responses | Actions to reduce threats and use opportunities. | |
| Procurement | Plan Procurement Management | What to buy, from whom, and how. |
| Stakeholder | Plan Stakeholder Engagement | How to keep stakeholders supportive and informed. |
Count them: 1 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 1 = 24. Two process names changed from the Fifth Edition. Plan Human Resource Management became Plan Resource Management, and Plan Stakeholder Management became Plan Stakeholder Engagement, according to Mosaic Projects’ summary of the changes. Estimate Activity Resources also moved from schedule to resource management, but it is still a planning process.
Not every project needs all of them in full. A small project may combine several into a short document. The point is to think each area through.
The project management plan
Develop Project Management Plan is the glue. Its output is a document that integrates the subsidiary plans and baselines. In practice the plan usually includes:
- Baselines: the approved scope, schedule and cost to measure against.
- Management plans: how you will manage scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications, risk, procurement and stakeholders.
- Change process: how changes will be requested, assessed and approved.
A baseline is the agreed starting point. Once approved, changes go through a process so that you can see what moved. This is the best defense against scope creep.
Scope: requirements and the WBS
Scope planning moves from wishes to a precise statement of what is in and out. Read requirements management for the full approach.
Requirements to scope statement
- Collect requirements through interviews, workshops and observation. Write them as testable statements.
- Define scope. Describe deliverables, boundaries, exclusions and acceptance criteria.
- Create the work breakdown structure (WBS). Break deliverables into smaller pieces until each is easy to estimate and assign.
Example: a WBS for a website project
This is a made-up 60-person company replacing its website, the same example used in our initiating guide.
| Level 1 | Level 2 (work packages) |
|---|---|
| 1. Project management | 1.1 Plan and track · 1.2 Status reports and meetings |
| 2. Requirements and design | 2.1 Requirements · 2.2 Page designs |
| 3. Content | 3.1 Write new copy · 3.2 Prepare images |
| 4. Build | 4.1 Build pages · 4.2 Contact forms and analytics |
| 5. Launch | 5.1 Load content · 5.2 Test · 5.3 Go live |
A common WBS guideline is that the breakdown should include all the work in scope and nothing outside it. If a task is not in the WBS, it is not in the plan.
Schedule: sequence, estimate, critical path
The schedule processes answer: what are the tasks, in what order, how long, and when will we finish?
Step 1: Define and sequence activities
Take the work packages and list the tasks. Then note which tasks must finish before others can start (predecessors).
Step 2: Estimate durations
Estimate in working days. For uncertain tasks, use a three-point estimate with an optimistic (o), most likely (m) and pessimistic (p) value. A common formula, given in this guide to CPM and PERT scheduling, is:
Expected duration = (o + 4m + p) ÷ 6
Standard deviation = (p − o) ÷ 6
Example (made up): building the pages. o = 5, m = 7, p = 15 days. Expected = (5 + 28 + 15) ÷ 6 = 8 days. Standard deviation = 10 ÷ 6 = 1.67 days.
Notice the expected value (8) is higher than the most likely value (7), because the pessimistic case is further from the middle than the optimistic one. The three-point method makes that risk visible.
Step 3: Build the schedule and find the critical path
The critical path is the longest chain of dependent tasks. It decides the earliest finish date. Tasks on it have zero float (slack). Here is the website project, using 8 days for building the pages.
| Task | Duration (days) | Needs first | Earliest start | Earliest finish | Float |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Requirements | 3 | — | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| B. Page designs | 5 | A | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| C. Write copy | 6 | A | 3 | 9 | 7 |
| D. Build pages | 8 | B | 8 | 16 | 0 |
| E. Load content | 4 | C, D | 16 | 20 | 0 |
| F. Test | 3 | E | 20 | 23 | 0 |
| G. Go live | 1 | F | 23 | 24 | 0 |
The critical path is A → B → D → E → F → G: 3 + 5 + 8 + 4 + 3 + 1 = 24 days. Writing the copy (C) has 7 days of float: it can slip by a week without delaying launch, because it only has to finish before E starts on day 16 (16 − 9 = 7).
What this tells a project manager:
- A one-day delay to B, D, E, F or G delays the launch by one day.
- A delay to C of up to 7 days changes nothing, so do not spend your attention there.
- To finish sooner, shorten a task on the critical path. After that, check whether a new critical path has appeared.
The numbers are our illustration, not real project data. See the iron triangle for how schedule trades off against cost and scope.
Cost: estimates and budget
Estimate Costs approximates the cost of resources. Determine Budget adds those estimates together into an authorized cost baseline. A simple bottom-up example for the same project:
| Work package | Quantity | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design | 40 hours | $80 | $3,200 |
| Build | 70 hours | $90 | $6,300 |
| Content | 30 hours | $60 | $1,800 |
| Testing | 20 hours | $70 | $1,400 |
| Hosting setup | Fixed | — | $500 |
| Subtotal | $13,200 | ||
| Contingency for known risks (10%) | $1,320 | ||
| Budget | $14,520 |
The rates and hours are invented for the example. The structure is what matters: estimate each package, add reserves for identified risks, and record the result as the baseline. Track progress with the measures in project management metrics.
Risk: register and responses
Five of the 24 planning processes are about risk. The core tool is the risk register. A simple qualitative scale scores each risk by probability (1 to 5) times impact (1 to 5).
| # | Risk | Probability | Impact | Score | Response | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Copy arrives late | 4 | 3 | 12 | Mitigate: set an earlier deadline; ask for drafts weekly. | Marketing lead |
| 2 | Search ranking drops after launch | 3 | 4 | 12 | Mitigate: map old pages to new ones; monitor after launch. | Web developer |
| 3 | Key developer unavailable | 2 | 5 | 10 | Transfer or mitigate: name a backup; document the build. | Project manager |
| 4 | Minor design disagreements | 3 | 2 | 6 | Accept: one approver decides. | Managing director |
Responses to threats are commonly grouped as avoid, mitigate, transfer or accept. Scores let you decide where to spend effort first. Quantitative analysis, the fourth risk process, puts numbers on the combined effect of risks and is mainly used on larger projects. The example is our illustration.
The other plans
| Plan | Questions it answers | Useful links |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | What does “good enough” mean, and how will we check? | Define acceptance criteria and tests early. |
| Resource | Who does what? What equipment is needed? | Team roles and the RACI chart. |
| Communications | Who needs what information, how often? | Improving project communication. |
| Procurement | What will we buy or outsource, and how? | Decide make-or-buy early. |
| Stakeholder engagement | How do we keep key people supportive? | Use the stakeholder register from initiating. |
Planning in agile and hybrid projects
Agile teams still plan, but in shorter cycles. Our summary of common practice: a high-level plan sets goals and rough timelines, and detailed planning happens just before each short iteration. Risks and priorities are reviewed regularly, so the plan adapts. Many projects mix both: fixed milestones and a budget, with agile planning inside them. See the use of agile project management.
Planning checklist
- Requirements written and approved.
- Scope statement says what is out, not just what is in.
- WBS covers all the work, and every package has an owner.
- Schedule shows dependencies, the critical path and float.
- Budget includes reserves and a clear baseline.
- Risk register has owners and responses.
- Quality, resource, communications and procurement plans are agreed, at the level the project needs.
- Change process is defined and the sponsor has agreed to it.
- Stakeholders have seen and accepted the plan.
Common mistakes
- Skipping planning to “save time.” Gaps appear later and cost more.
- Planning alone. The people who do the work should help estimate it.
- Padding every task. Hidden buffers are hard to manage; use explicit reserves.
- Ignoring dependencies on others. Waiting for approvals and deliveries often drives the schedule.
- Treating the plan as fixed. Update it through the change process.
- No baseline. Without one, you cannot tell whether you are late or over budget.
- Over-planning small projects. Match the detail to the size and risk.
Next, read the PMBOK executing process group. Related: why projects fail and the PMP exam prep course guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the planning process group?
The PMBOK process group that establishes the scope, refines the objectives and defines the course of action needed to reach them.
How many processes are in the planning process group?
24 in the PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition, out of 49 processes in total.
What is the main output of planning?
The project management plan, which integrates the subsidiary plans and the scope, schedule and cost baselines.
What is a WBS?
A work breakdown structure breaks the project deliverables and work into smaller, manageable components.
What is the critical path?
The longest sequence of dependent tasks. It determines the earliest possible finish, and tasks on it have zero float.
What is the three-point estimate formula?
Expected duration = (optimistic + 4 × most likely + pessimistic) ÷ 6.
Does planning end when execution starts?
No. Plans are revised as conditions change, so planning continues at a lower level of effort during execution.
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