Comparison between ISO 21500 and

PMBOK Guide 5th Edition.

Theoretical background and practical usage of ISO 21500 in IT projects.

Katarzyna Wojnar

katarzyna.wojnar@wp.pl
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1. Problem statement.................................................................................................................. 3
2. ISO 21500 background and overview ............................................................................................. 4
2.1. ISO organization...................................................................................................................... 4
2.2. The driver and development process of ISO 21500 ................................................................ 4
3. Project definitions............................................................................................................................ 5
4. Project Management Processes ....................................................................................................... 5
4.1. Project Management Process Groups ...................................................................................... 6
4.2. ISO 21500 Subject groups ....................................................................................................... 6
4.3. Structure of Processes ............................................................................................................. 7
4.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 8
5. Practical usage of ISO 21500 .......................................................................................................... 9
5.1. Additional benefits of ISO 21500.......................................................................................... 10
6. Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 10
7. Literature and Internet sources ...................................................................................................... 11

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 1. Introduction

Last two decades are the fastest time of changes in the companies in history. The ability of the
enterprises to invent and implement changes in their operations is the key factor of companys
success. This is also time when the lack of ability to implement change can cause the financial
and organizational troubles in the company. It is noteworthy, that the way of managing the
company is changing very fast now and the success relays on the pace of adapting to the
changing environment. In the management, the trends of process management as well as
project management became very important and the idea of dealing with processes and
projects went into the highest level of Management.
Project management is one of the key skill sets demanded by organizations around the world.
Some facts:
One-fifth of the worlds GDP, or more than $12 trillion, will be spent on projects each year
in the decade 2010-2021.
In the coming years many skilled project management practitioners will be leaving the
workforce due to retirement a trend which will have a major strategic impact for over 60%
of the organizations worldwide.

1.1. Problem statement

In todays world, investments and organizational changes are realized via projects and
programs of related projects. For many of these projects a variety of disciplines and a mix of
internal and external workers are involved. All these people need to cooperate in a proper
way, everyone has to carry out his/her tasks effectively and, at the same time, all this work
must be aligned and executed in a process-driven way. A great number of project
management methods and practices exist. Who can apply these properly? Which method
should be chosen in a multidisciplinary project? How does one communicate with the
stakeholders? These questions do not have easy answers.

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 2. ISO 21500 background and overview

2.1. ISO organization

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the worlds largest developer of

voluntary International Standards. The organization was founded in 1947, and since then has
published more than 19 500 International Standards covering almost all aspects of technology
and business. From food safety to computers, and agriculture to healthcare, ISO International
Standards impact all our lives. The ISO story began in 1946 when delegates from 25 countries
met at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London and decided to create a new international
organization to facilitate the international coordination and unification of industrial
standards. In February 1947 the new organization, ISO, officially began operations. Today
they have members from 162 countries and 3 368 technical bodies to take care of standard
development. More than 150 people work full time for ISOs Central Secretariat in Geneva,
Switzerland.

2.2. The driver and development process of ISO 21500

In the past there have been a number of initiatives aimed at developing global project
management standards, like Global Project Management Forum (from 1994), PMBOK Guide
(ANSI standard, First Edition in 1996), Operational Level Coordination Initiative (OLCI,
from 1999), Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS, from 2002) and ISO
10006 Quality management systems - Guidelines for quality management in projects, 2003).
They all failed to produce one body of project management knowledge that was accepted
globally. ISO 21500 Guidance for project management is the step towards the true world
standard for project management.
In 2006 the British Standard Institute, a member of ISO, has initiated a request toward ISO to
work on defining a standard for Project Management. ISO launched a new ISO project
committee ISO/PC 236, Project management. This committee started its activity in 2007 and
has already produced the ISO 21500 standard titled Guidance on Project Management. ISO
21500:2012 was released on 10th of September 2012 and as of today, ISO 21500 is the fifth
best-selling ISO standard in the world (ISO 9001 is the best-selling standard).

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After the release of ISO 21500, PC 236 became the permanent committee TC 258 and deals
with the creation of standards for Project, Programme and Portfolio Management. The next
standard to be created by ISO TC 258 is for Portfolio Management. ISO 21500 is the first in a
planned family of project management standards. It is designed to align with related
International Standards such as ISO 10006:2003, Quality management systems Guidelines
for quality management in projects, ISO 10007:2003, Quality management systems
Guidelines for configuration management, ISO 31000:2009, Risk management Principles
and guidelines, and some sector-specific standards in industries such as aerospace and IT.

3. Project definitions

The PMI definition describes project as temporary endeavor undertaken to create unique
product, service or result. The PM BoK Guide definition is probably the last one, that says
about producing deliverables. According to ISO 21500 project is a unique set of processes
consisting of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to
achieve an objective. Achievement of the project objective requires deliverables conforming
to specific requirements, including multiple constrains such as time, cost and resources.
Products are absent from the ISO 21500 definition, however the uniqueness in both
definitions may be doubtful. When a project is initiated, the set of project processes is not
defined. According to ISO 21500 the set of project processes are defined because of
performing process 4.3.3 Develop project plans, long after project initiation. So you do not
know whether this set of processes is unique (or have any other characteristics) when you
initiate a project. So if you strictly follow such definition, you may initiate something what is
not a project according to this definition.

4. Project Management Processes

The PMBOK Guide 5th Edition gave the main idea for creation ISO 21500, so when
analyzing ISO 21500 the associates to PMI are easy to identify.

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 4.1. Project Management Process Groups

ISO 21500 the same as PMI divides the project processes into five process groups. There is
only slightly different naming of those:

Table 1. Process groups in ISO 21500 vs. PMBOK Guide 5 th Edition

4.2. ISO 21500 Subject groups

Known from PMBOK Guide 5th Edition Knowledge Areas evaluated into Subjects in
ISO 21500, however they are called almost the same with minor change for Resource vs.
Human Resources.

Table 2. Subjects and Knowledge Areas

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 4.3. Structure of Processes

The structure of description of processes in ISO 21500 differs from that in PMBOK Guide.
The main difference is that ISO 21500 does not provide description of tools and techniques.
The description of each process in ISO 21500 consists of general description and a table
containing primary inputs and primary outputs. ISO 21500 descriptions are also substantially
shorter than those of PMBOK Guide. In fact ISO 21500 describes 39 processes on 36 pages
of guidance for project management, where 47 processes of PMBOK 5th Edition are
presented on over 400 pages of the guide.

Table 3. Processes of ISO 21500

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Table 4. Processes of PMBOK Guide 5th Edition

4.4. Conclusion

The important consistency between the ANSI and the ISO standards will definitively help the
profession. PMI certifications will continue to promote structured project managers and these
project managers (or associates) will definitively help a lot of organizations to align their
project management processes toward ISO recommendation. This mutual contribution is
likely to continue since a new technical committee has been set-up to deal with program and
portfolio management. And the organization of this new committee is the same than the
committee producing the ISO 21500 standard. This might also lead PMI to certify portfolio
managers in the future PMI confirms its leading position to certify program managers,
project managers and associates who will feel at home in ISO oriented organizations. In the
future, if ISO/DIS 21500 becomes the basis of a certification, there will be an advantage for
companies to have PMI certified project and program managers onboard.

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 5. Practical usage of ISO 21500

One can use the ISO 21500 guideline as follows:

As a reference in an audit
If an organizations project management practice complies with the requirements and criteria
of ISO 21500, it has a good foundation for competent project managers to achieve proper
project results. At the same time, the organization can prove both internally and externally
that it delivers quality projects, because they have based it on the independent standard.
Indeed, this guideline does have direct influence on the project execution, but not on the
project result as such;
As a link between different project management and business processes
ISO 21500 can supplement the ISO 9001 for quality management, especially in the area of
continuous improvement: realizing the necessary and wanted improvement processes in
operations with minimal disturbance of the production and service processes;
As a checklist to prove the knowledge and skills of project managers and project workers in
executing projects
The guideline looks at one project at a time. It does not refer to more complex situations, like
multi-project management or sub-projects. This makes the guideline accessible for a broad
target group, who can simply relate their own role to the guideline. ISO 21500 strongly
emphasizes the role that the environment plays during the execution of the project in order to
maximize the added value of the deliverables of the project;
As a common reference (bridge function) between different methods, practices and models
Existing project management methods like PRINCE2, collections of good practices like the
PMBOK Guide, and competence models like ICB 3.0, provide an anchor to the project
manager when running a project. A concise and clear guideline will attract parties that are not
familiar with these existing methods, practices and models;
As a common language in project management
ISO 21500 bridges the differences and reinforces the similarities between the many parties
that often work together in a project: sponsor, project manager and his colleagues, project
organization, project workers, customers, users and/or the internal organization. ISO 21500
supports the communication between the related parties by offering a common language. A
common language is also essential with international and/or multi-disciplinary projects, where
different teams work with different methods, and where cooperation is necessary. The

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guideline can then be a binding factor by relating the processes and deliverables of the
different methods to those of ISO 21500.

5.1. Additional benefits of ISO 21500

Encourage transfer of knowledge between projects and organizations for improved project
delivery
Facilitate efficient tendering processes through the use of consistent project management
terminology
Enable the flexibility of project management employees and their ability to work on
international projects
Provide universal project management principles and processes

Karl Best, Secretary of the project committee, comments: In an increasingly global economy
project managers need guidance to help them understand the basic principles of managing
projects. ISO 21500 can help those involved in projects improve the success of a wide variety
of project types.

6. Summary

ISO 21500:2012, Guidance on project management, can be used by any type of organization,
including public, private or community organizations, and for any type of project, irrespective
of complexity, size and duration.

Project management is now big business. According to the Anderson Economic Group study
commissioned by the Project Management Institute, over 24.4 million employees were
participating in projects in 11 major economies in 2006. By 2016, this demand will exist to
support 32.6 million employees in the same countries.

ISO 21500 provides high-level description of concepts and processes that are considered to
form good practice in project management. New project managers as well as experienced

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managers will be able to use the project management guidance in this standard to improve
project success and achieve business results.

Miles Shepherd, Chair of the ISO project committee that developed the new standard, states:
ISO 21500 enables people in any organization to understand how the discipline fits into a
business environment. It is also intended to be used as a basic guide, aimed at the informed
reader without an in-depth knowledge of project management.

7. Literature and Internet sources

ANSI 2013, A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide) 5th Edition
LABINET T., STS: Comparing PMBOK Guide 4th Edition,PMBOK Guide 5th Edition, and ISO 21500
REHACEK P.: Standards ISO 21500 and PMBOK Guide for Project Management
ZANDHUIS, A., STELLINGWERF R. 2013 ISO 21500 Guidance on Project Management. A Pocket Guide.
http://www.sybena.pl/iso21500pmbok_ang.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/Robert_/discussion-fifth-edition-pm-bo-k-and-iso-24920679
http://www.pmi.org/
http://blog.vanharen.net/project-management/iso-21500-guidance-on-project-management-in-3-
minutes/
http://pmworldjournal.net/iso-tc-258-project-programme-portfolio-management-committee-
meeting-sweden/
http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm

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