The Environment in Which Projects Operate

THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH PROJECTS OPERATE
OVERVIEW
Projects exist and operate in environments that may have an influence on them. These influences
can have a favorable or unfavorable impact on the project. Two major categories of influences are
enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) and organizational process assets (OPAs). EEFs originate from
the environment outside of the project and often outside of the enterprise. EEFs may have an impact at the
organizational, portfolio, program, or project level. See Section 2.2 for additional information on EEFs.
OPAs are internal to the organization. These may arise from the organization itself, a portfolio, a
program, another project, or a combination of these. Figure 2-1 shows the breakdown of project
influences into EEFs and OPAs. See Section 2.3 for additional information on OPAs.
In addition to EEFs and OPAs, organizational systems play a significant role in the life cycle of the
project.
ENTERPRISE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Enterprise environmental factors (EEFs) refer to conditions, not under the control of the project team, that
influence, constrain, or direct the project. These conditions can be internal and/or external to the
organization. EEFs are considered as inputs to many project management’s processes, specifically for
most planning processes. These factors may enhance or constrain project management options. In
addition, these factors may have a positive or negative influence on the outcome.
EEFS INTERNAL TO THE ORGANIZATION
The following EEFs are internal to the organization:

• Organizational culture, structure, and governance. Examples include vision, mission, values,
beliefs, cultural norms, leadership style, hierarchy and authority relationships, organizational
style, ethics, and code of conduct.
• Geographic distribution of facilities and resources. Examples include factory locations, virtual
teams, shared systems, and cloud computing.
• Infrastructure. Examples include existing facilities, equipment, organizational
telecommunications channels, information technology hardware, availability, and capacity.
• Information technology software. Examples include scheduling software tools, configuration
management systems, web interfaces to other online automated systems, and work authorization
systems.
• Resource availability. Examples include contracting and purchasing constraints, approved
providers and subcontractors, and collaboration agreements.
• Employee capability. Examples include existing human resources expertise, skills,
competencies, and specialized knowledge.
EEFS EXTERNAL TO THE ORGANIZATION
The following EEFs are external to the organization:
• Marketplace conditions. Examples include competitors, market share brand recognition, and
trademarks.
• Social and cultural influences and issues. Examples include political climate, codes of
conduct, ethics, and perceptions.
• Legal restrictions. Examples include country or local laws and regulations related to
security, data protection, business conduct, employment, and procurement.
• Commercial databases. Examples include benchmarking results, standardized cost
estimating data, industry risk study information, and risk databases.
• Academic research. Examples include industry studies, publications, and benchmarking
results.
• Government or industry standards. Examples include regulatory agency regulations and
standards related to products, production, environment, quality, and workmanship.
• Financial considerations. Examples include currency exchange rates, interest rates, inflation
rates, tariffs, and geographic location.
• Physical environmental elements. Examples include working conditions, weather, and
constraints.
ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESS ASSETS
Organizational process assets (OPAs) are the plans, processes, policies, procedures, and
knowledge base specific to and used by the performing organization. These assets influence the
management of the project.
OPAs include any artifact, practice, or knowledge from any or all of the performing organizations
involved in the project that can be used to execute or govern the project. The OPAs also include the
organization’s lessons learned from previous projects and historical information. OPAs may include
completed schedules, risk data, and earned value data. OPAs are inputs to many project management’s
processes. Since OPAs are internal to the organization, the project team members may be able to update
and add to the organizational process assets as necessary throughout the project. They may be grouped
into two categories:
• Processes, policies, and procedures; and
• Organizational knowledge bases.
Generally, the assets in the first category are not updated as part of the project work. Processes, policies,
and procedures are usually established by the project management office (PMO) or another function
outside of the project. These can be updated only by following the appropriate organizational policies
associated with updating processes, policies, or procedures. Some organizations encourage the team to
tailor templates, life cycles, and checklists for the project. In these instances, the project management
team should tailor those assets to meet the needs of the project. The assets in the second category are
updated throughout the project with project information. For example, information on financial
performance, lessons learned, performance metrics and issues, and defects are continually updated
throughout the project.
PROCESSES, POLICIES, AND PROCEDURES
The organization’s processes and procedures for conducting project work include but are not limited to:
• Initiating and Planning:

o Guidelines and criteria for tailoring the organization’s set of standard processes and
procedures to satisfy the specific needs of the project;
o Specific organizational standards such as policies (e.g., human resources policies, health
and safety policies, security and confidentiality policies, quality policies, procurement
policies, and environmental policies);
o Product and project life cycles, and methods and procedures (e.g., project management
methods, estimation metrics, process audits, improvement targets, checklists, and
standardized process definitions for use in the organization);
o Templates (e.g., project management plans, project documents, project registers, report
formats, contract templates, risk categories, risk statement templates, probability and
impact definitions, probability and impact matrices, and stakeholder register templates);
and
o Preapproved supplier lists and various types of contractual agreements (e.g., fixed-price,
cost-reimbursable, and time and material contracts).
• Executing, Monitoring, and Controlling:

o Change control procedures, including the steps by which performing organization
standards, policies, plans, and procedures or any project documents will be modified, and
how any changes will be approved and validated;
o Traceability matrices;
o Financial controls procedures (e.g., time reporting, required expenditure and
disbursement reviews, accounting codes, and standard contract provisions);
o Issue and defect management procedures (e.g., defining issue and defect controls,
identifying and resolving issues and defects, and tracking action items);
o Resource availability control and assignment management;
o Organizational communication requirements (e.g., specific communication technology
available, authorized communication media, record retention policies, videoconferencing,
collaborative tools, and security requirements);
o Procedures for prioritizing, approving, and issuing work authorizations;
o Templates (e.g., risk register, issue log, and change log);
o Standardized guidelines, work instructions, proposal evaluation criteria, and performance
measurement criteria; and
o Product, service, or result verification and validation procedures
• Closing
o Project closure guidelines or requirements (e.g., final project audits, project evaluations,
deliverable acceptance, contract closure, resource reassignment, and knowledge transfer
to production and/or operations).
ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORIES

• The organizational knowledge repositories for storing and retrieving information include but are
not limited to:
o Configuration management knowledge repositories containing the versions of software
and hardware components and baselines of all performing organization standards,
policies, procedures, and any project documents;
o Financial data repositories containing information such as labor hours, incurred costs,
budgets, and any project cost overruns;
o Historical information and lessons learned knowledge repositories (e.g., project records
and documents, all project closure information and documentation, information
regarding both the results of previous project selection decisions and previous project
performance information, and information from risk management activities);
o Issue and defect management data repositories containing issue and defect status,
control information, issue and defect resolution, and action item results;
o Data repositories for metrics used to collect and make available measurement data on
processes and products; and
o Project files from previous projects (e.g., scope, cost, schedule, and performance
measurement baselines, project calendars, project schedule network diagrams, risk
registers, risk reports, and stakeholder registers).

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THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH PROJECTS OPERATE

ENTERPRISE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

EEFS INTERNAL TO THE ORGANIZATION

The following EEFs are internal to the organization:

EEFS EXTERNAL TO THE ORGANIZATION

The following EEFs are external to the organization:

ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESS ASSETS

PROCESSES, POLICIES, AND PROCEDURES

• Initiating and Planning:

• Executing, Monitoring, and Controlling:

ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORIES

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