The PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) methodology has been created by the Project Management Institute (PMI). It’s a guide book which gather all the knowledges in Project Management.
The first editon was published in 1996 as A guide to the project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). Since, six editions have been published.

1/ Introduction
The guide documents and describes the basics and practices in Project Management, applicabled to most projects.
This methodology is divided in five processes :

2/ Processes

a) Initiating
The goal of the initiating process is to describe and authorize the project. In this phase, the project final goal, what needs to be accomplished and the project team are discribed.
It is an essential process to insure the good proceeding of the project.

b/ Planning
During the planning process, the actions to achieve the transitional and final goals are described. The road map (Project plan) is established with some structural specifications (10 knowledge fields) : Integration, Scope, Calendar, Cost, Quality, Human ressources, Stakeholder, Communication, Risks, Procurement.

c/ Executing
During the executing process, the actions and the corrective actions (if necessary) described earlier in the project plan are executed.

d/ Controlling
The controling process is important to monitor and measure progress regularly to identify differences from plan so that corrective action can be taken when required.

e/ Closing
The closing process formalize the end of the project and insure officialy the acceptation of the deliverable.
The challenge is to end the project with success, meaning respect the timing and the budget described at the beginning.

3/ Conclusion
The PMBOK Methodology is not seen as a methodology by the purists, it is more like standards and conventions to follow.

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