<p>  ***When will PMI release the second editions of OPM3®, The Standard for Program Management and The Standard for Portfolio Management? ‎(1) OPM3® Second Edition, The Standard for Program Management—Second Edition and The Standard for Portfolio Management—Second Edition and PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition will all be released on 31 December 2008. </p><p> ***What are the differences between the third edition and the fourth edition of the PMBOK® Guide? ‎(1)</p><p>The Fourth Edition continues to reflect the evolving knowledge within the profession of project management. Like previous editions it represents generally recognized good practice in the profession. However, the Fourth Edition also reflects a focus on improved consistency and clarity. Great consideration was given by the project teams to remove redundant information and add clarifying statements where needed. Terminology was updated only to present process names consistently in a verb-noun format.  The PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition continues the tradition of excellence in project management with a standard that is easy to understand and implement. The major differences between the Third Edition and the Fourth Edition are summarized below: • All process names are in a verb-noun format<br/>• Enterprise Environmental Factors were more clearly defined to avoid confusion with Organizational Process Assets.<br/>• A standard approach for discussing requested changes, preventive actions, corrective actions and defect repairs was employed.<br/>• The processes decreased from 44 to 42. Two processes were deleted, two processes were added and 6 processes were reconfigured into 4 processes in the procurement Knowledge Area.<br/>• To provide clarity a distinction was made between the project management plan and project documents used to manage the project. <br/>• The distinction between the information in the Project Charter and the Project Scope Statement was clarified.<br/>• The process flow diagrams at the beginning of chapters 4-12 have been deleted and replaced with data flow diagrams.<br/>• A data flow diagram for each process has been created.<br/>• A new appendix was added that addresses key interpersonal skills that a project manager utilizes when managing a project. <br/>A complete list of changes can be found in Appendix A of the Fourth Edition. </p><p><br/>*** What are the major differences between the current editions and the new editions (for updates to the PMBOK® Guide see above)? ‎(1) A complete list of changes can be found in Appendix A of each of the updates. <br/>A quick overview of each update is listed below: <br/>The Standard for Program Management – Second Edition <br/>Quick overview: <br/>Recognized good practices for managing multiple projects and programs successfully. What’s new?<br/>• Nine New Knowledge Areas (including Program Financial Management, Stakeholder Management, and Program Governance) Why is this update important? <br/>The introduction of Knowledge Areas helps focus attention and ensure proper metrics are in place to successfully manage programs, including those that are large and complex. <br/>The Standard for Portfolio Management – Second Edition <br/>Quick overview:<br/>Recognized good practices in the discipline of portfolio management – “doing the right work”. What’s New?<br/>• New Knowledge Area: Portfolio Governance<br/>(Governance is accountable for investment decisions throughout the portfolio lifecycle)<br/>• New Knowledge Area: Portfolio Risk Management What’s the impact to organizations?<br/>Greater emphasis on investment and risk management means increased awareness of the opportunity costs throughout the process and an increased focus on delivering results of the organization’s projects and programs! <br/>OPM3® - Second Edition <br/>Quick overview: <br/>Organization model for measuring project management maturity against a comprehensive set of best practices. What’s New?<br/>• Introduction of Organizational Enablers<br/>• Categorization by Knowledge Area, by Business Results, and by Balanced Scorecard<br/>• Consolidated Best Practices to eliminate duplication</p><p></p><p> <br/></p><p> </p>