A guide to the PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KNOWLEDGE (PMBOK Guide)

2

THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH PROJECTS OPERATE

2.1 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 ...