Project managers manage projects, programmes and project portfolios in a fast changing environment with many interested parties and external influencing factors. The projects are more numerous, more complex and more varied in nature. The case for a comprehensive description of a project manager's competence is compelling.

The PMCBI provides the official definition of the competences expected from project personnel by the IPMA for certification system of the International Association of Project Management (IPMA). It contains basic terms, tasks, practices, skills, functions, management processes, methods, techniques and tools that are used in good project management practice and theory, as well as specialist knowledge and experience, where appropriate, of innovative and advanced practices used in more specific situations.

The eye of competence represents the integration of all the elements of project management as seen through the eyes of the project manager. The eye also represents clarity and vision. The Irish Project Management Competence Baseline (PMCBI) is integrally linked to the IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB3), which is used as a reference basis for the IPMA Validated certification programme. The PMCBI describes the essential knowledge and experience requirements of a person responsible for project management and a qualification for certification process matched to it.

The principal objective of the Institute in producing this book is to provide a solid foundation for the advancement of the profession of project management in Ireland. It achieves this by outlining the main principles, practices, and procedures involved in project management, providing a convenient method of self-assessment of one's knowledge and experience in those areas and a procedure for formal qualification and certification. The Institute's wish is that the book will be helpful to all those interested in project management and an incentive to many to obtain formal qualification and certification in the profession. The formal definition of the project management body-of-knowledge (the knowledge essential to its practice) and of a procedure for qualification and certification is a critical part of the establishment of project management as an important business profession.