Influence Diagram in PMP with Examples

The Project Management Professional (PMP)® is the world’s most recognized project management qualification. The PMP certification is a globally recognized credential to prove one’s command of knowledge and skills necessary to perform project management. The certification is offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI®) through a globally distributed network of professional bodies. 

The PMP exam is based on PMIs Exam Content outline (ECO) and PMBOK Guide is used as one of the ten reference documents as suggested by PMI. The Guide is a compilation and interpretation of project management knowledge. The exam has multiple choice questions that are devised to test understanding of the concepts as described in PMBOK® Guide. 

If you are aspiring for a thriving, lucrative career in project management, you could enroll for a  professional project management course. There are several of them online and doing so will help you prepare so much better.

What is an Influence Diagram?

The Project Management Institute’s (PMI) PMBOK Guide defines influence diagram PMP as follows: 

“A graphical representation of situations showing causal influences, time ordering of events, and other relationships among variables and outcomes.” 

An influence diagram is a visual representation of the relationship among a set of project management variables and their relationship to one another. Apart from showing you how the various factors influence your project, this diagram is also useful in the following ways: 

• It displays all the information in one place. This helps you remember factors, variables, or causes you might’ve otherwise forgotten 
• It shows you any other dependencies between project variables (which you might’ve not prepared for) 
• It gives you a proper sequence of events for the activities in the project. Looking for a chronological sequence? You’ve now got it!

Know more about importance of project charter.

Why are Influence Diagrams Useful?

An influence diagram PMP is useful in several ways. It can alert the reader to any relationships that may exist among variables. 

It can make it easier to detect relationships that may not be obvious and can make a more direct link from an observed relationship to the causal variable that influenced it. Also, an influence diagram helps the reader determine what it will take to affect one variable and thus predict what will happen or would have happened if another variable is changed. 

In PMI-speak, Influence Diagrams are suitable for project work, program work, project execution, configuration management, and change management. Note that these are all project work-related fields. This is because an influence diagram is mainly used to analyze the relationships between variables in a project. 

In other words, an influence diagram PMP can be used to identify the behavioral relationships and manage stakeholders expectations (for example, when a project manager requests changes from the customer and when successful delivery of a product or service is impacted by changes in one or more product characteristics). 

However, it should be noted that this analysis can be useful for any type of organization that has projects as it helps them plan and execute their projects better. 

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Understanding the Anatomy of Influence Diagrams

With everything that I’ve said about influence diagrams thus far, I’m sure you’re curious to know what they look like. For a tool that accomplishes quite a lot, is an influence diagram complicated? What elements does it contain? A typical influence diagram uses nodes and connectors to showcase the various project variables and how they interact with and depend on one another.  

You could say that this is quite similar to the way various roads and pathways intersect at traffic signals in urban cities. In this scenario, the signals would be nodes that influence the flow of traffic. 

In an influence diagram, nodes represent project elements. This could be a situation, event, activity, or outcome. A node is then connected to other nodes that represent other project elements. These could be another project element, a cause for an event, or an outcome of a situation. These influence diagram PMP nodes don’t always have labels because an influence diagram is typically simple, and self-explanatory.  

In larger, more complex diagrams, you may see different types of nodes being represented by different symbols. For example, you may choose to represent outcomes using a rectangle and unexpected events using a diamond.  

Connectors, as the name itself suggests, are lines used to connect nodes. They typically have arrowheads to depict the direction of influence, one, and the order of events, two. This is simple enough to understand, but I’ll explain: If Node X and Y are connected with a line that points towards Y, it means that event X influences event Y. 

Even after such a simple and basic explanation, if you find yourself struggling to plot an influence diagram, it could be for the following reasons: 

• You haven’t thought of all the possible outcomes, events, or both - the number of nodes in your diagram are incomplete 
• The project at hand is too complex to fit into the realms of an influence diagram 
• You may be trying to force-it connectors between nodes (but then again, don’t we all drive ourselves crazy sometimes trying to see/fit certain things that simply cannot be/ aren’t there?) 

Wow, who knew discussing PMP influence diagrams could turn out to be this existential? 

Examples for Influence Diagrams

Now for a simple yet relatable example of an influence diagram!

From the above influence diagram PMP, you can see that the final outcome is exam success. If you enroll yourself in a good PMP exam prep course or project management course, it will influence both the kind of tactics you use to prepare for the exam, as well as strengthen your understanding of the PMBOK Guide! In turn, you will achieve exam success!  

That is why the PMP exam prep course node is connected to 10 reference books suggested by PMI node as well as the Exam Tactics node. Both these nodes are also connected to Exam Success. Also notice now the node Study Hard is connected to the nodes PMBOK Guide Competency and PMBOK Guide Competency to Exam Success.  

Let’s see what a good template for an influence diagram would look like: 

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Applications of an Influence Diagram

Influence diagrams are particularly useful in risk analysis as they help stakeholders get a visual representation of which risk factors influence what outcomes and how do such risks and outcomes relate to each other. Several data scientists routinely use influence diagrams to see how the variables in their data sets influence each other. In simple terms, an influence diagram shows how possibilities and outcomes interact, and what factors impact the achievement of desired business outcomes, playing an active role in how project managers approach problem solving.  

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Under the Influence

An influence diagram, though simple in its execution, is a powerful tool for project managers. By helping you ensure the smooth flow of any project, you can minimize product delays, customer satisfaction decreases and cut down on expenses incurred because of these two. An Influence diagram is quite easy to use and conveys information in a simple manner. It does not require any complex calculation or analysis from your end, which gives you the advantage of making decisions and acting quicker, more accurately and with more confidence.