Enterprise Environmental Factors

PMBOK 4 defines Enterprise Environmental Factors:

Enterprise Environmental Factors refer to both internal and external environmental factors that surround or influence a project’s success. These factors may come from any or all of the enterprises involved in the project. Enterprise Environmental Factors may enhance or contrain project management options and may have a positive or negative influence on the outcome.

I have Rita Mulcahy's book and in there she suggested that to think of Enterprise Environmental Factors as, I quote:

Company culture and existing systems that the project will have to deal with or make us of.

To easily remember what Enterprise Environmental Factors are, keep in mind the answers to these WHAT, WHERE, and HOW questions:


WHAT is it?

• Anything that surround or influence a project’s success
• It can be internal or external

WHERE does it come from?

• All or any of the enterprises involved in the project

HOW does it affect us?

• They enhance or constrain project management options
• They have a positive or negative influence on the project outcome

Here are some Enterprise Environmental Factors:

• Stakeholder risk tolerance
• Organizational culture, structure, and process
• Political climate
• Project management information systems (PMIS)
• and much more...

Project Managers should take into account any or all Enterprise Environmental Factors surrounding or influencing the project. Failure to consider these factors pose great risk to the project.

To read more about Enterprise Environmental Factors refer to Section 1.8 of PMBOK 4.

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