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Informal communications Unplanned or ad hoc communications including phone calls, emails, conversations in the hallway, or impromptu meetings.

Information distribution Providing stakeholders with information regarding the project in a timely manner via status reports , project meetings, review meetings, email, and so on. The communications management plan is put into action during this process.

Infrastructure The backbone of the organization's computing environment. Typically the infrastructure will include such elements as the network cabling, routers and switches, and termination points.

Interactive voice response (IVR) A system that uses telephony and allows users to connect to a database using a touch-tone telephone for the retrieval of information or to interact with the system in other ways.

Initiation The first process in a project life cycle. It is the formal acknowledgment that the project should begin using a charter.

Inspection A quality control technique that includes examining, measuring, or testing work results.

Integrated change control A process that influences the things that cause change, determines that change is needed or has happened , and manages change. All other change control processes are integrated with this process.

Integrated system A computing system that draws its data elements from various sources, such as an Oracle database and a SQL Server database.

Integration testing The process of testing several distinct software modules (called units) as one intact entity. Integration testing proves that the various unique software modules work together in harmony.

Intermediate data facility (IDF) A room that houses necessary infrastructure components and is connected by network cabling to the datacenter, but is not considered to be the datacenter. Typically, in large buildings there are several IDFs spread around so that it's easier and cheaper to run network cabling to user endpoints. Servers generally are not placed in the IDFs, but are kept at the datacenter, also called the Main Data Facility ( see also Main Data Facility).

Internal rate of return (IRR) The discount rate when the present value of the cash inflows equals the original investment. Projects with higher IRR values are generally considered better than projects with lower IRR values. Assumes that cash inflows are reinvested at the IRR value.

Iterative process Any process that is repeated more than once. The five process groups are repeated throughout the project's life due to change requests , responses to change, corrective action, and so on.