What is Process Groups (IPECC)?
The five process groups — Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, Closing (IPECC) — organize project management processes by purpose. They are not phases: they interleave and repeat, and monitoring & controlling runs alongside everything from day one to the last signature.
That distinction is a reliable exam question: a phase is a chunk of the timeline; a process group is a category of activity that can occur in every phase.
Worked example
In month one of a clinic construction project, the PM is simultaneously closing the design phase (closing), planning procurement (planning), executing early site works (executing), and tracking cost variances on all of it (monitoring & controlling). Four process groups, one Tuesday — which is why they can't be phases.