An application area is a category of projects that share significant elements in common, even though those elements are not required or present in every project. Application areas are usually defined by industry or sector, such as construction, information technology, pharmaceuticals, or finance, and sometimes by the type of customer, technology, or functional department involved.
How it is used in practice
Thinking in application areas helps a team borrow proven practices from similar projects: a hospital construction project and an office construction project face many of the same regulations, roles, and risks, so lessons transfer well. Each application area tends to bring its own standards, regulations, vocabulary, and typical life cycle. This is why general project management knowledge is almost always combined with area-specific expertise; a capable project manager pairs the discipline with an understanding of the domain in which the project runs.
In the PMBOK Guide, 8th edition
The 8th edition presents project management principles and performance domains as deliberately general, meant to apply across every application area rather than to prescribe one industry’s way of working. That generality is what makes tailoring central: teams adapt the approach to the demands of their specific application area, drawing on the relevant methodology and body of knowledge. The broader project management body of knowledge supplies the common foundation that each application area then specialises.
Frequently asked questions
Is an application area the same as an industry? Industry is the most common way to define one, but application areas can also be grouped by customer type, technology, or department.
Why do application areas matter for project managers? They determine the standards, regulations, and specialist knowledge a project must respect, which general project management practice alone does not cover.
By Tom, PMP-certified since 2004. Last updated: July 2026