"The project life cycle

RAVI IBS

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE
Phases of Project Life-Cycle

Input, Process and Output Format

Key Activities, Milestone, Hold-Points

and Approvals

Overlap Between Phases (fast tracking)

I. Phases of Project Life-Cycle

1. Concept and Initiation Phase (Birth)
2. Design and Development Phase
(Planning)
3. Implementation or Construction Phase
(Execution and Controlling)
4. Commissioning and Handover Phase
(Closure)

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE
Refers to a logical sequence of activities to
accomplish the projects goals or
objectives.
Regardless of scope or complexity, any
project goes through a series of stages
during its life called phases of project lifecycle.

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE
There is first an Initiation or Birth phase, in
which the outputs and critical success factors
are defined,
followed by a Planning phase, characterized
by breaking down the project into smaller
parts/tasks,
an Execution phase, in which the project
plan is executed, and
lastly a Closure or Exit phase, that marks
the completion of the project.

 Project activities must be grouped into

phases because by doing so, the project
manager and the core team can efficiently
plan and organize resources for each
activity, and also objectively measure
achievement of goals and justify their
decisions to move ahead, correct, or
terminate.

 It is of great importance to organize project

phases into industry-specific project cycles.
Why?
Not only because each industry sector involves
specific requirements, tasks, and procedures
when it comes to projects, but also because
different industry sectors have different needs for
life cycle management methodology.
And paying close attention to such details is the
difference between doing things well and
excelling as project managers.

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE

Figure 1: The four phase of the project life cycle. Adapted from J. Westland,
The Project Management Lifecycle, Kogan Page Limited (2006).

A. Concept and Initiation

Phase (Birth)
In this first stage, the scope of the project
is defined along with the approach to be
taken to deliver the desired outputs.
The project manager is appointed and in
turn, he selects the team members based
on their skills and experience

A. Concept and Initiation

Phase (Birth)
The most common tools or methodologies
used in the initiation stage are Project
Charter, Business Plan, Project
Framework (or Overview), Business
Case Justification, and Milestones
Reviews.
This is usually represented by the
conceptuali-zation of the project.
The purpose of this phase is to specify
what the project should accomplish.

The basic processes of the Project Initiation

Phase are:
Creation of a Product / Project Description Document.
This is an informal, high-level statement describing the
characteristics of the product / project / process to be
created.
Development of Project Feasibility Document.
This identifies project constraints, alternatives and related
assumptions applied to the end product to be developed.
Project feasibility is characterized by four basic components:
1. Business Problem Description.
2. Approach Overview to be used to develop.
3. Potential Solutions of the problem.
4. Preliminary Recommendations.

Project Concept Document

Development of Project Concept
Document.
It determines
What is to be done?
How will it be done? And
Why is it to be done?
Thus determining the business value
achieved after project completion.

Project Concept Document

Creation of Project Charter:
Project Charter formally communicates
the initiation of the project.
It consists of
1. Project Scope,
2. Project Authority and
3. Critical Success Factors.

Phase 1 contd.
During this phase, Project Team is responsible
for the following activities:
Conducting Interviews and yellow pad sessions
with customers and stakeholders.
Conduct research and brainstorming sessions for
generating more necessary information.
Preparation of Project Feasibility Document,
Project Concept Statement and Project Charter.
Preparation of other ancilliary documents as
defined in the organization standards.

Barriers and Problems at

Initiation Phase
Some common barriers and problems are faced by Project
Managers during the Initiation Phase which hamper the project
to get started. Let us have a summarized look at some of the
common problems.
1. Project Team Frustration builds up as the project does not
seem to get started.
2. There is a Lack of Commitment from the Management and
Key Stakeholders.
3. Customer Indecision may arise due to non-visibility of the end
product by the customer.
4. Locating the right people can be difficult while assembling the
Project Initiation Team.
5. Lack of consensus on Project Objectives can kill the project
before it starts

B. Design and Development Phase

(Planning)
This stage include a detailed identification and
assignment of each task until the end of the project.
It should also include a risk analysis and a
definition of a criteria for the successful completion
of each deliverable.
The governance process is defined, stake holders
identified and reporting frequency and channels
agreed.

B. Design and Development Phase

(Planning) contd.
The most common tools or methodologies used in
the planning stage are
1. Business Plan and
2. Milestones Reviews.
.the most important phase in project management.
.The efforts spent in planning can save countless
hours of confusion and rework in the subsequent
phases.

Project Planning
The purpose of the Project Planning
Phase is:
1. Establish Business Requirements.
2. Establish Cost, Schedule, List of
Deliverables and Delivery Dates.
3. Establish Resource Plan.
4. Get Management Approval and proceed
to next phases

Process of Project Planning

The basic processes of the Project
Planning Phase
are:
Scope Planning. This specifies the inscope requirements for the project.
Preparing the Work Breakdown Structure.
This specifies the breakdown of the project
into tasks and sub-tasks.

Organizational Breakdown
Structure
This specifies who all in the organization need
to be involved and referred for Project
Completion.
Resource Planning. This specifies who will
do what work at which time of the project.
Project Schedule Development.
This specifies the entire schedule of the
activities detailing their sequence of
execution.

Budget Planning
This specifies the budgeted cost to be
incurred in the completion of the Project.
Both the basic processes and facilitating
processes produces a Project Plan.

Project Initiation Phase Planning

Project Initiation Phase defines a few facilitating
processes as well that are required for successful
Project Completion. These can be:
1. Procurement Planning. Planning for
procurement of all resources (staff and nonstaff).
2. Communication Planning. Planning on the
communication strategy with all project
stakeholders.

3) Quality Planning. Planning for Quality

Assurance to be applied to the Project.
4) Risk Management Planning. Charting
the risks, contingency plan and mitigation
strategies.
5) Configuration Management Planning.
Defines how the various project artifacts
will get stored.

Project Team
During this phase, Project Team is responsible for
the following activities:
Project Managers are responsible for developing
the Project Plan thus ensuring that all the project
planning requirements are fulfilled.
Functional / Management personnel are
responsible ensures that adequate resources are
available for the project.
Key Stakeholders should approve the Project Plan
before moving to the next phase.

Project Planning and Success

Project Planning is essential for a
project's success.
Project Planning helps team members to
understand their responsibilities and
expectations from them.
Project Planning Phase identifies scope,
tasks, schedules, risks, quality and staffing
needs.

C. Implementation or Construction
Phase (Execution and Controlling)
The most important issue in this phase is to ensure
project activities are properly executed and
controlled.
During the execution phase, the planned solution is
implemented to solve the problem specified in the
project's requirements.
In product and system development, a design
resulting in a specific set of product requirements is
created. This convergence is measured by
prototypes, testing, and reviews.

C. Implementation or Construction
Phase (Execution and Controlling) contd.
As the execution phase progresses, groups across
the organization become more deeply involved in
planning for the final testing, production, and
support.
The most common tools or methodologies used in
the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis
and Score Cards, in addition to Business Plan and
Milestones Reviews.
.

Implementation or Construction
Phase (Execution and Controlling) contd.

It follows the Project Planning Phase and

ideally starts once the Project Plan has
been approved and base lined.
Project Execution is characterized by the
actual work on the tasks planned and
project Control involves the comparison of
the actual performance with the planned
performance and taking appropriate
corrective action to get the desired output.

During this phase, Project Team is responsible

for the following activities:
Team Members execute the tasks as planned by
the Project Manager.
Project Manager is responsible for performance
measurement which includes finding variances
between planned and actual work, cost and
schedule.

 Project manager is responsible for providing Project

Status Report to all key stakeholders to provide
visibility.
All Project Key stakeholders are responsible for the
review of the metrics and variances.
All Project Key stakeholders are responsible for
taking necessary action of the variances thus
determined so as to complete the project within time
and budget.

Process of Execution
The basic processes of the Project Execution
and Control can be:
1. Project Plan Execution
2. Review of Metrics and Status Reports.
3. Change Control Process. This defines the
procedures to handle the changes that are
introduced during Project Execution and
Control.

D. Comissioning and Handover Phase

(Closure)
In this last stage, the project manager must ensure that
the project is brought to its proper completion.
This is characterized by a written formal project review
report containing the following components: a formal
acceptance of the final product by the client, Weighted
Critical Measurements (matching the initial requirements
specified by the client with the final delivered product),
rewarding the team, a list of lessons learned, releasing
project resources, and a formal project closure
notification to higher management.
No special tool or methodology is needed during the
closure phase.

D. Comissioning and Handover Phase

(Closure)
Project Closure Phase is the last phase of the Project
Life Cycle. The commencement of the Project Closure
Phase is determined by the completion of all Project
Objectives and acceptance of the end product by the
customer.

Project Closure includes the following tasks:

1. Release of the resources, both staff and non-staff, and

their redistribution and reallocation to other projects, if
needed.
2. Closure of any financial issues like labour, contract etc.
3. Collection and Completion of All Project Records.
4. Archiving of All Project Records.
5. Documenting the Issues faced in the Project and their
resolution. This helps other projects to plan for such type
of issues in the Project Initiation Phase itself.

Project Closure includes the following tasks:

6. Recording Lesson Learned and conducting a session

with the Project Team on the same.
This helps in the productivity improvement of the team
and helps identify the dos and don'ts of the Project.

Celebrate the Project Completion.

Its party time!!

 Some other characteristics of the project lifecycle which will be developed in the
following:
Inputs, processes and outputs within each
phase.
Key activities, milestone, hold-points and
approvals within each phase.
Overlaps between phases (fast tracking ).
Plotting level of effort ( labour or cash-flow)
against the life-cycle
Plotting level of influence against the cost
of changes (to show front-end importance).
Project life-cycle costing.

Overlap Between Phases

(fast tracking)
The project phases are shown here in sequence,
practice there may be some overlap between the
phases.
Deliverables from the proceeding phase are
generally approved before work starts on the next
phase. However, if the deliverables are approved
progressively and work begins on the following
phases before the previous phases are totally
complete, this practice would be called fast
tracking. For example on a shipbuilding project
the construction of the hull may start progressively
as the drawings are available and similarly be
commissioned progressively as the work is