Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. The project management discipline can be highlighted from various angles and sub-disciplines and contains important issues such as project objective and scope management, human resource management and setting the roles and responsibilities of all participants and stakeholders of a project, planning principles and resource allocation models, etc.
Typically, a project goes through a number of different phases, which is often referred to as the project life cycle, which can be described as follows:
The project life cycle has identifiable start and end points, which can be associated with a time scale. A project passes through several distinct phases as it matures. The life cycle includes all phases from point of inception to final termination of the project. The interfaces between phases are rarely clearly separated, except in cases where proposal acceptance of formal authorization to proceed separates the two phases.
Consequently, the PLC is defined by the time window between the initial start of the project and the final termination and consists of a number of phases, separated by major milestones. The number of phases and their corresponding titles differ from industry to industry and from project to project. Let's now focus on various project phases.
Project Phases
A project consists of sequential phases. These phases are extremely useful in planning a project since they provide a framework for budgeting, manpower and resource allocation and for scheduling project milestones and project reviews. The method of dividing a project into phases may differ somewhat from industry to industry and from product to product and it can be summarized as follows:
• Concept (initiation, identification, selection). • Definition (feasibility, development, demonstration, design prototype). • Execution (implementation, production, design/construct/commission, install and test). • Closeout (termination and post completion evaluation).
Some argue that the number of phases and the titles are so generic that they are of little value in describing the project life cycle process. Although the construction and presentation of a generic project life cycle seems to be difficult, if not impossible, each PLC shares a number of common characteristics.
• The major milestones between the phases represent high-level decision points. • The phases may, and frequently will, overlap.
Between the various phases are decision points, at which an explicit decision is made concerning whether the next phase should be undertaken. A major review of the entire project occurs at the end of each phase, resulting in authorization to proceed with the next phase, cancellation of the project, or repetition of a previous phase.
Initially in PMBOK the project life cycle concept was not mentioned at all. In the later editions, PMI realized the importance of the “divide and conquer” principle as the complexity and the size of the project increase and included the PLC concept in the book.
More precisely, PMBOK describes the project life cycle as follows:
Because projects are unique undertakings, they involve a degree of uncertainty. Organizations performing projects will usually divide each into several project phases to improve management control and provide for links to the ongoing operations of the performing organization. Collectively, the project phases are known as the project life cycle.
Each project is marked by the completion of one or more deliverable, such as a feasibility study or a detail design. These deliverable, and hence the phases, are part of a generally sequential logic designed to ensure proper definition of the project.
The conclusion of each phase is generally marked by a review. These reviews, often called milestones, phase exits, stage gates or kill points, are necessary to:
• Determine if the project should continue to the next phase. • Detect and correct errors cost effectively.
Although PMBOK presents a sample generic life cycle as shown in figure below they argue that many project life cycles have similar phase names with similar deliverables required but few are identical.
The next figure shows a generic project life cycle which we'll use in our post. It consists of a project conception phase, a project definition phase, a phase in which the project has to be scheduled, the execution of the project, the project control phase and the termination of the project.
At the beginning, in the so-called conceptual phase, an organization identifies the need for a project or receives a request from a customer. In the definition phase, the organization defines the project objectives, the project specifications and requirements and the organization of the whole project. The project objectives need to be refined and translated into a list of activities, a set of technological precedence relations and the resource availability and requirements. In doing so, the organization decides in detail on how it is going to achieve these objectives.
The next phase, the scheduling phase, aims at the construction of a timetable for the project activities. The construction of a precedence and/or resource feasible schedule determines a start and finish time for each activity, and hence, relies on the information obtained by the previous phase.
During the execution and project control phases, the project has to be monitored and controlled to see whether it is performed according to the existing schedule. If deviations occur, corrective actions have to be taken. This control mechanism has been incorporated in the project life cycle by means of the feedback loop between the control phase and the scheduling phase of the above shown figure.
The termination phase involves the completion and a critical evaluation of the project. This information can then be used during the project life cycle of future, similar projects since the specifications of a project, the estimates of the duration, costs and resource requirements are often determined based on averages of past performance.
With this our post comes to an end. We shall meet again with a new topic, till then keep exploring the world of Project Management!.
Typically, a project goes through a number of different phases, which is often referred to as the project life cycle, which can be described as follows:
The project life cycle has identifiable start and end points, which can be associated with a time scale. A project passes through several distinct phases as it matures. The life cycle includes all phases from point of inception to final termination of the project. The interfaces between phases are rarely clearly separated, except in cases where proposal acceptance of formal authorization to proceed separates the two phases.
Consequently, the PLC is defined by the time window between the initial start of the project and the final termination and consists of a number of phases, separated by major milestones. The number of phases and their corresponding titles differ from industry to industry and from project to project. Let's now focus on various project phases.
Project Phases
A project consists of sequential phases. These phases are extremely useful in planning a project since they provide a framework for budgeting, manpower and resource allocation and for scheduling project milestones and project reviews. The method of dividing a project into phases may differ somewhat from industry to industry and from product to product and it can be summarized as follows:
• Concept (initiation, identification, selection). • Definition (feasibility, development, demonstration, design prototype). • Execution (implementation, production, design/construct/commission, install and test). • Closeout (termination and post completion evaluation).
Some argue that the number of phases and the titles are so generic that they are of little value in describing the project life cycle process. Although the construction and presentation of a generic project life cycle seems to be difficult, if not impossible, each PLC shares a number of common characteristics.
• The major milestones between the phases represent high-level decision points. • The phases may, and frequently will, overlap.
Between the various phases are decision points, at which an explicit decision is made concerning whether the next phase should be undertaken. A major review of the entire project occurs at the end of each phase, resulting in authorization to proceed with the next phase, cancellation of the project, or repetition of a previous phase.
Initially in PMBOK the project life cycle concept was not mentioned at all. In the later editions, PMI realized the importance of the “divide and conquer” principle as the complexity and the size of the project increase and included the PLC concept in the book.
More precisely, PMBOK describes the project life cycle as follows:
Because projects are unique undertakings, they involve a degree of uncertainty. Organizations performing projects will usually divide each into several project phases to improve management control and provide for links to the ongoing operations of the performing organization. Collectively, the project phases are known as the project life cycle.
Each project is marked by the completion of one or more deliverable, such as a feasibility study or a detail design. These deliverable, and hence the phases, are part of a generally sequential logic designed to ensure proper definition of the project.
The conclusion of each phase is generally marked by a review. These reviews, often called milestones, phase exits, stage gates or kill points, are necessary to:
• Determine if the project should continue to the next phase. • Detect and correct errors cost effectively.
Although PMBOK presents a sample generic life cycle as shown in figure below they argue that many project life cycles have similar phase names with similar deliverables required but few are identical.
At the beginning, in the so-called conceptual phase, an organization identifies the need for a project or receives a request from a customer. In the definition phase, the organization defines the project objectives, the project specifications and requirements and the organization of the whole project. The project objectives need to be refined and translated into a list of activities, a set of technological precedence relations and the resource availability and requirements. In doing so, the organization decides in detail on how it is going to achieve these objectives.
The next phase, the scheduling phase, aims at the construction of a timetable for the project activities. The construction of a precedence and/or resource feasible schedule determines a start and finish time for each activity, and hence, relies on the information obtained by the previous phase.
During the execution and project control phases, the project has to be monitored and controlled to see whether it is performed according to the existing schedule. If deviations occur, corrective actions have to be taken. This control mechanism has been incorporated in the project life cycle by means of the feedback loop between the control phase and the scheduling phase of the above shown figure.
The termination phase involves the completion and a critical evaluation of the project. This information can then be used during the project life cycle of future, similar projects since the specifications of a project, the estimates of the duration, costs and resource requirements are often determined based on averages of past performance.
With this our post comes to an end. We shall meet again with a new topic, till then keep exploring the world of Project Management!.
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