PROJECT LIFE-CYLE

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)

Level of Effort

Level of Influence vs. Cost of Change

Concept and Initiation Phase (Birth)

Design and Development Phase

(Planning)

Implementation or Construction Phase (Execution and Controlling)

Commissioning and Handover Phase (Closure)

I. Phases of Project Life-Cycle

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE refers to a logical sequence of activities to

accomplish the project’s goals or objectives. Regardless of scope or complexity, any project goes through a series of stages during its life called phases of 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.

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

PROJECT LIFE-CYCLE

Model of the Systems Development Life Cycle with the Maintenance bubble highlighted.

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.

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: • Business Problem Description. • Approach Overview to be used to develop. • Potential Solutions of the problem. • Preliminary Recommendations.

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.

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

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.

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:

Project Team Frustration builds up as the project does not seem to get started.

There is a Lack of Commitment from the Management and Key Stakeholders.

Customer Indecision may arise due to non-visibility of the end product by the customer.

Locating the right people can be difficult while assembling the Project Initiation Team.

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. The most common tools or methodologies used in the planning stage are Business Plan and Milestones Reviews.

the most important phase in project management. The effort spent in planning can save countless hours of confusion and rework in the subsequent phases.

The purpose of the Project Planning Phase is:

Establish Business Requirements.

Establish Cost, Schedule, List of Deliverables and Delivery Dates.

Establish Resource Plan.

Get Management Approval and proceed to next phases.

The basic processes of the Project Planning Phase

are:

Scope Planning. This specifies the in-scope 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 defines a few facilitating

processes as well that are required for successful

Project Completion. These can be:

Procurement Planning. Planning for procurement of all resources (staff and non-staff).

Communication Planning. Planning on the communication strategy with all project stakeholders.

Quality Planning. Planning for Quality Assurance to be applied to the Project.

Risk Management Planning. Charting the risks, contingency plan and mitigation strategies.

Configuration Management Planning. Defines how the various project artifacts will get stored.

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 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.

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.

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 metrices 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.

The basic processes of the Project Execution and

Control can be:

Project Plan Execution. Review of Metrics and Status Reports. Change Control Process. This defines the procedures

to handle the changes that are introduced during Project Execution and Control.

The facilitating processes during Project Execution

and Control can be: Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Performance Monitoring. Information Distribution or Status Reporting. Project Administration. Risk Monitoring and Control. Scope Control. Schedule and Cost Control. Contract Administration.

Project Execution and Control Phase has a direct correlation to project progress and stakeholder's expectations. Even the minor issues, if unnoticed, can cause major impact on cost, schedule and risk and deviate the project from the Project Plan, thus emphasizing the importance for the Project Execution and Control Phase.

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.

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:

Release of the resources, both staff and non-staff, and their redistribution and reallocation to other projects, if needed.

Closure of any financial issues like labour, contract etc.

Collection and Completion of All Project Records. Archiving of All Project Records. 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.

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 do’s and don'ts of the Project.

Celebrate the Project Completion. Its party time folks!!!

The basic process of the Project Closure

Phase involves:

Administrative Closure. This is the process of preparation of closure documents and process deliverables. This includes the release and redistribution of the Project Resources.

Development of Project Post Implementation Evaluation Report. It includes:

Project Sign-Off Staffing and Skills Project Organizational Structure Schedule Management Cost Management Quality Management Configuration Management Customer Expectations Management Lesson Learned

Taking the project life-cycle model a step further, consider some other interesting characteristics:

The project phases take their name from the deliverables of the phase, e.g. initiate, design, construct or handover.

The sequence of the project phases generally involved some form of technology transfer or handover from one phase, to the next phase, such as:

project brief to design and development detailed design to manufacture construction to commissioning commissioning to operation.

This has also been called over-the-wall transfer if it is not accompanied with appropriate discussions and explanations.

The end of a project phase is generally marked by a review of both the deliverables and performance in order to determine if the project should continue into the next phase.

Each phase can be planned and controlled as a mini project .

Each phase may be performed by different departments or companies.

As the project progresses through the phases, if the goals and objectives change so the project management process should reflect this changes.

Some other characteristics of the project life-cycle 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.

II. Input, Process and Output Format

The project life-cycle sub-divides the project into a number of definable project phases or stages and these phases in turn can be further sub-divide into an input, process and output format. This is consistent with the body of knowledge’s approach to describing the project management process in terms of input, output, tools and techniques (see figure 2)

III. Key Activities, Milestone, Hold-Points and Approvals

Within each phase there maybe a number of key activities, milestones and hold-points which help to focus the project team and help to impose control. The following proforma would be a useful document for capturing and presenting this information (see figure 2 and 3).

IV. 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 completed

V. Level of Effort The project life-cycle is often presented with its

associated level of effort. This level of effort could be any parameter that flows through the project that can be measured, but it is most commonly expressed as man hours or costs. These parameters can be presented as a line graph of rate of expenditure and/or a line graph of accumulated expenditure (see figure I).

The profile clearly shows a slow build-up of efforts accelerates during the implementations phase to a maximum as the work faces are opened-up before a sharp decline as the work is completed and commissioned (see figure I) and the project draws to a close.

From this curve one would naturally assume that as the greatest level of effort occurs during the implementation of phase, then this the most important phase determining the success of the project – this is after all where the product is made.

Certainly the tools and technique developed such as PERT, CPM, & WBS were all focusing on this phase. But we need to consider the difference between efficiency and effectiveness – efficiency is doing activities right while effectiveness is doing the right activity (see next section)

VI. Level of Influence vs. Cost of Change

As projects become more involved and complex, together with time pressures to shorten the implementation phase so the need to get the design right from the outset becomes more important .

Consider a shipbuilding project, where the cost of changing the engine room arrangement at the concept and design phases would be the cost of design hours to reproducing a number of drawings.

However a change at the implementation phase would not only incur design costs, but also the cost to remove machinery already fitted, together with the cost of new equipment, additional labour and maybe penalties for late delivery.

This cost profile encourage model testing and computer aided simulation where ideas and options can be developed and tested cost effectively before the implementation phase.

The stakeholder level of design influence, or potential to add value to the project reduces as the project progresses. As the design develops, so design freezes must be imposed progressively for the design to progress. For example, if the foundations are change after the building has been change , then all the design figures must be recalculated.

This is clearly illustrated in figure 5 where the level of influence and cost of changes are plotted against the project life-cycle. At the outset of the project the potential for adding value and cost savings are at

their highest, but steadily reduce as the project progresses - loosely mirroring this curve are the associated cost of any changes.

The financial encouragement is therefore, to spend proportionally more time and effort during the initial phases to get the design right before implementation.

The opportunities for improving performance and results on all types of projects are at the front-end . The ability to influence the project , reduce project costs, build-in additional value improve performance and increase flexibility is highest at the very early conceptual and design stages. But the time the construction or implementation gets under way, the ability to influence the costs has reduced considerably.

It therefore follows that the project manager should be appointed during these early phases to ensure that the maximum advantage is taken to influence the project effectively

KEY POINTS:

Most projects can be sub-divided into four generic phases; concept, design, implementation and commission.

Project do pass through a number of recognizable stages from initiation to completion and as these stages are interrelated and dependent on each other, it is reasonable to say the project passes through a project life-cycle

Phases of project life-cycle can be further sub-divided into an input process and output format

Project phases are shown in sequence into a proforma, but in practice there may be some overlap

between phases.