Dr. NICHOLAS WATSON

The Project Life Cycle

Adopted from:  http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/ProjMan01CD/page_28.htm

 

The project life cycle consists of four phases, initiation, planning, execution (including monitoring and controlling) and evaluation. The MPMM Project Management Methodology is an excellent resource for this part of the Unit. The Initiation phase begins by defining the scope, purpose, objectives, resources, deliverables, timescales and structure of the project. The next step is to develop a Business Case, including several possible solutions and a cost/benefit analysis for each. A Feasibility Study should then be carried out to ensure that the chosen solution is feasible and has an acceptable level of risk. The next step is to define the Terms of Reference, followed by the appointment of the project team. The final step is to carry out Phase Review before seeking approval to proceed. The first step of the Planning phase is the creation of a detailed Project Plan which the project manager will refer throughout the project to monitor and control time, cost and quality.

 

The project manager will then create the following plans:

 

• Resource Plan: to identify the staffing, equipment and materials needed

• Financial Plan: to quantify the financial expenditure required

• Quality Plan: to set quality targets and specify Quality Control methods

• Risk Plan: to identify risks and plan actions needed to minimise them

• Acceptance Plan: to specify criteria for accepting deliverables

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Finally, a Phase Review is carried out to assess the deliverables produced to date and approve the start of the Project Execution phase. During the Project Execution phase the project team produces the deliverables while the project manager monitors and controls the project delivery by undertaking:

 

• Time Management: tracking and recording time spent on tasks against the Project Plan

• Cost Management: identifying and recording costs against the project budget

• Quality Management: reviewing the quality of the deliverables and management processes

• Change Management: reviewing and implementing requests for changes to the project

• Risk Management: assessing the level of project risk and taking action to minimize it

• Issue Management: identifying and resolving project issues

• Acceptance Management: identifying the completion of deliverables and gaining the customers acceptance

• Communications Management: keeping stakeholders informed of project progress, risks and issues

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Once the customer has accepted the deliverables and a Phase Review has been carried out to determine whether the project objectives have been achieved, the project is ready for Closure. A Project Closure Report should list all of the actions required. When this has been approved, the listed actions are completed to release project resources, hand over deliverables, and inform all stakeholders that the project is now closed. Shortly after the project has been closed, an Evaluation (also known as a Post-Implementation Review) should be carried out to determine the project's overall success and find out whether the benefits stated in the original Business Case were actually realised. Any lessons learned should be documented for future projects.

 

Initiation

The Initiation Phase involves defining the purpose and scope of the project, the justification for undertaking it and the solution to be implemented. It also involves recruiting the project team and carrying out a Phase Review, before proceeding to the next stage.

 

• A Business Case is developed, describing the business problem to be addressed by the project, the alternative solutions and the potential costs and benefits associated with each. The Business Case is foundation for the project as it fully describes the project, the reasons for creating it and the key benefits to be produced.

• A Feasibility Study is then completed to ascertain the likelihood of the alternative solutions actually delivering the stated benefits in the Business Case. This is used to identify the preferred solution, which must be approved before proceeding.

• The Terms of Reference describe what the project intends to achieve and the boundaries within which it must achieve it. This includes the project vision, objectives, scope, deliverables, project organisation and an Implementation Plan.

• Once the project is defined, it is time to appoint the Project Team. The Project Manager is recruited to take on responsibility for the project and recruit the remaining members of the team.

• Finally, a Phase Review is carried out to ensure that all of the required activities have been completed and to provide formal approval to proceed to the next phase of the project.

Planning

The Planning phase involves the creation of a set of planning documents which will guide the team throughout the project.

The key stages are as follows:

 

• A comprehensive Project Plan is critical to the success of the project. It identifies the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of phases, activities and tasks to be undertaken to complete the project. It also identifies the sequencing, duration and dependencies of tasks and the resources and financial expenditure required to complete the project.

• The Resource Plan should give a detailed assessment of the resources required to undertake the project. It should list the required labour, equipment and materials and quantify the amount of each resource. It should also give a resource usage schedule to give the Project Manager with a complete view of the total amount of resources needed at each stage.

• The Financial Plan describes the financial resources required during each stage of the project.

• The total cost of each item of labor, equipment and materials is calculated, as well as the total cost of undertaking each activity.

• The Quality Plan lists the quality targets that need to be achieved to ensure that the project deliverables meet customer requirements. Quality Assurance and Quality Control activities are scheduled to make sure that the required level of quality is achieved throughout the project.

• The Risk Plan identifies all foreseeable project risks and rates them in terms of their likelihood of occurrence and potential impact on the project. The risks are prioritised and actions identified to reduce the likelihood of each risk and minimize its impact on the project.

• An Acceptance Plan is created to ensure that customer acceptance is sought for each deliverable produced by the project. The Acceptance Plan provides a schedule of Acceptance Reviews.

• The Communications Plan describes the information to be provided to project stakeholders to keep them informed of the progress of the project. A schedule of communication events and activities is drawn up to make sure that the right information is communicated to the right people at the right time.

• Finally, a Phase Review is carried out to ensure that all of the required Planning activities have been completed and to provide formal approval to proceed to the next phase.

Execution

During the Execution phase the deliverables are physically built and presented to the customer for acceptance. While each deliverable is being constructed, a group of management processes are carried out to monitor and control activities. Once all the deliverables have been produced and accepted by the customer, the project is ready for closure.

The first and most important step is to build the deliverables specified in the Terms of Reference. During this activity, a detailed design of each deliverable is created and the deliverables are physically constructed, tested and reviewed to determine whether they meet the quality criteria and the acceptance criteria. When all the criteria have been met the deliverables are signed off on by the customer and handed over. At this stage, the project is ready for closure. During the construction of the deliverables the project manager performs several management processes to monitor and control the time, cost and quality of each deliverable as follows:

 

 

• Time Management involves monitoring and controlling the time spent by staff on the project. Timesheets are used to track and record time spent, so that the project manager can ascertain the overall progress of the project.

• Cost Management involves identifying project costs and recording the rate of consumption of the project budget.

• Quality Management involves undertaking the Quality Assurance and Control activities specified in the Quality Plan, to manage a project's level of quality and ensure that the project deliverables meet customer requirements.

• Risk Management involves monitoring and controlling project risks by taking the steps necessary to prevent risks and minimise the impact on the project should those risks occur.

• Issue Management involves resolving any unforeseen issues that may arise before they affect the ability of the project to meet its stated objectives.

• Acceptance Management involves carrying out Acceptance Reviews to gain the customer's approval of each deliverable. If the customer does not accept that the deliverables meet their requirements the success of the project will be compromised.

• Communications Management involves completing the activities specified in the Communications Plan to ensure that every stakeholder receives the right information, at the right time.

• Finally, a Phase Review is undertaken to ensure that all of the required activities in the Execution phase have been completed and the project is ready to proceed to the next phase.

Closure and Evaluation

The Project Closure phase involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources and communicating project closure to all stakeholders. The final step is to undertake an Evaluation to determine the extent to which the project was successful and note any lessons learned for future projects. The Project Closure Report should list all the activities required to close the project, to ensure that project closure is undertaken smoothly and efficiently. Once the report has been created and approved, the closure activities specified within the report are undertaken and the project is then officially closed. One to three months after the project has been closed and the business has begun to experience the benefits provided by the project, it is important to undertake an Evaluation, often referred to as a Post Implementation Review (PIR). This allows the business to identify the level of success of the project and list any lessons learned for future projects.

Evaluation is often carried out by an independent person to provide an unbiased opinion of the project outcome. The first step is to review the project performance to determine whether the project delivered the benefits, met the objectives, operated within the scope, and produced the deliverables on time, within budget and using the allocated resources. The review also needs to determine whether the project conformed to the management processes specified in Terms of Reference. It should also identify the key project achievements, failures and any lessons learned for future reference. The evaluation should review how the project performed against each of the targets set during the Initiation and Planning phases of the project, ie has the project:

 

• Delivered the business benefits described in the Business Case?

• Achieved the objectives specified in the Terms of Reference?

• Deviated from the original scope as defined in the Terms of Reference?

• Met the quality targets defined in the Quality Plan?

• Proceeded according to the planned Delivery Schedule?

• Deviated from the budgeted project expenditure as defined in the Financial Plan?

• Deviated from the forecast resource levels as defined in the Resource Plan?

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The next stage is to identify the extent to which the project has conformed to the management processes (as set out in the Terms of Reference) during the Execution phase of the project. These are: Time Management, Cost Management, Quality Management, Change Management, Risk Management, Communications Management and Acceptance Management. Finally, the Evaluation should:

• List the major achievements for this project and describe the positive effect that each achievement has had on the customer's business.

• List any project failures and describe the effects they have had on the customer's business.

• Describe the lessons learned from undertaking this project and list any recommendations for similar projects in the future.

Successful project management models can often be used as templates for future projects.

 

Project Management Software

Project management software can be used to carry out a variety of tasks including scheduling, budgeting, resource allocation, communication and collaboration software, quality management and documentation and administration.

One of the commonest tasks is scheduling a series of events, eg:

 

• Scheduling events which depend on one another in different ways

• Scheduling staff and resources required to complete the various tasks; this is often referred to as resource scheduling

• Producing estimates of the duration of each task

• Arranging tasks to meet deadlines

• Juggling multiple projects simultaneously

In many schedules there is a critical path, ie a series of events that depend on each other, and whose durations determine the length of the whole project (see also critical chain). Some project management software can assist with the optimisation of this path.

Project planning software can to provide a lot of information for various people. Typical outputs include:

 

• Tasks lists for staff and allocation schedules for resources

• Information on how long tasks will take to complete

• Early warning of any risks to the project

• Historical information on how projects have progressed and how actual performance and planned performance are related.

 

Types of Project Management Software

Desktop project management software gives individual users the most responsive and highly-graphical interface. Desktop applications normally store their data in a local file, although some allow collaboration between users or store their data in a central database. A simple file-based project plan can be shared between users if it is stored on a networked drive, and only one user accesses it at any given time.

Web-based project management software can be accessed through an intranet or extranet using a web browser and has all the usual advantages and disadvantages of web applications:

• Can be accessed from any type of computer without installing software

• Ease of access-control

• Provides multi-user facilities

• Only one software version and installation needs to be maintained

• Typically slower to respond than desktop applications

• Limited graphical capability compared to desktop applications

• Project information is not available offline.

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Single-user project management systems work on the basis that only one person will need to edit the project plan at any time. This may be used in small organisations, or only a few people are involved in project planning. Desktop applications usually come into this category.

Collaborative project management systems are designed to support multiple users modifying different sections of the plan at once, eg updating the areas they are personally responsible for so that those estimates get integrated into the overall plan. Web-based tools often fall into this category, but they can only be used when the user is online. Some client-server-based software tools replicate project and task information through a central server when users connect to the network.

Integrated systems combine project management or project planning, with many other aspects of company operations, eg bug tracking issues can be assigned to each project, the list of project customers becomes a customer relationship management module, and each person on the project plan has their own task lists, calendars, messaging etc associated with their projects.