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
I. Phases of Project Life-Cycle
Concept and Initiation Phase (Birth)
Design and Development Phase
(Planning)
Implementation or Construction
Phase (Execution and Controlling)
Commissioning and Handover
Phase (Closure)
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.
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).

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.