3.

THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE (PHASES)

PreviousNext
ADRIENNE WATT

The project manager and project team have one shared goal: to carry out the work of the
project for the purpose of meeting the projects objectives. Every project has a beginning,
a middle period during which activities move the project toward completion, and an
ending (either successful or unsuccessful). A standard project typically has the following
four major phases (each with its own agenda of tasks and issues): initiation, planning,
implementation, and closure. Taken together, these phases represent the path a project
takes from the beginning to its end and are generally referred to as the project life
cycle.

INITIATION PHASE
During the first of these phases, the initiation phase, the project objective or need is
identified; this can be a business problem or opportunity. An appropriate response to the
need is documented in a business case with recommended solution options. A feasibility
study is conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the project objective and
a final recommended solution is determined. Issues of feasibility (can we do the
project?) and justification (should we do the project?) are addressed.
Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is initiated to deliver the approved
solution and a project manager is appointed. The major deliverables and the participating
work groups are identified, and the project team begins to take shape. Approval is then
sought by the project manager to move onto the detailed planning phase.

PLANNING PHASE
The next phase, the planning phase, is where the project solution is further developed in
as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the projects objective are
planned. In this step, the team identifies all of the work to be done. The projects tasks
and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy for producing them. This
is also referred to as scope management. A project plan is created outlining the
activities, tasks, dependencies, and timeframes. The project manager coordinates the
preparation of a project budget by providing cost estimates for the labor, equipment, and
materials costs. The budget is used to monitor and control cost expenditures during
project implementation.
Once the project team has identified the work, prepared the schedule, and estimated the
costs, the three fundamental components of the planning process are complete. This is an
excellent time to identify and try to deal with anything that might pose a threat to the
successful completion of the project. This is called risk management. In risk
management, high-threat potential problems are identified along with the action that is
to be taken on each high-threat potential problem, either to reduce the probability that the
problem will occur or to reduce the impact on the project if it does occur. This is also a
good time to identify all project stakeholders and establish a communication plan
describing the information needed and the delivery method to be used to keep the
stakeholders informed.
Finally, you will want to document a quality plan, providing quality targets, assurance,
and control measures, along with an acceptance plan, listing the criteria to be met to gain
customer acceptance. At this point, the project would have been planned in detail and is
ready to be executed.

IMPLEMENTATION (EXECUTION) PHASE

over the direction of the project by comparing the progress reports with the project plan
to measure the performance of the project activities and take corrective action as needed.
The first course of action should always be to bring the project back on course (i.e., to
return it to the original plan). If that cannot happen, the team should record variations
from the original plan and record and publish modifications to the plan. Throughout this
step, project sponsors and other key stakeholders should be kept informed of the projects
status according to the agreed-on frequency and format of communication. The plan
should be updated and published on a regular basis.
Status reports should always emphasize the anticipated end point in terms of cost,
schedule, and quality of deliverables. Each project deliverable produced should be
reviewed for quality and measured against the acceptance criteria. Once all of the
deliverables have been produced and the customer has accepted the final solution, the
project is ready for closure.

CLOSING PHASE
During the final closure, or completion phase, the emphasis is on releasing the final
deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation to the business,
terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources, and communicating the
closure of the project to all stakeholders. The last remaining step is to conduct lessonslearned studies to examine what went well and what didnt. Through this type of analysis,
the wisdom of experience is transferred back to the project organization, which will help
future project teams.
EXAMPLE: PROJECT PHASES ON A LARGE MULTINATIONAL PROJECT
A U.S. construction company won a contract to design and build the first copper mine in
northern Argentina. There was no existing infrastructure for either the mining industry or
large construction projects in this part of South America. During the initiation phase of
the project, the project manager focused on defining and finding a project leadership team
with the knowledge, skills, and experience to manage a large complex project in a remote
area of the globe. The project team set up three offices. One was in Chile, where large
mining construction project infrastructure existed. The other two were in Argentina. One
was in Buenos Aries to establish relationships and Argentinian expertise, and the second
was in Catamarcathe largest town close to the mine site. With offices in place, the

project start-up team began developing procedures for getting work done, acquiring the
appropriate permits, and developing relationships with Chilean and Argentine partners.
During the planning phase, the project team developed an integrated project schedule that
coordinated the activities of the design, procurement, and construction teams. The project
controls team also developed a detailed budget that enabled the project team to track
project expenditures against the expected expenses. The project design team built on the
conceptual design and developed detailed drawings for use by the procurement team. The
procurement team used the drawings to begin ordering equipment and materials for the
construction team; develop labor projections; refine the construction schedule; and set up
the construction site. Although planning is a never-ending process on a project, the
planning phase focused on developing sufficient details to allow various parts of the
project team to coordinate their work and allow the project management team to make
priority decisions.
The implementation phase represents the work done to meet the requirements of the
scope of work and fulfill the charter. During the implementation phase, the project team
accomplished the work defined in the plan and made adjustments when the project
factors changed. Equipment and materials were delivered to the work site, labor was
hired and trained, a construction site was built, and all the construction activities, from
the arrival of the first dozer to the installation of the final light switch, were
accomplished.
The closeout phase included turning over the newly constructed plant to the operations
team of the client. A punch list of a few remaining construction items was developed and
those items completed. The office in Catamarca was closed, the office in Buenos Aries
archived all the project documents, and the Chilean office was already working on the
next project. The accounting books were reconciled and closed, final reports written and
distributed, and the project manager started on a new project.