Chapter 3 Project Life Cycle

8/2/2019 Chapter 3 Project Life Cycle

1/26

PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

1


2/26

Projects also follow a progression of phases from

beginning to end called theproject life cycle.

The project life cycle consists of four phases as shown inFigure.1

2

PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Figure.1


3/26

"The first phase of a project is the initiation phase.

During this phase , a business problem or opportunity is

identified and a business case providing various solution

options is defined.

Next, a feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether

each option addresses the business problem and a finalrecommended solution is then put forward.

Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is

initiated to deliver the approved solution. Terms of reference

are completed outlining the objectives, scope and structureof the new project, and a project manager is appointed.

The project manager begins recruiting a project team and

establishes a project office environment. Approval is then

sought to move into the detailed planning phase. 3

Project Initiation


4/26

"Within the initiation phase, the business problem or

opportunity is identified, a solution is defined, a project is

formed and a project team is appointed to build and deliverthe solution to the customer.

Figure shows the activities undertaken during the initiation

phase:

4

Project Initiation


5/26

5

Develop a business case:

The trigger to initiating a project is identifying a business

problem or opportunity to be addressed.

A business case is created to define the problem or opportunity

in detail and identify a preferred solution for implementation.


6/26

6

Develop a business case:

The business case includes:

A detailed description of the problem or opportunity;

A list of the alternative solutions available;

An analysis of the business benefits, costs, risks and issues;

A description of the preferred solution;

A summarized plan for implementation.


7/26

7

Establish the terms of reference:

After the business case and feasibility study have been

approved, a new project is formed.

At this point, terms of reference are created. The terms of

reference define the vision, objectives, scope anddeliverables for the new project.

They also describe the organization structure; and activities,

resources and funding required to undertake the project. Any

risks, issues, planning assumptions and constraints are also

identified.


8/26


9/26

9

Set up a project office:

The project office is the physical environment within which

the team is based.

Although it is usual to have one central project office, it is

possible to have a virtual project office with project team

members located around the world.


10/26

10

Set up a project office:

A project office environment should include:

Equipment, such as office furniture, computer equipment,

stationery and materials;

Communications infrastructure, such as telephones,computer network, e mail, Internet access, file storage,

database storage and backup facilities;

Documentation, such as a project methodology, standards,

processes, forms and registers;

Tools, such as accounting, project planning and risk

modeling software.


11/26

11

Perform a phase review:

At the end of the initiation phase, perform a phase review.

This is basically a checkpoint to ensure that the project has

achieved its objectives as planned.


12/26

12

Project Planning

"Once the scope of the project has been defined in the terms

of reference, the project enters the planning phase.

This involves creating a:

Project plan outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies and

timeframes;

Resource plan listing the labour, equipment and materials

required;

Financial plan identifying the labour, equipment and

materials costs; Quality plan providing quality targets, assurance and

control measures;

Risk plan highlighting potential risks and actions to be

taken to mitigate those risks;


13/26

13

Project Planning

Acceptance plan listing the criteria to be met to gain

customer acceptance;

Communications plan describing the information needed to

inform stakeholders;

Procurement plan identifying products to be sourced fromexternal suppliers.


14/26

14

Create a project plan:

The first step in the project planning phase is to document

the project plan.

A 'work breakdown structure' (WBS) is identified which

includes a hierarchical set of phases, activities and tasks to

be undertaken to complete the project.

After the WBS has been agreed, an assessment of the levelof effort required to undertake each activity and task is

made.

The activities and tasks are then sequenced, resources are

allocated and a detailed project schedule is formed.

This project plan is the key tool used by the project manager

to assess the progress of the project throughout the project

life cycle.


15/26

15

Create a resource plan:

Immediately after the project plan is formed, the level of

resource required to undertake each of the activities andtasks listed within the project plan will need to be allocated.

Although generic resource may have already been allocated

in the project plan, a detailed resource plan is required to

identify the:

Type of resource required, such as labor, equipment and

materials;

Quantity of each type of resource required;

Roles, responsibilities and skill sets of all human resource

required;

Specifications of all equipment resource required;

Items and quantities of material resource required.


16/26

16

Create a financial plan :

A financial plan is created to identify the total quantity of

money required to undertake each phase in the project (inother words, the budget).

The total cost of labour, equipment and materials is

calculated and an expense schedule is defined which

enables the project manager to measure the forecast spendversus the actual spend throughout the project.

Detailed financial planning is an extremely important

activity within the project, as the customer will expect thefinal solution to have been delivered within the allocated

budget.


17/26

17

Create a quality plan :

Meeting the quality expectations of the customer can be a

challenging task.

To ensure that the quality expectations are clearly defined

and can reasonably be achieved, a quality plan is

documented.

The quality plan:

Defines the term 'quality' for the project.

Lists clear and unambiguous quality targets for eachdeliverable. Each quality target provides a set of criteria and

standards to be achieved to meet the expectations of the

customer.

Provides a plan of activities to assure the customer that thequality targets will be met (in other words, a quality

assurance plan).

Identifies the techniques used to control the actual quality

level of each deliverable as it is built (in other words, a

quality control plan).

C


18/26

18

Create a risk plan :

The next step is to document all foreseeable project risks

within a risk plan.

This plan also identifies the actions required to prevent each

risk from occurring, as well as reduce the impact of the risk

should it eventuate.

Developing a clear risk plan is an important activity withinthe planning phase, as it is necessary to mitigate all critical

project risks prior to entering the execution phase of the

project.

C l


19/26

19

Create an acceptance plan:To deliver the project successfully, you will need to gain

full acceptance from the customer that the deliverables

produced by the project meet or exceed requirements.

An acceptance plan is created to help achieve this, by

clarifying the completion criteria for each deliverable

and providing a schedule of acceptance reviews.

Create a communications plan:Prior to the execution phase, it is also necessary to identify

how each of the stakeholders will be kept informed of the

progress of the project.The communications plan identifies the types of

information to be distributed to stakeholders, the methods of

distributing the information, the frequency of distribution,

and responsibilities of each person in the project team for

distributing the information.

C l


20/26

20

Create a procurement plan:The last planning activity within the planning phase is to

identify the elements of the project to be acquired from

external suppliers.

The procurement plan provides a detailed description of the

products (that is, goods and services) to be acquired from

suppliers, the justification for acquiring each product

externally as opposed to from within the business, and the

schedule for product delivery.It also describes the process for the selection of a preferred

supplier (the tender process), and the ordering and delivery

of the products (the procurement process).

Contract the suppliers: Although externalsuppliers may be appointed at any stage of the project, it is

usual to appoint suppliers after the project plans have been

documented but prior to the execution phase of the project

P j t E ti


21/26

21

Project Execution

"This phase involves implementing the plans created during

the project planning phase. While each plan is beingexecuted, a series of management processes are undertaken

to monitor and control the deliverables being output by the

project.

This includes identifying change, risks and issues,reviewing deliverable quality and measuring each

deliverable produced against the acceptance criteria. Once

all of the deliverables have been produced and the customer

has accepted the final solution, the project is ready forclosure. The activities of this phase are shown in Figure

P j t Cl


22/26

22

Project Closure

"Project closure involves 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 undertake a postimplementation review to quantify the level of project

success and identify any lessons learnt for future projects

P j t E ti


23/26

23

Project Execution

Project management executionactivities

P f j t l


24/26

24

Perform project closure:

"Project closure, or 'close out', essentially involves windingup the project.

This includes:

Determining whether all of the project completion criteriahave been met;

Identifying any outstanding project activities, risks or

issues;

Handing over all project deliverables and documentation tothe customer;

Cancelling supplier contracts and releasing project

resources to the business;

Communicating the closure of the project to all

stakeholders and interested parties.

R i j t l ti


25/26

25

Review project completion:

" The final activity within a project is the review of itssuccess by an independent party. Success is determined by

how well it performed against the defined objectives and

conformed to the management processes outlined in theplanning phase. To determine how well it performed, the

following types of questions are answered:

Did it result in the benefits defined in the business case?

Did it achieve the objectives outlined in the terms ofreference?

Did it operate within the scope of the terms of reference? 0

Did the deliverables meet the criteria

defined in the quality plan?

Was it delivered within the schedule outlined in the project

Review project completion


26/26

26

Review project completion:

To determine how well it performed, the following types of

questions are answered:

Did it result in the benefits defined in the business case?

Did it achieve the objectives outlined in the terms ofreference?

Did it operate within the scope of the terms of reference? 0

Did the deliverables meet the criteria

defined in the quality plan? Was it delivered within the schedule outlined in the project

plan?

Was it delivered within the budget outlined in the financial

plan?

Date post:	05-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	sbkulk
View:	229 times
Download:	8 times

Chapter 3 Project Life Cycle

Documents