Business Project Management
MODULE 26340
Module Leader: Dr Ashish Dwivedi
Submission date: Monday 02.02.09
Describe the main phases of the project lifecycle. Critically discuss where in this lifecycle failures may occur and explain how effective project management might reduce their likelihood.
1.0 Introduction
Projects are being born all around us and can be found in every facet of life – they can range from say the relatively simple task of organising and executing a dinner party to mega projects such as the construction of the Channel Tunnel. This paper aims to investigate some fundamental questions relating to the make –up of the project lifecycle, failures that can occur within it and the effect that good project management
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Monitoring and controlling are carried out in conjunction with execution. Thus, by combining the implied time scales with the process groups it is possible to prepare a PMBOK influenced model of the generic stages within in the typical five phase project lifecycle (figure 3).
Figure 3: Classic five stage project life cycle model showing approximate proportions associated with each stage (adapted from Cleland 1999 & Egan, 2006).
Baker (1998), Knutson (2001), Thornsett (2002) and Egan (2006) appear to agree with the PMBOK (2004) on the importance of the relationship between each phase of the project lifecycle. Both PMBOK (2004) and Egan 2006, depict each phase as being an independent project which, may or may not go through all the lifecycle phases, but invariably will produce deliverables (inputs / outputs). Deliverables defined by the PMBOK as “any unique and verifiable product, result or capability to perform a service that must be produced to complete a process, phase or project” (2004, 358), are a necessary ingredient required by the follow on phase of all project lifecycles (figure 4).
Figure 4: Depicting the importance of deliverables in a software project lifecycle follow on phases and the notion that each
Evaluate the importance of understanding the various stages of the project life cycle and its possible contributions to a project.
(TCO A) Which step of the project life cycle produces all of the project deliverables?
Project management is short term; it has a beginning, an end, and has identified steps to take throughout the process. The steps of project management are as follows: proposal, initial investigation, detailed investigation, development and testing, trial, operation and closure, as well as, the evaluation. There are measurable benefits to using project management within an organization for certain key objectives or processes that need
Project Management Institute. (2000). _A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th ed.)._
Project management is the discipline of using policies and procedures to manage a project from creation to competition. The intent of this paper is to assess the role of a project manager and determine if I am well suited for a career in project management. To achieve this goal, I will be discussing the following areas: job description, general career path, education requirements, salary, career outlook, and the pros and cons. I will also be interviewing a colleague that currently working as a project manager to gain a better understanding of typical duties associated with the role.
The nature and scope of a project is determined at the initiation stage. This involves analyzing the business needs, developing goals, budgets, tasks, deliverables, and the stakeholder analysis. The project planning stage determines the planning team, develops the scope, and identifies work breakdown structure and activities that will be needed to complete deliverables. The planning stage also estimates time and cost activities, develop schedule and risk plan, and gain formal approval for work to begin. The executing stage involves all processes used to meet the project requirement and involves managing people and resources. The process that entails the identification of potential problems and
A project management life cycle (PMLC) model is a sequence that is made up by the five process groups - Scoping, Planning, Launching, Monitoring & Control and Closing, and it’s used for achieving the goal of a project. In handling a project using a PMLC model, the entire process group must be present at least once in a sequence, and any or all of the process groups, may be repeated as required (Wysocki, 2009:299). To be analysed comparatively here are two different type of PMLC model- Adaptive PMLC model and Extreme PMLC model. An Adaptive PMLC model is an Agile Project Management (APM) model which consists of a number of phases that are repeated in cycles between the scoping and closing process groups, with a feedback loop after each
Question 1. The twelve guidelines are presented in no particular order. Order them by level of importance and explain your reasoning. Answer The twelve guidelines should be order as below, the reason also is stated at the behind of each title. 1) Understand the context of project management. Much of the difficulty in becoming an effective project manager lies in understanding the particular challenges project management. 2) Understand who the stakeholders are and what they want.
The project life cycle consists of the conceptualization phase, the planning phase, the execution phase, and the termination phase.
that predecessor are accurate in respect to the different phases. Just as the Marketing dates are
In order to achieve their business objective, project management and the used methodology are key factor which will be responsible for the success or failure of this project.
This section consists of a suite of potential options broken out by sample phases. While it may be useful for grantees to consider these deliverables in designing their project, the particular suite of deliverables and the organizational structure that is ultimately incorporated will be project-specific. The grantee may also ask the Vendor to provide cost estimates on a per-deliverable basis in the bid response.
The life cycle is the only thing that uniquely distinguishes projects from non-projects". If that is true, then it would be valuable to examine just what role the so-called Project life cycle plays in the conduct of project management. The basic life cycle follows a common generic sequence: Opportunity, Design & Development, Production, Hand-over, and Post-Project Evaluation. A project can be defined as the work required Taking an opportunity and converting it into an asset." In this sense, both the opportunity And asset are singular, with the implied use being for generating benefit rather than Consumed as a resource in normal operational activity over a prolonged period. (Kerzner, 1995).
c After the acceptance of all stakeholders is achieved, actual growth begins and a project management methodology needs to be selected based on the major areas seeking improvement. A project tracking and monitoring system has to be in place for improved estimation of project life-cycle.
The development process of a project mainly includes eight stages which are ‘inception’, ‘feasibility’, ‘strategy’, ‘pre-construction’, ‘construction’, ‘testing and commissioning’, ‘completion, handover and operation’ as well as ‘post-completion review and in use’.