5 Basic Phases of Project Management:
industry to industry; however, these are more
Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI)
• Defines project management as “the
application of knowledge, skills, tools and
techniques to a broad range of activities in
order to meet the requirements of a particular
project”
The process of Directing and controlling a project from
start to finish may be further divided into 5 basic
phases:
1. Project Conception and Initiation
And Idea for a project will be carefully examined to
determine whether or not it benefits the organization.
During this phase, a decision making team will identify if
the project can realistically be completed.
2. Project Definition and Planning
A project plan, project charter and/or project scope
may be put in writing, outlining the work to be
performed. During this phase, a team should prioritize
the project, calculate a budget and schedule, and
determine what resources are needed.
3. Project Launch or Execution
Resources and tasks are distributed and teams are
informed of responsibilities. This is a good time to bring
up important project related information.
4. Project Perfomance and Control
Project managers will compare project status and
progress to the actual plan, as resources perform the
scheduled work. During this phase, project managers
may need to adjust schedules or do what is necessary to
keep the project on track.
5. Project Close
After project tasks are completed and the client has
approved the outcome, an evaluation is necessary to
highlight project success and/or learn from project
history.
Project and project management processes vary from
traditional elements of a project. The overarching goal
is typically to offer a product, change a process or to
solve a problem in order to benefit the organization.
Phases:
Initiating
• The initiating process determine the nature and
scope of the project.
• If this stage is not perfomed well, it is unlikely
that the project will be successful in meeting
the business’ needs.
• The key project controls needed here are the
understanding of the business environment and
making sure that all necessary controls are
incorporated into the project.
• Any deficiencies should be reported and a
recommendation should be made to fix them.
• The initiating stage should include a plan that
encompasses the following areas:
o Analyizing the business
need/requirements in measurable goals
o Reviewing of the current operations
o Financial analysis of the costs and
benefits including a budget
o Stake holder analysis, including users,
and support personnel for the project
o Project charter including costs, tasks,
deliverables, and schedule
Planning and Design
• After the initiation stage, the project is planned
to an appropriate level of detail.
• The main purpose is to plan time, cost and
resources adequately to estimate the work
needed and to effectively manage risk during
project execution.
• As with the initiation process group, a failure to
adequately plan greatly reduces the project’s
chances of seccessfully accomplishing its goals.
• Generally consists of:
o Determining how to plan (by level of
detail or rolling wave);
o Developing the scope statement;
 o Selecting the planning team;
o Identifying deliverables and creating the
work breakdown structure;
o Identifying the activities needed to
complete those deliverables and
networking the activities in their logical
sequence;
o Estimating the resource requirements
for the activities;
o Estimating time and cost for activities;
o Developing the schedule;
o Developing the budget;
o Risk planning;
o Gaining formual approval to begin work
• Additional processes, such as planning for
communications and for scope management,
identifying roles and responsibilities,
determining what to purchase for the project
and holding a kick-off meeting are also
generally advisable.
• For new product development projects,
conceptual design of the operation of the final
product may be perfomed concurrent with the
project planning activities, and may help to
inform the planning team when identifying
deliverables and planning activities.
Executing
• Consists of the processes used to complete the
work defined in the project plan to accomplish
the project’s requirements.
• Execution process involves coordinating people
and resources, as well as integrating and
performing the activities of the project in
accordance with the project management plan.
• The deliverables are produced as outputs from
the processes performed as defined in the
project management plan and other
frameworks that might be applicable to the
type of project at hand.
Monitoring and controlling
• Consists of those processes permormed to
observe project execution so that potential
problems can be identtified in a timely manner
and corrective action can be take, when
necessary, to control the execution of the
project.
• The key benefit is that project performance is
observed and measured regularly to identify
variances from the project management plan.
• Monitoring and controlling includes:
o Measuring the ongoing project activities
(‘where we are’)
o Monitoring the project variables (cost,
effort, scope, etc.) against the project
management plan and the project
perfomance baseline (where we should
be);
o Identify corrective actions to address
issues and risks properly (How can we
get on track again);
o Influencing the factors that could
circumvent integrated change control
so only approved changes are
implemented
• In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and
control process also provides feedback between
project phases, in order to implement
corrective or preventive actions to bring the
project into compliance with the project
management plan.
Closing
• Closing includes the formal acceptance of the
project and the ending thereof. Administrative
activities include the archiving of the files and
docmunting lessons learned.
• This phase consists of:
o Project close: Finalize all activities
across all of the process groups to
formally close the project or a project
phase
o Contract closure: Complete and settle
each contract (including the resolution
of any open items) and close each
contract applicable to the project of
project phase.
Project Controlling and Project Control Systems:
• Project controlling should be established as an • Each project should be assessed for the
independent function in project management. It appropriate level of control needed: too much
implements verification and controlling function control is too time consuming, too little control
during the processing of a project in order to is very risky.
reinforce the defined performance and formal • If project control is not implemented correctly,
goals. the cost to the business should be clarified in
• The tasks of project controlling are also: terms of errors, fixes, and additional audit fees.
o The creation of infrastructure for the • Control systemms are needed for cost, risk,
supply of the right information and its quality, communication, time, change,
update procurement, and human resources.
o The establishment of a way to • In addition, auditors should consider how
communicate disparities of project important the projects are to the financial
parameters statements, how reliant the stake holders are
o The development of project key on controls, and how many controls exist.
performance index system (KPI) • Auditors should review the development
o Divergence analyses and generation of process and procedures for how they are
proposals for potential project implemented.
regulations • The process of development and the quality of
o The establishment of methods to the final product may also be assessed if the
accomplish an appropriate the project needed or requested.
structure, project workflow • A business may want to auditing firm to be
organization, project control and involved through out the process to catch
governance problems earlier on so that they can be fixed
o Creation of transparency among the more easily.
project parameters
• Fulfillment and implementation of these tasks
can be achieved by applying specific methods
and instruments of project controlling.
• The following methods of project controlling
can be applied:
o Investment analysis
o Cost-benefit analysis
o Value benefit analysis
o Expert surveys
o Simulation caclulations
o Risk-profile analysis
o Surcharge calculations
o Milestone trend analysis
o Cost trend analysis
o Target/actual-comparison
• Project control is that element of a project that
keeps it on-track, on-time and within budget.
• Project control beings early in the project with
planning and ends late in the project with post-
implementation review, having a thorough
involvement of each step in the process.