Lecture 2

Project Life Cycle and Initiation

MN601 Network Project Management

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 Outline for Week 2

Project Lifecycle & Project Initiation and

Planning
1. Project Life Cycle
2. Project Charter (or Statement of Work)
3. Project initiation
4. Project planning
5. Stakeholders analysis
6. Plan communications
7. Conclusions
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 What is Project Life Cycle?

Copyrighted 2019 KnowledgeHut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3N9-RLSbvo

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 Project Life Cycle

• Project Life Cycle refers to “the series of

phases a project goes through from its
initiation to its closure.

• Different life cycle models are used for

different types of projects, information
systems, construction, research and
development etc...

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 Project Life Cycle Models
Build and Fix
Model

Agile
Model

Waterfall
Model

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 Project Life Cycle

• Projects are different in size and complexity, but, no

matter how complex or small, all projects can be
mapped to the generic project life cycle structure.
• A project passes sequentially through the following
generic project phases:
» Initiation
» Planning
» Execution
» Closure
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 Project Life Cycle

 Ref: Kloppenborg(2014). Contemporary Project Management(3th ed.) Cengage Learning.

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 Project Initiation

Key steps for project initiation:

1. Develop a business case
2. Undertake a feasibility study
3. Establish the project charter
4. Appoint the project team
5. Set up the project office
6. Perform a phase review

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 Project Initiation

1. Developing a Business Case:

– Research the business problem or
opportunity
– Justify the start-up of a project
– Include a description of the business
problem or opportunity
– Quantify costs and benefits of each
alternative solution
– Identify any risks and issues with
implementation
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license/

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 Project Initiation

2. Undertake a Feasibility Study:

– Identify all of the alternative solutions
– List any risks and issues with each
solution
– Choose a preferred solution for
implementation
– Document the results in a report
– Identify critical part of the Project Life
Cycle
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license/

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 Project Initiation

3. Establish the Project Charter:

– Outline the purpose of the project
– Define the scope of the project
– List all critical project deliverables
– State customers and stakeholders
– List the key roles and responsibilities
– Create an organisational structure
– Document implementation plan
– List any risks, issues and assumptions
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license/

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 Project Charter Example

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 Group Exercise (5 min)
1. Imagine you are a Sr. Project Officer in the Occupational
Health and Safety (OH&S) Department of a large Accounting
Firm in the Sydney CBD.
2. The firm is located on the second floor of a commercial
building with an open plan of 2,500 sq. metres.
3. On average, 40-45 staff work in the office on a normal day.
4. Your manager have asked your team to come up with a plan to
improve the well being of staff while they are at work.
5. Discuss in your group a “Business Plan” for a project. Upon
return, two to three groups will be asked to share …

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 Project Initiation
4. Appoint the Project Team:
– Appoint Project manager
– List the key responsibilities of
each role
– Create a detailed
Organisational Chart
– List the skills and experience
needed
– Define any relevant
qualifications
– ... Royalty Free Image. https://www.pexels.com/photo-
license/

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 Project Initiation
5. Set up the Project Office:
The physical premises within
which project staff (e.g. the
Project Manager and support
staff) reside:

– Ensure that you have the

correct infrastructure
– Procure the right PMO
equipment and tools
– ...
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license/
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 Project Initiation

6. Setup a timeline for Phase Review:

– Project is currently delivering to
schedule
– Budget allocated was sufficient at this
point
– Deliverables have been produced and
approved
– Risks have been controlled and
mitigated
– Issues were identified and resolved
– Changes were properly managed
– Project is on track
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license/

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 Project Planning

 Ref: Kloppenborg(2014). Contemporary Project Management(3th ed.) Cengage Learning.

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 Project Planning
Project Plan includes:
– All of the phases, activities and
tasks
– Estimate effort needed to
complete each task
– Identify project inter-
dependencies
– Highlight assumptions and
constraints
– Establish a stakeholders
communication plan
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license/

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 Stakeholders Analysis
Stakeholder analysis:
• First step in establishing a
stakeholders communication plan
• Identify project stakeholders and
gather relevant information
• Assess how each stakeholder is
likely to respond in various
situations in order to plan how to
influence their support

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https://www.flickr.com/

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 Stakeholders Analysis

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 Stakeholders Examples

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 PM’s Responsibility

• Project Manager’s
Responsibility
– Understand the stakeholders
– Build relationships with
stakeholders
– Develop a communications
plan for dealing with
stakeholders

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license/

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 Project Communications
Plan
Communications Plan –
“the document that describes: the communication
needs and expectations for the project;

– how and in what format information will be

communicated;
– when and where each communication will be made; and
– who is responsible for providing each type of
communication.”

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 Project Communications
Plan Considerations
• Communications
Matrix
– Who to learn from?
– What to learn?
– Who to share with?
– What to know?
– When to know it?
– What communications
method?
– Who is responsible?

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 Project Communications
Plan Considerations
• Communications Matrix Example for a University
Stakeholder Learn from Share with Timing Method Owner

Student Needs Education, Bi-weekly & as Meetings, test, Board, Site

Reflection needed email coordinators
Families Concerns Plan & study At start, before, Student AB Student &
info & during trip website advisor

Community Our plans & At start, before, &

organisations Education, needs needs during trip Phone Site coordinators
Definition of At start & at
VP Student Affairs success “Wins” “wins” E-mail Advisor
Executive Director
of Faith and Definition of “Wins” & At start, at wins,
Justice success progress and monthly E-mail & meetings Advisor
University needs
& strategic
Advisor outlook Progress, needs Almost daily E-mail & meetings Board
National Summer student
Organisation training, Listserv Forms, methods, At start &
Break Away info daily guidelines monthly E-mail Chair & advisor
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 What is Project Life Cycle?
2:31

Copyrighted 2019 KnowledgeHut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3N9-RLSbvo

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 Conclusions

• Project Life Cycle comprises Initiating, Planning, Executing

( including Monitoring and Controlling); and Closing
• Chartering a project gets it started.
• Project initiation requires a good business case.
• Project planning is the most challenging phase, requiring
estimates of cost, time, staff, and resources .
• Stakeholders analysis requires building an undertaking of the
stakeholder, building relationships and communication plan.
• Plan communications, ensuring Clear, Concise, Courteous,
Consistent, Confidential and Compelling messages are
transmitted.
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 References
Acknowledgement: Some of the text in this lecture is taken almost verbatim from the
following references:
1. Kloppenborg, T.J. Contemporary Project Management, 3rd Ed.,
Cengage Learning, 2015.
2. Schwalbe, K. Information technology project management, 8th
ed., Course Technology, 2015.
3. Project Charter: Website Redesign, Accessed 20 September
2017, https://images.template.net/wp-
content/uploads/2016/07/13121750/Website-redesign-project-
charter.pdf

Copyright (c) Melbourne Institute of

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Technology
 Project Life Cycle

 Initiating —when a project is proposed, planned at a high

level, and key participants commit to it in broad terms (Slow
Beginning)
 Planning —starts after the initial commitment, includes
detailed planning, and ends when all stakeholders accept the
entire detailed plan (Gradual Build-up in Activity)
 Executing —includes authorising, executing, work until the
customer accepts the project deliverables (Peak Activity)
 Closing —all activities after customer acceptance to ensure
project is completed, lessons are learned, resources are
reassigned, and contributions are recognised. (Termination)
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 Defining Project Success
& Failure
Project Success:
• Cost, schedule and customer requirements are met.
• Stakeholder and customers satisfaction
• Quality of delivery
• Team satisfaction
• Benefits of realisation
• Capture for future Projects

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 Defining Project Success
& Failure
Project Failure:
 Any project that fails to meet time, budget, quality
targets and benefits presented in the business case is
considered a failure.

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 Causes of Project
Failures
The research identifies five important reasons that projects
fail:
– Requirements: Unclear, lack of agreement, lack of priority,
contradictory, ambiguous, imprecise.
– Resources: Lack of resources, resource conflicts, turnover of
key resources, poor planning.
– Schedules: Too tight, unrealistic, overly optimistic.
– Planning: Based on insufficient data, missing items,
insufficient details, poor estimates.
– Risks: Unidentified or assumed, not managed.
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 Defining Project Success
& Failure

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 Defining Project Success
& Failure

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 Project Failure

Research (by PM Solutions, 2011) on 163 small,

medium, and large companies shows that:
 On average, companies manage
$200 million in projects each year
 Approximately 37 percent of
which are “at risk
 On average the companies in the
study face $74 million of “at risk”
projects each year.

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 Quiz: Defining Project
Success & Failures
1. Under what conditions a project is considered a success?

2. What are the five important reasons why projects fail

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