Project Life Cycle

A project is a set of activities executed to accomplish a goal which may be in the form of a completed project or service. The completion of project is done through various stages. These stages executed for the completion of the project effectively conveniently and properly. All these stages forms the project life cycle. Following are the stages of project life cycle.

Concept phase

The concept phase of the project lifecycle involves recognizing or realizing the needs of the project. The organizations involved in completing the different types of projects may determine the need of the project or request the organization to prepare the proposal for getting the projects from customers or clients. The organizations through the marketing management departments bring project orders from clients to make consistent utilization of available resources. This allows the organization to involve its resources in the completion of another project.

Example

Construction companies use equipment on rent for the completion of their projects. Some companies buy some of the equipment if the work is continuously executed. These companies always prefer to complete the project and start another project after the completion of the previous one or they may simultaneously complete the various activities of more than one project. The concept phase of the project life cycle enables an organization to prepare for making available the projects.

Feasibility phase or Initial planning

This stage of the project life cycle analyzes the project from different dimensions. It is involved in the study of projects from economic, financial, human resources,, and other perspectives to know the possibilities and feasibility. This stage enables an organization to make a budget and prepare a plan that can be executed to accomplish the completion of the project within the expected result.

The feasibility study of the project life cycle gives the appropriate information required for initial decision-making about the future courses of action in the project. This stage involves in detailed analysis considering all the possibilities and capabilities of the organization towards the completion of the project. By applying different dimensions the feasibility study gives the appropriate information regarding proper way of completing project

Examples

In the project of construction the company makes a feasibility study or initial planning in which they take the decisions in advance regarding how the project is going to be executed. The organization prepares the plan considering what are the possibilities and capabilities regarding the capital required.
In the completion of telecommunication projects such as converting various telecommunication towers from the technology 3G setup into 4 G. specific number of tower’s work completed under the project. The organization involved in the completion of the project always prepares the budget and time required to complete this project
In the case of the electronic project such as frequency converters manufactured for defense. The feasibility study or initial planning phase plays a vital role in completion of project with excellency. In this case, the client is the Defense Department which requires 100 percent accuracy in the project completion Specifically completion time along with the expected specification strictly expected by the client. In this case the feasibility study enables an organization to prepare and make decisions in advance regarding the budget required and the schedules required to complete the project within a required specification.

Detailed planning phase

Once the project recognized and taken decisions to complete the next stage of the project life cycle is a detailed planning phase. This phase of project life cycle involved in making detailed scheduling and budgeting for the execution of various activities of the project. It involved in deciding how many resources required and what activities are involved in the competition of the project along with the budget required. This phase of the project life cycle addresses every part of the project from the perspective of cost estimates, time frame and what strategies or methods are required to implement.

Examples

In the case of the construction project organization prepares a detailed plan regarding the scheduling and budgeting for the execution of various activities of the project. In the construction of the building the organization allocates a budget for various activities such as

Preparing the appropriate design from the architecture

Estimate of labor cost considering the execution of all the activities in

Estimate of equipment or technology required for the Completion of various project activities

Time frame prepared for the completion of various activities within pre-decided time.

Organization phase

The organization phase involved gathering and allocating the resources among the individuals and groups to complete the activities as per plan. This phase of the project life cycle involves coordinating various allocated resources and activities towards the project’s accomplishment. It focuses on a work breakdown system (WBS) Which divides all the work into the packages of the project.

Execution Phase

This phase of the project life cycle deals with the implementation of all the pre-decided courses of action. Implementation phase and execution phase of project lifecycle Every activity of the project according to the schedule and pre-decided strategies. The execution phase decides the sufficiency of time required and budget required for the completion of the project. The strategies of the methods for the exhibition of the project direct the way the project activities are implemented or executed. The execution phase of the project lifecycle ensures the excellence of project completion.

Examples

In the case of a construction project the budget and time. The frame of the project will be implemented successfully through the execution phase. The cost of the project can be controlled by the exhibition page in the construction project which directs every activity such as the use of equipment and vehicles that are taken on rent. Many construction projects use the resources for temporary purposes which must be utilized within the pre-decided time frame. If such resources are used beyond the timeframe leads to an increase in the cost of the project. Thus the execution phase of the project life cycle needs to be executed considering all these possibilities.

In many projects resources such as labor, equipment or technology utilize the specific time. Hence the completion of the project within that time. Is very important. This decides the cost required for the completion of the project.

Termination phase

This is the last page of the project lifecycle which deals with preparing the project to hand over to the clients. The client of the project may be a government, a private organization, or an individual. In this stage, the project completion and the beginning of the project are both activities executed. Once the project completion is done the project life cycle’s last stage is to prepare another project to start so that the available resources are utilized. The marketing management department plays a vital role in bringing new projects to start utilizing the available sources and avoids underutilization of resources.