5 Basic Phases of

Project Management

1
Who is PMI?
 PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality. Through global
advocacy, networking, collaboration, research, and education,
PMI prepares organizations and individuals to work smarter in an
ever-changing and dynamic world.
 Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a “project” as “a
temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique result” in
the PMBOK® Guide. A result could be a product, service,
document, capability, a deliverable, or an outcome

 Project management aims to achieve project success by

meeting the scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, and other
objectives.
 The benefits of project management include:

 Improve project performance

 Realize business case goals

Why Project Management?

Speed up the delivery

 Reduce costs
 Gain competitive advantage
 Meet expectations
 Increase credibility
What is the Project Management
Institute?
 The PMI aims to continue providing resources for project managers around
the world to enhance their skills. It works to increase technological growth
for project managers by specializing in an individual’s project management.
What benefits does the Project Management
Institute offer?

 The PMI offers many resources for its members to help them be more
successful as project managers. In addition to an annual publication.

 The PMI also places an emphasis on developing standards and ethics to allow
them to advance in the industry.
What Project Management Institute
certifications are available?
Many PMI certifications are available to members, from entry to more advanced
levels. These certifications allow your employees to advance their skill sets and
provide quality work. The eight certifications the PMI offers include:

 Project Management Professional (PMP): Increases your employees’

effective project manager skills
 Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM): Introduces the
fundamental practices and technologies of strong project management to
allow employees to better handle and organize projects

 PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP): Improves Agile practices and

principles in project management like XP, Scrum and Lean

 PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA): Explores project

management and business requirements through the specialized area of
business analysis
 PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP): Teaches members how to
identify and eliminate potential project risks

 PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP): Educates professionals on creating

and managing multiple project schedules

 Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP): Explains how to manage

several portfolios and enhance organizational skills as a project manager

 Program Management Professional (PgMP): Teaches members how to

manage several projects and teams to deliver impressive team-building results
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
 An 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.
WHAT IS PROJECT INITIATION PROCESS?

 The Initiation process guides the project team as they determine and articulate
those key aspects of a proposed project that will help in the decision process.
Careful development of Initiation's key deliverable, the Project Charter, helps to
ensure that the technology projects chosen to proceed will be successful.
Examples of this type of project proposal include business plans and grant applications.
The prospective sponsors of the project evaluate the proposal and, upon approval,
provide the necessary financing. The project officially begins at the time of approval.
What is the purpose of project initiation?

 A Project Initiation Document is a guide to a project, clearly laying out the

justification for a project, what its objectives will be, and how the project will be
organized. This helps ensure that everyone knows what's going on right from the
outset.
 What is the 5 step process of initiating a project?

In this article, I'll outline the five phases of a project – Initiating, Planning, Executing,
Monitoring/Controlling, and Closing – before exploring the Initiating Phase.
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.
PROJECT PLANNING

 Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of

schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within
the project environment. A project plan is a detailed schedule or timeline
showing:

● all the tasks that need to be completed

● who will be doing those tasks
● key dates or milestones for phased delivery and final completion of the project
Why project planning is important?

 Planning helps us to be accountable for what we do. Planning helps us decide how
best to use our resources (people, time, money, information, equipment) so that
they make the most significant contribution to achieving our goal.

 Planning lays the basis for us to assess and evaluate our achievements effectively.
Through planning, productivity is maximize and resources are not wasted and
literally a bigger chance of success.
3. PROJECT LAUNCH OR EXECUTION

 Resources' tasks are distributed and teams are informed of responsibilities. This is
a good time to bring up important project related information.
Project execution typically involves three primary components: following processes,
managing people, and distributing information.

Following processes

 During the planning phase of project management, you should have outlined
systems and procedures to help finish your project within your organization’s
requirements. For example, you might have created processes to interact with third-
party vendors who supply essential raw materials.
Managing people

 Making sure your personnel are following the project plan is essential, but
keeping people on task is not your only job.
 It’s important that you also motivate, encourage, and cheer the team on.
 Pausing to celebrate each incremental victory is one way to show the team how
much you value them, and it will inspire them to keep up the hard work.
Distributing information to stakeholders and clients

 Involve your clients and stakeholders throughout the execution phase of the
project. When you keep stakeholders in the loop, you can prevent costly
misunderstandings and delays.
 The project execution phase is often the most extensive phase of the project life
cycle.
 One way to increase visibility during the execution phase of project management
is to schedule regular check-ins to discuss progress.
Tips for successful project execution

In addition to the above suggestions regarding processes, personnel management, and

communication, these additional tips will ensure your project execution phase is a
success.

 Assign clear responsibilities and accountabilities to your team members.

 Explain the rationale and motivation behind your decisions to get buy-in from your
team.
 When you experience a setback, own your mistakes, and implement course
corrections as needed.
Make project execution a priority

 While executing your plan might sound like the easy part, considering all the
work that went into the planning phase, the truth is that successfully finishing a
complex project takes conscious, consistent effort.
4. PROJECT PERFORMANCE 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.
Monitoring and control processes continually track, review,
adjust and report on the project’s performance. It’s important to
find out how a project’s performing and whether it’s on time, as
well as implement approved changes. This ensures the project
remains on track, on budget and on time.
Combined with people skills and project experience, they deliver information that enables
accurate decision making. The project control process mainly focuses on:

 Measuring planned performance vs actual performance.

 Ongoing assessment of the project’s performance to identify any preventive or
corrective actions needed.
 Keeping accurate, timely information based on the project’s output and associated
documentation.
 Providing information that supports status updates, forecasting and measuring
progress.
 Monitoring the implementation of any approved changes or schedule amendments.
Importance of project monitoring and control

Monitoring and control keeps projects on track. The right controls can play a major
part in completing projects on time. The data gathered also lets project managers
make informed decisions. They can take advantage of opportunities, make changes
and avoid crisis management issues.
Monitoring and control method

 When setting up a project’s monitoring and control process, first establish the
project baselines. This includes the scope, schedule and budget. Use this
information to benchmark the project’s progress throughout the lifecycle.

 Use a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to break a project down into small units
of work, or sub-tasks.
 5. Project closing
What Is Project Closure?
Project closure is the critical last phase in the project management lifecycle. During
project closure, the team reviews the deliverables, then compares and tests its quality
to the intended project outcome. Then they share the deliverables with the project’s
client.
What Are the Different Types of Project Closure?

A project manager will close a project for many reasons. Those include completing a project
on time and finishing it early. Projects can also get cancelled, continue perpetually, or fail
completely.
Why Is Project Closure Important?

Project closure is important because the process allows you to:

 Tie Up Loose Ends: You’ve already delivered project outcomes to the client, but
be sure to report all outcomes internally. Make sure all contracts are signed, paid,
and finalized, and clean up your files. Ensure you’ve reviewed your progress and
determined if you delivered the project on time and on budget.
 Take Stock of Lessons Learned: Take the time to have an open discussion about
lessons you learned throughout the project’s lifecycle.

 Move On with a Clear Sense of Accomplishment: When done well, project

closure signals to each team member that the project was meaningful and, simply,
the job is complete.

 Archive the Project’s Learning for the Benefit of the Team and Organization:
The final step in project closure is to finalize the project closure report and archive
it so that it’s accessible to all relevant parties. It’s important to notify team
members on where to find the report for formal presentation to upper
management.