PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

STA 303
 Introduction to Project Life Cycle
• All projects go through predictable stages called a project life cycle.
• Life cycle allows for control to assure that the project is proceeding in a
satisfactory manner and that the results are likely to serve its
stakeholders intended purpose

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Introduction to Project Life Cycle
• A project moves on to the next phase when the goals of its
current phase have been deemed achieved as the results of a
formal (or less formal) phase-exit review. There is an
unavoidable gestation period for the complex of activities
involved to attain the objectives in view.

• This gestation period, however, varies from project to project

but it is possible to describe, in general term, the time phasing
of project planning activities common to most projects

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 Project Life Cycle Stages
• Initiating/Conceptualisation; when a project is proposed,
needs assessment, stakeholder analysis and key participants
commit to it in broad terms.

• Planning; starts after the initial commitment, includes detailed

planning, all detailed specifications, schedules, schematics, and
plans are developed
Project Life Cycle Stages

• Executing; the actual “work” of the project is

performed. Includes authorizing, executing, monitoring,
and controlling work until the customer accepts the
project deliverables.

• Closing; all activities after customer acceptance to

ensure project is completed, lessons are learned,
resources are reassigned, and contributions are
recognized.
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Project Life Cycle Stages
Life Cycle of Projects
Project Life Cycles and Their Effects
Client Interest

Project Stake

Resources

Creativity

Uncertainty

Initialization Planning Execution Termination

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CONCEPTUALISATION/ PROJECT INITIATION
PHASE ONE

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PROJECT INITIATION
• Project initiation is the first phase of a project’s life cycle. It is at
this point where the opportunity or reason for the project is
identified and a project is developed to take advantage of that
opportunity.

• This phase is where an idea or a proposal is authorized and

funded as a project.
• It encompasses all the steps you must take before a project is
approved and any planning begins.

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PROJECT INITIATION
• This establishes the foundations for the project. The goal is to
define your project at a high level and tie it into the
business/community case you wish to solve.

• The goal of this phase is to examine the feasibility of the project.

Decisions are made concerning who is to carry out the project,
which party (or parties) will be involved and whether the project
has an adequate base of support among those who are involved.

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PROJECT INITIATION

• The project initiation process will allow the project

management to decide whether or not the project
should continue to the implementation stage, based
on the forecasted benefits and whether or not it is
aligned with the corporate or programme strategy.

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PROJECT INITIATION
• Furthermore, in this phase, the current or prospective project leader
writes a proposal, which contains a description of the above-
mentioned matters.
• 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.

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MAIN ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED IN THE INITIATION
PHASE

1. Project Description Statement

2. Conduct feasibility Study
3. Identify the project stakeholders
4. Establish the project charter

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 Project Description Statement
• All projects are created for a reason. Someone identifies a need or
an opportunity and devises a project to address that need. How
well the project ultimately addresses that need defines the
project's success or failure.

• The first activity in the initiation phase is to define the project by

developing the project description statement. This entails the
determined project idea/need that is what is expected of the
project.
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Project Description Statement
• Before identifying any solution, it is first important to
understand the community/business problem hence
conducting situational analysis and needs assessment. The
purpose of the assessment is to identify the best solution to
solve the identified needs or issue.
• It explains the project purpose and identifies why the project
is needed.

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Project Description Statement
• The project description in the plan may not have a great deal of
detail; however it should serve as the basis upon which a more
detailed project description is built. The project description should be
expanded to include any further information available regarding the
nature of the project.

• The statement should describe who the project is for, what must be
done, and why it must be done. This statement is the foundation for
defining the scope of the project.

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Baseline/feasibility study
 Conduct feasibility Study
To provide formal authorization to perform the work and the
authority to assign organizational resources to the work. The
project analysis activity involves:

• Analysis of the community problem;

• Identification of potential solutions;
• Studies to determine technical and economic feasibility of
potential solutions;
• Identification of the best solution to recommend.
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Conduct feasibility Study

• The feasibility studies will help determine if potential

solutions are viable.
• Technical feasibility studies determine if a solution is
technically possible.
• An economic feasibility study, such as a Cost Benefit
Analysis (CBA), determines if a solution is
economically sound and cost
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Identify the project stakeholders
• Identifying stakeholders meaning that those who have a vested
interest in either the project or the project outcome.
• It is sometimes challenging and especially difficult on large,
risky, high-impact projects due to personnel vested interests.

• It is important to get common agreement among the

stakeholders about the project definition.
• The stakeholders are identified using the matrix below.
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 STAKEHOLDER MATRIX

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 Establish the project charter
• This is to provide formal authorization to perform the work and
the authority to assign organizational resources to the work.
• The project charter is the output of the initiation phase
however act as an input in the planning phase.

• Information in the project charter comes from the project

analysis documents, the project proposal, and other documents
that identify business requirements and establish senior
management commitment.

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Establish the project charter

• In order to complete the charter, an informal plan is required to detail

the project management tasks for completing the initiation phase and
conducting the planning phase of the project.

• Project Charter consists of partial descriptions on Project objective,

scope, overall objectives etc. (see the attached template)

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Reasons of Project Failure in the Initiation Phase

• Lack of link between business/organization strategy and project

• Unclear objectives, competing/conflicting objectives
• Little or no alignment among major stakeholders
• Inappropriate decision making
• Unclear Project Charter
• Lack of executive support & user involvement

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• PROJECT PLANNING

Project phase 2
Introduction
• Project Planning is a process of determining project’s objectives
and deciding how to accomplish them effectively and efficiently.

• The objective have to be SMART that is Specific, Measurable,

Attainable/Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

• Project planning phase answers the What, Why, When, How and
Who questions about the project
Why do project planning?

1. Planning identifies and reduces potential risks

2. Guide project execution
3. Facilitate better coordination of project activities
4. Facilitate the monitoring and evaluation process by setting
milestones.
5. Reducing project failure rates
6. Foster effective and efficient use of resources by decreasing time
and costs.
7. Help identify dependencies of tasks
8. Helps set SMART project objective
9. Improve control of the project
 The components of the project plans are

1. Resource Plan (listing the labor, equipment and material required)

2. Scope plan (the parameters of the project)
3. Project schedule (time required for the successful accomplishment of the
project)
4. Project cost estimation (the financial resources needed for the project)
5. Financial Plan (identifying the labour, equipment and material costs)
6. Procurement Plan (identifying products to be sourced from external
suppliers)
The components of the project plans are
7. Quality Plan (providing quality targets, assurance and control
measures.)

8. Risk Plan (highlighting potential risks and actions taken to

mitigate them)

9. Communication Plan (listing the information needed to inform

stakeholders)
 Elements of Project Activity Planning

1. Identify the project MAIN activities.

2. Break down the activities into manageable tasks, that is subdividing

tasks into subtasks.

3. Clarify the sequence and dependencies. That is activities must be

related to each other and their sequence should be determined as well as
the activities dependencies.
Elements of Project Activity Planning
• 4. Estimate start-up, duration and completion of the activities. Specify
the timing involved in making a realistic estimate of the duration of
each task to create an activity schedule.

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 Elements of Project Activity Planning
• The activity Schedule has to be realistic, or else it will propagate greatly in project
failure.

• ACTIVITY SCHEDULE MATRIX

Elements of Project Activity Planning
(5) Define Milestones; These are like checkpoints used to
assess/monitor if the project is implemented accordingly. They
are key events that provide a measure of progress and a target
for the project team to aim at.

(6) Allocate experts; When the tasks are known it is possible to

specify the type of expertise required. This means assigning of
responsibilities to key players in the project team.
Benefits of Project Planning

 Communications tool
 Proper coordination
 Efficient use of resources
 Attainment of project goals effectively
 Protect the project from risks through mitigation plans
 Resource allocation
 Benchmarking
Project Planning Tools
 Gantt Chart

 Critical Path Method (CPM)

 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

Gantt chart

• A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule,

named after its inventor, Henry Gantt, who designed such a chart around
the years 1910–1915.

• A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that used in project management

to track projects from start to finish.

• Gantt charts also show the dependency relationships between activities

and duration of the project
Example of Gantt Chart for Automobile Bumper Project

Days
Task Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
31 20 21 22 23 24 25
30
29
28
27
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Preliminary Design
Build Prototype
Test Prototype
Final Design
Critical Path Method (CPM)

 A critical path is determined by identifying the longest stretch of

dependent activities and measuring the time required to complete them
from start to finish.

 Uses a network flow diagram to depict the precedence relations among

activities (tasks).

 Elements of diagram are directed line segments and nodes.

 Facilitates identification of activities whose timely completion are

“critical” to timely completion of the project
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Project Activities and their Precedence Relations

• EXAMPLE 1:
Activity Duration Preceded by

A 3

B 3 A

C 4

D 1 C

E 3 B, D

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Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

 Based on Critical Path Method

 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a method

used to examine the tasked that are in a schedule and determine
a variation of the Critical Path Method (CPM).
Critical path methods
• It analyzes the time required to complete each task and its
associated dependencies to determine the minimum time to
complete a project
• It estimates the shortest possible time each activity will take,
the most likely length of time, and the longest time that might
be taken if the activity takes longer than expected.

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 Project Implementation/execution
• Is the process whereby, project inputs and plans are converted to
project outputs.
• Putting into actions the activities of the project.
• Putting into practice what was proposed in the project document (i.e
transforming the project proposal into the actual project.)
• Execution of the project intentions.
Project Implementation/execution
• Implementation is conducted with the Program Officer, project officer,
project team and the stakeholders of the project.

• Other external organizations that participate in the implementation of

the project by way of collaboration are called co-operating agencies
Project Implementation phases involve

Project activation
• This means making arrangements to have the project started. It
involves coordination and allocation of resources to make project
operational.

Project operation
• This is practical management of the project. Here project inputs are
transformed into outputs to achieve immediate objectives
Project activation/Project start-up stage
• Transition of the project from the initial conceptualization and
planning to practical execution requires some start-up activities
• It is a short period that transitions a project from planning to
execution stage
• In the start up stage the team is assembled and a kick off meeting is
held to familiarize the team with elements of the plan and the
requirements of the project.
Project activation/Project start-up stage
• This is where the project team assess whether there is
a need to update the project plan or refinements in
the scope that occurred prior the actual start of the
project
Project start-up activities
i. Setting up offices
ii. Staff recruitment, job description, staff deployment
and building capacities
iii. Project resource mobilization i,.e procurement
iv. Partners’ memorandum of understanding (MoU)
development, negotiations and signing
v. Authorities approval at the national and field level
Approaches to implementation
Top-down approach
• Implementation mainly done by agencies from outside the community
with limited involvement by the beneficiaries

Bottom-up approach
• Beneficiaries implement the project. Outside agencies may provide the
financial resources and technical assistance
Approaches to implementation
• Collaborative Participatory
Both top-down and bottom-up approaches to project
implementation are applied in the process
Prerequisites for successful project implementation

A. Adequate Formulation
Of plans (schedules, budget etc)
Of project Indicators
 Policies, guidelines and procedures… etc
Prerequisites for successful project implementation

B. Sound Project Organization

• This should be led by a competent leader. The project should

be well structured such that the human resources and other
resources are well as activities.

• Authority and responsibility is adequately distributes in

relation with the specialization of the project team.
Prerequisites for successful project implementation

C. Community Participation
• This foster the togetherness and the we-feeling sense.
• It also foster the sense of ownership.
• It facilitate sustainability of the project
Prerequisites for successful project implementation

D. Timely availability of funds

• When there is delays in the attainment of funds, it will most
definitely cause COST-OVERUN
• The project implementation will delay hence increase the
project costs as a result of the delays. To a great extent this
demotivates the workers
Prerequisites for successful project implementation

E. Transparency and Accountability

• Every project team member should be responsible
and must be open with the activities he/she
undertakes by the name of the project.
Project Monitoring and Evaluation

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Monitoring and Evaluation: The Concept and Rationale

• Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is one of the

most talked about but least practiced aspects of
organizational management.

• Both M&E are key parts of the project cycle and

of the overall management of the project cycle.

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 The Concept and Rationale
• Project management must keep track of how the
project is progressing in terms of expenditure,
resource use, implementation of activities, delivery
of results and the management of risks.
• This is achieved through ‘monitoring’.

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The Concept and Rationale

• While monitoring describes what a project or programme is doing,

evaluation addresses why and how.
• Monitoring assesses whether project inputs are being delivered and
are being used as intended (to create outputs), and are having the
initial effects as planned. It asks “How well are we doing?”.

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The Concept and Rationale
• Evaluation assesses the overall project effects and
their impact. It asks “Did the project achieve the
expected objectives, effects and impacts, and if not,
why not?”.

• Evaluation is the systematic and objective assessment

of an on-going or completed project, programme or
policy, its design, implementation and results.

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The Concept and Rationale

• Essentially, M is a management function while E is an

external function.

• Monitoring involves the collection, analysis,

communication and use of information about the
project progress.

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The Concept and Rationale
• Monitoring systems should:
- Highlight strengths and weaknesses in project implementation and
enable responsible personnel to deal with problems, improve
performance, build on successes and adapt to changing
circumstances.

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The Concept and Rationale

• Monitoring should focus on collecting and analysing

information on:

- Physical progress (input provision, activities undertaken

and results delivered) and the quality of process (i.e.
stakeholder participation and local capacity building).
- Financial progress (budget and expenditure).

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 The Concept and Rationale
- The preliminary response by target groups to project
activities (i.e. use of services or facilities and
changes in knowledge, attitudes or practices).

- Reasons for any unexpected or adverse response by

target groups, and what remedial action can be
taken.

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Concept and Rationale

Key steps in monitoring process are:

• Collecting data on key indicators.
• Analysis of data.
• Reporting: often through quarterly and annual progress
reports. Oral presentations by project staff is important.
• Storage: can be manual or computerized, but should be
accessible to managers at different levels of the system.

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The Concept and Rationale

• Evaluation is a periodic assessment of the efficiency,

effectiveness, impact, sustainability and relevance
of a project in the context of stated objectives.

• It is usually undertaken with a view to drawing

lessons that may guide future decision-making.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
MONITORING AND
EVALUATION
Difference between Monitoring and Evaluation
• Evaluation can be distinguished from monitoring by:
• Its scope (broader – being concerned with whether or not
the right objectives and strategies were chosen).
• Its timing (less frequent – usually at completion or
ex-post). It is the final phase of the project cycle.
• Those involved (will usually involve
‘external/independent’ personnel to provide
objectivity).

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The Concept and Rationale

• The users of the results (including planners and

policy makers concerned with strategic policy
and programming issues, rather than just
managers responsible for implementing the
tasks in hand).

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Evaluation criteria
Efficiency: Measures how productively means (inputs) such as
money, time, equipment, personnel were used in the creation
of results (outputs), and the quality of the results achieved.

• Efficiency involves comparing costs and benefits.

• An efficient project is the one that achieves its objectives
with the wisest expenditure of resources.

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Evaluation criteria
Effectiveness: The contribution made by the
project’s results to the achievement of the project
purpose.
• Effectiveness involves comparing results and
objectives.
• An effective project is the one that achieves its
purpose.

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Evaluation criteria

• Impact: The effect of the project on its wider

environment, and its contribution to the overall
objective.

• Sustainability: The likelihood of a continuation in

the stream of benefits produced by the project after
the period of external support has ended.
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 Evaluation criteria
• Relevance: The appropriateness of project objectives
to the problems that it was supposed to address, and
to the physical and policy environment within which it
operated.
• It should include an assessment of the quality of
project preparation and design – i.e. the logic and
completeness of the project planning process, and the
internal logic and coherence of the project design.

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Project phase out
Project phase out
• During a project’s Closing Phase, the finished deliverables are
officially transferred into the care, custody and control of the
Project Owner (PO) to the stakeholders then being
administratively closed.

• Information on overall project performance and Lessons

Learned is captured in the Project-End Report.
• The Project Manager (PM) ensures that the deliverables
produced are accepted, all project documents are correctly filed
and archived, and that all resources used by the project are
formally released.
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