Page 51 - DCAP307_PLANNING_AND_MANAGING_IT_INFRASTRUCTURE

Unit 3: Project Management

phase deliverable, and the phases typically take their names from these items: requirements, Notes
design, build, test, start-up, turnover, and others, as appropriate.

Project Life Cycle

The project life cycle serves to define the beginning and the end of a project. The project life-cycle
definition will determine whether the feasibility study is treated as the first project phase or as
a separate, standalone project.

Example: When an organisation identifies an opportunity to which it would like to
respond, it will often authorise a needs assessment and/or a feasibility study to decide if it
should undertake the project.
The project life-cycle definition will also determine which transitional actions at the beginning
and the end of the project are included and which are not. In this manner, the project life-cycle
definition can be used to link the project to the ongoing operations of the performing organisation.
The phase sequence defined by most project life cycles generally involves some form of
technology transfer or handoff such as requirements to design, construction to operations, or
design to manufacturing. Deliverables from the preceding phase are usually approved before
work starts on the next phase. However, a subsequent phase is sometimes begun prior to
approval of the previous phase deliverables when the risks involved are deemed acceptable.
This practice of overlapping phases is often called fast tracking.
Project life cycles generally define:

 What technical work should be done in each phase (e.g. is the work of the analyst part of
the definition phase or part of the execution phase)?
 Who should be involved in each phase (e.g. resources that need to be involved with
requirements and design)? Project life-cycle descriptions may be very general or very
detailed. Highly detailed descriptions may have numerous forms, charts, and checklists to
provide structure and consistency. Such detailed approaches are often called project
management methodologies.
Most project life-cycle descriptions share a number of common characteristics:

 Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, higher toward the end, and drop rapidly as the
project draws to a conclusion. This pattern is illustrated in the figure below:
Figure 3.1: Sample Generic Life Cycle

Cost and Intermediate Phase
Staffing (one or more)
Level Final Phase
Initial Phase

Finish
Sample Generic Life Cycle Time

Source: http://www.giorgiogiussani.it/project-managemet_EN.pdf

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