The method used to collect information to use through all phases of the project life cycle is called

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Breaking work into smaller tasks is a common productivity technique used to make the work more manageable and approachable. For projects, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the tool that utilizes this technique and is one of the most important project management documents. It singlehandedly integrates scope, cost and schedule baselines ensuring that project plans are in alignment.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) defines the Work Breakdown Structure as a “deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team.” There are two types of WBS: 1) Deliverable-Based and 2) Phase-Based. The most common and preferred approach is the Deliverable-Based approach. The main difference between the two approaches are the Elements identified in the first Level of the WBS.

Deliverable-Based Work Breakdown Structure

A Deliverable-Based Work Breakdown Structure clearly demonstrates the relationship between the project deliverables (i.e., products, services or results) and the scope (i.e., work to be executed). Figure 1 is an example of a Deliverable-Based WBS for building a house. Figure 2 is an example of a Phase-Based WBS for the same project.

Figure 1 – Deliverable Based Work Breakdown Structure

In Figure 1, the Level 1 Elements are summary deliverable descriptions. The Level 2 Elements in each Leg of the WBS are all the unique deliverables required to create the respective Level 1 deliverable.

Phase-Based Work Breakdown Structure

In Figure 2, a Phase-Based WBS, the Level 1 has five Elements. Each of these Elements are typical phases of a project. The Level 2 Elements are the unique deliverables in each phase. Regardless of the type of WBS, the lower Level Elements are all deliverables. Notice that Elements in different Legs have the same name. A Phase-Based WBS requires work associated with multiple elements be divided into the work unique to each Level 1 Element. A WBS Dictionary is created to describe the work in each Element.

Figure 2 - Phase Based Work Breakdown Structure

A good WBS is simply one that makes the project more manageable. Every project is different; every project manager is different and every WBS is different. So, the right WBS is the one that best answers the question, “What structure makes the project more manageable?”.

How to Make a Work Breakdown Structure

A good Work Breakdown Structure is created using an iterative process by following these steps and meeting these guidelines:

1. Gather Critical Documents
2. Identify Key Team Members
3. Define Level 1 Elements
4. Decompose (Breakdown) Elements
5. Create WBS Dictionary
6. Create Gantt Chart Schedule

Caution: It is possible to break the work down too much. How much is too much? Since cost and schedule data collection, analysis and reporting are connected to the WBS, a very detailed WBS could require a significant amount of unnecessary effort to manage.

There are many WBS software tools available. Some of them are based on mind mapping and others are drawing tools. You can read about these tools in this WBS software review.

Here is an example of how to make a WBS with MindView:

How to Use a Work Breakdown Structure

The Work Breakdown Structure is used for many different things. Initially, it serves as a planning tool to help the project team plan, define and organize scope with deliverables. The WBS is also used as the primary source of schedule and cost estimate activities. But, its biggest contributions to a project are is use as a description all of the work and as a monitoring and controlling tool.

Work Packages
Figure 3 shows the House Project Work Breakdown Structure expanded to Level 1, 2, and 3 Elements. The lowest Levels of each Leg and Branch of the WBS are called Work Packages. Work Packages cover information related to the deliverable, such as owner, milestones, durations, resources, risks, etc. This information is described in the WBS Dictionary.

Planning Packages
There is another type of Work Package called a Planning Package. When the project management plan is approved, scope is known, but not necessarily all of the details. In order to apply the 100% Rule and capture all of the scope, Planning Packages are created. It is understood that as details are defined, the Planning Packages eventually evolve to Work Packages. In the House Project, the project manager knows that the house will have fixtures, but at the time construction begins, there is only a fixture allowance and no fixtures identified. Once the fixtures are determined, the associated Planning Package becomes a Work Package. This planning process is call Rolling Wave Planning and is a from of Progressive Elaboration.

Figure 3 – WBS Work Packages and Control Accounts

Control Accounts
The other application of the WBS is as a monitoring and controlling tool. This is accomplished by defining Control Accounts. Control Accounts are WBS Elements at which the project plans to monitor and report performance. The Control Accounts can be any Element in the WBS. In the House Project, the project manager decides that the project risks associated with using subcontractors can be better managed if the project reports performance for each subcontractor. To monitor their performance, Elements 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 have been identified as Control Accounts. However, the remaining work in Elements 1.0 and 2.0 will be performed by company resources with less risk and the project does not feel like monitoring and controlling is needed at lower Levels. To assist with the monitoring and reporting, project management information tools are used to collect, analyze and report information at any Element within the WBS.

Create a WBS with the MindView software free trial. Check it out.

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Successful completion of a project is not an easy endeavor. It calls for a series of tasks to meet stakeholder and client requirements; a lot is involved in the process before the project reaches the completion phase. No matter what type of project you are working on, having comprehensive knowledge about the Project Management life cycle, project phases, or process groups is essential. It keeps your ongoing projects more organized and more viable to execute from ideation to completion.

What is Project Management Life Cycle?

A Project Management life cycle is a five-step framework planned to assist project managers in completing projects successfully.

The primary competency of a project manager is to gain a thorough understanding of project management stages. Knowledge and planning for the five Project Management steps will help you plan and organize your projects so that it goes off without any hitches.

It is simpler for a project manager to handle all the current details of the project when the project is broken down into various phases. Each phase of the cycle is goal-oriented having its own set of characteristics and contains product deliverables, which are reviewed at the end of the Project Management steps.

According to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), the Project Management life cycle should define the following aspects:

• What work needs to be achieved?
• Who will be involved in the team?
• What are the project deliverables?
• How to monitor the performance of each phase?

Phase-to-Phase Relationships

In cases where projects have two or more phases, the phases are considered part of a sequential process. However, in some situations, the project might benefit from overlapping or concurrent phases. The phase-to-phase relationships can be of two types:

• Sequential Relationship
  In a sequential relationship, a new phase starts only when the preceding phase is complete. In the figure given below, you can see an example of a project with three entirely sequential phases. The step-by-step nature of this approach decreases uncertainty, but may also remove options for reducing the overall schedule.
  
• Overlapping Relationship
  In an overlapping relationship, as the name suggests, the next phase starts before the completion of the previous one. Overlapping phases sometimes need additional resources because work has to be done in parallel. It may increase risk or could lead to rework if a succeeding phase progresses before correct information is gathered from the previous phase.

Predictive Life Cycles

In predictive life cycles, also known as fully plan-driven the three major constraints of the project, the scope, time, and cost, are determined early in the project life cycle. These projects progress through a series of sequential or overlapping phases. Now the planning can be done for the entire project at a detailed level from the beginning of the project. Different work is usually performed in each phase. Therefore, the composition and skills required of the project team may vary from phase to phase.

Adaptive Life Cycles

The adaptive life cycles, also known as change-driven or agile methods, are used in cases of high levels of change or application areas such as IT. Adaptive methods are also iterative and incremental, but the difference is that iterations are very rapid (typically with a duration of 2 to 4 weeks) and are fixed in time and cost. Sometimes the processes within the iterations can be going on in parallel.

5 Phases of Project Management Life Cycle

1. Project Initiation

Project initiation is the first Project Management life cycle phase, where the project starts. It provides an overview of the project, along with the strategies required to attain desired results. It is the phase where the feasibility and business value of the project are determined.

The project manager kicks off a meeting to understand the client and stakeholders’ requirements, goals, and objectives. It is essential to go into minute details to have a better understanding of the project. Upon making a final decision to proceed, the project can move on to the next step: that is, assembling a project team.

The Project Charter is considered to be the most important document of any project as it comprises:

• Business vision and mission
• Project goals and benefits
• List of stakeholders
• Scope of the Project
• Project deliverables
• Risks associated with the project
• Project budget and resources

1. Undertake a Feasibility Study

In the initial stage, it is essential to understand the feasibility of the project. See if the project is viable from the economic, legal, operational, and technical aspects. Identifying problems will help you analyze whether you can solve issues with appropriate solutions.

2. Identify the Project Scope

Identifying the project scope involves defining the length, breadth, and depth of the project. On the other hand, it’s equally essential to outline functions, deadlines, tasks, features, and services.

3. Identify the Project Deliverable

Upon identifying the project scope, the very next step is to outline the project deliverables. The project deliverables include defining the product or services needed.

4. Identification of Project Stakeholders

A thorough identification of project stakeholders is essential. It is better to have meetings with team members and experts to identify project stakeholders. Documentation of relevant information on stakeholders and impact on them on successful completion of the project is required.

5. Develop a Business Case

Before developing a business case, check whether the essential pillars of the project such as feasibility, scope, and identification of stakeholders are in place. The very next step is to come up with a full-fledged business case.

Creation of a statement of work (SoW) and the formation of a team wrap up the project initiation phase.

2. Project Planning

A lot of planning related to the project takes place during this phase. On defining project objectives, it is time to develop a project plan for everyone to follow.

The planning phase frames a set of plans which help to guide your team through the implementation phase and closing phase. The program created at this point will surely help you to manage cost, quality, risk, changes, and time.

The project plan developed should include all the essential details related to the project goals and objectives and should also detail how to achieve them. It is the most complex phase in which project managers take care of operational requirements, design limitations, and functional requirements.

The project planning phase includes the following components:

1. Creating a Project Plan

A project plan is a blueprint of the entire project. A well-designed project plan should determine the list of activities, the time frame, dependencies, constraints involved, and potential risks. It assists the project manager to streamline operations to meet the end objective and track progress by taking appropriate decisions at the right time.

2. Creating a Resource Plan

The resource plan provides information about various resource levels required to accomplish a project. A well-documented plan specifies the labor and materials to complete a project. Resources used should have relevant Project Management expertise. Experience in the concerned domain is a priority.

3. Budget Estimation

Framing a financial plan helps you to set the budget and deliver project deliverables without exceeding it. The final budget plan lists expenses on material, labor, and equipment. Creating a budget plan will help the team and the project managers to monitor and control the costs throughout the Project Management life cycle.

4. Gathering Resources

Gathering resources is an essential part of project planning as it helps to monitor the quality level of the project. It is not enough to assemble a well-balanced team from internal and external resources. Resources like equipment, money, software solutions, and the workplace should be given to complete the assigned tasks.

5. Anticipating Risks and Potential Quality Roadblocks

The risk plan will help you identify risks and mitigate them. It will comprise all the potential risks, the order of severity, and preventive actions to track it. Once threats are under control, it is possible to deliver the project on time adhering to quality.

Project execution is the phase where project-related processes are implemented, tasks are assigned, and resources are allocated. The method also involves building deliverables and satisfying customer requirements. Project managers or team leaders accomplish the task through resource allocation and by keeping the team members focused.

The team involved will start creating project deliverables and seek to achieve project goals and objectives as outlined in the project plan. This phase determines whether your project will succeed or not. The success of the project mainly depends on the project execution phase. The final project, deliverable also takes shape during the project execution phase.

There are a lot of essential things that are taken care of during the execution phase. Listed below are a few among them:

1. Reporting Progress of a Project

During the project execution phase, it is essential to get regular project updates as it provides the required information and even identifies the issues.

2. Hold Regular Meetings

Before you kick-off a project meeting, be clear about the agenda and make team members aware of what the meeting is all about well in advance. If communication is timely and straightforward, the productivity of ongoing projects and those that are in the pipeline will not get affected.

3. Manage Problems

Problems within the project are bound to occur. Issues such as time management, quality management, and a weakening in the team’s morale can hinder the success of a project. So make sure all problems are solved in the beginning.

4. Project Monitoring and Control

The project monitoring and control phase is all about measuring the performance of the project and tracking progress. It is implemented during the execution phase. The main goal of this phase is to check whether everything aligns with the Project Management plan, especially concerning financial parameters and timelines.

It is the responsibility of the project manager to make necessary adjustments related to resource allocation and ensure that everything is on track. To aid this, a project manager may conduct review meetings and get regular performance reports.

Monitoring project activity after the project execution phase will allow the project manager to take corrective actions. Meanwhile, considering the quality of work will also help to make the necessary improvements. Keeping an eye on the budget will help to avoid unnecessary expenses resources.

5. Project Closure

With much time and effort invested in the project planning, it is often forgotten that the final phase of the Project Management life cycle phases is equally important.

The project closure phase represents the final phase of the Project Management life cycle, which is also known as the “follow-up” phase. Around this time, the final product is ready for delivery. Here the main focus of the project manager and the team should be on product release and product delivery. In this stage, all the activities related to the project are wrapped up. The closure phase is not necessarily after a successful completion phase alone. Sometimes a project may have to be closed due to project failure.

Upon project completion and timely delivery to clients, it is the role of the project manager to highlight strengths, list the takeaways of the project, identify the ambiguities and suggest how they could be rectified for future projects. Taking time to recognize the strengths and weaknesses will help to handle projects with more dedication; this, in turn, builds the project manager’s credibility.

Once the product is handed to the customers, the documentation is finalized, the project team is disbanded, and the project is closed.

Characteristics of a Project Life Cycle

The generic life cycle structure commonly exhibits the following characteristics:

• At the start, cost and staffing levels are low and reach a peak when the work is in progress. It again starts to drop rapidly as the project begins to halt.
• The typical cost and staffing curve does not apply to all projects. Considerable expenses secure essential resources early in its life cycle.
• Risk and uncertainty are at their peak at the beginning of the project. These factors drop over the life cycle of the project as decisions are reached, and deliverables are accepted.
• The ability to affect the final product of the project without impacting the cost drastically is highest at the start of the project and decreases as the project advances towards completion. It is clear from figure 2 that the cost of making new changes and rectifying errors increases as the project approaches completion.

These features are present almost in all kinds of project life cycles but in different ways or to different degrees. The intent of the adaptive life cycles lies particularly with keeping stakeholder influences higher and the costs of changes lower all through the life cycle than in predictive life cycles.

Let’s take a look at how knowledge on project life cycle benefits an organization:

• It helps professional services teams to be more proficient and profitable.
• The project life cycle helps the organization.
• It makes the flow of communication easier.
• The knowledge emphasizes reporting and examining previous projects.

Conclusion

After the successful accomplishment of the project, there may be a few unexploited project resources, including the remnant budget, which can be used by the project later. These are recorded as surplus resources and budget to prevent wastage; this is the last of the Project Management steps before the conclusion of the phases of the Project Management life cycle. Give yourself the chance to gain the best skills and practices in Project Management with the PMP certification training for enhanced efficiency and productivity while managing projects.

Know more about Project Management best practices through Invensis Learning’s Project Management certification training on PMP, CAPM, PRINCE2, Project Management Fundamentals, etc.