Projects are essentially a series of steps you take to turn an idea into a reality. In any project, the amount of planning and work required may seem overwhelming at first as there may be dozens or even hundreds of tasks that need to be completed at just the right time and in just the right sequence. 

Therefore, project managers often find it easier to manage the full scope of a project by breaking it down into smaller and much more manageable chunks or processes. The Project Management Institute (PMI) breaks a project down into five project management processes which are: initiating, planning, executing, control & monitoring, and closing.

Dividing your efforts into these five project management processes can help give them structure and simplify them into a series of logical and manageable steps.

Phase 1: Project Initiation

The project initiation is the first process in any project. In this stage, you need to develop a business case and define the project on a broad level. Within the initiation phase, the business problem or opportunity and solution is identified and defined, and a project team is appointed to execute the project. There are several activities that need to be carried out in this stage. They include the following:

• Business case identification

• Perform feasibility studies 

• Stakeholder identification

• Develop a Project Charter

• Organize a project kick-off meeting

Though a clear goal of the project is established in project initiation, the project charter does not contain any technical details. For example, when developing an automated vision inspection machine, the selection of design and manufacturing resources will not be included in the initiation stage. The only certainty would be that an automated vision inspection machine of what functions will be developed within a timeframe and budget. Usually, the project initiation process ends with a requirements sign-off.

Phase 2: Project Planning 

Project planning is one of the main project management processes. If the project management team gets this step wrong, there could be heavy negative consequences during the next phases of the project. Unless you are using a modern project management methodology such as agile project management, the second phase of project management is expected to take almost half of the entire project’s timespan. In this phase, there are several outputs that are to be expected, they include:

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)

• Gantt chart

• Schedule plan

• Risk management plan

• Communication plan

• Project budget plan

• Project quality management plan

Planning differs from the initiating stage because as the project goes into this phase, the goals, and requirements are specified in detail. Specifications regarding resources and the scope of the project are officially recorded.

The planning phase is key to successful project management and focuses on developing a roadmap for the team to follow. Project managers should begin to organize their teams at this stage, and set up collaborative resources, and the goal. Depending on the budget and the schedule, the resources are then allocated to the project. This phase is the most important phase when it comes to project cost and effort.

Phase 3: Project Execution

The third project management phase is project execution, which is when the tasks and milestones outlined in the project plan are tackled to meet the project goals and objectives. The team is the foundation of this phase. When it comes to execution, each member of the team carries out their own assignments within the given deadline for each activity. In this stage, contents that are generally involved include:

• Project meeting minutes

• Project status report

• Project change management log

• Technical review report 

The project manager plays the key role in directing the team members in the right direction. Another responsibility of the project manager during this phase is to consistently maintain effective collaboration between project stakeholders. This ensures that everyone stays on the same page and the project runs smoothly without any issues.

Along the way, the project manager may need to reallocate resources or adjust time and scope as needed to keep the team working. In addition, they will identify and mitigate risks, deal with problems and incorporate any changes.

Phase 4: Project Control & Monitoring

In the project management process, the third and fourth phases are not sequential in nature. In fact, the project monitoring and controlling phase run simultaneously with project execution, thereby ensuring that objectives and project deliverables are met. So while the team is busy executing all the tasks, the project manager keeps track of all the key metrics and risk factors.  It involves monitoring the progress and performance of the project to ensure it stays on schedule and within budget. 

Reporting is also a critical part of this stage as it allows project managers to track the progress, and provides data for stakeholders during presentations to keep them in the loop. There are many project management reports such as project status, timesheets, workload, allocation, and expense reports. Some of the outputs expected from this stage are:

• Progress report

• Status report

• End of phase/monthly evaluation report

• Risk management and open task items log

To guarantee delivery of what was promised, teams must monitor tasks to prevent scope creep, calculate key performance indicators, and track variations from allotted cost and time. This constant vigilance helps keep the project moving ahead smoothly. Similarly, to the execution stage, the project manager may need to adjust schedules and resources to ensure that the project is on track.

Phase 5: Project Closure 

Project closure is the phase when the final finished product is handed over to the stakeholders. This is a vital step in the project management process as it allows the team to evaluate their performances, lessons learned, success achieved and move on to the next one, using previous project mistakes and successes to build stronger processes and more successful teams. Documents in the closing phase could include:

• Project evaluation report

• Project summary table

• Summary of lessons learned

• Project retrospective report

Upon the completion of the project, there are a few leftover tasks that are required to be completed by the project manager. They will need to create a list of things that the team was unable to accomplish during the project and work with team members to complete them. They would also need to perform a final project budget and prepare a final project report as well as collect all project documents and deliverables and store them in a single place for future reference by other project teams.

Although project management may seem overwhelming at times, breaking it down into these five distinct project phases can help your team manage even the most complex projects by using time and resources more wisely. In ViTrox, we are currently using various tools to help manage these activities within the processes for the many projects, such as JIRA, Epicor and V-One.