How a Project Works

The goal of the Identification Phase is to ensure that the projects in an organization's portfolio are aligned with its strategic goals and to control and prioritize projects coming into an organization.

While the Project Manager generally has limited involvement in this phase, this process must be in place in order to have effective project management within an organization.

Activity

• Request project (request form) (template)
• Prioritize project (prioritization model)

Action Items	Major Output
Receive project requests	Prioritization score and category
Score and categorize requests
Determine project type
Estimate start date

The purpose of the Initiation Phase is to develop the Project Charter to formalize project goals and deliverables, identify project participants, and establish roles and responsibilities.

Activity

• Draft charter (template)
• Project kickoff meeting (template)
• Initiation review (checklist)

Action Items	Major Output
Provide high-level project overview	Project charter
Identify project manager
Get sponsor/champion sign-off
Identify stakeholders

The Planning Phase is critical to a project’s success. A well thought-out project plan provides clear direction and understanding of team member’s contributions to the success of the project.   

The planning phase answers the following questions:

• How will the work be accomplished? 
• Who will perform the work? 
• What, exactly, is the work to be done? 
• When will the work be done?

In the Planning Phase, the Project Manager and project leads work with the team to create the Communication Plan, the initial Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and Project Schedule which includes tasks, time, resources, and effort estimates for the project.  The Project Schedule is progressively elaborated until all relevant areas of the chartered project have been addressed. 

Activity

• Identify and analyze stakeholders (worksheet)
• Start requirements gathering (template)
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) (template)

Action Items	Major Output
Collect requirements	Project plan
Finalize scope
Document project team members and roles/responsibilities
Create work breakdown structure
Create work schedule
Create communication plan
Establish change control process

The executing and monitoring phases of the project management lifecycle consists of completing and managing the work required to meet the project objectives. This phase also ensures that the project performance is monitored and adjustments to the project schedule are made as needed.

Activity

• Track and manage issues, decisions, risks, and changes (template)
• Execution and monitoring review (template)

Action Item	Major Output
Perform the work	Completed deliverables
Measure the work	Change requests
Manage the work
Compare planned vs. actual
Take corrective or preventive action

The purpose of the Closeout Phase is to confirm completion of project deliverables to the satisfaction of the project sponsor, and to communicate final project disposition and status to all participants and stakeholders. The project closure period also reviews the successes and challenges of the project for future reference.

Activity

• Gather lessons learned (template)
• Handoff product (transition plan template)
• Conduct closing meeting (checklist)

Action Item	Major Output
Formally accept final product	Project review and acceptance
Transition product to operations	Lessons learned
Collect lessons learned
Release project team
Archive project documents