UMass Boston

The Project Management Lifecycle is used to describe a deliberate, structured, and methodical process for Project Management.  The Project Management Life Cycle has five phases: Request, Initiation, Planning, Execution & Control, and Closure.  This methodology contains the templates for the various project management activities undertaken to deliver successful projects.  Each project phase addresses a specific aspect of the process of managing a project from initiate through close.  Although these phases are described sequentially, in practice many of these phases may overlap or be applied concurrently during the lifetime of a project.   Listed below is an overview of the five phases.   Each phase will be described in greater detail in subsequent sections of this document.

Requesting

• Delivers a project request
• Captures specific project information that will aid in project evaluation
• Approves the project request to advance to the Initiation Phase (or defers the request
• Completed and approved project requests constitute the Project Portfolio

Initiation

• Formalizes the existence of the project
• Defines the preliminary project cost, scope, roles, and timeline
• Approves the project to advance to the Planning Phase
• Delivers a Project Charter

Planning 

• Defines the detailed project schedule, budget, resources, allocations, and timeline.
• Provides the baseline to control and manage the project
• Identifies the project risks
• Approves the project to begin work
• Delivers a detailed Project Plan.

Execution & Control

• Creates and/or delivers the end product or service
• Executes the tasks in the project plan (schedule)
• Manages the project issues & risk
• Relies on the plans from the Planning Phase to control the project.
• Delivers regular updates to stakeholders detailing progress

Closing

• Concludes all project tasks/activities
• Administratively closes the project
• Gathers and catalogs Lessons Learned
• Turns the delivered product or service over to customer or a support group
• Assesses project outcomes and team performance
• Delivers a Project Closeout Report