The Process Life Cycle and Project Life Cycle Partnership By: Sandra Lusk, PMP Tuesday April

24, 2007 In the past, large IT pro e!ts "ould deploy ne" appli!ations or upgrades and #e !onsidered $ailures not #e!ause the te!hnology $ailed #ut #e!ause the i%pa!t to the #usiness "asn&t $ully understood or e'en !onsidered as a !riteria $or the su!!ess o$ the pro e!t( Si%ilarly, %any pro!ess i%pro'e%ent initiati'es "ould %eet the sa%e $ate #e!ause they $o!used on the e)e!ution o$ #usiness tasks and, i$ te!hnology "as !onsidered at all, it "as identi$ied $or a potential and separate $uture IT pro e!t( *n$ortunately #y the ti%e the pro e!t "as appro'ed and the $unds allo!ated the original pro!ess i%pro'e%ent deli'era#les "ould #e outdated or o'ershado"ed #y the te!hnology deli'era#les( +ith the in!reased interest in Business Pro!ess Manage%ent, the relationship #et"een pro e!t %anage%ent and pro!ess %anage%ent %ethodologies has #e!o%e a topi! $or serious !onsideration "hen organi,ations !onsider laun!hing ne" pro e!ts and-or pro!ess i%pro'e%ent initiati'es( This relationship "hen treated as a partnership o$ e.uals !an i%pro'e the su!!ess o$ #oth the te!hni!al and the pro!ess i%pro'e%ent interests( *nderstanding ho" the Pro e!t Li$e /y!le 0PL/1 and the Pro!ess Li$e /y!le 0PrL/1 intera!t is a #eginning to e)ploring this relationship( Let&s start "ith a #asi! de$inition $or Business Pro!ess( A Business Pro!ess is uni.uely de$ina#le2 has a de$ined set o$ a!ti'ities that #reak do"n into in!reasingly %ore granular steps and an agreed to set o$ se.uen!es2 is ena#led and-or !onstrained #y !ulture, skills, poli!ies and rules, la"s, %easure%ent-re"ard syste%s, "ork$lo" design, in$or%ation syste%s and $a!ilities2 o$ten !rosses organi,ational #oundaries2 and $ollo"s a $or%al li$e !y!le( This $or%al li$e !y!le is sho"n in 3igure 4(

Figure 1 Process Life Cycle To #etter sho" the relationship to the Pro e!t Li$e /y!le, the 5e'elop phase o$ the Pro!ess Li$e /y!le is e)panded to the ne)t le'el o$ detail %ade up o$ $our su#6phases: Analy,e, 5esign, Build and Test( Analy,e do!u%ents the !urrent state in!luding !apturing %etri!s2 'alidates and updates pro!ess $lo"s and de$initions "ith the Stakeholders2 identi$ies !urrent ena#lers, !ontrols, and !onstraints2 and identi$ies gaps and issues( 5esign de'elops and do!u%ents the $uture state2 !reates-updates pro!ess $lo"s and de$initions2 identi$ies ne" ena#lers, !ontrols and !onstraints2 and resol'es gaps and issues( The third su#6phase is Build and in!ludes !oding, !on$iguration, a!.uiring hard"are, and so$t"are $or pro!esses

that "ill #e auto%ated( 3or %anual pro!esses, it in!ludes e.uip%ent, tools, and other supplies needed to e)e!ute the pro!ess( +ork pro!edure do!u%entation is another key deli'era#le $or #oth auto%ated and non6auto%ated pro!esses( This do!u%entation in!ludes #oth training %aterials and user guides( Testing is the $inal su#6phase and in!ludes "alkthroughs, si%ulations, and $ield tests( +hether the pro!ess is auto%ated or %anual, testing the pro!ess and its integration into the end6to6end "ork$lo" is a !riti!al a!ti'ity( The e)panded PL/ is sho"n in 3igure 2 #elo"(

Figure 2 Expanded Process Life Cycle 3or this dis!ussion, the Pro e!t Li$e /y!le $or a te!hnology pro e!t is sho"n( The PL/, as sho"n in 3igure 7, is %ade up o$ the $ollo"ing phases: Initiate, 5e$ine S!ope, 5e$ine 8e.uire%ents, Build, Syste% Test, *ser A!!eptan!e, 5eploy and /lose(

Figure 3 - Project Life Cycle The $irst phase o$ the PrL/, the 5e$ine phase, #egins in parallel to the 5e$ine S!ope phase o$ the PL/( 5uring this phase o$ the PL/ ne" pro!esses needed and e)isting pro!esses that "ill #e i%pa!ted are identi$ied and are input to the 5e$ine phase o$ the PrL/( The 5e$ine phase deli'ers a high6le'el state%ent outlining: "hat the pro!ess is 0Purpose12 "hat it "ill do, "hat it "ill not do 0Pro!ess S!ope12 e)pe!ted i%pa!t to the organi,ation 0I%pa!t12 "ho "ill #e responsi#le $or its su!!ess 09"ner12 and "hat other groups ha'e a 'ested interest 0Stakeholders1( :e)t the 5e$ine 8e.uire%ents phase o$ the PL/ and the Analy,e phase o$ the PrL/ are started( The !urrent state o$ e)isting pro!esses are do!u%ented, de$initions agreed to, !urrent ena#lers, !ontrols and !onstraints 'alidated, and outstanding issues and gaps identi$ied( These PrL/ deli'era#les are used in the de'elop%ent o$ #oth #usiness and syste% re.uire%ents and #e!o%e part o$ the pro e!t&s re.uire%ents do!u%entation( 5uring the ne)t t"o phases o$ the PL/, 5e'elop 5etail Spe!i$i!ations and Build, the PrL/ phases o$ 5esign and Build are e)e!uted( This in!ludes !hanges to e)isting pro!esses as "ell as de'elop%ent o$ ne"( In the 5esign phase the $uture state is do!u%ented, de$initions updated, ne" ena#lers, !ontrols and !onstraints identi$ied, gaps and issues are resol'ed( The Build phase "ill 'ary depending on "hether this is an auto%ated or %anual pro!ess( As noted a#o'e, the Build phase %ay in!lude !oding, !on$iguration, a!.uiring hard"are and so$t"are, e.uip%ent, tools, and other supplies needed to e)e!ute the pro!ess( This in!ludes the de'elop%ent o$ "ork pro!edure do!u%entation "hi!h is input to the Training Li$e /y!le( Building the appli!ation and #uilding the pro!ess together as t"o

inter6dependent deli'era#les i%pro'es the odds that #oth "ill %eet the #usiness re.uire%ent de$ined in the pre'ious phases( In !on un!tion "ith the Syste% Test and *ser A!!eptan!e Test phases o$ the PL/, the #usiness pro!ess is also tested and deployed( The Test phase o$ the PrL/ in!ludes "alkthroughs, si%ulations, and $ield tests( Testing the #usiness pro!ess is o$ten $orgotten during Syste% and *ser A!!eptan!e Tests( 3ollo"ing the PrL/ in parallel to the PL/ "ill help a'oid this o%ission( The Testing Li$e /y!le plays a key role here as "ell( Although it %ay see% strange to ha'e the 5eploy phase o$ the PrL/ #e$ore the 5eploy phase o$ the PL/, it is a!tually a prere.uisite $or the latter( This phase o$ the PrL/ deals "ith sta$$ing issues su!h as hiring, redeploy%ent, and redu!tion o$ sta$$ as "ell as addressing potential i%pa!ts to Bargaining *nit agree%ents( It also in!ludes Training plans "hi!h "ill tie to the Training Li$e /y!le( Training is a key deli'era#le $or #oth the PL/ and the PrL/ and these deli'era#les need to #e integrated to ensure !o%pleteness and a'oid redundan!y( 9n!e the syste% is deployed, the Pro!ess #e!o%es part o$ the #usiness routine( The 5eploy phase o$ the PL/ ki!ks o$$ the ;)e!ute phase o$ the PrL/( A su%%ary o$ the relationship o$ the PrL/ and the PL/ is sho"n in 3igure 4 #elo"(

Figure

!elationship "et#een the Project and Process Life Cycles

Sin!e a pro e!t #y de$inition is $inite and there$ore has an ending, the Pro e!t Li$e /y!le ends "ith the /lose phase( <o"e'er, the Pro!ess Li$e /y!le #y its nature is !ontinuous and, there$ore, the Monitor-Measure and 8e'ise-I%pro'e phases do not !orrespond to any phase "ithin the PL/( +hile the !oordination o$ these t"o Li$e /y!les takes planning and dedi!ation, the #ene$its to #oth the su!!ess o$ the pro e!t and the e$$e!ti'eness o$ the #usiness pro!ess %ake it "orth"hile( As pre'iously %entioned, the Pro!ess Li$e /y!le also intera!ts "ith the Testing and Training Li$e /y!les( <o"e'er, that dis!ussion "ill need to #e le$t $or another ti%e( Sandra has over twenty years experience in system and process design and development working with utility, transportation, logistics, insurance and banking organizations in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and ales, U!" She has taught at Algon#uin College in $ntario and at the Saskatchewan %nstitute o& Applied Science and 'echnology" As a Senior (usiness )rocess *anagement Consultant, her responsibilities included development o& a ()* +overnance, training, mentoring and support o& business improvement initiatives" A

graduate in Computer Science &rom the University o& ,egina, she is a certi&ied )ro-ect *anagement )ro&essional .)*)/ and is currently )resident o& the Association &or (usiness )rocess *anagement )ro&essionals, )ortland Chapter"