Unit I

Question 1
Identify and describe the implications of the five process groups of project
management. Choose one of the implications and provide an example to
illustrate your understanding. Your response should be at least 200 words
in length.
The five process groups of project management are initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring and controlling and closing of project. Organizations are in need of these
process groups in order to produce product on time and within budget. All these five
stages implicate the next stage in line.
Initiating is the first phase of a project. It defines the project through authorization,
developing bossiness case and assigning project teams. In depth planning of a
project with schedule implementation is important step for avoidance of
unnecessary costs and delays. These costs as well as other problems and
opportunities can be addresses and better solution can be applies if there is a good
project implementation in place.
Planning is a process that includes defining objectives as well as requirements,
budget, scope staffing and defining roles and responsibilities. There are quite few
documents that will be created in the planning process. Some of them are scope
statement, work breakdown structure, milestones, communication plan and risk
management plan. In order to have a successful project, projects need to have a
well-planned project with clearly set goals. These goals are set in the planning
phase.
Execution is where the project management planning starts. Everyone on the
project is put together in order to be able to execute the project. Different resources
including people and the input project management plan help the project with this
most important process group. It is very important to have a project funds
availability that will easy the problems related to project changes. Insufficient
budget can affect the project deliverables. There are lot of steps that are performed
in the execution phase. Some of them are quality assurance, development of the
project team, information distribution, supplier resources, supplier bids and
responses, costs, risks, etc.
Controlling is the stage where the project team spends the most of the time so they
can meet the previously determined goals through planning and controlling. Risk
monitoring is part of this stage that helps with identifying the risks as well as
reporting them so in order to have project execution control. Also in this stage,
information for performance, are collected, measured and distributed. After this,
process improvement measurements are assessed. In this stage, key performance
indicators should be used which will show if the project is on track. Some of these
indicators are quality deliverables with which use the project team can understand if
specific deliverables have been met. The project performance will monitor the
project changes.
Closing process is the last stage of a project. In the closing process, deliverables
are handed over to the client including formal acceptance from the client. The whole
documentation from the project is handed to the owner. Formal communication with
suppliers is in place as well as supplier contract termination. Resources including
stuff are released. The closing process is a process that closes the life cycle of the
project.

Explain the importance of the project life cycle to project management.

Identify and define the phases within the project life cycle and explain
their importance to the project being successful. Your response should be
at least 200 words in length.
As it was mentioned earlier, there are five process groups of project
management that should be performed so projects can be initiated, planned and
executed successfully. These five processes are initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring and controlling and closing of project. In order to produce a product
through project from the beginning to finish, the project needs to go through phases
that are connected thought the project lifecycle. These phases are needed so the
project work can be better controlled and managed.
For example, the planning stage should be seen as a cycle. The plan should
evaluate if the project will succeed. If thats not the case, then the project should
cycle back to the previous stage. If the plan is good enough and it identifies the
objectives and the requirements, it is important to define the budget also. Some of
the decisions in the planning stage have financial implication. In this case, forecast
of the cash flow should be in place in order for the effects of time on the revenue
can be accessed. For a project to be successful, it needs to include the lifecycles or
all five stages and project management activities. Both of these component are
imperative for success.
Not every company on the market is a company with a good reputation. The
bad company reputation comes from the lack of project lifecycle processes and the
lack of needed discipline. The project lifecycle is the biggest value of project
management. Project management need to know that a project will be successful
only if the management and its team understand the importance of the project
lifecycle which in return will provide the project team and the organization with
values. Utilizing lifecycle process through organizations takes a lot of effort and
time. The project lifecycle is needed in order for all the work to be included in the
schedule and estimates, using lifecycle model will define the work that is needed for
the project, it ensures that the planning process is done before the execution
process, etc. Organizations have to have some type of lifecycle processes in place.
With the use of the lifecycle processes, projects will better understand the
requirements and they will also design efficient solutions when needed. Project life
cycle is important for project management because the work associated with the
schedule is the lifecycle work that is connected with building the project
deliverables.