Project Management

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5 Phases of a Project

Project Initiation

• Defines project vision, goals, and objectives
• Outlines clear milestones, project tasking and project timeline
• Identifies potential risks and roadblocks throughout the project

A team’s performance during the project initiation phase can result in either authorization, delay, or discontinuation of a new project.

The main goal of the project initiation is to ensure that the project meets business needs and that stakeholders and project teams are aligned on the project success criteria throughout the project life cycle.

To achieve the project goal, it’s best to involve internal and external stakeholders from the initiation phase. This way, you can effectively align expectations and increase the likelihood of completing all the deliverables throughout the project management life cycle.

During the initiation phase, the entire project team defines the project idea, and the project sponsor evaluates it and authorizes the project to proceed. The project manager starts the documentation process, which includes the justification, deliverables, risks, estimated cost, and resource requirements.

The project charter is a key deliverable of the project initiation phase and contains all this information. It is the first formal definition of the project. It authorizes the project to exist, establishes the authority of the project manager, and documents high-level requirements, project milestones, and success criteria.

Another important document in the initiation phase is the stakeholder register. This document includes information about all the stakeholders of the project. It identifies the people, groups, and organizations that have an interest in the task, project, and its results.

Approval of the project charter signals the advance of the project to the next phase, the Project Planning Phase.

Project Planning

• Outlines an estimated budget and plan for resource management
• Answers the "what", "how", and "when" of the project plan
• Clarifies project scope

Once the expectations and success criteria are clear, the next project management life cycle phase focuses on planning each task the team needs to perform to cover the scope, achieve the deliverables, and meet the overall goal.

In the project planning phase, the project team members dive into specific requirements, tasks, timelines, and actions. The project manager works with the entire team to create the design, enumerate the task list, and estimate the budget.

The project team builds the resource plan, the communications plan, and the initial project schedule. The project manager also establishes the roles and responsibilities of the team and stakeholders. The project scope is finalized depending on approved available resources and client priorities.

During the planning phase, the project team finalizes the work breakdown structure, project plan, requirements list, communications management plan, and other relevant documents to iron out the workflow and coordination with involved parties.

The project plan is a key deliverable and contains a detailed work breakdown structure (WBS) or task list with start and end dates, and estimated effort and duration. It identifies milestones, resources, and the schedule. It also includes task dependencies that will allow the project team to use the critical path method if it chooses.

Other important deliverables are the communications management plan, which helps facilitate effective communication with stakeholders, and the resource allocation plan which identifies the schedule of project team resources as to their availability during the whole project life cycle.

Something PMs should keep in mind: as you discover more information, you may have to adjust your previous project plan and related procedures. More complex projects will require more back-and-forth approvals for every task created.

Project planning is an iterative process so the project manager should review, revise, and revisit all the plans at least once a month until the completion of the project. It is crucial for the project team to involve relevant stakeholders in this stage of the project life cycle as well.

Project Execution

• Monitors project status as actions are taken
• Engages stakeholders and team members in open communication
• Relies on predetermined systems to keep execution moving forward smoothly

Project Execution Phase The project execution phase is where the project team executes and follows through on tasks based on the project plan. At this stage, the team spends most of its time coordinating with people, helping to ensure quality work, staying within the project timeline agreed upon, keeping track of resources, and updating stakeholders.

Sometimes called the implementation phase, this is the phase when the project manager tries to manage every task and aspect of project delivery to keep the project on track for the remaining duration of the project life cycle.

The project team focuses on achieving all the objectives set in the earlier phases. At this phase, the project leader likely uses project management software to assign every task to team members. Tools that centralize task information, along with resource availability and team communication can simplify and optimize the needed project management processes.

Quality assurance documentation, meeting minutes, and work orders are some of the documents created during the execution phase of the project management life cycle.

It’s also likely that you’ll discover new information that will require a revisit and update of the initial project management plans. Be vigilant with change requests, and make sure that the necessary adjustments are managed.

Project Monitoring & Control

• Tracks team performance against KPIs and goals
• Compares projected budget and scope outlines against project progress in the status quo
• Monitors quality of deliverables

Project Closure

• Reflects on major wins and losses throughout the project lifecycle
• Delivers final deliverables and project outcomes
• Provides an opportunity for team reflection and discussion

Job Management

Sage 300

We rely on the Sage 300 product line to maintain all our accounting records and rely on the Jobs Module to Manage all Jobs

Manage Jobs

Manage Jobs

Go to Lists > Jobs to track your projects.

Job List

Review all jobs and visualize start and end dates and current status.

From the Job List window, reference the Tasks section to setup phases and cost codes.

Job Reporting

Reference the Reports section to access job-specific reporting. Click on the Job Profitability Report to determine margins for each project, job phase or cost code.

• Sage Accounting provides access to advanced job functionality such as labor burden management, progress-based billing and subcontractor insurance tracking.