As organizations have recognized the important of projects to their success, project management has become a focal point of improvement efforts. Project management applies principles, concepts, tools and techniques to improve project performance and organizational effectiveness. Project management adds value by improving the probability of consistently successful projects.
What is a project?
Encarta describes a project as a "task or planned program of work that requires a large amount of time, effort, and planning to complete". (Encarta, 2007) This meaning it sounds like it could be applied to everyday task. A project could be viewed as having designated steps needed to accomplish a goal. This is not necessarily correct for all projects. True projects have some characteristics they share. Projects have a clear and agreed upon objective, and have a defined life span. Where as everyday tasks can last a few minutes or longer and repeat again the next day. Projects generally are doing something new or a one time effort. Projects have three basic requirements that include time, cost and performance. Everyday tasks do not always fall into this category.
What are the basic phases of the project lifecycle and their purposes?
The Project Life Cycle refers to a logical order of activities to achieve the project's goals or objectives. It does not matter the size or difficulty, any project goes through a series of stages during its life.
Conceptual
This is the first phase in a project life cycle where a business problem, requirement or opportunity is identified. Most important in this phase is a first round analysis of risk and the resulting impact on the time, cost, and performance requirements, together with the potential impact on company resources.
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