Project Life-cycle

Project life-cycle or project stages are parts or faces of projects that provide a structured pathway from the start of a project until finish.

A number of authors and project management professionals include different stages based on the business “nature” of the project, previous experience, organisational cultural aspects and business environment.

In some cases the following four stages are identified:

• ·         Initiation

• ·         Planning

• ·         Monitoring and controlling

• ·         Closure

The above mentioned points have a management basis and serve as a general guide.

In other cases projects are broken down into more stages, such as:

• ·         Initiation

• ·         Planning

• ·         Execution

• ·         Monitoring & controlling

• ·         Closure

Arguably, project management professionals can select, incorporate and blend project stages based on project parameters such as cost, quality and time.