What is the project management cycle –

Whenever we are loaded with a new task, it is not advised to start working on the task immediately, before working on it, it is important to analyse the task and make a well-structured and detailed plan of how to go about it: One should always try and answer these following questions before starting any task:

• When and How are we going to proceed with the task ?
• Exactly how many hours will be needed to complete the work?
• A brief analyses of how much labour will be required to complete the work?
• What exactly is the kind of work and what are the expertise which will be  required to do the work?
• What will be the major steps and procedures which will be involved to complete the task?

By going through the tasks and then answering the above stated questions, we are making our lives easier and planning our work way in advance effectively and efficiently to achieve our desired goals, and this exactly is known as project management.

Project management is broadly divided into 4 phases which are also termed as the life cycles of project management. The four  phases of project management life cycle are as follows;

1. Initiation of the project –Whenever we are loaded with a new task, it is not advised to start working on the task immediately, before working on it, it is important to analyse the task and make a well-structured and detailed plan of how to go about it. In this initial phase we generally pre decide everything such as the budget, the team and their job roles, the time line etc.

Planning of the project– In this phase we need to plan the following things:

1. Timeline of the project: One of the major challenge of any project is to decide the time line and stick to it. Due to various advancement and the market structure changing rapidly, the product manager is bound to make changes in the project at every step to achieve maximum results, however this can take up extra time and deviate from the initial timeline of the project. Project manager along with the team decides a stipulated timeline for the entire project and tries to work according to the timeline.
2. Costing and budgeting:It is the task of the project manager to decide the costing of the entire project after consulting the entire team, A very detailed budget plan needs to be decided which covers all the costs and anticipated costs. The entire team should try and stay in the pre – defined budget and avoid wastage.
3. Nature and type of Risk: Nothing in life is involved without risk. There is no project which has existed and which will exist without the risk element. In this case the role of the project manager is to analyse and estimate all the risks before hand, prepare for the risks way in advance and as when the project is exposed to risk, he should be effective enough to analyse and work on those areas.
4. Execution of the project –Once the planning stage is over, which is no doubt a very important stage the next big stage involves the execution part. Execution bridges the gap between the goals which are thought to be achieved and the goals which we finally achieve. Hence this stage plays a significant role. All the brain storming, all the plans need to be put in action and need to be monitored regularly. We need to keep anaysing the plan at every stage and giving comfort over which step was successful and which steps not be re done for a better productivity. This entire process of execution involves managing a tons of things such as the timeline of the project, the estimated budget of the project so that we do not over spend, the quality of the entire project which is of utmost importance, the various risks which we encounter on various stages of the project and ways to tackle those risks, the various in house issues between the employees, which need to be addressed from time to time, the demand and supply needs to be kept at a close look regularly, the needs and wants of the customer, this is one aspect which at all cannot be ignored as customer satisfaction is of utmost importance and lastly an effective communication. An effective communication can remove various barriers and can help the entire process to run very smoothly.
5. The Closure of the project–This is the final stage of the project, which is a very crucial one. In this we finally deliver our end product to the customer, the end customer plays a crucial role is assisting our performance. The customer gives the feedback of the product which cane be both positive and negative, this can help be of great help to us in the future.

This is the basic way a project management cycle works regularly in all business forms.

The  Project management knowledge areas can be divided into  broad categories which are used in the project management life cycle to enhance the overall performance. Now Let us understand the  project management life cycle with the help of an example:

1. Management Integration– In managementintegration, our work is to ensure that the various elements of the project are well coordinated.

Let us take an example of ABC company, in which In an XYZ you are given a new project which involves developing a tool which will be involved in recording the personal data of the employees of the organization. To begin with we first need to make a team of dedicated and skilled people who have the knowledge and skills of the task. Our first and the foremost work of the project manager is to build and effective team and to ensure that the plan of the project is followed and executed by the entire team.

2. Management Scope –It is the duty of the project manager to clearly define the scope of the task and communicate it to the entire team to achieve maximum results.
3. Timeline of the project:One of the major challenge of any project is to decide the time line and stick to it. Due to various advancement and the market structure changing rapidly, the product manager is bound to make changes in the project at every step to achieve maximum results, however this can take up extra time and deviate from the initial timeline of the project. Project manager along with the team decides a stipulated timeline for the entire project and tries to work according to the timeline.
4. Costing and budgeting:It is the task of the project manager to decide the costing of the entire project after consulting the entire team, A very detailed budget plan needs to be decided which covers all the costs and anticipated costs. The entire team should try and stay in the pre – defined budget and avoid wastage. .
5. Management of risk – Nothing in life is involved without risk. There is no project which has existed and which will exist without the risk element. In this case the role of the project manager is to analyse and estimate all the risks before hand, prepare for the risks way in advance and as when the project is exposed to risk, he should be effective enough to analyse and work on those areas. A few examples of risk are loss of data, violation of personal data etc.
6. Management of procurement – the procurement process requires the project manager and his team to acquire the right kind of  goods and services fromoutside the organization. It is very important to keep a note and document each and every step be it small or big, the outcomes, risks, profits etc. There should be a proof of each and everything.
7. Managementof stakeholders:– Share holders in any organization play a very important role in overall continuity of the business. They can be outsiders as well as insiders. For any project to be successful such as the software project, it is extremely important that each and every share holder despite of their share % takes active part in the process and progress of the project. Not only the share holders but various other people involved in the process should take interest in the entire process to make it successful.