1.2
Life Cycle of Major Engineering Projects

Life cycle models

the plant life cycle

the project life cycle

the corporate investment life cycle

Strategic Planning

Feasibility

Contract

Realisation

Exercise

Close Out

Project

Exercise

Decommisioning

Concept / Initiating

Design / Planning

Implementation / Execution

Commissioning / Handover or Closing

Major projects have much longer life cycles than projects.

A key aspect of the project life cycle is the level of influence versus the cost of change. or the potential to add value versus the cost of change

"Risk and uncertainty are highest at the start of the project. These factors decrease
over the life of the project as decisions are reached and as deliverables are accepted"

The cost of change increases over the life cycle, even if the change taking place is exactly the same. Whereas the cost of level of influence (or the possibility to add value) decreases over the life cycle.

This is exactly why the concept phase is the most critical.
The cost of change is the lowest and the possibility to add value is the highest.

The Rolling Wave (or phased) approach to project management

Phase-to-phase relationships

sequential relationship

a phase of a project follows on only once the previous phase is finished.

overlapping relationship

the next phase of a project can begin before the previous one has finished.

This allows us to speed up the project's schedule

might reduce uncertainty

Might increases the amount of risk involved because of the lack of details and more changes required

"The Rolling Wave approach to project management suggests that the project planning effort “rolls out” detailed plans for the foreseeable future and, as the project evolves, periodically reevaluates the completion dates and costs." (Knutson, 1996)

e.g. waterfall model

Iterative Relationship

e.g. agile model

Different teams working on different phases

Same team working on different phases

Require long-term (e.g. 3 years), mid-term (e.g. 1 year) and short-term (1 month, detailed) planning and then reevaluate them regularly.

Project Life Cycle

Life cycle essentially deal with the activities required to be done to deliver the project.

Project Management Process

What you need to do : to manage" the work

What you need to do "to do" the work

Projects life cycles differ from one project to another depending on the nature of the project and their deliverables

The project management process is the same for all projects and all phases of a project

Project management process:

Execution

Monitoring and controlling

Planning

Closing

Initiation

Adaptive life cycle / Agile model / Change driven

Iterative Life Cycle

Predictive life cycle / Waterfall model / Fully plan driven

Incremental Life Cycle

Hybrid Life Cycle