Construction Planning

The successful completion of a project is not an easy endeavor. It calls for a series of tasks to meet client and stakeholder requirements; a lot of pre-planning and foresight is required in the process of reaching the completion phase. No matter what type of project you are working on, having comprehensive knowledge about the Project Management life cycle phases is essential. It keeps your projects organized and more viable to execute from ideation to completion.

• Identify Project Deliverables

Upon identifying the project scope, the very next step is to outline the project deliverables. Project deliverables include defining the product or services needed.

• Identify Project Stakeholders

A thorough identification of project stakeholders is essential. It is better to have meetings with team members and experts to identify project stakeholders. Documentation of relevant information on stakeholders and impact on them on successful completion of the project is required

• Develop a Business Case

Before developing a business case, check whether the essential pillars of the project such as feasibility, scope, and identification of stakeholders are in place. The very next step is to come up with a full-fledged business case.

Creation of a statement of work (SOW) and the formation of a team wrap up the project initiation phase.

• Project Planning

The project planning phase frames a plan for the project, which helps to guide all stakeholders through the implementation phase up to the closing phase. The project program created will at this point will surely help you to manage cost, time, program changes to suit project milestones achieved or delayed and risk assessments.

• Creating a Project Plan

A project plan is the projects blueprint of all work to be completed under specific dates and timeframes. A well-designed project plan will list all of the on and off-site activities, the time frames, any possible constraints involved or potential risks. It assists the project manager to streamline day to day operations to reach the projects goal; project completion.

• Creating a Resource Plan

A resource plan provides information about all the required resources required to accomplish project completion. A well-documented resource plan specifies the labor and materials to complete the project.

• Budget Estimation

Creating the financial plan, helps to set a budget without exceeding it. The final budget plan would include expenses on materials, labor, and equipment. Assisting the team and project managers to monitor and control the costs throughout the project life cycle.

• Gathering Resources

Gathering resources is an essential part of project planning as it helps monitor the quality level of the projects deliverable. It is not enough to assemble team members from internal and external resources. Resources like equipment, money, software solutions, and workplace all have equal value if a project is to succeed on time and within budget. Every possible resource a project has should be taken into account.

• Anticipating Project Risks and Potential Quality Concerns

A Project Risk Plan will help identify risks and mitigate all potential risks . It will indicate all the potential risks, the order of severity for each risk and preventive actions to reduce the severity. Once project threats are under control, it is possible to deliver the project on time adhering to quality.

• Project Execution

Project execution is the phase where project-related processes are implemented, tasks are assigned, and resources allocated. The method also involves building deliverables and satisfying customer requirements. Project managers or team leaders accomplish the task through resource allocation and maintaining team member focus.

The team involved will start creating project deliverables and seek to achieve project goals and objectives as outlined in the project plan. The success of a project mainly depends on the project execution phase. The final project, deliverables also take shape during the project execution phase.

There are a lot of essential things that are taken care of during the execution phase. Listed below are a few among them:

• Reporting Progress of a Project

During the project execution phase, it is essential to get regular project updates as it provides the required information and even identifies the issues.

• Hold Regular Meetings

Before you kick-off a project meeting, be clear about the agenda and make team members aware of what the meeting is all about well in advance. If communication is timely and straight-forward, the productivity of on-going projects and those that are in the pipeline will not get affected.

• Manage Problems

Problems within the project are bound to occur. Issues such as time management, quality management, and weakening in the team’s morale can hinder the success of a project. So make sure all problems are solved in the beginning.

• Project Monitoring and Control

The project monitoring and control phase is all about measuring the performance of the project and tracking progress. It is implemented during the execution phase. The main goal of this phase is to check whether everything aligns with the project management plan, especially concerning financial parameters and timelines.

It is the responsibility of the project manager to make necessary adjustments related to resource allocation and ensure that everything is on track. To aid this, a project manager may conduct review meetings and get regular performance reports.

Monitoring project activity after project execution phase will allow the project manager to take corrective actions. Meanwhile, considering the quality of work will also help to make the necessary improvements. Keeping an eye on the budget will help to avoid unnecessary expenses resources.

• Project Closure

With so much time and effort invested in the project planning phases, it is often forgotten that the final phase of the project management life cycle is equally as important.

Project closure phase represents the final phase of the project, which is also known as “follow-up” phase. Around this time, the final product is ready for delivery. Here the main focus of the Project Manager and the team should be on product release and product delivery. In this stage, all the activities related to the project are wrapped up. The closure phase is not necessarily after a successful completion phase alone. Sometimes a project may have to be closed due to project failure; project delays or reschedule.

Upon project completion and timely delivery, it is the role of the project manager to highlight strengths, list the takeaways of the project, identify the ambiguities and suggest how they could be rectified for future projects. Taking time to recognize the strengths and weaknesses will help to handle projects with more dedication; this, in turn, builds the project manager’s credibility.

Contact Vast Construction Projects to assist you with Planning your Project from Inception to Completion.