Software development projects are logically divided into phases that are composing the project life cycle. The name and number of these phases are industry dependent, so they are completely different from one field of activity to another. Typically, the phases are scheduled sequentially but in some cases a project may take clear advantages by running the phases concurrently.

Felician ALECU

English

Research Papers in Economics

Page 26  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
Managing Software Development Projects, 
The Project Management Process   
 
 
Felician ALECU, PhD, University Lecturer 
Department of Economic Informatics 
Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania 
E-mail: alecu[at]ase[dot]ro; Web Page: http://alecu.ase.ro 
 
 
Abstract:  Software  development  projects  are  logically  divided  into 
phases that are composing the project life cycle. The name 
and number of these phases are industry dependent, so they 
are completely different from one field of activity to another. 
Typically, the phases are scheduled sequentially but in some 
cases a project may take clear advantages by running the 
phases concurrently.   
Keywords: project life cycle, project management methodology, project 
management process. 
 
 
The Project Management Process 
According to PMI (Project Management Institute), the publisher of 
PMBOK Guide (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge), 
a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique 
product, service or result.  
Any project has its own life cycle, a progression (generally sequen-
tial)  of  phases  that  are  industry  dependent,  so  projects  from  various 
fields will implement different stages. By using these phases, a project is Page 27  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
actually divided into smaller logical parts/subsets that can be better man-
aged, planned and controlled.  
The life cycle is usually applied together with a project management 
methodology/process which includes, from a PMI’s point of view, the five 
Project  Management  Process  Groups  –  Initiating,  Planning,  Executing, 
Monitoring and Controlling, Closing, as detailed into Figure 1. The Project 
Management Process Groups are industry independent and totally differ-
ent than the project phases. 
A project usually starts with the Initiating Process Group where it 
is decided if the project will be selected and accepted based on high-level 
planning efforts performed at this stage. Small projects are using a single 
set of project management process groups, while large projects are im-
plementing one set of process groups for each phase.  
 
Figure 1 – Project Management Process Groups 
Project Start
Monitoring
and
Controlling
Closing Project End
Planning Executing InitiatingPage 28  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
 
The initiating process can happen by one of the following reasons 
(Figure 2): 
  a new project just started  
  a new phase is about to begin 
  there are critical issues that demand the project to be com-
pletely reevaluated 
 
 
Figure 2 – Initiating Process Group 
 
If  the  project  is  approved,  it  will  move  forward  to  the  Planning 
Process Group, so detailed Project Management Plans are prepared. 
The  planning  process  group  occurs  in  one  of  the  following  situations 
(Figure 3): 
  initiating process group is completed 
  there are major issues that need the project to be replanned 
Initiating
New Project
New Phase
Critical IssuesPage 29  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
  the  ICC  Board  (Integrated  Change  Control  Board)  approved 
significant modifications that are affecting the initial plans 
 
 
Figure 3 – Planning Process Group 
 
The Executing  Process  Group will follow right after, so the work 
will be completed according to the plans. Executing can be started by one 
of the following reasons (Figure 4): 
  planning process group finished 
  there are non critical issues that do not need replanning 
 
Planning
Initiating
Major Issues
Significant 
ChangesPage 30  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
 
Figure 4 – Executing Process Group 
 
The results of the executing will be supplied to the Monitoring  and 
Controlling  Process  Group that will make sure the project is on the 
track in terms of scope, time, cost, risk and quality. The reasons to start 
the monitoring and controlling process group are presented into the Fig-
ure 5: 
  executing process group just finished 
  approved  changes  arrived  –  corrective/preventive  actions  or 
defect fixing 
 
Executing
Planning
Non Critical 
IssuesPage 31  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
 
Figure 5 – Monitoring and Controlling Process Group 
 
In the case when variations to the plan are encountered, depending 
on the severity of the identified issues the project will return back to one 
of the following process groups (Figure 1): 
  Initiating  –  when the issues are critical so a decision point is 
needed in order to find out if the project would continue or not  
  Planning  –  if  major  issues  are  discovered  or  significant 
changes are approved 
  Executing  –  when  there  are  no  baselines  affected  by  the 
changes 
 
A project can enter into the Closing project group in one of the fol-
lowing situations (Figure 6): 
  project or phase is complete 
  project is cancelled before the work is finished 
Monitoring
and
Controlling
Executing
ChangesPage 32  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
 
 
Figure 6 – Closing Process Group 
 
Project  closing is assisting the project manager to make sure all 
the work is completed according to the plans and the project met the ob-
jectives stated into the charter and project management plans.  
 
Conclusions 
As stated at the beginning of this paper, any project can be logically 
divided  into  several  phases  that  can  be  better  managed,  planned  and 
controlled.  Typically,  these  phases  are  scheduled  sequentially  but  in 
some cases a project may take clear advantages by running the phases 
concurrently. 
 
 
 
Closing
Project 
Completed
Phase
Completed
Project 
CancelledPage 33  Oeconomics of Knowledge, Volume 3, Issue 3, 3Q, Summer 2011 
 
References 
[1]  Frank F. Tsui, Orlando Karam, Essentials of Software Engineer-
ing, Second Edition, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2009 
[2]  Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Manage-
ment  Body  of  Knowledge:  PMBOK  Guide,  4th  edition,  Project 
Management Institute, 2008 
[3]  Project  Management  Institute,  Practice  Standard  for  Earned 
Value Management, Project Management Institute, 2005 
[4]  Project  Management  Institute,  Practice  Standard  for  Work 
Breakdown  Structure,  Project  Management  Institute,  2nd  edi-
tion, 2006 
 

Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge:

Managing Software Development Projects, The Project Management Process

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