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2 - ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES AND PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

There is no single ideal structure that will apply to all projects. Although industry common practices will often
lead to the use of a preferred structure, projects in the same industry—or even in the same organization—may
have significant variation. Some will have only one phase, as shown in Figure 2-10. Other projects may have two
or more phases.

One Approach to Managing the Installation of a Telecommunications Network

Monitoring and Controlling Processes

Initiating Processes Planning Processes Executing Processes Closing Processes

Figure 2-10. Example of a Single-Phase Project

Some organizations have established policies that standardize all projects, while others allow the project team
to choose and tailor the most appropriate approach for their individual project. For instance, one organization
may treat a feasibility study as routine pre-project work, another may treat it as the first phase of a project, and
a third may treat the feasibility study as a separate, stand-alone project. Likewise, one project team may divide a
project into two phases whereas another project team may choose to manage all the work as a single phase. Much
depends on the nature of the specific project and the style of the project team or organization.

2.4.2.1 Phase-to-Phase relationships

When projects have more than one phase, the phases are part of a generally sequential process designed to
ensure proper control of the project and attain the desired product, service, or result. However, there are situations
when a project might benefit from overlapping or concurrent phases.

There are two basic types of phase-to-phase relationships:

• Sequential relationship. In a sequential relationship, a phase starts only when the previous phase is
complete. Figure 2-11 shows an example of a project with three entirely sequential phases. The step-
by-step nature of this approach reduces uncertainty, but may eliminate options for reducing the overall
schedule.

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