Engineering project life cycle

The main goal of the project manager and project team is carrying out the work of the project for the purpose of meeting the project’s objectives. Every project has a beginning, a middle phase over which activities move the project toward completion, and an ending. There is no   standard so far as life cycle models are concerned, as each industry uses its own special forms. The name used for life cycle phases differ from industry to industry. One industry may name the first phase as the 'concept phase' while another may name it the 'initiate phase'. Some industries use six or more life cycle phases, while others may use four.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) divides projects into five phases of project management; initiating, planning, execution, monitoring & controlling and closing. As the construction industry is concerned, we can include the following phases in a project life cycle

Pre-project phase

A construction project begins with an idea, a realized need, a desire to improve or add to productive capacity or the wish for more efficient provision of some public service.

At this phase, the following options are asked; what sort of project delivery system will be applied? How will the different parties be related? Will the owner hire a design professional to prepare plans and specifications and then contract separately with a construction contractor? Or, will a single body be responsible for the entire project?

Other possible options have several separate specialty contractors, each linked by contract with the owner, the use of a construction manager as an adviser to the owner, the use of the owner’s own construction forces and the phasing of the project such that individual portions of the field work are started prior to the completion of all design work.

The contract's type to be used with the contractor.

At this phase a decision is made about; will the contractor be paid a specified fixed price, regardless of the actual quantities used in the project and the contractor’s actual costs? Will the quantities of materials be measured and the contractor paid on the basis of those quantities and pre-agreed-upon unit prices for each material? Or, will the contractor be repay for its actual costs, plus a fee, perhaps with an agreed-upon upper limit? The owner will also need to decide the basis upon which the design professional will be paid.

Depending on the owner’s experience in administering construction contracts, the owner may hire a professional engineer, an architect or a project manager during this pre-project phase to advice on these important decisions.

Planning and design phase

In planning phase of project management the project is fully defined and made ready for contractor selection and deployment during this phase. It is convenient to divide this phase into three stages.

 First stage

The purpose of the first stage is to define the project’s goals, consider alternative ways to fulfill those goals and ascertain whether the project is financially feasible.

In this process of planning and feasibility study, a project brief will be developed, more details will be set out in a program statement, different sites may be investigated, public input may be search for, a preliminary cost estimate will be prepared, funding sources will be identified and a final decision on whether to proceed with the project will be presented.

Second stage

In the second stage the designer will use the results of the planning efforts to develop:

•         Schematic diagrams showing the relationships among the different project components.
•         Detailed design of the structural, electrical and other systems. At this activity different engineering principles are used to estimate loads and other requirements, select materials, determine component sizes and configurations and assure that each element is proper in relation to other elements.

Third stage

The output from the design development effort is used in the final stage, wherein contract documents are prepared for use in contractor selection and execution work at the construction site.

The designer prepares not only the detailed construction drawings but also written contract conditions containing legal requirements, technical specifications setting out the materials and the manner in which they shall be installed and a set of other documents related to the process of selecting the contractor and performing the contract with the successful tenderer.

Contractor selection phase

In this phase the owner must decide whether an open invitation will be issued to all potential tenderer or whether only particular contractors will be invited to submit offers and whether any sort of pre-qualification process will be invoked to limit the number of tenders.

On the other side, contractors will have to consider a number of factors in deciding whether they will make the effort to gather a proposal for a particular project.  If a contractor finds the prospective project attractive, two main tasks will be required.

First, a series of planning steps will be performed including studies of different methods and equipment that would be used and the development of a preliminary project program setting forth an approximate time schedule for each major activity.

Second, a priced proposal will be intended, including the direct costs of labor, materials, plant and subcontractors, different overhead charges and a adequate added amount for profit.

The submittal, opening and evaluation of tenders, the selection of the successful contractor and the finalization of the construction contract is the last step in this phase.

Project mobilization phase

After the contractor is selected, a number of activities must be completed before execution work can begin at the project site:

•         Various bonds, licenses and insurances must be secured.
•         A detailed program for the construction activities must be prepared.
•         The cost estimate must be transformed to a project budget and the system for tracking actual project costs must be established.
•         The work site must be organized, with provisions for temporary buildings and services, access and delivery, storage areas and site security.
•         The operations of securing materials and equipment to be incorporated into the project must be initiated and arrangements for labor, the other essential resource, must be organized.

Project operations phase

Execution phase of project management, responsibilities include three essential areas monitoring and control, resource management and documentation and communication. Five aspects of monitoring and controlling the work are important:

•         Actual schedule progress must be compared against the project program to determine whether the project is on schedule;
•     If it is not, actions must be taken on to try to bring the program back into conformance.
•         The cost status must be checked to determine how actual performance compares with the budget.
•        An equally important part of monitoring and control is quality management, to assure that the work complies with the technical requirements set out in the contract documents.
•       The contractor has a substantial role to play in managing the work safely and in a way that decreases adverse environmental impacts.

Resource management

In managing the project’s resources, the contractor will first, be concerned with allocating and supervising personnel and assuring that the labor effort is sufficiently productive to meet schedule, cost and quality goals. In addition, materials and equipment must be managed so that these same goals are met.

Because construction projects require large amounts of paperwork, a special effort is required to manage this documentation effectively. Examples include the different particular drawings and samples that must be submitted to the owner or designer for approval prior to installation, the frequent need to respond to requests for changes in the project after the on-site work has begun and the all-important process for periodically assessing the value of work completed and requesting payment for this work.

Project closeout and termination phase

Finally, as the project approaches to completing, a number of special activities must take place before the contractor’s responsibilities can be considered complete. There are the different testing and startup tasks, the final cleanup, different inspections and remedial work that may result from them and the process of closing the construction office and terminating the staff’s employment.

In addition, a large number of special paperwork is required, including approvals and certifications that permit the contractor to receive final payment, a set of as-built drawings that contain all changes made to the original design, operating manuals, warranties and a final report.

The contractor also will be responsible for transferring and archiving project records and will undertake some sort of project critique and evaluation; operator training may also be part of the contractor’s contractual responsibilities.