Research Report: Impact of Project Planning, Initiation & Closure

This report provides a detailed analysis of the impact of project planning, initiation, and closure on industrial projects. It defines project management and its importance in saving time and money while improving internal communications. The report elaborates on the project management lifecycle, covering the stages of project initiation, planning, and closure, and their respective roles in ensuring project success. Project initiation is described as the first stage, focusing on defining project purpose and goals, while project planning involves stating how a project will be completed within a specific timeframe using available resources. Project closure, the final stage, involves finalizing all project activities and ensuring proper transitions to clients. Real-world examples, such as UK government humanitarian projects, Marriott International's hotel expansion in India, and Tesco's green power project, are used to illustrate the impact of these stages. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective project planning, initiation, and closure for the success of industrial projects, highlighting key steps and benefits associated with each phase.

Research Report on
Project Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................................3
Project Management Lifecycle................................................................................................................3
Impact of Project Planning, Initiation and Closure on the industrial projects..........................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Project management can be defined as the use of knowledge, tools, skills as well as
techniques in order to deliver something valuable to the customers. Each project that is
undertaken by an organization is unique and has specific requirements (Baker, 2020). It can be
said that project management is important because it saves time and money as well as improves
internal communications among the team members. The project management lifecycle comprises
of different phases such as project planning, project initiation as well as project closure. A
project lifecycle can be referred to as a framework that comprises of different stages that are
required in order to transform an idea of a particular concept into reality in an effective manner.
The respective report will explain the impact of Project Planning, Initiation and Closure on the
industrial projects. Various secondary sources have been referred to in order to complete the
research report. Apart from this, the report also explains examples of different industrial cases
that failed or were implemented successfully.
MAIN BODY
Project Management Lifecycle
Managing a project is not very easy because there can be different factors that can affect
the course of the project. A project management lifecycle comprises of different stages that help
in transforming an idea of concept into a practical project. The lifecycle of a project comprises of
different stages such as project planning, initiation as well as closure (Bura and Choudhary,
2020). It can be said that the project management lifecycle plays a significant role because it
provides the project manager to view the entire project and track the overall progress of the
project. There are different benefits of project management lifecycle such as it provides a
structure for the delivery of the project and also, improves the communication among the
different team members. Besides this, a project management lifecycle also enables the project
manager to track the overall success of the project. The different stages of a project management
lifecycle are explained below in detail to provide a better understanding of the same.
Project Initiation – Project initiation can be referred to as the first stage of the project
management lifecycle and during this stage, organizations decide if at all the project is needed or
not and if it will be beneficial or not. This stage involves the defining the purpose of the project,

its primary as well as secondary goals as well as the time frame. As an example of the
humanitarian projects of the UK government, the project initiation of the same was done in an
effective manner. It can be said that since the initiation process of the project was done in an
effective manner, the project was completed successfully. The project initiation process involves
business needs, scope, objectives as well as overall grades in detail.
It can be said that project initiation is important because it allows the team members
along with the project manager to analyze the needs of the project as well as fulfil the same
accordingly. The process of project initiation can have a significant impact on the success as well
as failure of a particular project (Chadee and et.al., 2021). The key components of project
initiation involve a detailed description of the problem, business objectives, a list of alternative
solutions that are available as well as an analysis of the benefits, costs as well as risks that can
have an impact on the overall outcomes as well as deliverables of the project. Therefore, it can
be said that the project initiation phase is the first stage and should be conducted in an effective
manner.
The primary purpose of project initiation is to record the basic information that is needed
to define and plan the project clearly. There are various projects that are undertaken by various
organizations from time to time. Since project initiation is the first stage of the project
management lifecycle and during this stage, the business problem or opportunity is defined and a
project is formed. It can be said that during the project initiation phase, a business case is created
to define the problem in detail so that the project team is appointed to deliver the final result to
the customer. It can be said that project initiation is important because it involves hiring a project
team and along with this, setting important goals (Chiang and Lin, 2020). Without an effective
project initiation, it is difficult to complete the project in an effective manner.
Project Planning – Project planning can be referred to as a discipline that involves stating how a
project will be completed within a specific timeframe and with the available resources. The
project planning process starts prior to the beginning of the actual process and continues
throughout the course of the project. The primary goal of the project planning stage is to plan the
time, cost as well as resources that are needed for project in an effective manner. This further
helps in minimizing the risk and achieve the intended outcomes in an effective manner. One of
the projects that involved intensive planning, was undertaken by Marriott International, a leading

hotel chain was to add 7 new hotel properties in India. The company undertook a lot of planning
in order to ensure that the execution of the project was done in an accurate manner. It can be said
that planning is one of the most crucial phases of the project management lifecycle. During this
stage, various project plans are documented, the project deliverables are defined and also, the
project schedule is created. The plans that are created during this stage of the project, are helpful
in managing time, quality, cost, risk, changes as well as the different issues related with the
same. The different types of plans that are developed during this stage include financial plan,
quality plan, risk plan, resource plan as well as a communication plan (Jiménez, Afonso and
Fernandes, 2020). One of the another successful examples of project planning is the installation
of Head Office teams of Tesco within Welwyn Garden City. This was followed by the clearance
from the company’s previous head office. The project involved a lot of planning as the
management of the company, along with the project managers took into account the different
risks as well as factors for completing the project in an effective manner.
Project planning is an important process that saves a lot of time and also involves
organizing the different activities as well as tasks. The process of project planning includes
various activities which are explained below –
Creating a Project and Resource Plan – The project plan involves developing the project
blueprint and to be in sync with the progress of the project. Apart from this, a resource plan is
another important document that provides information about the level of resources that are
needed for completing the project (Kinelski, 2020). It can be said that a resource plan that has
been developed properly, specifies the exact quantities of equipment, labor as well as materials
that are needed for the project.
List the requirements and project objectives – This is an important element of project
planning that involves listing all the requirements of the project such as the equipment, materials
etc. to ensure that all of these are available when there is a requirement. Besides this, the project
objectives are also listed to ensure that the team members have a clarity about their respective
roles as well as responsibilities. As the project progresses, there can be different changes that
have to be made to the project plan.
Listing the deliverables and estimated completion dates – This is another important
element that involves listing down the deliverables as well as estimated completion dates. It is

important because this helps the project manager to ensure that all the deliverables are effectively
planned and that their estimated due dates are also take into account. As a result, the whole
process of undertaking the process becomes much easier.
Project Schedule – The project schedule should also be planned and developed in detail
to make sure that the different activities have a planned schedule (10 Essential Elements for the
Perfect Project Plan (Infographic), 2021). In a project schedule, the amount of time that will be
required for the completion of each of the activities. Besides this, it also shows the time duration
of the whole project along with the roles and responsibilities of each team member and when
each task begins and ends.
Project Closure – Project closure is the final and the last stage of the project
management lifecycle that involves finalizing all activities for the project management process
(Mbiru, Wickham and Ayentimi, 2020). Since this is the last stage of the project, it is important
for the project team to take into account that all the different activities that are a part of the
project, are completed in an effective manner. The main benefits of this stage of the project
management lifecycle is that the planned work is complete and hence the project can be closed in
an effective manner. It can be said that the project closure stage is important because it improves
the future engagement ensuring that the projects are carried out in an effective manner. The
project closure process makes sure that all the project management processes are complete and
have been executed. Besides this, it also ensures that the final sign-off as well as approval is
received from all parties (Young Illies and Stachowski, 2020). Project closure is important for
the overall project management lifecycle because it helps in avoiding repeated mistakes in future
projects as well as objectives. It also assists in avoiding failing to identify the team or individuals
who will own as well as maintain the solution after the final delivery.
A clear project closure assists the in the proper transition of the solution to the client or
end-user (Munro and Ika, 2020). This also ensures that the final stakeholders have adequate
information, resources as well as training to manage and use the end product in an efficient
manner. By closing the project officially, the project risks are minimized, increase client
satisfaction and make sure that all the stakeholders are on the same page. For example, Tesco
announced major green power project in the United Kingdom. Intensive project planning was a
part of the project and it was observed that when the project was complete, the project closure

was done in an effective manner. As a result, the project was successful and there were no issues
in the same. The project closure process comprises of different steps that are explained below -
Transfer all deliverables formally – This is the first step to closing the project and
involves the project manager to finalize as well as transfer the project deliverable effectively to
the client (Tulupov, 2020). The project manager or the team leader should go through the project
in order to assess the project outcomes as well as make sure that they have been completed
effectively.
Confirm Project Completion – During this stage, it is important to ensure that the project
is complete and at this stage, it is important for each person who is involved in the project to
agree with its completion.
Review contracts and documents – Once the project is completed and the approvals have
been received, the process of closing the contracts can begin. Also, at this stage, all of the project
documentation should be reviewed. The project manager should also ensure that all of the
payments have been made by all parties.
Impact of Project Planning, Initiation and Closure on the industrial projects
Effective project planning is an important aspect within an organization and can have a
significant impact on the various industrial projects. For a project to be successful, it is important
for the project manager to plan out the entire project in an effective manner (Ullah and et.al.,
2020). Project planning plays an essential as well as important role because it guides sponsors,
stakeholders, teams as well as the project manager through the different project phases. One of
the recent projects that were undertaken by the widely known organization, Unilever is the
launch of Project Sunlight. The project can be referred to as a new initiative in order to motivate
people to live in a more sustainable manner (Unilever launches Project Sunlight, a new initiative
to motivate people to live more sustainably, 2021). The project team had undertaken extensive
planning in order to ensure the effective execution of the project and ensure that the goals as well
as objectives are achieved. Similarly, project initiation, which is the first stage of the project
management lifecycle, can also have an impact on the success as well as failure of a project. This
is primarily because if the manager of a global project does not take into conduct the initiation
process in an effective way, it is very likely that the project might fail. There can be various
factors that can be affected by project initiation.

As already mentioned, there are a lot of industrial projects that are undertaken by
different companies from time to time. The project management lifecycle has to be conducted in
an effective manner to ensure that the project is completed in an effective manner and also, that
there is no compromise on the quality of them project deliverables (Zhu and et.al., 2020). On the
other hand, if the project initiation process is not carried out in an effective manner, there will
not be any qualified as well as experienced people hired for the project and hence, the overall
project outcomes will also get affected. Also, if the goals are not set in an effective manner, there
will not be any clarity among the team members regarding their respective roles as well as
responsibilities in an effective manner. Similarly, closing the project effectively can ensure that it
has been completed efficiently and that the goals as well as objectives that were initially set by
the project team are achieved. The project planning phase also involves planning out the project
budget so that the different activities are conducted in an efficient manner. Therefore, it can be
said that the project life cycle plays an important role and thus, the project manager should take
into account the different risks as well as potential threats that can have an impact on the overall
outcomes of the project. As a result, the project team members are able to put in their best efforts
and complete the same in a proper manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that project management is an important
aspect of project management and the complete project management lifecycle comprises of
different phases. The different phases of the project management lifecycle include project,
initiation, project planning as well as project closure. All of these phases can have an impact on
the various industrial projects that are carried out by different organizations. For instance, a clear
project plan can have a significant impact on the overall outcomes as well as deliverables of the
project. This ensures that there is no compromise on the project deliverables. It can be said that
effective as well as properly planned project initiation can help in completing the project in an
effective manner. Thus, it can be said that the project management is important aspect for any
project.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Baker, B., 2020. Power, leadership and culture as drivers of project management. American
Journal of Management, 20(1), pp.9-30.
Bura, D. and Choudhary, A., 2020. A novel change impact model for enhancing project
management. International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 12(2),
pp.119-132.
Chadee, A.A. and et.al., 2021. Implications of ‘Lock-in’on Public Sector Project Management in
a Small Island Development State. Buildings, 11(5), p.198.
Chiang, H.Y. and Lin, B.M., 2020. A decision model for human resource allocation in project
management of software development. IEEE Access, 8, pp.38073-38081.
Jiménez, V., Afonso, P. and Fernandes, G., 2020. Using agile project management in the design
and implementation of activity-based costing systems. Sustainability, 12(24), p.10352.
Kinelski, G., 2020. The main factors of successful project management in the aspect of energy
enterprises’ efficiency in the digital economy environment. Polityka Energetyczna, 23.
Mbiru, J.E., Wickham, M.D. and Ayentimi, D.T., 2020. Introducing an entrepreneurial project
management model. The Journal of Modern Project Management, 7(4), pp.1-21.
Munro, L.T. and Ika, L., 2020. Guided by the beauty of our weapons: Comparing project
management standards inside and outside international development. Development in
Practice, 30(7), pp.934-952.
Tulupov, M.A., 2020. Methodology for constructing a project management information system
based on the enterprise application integration. Cybernetics and Systems
Analysis, 56(4), pp.641-654.
Ullah, M. and et.al., 2020. A structural model for the antecedents of sustainable project
management in Pakistan. Sustainability, 12(19), p.8013.
Young Illies, M. and Stachowski, A.A., 2020. Improving students’ teamwork experience:
Evaluating a project management application. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in
Psychology, 6(1), p.46.
Zhu, J.W. and et.al., 2020. Decision simulation of construction project delivery system under the
sustainable construction project management. Sustainability, 12(6), p.2202.
Online
10 Essential Elements for the Perfect Project Plan (Infographic). 2021. [Online]. Available
through:< https://www.wrike.com/blog/essential-elements-perfect-project-plan-
infographic/>.
Unilever launches Project Sunlight, a new initiative to motivate people to live more sustainably.
2021. [Online]. Available through:< https://www.unicefusa.org/press/releases/unilever-
launches-project-sunlight-new-initiative-motivate-people-live-more>.