The document discusses the role of a project manager throughout the different stages of a project life cycle. It begins by defining what a project and project life cycle are. A project life cycle typically involves stages such as initiation, planning, implementation, and closure. The responsibilities of a project manager include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the project. Planning involves defining scope, schedules, and procedures. Organizing establishes the project structure and team roles. Leading involves motivating the team and coordinating activities. Controlling keeps the project on track by measuring progress, evaluating deviations, and taking corrective actions. Throughout the project life cycle, the project manager is responsible for overseeing activities in each stage and ensuring the project objectives are met.

1. ASSIGNMENT- 1
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
AKHILESH DATTA
M.TECH
15001515001

2. Role of project manager in design integration and decision
making in different project stages
What is a project?
It's a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
● A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and
therefore defined scope and resources.
● A project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations
designed to accomplish a singular goal.
● A project also has a characteristic of ‘progressive elaboration’ which is defined as
a characteristic of projects that accompanies the concepts of temporary and unique.
Progressive elaboration means developing in steps, and continuing by increments.
(For example, the project scope will be broadly described early in the project and
made more explicit and detailed as the project team develops a better and more
complete understanding of the objectives and deliverables.)
What is a project life cycle?
Project life cycle consists of
● Project Appraisal,
● Project Development,
● Planning for construction,
● Tender Action,
● Construction, and
● Commissioning and handing over, as main stages.
These stages involve defined decisions, deliverables and completion of milestones for
control of project, ensuring that the adverse impact of uncertainties is overcome at each
stage in the progress. Accordingly, the responsibility of project team is also defined and
measured for acceptance and liabilities determined objectively.
Project objectives, drawn out of feasibility established in the appraisal stage, are achieved
progressively through each of the project life cycle stages. The stage- wise break-up of
project objectives, tasks, compliance and authorization to proceed further in the next stage
should be structured comprehensively through various Stages of life cycle. Each stage of
construction project life cycle may be considered as a sub-project, thus making overall
complexities of a project more manageable.

3. Project life cycle
Who are Project Managers?
A Project Manager is a key figure of any service team. They will be primarily responsible for
the overall successfulness of delivering a project, reaching set targets both safely and
correctly.
Following figure shows one possible form of the contractual relationships. Sometimes the
owner decides to turn the entire project over to an independent manager, rather than employ
a large temporary staff to oversee planning, design and construction. This is called the
„project manager‟ approach.
The project manager manages the project on the owner‟s behalf. This arrangement implies
that the project manager contracts with the designer and the general contractor.

4. Duties of Project Manager
The specific duties of a project manager vary from industry to industry, company to
company, and sometimes even from project to project. But there are some key duties and
responsibilities that, if performed well, will help in successful completion of the projects.
Following are some of the responsibilities and duties of a project manager explained using
the four functions of management as a framework.
● Planning
● Organizing
● Leading
● Controlling
Planning
Planning is an essential duty of a project manager. Determining what needs to be done, who
is going to do it, and when it needs to be done are all part of the planning process. Important
aspect to keep in mind is that planning is an iterative process that takes place throughout the
life of the project.
Some key planning duties include:
● Defining and clarifying project scope
● Developing the project plan
● Developing the project schedule
● Developing policies and procedures to support the achievement of the project
objectives
Organizing
Organizing is about setting up the project team's structure. A major driver in this aspect is
the company's existing structure. Companies are usually set up as functional, matrix, or
project organizations. When organizing a project, most important thing is to take the
company's structure into account.
Some of the key organizing duties include:
● Determining the organizational structure of the project team.
● Identifying roles and positions for team members.
● Identifying services to be provided by external companies.
● Staff project positions.
Leading
Leading refers to carrying out the project plan in order to achieve the project objectives.
Leading the project is one of the more challenging aspects for project managers because it
involves a lot of soft skills. Skills such as communicating clearly, team motivation, and
conflict resolution.

5. Some key duties for leading projects include:
● Setting team direction
● Coordinating activities across different organizational functions
● Motivating team members
● Assigning work
Controlling
Controlling is all about keeping the project on track. Project control can be performed using a
three-step process:
● Measuring: Checking project progress toward meeting its objectives.
● Evaluating: Determining the cause of deviations from the plan.
● Correcting: Taking corrective actions to address deviations.
Some key controlling duties include:
● Defining project baselines.
● Tracking project progress.
● Project status reporting.
● Determining and taking corrective actions.
Following are the 10 areas where a project manager needs to have a control for the success
of a project:
● Scope management,
● Procurement management,
● Time management,
● Cost management.
● Quality management.
● Risk management.
● Communication management.
● Human resources management.
● Safety, health and environment management.
● Integration management.
Role of project manager during the project life cycle (phases)
The project manager and project team have one shared goal - to carry out the work of the
project for the purpose of meeting the project‟s objectives. Every project has a beginning, a
middle period during which activities move the project toward completion, and an ending
(either successful or unsuccessful). A standard project typically has the following four major
phases:
 Initiation,
 Planning,

6.  Implementation, and
 Closure.
Taken together, these phases represent the path a project takes from the beginning to its
end and are generally referred to as the project “life cycle.”
Initiation Phase
 During the first of these phases, the initiation phase, the project objective or need is
identified; this can be a business problem or opportunity.
 An appropriate response to the need is documented in a business case with
recommended solution options.
 A feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the
project objective and a final recommended solution is determined.
 Once the recommended solution is approved, a project is initiated to deliver the
approved solution and a project manager is appointed.
 The major deliverables and the participating work groups are identified, and the
project team begins to take shape.
 Approval is then sought by the project manager to move onto the detailed planning
phase.
Planning Phase
 In this step, the project team identifies all of the work to be done. The project‟s tasks
and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy for producing them,
also referred to as scope management.
 A project plan is created outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies, and
timeframes. The project manager coordinates the preparation of a project budget by
providing cost estimates for the labor, equipment, and materials costs.
 One of the important tasks of the project manager is to identify and try to deal with all
the things that would be a threat to the successful completion of the project referred
as risk management. At this point all project stakeholders are identified and establish
a communication plan describing the information needed and the delivery method to
be used to keep the stakeholders informed.
 Next for project manager is to document a quality plan, providing quality targets,
assurance, and control measures, along with an acceptance plan, listing the criteria
to be met to gain customer acceptance.
Implementation (Execution) Phase
 During the third phase, the project manager put the project plan into motion and the
work of the project is performed.

7.  It is important for project manager to maintain control and communicate as needed
during implementation.
 Progress is continuously monitored and appropriate adjustments are made and
recorded as variances from the original plan by project manager. In any project, a
project manager spends most of the time in this step.
 During project implementation, people are carrying out the tasks, and progress
information is being reported through regular team meetings. The project manager
uses this information to maintain control over the direction of the project by
comparing the progress reports with the project plan to measure the performance of
the project activities and take corrective action as needed.
 The project manager‟s first course of action should always be to bring the project
back on course, if not; the team should record variations from the original plan and
record and publish modifications to the plan.
 The project sponsors and other key stakeholders should be kept informed of the
project‟s status. The plan should be updated and published on a regular basis.
 Status reports should always emphasize the anticipated end point in terms of cost,
schedule, and quality of deliverables.
 Each project deliverable produced should be reviewed for quality and measured
against the acceptance criteria.
Closing Phase
 During the final closure, or completion phase, the emphasis is on releasing the final
deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation to the business,
terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources, and communicating the
closure of the project to all stakeholders.
 The last remaining step for a project manager is to conduct lessons-learned studies
to examine what went well and what didn‟t. Through this type of analysis, the wisdom
of experience is transferred back to the project organization, which will help future
project teams.