Program Life Cycle Management Tutorial

Program Life Cycle Management

Welcome to the eighth chapter of the PMI-PgMP tutorial (part of the PMI-PgMP® Certification
Training.)

In this lesson, we would be covering the fifth program management performance

domain, which is program lifecycle management.

In the next section of the program lifecycle management tutorial, we will look at the
objectives of this lesson.

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

 Order the phases of the program lifecycle

 Describe program definition
 Explain program formulation and preparation
 List the steps involved in program benefits delivery
 Relate program transition and program closeout of the program closure phase
 Map the processes to the life cycle

Let us discuss program life cycle in the next section of this tutorial.

Program Life Cycle

As the name implies, the program life cycle depicts the various stages involved in the
lifespan of a program, from its origin until closure.

We know that each program is comprised of a number of related projects and the
success of the program is dependent on the success of its projects.

Managing a program involves a series of transformation phases wherein each phase

permits the program to move to the next phase until it reaches the closure state.

The Program lifecycle predominantly resembles the project management lifecycle.

The fundamental difference is that while program management aims at dealing with
results and gains and its value to the organization, project management aims at
delivering products on time and obtaining customer satisfaction.

Let us discuss the attributes of the program life cycle in the next section of the
program lifecycle management tutorial.

Program Life Cycle Attributes

The program life cycle mainly focuses on the following three main attributes:
  Stakeholders of the Program
 Benefits acquired from the Program (the deliverables)
 Rules governing the development of the program lifecycle

Let us understand the program life cycle with the help of a diagram in the next
section of the program lifecycle management tutorial.

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Program Life Cycle Diagram

This diagram below illustrates the program life cycle at a high level.

Let us start looking at the picture from left to right.

Program Definition

The initial phase is the program definition phase, which is about defining the intent,
purpose, and the content of a program. Within the definition, the two sub-phases are
formulation and preparation.

Formulation means understanding the business cases, getting approvals, and

forming a core team. Within preparation, we get into more detailed planning to
determine how we are going to accomplish the work of the program.

Next, there is program benefits delivery.

Program Benefits Delivery

This is the key phase in which the work of the program is carried out. The
components of the program get initiated, authorized, and planned in this phase.

The program provides oversight to the components and integrates the output of the
components to realize the program benefits. When the components are completed,
they are transitioned and closed. These three sub-phases are repeated for each
component within the program.

Finally, there is program closure.

Program Closure

When the organization decides to close a program, the first task is to transition the
program into a receiving unit that is responsible for sustaining the benefits. After the
transition is complete, the program is closed.

In the subsequent sections, we will look into the program life cycle phases and
subphases in more detail.

Overview of Life Cycle Phases

The life of a program officially begins when the funding is approved for a program or
a program manager is appointed. This typically happens during the formulation
phase. Every program goes through three major phases, viz. program definition,
benefits delivery, and closure.

A program manager’s role is to orchestrate the activities of the program and its
various components through its various life cycle stages. It is important to
understand the life cycle phases and typical activities that happen during the life
cycle because this has a bearing on what exactly a program manager will do in that
phase.

For information on the process groups involved in the program management

lifecycle, access the Process Groups document from the “Additional Reading”
section.

Let us discuss the life cycle phases in detail, starting with program definition in the
next section.

Program Definition
As the name suggests, program definition refers to “defining” what the program is all
about, why it is being done, and how it will be done.

So in this phase, there are two major activities that are performed, which are further
elaborated in the sub-phases, which we will be discussing later.

First, in this phase, the business case and desired business outcomes are outlined
and translated into the strategic objectives of the program.

Then a high-level plan, which indicates how these activities will be carried out in
order to realize the objectives, is created.

The major output of the program definition phase is, therefore, the program
management plan. As we have seen before, the program definition phase is divided
into two sub-phases program formulation and program preparation.

We will look at these phases in detail in the following section of the program lifecycle
management tutorial.

Program Formulation and Preparation

Let us now take a closer look at the two sub-phases of a program definition.

As mentioned already, there are multiple phases involved in the lifespan of a

program. In program lifecycle management, a phase is defined as the stipulated time
frame within which a series of events and activities take place as part of the
development of the program.
There are five dominant phases that determine the successful tenure of a program.
They are:

 Conceptualization Phase
 Set up Phase
 Construction Phase (Building Program Management and Technical
Infrastructure Teams)
 Implementation Phase
 Closure Phase

Let us discuss the conceptualization phase first in the next section of the program
lifecycle management tutorial.

Conceptualization Phase
This phase determines the program objectives and goals that will receive complete
support and approval from the members of the executive committee, stakeholders,
and the portfolio management committee.

Before approval of the program, the boards (comprising executive and stakeholder
members) carry out a selection process by preparing a mandate, to ascertain the
pros and cons of implementing the program in the organization.

The program mandate, also known as the program brief, consists of minimum
objectives of the program, its benefits, and the manner in which the program aids in
achieving the strategic goal of the organization.

The key elements that are involved in the selection and commencement of a
program are:

 The objectives of the program which aid in achieving the company’s long-term
strategic goals
 Analysis of the risk factors in implementing the program
 Resource Management in terms of funds, personnel, and technology
 Budget Estimation for the commencement of the program
 Benefits to the organization.

We will continue discussing the conceptualization phase in the next section of the
program lifecycle management tutorial.

Conceptualization Phase (contd.)

After drafting the program charter, a complete program development plan is created
with three main statements, namely:

Mission

Mission, which is the need for initiating the program and its main goals from the
organization’s perspective.
Value

Value, which refers to ascertaining the methods of managing the affairs of the
program on account of trade-offs.

Vision

Vision, which is the state of the company after the closure of the program. Once the
program charter is finally sanctioned, the stakeholders sign the document, and a
Program Manager is appointed to officially take charge of the program.

Let us look at the setup phase in the next section of the program lifecycle
management tutorial.

Setup Phase
Once the program has been approved, the setup phase begins whereby the factors
that enable the attainment of program objectives are determined.

These objectives are:

 The design of the program management plan for executing the program
 The cost of implementing the program
 Program deliverables
 Examination of the risk factors
 Identification of program dependencies
 Any other constraints that affect the development of the program

Once the factors are analyzed, the Program Manager categorizes the projects to be
associated with the program. The projects are selected based on the cost, technical
relationships, and regulatory factors.

We will continue learning about the setup phase in the next section of the program
lifecycle management tutorial.

Setup Phase - Part 2

The program set up phase is the core area of planning the execution of the program
and involves making many decisions and creating several documents such as:

 Program Evaluation
 Defining time estimates
 Defining the activities and placing them in sequence
 Evaluating the cost estimates and budgets
 Decisions for procurement of materials
 Personnel management and staff allocation
 Program management plan approval
 Identifying the risk factors
 Appointment of program management team
Let us look at the construction phase in the next section of the program lifecycle
management tutorial.

Construction Phase
The construction phase is a very important phase of the program lifecycle
management as it builds the program management and technical teams based on
establishing the rules and regulations that govern the program.

The program managers, project managers, and the team members strictly follow the
rules and regulations in order to uniformly carry out their duties and to accomplish
the objectives of the program.

There are many organizational tools that are used by the program manager to track
the activities and manage the program.

Some commonly used software are:

 Program and project tracking software

 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software
 Expense reporting software
 Time reporting software

Let us continue discussing the construction phase in the next section of the program
lifecycle management tutorial.

Construction Phase (Contd.)

The technical base team comprises members who coordinate, contribute and guide
people in fulfilling the objectives of the program. The organizational pattern of a
program comprises the following:

Program Management Office/Board: The main focus of the members of the broad
is to inspect the development of the program with regard to satisfying the strategic
goals of the organization.

Program Director: The person in complete possession of the program is the director
or the executive sponsor.

Program Manager: The person involved in managing the program and the
associated projects, and who serves as a bridge between the organization and the
project members.

Executive Sponsor: A person involved in making program-related decisions and is

always associated with the program management office.

Program Office: The office of the program manager and his team that inspects
whether the performance of the project team members is in accordance with the
strategic goal of the organization and there is no deviation from the same.
Program Team: The team whose members are associated with the Program
Manager to assist him in leading the team in a better manner This organizational
structure of the program enables the program manager to direct the project
managers and his team to achieve the strategic goals of the company.

Let us look at the implementation phase in the next section of the program lifecycle
management tutorial.

Implementation Phase
Once the program is initiated and the team members are identified, the program
managers, along with the members, are headed towards enforcing the tasks for
creating benefits to the organization in terms of maximizing its profits and achieving
its objectives.

Let us look at the closure phase in the next section of the program lifecycle
management tutorial.

Closure Phase
This phase focuses on the completion of the program period and documenting the
failures and successes that accrue from the program.

Let us next discuss program benefits delivery in the following section of the program
lifecycle management tutorial.
Program Benefits Delivery
The Program benefits delivery phase starts after the program management plan is
reviewed and approved by the program governance board. This is where the major
work of the program is carried out, and the program starts delivering the benefits.
This is an iterative phase. During this phase, the components will get initialized,
perform their work, and get closed.

The major activities within this phase are as follows:

 The program components are initialized and planned; their output is

integrated and managed so that the program benefits are realized.
 The program manager positions the components to ensure successful
completion of the program.
 The program manager monitors the program and its components with regard
to the uncertainties and brings about changes, if necessary, to adapt to the
uncertainties.

As we have mentioned before, the following three component level sub-phases are
repeated several times during the program benefits delivery:

 Component planning and authorization

 Component oversight and integration
  Component transition and closure

The program benefits delivery phase ends when the program’s planned benefits are
achieved or whenever a decision is made to terminate the program.

In the next section of the program lifecycle management tutorial, we will look at the
component level sub-phases to understand the benefits delivery phase with more
clarity.

Program Benefits Delivery (contd.)

Benefits management aims at maximizing the scope for delivery of a product, thus
resulting in the achievement of strategic objectives of the organization. The program
manager develops techniques and processes to key out, record, track changes and
maintain the benefits created by the program.

Managing the benefits of a program involves a series of stages, namely:

 Identifying the Benefits of the Program

 Examining the Benefits Management Techniques
 Planning the sequence of the program
 Realizing the Benefits
 Transition Period

Identifying the Benefits of the Program

This process deals with discovering and specifying the areas of business that
provide gains to the organization in terms of deliverables.

Examining the Benefits Management Techniques

After the program charter has been signed by the stakeholders, it is the responsibility
of the program manager to gather and define the specific benefits that the program is
expected to create. Deduce the required elements that constitute the effective
handling of benefits in a program by applying concise metrics.

Planning the sequence of the program

The Program Manager should formulate a plan, supervise the activities, map the
benefits to the program, and maintain checkpoints to determine that there are no
plan deviations.

Realizing the Benefits

This phase of benefits management mainly focuses on the associated projects of the
program and their deliverables. The program manager should maintain a register to
track the benefits acquired during the program.

Transition Period
This phase targets the closure of the program on account of the attainment of the
objectives or cancellation of the program. The benefits acquired from the program
should be consolidated and transferred to the ongoing program.

Let us now focus more on program benefits delivery in the next section of the
program lifecycle management tutorial.

Program Benefits Delivery (Contd.)

Let us concentrate on the methods that the Program Manager adopts to achieve
maximum benefits from a program.

These methods include:

 Meeting the scheduled requirements of the program

 Adhering to the governance process
 Coordinating with the project managers
 Supervising, discovering, and documenting any changes
 Executing time, cost, and scope checks
 Executing project evaluation checks
 Communicating with the company’s stakeholders to update the status
 Identifying risk factors, and performing risk mitigation and documentation of
risk elements
 Evaluating and approving any program change requests
 Coordinating with the project managers and allocating resources, schedule
activities, and inspecting performance

In the next section of the program lifecycle management tutorial, we will discuss
program closure.

Program Closure
The purpose of the program closure is to bring about an orderly and controlled
closure for a program.

This phase comprises two sub-phases program transition and program close-out.

Let’s begin with program transition.

Program Transition

Within program transition, the following activities are performed: This phase
determines the end of the program on account of accomplishment of goals or
termination of the program.

The benefits of the program should be fused and documented before being
transferred to an ongoing program. This is because sometimes the program might
require an overlap time frame to perform quality checks, support and maintain
deliverables, and support the warrant of deliverables of the program.
Program Closeout

Within program closeout, the following activities are performed.

Like project closures, programs are also subject to close down, and the benefits
should be transferred to the customers or people within the organization.

Firstly, the program sponsor and stakeholders should be informed about the closure
of the program. The program manager clearly states the benefits of the program and
its accomplishments to the organization.

In the closure state, the Program Manager releases the resources (personnel and
technical), program management team, the administrative support team, and
vendors that were used for the development of the program.

All the details, information, communications and records of the program should be
delivered to the organization, and they become the assets of the company for any
future references to build another program or incorporate them in the existing
programs.

In the next section of the program lifecycle management tutorial, we will map the 36
processes of program management with the life cycle phases.

Mapping of Processes to Life Cycle

Just as there are 47 project management processes divided into 5 process groups
and 10 knowledge areas as described in the Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) edition V, the third edition of the program management
standard provides a description of 36 processes.

These processes are divided into 9 knowledge areas and 3 life cycle phases.

The table below provides a listing of all these processes.

Knowledge Program
Program Definition Benefits Delivery
area Closure
 Program initiation
 Program execution
 Program Program
management
management plan transition and
 Program
development benefits
Integration performance
 Program sustainment
monitoring and
infrastructure
control
development Program closure

 Program scope
Scope planning Program scope control

 Program schedule
Schedule planning Program schedule control
  Program cost
 Component cost
estimation
estimation
 Program financial
 Program cost
framework
budgeting Program financial
Finances establishment
 Program financial closure
 Program financial
monitoring and
management plan
control
development

 Program quality
assurance
Quality Program quality planning  Program quality
control

 Resource
prioritization
 Resource inter-
Resource Resource planning
dependency
management

 Program risk
identification
 Program risk
analysis
Program risk management  Program risk
Risk
planning response planning
 Program risk
monitoring and
control

 Information
distribution
 Program
Communications Communications planning
performance
reporting

 Program
procurement
Program
 Program
Procurement Plan procurement planning procurement
procurement
closure
administration

As you may observe, the first column contains a description of the knowledge area
that the processes belong to.

Processes belonging to program definition are in the second column, program

benefits delivery processes are in the third column, and program closure processes
are in the fourth column. You will also observe that not all the columns in the table
are filled.
For example, there is no scope management process in the program closure phase.
However, all the knowledge areas contain at least one definition and at least one
benefits delivery process.

There are only 3 knowledge areas where closure activities are performed. These are
integration management, financial management, and procurement management.

Finally, We would like to point out the differences between the knowledge areas of
project management and program management.

Project management has one extra knowledge area, stakeholder management. This
is addressed as a “domain” within program management.

In program management, cost management is replaced with financial management,

to indicate the fact that program managers deal with the overall financial framework
and not just costs on a program.

Similarly, HR management is replaced with resource management to indicate the

fact that program managers manage all the resources for a program – not just the
people.

You can take a look at this table for a bird’s eye view of all the processes and the
way they are classified. This table is also present in the program management
standard.

Let us now check your understanding of the topics covered in this lesson.

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Summary
Let us now quickly review what we have learned in this lesson.

 The program definition phase consists of program formulation and program

preparation.
 The program benefits delivery phase deals with the delivery of incremental
benefits as the components get initiated and transitioned.
 The program closure phase includes program transition, i.e., transition of the
benefits to the receiving organization, and program closeout, i.e., formal
closure of the program.
 There are 36 program management processes that map to different phases of
the program’s life cycle.

Conclusion
With this, we have come to the end of this lesson. In the next lesson, we will look into
the program definition phase of the program management supporting processes.