What is a Project Control Cycle?

Some software developers wonder: “What is a project control cycle?” It is quite hard to answer this question without giving the definition of project management and project control processes in software development. In this article we will describe the software project control cycle. But before doing that it is reasonable to give the definitions for above mentioned notions.

Project management is a complex process that is necessary for every software development project. It is aimed at creating high quality software and delivering it in time. There are lots of project management methodologies in modern software development industry. Their selection depends on the software development method you use in your project. For example, there are special project management methodologies for Waterfall and Agile methods. Most developers agree that the process of project management is subdivided into three stages. The first of them is called project planning. There is no software development project in the world that can be realized without a plan. Plans are necessary to forecast the terms of product delivery and to define all activities of the team for the period of project realization. In some methodologies plans can change during the process of software development. Other methods do not provide such ability. After the plan is created, the next stage of project management process begins. It is called project monitoring. Software development projects are monitored constantly during the process of their realization. The monitoring activities are required to make sure that the initial plan of the project is implemented properly. The main goal of project monitoring is to detect problems in project realization. Such problems may lead to project failure. That is why they should be eliminated.

The next stage of project management process in software development is called project control. It is aimed at defining the sources of problems in plan implementation and removing them. During the control stage the developers usually conduct product testing. It is required to make sure that problems in plan implementation didn’t lead to bugs in the final product. In various software development methodologies tests are conducted at different stages of project realization. However, regardless of the methodology you use, the definition of project control cycle and its stages are always the same.

A project control life cycle is a number of sequential stages of project control process. Most specialists define only four stages in it.

Planning is the first stage of project control. Before a problem with plan implementation is eliminated, the developers should plan their actions.

After that they should implement their plan of project control and remove all flaws in the process of project realization.

At the next stage of project control process the developers measure the negative factors that impact the project.

At the last stage they conduct the assessment of project performance. It is necessary to understand if they meet the initial terms of the project.