The Five Phases of a Project

The Five Phases of a Project

Select each circular button with the plus sign (+) to expand the information.

Monitoring and Controlling

Initiation

Execution

Closing

Planning

Initiation

Definition and Proposal

Identify that travel expense requests are currently managed with printed forms and manual signatures, which generates delays and document losses. A business case is developed comparing the cost of current errors and waiting times against the investment in a web-based system. The sponsor (e.g., Finance Director) and the project manager are appointed.

Execution

Create and Launch the Project:

• Software configuration (parameterization of forms and business rules).
• Migration of policies and minimum historical data.
• Training for supervisors and accounting staff.
• Implementation of a pilot with one department.

Closing

Organize and Engage Stakeholders:

• Formal delivery of documentation (user manual, technical manual, acceptance report).
• Lessons-learned session with Finance, IT, and pilot users.
• Transition to operations: help desk support and deactivation of the paper-based process.

Planning

Objective:

Schedule:

Reduce the approval and payment time for travel expenses from 10 days to 2 days through the implementation of a digital management system by September 2025.

Breakdown into milestones: requirements analysis (2 weeks), development/configuration (4 weeks), pilot testing (2 weeks), training (1 week), deployment (1 week).

Scope:

Resources:

Selection of the platform (in-house development or SaaS provider), definition of approval workflows (user → supervisor → accounting), design of electronic forms, and training of key users.

Allocation: IT team, finance team, and user representatives.

Monitoring and Controlling

Measure Effectiveness:

• Monitoring KPIs: average approval time, error rate in expense reports, request volume.
• Biweekly status meetings with the sponsor.
• Risk management: lack of adoption, integration issues with ERP.