The Project Life Cycle Framework leverages Project Management as the overarching process which coordinates the underlying life cycle processes of project funding approval, acquisition and system development. At various stages in the project life cycle, each of the underlying processes may occur and overlap with each other based on a variety of factors including control agency requirements. Project approval and funding must be obtained prior to completion of the acquisition activities and before any activities begin during the system development phases. These life cycle activities, while discrete, are often intertwined due to certain dependencies on each other. The exact timing of these activities will be based on organizational, project, and control agency requirements.

Project Management Life Cycle
The Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC) is the overarching discipline used by the OSI for the acquisition, and maintenance of software intensive systems covering the full range of life cycle activities from initiation to closeout.

• Initiating
  In the Initiation phase the overall project parameters are defined, the Project Concept Statement and Project Charter are developed and approved to start the project.


• Planning
  The Planning phase includes all the activities necessary for the project office to acquire the resources needed to establish the project staffing, project infrastructure and stakeholder accountability, along with all the project plans.


• Executing
  During this phase, the project office executes all of the plans, processes, and procedures summarized and referenced in the Master Project Management Plan with Particular attention to the production and quality of deliverables.


• Monitoring & Controlling
  This activity occurs during all phases of the project and includes: monitoring of resources, quality, risks and issues, schedule, costs, requirements status, and overall project status.


• Closing
  The closeout phase includes all the activities necessary for the project office to bring closure to the project effort, either upon system acceptance and transfer to its support organization, or upon system retirement or replacement.

• State Funded Projects
  The Feasibility Study Report (FSR) is the mechanism by which state technology projects are approved. A Budget Change Proposal (BCP) must be approved for projects that require a change in current budget year spending authority.


• State/Federal Funded Projects
  State/Federal project funding authorization includes the development of the state approval documents in addition to the Advance Planning Document (APD) requesting approval for federal financial participation in the project.

• Acquisition Planning
  Planning begins when the need for a product is identified and ends when the Request for Proposal is released. The Project must work with the OSI Acquisition Center to coordinate the release of the RFP.


• Contracting
  The Contracting phase begins upon release of the RFP. It includes the evaluation of vendor proposals and ends in the selection of a vendor meeting the RFP requirements. The phase ends with execution of the contract.


• Product Acceptance
  This is the contract management phase. The vendor’s efforts are monitored to ensure compliance with contract requirements and product acceptance criteria. The phase ends when all contract terms are fulfilled.

• Requirements Analysis
  The Requirements Analysis phase is focused on understanding and documenting the user’s business needs to a level of sufficient detail to allow for system design.


• Design
  The Design phase involves the interpretation of the system requirements identified in the analysis phase into a unified system design that describes the characteristics of the system to be built.


• Development
  In the Development phase, the design specifications are transformed into a complete and integrated system. All system components are validated for compliance to requirements and design.


• Test
  In the Test phase, the various components of the developed system are integrated and methodically tested to validate that all identified requirements have been satisfied prior to system implementation.


• Implementation
  In the Implementation phase, the system is installed in the production environment and continues until the production system is operating in accordance with the requirements.


• Transition to M&O
  During the Transition to Maintenance and Operations (M&O) phase, the production system is operational and the system operations are transitioned to the support organization for routine maintenance and performance monitoring.
• System Decommission
  In this phase, a System Decommission Plan is planned and executed to terminate contracts, place staff, disposition assets, migrate users (if applicable), dispose/retain records, transition remaining financial management duties, and capture the lessons learned of the project.