IPECC Stage

Success Factors

Failure Factors / Challenges

Initiation

The initiation phase includes all the initial discussions, development of project proposal and feasibility analysis. In this project, the main success factor is the accuracy of the initial survey based on which the final plan for the project will be developed(Shad, Guland Zahid2019). The survey includes land survey along the route of the line as well as the potential popularity of the line based on the preferences of passengers along the route. Based on the survey and the discussions, the project proposal needs to be developed that will detail all the major factors highlighted in the survey as well as the proposed timeline and budget for the project. At this phase, the project is still in very early stage and hence, it is not ethical to disclose any details of the project to public or even beyond the existing stakeholders.

Since the project is at a very early stage, there are fewer amounts of risks or challenges that can threaten the actual project. If the survey results are found out to be unsatisfactory and unrealistic, the project can simply be cancelled without encountering much losses or issues. However, a major failure factor that is associated with this phase is that even minor errors during the survey or the proposal can lead to disastrous consequences in a later stage of the project, especially for a large-scale project like this. In this case, during the survey of the actual route, there might be minor errors like insufficient quality check of the land areas, errors in measurements and distance scaling and others. These errors can lead to major problems when the project is underway and the working team finds out the errors at a point of no return.The stakeholders must be aware of these factors and their possible effects while initiating the project.

Planning

According to the project management theory, the planning phase is the foundation of any project and it is one of the most important parts of the project. For this project, the planning will include identifying the end goals, specifying the project scope, defining the timeline and budget,identifying the main risks, specifying quality standards and others. The main success factor associated with this phase of the life cycle is the reasonable nature of the plan. For instance, setting a realistic budget for the project will ensure a proper spending plan is in place and the project organisation has a clear idea of investment requirements instead of random spending throughout the project. The planning of the project will also ensure the stakeholders have developed a clear idea of their duties and the work packages in which they will be involved.

Similar to the success factor of this phase, the main failure factors include unrealistic estimation of budget and timeline, lack of clarity over roles and duties, limited identification of risks, absence of any quality standards and others. These are major aspects of the project and need to be planned with extreme care. Errors and issues occurring in these plans will lead to disastrous consequences(Massoet al. 2020). For instance, unrealistic budget demands will lead to uncontrolled spending whereas unrealistic timeline will delay the project constantly without warrant and the project organisation will continue losing funds for continuing the project. Some other challenges of this phase of the project include scope creep, skill gap in the selected team members, lack of communication within the team and others.

Execution

This is the main and the most important phase of the project that sees the project plan turn into reality through the use of appropriate procedures depending on the type and nature of the project. In this project, the main success factor of this phase includes implementation of various plans and blueprints that are developed in the planning phase(Chenet al. 2021). The working team in the project needs to ensure the project is executed according to the plan and there is no deviation from the plan that might be caused by scope creep. Additionally, the project team needs to consider the ethical aspects of the project and avoid unethical activities like using black market for purchasing materials, unlawful capture of land for construction, fraud and others.

While this phase of the project is the most important, there are also several challenges and failure factors that can create major problems for the project. Specific to the project under focus, some major failure factors of this phase include dispute over land, unforeseen issues that can be caused along various sections of the route, natural disasters and others(Demirkesenand Ozorhon2017). While some of the failures are under control and can be avoided, some others are out of control of the project team and hence, the team can only use counter measures as contingency plans (Gabanamotse 2019). Additionally, some contingency budget must also be kept during planning that can be used in order to avoid these failure factors that are out of the team’s control.

Control

The control phase of the project is conducted along with the execution but is considered as a separate phase as it is generally conducted from outside the project. The main success factors of this phase of the project include weekly tracking and monitoring, successful reporting of actual project progress and gradual implementation of changes in project without any major consequences(Cheng, Hoand Chang2018). However, the controlling team should also avoid too much interference with the project and let the team continue the execution unless there are specific situations that require intervention.

Controlling phase of the project is extremely essential in ensuring the project path is maintained and unnecessary work is avoided. Some major failure factors that may prevent the success of the control phase of the project include lack of proper tracking, absence of clarity over actual project progress, lack of communication with the team, uncontrolled scope creep and others(Alexander, Ackermann and Love2019). All these factors, if remain unchecked can create major issues within the project in spite of having a control team in place. Additionally, lack of appropriate control and failure to prevent issues in this phase can create major disputes within the team itself.

Closing

Closing phase is started once all the important aspects of the project are completed and it is ready to be closed (Poole 2019). The main parts of the project closing phase include documentation, review and sign off. In this project, the closing phase will be initiated once the construction works are complete and the route is ready to be unveiled(Yuet al. 2018). Once ready, a special team will review the entire project based on the documentation and also real time testing of the entire route. The main success factor for this phase is the successful meeting of all the milestones in the project as verified using a checklist subjected to signatures from all the stakeholders of the project.

Generally, there are minimum amounts of challenges or failure factors associated with this phase of the project as the main parts of the project are already completed(Ermakova, Kaloshina and Dianova2019). However, if during the review, some major aspects of the project like route alignment, construction issues and others are found out to not meeting the necessary requirements, the project may be marked out incomplete and it might be reopened for further work.