Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

CEIH Project Lifecycle

A practical roadmap to help project teams plan, deliver and evaluate improvement and innovation initiatives from discovery to closure.

What is the CEIH Project Lifecycle?

The CEIH Project Life­cy­cle (PDF 285KB) helps organ­i­sa­tions, project teams and part­ners man­age improve­ment and inno­va­tion projects. 

It pro­vides a prac­ti­cal approach to plan­ning, deliv­er­ing and eval­u­at­ing projects, with tools and tem­plates to sup­port each stage. 

Devel­oped with project man­age­ment experts, staff and clin­i­cians, the life­cy­cle can help you align projects with strate­gic goals, track progress and reflect on what’s work­ing through­out a project.

Who can use it?

The life­cy­cle and sup­port­ing tools can be used by organ­i­sa­tions, project teams and part­ners across all sectors. 

It can be adapt­ed to suit dif­fer­ent types of projects, set­tings and needs.

Phas­es of the Project Lifecycle

The life­cy­cle includes five phas­es, with tools and resources to sup­port each stage. 

Some tools are avail­able as inter­ac­tive tem­plates in Mur­al. You’ll need a free Mur­al account to access these templates.

Discovery

The Dis­cov­ery phase helps teams iden­ti­fy and define a prob­lem before decid­ing whether it should be addressed through a project in their organisation.

It con­sid­ers stake­hold­er needs, strate­gic align­ment and poten­tial next steps before seek­ing approval to move to the Design phase.

Essen­tial tools

Sup­port­ing tools

Design think­ing tools

Addi­tion­al design tools and resources are avail­able through Design Kit.

Design

The Design phase devel­ops the pro­posed project approach, includ­ing the project aim, objec­tives, intend­ed out­comes and expect­ed benefits.

It con­sid­ers evi­dence, stake­hold­er needs, equi­ty, scope, resources and risks before seek­ing approval to move to the Plan­ning phase.

Essen­tial tools

Sup­port­ing tools

Design think­ing tools

Use the tools list­ed in the Dis­cov­ery phase.

Planning

The Plan­ning phase devel­ops the detailed plans need­ed to man­age and deliv­er the project.

This includes plan­ning for gov­er­nance, resources, time­lines, stake­hold­er engage­ment, com­mu­ni­ca­tions, risk man­age­ment, change man­age­ment and eval­u­a­tion. Once plan­ning is com­plete, the project can seek approval to move to the Deliv­ery phase.

Essen­tial tools

OR

Sup­port­ing tools

Delivery

The Deliv­ery phase is when teams put their project plan into action and mon­i­tor progress against agreed plans.

It also gives teams oppor­tu­ni­ties to review and adjust plans when things change.

Sup­port­ing tools

Closure and Transition

The Clo­sure phase eval­u­ates the project against its planned out­comes and sup­ports the tran­si­tion to busi­ness as usu­al where appropriate.

It helps teams share learn­ings, iden­ti­fy oppor­tu­ni­ties for sus­tain­abil­i­ty and out­line fol­low-up projects or future actions.

Essen­tial tools

Sup­port­ing tools

More infor­ma­tion

If you work with­in SA Health, vis­it the Imple­men­ta­tion Sci­ence Unit web­page (acces­si­ble by SA Health staff only) for addi­tion­al project man­age­ment and imple­men­ta­tion sci­ence resources and support.

Have a question?

Con­tact us at CEIH@​sa.​gov.​au for more infor­ma­tion about the Project Lifecycle.