A project plan, is a series of structured tasks, objectives, and schedule to a complete a desired outcome, according to a project managers designs and purpose. According to the
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), is:
"...a formal, approved document used to guide both ''project execution'' and ''project control''. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication among ''
project stakeholder
Project stakeholders are persons or entities who have an interest in a specific project. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the term ''project stakeholder'' refers to "an individual, group, or organization, who may affect, be affe ...
s'', and document approved
scope, cost, and
schedule
A schedule (, ) or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such thing ...
''baselines''. A project plan may be sumarized or detailed."
The latest edition of the PMBOK (v6) uses the term ''
project charter'' to refer to the contract that the
project sponsor and
project manager
A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the Project planning, planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined star ...
use to agree on the initial vision of the project (scope, baseline,
resources
''Resource'' refers to all the materials available in our environment which are Technology, technologically accessible, Economics, economically feasible and Culture, culturally Sustainability, sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and want ...
, objectives, etc.) at a high level. In the
PMI methodology described in the PMBOK v5, the project charter and the project management plan are the two most important documents for describing a project during the initiation and planning phases.
The project manager creates the ''project management plan'' following input from the project team and key project stakeholders. The plan should be agreed and approved by at least the project team and its key stakeholders.
Many project management processes are mentioned in PMBOK® Guide, but determining which processes need to be used based on the needs of the project which is called Tailoring is part of developing the project management plan.
[PMP Exam Prep 8th Edition - Rita Mulcahy]
Purpose
The objective of a project plan is to define the approach to be used by the
project team to deliver the intended project managers scope of the project.
At a minimum, a project plan answers basic questions about the project:
; Why?
: What is the problem or
value proposition
In marketing, a company’s value proposition is the full mix of benefits or value (economics), economic value which it promises to deliver to the current and future customers (i.e., a market segment) who will buy their Product (business), product ...
addressed by the project? Why is it being sponsored?
; What?
: What is the work that will be performed on the project? What are the major products/
deliverable
A deliverable is a tangible or intangible good or service produced as a result of a project that is intended to be delivered to a customer (either internal or external). A deliverable could be a report, a document, a software product, a server upgr ...
s?
; Who?
: Who will be involved and what will be their
responsibilities within the project? How will they be organized?
; When?
: What is the project timeline and when will particularly meaningful points, referred to as milestones, be complete?
Plan contents
To be a complete project plan according to industry standards such as the PMBOK or PRINCE2, the project plan must also describe the execution, management and control of the project. This information can be provided by referencing other documents that will be produced, such as a
procurement
Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual ...
plan or construction plan, or it may be detailed in the project plan itself.
The project plan typically covers topics used in the project execution system and includes the following main aspects:
*
Scope management
*
Requirements management
Requirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project. A requ ...
*
Schedule
A schedule (, ) or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such thing ...
management
*
Financial
Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
management
*
Quality management
Total quality management, Total Quality management (TQM), ensures that an organization, product, or service consistently performs as intended, as opposed to Quality Management, which focuses on work process and procedure standards. It has four mai ...
*
Resource management
*
Stakeholder management – New from PMBOK 5
*
Communications management
* Project
change management
*
Risk management
Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks, followed by the minimization, monitoring, and control of the impact or probability of those risks occurring. Risks can come from various sources (i.e, Threat (sec ...
Details
The project plan document may include the following sections:
* Introduction: A high-level overview of the project.
* Project management approach: The roles and authority of team members. It represents the executive summary of the project management plan.
* Project scope: The
scope statement from the
Project charter should be used as a starting point with more details about what the project includes and what it does not include (in-scope and out-of-scope).
* Milestone list: A list of the project milestones (the stop points that helps evaluating the progress of the project). This list includes the milestone name, a description about the milestone, and the date expected.
* Schedule baseline and work breakdown structure: The WBS which consists of work packages and WBS dictionary, which defines these work packages, as well as schedule baseline, which is the reference point for managing project progress, are included here.
* Project management plans: This section contains all management plans of all project aspects.
* Change management plan
* Communication management plan
* Cost management plan
* Procurement management plan
* Project scope management plan
* Schedule management plan
* Quality management plan
* Risk management plan
* HR or staffing management plan
* Resource calendar: Identify key resources needed for the project and their times and durations of need.
* Cost baseline: This section includes the budgeted total of each phase of the project and comments about the cost.
* Quality baseline: Acceptable levels of quality.
* Sponsor acceptance: Some space for the project sponsor to sign off the document.
See also
*
Project planning
References
{{reflist
Schedule (project management)
Planning