Project Planning

Figure 1: Project Plan

The purpose of planning a project is to provide a sufficiently detailed and realistic guide for all stages of a project. Spending time at this stage of the project will save a lot of time and efficiencies later.

Initial Project Co-Ordination and Establishing a Project Baseline Plan

- A project is initiated with a meeting of the project board composed of stakeholders, such as the sponsor and the client.

- Project objectives in line with the firm’s mission and objectives are set out along with a high level outline of the schedule, cost and required tasks.

- A responsibility matrix is composed using the RACI matrix, which outlines the individuals who are Responsible, Accountable, who need to be Consulted, and those who only require Information. See Figure 2. This matrix ensures everyone knows their individual roles.

- Project participants then each create a more detailed plan for their respective task. These sub-plans are reviewed and altered to the project board’s satisfaction and compiled to form a composite baseline plan.

Figure 2: RACI Matrix

Elements of the Project Plan

The key elements of a project plan are normally in a document called a Project Charter. An example of a project charter for a company (the Staveley Company) seeking to merge its Irish businesses is outlined in Table 1.

Table 1: Project Charter

The Project Initiation Document

The project initiation document is a high-level project planning document, outlining the scope of the project, the reason for the project, project roles, stakeholder inputs, resources, the project hierarchy and the project deliverables.

The Project Action Plan

The project action plan describes the sequence of tasks, the duration of tasks and is required to establish a project timeline. An example of a project action plan for the Staveley Company is in Table 2

Table 2: Project Action Plan

The action plan then feeds into the Gantt chart which is used for managing the project.

Project Scope - Creep & Leap

Project scope is a very clear definition of all items included in the project, and everything that is not. The purpose is to ensure all stakeholders have the same information about what is included so the project stays on track. The scope statement should be included in the project charter.

Scope creep and leap are ways a project can be derailed by not sticking to the specified scope.

• Creep is when a project slowly deviates from the defined scope

• Leap is when a major and abrupt change in scope occurs

Any deviation from the defined scope should be a formal and strict process to make sure the stakeholders agree it makes sense and to ensure the change is actually feasible.

Figure 3: Work Breakdown Structure (Hierarchical)

Hierarchical Planning System use for Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The hierarchical planning system is a structure where there are tasks and sub-tasks are presented in a hierarchical structure. All tasks within a project are linked and most will have numerous sub-tasks, precursors and consequent tasks. A hierarchical planning system helps break down the tasks into more manageable components. A hierarchy table or tree can be used to represent WBS conveniently for a presentation using little information (See Figure 3). A tabular form is more commonly used in documents as well as MS Project.