| Article Index |
|---|
| Project Planning Activities-1 |
| Project Plan |
| Resource Plan |
| Financial Plan |
| Quality Plan |
| Risk Management Plan |
| All Pages |
Project Planning Activities
*******WIll be covered in this Document***********
- Project Plan
- Resource Plan
- Financial Plan
- Quality Plan
- Risk Plan
************************************** - Acceptance Plan
- Communications Plan
- Procurement Plan
- Tender Management Process
- Statement of Work
- Request for Information
- Request for Proposal
- Supplier Contract
- Planning Phase Review
In this document, we will cover the first 5 activities (i.e. from Project Plan to Risk Plan). Rest of the activities will be covered in the subsequent documents.
Project Plan
What : A Project Plan sets out the phases, activities and tasks needed to deliver a project. The timeframes required to deliver the project, along with the resources and milestones are also shown in the Project Plan. Using this Project Plan Template, you can quickly and easily create a comprehensive Project Management Plan for your project, as it already lists the commonly used tasks needed to complete projects from start to finish.
The Project Plan is the most important document in the project, as it
provides the Project Manager with a roadmap ahead, and it tells them
during the journey whether they are on-track.
When : A Project Plan is created every time you wish to embark on a new project. A summarized Project Plan is usually created early in the life cycle, with a detailed Project Plan being created later the planning phase. The Project Plan is referred to constantly throughout the project. Every day, the Project Manager will review actual progress against that stated in the Project Plan, to ensure they are still on track. The Project Plan is therefore the most critical tool a Manager can have to successfully deliver projects.
Project Plan should cover
- Identification of all of the phases, activities and tasks
- Summing up the effort needed to complete those tasks
- Documentation all of the project inter-dependencies
- List of all planning assumptions and constraints
- Detailed project planning schedule
Project Plan will also help you to:
- Define the project scope & milestones
- Identify the Work Breakdown Structure
- Set and agree the target delivery dates
- Monitor and control the allocation of resource
- Report on the progress of the project, to the sponsor
Resource Plan
What : A Resource Plan summarizes the level of resources needed to complete a project. A properly documented Resource Plan will specify the exact quantities of labor, equipment and materials needed to complete your project. Resource Planning document also helps you gain approval from your Sponsor, ensuring their buy-in.
When : A Resource Plan is created during the Resource Planning phase of the project. Anyone responsible for Project Resource Management will need to create a comprehensive Resource Plan, to ensure that all of the resources needed to complete the project are identified. By implementing proper Resource Planning practices, it also helps you with budgeting and forecasting project expenditure.
This Resource Planning document should identify the:
- Types of labor required for the project
- Roles and key responsibilities for each labor type
- Number of people required to fill each role
- Items of equipment to be used and their purposes
- Types and quantities of equipment needed
- Total amount of materials needed
Resource Plan document will also help you to:
- Plan the dates for using or consuming these resources
- Identify the amount of resource required per project activity
- Create a detailed resource utilization schedule
Financial Plan
What : A Financial Plan identifies the Project Finance (i.e. money) needed to meet specific objectives. The Financial Plan defines all of the various types of expenses that a project will incur (labor, equipment, materials and administration costs) along with an estimation of the value of each expense. The Financial Plan also summarizes the total expense to be incurred across the project and this total expense becomes the project budget. As part of the Financial Planning exercise, a schedule is provided which states the amount of money needed during each stage of the project.
A Financial Plan enables you to set a "budget", against which you measure your expenditure. To deliver you project "within budget", you need to produce the project deliverables at a total cost which does not exceed that stated in the budget.
When : Whenever you need to ask for money, you need a sound Financial Plan showing how it will be consumed. For a Project Manager, getting Project Finance is one of the most critical tasks in the project. Therefore, sound Financial Planning principles must be followed to ensure a positive outcome. A detailed Financial Plan for your project will help you get the Project Finance needed to successfully deliver your project on time.
In Financial Plan you must identify the:
- Types of labor costs to be incurred during the project
- Items of equipment needed to deliver the project
- Various materials needed by the project
- Unit costs for labor, equipment and materials
- Other costs types such as administration
- Amount of contingency needed
You can then use the Financial Plan to create a budget by:
- Calculating the total cost involved in completing the project
- Identifying the total cost of each project activity
- Creating a schedule of expenses
Quality Plan
What : A Quality Plan helps you schedule all of the tasks needed to make sure that your project meets the needs of your customer. It comprises two parts; the Quality Assurance Plan lists the independent reviews needed and the Quality Control Plan lists the internal reviews needed to meet your quality targets. By using Quality Assurance and Quality Control techniques, you can create a comprehensive Quality Management Plan for your project.
It will help you to set quality targets for your project to ensure that the deliverables produced, meet the needs of your customer.
When : Creating a Quality Plan is essential if you want to provide the customer with confidence that you will produce a solution that meets their needs. The Quality Plan states everything you’re going to do, to ensure the quality of your solution. The first section defines the Quality targets. The second section sets out a Quality Assurance Plan. And the third section defines a Quality Control Plan. By using Quality Planning document, you can create a Quality Management Plan that gives your customer a high degree of confidence that you will succeed.
You can use Quality Plan to set quality targets by:
- Identifying the customers requirements
- Listing the project deliverables to be produced
- Setting quality criteria for these deliverables
- Defining quality standards for the deliverables
- Gaining your customers agreement with the targets set
You can then use Quality Plan to monitor and control quality by:
- Identifying the quality control tasks needed to control quality
- Creating a Quality Control Plan, by scheduling the control activities
- Listing the quality assurance activities required to assure quality
- Building a Quality Assurance Plan, by creating an activity schedule
Risk Management Plan
What : A Risk Plan helps you to foresee risks, identify actions to prevent them from occurring and reduce their impact should they eventuate. The Risk Management Plan is created as part of the Risk Planning process. It lists of all foreseeable risks, their ranking and priority, the preventative and contingent actions, along with a process for tracking them. This Risk Plan template will help you perform these steps quickly and easily.
It helps you do this, by giving you a complete risk management plan, showing you how to take action to reduce risk in your project.
When : A Risk Plan should be used anytime that risks need to be carefully managed. For instance, during the start up of a project a Risk Plan is created to identify and manage the risk involved with the project delivery. The Risk Plan is referred to frequently throughout the project, to ensure that all risks are mitigated as quickly as possible. The Risk Plan template helps you identify and manage your risks, boosting your chances of success.
While creating Risk Plan, you should :
- Identify risks within your project
- Categorize and prioritize each risk
- Determine the likelihood of the risks occurring
- Identify the impact on the project if risk does occur
You can then use this Risk Plan to:
- Identify preventative actions to prevent the risk from occurring
- List contingent actions to reduce the impact, should the risk occur
- Schedule these actions within an acceptable timeframe
- Monitor the status of each risk throughout the project
Cick here for next 5 Project Planning Activities.
