Project Management Plans

Project management plans are created to guide the performance of all activities associated with the project. To that extent, the organization can prescribe standard plans-those required for every project conducted by the organization, and optional plans-those developed at the discretion of the project manager.

Project management essentially entails developing and executing a viable Project Work Plan, tracking and managing the progress of that plan's execution, and implementing remedies to redirect efforts back to the specifications of that plan. In that context, the project work plan is usually considered the most vital document of project management.

Therefore, the project work plan should be developed with adequate and reasonable rigor for the type of project being pursued, and with sufficient knowledge of the project management process.

Similarly, other project planning documents can be created to offer detailed guidance to additional project management, business, and technical efforts associated with the project. This section describes a variety of such plans for consideration and use by the project manager.

There are three practices associated with Project Management Plans:

• Project Work Plan Development



• Primary Project Management Plans Development



• Project Support Plans Development

Project Management Plans provide the means to plan and conduct all aspects of a project. For the most part, they contain procedures, instructions, information, guidance, and specifications that are often derived from separately prepared estimates, analyses, assessments, methods, and standards. To that end, some plans will merely contain references to some type of source material. Other plans are created to meet the unique requirements of the projects they serve.

A Special Note on "Project Plan" Content: It’s important to distinguish the Project Work Plan as an element or component of the overall Project Plan, and not as being the Project Plan itself. The Project Work Plan is used to guide the project work that is performed, and it’s an essential tool for the project manager. However, it’s just one of the several documents that are components of the larger collection of project management documents known as the Project Plan.

The content and makeup of the Project Plan varies from organization to organization, and across industries. This methodology prescribes the overall Project Plan as one that includes any or all of the following components:

Project Requirements Documents--Documents that identify the customer's needs and describe the requirements for project performance, to include such items as:

• Statements of work (including detailed work orders)



• Requests for proposal (RFPs)



• Technical specifications



• Business specifications



• Surveys and analyses



• Workshops



• Interviews

Concepts dealing with development and use of Project Requirements documentation are addressed in the Project Requirements practice.

Project Business Plan--The document that defines the project and guides the business aspects of project management, to include such items as:

Project Definition--Presentation of the project scope, objectives, high-level preliminary schedule and cost, and resources; project assumptions and constraints.

Technical Solution--Specifies steps and detailed description of how project objectives will be achieved, including identification of techniques and technologies used; it’s characterized by the Project Work Plan.

Project Business Case--Customer information, customer needs and expectations, technical capability to perform the project, strategic business interest, business risk, feasibility, and financial and cost-benefit analyses.

Business Solution--Costs, fees and expenses, vendor costs, contract terms and conditions, and payment strategy applied to the work effort.

Project Charter--Identification of the project manager, project sponsor and any key resources, and specification of project manager authority and initial and subsequent project funding.

The Project Business Plan is addressed in the Business Case Development practice.

Project Work Plan--The project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), with cost, schedule, and resource utilization estimates identified and appended for each work package. The concepts for compiling this plan are presented in the Project Work Plan Development practice.

Project Management Plans--Documents that are pre pared to expand on concepts and provide routine (and often standardized) project management guidance. The concepts for identifying and compiling these plans are presented in the Project Management Plans practice, as well as in relevant "management" practices.

Project Support Plans--Documents that are prepared to expand project management guidance, as needed, with regard to organizational policies, achievement of business objectives, industry practices, project complexity and risk factors, and the experience level of the project team. The concepts for developing and using project support plans are presented in the Project Support Plans Development practice.

Technical Plans and Documentation--Documents that provide technical specifications, and that are used to guide technical design, development, and deployment activities; these items can be closely related and, in some cases, may even be the same elements contained in the project requirements documentation. The concepts for developing and using technical plans and documentation are addressed in the Project Support Plans Development practice.

An organization can use these documents or establish its own preferred content for the collection of documents it calls the Project Plan, as per the many documents discussed in the three sections of this practice area.

It should also be noted that, while project plans and documentation are created in many organizations as written text documents, many of these plans and documentation can also be compiled electronically and could reside on project management software applications in text, spreadsheet, and database formats.