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"No plan survives contact with
the enemy." – Von Molke
The project plan if the output of the
planning phase. It lays out how the project will be executed.
The main body
of the project plan is presented below. Documents specific to the
Business Synergies approach to project
management are marked with BS.
|
Section |
Document or Form |
Explanation |
|
Initiation |
Business CaseBS |
Business case analysis
that examines the business dynamics of the proposed project and demonstrates
its contribution to
the
overall organizational strategy and business results. Critical project
selection criteria include strategic fit,
competitive advantage, and
potential return on investment. |
|
Charter |
Overall direction,
expectations and constraints that the team use when they plan the project.
It contains the name and purpose of the project, the project manager's name,
and a statement of support from the sponsor.
Approved by the sponsor or the upper manager. |
|
Team |
Responsibility Matrix |
The agreement developed
and agreed to by the
team that describes how the team members fit in the
system as a whole, the roles of the team members and the guidelines that they will
follow as they work together as a
team. |
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Scope |
Scope Statement |
Scope statement defines
the project place in a larger scenario, describes the major activities of
the project, and puts some boundaries on the project do define what the
project will and won't do. It contains the definition and detailed
description of what will be produced by the project and delivered to the
customer. A written explanation of the final deliverables. |
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Customer Acceptance
Criteria |
The criteria the customer
will use to determine if they are satisfied with the final deliverables. |
|
Stakeholder Form |
A description of how each
stakeholder will affect the project, the team status for each stakeholder,
and the name of the team liaison, if one is required. |
|
Organization |
Subproject Tree |
The organizational chart
for the project that shows all subprojects, interim outputs for each
subproject, and the person accountable |
|
Risk |
Risk Form |
The identified risks,
countermeasures, and the person accountable for each countermeasure. |
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Resources |
Milestone Schedule |
The high-level schedule
used to communicate the dates that major accomplishments in the project will
be completed to the customer, sponsor, and stakeholders |
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Outcomes Schedule |
The schedule that shows
the delivery date for each of the project's outcomes and the
interdependencies between them. |
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Spending Estimate |
The projected cost of the
project, including internal and external costs. |
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Change Management |
Change-Management Process |
A structured process by
which changes to the project plan will be handled. |
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Setting Up a Responsibility Matrix
4 Steps |
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List the stakeholder groups. Stakeholder groups are listed on the
horizontal axis of the
responsibility matrix. Groups such as project team and user council
should be named rather than individual team members: these individual team
assignments are documented in the
project plan. It is appropriate however to put individual names on the
responsibility matrix whenever a single person will be making decisions or
has complete responsibility for a significant part of the project .
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Murphy's Law in Project Management
Information necessitating a change of design will be conveyed to
the designer after
– and only after the plans are complete.
5 Factors that
Make a Project a Success
By: Eric Verzuh,
the author of
The Fast Forward MBA in Project
Management
To be successful, a project must
have:
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A plan that demonstrates what is possible, shows an overall path and
clear responsibilities, contains the details for estimating the people,
money, time, equipment, and materials necessary to get the job done, and
will be used to measure
progress during the project and act as an early
warning system.
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