Digital "Project June 5, 2000, ver.

University of Arizona Library Library Initiatives Group Planning Template" 3.2 ________________________________________________________________________

Project Title:

This template is designed to assist you in documenting your project plan

For best results, read the tips and sections descriptions on the next pages before completing your plan

Consult the "Project Planning Guide" for assistance in developing the information used to fill in this
template

Fill in any and all elements that are relevant to your project and save your plan in a secure location Review your project plan regularly, and refer to it for planning reports, publicity, presentations, etc.

Project Planning Checklist [Activities may occur in a different order. Note the date each item
has been completed]

__________ Project costs have been estimated __________ The relative cost/benefit ratio has been assessed __________ Project team has been formed __________ Project team has been provided with all known information __________ Project team has planned the project details as outlined below __________ Project work has started __________ Initial project work completed __________ Final report completed and delivered

Project Description

[First paragraph or two is general introduction, followed with summary of expected results/outputs and activities; expected project objectives/outcomes; & why this project was selected]

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Project Details

[List the project tasks and activities. Include at least: a Flowchart; Requirements document; Schedule; Costs, including on-going follow-up/maintenance costs if any; Communication plan including outline of final report; Tools and techniques; Equipment needed; Standards; & Quality control mechanisms]

Project Parameters and Scope [What is/is not included; will this become an ongoing activity?]

Project Resources

[Specify source of funding, intended use, and other, non-revenue resources available]

Project Roles / Team Membership Criteria Team Members' Roles

[Which KSAs must be on the team &/or be possessed by all members?] [Define the role each team member will have during the project]

Project Oversight and Tracking

[Cost accounting; Timeline review; Other data to be collected]

Project Closure

[Delivery to, and training of customer; evaluating customer satisfaction; evaluating project plan accuracy; completing and presenting final report]

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University of Arizona Library Digital Library Initiatives Group May 2000

"Project Planning Guide"

The "Project Planning Guide" and accompanying template are designed to assist groups
in documenting their project plans.

Use the guide as a memory aid for identifying and developing the information used to
fill complete the template; fill in the elements that are relevant to your project.

Save your project plan in a secure location. Review your project plan regularly, and refer to it for planning reports, publicity,
presentations, etc.

Project Selection Results: Will the project provide something useful and relevant for customers? Costs: All estimates should be completed before committing to a project. Are the costs reasonable for the goals (e.g., reasonable cost/benefit ratio)? Are they feasible? Are resources available or potentially available? Risks: What are the potential of this project? Can we handle the risk and uncertainty associated with this project? Resources: Is there sufficient expertise to carry out the project effectively? If not, can supplemental expertise be made available? Are their sufficient other resources in relation to other on-going or selected proejcts (people time, money, etc.)? Goals: Does project meet stated objectives of your team the Library, the University? In other words, is it a strategic fit? Good plans: Are simple and straight-forward: people outside the project can comprehend the purpose, scope, activities, results and outcomes. Are complete. Variations are few and manageable. Contingencies are anticipated and provided for. Address all aspects of project management and provide the basis for reviews, reports and evaluation during the life of the project. Are based on documented facts and estimates.

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Suggestion for Project Planning Process Potential projects placed in hopper (e.g., listed, brainstormed, etc.) Project costs are carefully estimated; cost/benefit ratio determined Projects are consequently selected, deselected or placed on hold for another review later on Project team formed for selected project and provided with information known to that point Project team collectively plans the project details as outlined below

Project Planning Template Elements:

Project Description and Objectives Write a paragraph or two of general introduction, followed by details. Summarize: Who the project is for What the project components or "outputs" and expected outcomes will be (for example, a database that will ______, a thesaurus that will be used in ______, digitized images of ______, etc.). Be specific about expected outcomes ("this tool will be used to help students learn ______ in the _______ class"). Who will be working on the project What you expect to learn Why this project was selected; which mission critical area/goal/strategic objective is addressed by this project (strategic fit) The project schedule and general activities (summarized, not step-by-step), and expected completion date Project Details
[The most laborious section but VERY important]

List and describe the details of the project tasks and activities Create a flowchart of the work processes that will be undertaken in this project Document the requirements. Some projects, such as databases, need to be built around requirements. These define what elements are included, how they relate to each other, who has access to them, what the interface looks like/acts like, etc. Create a project schedule. Include a detailed timeline and milestones; be sure to address a production schedule if relevant, and time for hiring and training. Determine the Critical Path and other known limits. Use a Gantt Chart, Microsoft Project, or other appropriate planning and scheduling tools. Assign someone on the team to manage the schedule. At this point, project team members should pencil activities and deadlines into their own calendars in order to cement the connection between the project schedule and their responsibilities. Detail the complete project cost estimates . Describe how the estimates were calculated. Determine if the estimates are sufficiently trust-worthy for purposes of project management. Include: student or temp wages and staff time (count actual value-added time per task plus training, documenting/reporting, etc.); operations and supplies; software; hardware (amortized if necessary); data storage (see the formula, below); maintenance; other. Inhouse or outsource?

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 For estimating conversion costs, refer to the "RLG Tools for Digital Imaging," stored in the same location as this template, under the filename "project planning - RLG worksheet.pdf" Detail the complete follow up costs. What are the archiving, storage and/or maintenance requirements after the project is over? Who is responsible? How were the estimates calculated? Are these estimates sufficiently trust-worthy for purposes of project management? Include: student or temp wages and staff time (count actual value-added time per task plus training, documenting/reporting, etc.); operations and supplies; software; hardware (amortized if necessary); data storage; maintenance. In-house or outsource?

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height x width x bit-depth x dpi2

____________________________________

8 bits per byte Data storage formula for images:

File size = (in bytes)

Contracts and letters of agreement. If outside contractors are used, or if the work is being done for an outside party, who will initiate the contracts or letters of agreement? Does a member of the Financial and Administrative Services Team (FAST) need to be involved? Develop the team's communication plan. Document how often, to whom, and in what format reports will be presented and who will present them. Include all standard reports, and all stakeholders. Determine and document a plan for communicating with the customer(s) and how else the customer is involved in the project? Outline the final report Tools and techniques. If not addressed above, what tools and techniques will be used during this project? Examples of tools might include: HTML web pages; databases; Perl scripts, etc. Are the tools known, understood and available? Is someone on the project team familiar with the techniques? Are there instruction manuals that can be adapted to this project? Who will do that? If this is a pilot project, are these tools and techniques scaleable for production? Equipment. What kind of equipment will need to be used? For example, scanners, servers, disk space, back-up procedures, etc. Who will provide access to this equipment and is it available? Decide on and document the standards that will be followed Build-in quality control Project Parameters and Scope What will be included What will not be included Is this a pilot project for what may become an ongoing or permanent activity? How will maintenance of the project results be provided? For example, if the project involves creating a web site or database, who is responsible for maintaining the site or database after the project is over? Is this a permanent arrangement? Where will funding for this come from? Project Resources What are the sources of project revenues? Is there a schedule of their release? Who will track this? What is the intended use of these resources?
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 Other non-revenue resources: list information sources and in-house people who are willing to serve as consultants, etc. Project Team Roles What knowledge, skills and abilities (ksa's) must be on the team? Which ksa's must every individual project team member possess? Define the roles and responsibilities of each project team member. [Address reservations you may have about a given role.] For example, who will supervise student assistants? Who will schedule work? Who will oversee technical support?

Project Oversight and Tracking How will costs be tracked (for example, check sheets / tracking sheets), by whom. Regular review scheduleby whom, how often. Where will cost info come from? Have they been contacted? Who will evaluate progress toward milestones? How often? Where is the project most likely to lose time? What will you do if you are off-time? Other data to be collected. What is important to know/learn from this project? What data will answer that question? How will it be collected? What standard data elements are collected in projects of this nature? How shall they be collected? What tools will be needed for their analysis? Project Closure Project closure activities will vary from project to project Include any continuing marketing and promotional activities that must be planned for Include other communications about the experience (for example, sharing the technique or methodology with the professional community) How will you deliver the final product(s) to the customer? What training will you provide for the customer? How will you evaluate the customer's satisfaction? Are there necessary follow-up activities with the customer after the project is over? If this is transitioning to a permanent activity, how will this take place? Evaluate the accuracy of project plan What did you learn? If this project was a pilot, can it be scaled to production? Complete and the present final report Select the next project.

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