Office of Information Technology (OIT)

West Virginia University

A project plan for:

Title of Project

Prepared by:
Name of Preparer
Title of Preparer
e-mail address of preparer

Date last updated:

Date
Executive Summary

The Executive Summary portion of the plan contains a description of the problem
along with any background information needed to understand the purpose of the
project. A summary of key tasks and costs should also be included here with more
detailed information in another section of the plan

• Introduction

• Background/History

• Summary of Key Points

• Brief Cost Analysis

Scope

The scope of the project should include the goals and objectives necessary to satisfy
the requirements of the stakeholders. They should be specific and measurable. The
milestones are significant events in the project schedule that can be used to gauge
progress toward the goals and objectives. Deliverables are specific results that are
to be delivered by a predetermined date.

• Goals and Objectives

• Milestones

• Deliverables

Limitations

The limitations section should contain information on any assumptions, risks, or

constraints that are built into the project schedule. A well developed plan will also
contain descriptions of the potential hazards if any of these items do not occur as
planned. It is also helpful to include in this section any other projects that may be
impacted by the dedication of resources to other projects.

• Assumptions

• Risks

• Constraints

• Impact on other work or projects

Description of Work

A key portion of the plan is defining the work to be accomplished in great detail.
One method of breaking a large task into smaller steps is called a WBS or work
breakdown structure. Once the tasks are identified, they must be sequenced in some
logical order. This is accomplished by considering the dependencies between two
tasks.

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Task Identification

• Task Dependencies

• Critical Path

Baseline Schedule

Once the plan is complete, the schedule of tasks becomes the baseline schedule. It
is this schedule that is then compared to actual performance to see Ahow well we
are doing@. The baseline schedule in the OIT Project Plan is displayed in the form
of a Gantt chart. While other charting methods exist to illustrate the baseline, we
have adopted the Gantt chart as the OIT standard.

• Gantt Chart

Resource Requirements

Another important part of the plan is a listing of the resources that are required in
order to complete each task. These task based estimates could then be “rolled up” to
give an overall indication of what resources are required at each step in the process
and when they are required.

• People

• Material

• Equipment

• Space/Room

• Services
Cost Analysis

Once we know our resource requirements, we can calculate the costs of a task.
Along with the cost details, we should indicate which functions are provided by in-
house resources as opposed to outside resources. It is these outside resources that
are normally associated with an actual cost since the in-house resources are
probably covered by the annual budget process.

• Cost Details

• External Costs

Progress Reports

The plan should contain a description of the periodic progress reports including an
indication of when they are due and who should receive them. In some cases, the
plan may also indicate any actions that are required of the receiver of the reports.

• Format

• Schedule

• Distribution

Attachments/References

The attachments section of the plan should include any supplemental material or
vendor literature that is important to the understanding of the plan but is unavailable
elsewhere. Other documents, such as a training schedule or a publicity plan might,
be included here.