3/21/13 Project Planning

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Initiation
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Project Project Planning – Not “Analysis Paralysis”

Execution
Project Using input from the Project Initiation process (the Project Charter, Project Mandate,
Project Brief, Business Plan, and other documents i.e., feasibility studies, budget models,
Closure
Project
decision checklists), and the approval of the Project Sponsor (or the Project Board under a
Controls PRINCE2® project) to proceed, we begin the planning processes. Essentially, the planning
phase (a combination of two stages under PRINCE2® – “Planning (PL)” and “Initiating a
Project (IP)”) generally consists of:

Identifying the work involved (through a review of the Project Initiation

phase/stage documents) – at a high level, this will identify the major project
activities and deliverables
Developing a project network diagram -- Again, at a high level, but important
to show dependencies and initial risks
Assigning resources -- this is an alignment of the major activities with the skills
required. From this, the PM should work with the Project Sponsor to obtain
resources from the internal organization and determine gaps in skills to anticipate
the need for external resources
Developing the project schedule -- Although you may initially use a spreadsheet,
I highly recommend the use of scheduling and project planning software. Like it or
not, the most widely used scheduling software, and the one I recommend you use,
is Microsoft Project. Enter the activities and deliverables (as milestones) described
above.
Developing a project budget -- Once you have identified the activities, their
approximate durations (from the project schedule), and the resources required
(internal and external), you can develop the budget – though preliminary at first
(rough order of magnitude), during this phase you will finalize the budget as you
better define the three elements of activities, time, and resources.
Creating a Project Plan -- this is the primary deliverable from the Project Planning
phase and is composed of all of the information described in the bullets above.

Since PRINCE2® focuses on “Product-Based Planning”, the Project Planning (PL) stage
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Since PRINCE2® focuses on “Product-Based Planning”, the Project Planning (PL) stage
begins with identifying and analyzing the products produced during the project. Once the
PM identifies the activities to develop these products, then she can begin to develop the
schedule and align the resources required. The PRINCE2® Planning (PL) stage includes the
following activities:

Developing the Initial Project Plan -- the design of this plan begins with the
information from the previous Starting Up a Project (SU) stage contained in the
Project Initiation Document (PID). The PID provides a common understanding or
baseline of the critical elements of the project and how the project is to be
managed (it is composed of information from the Project Mandate, Project Brief,
and initial Business Case documents).
Identifying and analyzing the Products -- this results in the Product
Descriptions, the activities and resources required, as well as management and
quality requirements; all consistent with the baseline requirements in the PID.
Indentifying Activities and Dependencies -- this is a further breakdown of
activities (development of Product Breakdown Structures, similar to the Work
Breakdown Structures of PMBOK®, only “product-focused”) and specification of the
project dependencies.
Estimating the work effort and budget -- this results in an initial budget and
work estimates
Scheduling the activities -- this is similar to the scheduling involved in the
PMBOK® Planning phase. The PM should use scheduling software – again the
recommendation to use Microsoft Project – to ensure consistency and control.
Analyzing project Risks -- ensuring Risks have been anticipated and identified.
This is also the opportunity to begin to develop risk mitigation, avoidance, and
elimination plans, should the anticipated risk occur.
Completing the Project Plan -- Similar to the PMBOK® Planning phase, the
PRINCE2® Planning (PL) results in a Plan for a consistent, disciplined, coherent
approach to the project.

Under both methodologies, the Planning phase/stage is critical and the most
process intensive. It results in a “tactical” Plan to accomplish the project objectives
(which are aligned with the overall business objectives). You as the PM must
determine that you have this tactical Plan before you exit this phase and move on to
executing the project plan.

Project Management Plan

Since the Project Plan is the primary deliverable of this Planning phase, I am going to
provide some details of the Plan here and provide a template to assist you in its
composition.
The Project Plan will begin with an Executive Summary describing the overall project, its
purpose, when it was approved, by whom, and the overall objective. Then the project
objectives will be listed and described (see the section below).

In my experience, developing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is my first step to

completing the Project Plan. Depending on the complexity, I usually sketch a type of
Organization chart showing the work from major deliverables to lowest level of work (or
activity) to produce that deliverable. This helps to collect my thoughts before constructing
the WBS. I then construct the WBS in outline form like below:

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The next Project Planning step is developing a resource assignment matrix. Use MS-Excel or
a table in MS-Word to develop the matrix. Top row of the table contains the names of the
resources or the title/major skill required. The left column shows the major activities or the
major groups of work (start with the work groupings in your WBS then either group into
larger or smaller blocks of work or group by major skills). In addition to showing the level of
participation in the matrix, I also estimate the % of time this person will be expected to
work on this specific activity grouping. For example, if the activity grouping is a database
migration, I would show the DBA at 100%, but a programmer who is composing the scripts
at 50%, and a Tester 10%-20%. This provides me a guide when I compare the Assignment
Matrix to the schedule and begin to do the cost estimate.

Next during Project Planning, I set-up the Project Schedule (I may sound like a broken
record, but you need to learn and use Microsoft Project – it is the global de facto standard
for scheduling software tools). The tasks will mirror those in the WBS outline. (See more
information on the Project Schedule in a following section of this page.)

Next is the creation of the Cost Baseline or project budget. It is likely that your Project
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Next is the creation of the Cost Baseline or project budget. It is likely that your Project
Sponsor will have created a preliminary project budget in order to obtain approval from the
Senior Management Team. In this case, create your budget from the work involved (WBS),
your project schedule, and your resource requirements. Then, compare your budget to the
“preliminary” budget created by your Project Sponsor.

Make sure to review your comparison with the Project Sponsor. Discuss the differences and
any issues with your bottom-up estimate (now is the time to determine if there are issues,
especially if you have estimated higher than his preliminary budget). Your cost estimate will
be different and most likely higher than the original estimate by the Project Sponsor.

Once the budget is determined and you have your Cost Baseline, you will need to re-visit
your resources and schedule to ensure you are well within the cost baseline.

Remember, developing an accurate, agreed-to Cost Baseline and Project Schedule

(Schedule Baseline), during Project Planning, will become the basis for you, the PM, to
measure project performance during the execution stages of the project.

Additional components of the Project Management Plan include:

The Project Organization – at a minimum, I usually include an “organization chart”

showing the project stakeholders, from the Executive Management to the Project
Sponsor, and at the bottom level the project team members (noting which project
activities each team member is responsible for completing).
Change Management Methodology - since I typically keep this as a separate
document, I usually attach this to the Project Management Plan. If I am using the
Change Control Methodology of the client company (this is rare since most
companies do not have any type of Change Management Methodology), I will
describe its application as a section of the Plan and then refer to the location of
the complete methodology and change control forms, e.g., the Change Request
(CR).
Constraints, Assumptions, and Risks - I usually develop 3 tables, in MS-Word, for
each of these areas. I then describe the current and anticipated project
constraints (or limitations, such as a budget cap); project assumption (these are
unknowns which may affect the project, such as the ability to contract with an
external test team during the next fiscal year); and project risks (immediate issues
or anticipated issues which we must address now with some sort of mitigation,
avoidance, of elimination approach – which I list in the table).
Communications Plan - Again, I usually do this in a table format, listing all project
stakeholders along the left column and the information across the top row (e.g.,
weekly project status report). Within the table I show who receives the information
and “how” they receive it (i.e., email, paper copy, etc.). Make sure you review this
information with the Project Sponsor and obtain her agreement, before publishing
the Project Management Plan.
Quality Management Plan - Many client companies have some sort of a “Quality
Initiative”. Initially, I will review this initiative and determine its applicability to the
project. If it is applicable, I will describe its application to the project, such as
ensuring quality deliverables, and then refer to the complete document (including
its location and version). If it is not applicable, I will use information from ISO 9000
or some other quality standard to ensure the members of the team follow a
consistent, reference-able approach.
Performance Metrics - in most cases, not all (it depends on the client company’s
performance measurement practices), I will include the metrics to measure the
project performance. I will also include recommendations on the frequency and
suggested remedies for adverse performance.

Project Management Objectives – S.M.A.R.T.

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All Project Planning must result in an achievable plan of execution which is able to be
adjusted based on the effect of change and non-performance. This begins with a set of
objectives, linked with the overall business objectives, and providing measurability to ensure
an accurate view of attainment. So, all of the project objectives must be specific and
quantified.

To ensure the specificity and measurability of the project objectives, most clients will
demand that each individual objective complies with the SMART format:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based.

Once you have SMART objectives, you have a baseline Project Schedule and you have a
Cost Baseline (project budget), you are able to track the progress and performance of your
project. As the PM, you should review the performance metrics with your client’s finance
team (since they are typically tasked with measuring the overall business performance).
They may have specific tools, software, or formulas they use to measure performance. If
not, a simple approach is to use the Earned Value (EV) formulas to track project progress
and performance.

I will go into more detail on Earned Value analysis on a subsequent page.

Project Work Breakdown & Project Scheduling

For the Project Planning phase, the WBS is important to ensure a decomposition of the work
activities to the lowest level, the Work Package. Under PRINCE2®, you would product a
Product Breakdown Structure, to decompose the work to the specific Work Product. This
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Product Breakdown Structure, to decompose the work to the specific Work Product. This
decomposition and Work Product would comply with the Product Description produced
during the Planning (PL) and Initiating a Project (IP) stages.

Both the WBS and the PBS (under PRINCE2) follow a similar “outline format” (see the
example above, on this page), and are easily produced using MS-Word.

When producing the Project Schedule (using MS-Project), I follow the template attached
below. Since the template includes all of the project phases and steps, I simply delete
those not applicable to my project and add those where the project activities deviate from
those contained in the template. Then I make sure I have included all of the activities from
my WBS/PBS outline.

Open this link to obtain a Microsoft Project template for a Project Schedule. An
opportunity for a head start to producing your Project Schedule; make simple
changes to satisfy a PMBOK® or PRINCE2® project.

The difference between an activity listed in the WBS/PBS and one in the Project Schedule
is when an activity or task has a longer duration than 10 days (2 calendar weeks). In that
case, I will break the activity into multiple tasks – this doesn’t change the schedule or
resource requirement, it simply makes it easier to track the work activities.

The Project Schedule also contains all of the inter-task dependencies (from the network
diagram); show the primary resource responsible for completion of the task; and show the
anticipated start and end dates and the task duration. When the Schedule is populated
with this information is becomes the Schedule Baseline (which will be aligned with the Cost
Baseline, once the cost budget is completed).

From this Project Planning page go to the Project Initiation page for more
information on initiating the project to better complete the project planning… .

Go to the PM Body of Knowledge page for more information on the PMBOK® and
PRINCE2® methodologies and processes.

Go to the Project Management Tools & Resources page for more information on
Planning resources and templates.

Return to the Mastering Project Management Home Page…

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