Elements of a Project Plan

In addition to understanding the development life cycle, it's equally important to have a plan that defines how the project will be managed and a schedule that defines activities, duration, and target delivery dates. The combination of these two items will help keep the project on schedule and within specifications. A good project plan incorporates many different considerations. The following are some items to consider when building a project plan.

• Project Overview The project overview provides a short summary of the scope of the project. This section is typically intended for management and briefly describes the mission, stakeholders, departments, and milestones associated with the project.
• Project Objectives This section contains a detailed statement of work to be achieved by the project. The statement should include both technical and non-technical goals.
• General Approach The general approach should describe the managerial and technical aspects of the project. It may include the deployment approach (straight cutover or phased implementation) and management structure for the project.
• Contractual Obligations This section should provide specific, measurable deliverables including a list of all project obligations.
• Scope Management Scope management is probably the most important section in the project plan. This section should spell out exactly how to manage changes to the project. This is the process for recording scope changes, approvals, and acceptance criteria. All scope changes should also be assessed to determine their cost and impact to the schedule.
• Cost Management This section describes the process to manage project costs. Costs may be in terms of dollars or number of labor hours required to implement the project. The projected cost of the project is usually based on the "approved" requirement document. It's important to understand that changes to the scope can and usually do affect the cost for the project.
• Schedule Management This section describes in detail the phases, activities, tasks, and milestones associated with the entire project. Each item in the schedule should include a projected start date and duration. The schedule should also include task interdependencies (e.g., task five must be completed before starting task six). Every stakeholder and team member associated with the project should be allowed to participate in the development of the schedule. The project sponsor and key managers should approve, or sign off on, the final schedule. This helps ensure that everyone has agreed to the timeline for the project. In many cases, the project plan includes key milestone dates followed by a detailed project schedule after the requirements are finalized.
• Project Resources The resource section defines the requirements for the project. It should include the staffing resources, skill requirements, system resources, or other material resource requirements.
• Roles and Responsibilities This section describes all project roles and responsibilities. It should clearly spell out what organizations (or individuals) are responsible for specific activities, tasks, or deliverables. This section helps ensure accountability for the project.
• Quality Assurance The quality assurance section, often called application "testing," details the test approach. It specifies the type of tests to be performed, test completion criteria, a method to report and track defects, defect severity levels, and detailed test scenarios.
• Project Communication The communication section describes how information will be distributed to the project team. This section should include a method for communication (email, conference calls, status meetings), frequency of communication, and a list of all project participants.
• Issue Management This section should describe how project conflicts will be managed. It should list contact names, define the escalation path, and specify who makes the final ruling on conflicts.
• Project Completion Criteria The project completion criteria specify the specific tasks or product specifications that must be met in order to consider the project complete. This list should contain specific, measurable items.

Tip

The project sponsor and key project managers should contribute to the project plan. The project plan should be approved by management at the start of the project to ensure that everyone is in agreement with the project scope, schedule, and cost.

Note

Sample project plans and schedules are included on the companion Web site.