Creating the Communications Plan

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Based on stakeholder analysis, the project manager and the project team can determine what communications are needed. There’s no advantage to supplying stakeholders with information that is not needed or desired. Time spent creating and delivering unneeded information is a waste of resources.

A Communications Management Plan can organize and document the process, types, and expectations of communications. It provides:

• A system to gather, organize, store, and disseminate appropriate information to the appropriate people. The system includes procedures for correcting and updating incorrect information that may have been distributed.

• Details on how needed information flows through the project to the correct individuals. The communication structure documents where the information will originate, to whom the information will be sent, and in what modality the information is acceptable.

• Specifics on how the information to be distributed should be organized, the level of expected detail for the types of communication, and the terminology expected within the communications.

• Schedules of when the various types of communication should occur. Some communication, such as status meetings, should happen on a regular schedule; other communications may be prompted by conditions within the project.

• Methods to retrieve information as needed.

• Instructions on how the Communications Management Plan can be updated as the project progresses.

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