Project Plan Components

The comprehensive project plan should bring together information obtained from all the various planning processes you've undertaken in an organized, cohesive fashion. You can organize data in a number of ways to produce an integrated project plan. Many organizations use a standard template for project plans. Although the format and structure may vary, the key components of a project plan, as we mentioned in the chapter introduction, usually include (but are not limited to) the following:

Administrative information regarding the organization and revision of the document
Outputs of your planning processes
Any applicable templates or checklists that will be used to manage the project
Any reference material
An appendix

No standard sequence drives the order of the project plan components. Both the components themselves and the component sequence vary between organizations, and an abbreviated version may be used for small projects.

If your organization has a program management office (PMO), there is probably a standard project plan template. If you do not have a template, you can use examples of project plans from previous projects to develop your particular plan. (You could try visiting well-known websites such as www.gantthead.com or www.techrepublic.com for project planning examples or simply do a Google search for 'project plan template'). Communicating your project plan is much easier if you are using a format people are familiar with.

It is a good idea to review carefully the contents of any planning template you are expected to complete to determine whether your planning activities to date have produced all of the data required in the document. You may find your team has additional work to do to provide all of the information required in the template.

Let's take a closer look at the components of a typical project plan.

Administrative Components

A comprehensive project plan can be a very lengthy document. To facilitate ease of use and ensure that updates are properly tracked, a project plan may include the following administrative components:

Document Information This section contains information regarding the update and maintenance of the plan. A document history lists the version numbers and revision dates, and contact information to obtain copies of the document.

Table of Contents The table of contents displays how the information is organized, so that the reader can access a particular component. If you do not have a project plan template to follow, find examples from other projects in your organization. It is helpful to the people who will be referencing the plan to have the data in a recognizable sequence.

Planning Components

The planning components are the main body of the document, and they appear as sequenced in the table of contents. The components listed below are typical of how a project plan is organized, although it is always best to determine if you are expected to follow specific standards.

Executive Summary An executive summary is included to communicate with executives who are responsible for corporate business strategy or funding decisions, and any managers whose personnel the project will impact. It should contain high-level information written in nontechnical terms.

The executive summary typically starts with a brief project description that explains the business need or problem that generated the project request. It should include the overall goal of the project as it relates to corporate goals or strategies, the targeted completion date, and overall budget. The goal of the Executive Summary is to give busy executives a quick high-level overview of the project so they can be knowledgeable about what's going on. It does not go deep into the nuts and bolts of the project.

Requirements The requirements section lists the functional, technical, and business requirements for the project, as defined during project initiation.

Scope The project scope defines the boundaries of the project based on the deliverables agreed to by the client.

Note	Remember, this section describes both what is included and excluded in the product being produced by the project.

Stakeholders The stakeholder component identifies the people responsible for the success of the project. This includes the sponsor, client(s), project manager, and project team members , as well as other work groups whose assistance is required to complete the project (such as vendors ).

Note

There is debate among project managers as to the amount of detail to include in this section. For large projects that will last over six months, it may not be practical to list all of the project team members, as the baseline resource list you create during planning may change significantly multiple times over the course of the project. (For example, Kimmie may be the programmer initially, but she resigns to pursue writing a novel so you replace her with Susan.) Rather than constantly updating the project plan, you may choose to list only the project manager, sponsor, and client(s), with a reference to how readers can obtain the current project team organization chart or directory. You may opt, for example, to publish this information on an intranet site.

Expected Resources The expected resources section lists non-human resources such as servers, software, etc., that you anticipate using. You may also list vendors in this section.

Assumption and/or Constraints The assumptions that were agreed on during the planning process and any known constraints that will impact the outcome of the project are documented in this section. These are outputs from your planning process. A typical assumption statement might read: 'The vendor will deliver on time.'

Major Deliverables/Scheduled Tasks The major deliverables section lists the summary level achievements that make up the delivery of the product. You should include the major deliverables from each project phase. This information typically is obtained by using the highest level of the WBS or the summary tasks from the project schedule.

You may also be required to provide information on how to view the current version of the project schedule (e.g., intranet page or other electronic location).

A copy of the project schedule baseline may be included as an appendix.

Budget The project budget is discussed here. This section may be very high level with only a summary figure for the entire project budget or it may break the budget down into various spending categories. Some plans also detail the method used to purchase capital equipment and track project capital and expenses.

A copy of the budget baseline may be included as an appendix.

Racing to the Finish

One project we were familiar with (but did not work on) used a cute way to illustrate the project baseline. The project managers got foam board from the stationery store. They printed out clip art of different racehorses and cut them out. Then they glued the horses to more foam board and cut them out. Next, they attached Velcro dots to the horses and also to percentages to complete milestones along the baseline. When the final 'baseline board' was done you had a 'lane' for each racehorse-each lane representing a phase or deliverable. As each phase or deliverable was worked on and progress was made, its horse was advanced one more step. The end result was that you had a very clear illustration of where we were at in the project, similar to the graphic shown below.

Unfortunately, the project was a flop-but hey, the baseline board has stuck in our minds all these years .

Risks The identified risks that could affect the success of the project and plans to avoid or mitigate the risks are listed in this section.

Issues The method used to identify project issues, assign responsibility for resolution, define escalation procedures, and track and report progress is described in this section. This section can also include a discussion of the overall environmental issues the project could run into, including the overall computing environment as well as the political, geographical, and integrated systems environments.

Communications The communications component describes the method and frequency of communication with sponsor, clients , project team, and other stakeholders. For example, you might say something like this: 'Sponsor communications-one-on-one meeting every Monday at 10:00 A.M. for the duration of the project,' and 'Team communications-biweekly team meeting every Thursday at 2:00 P.M.; email or one-on-one conferences as required for the duration of the project.'

Implementation Plan The implementation plan is an overview of the methodology used to implement the project schedule. The plans you've created for development, hardware, installation, securing, configuration, testing as well as other plans for correct implementation of the project schedule are included.

Support Plan The support plan documents how the new system will be supported once the project is complete. Support may be limited to the update and maintenance of a new system or piece of hardware, or it may include a technical group that will support the users of a new application.

Training Plan The training plan documents how training on the new system will be accomplished. This includes training for end users, help-desk staff, operations staff, or other groups, as applicable.

Templates and Checklists

If you are using any existing checklists or have developed checklists during the planning processes, you can include copies in this section. Examples of checklists in this section are:

Installation checklist
Testing checklist
Other quality checklists

References

The reference section lists any sources used for project methodology, corporate standards, or best practices. A reference list may include:

A Guide to the PMBOK
Your Corporation's quality standards
Your corporation's system development methodology
Your corporation's project management methodology
ISO 9000 standards
Any applicable regulations or standards

Appendix

An appendix can be used to provide a copy of detailed documents not normally included in the body of the project plan:

Project schedule baseline
Project budget baseline

With all of these components to consider, writing a comprehensive project plan can overwhelm a new project manager. Don't worry, we can share a lot of tips on how to make this come together smoothly with all of the data you need to oversee the project.