Appendix C Sample Project Management Checklists

Here are the checklists that we used throughout Project Management JumpStart. You can use them as is or adapt them to your particular project needs.

Table C.1: Checklist of Common Project Risks

Project name:
Project number:
Project Manager's name:
Type of Risk	Describe the Impact or Characteristics	Examined
Project schedule	Increased project time	❑
Budgets/funding	Increased cost	❑
Personnel issues	Loss of key team member, not enough team members assigned to project	❑
Quality	Doesn't meet standards	❑
Key stakeholder consensus	Conflicts and project delays	❑
Scope changes	Increased project time and costs	❑
Project plans	Increased project time and costs, impact on quality, poor direction and communication	❑
Project management methodology	Increased project time and costs	❑
Business risk	Poor public image	❑
Management risk	Reorganization resulting in loss of team members	❑
Vendor issues	Delivery delays	❑
Contract risks	Project delays, increased costs	❑
Legal issues	Increased costs, poor public image	❑
Political issues	Poor public image	❑
Environmental risk	Increased costs, delays to schedule, poor public image	❑
Weather or natural disasters	Schedule delays, delivery delays, increased costs	❑
Technology risks	Not available when needed	❑
Project complexity	Inexperience of project team	❑
Project manager skills	Inexperience of project manager	❑
Team skills and abilities	Inexperience of team members, lack of training	❑

See Chapter 7 for our detailed discussion of this checklist.

Table C.2: Project Planning Processes

Project name:
Project number:
Project Manager's name:
Project Planning Activity	Inputs	Outputs
Scope statement	Project charter	Project goals and objectives, assumptions and constraints, critical success factors
Scope change plan	Scope statement	Scope management plan, which outlines how changes to scope will be handled
Task identification	Scope statement	WBS, task list
Communication planning	Scope statement	Communication plan
Resource plan	Scope statement, WBS, task list	Identifies physical and human resources needed for the project
Task duration estimates	WBS, task list	Time needed to complete each task
Task dependencies	WBS, task list	Logical dependencies of tasks
Network diagram	WBS, task list, dependencies	Graphical picture of tasks in dependency order
Procurement planning	WBS, task list, network diagram	Procurement plan
Risk planning	Scope statement, WBS, task list, network diagram	Risk plan
Quality planning	Scope statement, WBS, task list, network diagram	Quality plan
Project scheduling	Scope statement, WBS, task list, network diagram	Project schedule
Budgeting	Scope statement, WBS, task list, network diagram, resource plan, project schedule	Project budget

See Chapter 9 for our detailed discussion of this checklist.

Table C.3: Budget Items

Project name:
Project number:
Project Manager's name:
Item
Project team salaries	❑
Equipment and materials expense	❑
Rent or lease costs for facilities	❑
Marketing costs, including focus group and market research costs	❑
Legal costs	❑
Travel expenses	❑
Advertising costs	❑
Research costs	❑
Feasibility study costs	❑
Consulting services for subject matter expertise or as project participants	❑
Telephone, fax, and long-distance charges	❑
Office supplies (remember all those sticky notes we used!)	❑
Internet access charges or website hosting fees	❑
Software	❑
Hardware	❑
Training	❑

See Chapter 9 for our detailed discussion of this checklist.

Table C.4: Project Process Checklist

Project name:
Project number:
Project Manager's name:
Complete	Process or Document Life Name	Responsibility	Notes	Project Cycle
❑	Project charter	Project sponsor	Describes project purpose, business justification, and outcomes.	Initiation
❑	Cost benefit analysis	Project manager with input from stakeholders	Determines whether project is financially (or otherwise) beneficial to the organization. Included in the project charter and scope statement.	Planning
❑	Assumptions and constraints	Project manager with input from stakeholders	Describes project assumptions and any constraints limiting the project team. Included in the scope statement.	Planning
❑	Project scope statement	Project manager with input from stakeholders	Describes project goals, contains a comprehensive list of deliverables, and describes the specific requirements of the product or service of the project. Signed by project sponsor, project manager, and stakeholders.	Planning
❑	Critical success factors	Project manager with input from stakeholders	Describes those things that must be completed accurately in order to consider the project a success. These may include project deliverables or requirements. Can be included with the scope statement.	Planning
❑	Communications plan	Project manager	Describes the information needs of stakeholders and the project team and how the information is distributed.	Planning
❑	Work breakdown structure (WBS)	Project manager	Formatted as a deliverables-oriented hierarchy that defines the work of the project.	Planning
❑	Roles and responsibility matrix	Project manager	Ties roles and responsibilities of project team members with WBS elements.	Planning
❑	Resource plan	Project manager	Describes physical resources and human resources needed to complete the project.	Planning
❑	Procurement plan	Project manager and/or procurement department	Describes resources or services to be purchased from an outside provider.	Planning
❑	Risk management plan	Project manager with input from stakeholders, risk analysis team, and project team members	Identifies, describes, ranks, and plans for project risks. Includes risk response plans for high-ranking risks.	Planning
❑	Quality plan	Project manager and/or quality team	Describes how quality will be assured and measured.	Planning
❑	Project schedule	Project manager	Displays task dependencies, task durations, and milestones. Used to determine the critical path.	Planning
❑	Project budget	Project manager and/or finance manager	Determines targeted costs of the project.	Planning
❑	Project team kickoff meeting	Project manager	Assigns all team members to their responsibilities.	Executing
❑	Status meetings and status reports	Project manager	Describes current status of the project including project schedule updates, budget updates, task updates, and action items. Created and distributed according to the communications plan.	Executing and Controlling
❑	Change management plan	Project manager and change control board	Describes how changes to the project plan will be identified and managed.	Planning and used in Controlling
❑	Monitoring project performance and taking corrective action	Project manager	Oversees project performance. May require updates to project Planning documents.	Controlling
❑	Closing the accounting records and finalizing the contracts	Project manager and finance manager	Project manager notifies finance manager to close all project accounts so that no more charges are incurred against the project budget.	Closing
❑	Implementation checklist	Project manager	Describes issues to be discussed or information to be turned over regarding the product or service of the project to internal departments or the customer.	Closing
❑	Lessons learned document	Project manager with input from stakeholders and team members	Documents processes, plans, communications, etc. that worked well. Also documents things that did not work well so that they will not be repeated in future projects and, if practical, integrates them into the standard company project management processes or templates.	Controlling and Closing
❑	Obtaining project sign-off and sending formal notice of closure	Project manager	Assures acceptance of the product or service of the project and notifies all parties that the project is officially closed.	Closing
❑	Project feedback	Project manager, stakeholders, and team members	Provides information to improve performance on future projects. Can be included in the lessons learned document.	Closing
❑	Archiving project documents	Project manager	Archives project records for future reference.	Closing
❑	Celebrating your success	Project manager and project team	Provides a means to publicly thank team members for their hard work and recognize success. Brings closure to the project and helps team members make the transition to new assignments.	Closing

See Chapter 12 for our detailed discussion about this checklist.

Table C.5: Implementation Checklist

Project name:
Project number:
Project Manager's name:
Completed	Description	Comments
❑	Deliverables completed
❑	Deliverables accepted and approved
❑	Contracts closed out
❑	Vendors paid
❑	Customer training completed
❑	Product documentation provided to customer
❑	Warranty information given to customer
❑	Contact information provided to customer
❑	Final product delivered

See Chapter 12 for our detailed discussion of this checklist.