Additional Project Management Plan Components

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The main components of the plan are the primary drivers that establish the key project baselines (scope, schedule, and cost). The supporting planning processes are equally important and establish the mechanisms to apply quality, reality (risk), stakeholder assignment, contract assignment, and project information management (communication) to those baselines. These plans include items such as the following:

  • Risk management plan This plan describes how risk management activities will be performed, including methodology, responsibility, cost, timing, and definitions for risk categories, probabilities, and impacts.

  • Staffing management plan Describes when and how HR requirements will be met, including acquisition approach, timing, training, and recognition.

  • Quality management plan This plan describes how the team will implement the quality policy. It addresses quality control, quality assurance, and continuous improvement.

  • Process improvement plan This plan describes how the team will analyze processes for improvement. It includes determining process boundaries, interfaces, metrics, and improvement targets.

  • Procurement management plan This plan describes how procurement activities will be performed, including contract types and responsibilities.

  • Communication management plan Describes how communication requirements will be met, including stakeholder communication, communication responsibility, communication timing, and techniques.

Risk Management Planning

Risk management planning is the first step in the risk management process. During this step the project manager plans how to effectively manage any risks posed to the project. This is obviously a critical step to follow in order to offset any problems that can derail the project and to ensure the other five steps in the risk management process will be carried out effectively. Planning meetings are an effective tool for identifying potential risks and developing the risk management plan. More on risk management planning is covered in the section "Understanding Key Risk Management Principles and PMI's Risk Management Philosophy."

Human Resource Planning

Human resource (HR) planning is the process for determining what HR resources are needed for the project, when they are needed, and how they will be obtained. The planning includes determining roles and responsibilities, developing project organization charts, and creating the staffing management plan.

Quality Management Planning

Quality planning is the first step of the project quality management process. During planning the project manager must identify which quality standards apply to the project. In parallel with other planning activities, the project manager documents how the quality standards will be achieved. This is identified in the quality management plan and is one of the subsidiary management plans included in the project management plan.

Process Improvement Plan

The process improvement plan is used to plan out details for analyzing and improving processes. The analysis includes process boundaries, configuration, metrics, and improvement targets. The process improvement plan is included as a subsidiary management plan in the project management plan.

Procurement Management Planning

Procurement management planning is the set of steps used to determine how best to bring in outside resources when they are needed to complete the project. The make/buy decision is the point where it is determined to use outside resources. An analysis is done to determine if the product or service can be produced by the project team or if it should be purchased. This analysis might also include buying versus renting/leasing a product.

Communication Management Plan

The communication management plan describes how the team will communicate with one another. Components to the plan include communication requirements with respect to medium and content, as well as mandatory versus discretionary communication.

Other Significant Items Found in Project Management Plans

The plans discussed previously, plus other components, can be either at a summary or detailed level, depending on the scope of the project. Other components of the project management plan include items such as the following:

  • Milestone list

  • Resource calendar

  • Schedule baseline

  • Cost baseline

  • Scope baseline

  • Quality baseline

  • Risk register

Table 4.1 details these important components further.

Table 4.1. Other Significant Items Found in a Project Management Plan

Component

Explanation

Milestone list

A list of all project milestones. Indicates mandatory and optional milestones.

Resource calendar

A composite calendar showing working time of all resources. Indicates holidays and other nonworking time for each resource.

Schedule baseline

The accepted and approved schedule for the project.

Cost baseline

The accepted and approved budget for the project.

Scope baseline

The accepted and approved scope for the project.

Quality baseline

The quality objectives for the project.

Risk register

The output from risk identification, containing a list of identified risks with supporting detail.


Each subsidiary plan should be considered when preparing the project management plan. The formality and detail vary depending on the scope of the project, amount of risk, and organizational policies.


The inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs for each of the processes discussed in this chapter should be memorized.


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    PMP Exam Cram 2
    PMP Exam Cram 2 (2nd Edition)
    ISBN: 0789734621
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 138

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