project planning tips

Hierarchy of Project Plans.
Successful project management differs from general management in one key respect; it places a continual emphasis on planning. This course offers a series of project planning tips. This is important as projects are often following an uncertain path that has not been previously followed or charted. Project management staff must think ahead and be capable of making decisions, often on the basis of what appears to be insufficient information. Projects often operate in poorly defined areas and therefore require an evolutionary approach to the planning process. This involves defining areas in more detail as and when the necessary information becomes available. The production of a complete set of plans relating to a project can rarely be completed ahead of the formal start of the project, as the majority of projects do not exhibit the prerequisites for clear and accurate pre-planning. However, projects do require the production of high level plans - to define their overall size, cost and duration. These are necessary to seek the formal approval required for their initiation. This raises the question 'How can projects be quantified and approved ahead of a detailed understanding of the resource and cost implications?' This question has no simple answer. However, the planning process should call upon both planning and domain experts in defining the overall size and cost of the project. It should be recognized that best estimates will often have to be used in the early stages of planning, but that areas of uncertainty should not be 'glossed over'. In fact these gray areas should be highlighted, so that contingencies can be factored in and so that planning of these areas can be refined at a later date.

Hierarchy of Project Plans.
This project planning tips page suggests that for most projects a maximum of four levels of plan should be sufficient to address the needs of the different levels of management involved. In order to be effective, every level of plan should follow a clear and recognizable format. t the start of each project it is important that overall estimates of cost and duration are produced, to justify the underlying business case for the project. The overall project plan should provide this overview picture of the project, enabling the projects sponsor, owner and the project manager to assess the viability of the project. It should also highlight any sub-projects, and the major activities and resources required by them. The sub-project plan is designed to provide a detailed view of the corresponding sub-project, enabling the sub-project manager, or managers, to apply control on a day-to-day basis. The sub-project plan should highlight the deliverables and their associated activities and resource requirements at a more detailed level than the project plan. Detailed plans are designed to provide greater detail about a specific activity than that shown in the sub-project plan, from which it is normally derived. The level of detail shown may reflect the overall size and scope of the project, the experience of those to whom the work is tasked and whether or not individual work plans are used in support. The individual work plan is used to define the tasks and responsibilities of a specific team member. It normally covers only a short period, for example, a series of activities spanning one working week or the production of a single project deliverable. The resources and timescales detailed in a plan are considered to be desirable, but not completely rigid. Project tolerances define performance limits within which different areas of the project can retain autonomy. It quantifies the deviation from the activity and budget schedule detailed in the plan, which is permitted before reference should be made to a higher authority.

Project Planning Aids.
A standard series of diagrams and documents can be used to assist in the process of project planning. These can act as a powerful aid to analyzing, scheduling and
communicating different aspects of the various project plans. The work breakdown structure is a product-oriented subdivision of all of the resources, including hardware, services and data that are required in order to deliver the required project deliverables. Each project deliverable can be detailed in a product description. Product descriptions are used to hold a variety of data relating to either specific products or groups of related products. Product is a term that is used to each of the project deliverables; whether they are physical, electronic, or even intellectual. Product flow diagrams determine the required production sequence, by highlighting the production dependencies that exist between the products required by the project. The PERT chart (also known as an activity network) details the activities needed in order to produce the required products. It shows their start and finish dates and the time necessary for their completion. Care should be taken to ensure that all testing and quality review activities are included in the PERT chart, as this is an area often overlooked in project planning. The final deliverable of the planning process is a set of agreed plans, which represent a formal undertaking to meet identified targets in terms of: deliverables or products, timescales, costs and quality.

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