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Contents of the Project Plan

The depth of the project plan will depend on the size of the project, the number of personnel involved (and whether they are staff or contractors), the requirements of management and/or the funding agency, and the personal needs of the project manager.

Whether complex or simple, the project plan must be sufficiently detailed to guide the conduct of the project. This is its intended use.

While developing the plan, you must frequently ask yourself if it will provide adequate guidance to those who will complete the project. Does it clearly state what deliverables are expected, and provide accurate estimates of all costs. Have all necessary tasks been itemized and resources allocated to the completion of these tasks? Is scheduling realistic, and does it take into account factors which, though not specifically related to the project itself, may cause delays.

At this point in the course we will begin to refer to of the "Guide to the Project Management Body Of Knowledge" (PMI, 1996), which will also be referred to as PMBOK. This reference is not oriented specifically to educational technology projects, but rather is a universal guide to project management activities applicable to a wide variety of subject areas. As it is an excellent reference which is regularly maintained and available free of charge over the Internet, it should serve to enhance your project management needs for many years to come.

While not referred to frequently in this course, you may also find the Project Management Scaleable Methodology Guide to be of use when attempting to scale down the activities discussed to suit smaller projects.

Section 4.1.3 of PMBOK summarizes the contents of the project plan:

There are many ways to organize and present the project plan, but it commonly includes all of the following:

• Project charter
• A description of the project management approach or strategy
• Scope statement, including:
  • project justification
  • project product
  • project deliverables
  • project objectives
• Work breakdown structure (WBS) to the level at which control will be exercised
• Cost estimates, scheduled start dates, and responsibility assignments to the level of the WBS at which control will be exercised
• Performance measurement baselines for schedule and cost
• Major milestones and target dates for each
• Key or required staff
• Key risks, including constraints and assumptions, and planned responses for each
• Subsidiary management plans, including scope management plan, schedule management plan, etc.
• Open issues and pending decisions.

Read section 4.1 of the "Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMI, 1996) for a fuller appreciation of project plan development. Also skim sections 5.1 and 5.2 for a discussion of the initiation and scope planning phases which lead to the production of the first three items above. While this reference introduces some new terminology, the first three items above actually represent work that you have already completed:.

• notice that the project charter represents the statement of management's commitment that you sought with the project proposal,
• the description of the project management approach or strategy is an introductory section summarizing the key points of the plan, which again should easily fall from the proposal,
• you have already derived the project justification aspect of the scope statement as a result of the cost benefit analysis that you completed,
• the project objectives are the same as those in your project proposal, and
• the deliverables should have either been identified in the proposal, or should easily fall out from the methods that were in the proposal.

Finally, much of the preliminary work on costs, timings, responsibilities, and risks should have already been initiated at a macro level in your proposal. The project plan will add more detail to that given in the proposal, such that the plan can be used to actually guide the conduct of the project. Try to think about how much detail needs to be added to your CEA and proposal work in order to will form a useable plan.

Remember to check the conference forum to see what the other students are saying. Post your thoughts, concerns, or questions about the topic to encourage discussion.

The following three modules refer to three significant aspects of the plan development:

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Time Management
• Cost Management

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Subject: Contents of the Project Plan