Tài liệu The Project Management Life Cycle Part 2 docx

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Project planning

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Now that the project has been properly defined and the project team appointed, you

are ready to plan the project in detail. The project planning phase involves creating a

suite of planning documents which help guide the project team through the remaining

phases of the project. The activities outlined in Figure 3.1 need to be completed.

When undertaking smaller projects, you may wish to combine these plans into a

single planning document for approval by your sponsor. For larger projects, you will

need to create each of these documents separately in the order shown, to ensure that the

project activities are properly sequenced.

56

Create a

project plan

Create a

resource plan

Create a

financial plan

Create a

quality plan

Create a

risk plan

Perform

phase review

Contract the

suppliers

Create a

procurement

plan

Create a

communication

plan

Create an

acceptance

plan

Figure 3.1 Project planning activities

Project planning l 57

Regardless of the project size, the most important document created during the plan￾ning phase is the project plan. This document is referred to frequently throughout the

execution phase of the project to ensure that the project is on track. A well-defined

project plan will ensure that the project manager has a clear view of the activities and

milestones required to meet the customer’s expectations.

Project managers often fall into the trap of creating a comprehensive project plan, but

failing to create the other planning documents required to monitor and control the

project. As a result they suffer from inadequate resources, lack of funding, poor deliver￾able quality, unforeseen risks, lack of customer acceptance, poor communications, inef￾ficient procurement and under-performing suppliers. To ensure that your project is

well planned and does not experience these symptoms, you need to complete each of

the activities listed in this section.

3.2 CREATE A PROJECT PLAN

The project plan is the central document by which the project is formally managed. A

project plan lists the activities, tasks and resources required to complete a project and

realize the business benefits outlined in the business case. A typical project plan

includes:

• a description of the major phases undertaken to complete the project;

• a schedule of the activities, tasks, durations, dependencies, resources and time￾frames;

• a list of the assumptions and constraints identified during the planning process.

To create a project plan, the following steps are undertaken:

• Reiterate the project scope.

• Identify the project milestones, phases, activities and tasks.

• Quantify the effort required for each task.

• Allocate project resource to each task.

• Construct a project schedule.

• List any planning dependencies, assumptions and constraints.

Although a summarized project plan will already have been specified in the business

case, a detailed project plan is not created until the scope has been defined within the

terms of reference and the key members of the project team have been appointed. The

completion of the detailed project plan is the first step in the project planning phase,

prior to the creation of a quality plan and the appointment of a preferred supplier.

The project plan is constantly referenced throughout the project. During project

execution, the project manager tracks task completion, effort spent and total cost using

58 l The project management life cycle

the project plan. He or she also uses it to forecast completion dates for each activity and

ensure that the project is delivered to schedule. During project closure, the project

manager will ensure that all planned activities have been completed as listed in the

project plan. An independent party will then review the project plan to determine

whether the project delivered within the estimates agreed with the customer.

The following sections describe in plain text how to create a project plan for your

project.

Define the planning basis

Scope

The first step towards creating a project plan is to reconfirm the project scope, as

defined in the terms of reference. The scope defines the boundaries within which all

project activities and tasks are to be completed.

Phases

Next, list and describe the major phases within the project. A phase is a set of activities

to be undertaken to deliver a substantial portion of an overall project. An example is

shown as Table 3.1.

Project planning l 59

Phase Description Sequence

Project

initiation

During this phase, a business problem or opportunity is identified and a

business case which provides various solution options is defined. A

feasibility study is then conducted to investigate the likelihood of each

solution option addressing the business problem, and a final

recommended solution is put forward. Once the recommended solution is

approved, a project is initiated to deliver the approved solution. Terms of

reference are completed, which outline the objectives, scope and structure

of the new project, and a project manager is appointed. The project

manager recruits the project team and establishes a project office

environment.

# 1

Project

planning

This phase involves the creation of a:

• project plan outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies and

timeframes;

• resource plan listing the labour, equipment and materials required;

• financial plan identifying the labour, equipment and materials costs;

• quality plan providing quality targets, assurance and control measures;

• risk plan highlighting potential risks and actions to be taken to mitigate

those risks;

• acceptance plan listing the criteria to be met to gain customer

acceptance;

• communications plan describing the information needed to inform

stakeholders;

• procurement plan identifying products to be sourced from external

suppliers.

# 2

Project

execution

This phase involves the execution of the plans created during the project

planning phase. While each plan is being executed, a series of

management processes are undertaken to monitor and control the

deliverables being output by the project.

# 3

Project

closure

This phase involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer,

handing over project documentation to the business, terminating supplier

contracts, releasing project resources and communicating the closure of

the project to all stakeholders. The last remaining step is to undertake a

post-implementation review to quantify the level of project success and

identify any lessons learnt for future projects.

# 4

Table 3.1 Project phases

Milestones

Now list and describe the key project milestones using Table 3.2. A milestone is a major

event in a project, and often represents the completion of a set of project activities.

Activities

List and describe the key activities in the project. An activity is a set of tasks that are

required to be undertaken to complete a portion of a project. See Table 3.3.

60 l The project management life cycle

Table 3.2 Project milestones

Milestone Description Milestone date

Quality plan

approved

A quality plan has been documented and approved by the

project sponsor. It identifies the quality assurance and

quality control techniques required to ensure and control

the quality of all project deliverables and processes.

xx/yy/zz

Communications

plan approved

A communications plan has been documented and

approved by the project sponsor. It identifies the

information to be distributed to stakeholders, the methods

of distributing the information, the frequency of

distribution and responsibilities of each person in the

project team for distributing the information.

xx/yy/zz

Preferred supplier

contracted

A formal tender process is undertaken to identify a short￾list of capable suppliers and select a preferred supplier. The

tender process involves creating a statement of

work, a request for information and request for proposal

document to obtain sufficient information from each

potential supplier and select the preferred supplier. Once a

preferred supplier has been chosen, a contract is agreed

between the project team and the supplier for the delivery

of the requisite products.

xx/yy/zz

… … …

Tasks

List all key tasks required to undertake each activity in the project. A task is an item of

work to be completed within a project. See Table 3.4.

Effort

For each task listed above, quantify the likely ‘effort’ required to complete the task. See

Table 3.5.

Project planning l 61

Phase Activity Description Sequence

Project

planning

Develop quality plan Produce a document describing

quality assurance and quality

control processes and review

activities to be undertaken.

After the project plan but

before the formulation of

supplier contracts

… … … …

Table 3.3 Project activities

Table 3.4 Project tasks

Phase Activity Task Sequence

Project Develop Identify quality targets 1st

planning quality Identify quality assurance techniques 2nd

plan Identify quality control techniques 3rd

Document quality plan 4th

……… …

Table 3.5 Project effort

Task Effort

Identify quality targets no. days

Identify quality assurance techniques no. days

Identify quality control techniques no. days

Document quality plan no. days

… …

Resources

For each task listed, identify the human resources required to complete the task. See

Table 3.6.

Create a project schedule

Schedule

Create a detailed project schedule, listing each of the phases, activities and tasks

required to complete the project. See the example in Figure 3.2.

Dependencies

Dependencies are logical relationships between phases, activities or tasks which influ￾ence the way that a project will be undertaken. Dependencies may be internal to the

project (between project activities) or external to the project (between a project activity

and a business activity). Overall, there are four types of dependency:

• finish-to-start (the item this activity depends on must finish before this activity can

start);

• finish-to-finish (the item this activity depends on must finish before this activity

can finish);

• start-to-start (the item this activity depends on must start before this activity can

start);

• start-to-finish (the item this activity depends on must start before this activity can

finish).

62 l The project management life cycle

Table 3.6 Project resources

Task Resource

Identify quality targets name

Identify quality assurance techniques name

Identify quality control techniques name

Document quality plan name

… …