A project planning is an essential tool for project management. It is necessary to determine the schedule of project work, the need to deploy human resources, estimate and manage the risks associated with the project, and estimate costs.
The task of the project plan is to provide:
- List of specific tasks to be performed within the project – includes all activities performed in connection with the project. After making a list of activities, it is possible to rank them into higher units (so-called milestones) and display them in the schedule.
- Overview of project expectations, limitations and risks – each project has specific outputs and expectations for implementation. It is also exposed to various risk factors that may prolong, overprove or frustrate the project’s results. The task of project risk management is to eliminate these risks, whose mission is to identify risk factors, analyze them, quantify, define priorities, and create a plan of risk mitigation measures. Such a plan is developed for the five most serious risks.
- Project budget – when creating a budget, it is necessary to incorporate all costs, directly and indirectly, related to the implementation of the project.
- Estimation of the total demand for human and other resources – the optimal implementation of project activities depends on project team members’ skills, coordination, and communication.
- Project schedule – provides information on project implementation time the duration of individual activities, determines the logical continuity of unique activities, and points out their mutual relations.
The project plan answers the following questions:
- What (project goal)
- How (individual project activities)
- Who (human resources and their organizational integration)
- When (schedule and follow-up)
- Where (premises needed for the implementation of activities)
Project Stages
- Proposal
- Planning – the first step in planning must be to define the goal clearly
- Implementation of the plan – the project’s success depends on the people who work on it, but especially on your management.
- Monitoring – after the start of the project, constantly monitor compliance with the set goals and set time limits.
- Also Read: Project-Based Learning – Best Practices