What is included in a project management plan?
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Category: Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam using A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) Show
 [On a side note: In many organizations the term "project management plan" and "project schedule" are often used interchangeably. If this is the case in your organization, then please make sure that you understand that for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam, these are two distinctly different documents. We will discuss the project schedule in next week's tip.] A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) - Fifth Edition, Project Management Institute (PMI)®, Inc., 2013 also defines Develop Project Management Plan as the process of documenting the actions necessary to define, prepare, integrate, and coordinate all subsidiary plans. It defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled, and closed. The management plan content will vary depending upon the application area and complexity of the project. It is developed through a series of integrated processes until project closure. This process results in a project plan that is progressively elaborated by updates and controlled and approved through the Perform Integrated Change Control process. The plan typically covers topics used in the project execution system and includes the following main aspects: * Scope Management It is good practice and mostly required by large consulting and professional project management firms, to have a formally agreed and version controlled plan approved in the early stages of the project, and applied throughout the project. Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment. Get a full load of the definition and examples of the Develop Project Management Plan process in the PMBOK® Guide 4.2 to 4.2.3 Here is another PMP® tip which can help you to be more prepared for the PMP exam. Watch it now!
You’ve been honing your project management skills. You’ve been reading up on the various PM methodologies. Maybe you’ve even gotten a project management certification somewhere along the way. And now that you’ve successfully written a project charter and identified your key stakeholders, you’re ready to turn it all into a full-blown project management plan that’s going to knock your project’s socks off. This is where all of your research and preparation pays off in the form of a definitive project plan document that you’ll use to guide your project from beginning to end. But what is a project management plan used for? Why is it so important? And what are the core project management plan components you need to include for it to be a success? Here’s how to make a project plan that actually works. What is a project management plan used for?Your project plan document is where you go deep on the ins, outs, overs, and unders of your project. Whereas the project charter is the high-level vision for your project, your project management plan is where you break this vision down into the actual day-to-day execution of your project, covering everything you need to do to reach your project goals. A detailed project plan will plot out everything from timelines to budget, resourcing to deliverables, and more, giving you a blueprint of what needs to be done (and when) that you can use to guide — and assess — your project. The importance of project management planningBehind every great project, there’s a heck of a lot of preparation. As a project manager, you’ll have tons of things to keep track of at any given stage. Your project plan helps you to take out the guesswork by showing you exactly what you need to be focusing on each step of the way; where your resources and attention should be going; and what you need to be looking out for to ensure things don’t become overdue or over budget. The work you do upfront in creating a project plan will stand to you throughout the lifecycle of the project, allowing you to direct your efforts 100% on delivering results, not scrambling to figure out what you should be doing next. Here are 5 benefits that highlight the importance of project management planning. It gives your project a baseline to work withWorking from the approved project charter, your project plan will map out the agreed-upon scope, timeline, and budget for your project in more detail. Once you have these baselines decided, defined, and approved by the project sponsor, you’ll be able to measure the actual execution of your project against the projected progress. This is super helpful because it means that no matter which stage of your project you’re at, you can quickly gauge whether you’re delivering the way you planned — and what you need to do to course-correct if you’re not. It creates project alignment (and removes confusion)No alarms and no surprises: with your project laid out in a detailed project plan, everyone knows what to expect and when. While your project charter brings you, your stakeholders, and the project team into general alignment, your detailed project plan will ensure there’s no room for error or uncertainty by mapping out the exact due dates and deliverables, so everyone can prepare accordingly. It fully outlines the scope of the projectThat alignment has another related benefit, too: avoiding scope creep. When your stakeholders’ expectations and all agreed deliverables are clearly laid out in the project plan document, it’s easier to spot when things are out of scope. And just as importantly, it makes it easier to address them, too. That’s because you have a written document or project planning sheet that you can refer back to in discussions, so everyone can be reminded of what they originally agreed to and there’s no ambiguity about what’s in (or out of) the purview of the project. It allows for better resourced project managementOnce you start to break down the project’s work into manageable chunks like deliverables, milestones, and tasks, it becomes much easier to see what kind of resources you’ll actually need in order to get it done. Again, while you may have started to outline this in your project charter at a very high level, your project plan is where you get really granular about how you’re planning to use the resources at your disposal. (Pro tip: for a really great project plan, you’ll also want to factor in some wiggle room for when things inevitably change and you have to re-optimize your resources on the fly.) It builds confidence in your projectHaving a detailed project plan helps to reassure your project sponsor, your stakeholders, and your project team (and let’s be honest, maybe yourself if you’re having a particularly bad day) of where you’re going and why. Your project plan document builds confidence in your leadership as a project manager, because it allows everyone to see how all of the work comes together to advance the project’s — and by extension, the organization’s — goals. 5 things you need to know before writing a project planSound good? Ready to get down to business? Before you dive in to writing a project plan, here are the 5 things you need to ensure you’ve identified. 1. Identify the baselines for your projectBefore you begin writing a project plan, you need to make sure you have the basics down. Start by identifying the baselines for the project’s scope, schedule and cost, as the rest of your project planning will need to fit in around those constraints. As mentioned above, these baselines should already be roughly outlined in your project charter — but here’s where you really start to map them out and create accurate estimates. And the more detailed, the better, because these are what you’ll be using for comparison to measure how your project performs. 2. Identify your project dependenciesOr in other words, ask yourself: what needs to happen before this other thing can happen? Identifying your project dependencies at the outset of your project means you can plan your timelines more efficiently, spot potential blockers, and ensure that you avoid unnecessary delays. 3. Identify project stakeholdersYou’ll already have done the groundwork for this in your stakeholder analysis, but as you flesh out your project management plan and think through the phases of your project in more detail, you’ll likely start to find more project stakeholders at each phase. Now is also a good time to go deeper on which stakeholders need to be informed and involved at which stages, for a more comprehensive stakeholder management plan you can use at each phase of your project. 4. Identify project milestonesWhat are the key markers of your project’s progress? It can be a concrete deliverable, the end of a phase in a stage-gate process — whatever milestones make sense to you, breaking your project down into manageable chunks, each with a defined goal, helps to keep the team motivated, allows you to celebrate each achievement, and signposts how the overall progress is coming along. Learn more about using Milestones here. 5. Identify who’s responsible for whatOnce you start to get a big-picture understanding of the work that’s needed and the resources you have to complete it, you can start deciding who should do what. Giving each item an owner is essential to getting things done. No more “oh, was I supposed to do that?” — once you identify who’s responsible for what, you can ensure accountability and transparency. The 5 Stages of Team DevelopmentAll teams develop according to some natural patterns and using that knowledge, you can offer some guidance to build the kind of team that communicates well and finds better ways to collaborate and achieve the goals you’ve established. Here’s what you need to know. 1. Start with a high level project plan templateWhat does a project plan look like in your organization? When you’re creating a project plan, start by drawing on any existing materials you can use to guide you, like project plan samples or project plan templates. Whether your organization provides you with a high level project plan template, a project planning form, project plan samples, or a project planning calendar, leverage any organizational process assets you can. Don’t have a project plan template available? Make your own, and use it for all future projects to save time and replicate your successes. Project management templateSave time on setup without sacrificing attention to detail. With our project management template, you can quickly create project management plans that help you complete your project on time and on budget. 2. Then tailor it to match your project typeA project plan template or sample project is a great way to get started with your planning, but don’t forget to choose the right project plan type for your specific project. Your project plan should be tailored to your particular project type, team type, and needs. For example, an IT project plan for a rollout of new equipment will probably look different from a sample agile project plan, both of which will probably look different from more overarching strategic project planning. Use all the features at your disposal, from task lists to Gantt charts, to make sure that your project plan works for you. 3. Get input from clients, project stakeholders and team membersWriting your project plan in a vacuum will make it harder to get buy-in when it matters. Involving your stakeholders when you’re creating a project plan helps them to feel more represented in the process, and sets the tone for a collaborative working environment that will stand to you throughout the project. So whether it’s a planning meeting, brainstorming session, or one-to-one interviews, make sure you get input from the project’s key players when you’re developing a project plan. And as an added bonus? This is also a great opportunity for you as the project manager to continue growing the relationships you started building back in the project charter and stakeholder analysis phases. 4. Incorporate any other project management planning you’ve doneYour project management plan should be informed by all the other project planning you’ve done so far: not only the outcomes of the project planning steps 1-5 above, but all the research you’ve done before reaching this stage. According to the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide and Standards, some other plans to include as part of your project management plan are:
While the PMBOK recommends having these 10 plans as standard, you might find that different projects require different approaches. Nonetheless, even if you don’t have a comprehensive document for each one, it’s good to cover each of these bases at some stage of your PM planning so you’re prepared. You might also want to include some or all of the following:
If you have these documents already, use them to guide your planning. You can also include them in an appendix to your project management plan so they’re always close to hand. 5. Put your project management plan somewhere centralJust like your project charter, your project management plan should live somewhere central where everyone — stakeholders, the project team, management, clients — can access it. Teamwork Spaces is great for storing all of your important project planning documents in a way that makes them intuitive and enjoyable to read. Mark essential SOPs or processes as Required Reading to ensure that essential info actually gets read. And if someone has a question that they can’t find the answer to? Readers can leave comments on individual spaces to ask for clarification or leave an update. Get started with Teamwork SpacesStart working together beautifully. See how Teamwork Spaces Once you’ve documented your project management plan, bring it to life with a project management tool that will help you to stay on track, keep your team accountable, and promote transparency. Here are 3 ways you can use Teamwork to supercharge your project management plan. Add your supporting documentation to Teamwork SpacesUse the Teamwork and Teamwork Spaces integration to link a project in Teamwork with a space in Teamwork Spaces, so your important project documents are only ever a click away. Some documents you might want to add in addition to your project charter and project management plan include:
You can even embed task lists into your pages and mark tasks as complete right from Teamwork Spaces, so you can keep work flowing without even needing to switch tabs. Start adding your MilestonesBreak down your work into Milestones and task lists that are going to help you reach them. With Teamwork, you can assign an owner to each Milestone, map out your Milestone due dates and see them represented in the project calendar, and even get a full change history for milestones so you can track any edits. Visualize your task dependencies with a Gantt chartGantt chart-style views are a useful way to get a visual representation of your tasks and their dependencies, allowing for better scheduling and resourcing. In Teamwork, you can drag and drop to quickly rearrange your project schedule, without throwing everything out of order or straying off-plan. Remember: software should support the way you work, not dictate it. So regardless of methodology or team type, create a project plan that works for you and your team — and find a tool that helps you put it into action. Use our project plan templateNow that you know how to create a project management plan that actually works, you’re ready to implement using our team management software. To help you get up and running quickly, we’ve created a ready to use project plan template. Our project template will help you quickly create project plans that ensure all of your projects are completed on time and on budget What are the 7 parts of a project plan?Here we'll take a look at seven things that demonstrate the importance of project planning.. Well-defined goals. One of the most obvious–and most important– steps of a project plan is defining your project goals. ... . Resource planning. ... . Task planning. ... . Risk identification. ... . Communication. ... . Scheduling. ... . Quality control.. What project management plan includes?A strong project management plan will include all of the following information:. Project scope baseline & scope management plan.. Project schedule baseline & schedule management plan.. Project cost baseline & cost management plan.. Human resource management plan.. Communications management plan.. Risk management plan.. What are the 5 part of project plan?The basic outline of any project plan can be summarized in these five steps: Define your project's stakeholders, scope, quality baseline, deliverables, milestones, success criteria and requirements.
What is included in a project management plan PMP?The Project Management plan documents the actions required to define, prepare, integrate and coordinate the various planning activities. The PMP clearly defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled, and closed.
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