Introduction to Project Planning

Association for Project Management (APM)

• Publisher: Association for Project Management (APM)
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781903494288
• eBook ISBN: 9781903494325
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

When you are about to start a project, organise an event or launch a new product, good planning is vital. It is the basis of all good projects. It looks simple, but it isn't. Written by the APM Planning, Monitoring and Control Specific Interest Group, this concise guide describes how project planning overlaps and integrates with the many individual project management disciplines and how it is at the heart of successful project management.

1

Introduction

The APM Body of Knowledge (APM BoK) defines project management as ‘the process by which projects are defined, planned, monitored, controlled and delivered so that agreed benefits are realised.’ The APM BoK defines planning as ‘the process of identifying the means, resources and actions necessary to accomplish an objective.’

The APM Planning SIG (see Appendix C) has a particular interest in project planning and believes that:

•Good project planning is critical to project success.

•Planning should therefore be at the heart of successful project management.

•Planning overlaps with and is key to integrating many individual project management disciplines (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Planning is at the heart of project management

The Planning SIG also believes that:

•The meaning of project planning is misunderstood by many in the project management community.

•The value of effective planning is only occasionally recognised.

•Education and training in planning practice is limited and often poor.

•Good planning practice is often neglected.

•The discipline of planning is undervalued.

As a result of these factors, the central contribution of good planning to project management is not fully appreciated, and it often does not make its maximum contribution to project success. The purpose of this APM Introduction to Project Planning is therefore to raise awareness of project APM planning, and to stimulate debate in the project management community in general and in the planning community in particular. It addresses five key questions:

•What is project planning?

•Why plan?

•When to plan

•Who plans?

•How to plan.

It also ventures to define the characteristics of good planning. It does not include a detailed treatment of planning tools and techniques: the Planning SIG intends to address these in future publications.

2

What is project planning?

The unique, transient nature of a project means that a strategy and a plan for its execution must be developed. A project with a good strategy and that is properly planned has a far greater chance of success than a poorly planned project. Planning develops the strategy, and enables the project manager and the project sponsor to determine how the project can achieve its objectives and deliver the required benefits. Hence planning is a key element of project management.

Planning is the process of identifying the means, resources and actions necessary to accomplish the project’s objectives. It achieves this by drawing on the expertise and knowledge of an organisation (including the lessons that it has learned from previous projects), and on external parties if appropriate, in order to:

•understand the need, problem or opportunity that the project will address and the benefits that it will deliver;

•determine the business case for, and the success criteria/objectives of, the proposed project;

•define what has to be accomplished and delivered, typically stated in terms of scope, time, cost and quality;

•develop a plan to achieve the deliverables.

Planning commences during the project’s concept phase and continues through definition and into implementation. It starts with the project strategy and an initial concept of the need and objectives of the project. It evaluates options and identifies the optimum. Its outputs inform and increase the maturity of the project strategy and objectives through iteration, and provide information for the business case. It delivers much of the information that enables the organisation, through gate reviews (at the end of life-cycle phases or at other key points in the project), to determine whether the project is viable and should be allowed to continue.

Planning contributes to the preparation of, and is recorded by, the project management plan (or other formal documentation, which may vary from organisation to organisation) – see Figure 2.1. The PMP (or its equivalent) documents the outcome of the planning process and subsequently provides a reference document for managing the project. The PMP is owned by the project manager and confirms agreements between the project manager, the sponsor and other stakeholders. It is approved by the sponsor, representing the organisation, and by the project manager, representing the project team. Sharing the PMP with stakeholders is important in establishing common agreement of the project, especially as the stakeholders’ expectations of the project may have changed during the planning process. Although the project manager owns the PMP, it should be developed with the project team during planning: this removes ambiguity, develops commitment and assists in effective handover of the project from planning to execution.

Figure 2.1 Planning is recorded in the project management plan

The PMP documents how the project will be managed in terms of the following questions: why, what, how (and how much), who, when and where.

•‘Why’ is a statement of the change to be delivered by the project, which includes a definition of the need, problem or opportunity being addressed and the benefits to be delivered. This is frequently developed in the business case.

•‘What’ describes the objectives, the scope, the deliverables and their acceptance criteria. It also describes the success criteria for the project and the key performance indications that will be used to monitor its progress. The ‘what’ needs to take into account the project’s constraints, assumptions and dependencies.

•‘How’ defines the strategy for management and execution of the project, its handover, the processes, resources (people, facilities, equipment, tools and techniques) to be used and the monitoring, control and reporting arrangements.

•‘How much’ defines the project’s cost and budget, the breakdown of the budget and the cost monitoring process.

•‘Who’ includes a description of key project roles and responsibilities and of the resources that will be required during execution.

•‘When’ defines the project’s sequence of activities and timescales, including milestones and any phases/stages.

•‘Where’ defines the geographical locations where the work will be performed, which ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 What is project planning?
• 3 Why plan?
• 4 When to plan
• 5 Who plans?
• 6 How to plan
• 7 Characteristics of good planning
• Appendix A – Further information
• Appendix B – Planning techniques
• Appendix C – Information about the APM Planning SIG
• Back Cover