Chapter 5
The process of planning projects
Initial project Coordination
 It Is crucial that the project’s objectives be
clearly tied to the overall mission, goals and
strategy of the organization, such as might be
reflected in the project portfolio process.
Senior management should delineate the
firm’s intend in undertaking the project,
outline the scope of the project, and describe
how the project’s desired results reinforce the
organization’s goals. Without a clear
beginning, project planning can easily go
astray.
Cont…
Project launch meeting : it is vital that the
senior managers call and be present at the
project launch meeting, an initial
coordination meeting, as a a visible symbol
of top management's commitment to the
project.
2. The individual leading the launch meeting is
first to define the scope. The success of the
project launch meeting is absolutely
dependant on the existence of a welldefined set of objectives.
1.
3.
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5.
At the launch meeting , the project is discussed in
sufficient detail that potential contributors develop a
general understanding of what Is needed.
It is useful to review the major risks facing the
project during the launch meeting. The known risks
will be identified during the project selection
process.
It Is important not to allow plans, schedules and
budget to go beyond the most aggregated level
(level 1), possibly (level2) if the project deliverable
are fairly simple and so do not require much
interdepartmental coordination. Remember that this
is only one of a series of meetings that will require
the plan projects of more than minimal completion.
Whatever the process, the outcomes must
be that:
i.
The technical scope is established
ii. Basic area of performance re3sponsibility
are accepted by the participants
iii. Any tentative delivery dates or budgets set
by the parent organization are clearly
noted.
iv. A risk management group is established.
6.
7.
8.
The various parts of the project plan , including the
risk management plan, are then scrutinized by the
group and combined into comprehensive project
plan.
Each subsequent hardens the project somewhat,
and when senior management has indorsed it, any
further changes in the project’ s scope must be
made by processing a formal change order. If the
project is not large or complex, informal written
memoranda can substitute for the change order.
nothing is as sure to in rage functional unit
mangers as to find that they have been committed
by someone else to alterations in their carefully
considered plans without being informed. This
anger at the change without communication is
always fatal for the project.
9. The final approved result of this procedure in the
project plan , also sometimes known as the master
plan, baseline plan or the project charter.
10. When the planning phase of the project is
completed, it is valuable to hold an additional
meeting , a post review meeting.
8.
Outside clients
 When the project is to deliver a product/service to an
outside client the fundamental planning process is
unchanged except for the fact that the specification
cannot be altered without the client’s permission.
 2 objections to such early participation by
engineering and manufacturing are likely to be raised
by marketing. First sales arm is trained to sell.
Second it is expensive.
 Concurrent engineering
 Requirement formulation
Project plan elements
 Overview: sort summary of objectives and scope of
the project. Directed towards organization and
contains statement of the project. A brief explanation
of project to firm’s objectives. Managerial structure.
List of milestones.
 Objectives : detailed statement of the general goals
noted in the overview section . Statement include
profits and competitive aims as well as technical
goals.
 General Approach: describe the managerial and the
technical approaches. Technical approach means the
technology of the firm. And general approach means
use of subcontractors.
Cont..
 Contractual Aspects: complete list and
description of all reporting requirements.
Customer-supplied resources. Liaison
arrangements. Advisory committees. Project
review and cancellation procedures,
proprietary requirements, any specific
managerial agreements. Technical
deliverables and their specifications. Delivery
schedules , and a specific procedure for
changing any of the above. Completeness is
a necessity in this section.
Cont..
 Schedules : various schedules and budget and list of
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milestones events.
Resources : there are 2 primary aspects to this section.
budget. Including capital and expense requirements.
Cost monitoring and control procedures.
Personnel: expected personnel requirement.
Risk Management Plan: potential problems as well as
potential lucky breaks that could affect the project.
Evaluation Methods: evaluated against standards.
3. Project planning in action
 Project plan s are usually constructed by listing the
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sequences of activities required to carry the project from
start to completion.
Using a planning process oriented around the life cycle
events common for software and hardware product
developers, they divide the project into 9 segments:
Concept
Requirements identification
Design
Implementation
Test
Integration
validation
Customer test and evaluation
Operation and maintenance
System integration
 System integration ( sometimes called system engineering
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1.
2.
3.
or concurrent) is one part of integration management. And
plays a crucial role in the performance aspects of the
project.
This phrase is used to include specialists in the science or
art of the project who is capable of integrating the technical
discipline to achieve the customer's objectives , and/or
integrating the project into the customer’s system.
System integration is concerned with 3 major objectives
Performance
Effectiveness
cost
The Work Breakdown Structure &
Linear Responsibility Chart

The WBS often appears as a picture of a project
subdivided into hierarchical units of tasks, subtasks,
work packages etc.
 The WBS
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is the fundamental tool of planning
 The WBS is important document and can be
tailored for use in a number of different ways.
1. It may illustrate how each piece of the project
contributes to the whole in terms of performance,
responsibility , budget, and schedule.
2. It may , if the PM wishes , list the vendors and
subcontractors associated with a specific tasks.
Cont..
3. it may note detailed specifications for any
work package, establish account numbers,
specify hardware/ software to be used and
identify the resource needs
4. It may serves as the basis for making cost
estimates or estimates of task duration.
5. Its uses are limited only by the needs of the
project and the imagination of the PM
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The following steps explain the procedures for
designing and using the WBS
1. Using the action plan, list the task breakdown into
successively finer levels of details.
2. For each work package identify the data relevant to
WBS. It is helpful to construct a linear responsibility
chart to show who is responsible for what.
3. All work packages information should be reviewed
with the individuals or organizations who have
responsibility for doing or supporting the work in
order to verify WBS accuracy.
For the purpose of pricing, the total project budget
should consist of 4 elements: direct budget for each
task, an indirect budget, a project contingency
reserve for unexpected emergencies and any
residual which include the profit derived from the
project which may occasionally be intentionally
negative.
5. Schedule information and milestones events can be
aggregated into a project master schedule.
6. As the project is carried out step by step, the PM
can continually examine actual resource use by
work elements, work packages , tasks and so on to
full project level.
4.
7. Finally the project schedule may be
subjected to the same comparisons as the
project budget. Actual progress is compared
to schedule progress by work elements,
work packages , tasks and so on to full
project level to identify problems and take
corrective actions.