BSIM0011
Project Management
Project planning
Seminar 4
HKU Faculty of Education
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Content
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•
•
•
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Project master plan
Project planning process
Project planning levels
Work breakdown structure
Planning charts
– Action plan form
– Linear responsibility chart
– Design structure matrix
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Introduction :
Importance of planning
Research indicates that there is a high
correlation between careful planning &
project success
Plans act as a roadmap of the project for the
PM
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Project master plan
9 elements of a project master plan :
1. Overview
 Brief description of the project & its
deliverables
 List of major milestones
 Expected profitability & other benefits
2. Objectives
 More detailed description of the project’s
deliverables
 Purpose or mission statement of the projects
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Project master plan
3.General approach
Description of technical & managerial
approaches – ie overall nature/type of the
project
Details of unconventional organisational
practices employed
4.Contractual aspects
Description of all agreements with client &
outside parties
Details of reporting requirements, technical
specifications, delivery dates, incentives,
penalties, procedures for making changes etc
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Project master plan
5.Schedules
 Outline of all schedules
 Action plan for each task
 Date of completion for each task
6.Resource requirements
 Estimates of project expenses
 Breakup of direct costs & overheads for each
task
 Cost monitoring & control procedures
described
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Project master plan
7.Personnel
 Special skill requirements
 Necessary training
 Legal requirements, eg visas, security
clearance etc
8.Evaluation methods
 Description of evaluation procedures
 Procedures for collecting, monitoring &
storing data on project performance
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Project master plan
9. Potential problems
List predictable disasters
Develop contingency plans to apply if
disasters occur
For large projects, all of these elements
should be included. For smaller projects,
some may not be necessary & others may
not require great detail
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Project planning process
Launch meeting
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PM
Project ‘champion’ (senior management)
Functional managers
Other specialists
Purposes: Communicate project scope &
develop an understanding of what functional
inputs are required
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Project planning levels
General
Description
Responsibility
Level 1 Major activities
PM
Set of activities
Functional
Level 2 required to complete
manager/team
each Level 1 activity
Set of activities
Specialist/
Level 3 required to complete
team
each Level 2 activity
Specific
These are collected together & collated with
supporting data to form the project action plan
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Action plan form
Action Plan
Deliverables
Start date:
Due date:
Key constraints & assumptions:
Tasks
Immediate
Estimated time
predecessor tasks
duration
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Duration:
Estimated
resources
Assigned
to
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Work breakdown structure
(WBS)
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a
hierarchical chart based on brainstorming
activities that need to be completed for a
project
WBS is a tool to develop estimates, assign
staff, track progress & indicate the scope of
the project work. It breaks the work up into
small, manageable & measurable tasks
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Work breakdown structure
(WBS)
Education
Society
dinner
4.0.0
Event hosts
4.1.0
Honorees
5.0.0
Invitations
4.2.0
MC
5.1.0
Mailing lists
A set of all tasks in a
project arranged by task
levels
6.0.0
Food & drink
5.2.0
design
6.1.0
Menu
6.2.0
Wine
6.1.1
Options
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6.1.2
Trial
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Work breakdown structure
(WBS)
Steps
• Identify what will have to be done to
complete the project
• Identify each of the major deliverables
• For each deliverable, list the activities that
must take place in order to complete the
deliverable
• Brainstorm the components of each
activity to a level sufficiently detailed to
estimate the duration to complete each
activity
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Work breakdown structure
(WBS)
• Break the work down into activities & subactivities until a level is reached that
makes sense to the Project Manager
• Stop when you reach the point at which
the work will take an amount of time equal
to the smallest unit of time you want to
schedule
• WBS usually consist of 3 to 6 levels of
subdivided activities
Anderson, 2006
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Linear responsibility chart
WBS
Subproject
Responsibility
Project Office
Field Operator
Project
Contract
Project Industrial Field
Task Manager Administrator Engineer Engineer Manager
A2



l
p
B1


p
Write
C1
appropriate
C2
request

p
l


Determine
need
Solicit
quotations
A1
p
l
l
l
p
Legend: p – responsible  - notification l – support  - approval
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Design structure m a trix
a
b
c
a
b X
c
X
d X
X
e
X
f X X
d
e
f
X
X
X
X
• Rows – information
needed to
complete task
• Column – tasks
that depend on it
for information
X - information flow
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Design structure matrix
a
b
c
a
b X
c
X
d X
X
e
X
f X X
d
e
f


X
X
The X’s above the
diagonal indicate
situations where
information obtained
from a subsequent
task may require
reworking of a
completed task
X - information flow
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Discussion
1. Why is the hierarchical planning process
useful for project planning?
2. Why is participatory management
beneficial to project planning?
3. Construct an action plan for the
Education Society inauguration dinner
4. What is the purpose of using the variety
of charts & tables in project
management?
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References
Anderson, T. (Ed.) 2006. Step by step guide
to project management. UTS, Sydney.
Mantel, S., et al., 2005, Core concepts of
project management, 2nd ed. John Wiley,
Hoboken, N.J.
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