Free Project Management Articles

Latest Article

01 July 2009

Template Tips: Developing a Project Plan

The first activity within the Planning phase is the creation of a Project Plan.  To create a Project Plan, you should first identify the ‘Work Breakdown Structure’ (WBS) which is a hierarchical set of phases, activities and tasks to be undertaken on the project. After the WBS has been agreed, an assessment of the effort required to undertake the activities and tasks is made.

The activities and tasks are sequenced, resources are allocated and a detailed project schedule is formed. This project schedule will become the primary tool for the Project Manager to assess the progress of the project. The Project Plan should include: 

• A detailed description of the project scope
• A list of the project milestones (descriptions and dates)
• A list of the project phases, activities and tasks
• Resources/effort allocation against phases, activities and tasks
• A project schedule depicting when the tasks will be undertaken
• A list of planning dependencies, assumptions and constraints

Project Tips: How to properly Execute a Project

The Project Execution phase is the phase within which the deliverables are physically constructed and presented to the customer for acceptance. While the project team are producing the deliverables, the Project Manager should implement the following management processes to monitor and control the activities being undertaken:

• Time Management (recording time spent against the project)
• Cost Management  (keeping track of project expenditure)
• Quality Management  (assuring and controlling the quality of deliverables)
• Change Management (managing changes to scope, deliverables and timescales)
• Risk Management (identifying, quantifying and mitigating potential project risks)
• Issue Management (documenting and resolving project issues)
• Procurement Management (sourcing of products and services from external suppliers)
• Acceptance Management (gaining customer acceptance of project deliverables)
• Communications Management (distributing communications within the project).