Concluding Remarks
This paper explained the process for writing a project plan. It described the absolute minimum of information required in this document for planning a medium-sized project. If the project is larger, more sophisticated or simply has additional requirements specific to a given industry or a company, you should expand and tailor it according to your specific needs.
If the venture is smaller and straightforward, it is recommended simply to add "N/A" (Not Applicable) with a brief explanation for the irrelevant sections rather that delete them altogether. For others viewing the plan, it will demonstrate that these sections were at least considered, and also serve as a good checklist for yourself.
The average project plan should cover at least eight project management areas. The sections to be included are as follow:
- Scope Management section — contains project scope description and reference to the detailed scope documentation.
- Time Management section — includes the project schedule and key milestones.
- Cost Management section — contains project budget broken down into variable, fixed and other costs.
- Quality Management section — describes quality tools and techniques that will be utilized on the project.
- Human Resource Management section — outlines the project team and the tasks they will be responsible for.
- Communications Management section — explains the distribution of project documentation.
- Risk Management section — lists all relevant assumptions, constraints and risks.
- Procurement Management section — clarifies all the relevant procurement and outsourcing guidelines for the project.
Finally, the project plan should include a "Revision History" table to keep track of all the changes, updates and modification made to the document during the course of the project.
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Project Communications Management