Relationship between projects and planning issues - Printable Version

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Relationship between projects and planning issues - FDArchitects - 01-05-2017

Relationship between projects and planning issues

In all projects issues will arise that may deflect the project from its intended path. Major project issues that require management attention are as follows:
1.       Changes to requirements (e.g. Requests to change to the scope, objectives, target dates            or detailed deliverables of the project).
2.       Faults/errors (e.g. notification that one or more delivered products that have been signed-off after quality control are subsequently found not to meet specification).
3.       Problems (e.g. a key stakeholder/agency failing to meet commitments).
4.       Risks that has become reality. (e.g. supplier failure, industrial action)
5.       Loss of key skills (resignation, promotion, transfer, sickness).
6.       Concerns about the project and/or its deliverables (e.g. concerns about the ability to achieve the required benefits).
7.       Questions (e.g. about how the delivered products will be implemented)

Without careful planning it is likely that your project will fail to achieve its objectives. In a small project it is possible that one plan may be used to define the entire scope of work and all the resources needed to carry out that work.

The Project Plan will typically contain the following:
1.       Plan Description (a brief narrative description of the plan's purpose and what it covers)
2.       Pre-requisites (things that must be in place for the plan to succeed)
3.       External dependencies (e.g. commitments required from outside agencies)
4.       Planning Assumptions (e.g. availability of resources)
5.       Gantt/Bar chart showing Stages and/or Activities
6.       Financial budget - planned expenditure
7.       Resource requirements (e.g. in a table produced using a spreadsheet or project planning tool)
8.       Requested/assigned specific resources

Planning issues includes
(a) Confirm scope and purpose of the plan
· Are you clear about the purpose of the plan?
· Do you understand the objectives to be met by the plan?
· Is it clear what is within the scope of the piece of work you are planning?
· Are there any constraints (e.g. resource availability, mandated delivery dates)?

(b) Define the deliverables
· Identify the final, and any interim, deliverables required from the project
· Specify for each deliverable:
- What it must contain/cover
- Who will be responsible for its development
- What it is dependant on (e.g. information, resources)

 © Identify and estimate activities:
· Consider need to involve experts who will understand the detail of the development processes (e.g. Policy, Lawyers, IT staff, Procurement specialists)
· Identify all the activities necessary to develop each deliverable
· Identify all the activities necessary to quality control each deliverable
· Agree the order in which activities must be carried out
· Include activities that take into account the interest of stakeholders who will use,
operate and maintain the deliverables from the project
· Break down `large' activities that are difficult to estimate into sets of smaller activities of a
size you can estimate resource requirements and durations with confidence
· Identify the skill types required to carry out each activity
· Estimate the amount of effort and optimum numbers of individuals
· Identify and estimate any non-human resources and services required
· If required, calculate the estimated cost to develop each deliverable/product
· Calculate the overall cost for all activities

(d) Schedule the work and resources
· Has your scheduling of activities been based on a realistic start date and does it allow for weekends, Bank Holidays and other non-working days?
· Will the resources/skills be available in sufficient quantities when you need them?
· Are there any internal and/or external stakeholder tasks/events that coincide with the  project and will limit the availability of resources?
· Are any individuals scheduled to work on other projects when you need them?
· Will any individuals or skill/types be overloaded with project work at any time?
· Have you adjusted the timing and allocation of work to spread the load evenly?
· Can you meet your time constraints/target delivery dates?
· Do you need to include recruitment, procurement, training or induction activities?

(e) Identify risks and design controls:
· Is it clear when the SRO/ Project Board must review viability and take  decisions?
· Would it be sensible to break your project down into a series of separately
 planned stages to minimise risk and enable SRO/ project Board control?
· Have you identified key milestones? (e.g. deliverable sign-offs)
· Does the plan identify formal quality controls and audit activities?
· Have you identified any risks that may prevent you executing the plan  and delivering:
- to the required specification and ability to deliver benefits?
- on time?
- within budget?
- without damaging the organisation's reputation?
· Are you confident partner organisations and/or external suppliers will meet their
commitments in accordance with the plan?
· Does your plan allow contingency (time and effort) to allow for the fact that you will
identify the need for new unplanned activities when you execute the plan?
· Does the amount of contingency you have allowed reflect the degree of uncertainty you
have about the accuracy of your estimates for effort, costs, timescales?
· Can you forecast any events in the business year which coincide with important activities
in your plan (e.g. recess, audits, end of year reporting?
· Have all resource 'owners' committed to the plan?

(f) Document and gain approval for the plan
· Is the plan to a form that will be understood by its audience?
· Does the version of a plan for the SRO/Project Board include, as a minimum:
- Narrative describing the purpose, author(s), current status, assumptions,
constraints, pre-requisites, recommendations and next actions required
- Definition of deliverables
- Risk assessment and countermeasures
- Gantt/bar chart(s) showing a schedule of major activities.
- Resource schedules showing resource requirements against time
· Does the working plan for project and team management go to a fine enough level of detail for management and control purposes? (e.g. the lowest level of plan for day to day control should have activities of no more than 10 elapsed days duration, allocated to a named individual or small defined team)
· Is your plan acceptable to those who must:
- provide the staff?
- provide non-human resources/services?
- commit financial resources?
- do the work to create the deliverables?

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