project plan
(As defined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 2000 Edition):
A project plan is "A formal, approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication among stakeholders, and document approved scope, cost, and schedule baselines. A project plan may be summary or detailed."
PRINCE2 defines
"a statement of how and when a project's objectives are to be achieved, by showing the major products, milestones, activities and resources required on the project."
The widespread use of computerized project management tools has led to a common use of project plan to refer to a Gantt chart which has a much narrower use than a plan as defined above.
Project Plan components
A Project Plan contains information that will help complete the project successfully. Success factors can be quickly summarized by answering the following questions:
- What and Why? - A project plan will contain a description of the project, what is the Vision and why the project is being executed.
- Who? - Who will be involved and what will be their responsibilities within the project
- When? - When will the project happen and also major milestones
- How? - How the project will be executed, meaning how it will be executed and controlled. Normally this information refers mostly to the controlling of the project as the detailed project actions will be detailed in other documents such as the IT plan, the Procurement plan, the Construction plan, etc.
See also
External links
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