From the Project charter to the Project Plan

Before considering how to plan, we should decide why we are planning and what infor­mation the plan should contain. The project planning process begins with the develop­ment of a project charter—a high-level description of the project. While the elements of the project charter vary from organization to organization, they should always include a statement of work and the business case for the project. The statement of work describes the major deliverables of the project while the business case provides the financial and strategic justification for the project (e.g., cost benefit analysis, analysis of market demand). It is strongly recommended that the PM be involved in crafting the project charter. Beyond the statement of work and the business case, the PMBOK suggests the following additional items also be included in a project charter:

  • The business need for the project.
  • The assumptions underlying the project (e.g., customer preferences, the state of the economy).
  • Key constraints.
  • Customer requirements.
  • Identification of high-level risks.
  • Key project milestones.
  • A high-level budget.
  • A list of key stakeholders.
  • The PM assigned to the project.
  • The boundaries of the project (i.e., what is in and out of the scope of the project).

Once the project charter is approved, the project is considered officially authorized and work on developing a more detailed project plan can commence. While the project charter provides a high-level description of the project, the project plan defines in greater detail the project work that must be completed. More specifically, the project plan details how the work of the project will be executed, monitored, and controlled. As such, the project plan includes detailed descriptions of the work that needs to be completed, how the work will be executed, the approval process for changes to the plan, and plans for communicating with the stakeholders. In its final form, the project plan brings together all project-related planning documents. According to PMBOK, a proper project plan includes the following:

  • The process for managing change
  • A plan for communicating with and managing stakeholders
  • Specifying the process for setting key characteristics of the project deliverable (technically referred to as configuration management)
  • Establishing the cost baseline for the project and developing a plan to manage project costs
  • Developing a plan for managing the human resources assigned to the project
  • Developing a plan for continuously monitoring and improving project work processes
  • Developing guidelines for procuring project materials and resources
  • Defining the project’s scope and establishing practices to manage the pro­ject’s scope
  • Developing the Work Breakdown Structure
  • Developing practices to manage the quality of the project deliverables
  • Defining how project requirements will be managed
  • Establishing practices for managing risk
  • Establishing the schedule baseline and developing a plan to manage the pro­ject’s schedule

A bias toward reality requires us to note that different stakeholders have different levels of clout. If senior management and the client both favor a change in the scope of the project, the project manager and his or her team would be well advised to accept the change in good grace unless there is some overriding reason why such a change would be infeasible. Occasionally, stakeholders not directly connected to the organization con­ducting the project or the client purchasing it can be so demanding that provision is made for them to sign off on specific changes. Consider, for example, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and their battles with cosmetic firms over the use of animal testing for cosmetic products.

One additional use for a careful, complete project plan is when the project may be small and routine, but it is also carried out frequently, as in some maintenance projects. The complete planning process may be conducted to form a template for such projects— with particular emphasis on evaluation methods. With this template, planning similar projects is simple—just fill in the blanks. If changes in the plan are contemplated, the prescribed evaluation methods can be employed. This allows a “continuous improve­ment” program, sometimes called “rolling wave” planning, to be implemented with ongoing evaluation of suggested changes.

The project charter is a high-level preliminary version of the project plan for all stakeholders to discuss and agree upon. When approved, the project plan can then be completed in detail.

Source: Meredith Jack R., Mantel Jr. Samuel J., Shafer Scott M., Sutton Margaret M. (2017), Project Management in Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3th Edition.

One thought on “From the Project charter to the Project Plan

  1. marizonilogert says:

    Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!

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