FINALIZE PROJECT PLAN & GAİN APPROVALS & GANTT CHART

DescriptionA project plan is finalized when it is formally accepted and approved by the project sponsor and other designated stakeholders. Formal approval acknowledges that all the deliverables produced during the Plan Stage are complete, reviewed and accepted.

Signatures on the project plan document indicate final approval. This sign-off marks the plan as the go-forward agreement and can be viewed as a project management milestone.

Rationale/PurposeThe project plan is important because it provides baseline information such as the budget, schedule and management plans for executing and controlling the project.   A signed project plan represents a commitment to continue and to dedicate the required time and resources toward the project.  It ushers the way into the Execute and Control Stage.

Who is InvolvedProject Manager
Project Sponsor
Project Stakeholders

ResultApproved Project Plan
Signed Project Plan Approval

Recommended actions and strategiesThe flow chart below describes the sequence of activities that results in a reviewed and approved plan.

1.	Compile deliverables or results from all the Planning Stage activities into a project plan document.

2.	Distribute the project plan to the Project Sponsor and other appropriate stakeholders.

3.	Schedule a meeting with Project Sponsor and other relevant stakeholders to review the project plan deliverables.

4.	Make any changes from the formal review and finalize the project plan deliverable.

5.	Ask the Project Sponsor to acknowledge if the project will proceed. (This is a “go/no-go” decision point. The Project Sponsor should indicate the reasons for rejecting the project if the decision is a no-go.)

6.	Obtain signatures from the Project Sponsor and any other designated stakeholder

Project Plan

 

Project Name:

Project Management Improvement Project

Example

Disclaimer

This example is based on a real project. However, this version is changed to present full examples of Project Plan components as described in the DoIT Project Management Framework. This example is not a true representation of the project plan for the Project Management Improvement project.

Project Plan Approval Signatures

 

Project Name:  Project Management Improvement

Project Manager

_______________________________________                   __________________  

                                (Signature)                                                                      (Date)

Name1 - Project Manager

DoIT Project Manager

Division of Information Technology – Systems Engineering and Operations                                         

Project Sponsor

_______________________________________                   __________________  

                                (Signature)                                                                      (Date)

Name2 - Project Sponsor

DoIT Process Manager

Division of Information Technology – CIO Office                                                         

Executive Sponsor

 _______________________________________                  __________________  

                                (Signature)                                                                      (Date)

Name3 - Executive Sponsor

Associate CIO

Division of Information Technology – CIO Office                                                         

Document Change Control

 

The following is the document control for revisions to this document.

Version Number	Date of Issue	Author(s)	Brief Description of Change
V1.0	July 2005	Name1 - Project Manager	Approved version.

Definition

 

The following are definitions of terms, abbreviations and acronyms used in this document.

Term	Definition
CIO	Chief Information Officer
DoIT	Division of Information Technology

Table of Contents

1. Project Plan Overview and Critical Assumptions.. 1

2. Project Work Plans.. 2

2.1 Work Breakdown Structure. 2

2.2 Staffing Plan.. 3

2.3 Project Schedule. 6

2.4 Project Budget. 8

3. Project Control Plans.. 9

3.1 Communications Plan.. 9

3.2 Quality Management Plan.. 9

3.3 Change Management Plan.. 9

3.4 Issue Management Plan.. 9

3.5 Risk Management Plan.. 9

Appendix.. 10

A – Review Team.. 10

B – Communications Plan.. 10

C – Quality Management Plan.. 10

D – Change Management Plan.. 10

E – Issue Management Plan.. 10

F – Risk Management Plan.. 10

1. Project Plan Overview and Critical Assumptions

The purpose of the Project Plan is to present the detail required to successfully execute and control the project, facilitate communication among project stakeholders, and document approved schedule baselines. The project plan is a living document and is expected to change over time as more information about the project becomes available.

The project plan was developed based upon certain key assumptions as noted in the Project Charter. Any changes to these assumptions may impact the project schedule, projected costs, the project scope and/or the project quality. These assumptions are:

·         The goals of this project support the vision, mission, and goals of DoIT, helping faculty, staff and students realize their visions through the use of information technology.

·         The project helps DoIT achieve its goal of outstanding customer service.

·         DoIT management actively supports improvements in each of the seven component areas: framework, tools, project management skills, thinking, culture, politics, and communication.

·         DoIT management and staff comply with specifications for all project management responsibilities as stated in the “Project Management at DoIT – A Social Contract” document.

·         The timeline is reasonable and doable. The phased rollout supports early success and continued improvement.  The project includes a lengthy implementation as components are developed and implemented, followed by sustained competency and improvements in the seven component areas.

·         DoIT management assigns key project roles and adequate budget for the development and implementation of this project.

·         Effective, adequate, and appropriate levels of communication occur between DoIT management, the sponsor, and the project team during all phases of the project.

·         The framework deliverable avoids excessive detail to ensure common understanding, flexibility, and adoption.

·         The deliverables of the project are implemented DoIT-wide, supporting many diverse functional groups, projects, and customers.

2. Project Work Plans

2.1 Work Breakdown Structure

The work breakdown structure identifies the project’s tasks to provide a framework for organizing and managing the work of the project.

2.2 Staffing Plan

The purpose of the staffing plan is to make certain the project has sufficient staff with the right skills and experience to ensure a successful project completion.

Role Requirements

The following is a detailed breakdown of the roles required to execute the project. It includes: the project role, the project responsibility of the role, skills required, number of staff required to fulfill the role, the estimated start date and the expected duration the staff resource will be needed on the project.

Role	Project Responsibility	Skills Required	Number of Staff Required	Estimated Start Date	Duration Required FY05-06
Project Team
Project Manager	Lead team, report status	Project Management	1	7/1/05	6 months
Core Team	Review deliverables, assure quality	Project Management	4	9/1/05	4 months
Content Developer	Create framework content	Research and web writing skills	1	9/1/05	4 months
Web Designer	Design web-based performance mgmt tool	Web design, web writing skills	1	10/1/05	3 months
Web Developer	Build the web-based performance management tool	Web development	1	11/1/05	2 months
Review Team	Evaluate deliverables, promote use	Project Management experience	20	11/1/05	2 months

Staff Assigned to Roles

The following is a detailed breakdown of the actual staff assigned to the project role, the amount of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) requested for the role, the actual FTE acquired, the labor rate and unit of the labor rate for the resource and the source from which the resource is recruited.

Role	Name	Requested FTE FY05-06	Acquired FTE FY05-06	Rate	Rate Unit	Source
Project Team
Project Manager	Name1 - Project Manager	1.00	1.00	$85	hour	DoIT - Systems Engineering Operations
Core Team	Name4	.10	.10	$70	hour	DoIT- Network Services
	Name5	.10	.10	$70	hour	DoIT – Enterprise Internet Services
	Name6	.10	.10	$70	hour	DoIT–Data Resource Management Technologies
Content Developer	Name6	.90	.90	$70	hour	DoIT–Data Resource Management Technologies
Web Designer	Name7	.05	.05	$75	hour	Academic Technology Solutions
Web Developer	tbd	.05	.00	$65	hour	Academic Technology Solutions
Review Team (20 reviewers)	Various Project Managers	.10	.10	$70	hour	See Appendix A for detail list
Total		2.40	2.35

Staff Resource Loading Chart

The following includes the estimated effort in Full Time Equivalent (FTE) days required by month for each staff resource assigned to the project.

	FY05-06    FTE in Days
Role	Number of Staff Required	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
Project Manager	1	15.00	15.00	15.00	15.00	15.00	15.00	90.00
Core Team Members	4			4.50	4.50	4.50	4.50	18.00
Content Developer	1			13.50	13.50	13.50	13.50	54.00
Web Designer	1				3.50	1.50	1.50	6.50
Web Developer	1					5.00	5.00	10.00
Review Team	20					10.00	10.00	20.00
Total		15.00	15.00	33.00	36.50	49.50	49.50	198.50

Training Needs

The following are the detailed training needs to bring staff to a level of skill required for project execution.

Role/Staff Resource	Training Need	Timeframe Needed	Anticipated Cost	Suggested Vendor/Method
Content Developer – Name6	Writing For Web	By  10/1/05	$2000	Vendor - Information Mapping

Pro

2.3 Project Schedule

This section includes a Gantt chart and a project schedule for the project.

Gantt Chart

The Gantt chart graphically represents a project by showing each task as a horizontal bar whose length is the time needed to complete the task.

2.3 

	Project Management Improvement Project – Phase 1
		2005							2006
		June	July	August	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan
1	Initiate Project
1.1	Develop Project Charter
2	Plan the Project
2.1	Develop Work Plan
2.2	Develop Project Control Plan
2.3	Finalize Project Plan and Gain Approvals
3	Execute and Control
3.1	Design Framework
3.2	Build the Framework
3.3	Test the Framework
3.4	Implement Framework
4	Close the Project

Project Schedule

The project schedule includes milestones, task dependencies, task duration, delivery dates, and staff resources assigned to complete the tasks.

	Project Management Improvement Project – Phase 1	Effort Estimate in Days	Planned Start Date	Planned End Date	Resource
1	Initiate Project
1.1	Develop Project Charter
1.1.1	Define Scope	4.00	06/01/05	06/08/05	Name1 - Project Manager, Core Team
1.1.2	Define Requirements	3.00	06/09/05	06/15/05	Name1 - Project Manager, Core Team
1.1.3	Identify High-Level Roles	0.25	06/16/05	06/17/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.4	Develop High-Level Budget	1.00	06/16/05	06/20/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.5	Identify High-Level Control Strategies	0.50	06/21/05	06/21/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.6	Finalize Charter and Gain Approvals	2.00	06/21/05	06/30/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.6.1	Consolidate and Publish Project Charter	1.00	06/21/05	06/23/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.6.2	Hold Review Meeting	0.50	06/24/05	06/24/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.6.3	Revise Project charter	0.50	06/27/05	06/28/05	Name1 - Project Manager
1.1.6.4	Gain approvals	0.50	06/29/05	06/30/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2	Plan Project
2.1	Develop Work Plan
2.1.1	Develop Work Breakdown Structure	2.00	07/01/05	07/06/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2.1.2	Develop Project Staffing Plan	2.00	07/07/05	07/11/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2.1.3	Develop Project Schedule	3.00	07/12/05	07/14/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2.1.4	Develop Project Budget	3.00	07/15/05	07/20/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2.2	Develop Project Control Plan
2.2.1	Develop Communication Plan	1.50	07/15/05	07/17/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2.2.2	Develop Quality Management Plan	1.50	07/17/05	07/21/05	Name1 - Project Manager
2.3	Finalize Project Plan and Gain Approvals	5.00	07/22/05	07/29/05	Name1 - Project Manager
3	Execute and Control Project
3.1	Design Framework
3.1.1	Define framework stages and activities	5.00	08/01/05	08/15/05	Name1 - Project Manager, core team
3.1.2	Design framework content formats	1.00	08/16/05	08/18/05	Name7, Name6
3.1.3	Design web framework delivery tool	2.00	08/19/05	08/31/05	Name7
3.2	Build the Framework
3.2.1	Write the framework content	65.00	09/01/05	10/31/05	Name6
3.2.2	Review framework content for quality	12.00	09/15/05	10/21/05	Name1 - Project Manager, core team, review team
3.2.3	Build web tool prototype	20.00	08/19/05	08/31/05	Name7, web developer
3.3	Test the Framework
3.3.1	Test usability of web tool	4.00	09/19/05	11/25/05	core team, review team
3.3.2	Test usability of content	4.00	10/19/05	11/25/05	core team, review team
3.3.3	Adjust framework based on user feedback	5.00	11/18/05	11/30/05	Name6, Name7
3.4	Implement Framework
3.4.1	Move framework to production environment	5.00	12/01/05	12/16/05	Name1 - Project Manager
3.4.2	Announce availability of framework	0.50	12/19/05	12/30/05	Name1 - Project Manager
4	Close the Project
4.1	Conduct Post-Project Review	5.00	01/03/06	01/10/06	Name1 - Project Manager, core team, review team
4.2	Celebrate	0.50	01/13/05	01/13/05	Name1 - Project Manager, core team, review team

2.4 Project Budget

The project budget describes cost and budget needed to complete the project tasks.  It may include cost and budget for ongoing support after project completion.

Budget during the life of the Project

The budget below provides the detail estimates for labor, material and other items for the duration of the project.

Line Item	FY05-06				FY06-07
	Labor	Material	Other	FY Total	Labor	Material	Other	FY Total
Phase I
1. Initiate Project
1.1 Develop Project Charter	$8,600	$0		$8,600	$0	$0	$0	$0
2. Plan the Project
2.1 Develop Work Plan
2.2 Develop Project Control Plan	$15,000	$0		$15,000	2,000	$0	$0	$2,000
2.3 Finalize Project Plan	$5,000	0		$5,000	$0	$0	$0	$0
3. Execute and Control Project
3.1  Design Framework	$5,000	$0		$5,000
3.2  Build Framework	$65,000	$0	$2000	$67,000	20,000	$0	$0	$20,000
3.3 Test the Framework	$30,000	$0	$0	$30,000	10,000	$0	$0	$10,000
3.4 Implement the Framework	$0	$0	$0	$0	$4,500	$0	$0	$4,500
4. Close the Project	$0	$0	$0	$0	$5,000	$0	$0	$5,000
Total	$128,600	$0	$2,000	$130,600	$41,500	$0	$0	$41,500
Total Project Budget     $172,100

 

Comments: “Other”  is the budget estimate for a training class: Effective Writing for the Web

On-going Support Budget after Project Completion

The on-going support budget is the detail estimates for on-going support after project completion.

Line Item	FY05-06	FY06-07	Total Budget
Support Labor	$5,000	$5,000	$10,000
Total Two-Year Support Budget	$5,000	$5,000	$10,000

Comments: Support Labor includes an estimate for minimal support provided for case escalation from Help Desk assistance to users of the Project Management Advisor web site and an estimate for a staff resource to make small updates or corrections if problems are found.

3. Project Control Plans

Project Control Plans provide the basis to control and monitor the progress of the project.

The Project Control Plan includes the following detail plans that can be found in the Appendixes:

3.1 Communications Plan

Defines the information needs of the project stakeholders and the project team by documenting what, when, where, and how information will be distributed.  See Appendix B.

3.2 Risk Management Plan

Provides a plan that helps assure satisfactory project results by identifying project risks and factors that may cause each risk to be realized, specifying a process to follow during the Execute and Control Stage for detecting the occurrence of these factors, and specifying a process for responding to the resulting realized risks.  See Appendix C.
Appendix

 

A – Review Team

Link to separate document.

B – Communications Plan

Link to separate document.  (See example provided in PMA.)

C – Risk Management Plan

Link to separate document.  (See example provided in PMA.)