Develop Project Communication Plan

DescriptionA communication plan facilitates effective and efficient communications with the various audiences having a major stake in the project. It describes how project communications will occur. A good communication plan generally includes the following elements:

• Communication objectives
• Target audiences
• Key content for the communications
• Communication method and frequency

Rationale/PurposeGood two-way communications among all stakeholders is key for the success of the project. Good communication forestalls surprises, prevents duplication of effort, and can help to reveal omissions and misallocation of resources early enough to permit corrections.

Who is InvolvedProject Manager
Project Sponsor
Project Stakeholders

ResultThis information is included in a separate section of your project plan often referred to as the “Communication Plan.”

Recommended actions and strategiesThe table below lists the steps for developing a project communication plan:

	Focus on the following	Questions to ask
1	Communication objectives	What are you hoping to achieve with your project communications? Look at the objectives established for the project.
2	Target audiences (internal and external) and the makeup of each audience	Who do you want to communicate with? Refer to the roles established for the project. Consider a broad range of stakeholders.
3	Purpose of the communication for each audience	Why are you communicating with them? Think about what your audience would like to know from their perspective - “What’s in it for me?”
4	Key communication messages and the content of the message	What do you want to say? The content should address the reason the audience will be interested in the project.
5	Information sources	Where will you find the information you need to collect for your communications? Some information may be from official sources, and other information will be created as part of the project and stored in the project repository.
6	Frequency of the communication	How often do you want the communication to be delivered? Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, at the end of a stage, etc.
7	Format and delivery mechanism for the communication	How does the target audience prefer to receive this information? Report, phone, website, meeting, formal presentation, etc.
8	The messenger	Who is the responsible communicator? Who prepares and distributes or presents the communication? Usually the project manager and project sponsor are the main communicators, but the size of the project may require the assignment of a role of project communicator.
9	Communication milestones and measurements of success	How will you know if your plan is working? Establish some simple performance indicators and evaluation measures to determine if the communication plan is effective. Example – use of a Meeting Evaluation form after a meeting.

Communications 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 Communication Plan components as described in the DoIT Project Management Framework. This example is not a true representation of the communication plan for the Project Management Improvement project.

Document Change Control

 

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

Version Number	Date of Issue	Author(s)	Brief Description of Change
Version 1.0	August 15, 2005	Name1 - Project Manager	Initial version for review and comment
Version 1.1	Pending	Name1 - Project Manager	Incorporated changes from leadership review
Version 1.2	Pending	Name3	Reformatting for Project Management Framework example

Definition

 

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

Term	Definition
CIO	Chief Information Officer
DoIT	UW-Madison - Division of Information Technology
DoITnet	DoIT Intranet
MTeam	DoIT - Management Team
Op Directors	DoIT Operations Directors
PSST	Project Startup and Status Tool

Table of Contents

 

1. Introduction.. 1

2. Communication Objectives.. 1

3. Communication Purpose and Target Audiences   1

4. Communication Message and Delivery.. 2

5. Communication Message Contents.. 3

Appendix.. 4

Target Audience Participants. 4

           

1. Introduction

 

The purpose of the communication plan is to ensure the Project Management Improvement Project provides relevant, accurate, and consistent project information to project stakeholders and other appropriate audiences. By effectively communicating the project can accomplish its work with the support and cooperation of each stakeholder group.

The communication plan provides a framework to manage and coordinate the wide variety of communications that take place during the project. The communication plan covers who will receive the communications, how the communications will be delivered, what information will be communicated, who communicates, and the frequency of the communications.

2. Communication Objectives

 

Effective and open communications is critical to the success of the project.

The key communication objectives for the project are:

• Promote and gain support for the Project Management Improvement Project
• Encourage use of project management best practices
• Give accurate and timely information about the project
• Ensure a consistent message

3. Communication Purpose and Target Audiences

 

This section identifies the audiences targeted in this Communication Plan, and the purpose of communicating with each audience. A complete list of the participants in each audience can be found in the Appendix.

Audience	Communication  Purpose
Project Sponsor	Project plans, project progress, project issues
Project Core Team	Project direction, project deliverables, clear direction and delegation of tasks
Project Review Team	Project direction, project deliverables, changes in work processes
DoIT CIO Office	Project Strategy, changes to business operations and policy, project deliverables, project progress
DoIT Management Groups: DoIT Tech Directors DoIT Op Directors DoIT Roundtable DoIT Mteam	Project Strategy, changes to business operations and policy, project deliverables, project progress
DoIT project managers	Project Strategy, impact due to changes in procedures or policies,  project deliverables, project progress
DoIT staff	Impact due to changes in procedures or policies, changes in business procedures and policies, project progress

4. Communication Message and Delivery

 

The following outlines the targeted audiences, the key communication messages to be delivered, and the method for delivering the information, the communicator, and the frequency of the delivery.

Audience	Message	Delivery  Method	Delivery Frequency	Communicator
Project Sponsor	Project Plans Status Reports	Meeting Report published in My Webspace with DoITnet  and PSST link	Weekly Biweekly	Project Manager Project Manager
Project Core Team	Project Plans Status Reports	Meeting Report published in My Webspace with DoITnet  and PSST link	Weekly Biweekly	Project Manager Project Manager
Project Review Team	Project Briefing Status Reports	Meeting: Oral briefing and presentation slides Report published in My Webspace with DoITnet  and PSST link	Monthly Biweekly	Project Manager Project Manager
DoIT CIO Office	Status Reports Project Briefing	Report published in My Webspace with DoITnet  and PSST link Meeting: Oral briefing and presentation slides	Biweekly Quarterly	Project Manager Project Sponsor Project Manager
DoIT Management Groups ·   DoIT Tech Directors ·   DoIT MTeam ·   DoIT Op Directors ·   DoIT Roundtable ·   DoIT Tech Directors ·   DoIT MTeam ·   DoIT Op Directors ·   DoIT Roundtable	Status Reports Project Briefing	Report published in My Webspace with DoITnet  and PSST link Meeting: Oral briefing and presentation slides (briefings held more frequently as requested)	Biweekly Quarterly Quarterly Semi-annually Annually	Project Manager Project Sponsor Project Manager
DoIT project managers	Project Briefing	DoIT Project Management Forum Meeting: Oral briefing and briefing notes	Monthly	Project Manager Project Core Team
DoIT staff	Project Briefing	DoIT All Staff Meeting: Oral briefing and presentation slides	Annually	Project Sponsor Project Manager

5. Communication Message Contents

 

The section outlines the contents of the key communications.

Project Plans

-       Current and Future Plans

-       Project Issues and Problems

-     Planned Project Deliverables for Next Period

Status Report

-          Status Summary

-          Status of Schedule

-          Status of Budget

-          Status of Scope

-          Accomplishments Achieved

-          Concerns/Issues

-          Next Steps

-          Project Team Members

Project Briefing

-     Goals of Project Management Improvement

-          Project Status

-          Project Problems and Issues

-          Project Checklist

Appendix

 

Target Audience Participants

Audience	Participants	Organization
Project Sponsor	Name2 - Project Sponsor	DoIT - Division Office
Project Core Team	Name2 - Project Sponsor Name1 - Project Manager Name3 Name4 Name5 Name6 Name7 Name8 Name9 Name10 Name11	DoIT - Division Office DoIT - Division Office DoIT - System Engineering and Operations DoIT - Application Development and Integration DoIT - Network Services DoIT - Academic Technology Solutions DoIT - Financial Services DoIT - Enterprise Internet Services DoIT - Network Services DoIT - Application Development and Integration DoIT - Application Development and Integration
Project Review Team	Name12 Name13 Name14 Name15 Name16 Name17 Name18 Name19 Name20 Name21 Name22 Name23 Name24 Name25 Name26 Name27 Name28 Name29 Name30	DoIT - Application Development and Integration DoIT - Application Development and Integration DoIT - Application Development and Integration DoIT - Application Development and Integration DoIT - Academic Technology Solutions DoIT - Academic Technology Solutions DoIT - Academic Technology Solutions DoIT - Academic Technology Solutions DoIT - Enterprise Internet Services DoIT - Enterprise Internet Services DoIT - Enterprise Internet Services DoIT - Enterprise Internet Services DoIT - Network Services DoIT - Network Services DoIT - User Services DoIT - System Engineering and Operations DoIT - System Engineering and Operations DoIT - System Engineering and Operations DoIT - System Engineering and Operations
DoIT CIO Office	Per DoIT Organization	DoIT
DoIT Tech Directors	Per DoIT Organization	DoIT
DoIT Op Directors	Per DoIT Organization	DoIT
DoIT Roundtable	Per DoIT Organization	DoIT
DoIT MTeam	DoIT managers	DoIT
DoIT project managers	DoIT project managers	DoIT
DoIT staff	DoIT staff	DoIT