Objective: To create a Project Plan (some text books refer to this as a Project Charter) for a project that you identify within the Workplace OR Community. This activity is conducted in groups of not more than five (7) students. For successful projects, comprehensive planning can make all the difference.

In order to achieve this objective, you are required to conduct the following activities.

1. Develop a Project Concept
2. Document the Scope Statement
3. Identify the work authorization process
4. Determine the scope Reporting
5. Document the Control Systems
6. Determine the Project Closeout activities

These activities are detailed below.

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Conceptual Development (6 MARKS)

This is conducted in your group discussions where you

• consider issues such as the problem the project is trying to fix
• gather relevant information
• look at possible project constraints
• ask yourselves the question - Is there a more efficient solution to solve this problem?
• Itemize clear project objectives which will naturally flow from the above analysis
• Develop the Statement of Work (SOW) which is a detailed narrative description of the work required for the project. The SOW serves to give the project team guidance on work requirements as well as the results that are expected once the project is complete.
• Consider some of your major stakeholders

At the end of this phase, the Project Overview, including the project history, a Project Name, the objectives of the project and the SOW should be complete.

Scope Statement Documentation (10 MARKS)

This is a very important step in Project Management. The following are the considerations:

• Establish the criteria to be used to assess goal attainment of the project. These include cost, schedule, performance, deliverables and approval gates.
• Determine the management plan for the project, that is, the organisational structure for the project team, any policies/procedures that govern expected behaviour.
• Establish the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This is where the project is divided into its component substeps in order to establish critical inter-relationships among activities.
• Conduct a preliminary risk analysis of your project, by
  • generating a set of likely risk factors.
  • Discussing them in terms of probability and consequences
  • Developing preliminary strategies for risk mitigation
• Develop a cost estimate to support your project proposal
• Create a scope baseline. This is where all pre-work information is documented, including the project goals, the budget and the schedules for each activity.
• Create a Responsibility Assignment Matrix identifying the team personnel and their responsibilities. This is tied to the management plan.
• Create the network diagram and Gantt charts using MS Project software.
• Identify the Critical Path for the project.

Work Authorization (3 MARKS)

This step reflects the formal 'go ahead' for the implementation of the project. The critical considerations are

• the contractual requirements
• the terms of the contract

Scope Reporting (4 MARKS)

Here we are talking about a communication plan.

• How will primary stakeholders be updated?
• How frequently?
• What type of information should be shared?
• How will the information be acquired and disseminated?
• Who should get what information?

Control Systems (4 MARKS)

These ensure that changes to the project baseline are conducted in systematic and thorough manner. Some types of control systems include:

• Configuration Control - procedures that ensure that changes to the baseline scope are approved before implementation
• Trend monitoring - process of tracking the estimated costs, schedules and resources needed against those planned
• Document control - ensures important documentation is compiled and disseminated in an orderly and timely fashion.
• Acquisition control - monitors systems used to acquire necessary equipment, materials or services needed for project development and implementation.
• Specification control - ensures that project specifications are prepared clearly, communicated to all concerned and changed only with proper authorization.

Project Closeout (3 MARKS)

Planning for the projects termination is important. A key question to be asked is:.

• What kind of records and reports will be required?

Early answers to this question will ensure that the information is gathered over the duration of the project. The project manager must always plan with the end in mind.