What Is a Project Plan?

A project plan is a series of formal documents that define

the execution and control stages of a project. The plan
includes considerations for risk management, resource
management and communications, while also addressing
scope, cost and schedule baselines. planning Project
software is used by project managers to ensure that their plans
are thorough and robust.

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What Is in a Project Plan?

The project plan answers the who, what, where, why, how and when of the
project. The purpose of a project plan is to guide the execution and control
project phases.

As mentioned above, a project plan consists of the following documents:

 Project Charter: Provides a general overview of the project. It

describes the project’s reasons, goals, objectives, constraints,
stakeholders, among other aspects.
 Statement of Work: Defines the project’s scope, schedule,
deliverables, milestones, and tasks.
 Work Breakdown Structure: Breaks down the project scope into
the project phases, subprojects, deliverables, and work packages that
lead to your final deliverable.
 Project Plan: The project plan document is divided in sections to
cover the following: scope management, quality management, risk
assessment, resource management, stakeholder management,
schedule management and the change management plan.
This guide aims to give you all the information and resources you need to create
a project plan and get it approved by your customers and stakeholders. Let’s
start with the basics of writing a project plan.

How to Write a Project Plan

Your project plan is essential to the success of any project. Without one, your
project may be susceptible to common project management issues such as
missed deadlines, scope creep and cost overrun. While writing a project plan is
somewhat labor intensive up front, the effort will pay dividends throughout the
project life cycle.

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The basic outline of any project plan can be summarized in these five steps:

1. Define your project’s stakeholders, scope, quality baseline, deliverables,

milestones, success criteria and requirements. Create a project charter,
work breakdown structure (WBS) and a statement of work (SOW).

2. Identify risks and assign deliverables to your team members, who will

perform the tasks required and monitor the risks associated with them.

3. Organize your project team (customers, stakeholders, teams, ad hoc

members, and so on), and define their roles and responsibilities.

4. List the necessary project resources, such as personnel, equipment,

salaries, and materials, then estimate their cost.

5. Develop change management procedures and forms.

6. Create a communication plan, schedule, budget and other guiding

documents for the project.

Each of the steps to write a project plan explained above correspond to the 5
project phases, which we will outline in the next section.

What Are the 5 Phases of a Project?

Any project, whether big or small, has the potential to be very complex. It’s
much easier to break down all the necessary inclusions for a project plan by
viewing your project in terms of phases. The Project Management Institute,
within the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), have identified
the following 5 phases of a project:

1. Initiation: The start of a project, in which goals and objectives are

defined through a business case and the practicality of the project is

determined by a feasibility study.

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 2. Planning: During this stage, the scope of the project is defined by a work
breakdown structure (WBS) and the project methodology to manage the
project is decided on. Costs, quality and resources are estimated, and a
schedule with milestones and task dependencies is identified. The main
deliverable of this phase is your project plan.

3. Execution: The project deliverables are completed during this phase.

Usually, this phase begins with a kick-off meeting and is followed by

regular team meetings and status reports while the project is being
worked on.

4. Monitoring & Controlling: This phase is performed in tandem with the

project execution phase. Progress and performance metrics are

measured to keep progress on the project aligned with the project plan.

5. Closure: The project is completed when the stakeholder receives the final

deliverable. Resources are released, contracts are signed off on and,
ideally, there will be an evaluation of the successes and failures.

There are project plan templates out there that can help you organize your tasks
and begin the planning process—but we here at ProjectManager.com
recommend the use of project planning software. The feature set is far more
robust and integrated with every project phase compared to an Excel template,
and is a great way to ensure your actual progress stays aligned with your
planned progress.

What Is Project Planning Software?

Once you write a project plan, it’s time for implementation. Watch the video
below to see how project planning software helps organize a project’s tasks,
resources and costs.

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Project planning software has become an invaluable tool for project managers in
recent years, as it provides them the ability to maintain and automate the
components we outlined above. Project planning software is a great tool to
facilitate project management processes such as schedule development, team
management, cost estimation, resource allocation and risk monitoring.

Beyond that, planning software also allows managers to monitor and track their
plan as it moves through the execution phase of the project. These features
include dashboards, for a high-level view of the project’s progress and
performance, and in-depth reports that can be used to communicate with
stakeholders.

Project planning software comes in all different sizes and shapes. There
are some that focus on a single aspect, and others that offer a suite of

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planning features that can be used in each one of the project planning steps. What’s
right for your project depends on your specific needs, but in general terms, project
planning software is a much more powerful tool than project planning templates.

Benefits of Online Project Planning Software

Online project planning software is highly flexible and adaptable to your team’s
style of work. It has features that are designed to assist you throughout your project
planning process.

Before the rise of planning software, managers would typically have to keep up
with a disjointed collection of documents, excel spreadsheets and so on. Savvy
managers, however, make use of the tools available to them to automate what they
can, and streamline what they can’t.

Some of the time-saving benefits of project planning software include the

following.

 Organize, prioritize and assign tasks

 Plan and schedule milestones and task dependencies

 Monitor progress, costs and resources

 Collaborate with team

 Share project plans with team and stakeholders

 Generate reports on plans

Must-Have Project Planning Software Features

Interactive Gantt
Dynamic Task Lists
Kanban Boards
Dashboard Tracker
Team Management
Portfolio Management

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Gantt Charts for Superior Planning
A Gantt chart is the most essential tool for project planning. Organize tasks, add
their duration and they automatically populate a project timeline. Set milestones to
break the larger project into manageable phases, and link task dependencies to
avoid bottlenecks later in the project.

Project Planning Terms

Before we dive into how to plan a project, it helps to be familiar with some
of the terms that you’ll run across. Here is a list of general terms you’ll
encounter in this guide.

 Deliverable: The results of a project, such as a product, service,

report, etc.
 Stakeholder: Anyone with a vested interest in the project—project
manager, project sponsor, team members, customers, etc.
 Tasks: Small jobs that lead to the final deliverable.

 Milestone: The end of one project phase, and the beginning of

the next.
 Resources: Anything you need to complete the project, such as
personnel, supplies, materials, tools, people and more.
 Budget: Estimate of total cost related to completing a project.

 Tracking & Monitoring: Collecting project data, and making sure

it reflects the results you planned for.

Project Planning Steps

Now, we’re going to go through the main project planning steps:

1. Outline the Business Case

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 2. Define Project Scope

3. Set Goals & Objectives

4. Outline Deliverables

5. Create a Project Schedule

6. Assign Tasks to your Team

7. Assess Risk

8. Report your Progress

By following these project planning steps steps, you’ll clarify what you need
to achieve, work out the processes you need to get there and develop an
action plan for how you are going to take this forward.

1. Outline the Business Case

If you have a project, there’s a reason for it—that’s your business case. The
business case outlines reasons why the project is being initiated, its
benefits and the return on investment. If there’s a problem that is being
solved, then that problem is outlined here. The business case will be
presented to those who make decisions at your organization, explaining
what has to be done, and how. If approved, you have a project.

2. Meet with Stakeholders

Every project has stakeholders, those who have a vested interest in the
project. From the ones who profit from it, to the ones who are responsible
for its success. Therefore, any project planning must identify who these
stakeholders are, from customers to regulators. Meeting with them is
crucial to get a better picture of what the project is and what is expected
from the final deliverable.

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3. Define Project Scope
It refers to the work required to accomplish the project objectives and
generate the required deliverables. The project scope should be defined
and organized by a work breakdown structure (WBS). Therefore, the project
scope includes what you must do in the project (deliverables, sub
deliverables, work packages, activities, tasks), but also what is
nonessential. The latter is important, because knowing what isn’t high
priority helps to avoid scope creep; that is, using valuable resources for
something that isn’t key to your project’s success.

4. Set Goals & Objectives

Goals and objectives are different things when it comes to planning a
project. Goals are the results you want to achieve, and are usually
broad. Objectives, on the other hand, are more specific; measurable actions
that must be taken to reach your goal. When planning a project, the goals
and objectives naturally spring from the business case, but in this stage
you go into further detail. In a sense, you’re fine-tuning the goals set forth in
the business case and creating tasks that are clearly defined. These goals
and objectives are collected in a project charter, which you’ll use
throughout the project life cycle.

5. Outline Deliverables
A project can have numerous deliverables. A deliverable can be a good,
service or result that is needed to complete a task, process, phase,
subproject or project. For example, the final deliverable is the reason for the
project, and once this deliverable is produced, the project is completed. As
defined in the project scope, a project consists of subprojects, phases,
work packages, activities and tasks, and each of these components can
have a deliverable. The first thing to do is determine what the final
deliverable is, and how you will know that the quality meets your

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stakeholder’s expectations. As for the other deliverables in the project, they
must also be identified and someone on the team must be accountable for
their successful completion.

6. Create a Project Schedule

The project schedule is what everything hangs on. From your tasks to
your budget, it’s all defined by time. Schedules are made up by collecting all
the tasks needed to reach your final deliverable, and setting them on a
timeline that ends at your deadline. This can make for an unruly job ahead,
which is why schedules are broken into phases, indicated by milestones,
which mark the end of one project phase and the beginning of the next.

7. Assign Tasks
The plan is set, but it still exists in the abstract until you take the tasks on
your schedule and begin assigning them out to your team. Therefore, you
need to assemble a team that has the skills and experiences needed to
complete the project. Their roles and responsibilities must be clearly
defined, so they know what to do. Then, when you assign them tasks from
your plan, they should be clear, with directions and any related
documentation they will need to execute the tasks.

8. Assess Risk
Every project has some level of risk. There are several types of risk such as
scope risk, technical risks and schedule risk, among others. Even if your
project plan is thorough, internal and external factors can impact your
project’s time, cost and scope (triple constraint). Therefore, you need to
regard your planning as flexible. There are many ways to prepare for risk,
such as developing a change management plan, but for now, the most
important thing to do is to track your progress throughout the execution
phase by using project status reports and/or project planning software to
monitor risk.

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9. Report Your Progress
Your ultimate goal is to ensure a successful project for your stakeholders.
They’re invested, and will not be satisfied twiddling their thumbs until the
project runs its course. By constructing a work breakdown structure (WBS)
during the project planning phase you can break down the project for them
so that they understand how your project plan will be executed. Keeping
stakeholders informed is important to manage their expectations and
ensure that they’re satisfied. Having regular meetings where you
present progress reports are a great way to show them that everything is
moving forward as planned and to field any questions or concerns they
might have.

How ProjectManager.com Helps With Your

Project Plans
Project planning software is a tool that helps to plan, organize and manage
the schedule and resources needed to complete a project. One of the most
commonly used project management tool is Microsoft Project, but
ProjectManager.com is one of the best alternatives available for project
planning. ProjectManager.com is an award-winning project management
software that organizes projects from planning to completion. Sign up for a
free 30-day trial and follow along to build a thorough project plan that
covers every detail.

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