HANDOUT 4

COURSE- PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TOPIC: PROJECT PLANNING

4.1 Project Planning:

Project planning is the process of determining the future course of action of a project. It involves
setting broad based goal and designing strategies and action plan to reach the goals. Project
planning is a dynamic, “Critical” process that is repeated on an ongoing basis throughout the
lifecycle of the project. Planning must take place to deal with problems, change or risks as they
occur in the project. Planning begins with understanding what should be delivered as a result. It’s
critical to the success of the project to understand your destination when you start. Project
manager will know where he is going and he will have developed plans to arrive at goal and
complete the project successfully. Project manager must learn how to develop a project strategy
and plan regarding how to implement that plan.

The following diagram illustrates the project life cycle and critical nature of planning activities:

The Project Cycle

Project
Definition

Forecasting WBS
Evaluation Development

Change
Management Estimates
Schedules

Project
Baseline

4.2 Triple constraints

The concept of triple constraints is critical in overall project management and defining individual
project. Managing a project using triple constraints allows the project manager to direct the
progress of the plan for those components affecting 1. Time 2. Cost and 3. Quality within the
defined scope of the project.

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 TIME COST
SCOPE

QUALITY
Increased cost will effect time, increased or change scope affect cost and time, increased time will
affect scope and cost, and decreased time and cost will affect quality. The bottom line is that – if
you don’t meet the triple constraints, the project will not complete within the defined scope. The
triple constraints are the indicators used to measure the success of the project. Success and failure
of a project depends on the whether the project meet the triple constraints or not. When defining
the project, it is imperative to establish the scope of the project in terms of time, cost, and quality,
within the context of the agreed to deliverables. In order to define the full scope of the project a
work break down structure is required.

4.3 Project Charter:

The key document that often defines project initiation is the project charter. A project charter is a
document that formally recognizes the existence of a project and provides direction on the
project’s objectives and management. Once the project is signed by the project sponsor, it
provides authorization for the project manager to start planning.
The charter is often used to let key members of the organization know about the existence of the
project and to authorize its implementation. Key project stakeholders should sign the charter.
At a minimum a project charter should contain:
 Title and date of authorization
 Name of project manager and contact information
 Statement of project scope.
 Summary of approach-
o Roles and responsibility matrix
o Sign-off page for key stakeholders

A sample project charter table of contents:

1. Project name
2. Project objectives
3. Project purpose
4. Scope (In and Out of scope)
5. Key deliverables
6. High level schedule(Plan)
7. Key stakeholders(Internal and external)

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 8. Cross organizational team members
9. Risk management
10. Links to other projects
11. Constraints and assumptions
12. Completion criteria
13. Approval

4.4 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

‘Work break down structure’ is a schematic presentation of a disaggregated and integrated
process by which a project manager plans to executive the project. WBS is considered as the
heart of project management. It sub-divides project objectives into smaller pieces that clearly
defines the system in details and contributes to its understanding and success. Conventional use
shows the WBS decreasing in size from top to bottom and shows this level by indentation to the
right in the following format:

Level
1 Sector
2 Institution
3 Plan
4 Program
5 Project
6 Task
7 Subtask
8 Work package
9 Activity

Figure 1.2 WBS

These levels of a project often synonymously used in project management that leads to confusion.
The basic concept of each of the levels is stated in a succinct way as follows:
1. Sector-Sector refers to external linkage of a project i.e. State, Market, and Civil Society
2. Institution-It refers to an organization context of a project like IDB, WAMY, IBA, IIUC
3. Plan-Plan indicates to organized efforts. For instance, National Five Years Plan, National
Development Plan, Corporate Master Plan etc. with a target for development & growth.
4. Program-Program comprises of a set of similar projects. Say MBA program, National
immunization campaign etc.
5. Project-Project means a set of tasks or activities. For example, Developing computer
software, Establishing a power plant etc.
6. Task -A task refers to a specific assignment implemented through sub-tasks. Say, water
supply contract, Signing ‘memorandum of understanding’ (MOU), Construction of a
foundation etc.
7. Subtask-It splits into work packages. Say, signing ceremony of MOU, Inauguration of
foundation r foundation laying ceremony etc.
8. Work Package -It is composed of work units. Say, water supply and distribution
package, Power supply and distribution package etc.
9. Activity-It is an event occurred under a project. Say, lay out of a construction,
preparation of drawing, circulation in a paper etc.
(Chowdhury, 1998:P. 6; Chase, 1995:p.363)

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WBS is a key strategy for effective planning is to “break” the project down into manageable
components of work that can be individually planned, estimated and managed. The process of
breaking the work down is called the “Work Breakdown Structure”. The work breakdown
structure is a tool that displays in detail, the project statement of work to aid in understanding and
communication of the project scope. The WBS is created as an output of project definition. With
out WBS there is no schedule or cost control in modern project management. The WBS is a
powerful tool for expressing the scope and extent of a project in simple terms. It represents the
project in terms of the hierarchy of deliverables it will produce. The WBS starts with a single
box at the top, which represents entire project. The project then broken down in to lower level
such as a phase, then is further details into activity, task, and step. It supports the principle of
management by objectives/ deliverables by providing a map of what is to be produced in the
project. The sample of the WBS is given in the following diagram-

Sample WBS Project

Phase Phase Phase

1.0 2.0 3.0

Activity Activity Activity

2.1 2.2 2.3

Task Task Task

2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3

Step Step Step

2.1.1.1 2.1.1.2 2.1.1.3

The WBS must not only cover the “Product” of the project, but also the elements related to
initiating, planning, implementing, and completing activities of the project. The content should be
as explicit as possible.The WBS should answer the following questions 1) Does the details in the
WBS reflect the entire project? b) Are the work package SMART? c) Have the tasks been defined
clearly?

Advantages of WBS include:

 It helps to improve the accuracy of time, cost and resource estimates.
 It defines a base line for performance measurement and project control.
 It assists in communicating work responsibilities

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Work Breakdown Structure development approaches:

There are four basic approaches to create work breakdown structure.

1. Using Guidelines: Many organization especially government organizations will provide
strict guidelines for developing a WBS. So WBS can be developed by following those
guidelines. This enables them to compare costs estimates for various phases or levels of a
contract between competing bidders or against their own estimates.
2. The Analogy Approach: This is basically using a WBS developed for another project as a
template. A WBS can be created using the WBS of another project. Some organizations,
particularly those that have a project office, often have a library of documentation from
other projects including WBS.
3. The Top-Down Approach: The conventional method of creating a WBS from scratch
involves starting with the largest project items and then breaking them down in sub-tasks.
This works well for a project manager who already has a good grasp of the technical
details of a project or who managed a similar project before.
4. The Bottom-Up Approach: This method involves listing all the details tasks first and then
grouping or arranging them into higher level categories. This approach is often used on
entirely new systems approaches to jobs. Its time consuming approach.

4.5 Tools to Help Project Manager Plan for Crises

Project managers can not always predict every unforeseen event when planning and managing
their project. Experienced project manager often finds crises, miscommunications, mistakes,
oversights and disasters which must be managed as a part of successful project management. A
crisis could be internally generated, as in an earthquake, deregulation, and loss of key executives
through accidental death or internally generated as plan explosion or a stick. Crises disrupt
project activities to the point where new decision must be made to continue the project.

Project managers need effective tools to plan for and anticipate these crises. These are tools
project manager may not need every day, yet they need these tools to serve them in time of
emergency. Project manager’s experiences, skills and training should allow understanding and
using of these emergency tools to support quick and better decision making.

Here is given four types of emergency tools to help project manager to plan for crisis which are
Risk analysis, Contingency plan, Logic chart and Tabletop exercises.

a) Risk Analysis: An essential crisis planning tool is risk analysis. Risk analysis helps us find out
what can go wrong, what’s most probable, and what has the greatest impact. The combination of
event’s probability of occurrence and severity of consequences determine priorities. Incidence
analysis can also help us to understand the lessons learned in an actual crisis and develop plan to
mitigate the effects of similar incidents in the future.

b) Contingency Plan: Once the risk analysis is performed, project manager must translate
those risks in to contingency plans. Project managers need to sit down and ask, “When can go
wrong with my project?” Once identified, the project manager has a list of risks associated with a
particular project- the out put of the risk analysis. Then they should ask, “Which of these risks is
most likely happen?” and “Which of these will have the greatest impact?” “On what or whom?”.
This list question implies the vulnerability of the organization to the identified risks. Project
managers should develop plans that use the data from a risk analysis to prepare them and their
organizations for the broadest range of emergencies.

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c) Logic chart: Logic chart provide an overview of principal emergency response events and
recovery operations. The chart also depicts decisions, notifications, support requests and public
information actions. Use of properly prepared charts takes the effected site personnel through
event discovery, event assessment, identification of emergency classification level, and to the
activation of on-site response actions.

d) Tabletop exercise: A tabletop exercise involves assembling the people who will be
responding to a crisis and acting out possible scenarios in advance, usually in a conference room
or similar space. There, without the pressure of time or actual crisis, people have the freedom to
discuss alternatives and decide on the best course of action in a given situation. Tabletop also
provides an opportunity to rehearse the steps to take in a potential crisis. These same techniques
can help project managers prepare for possible crisis that may occur in their projects.

4.6 Approaches of Project Planning

4.6.1 Project Planning by Objectives
Project management is, above all, project cycle management within the context of the
development process. Planning forms an essential element for two main reasons. Firstly, planning
is an essential management tool enabling supervision of the whole project cycle. Secondly,
planning is an important aspect of the development process. Pursuant to PPO, planning is
essentially not a desk-based exercise but rather a means of consultation, dialogue and analysis.
This approach opens up the possibility of involving stakeholders, thereby ensuring their
motivation, commitment and identification with the project to be implemented.

Another name of project planning by objectives (PPO) is objective oriented project planning
(OOPP). This approach seeks to involve stakeholder participation during all stages of the
planning process. The PPO approach comprises the following phases:

 Problem identification
 Stakeholder analysis
 Problem analysis
 Analysis of objectives
 Project formulation

Defining the project context and objectives allows a “Logical Framework” chart to be prepared,
the next step in the project planning process.

4.6.1.1 Problem identification

Problem identification involves defining the inter-related constraints, which the project will need
to address and physical, socio-economic and technical factors that prevail in the project area.
Project identification involves analysis of the following factors:

 Historical origins and background of the problem

 Initial reports and reviews
 The relationship between project initiators and other stakeholders
 The institutional context.

Thorough identification of problems is essential for initiating the planning process. The analysis
should be sufficiently focused to ensure the maximum impact of project resources, and broad
enough to avoid overlooking essential inter-relations.

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4.6.1.2 Stakeholder Analysis: Participation and Solidarity
Strict task division and well-marked hierarchies are characteristics of the technocratic approach to
project management. Today, the concepts of participation and joint responsibility (solidarity) are
increasingly considered essential for successful project management. Stakeholders comprise all
individuals and organizations that are involved in the development process. (Vide – Figure-4.1)

International Donors / Aid Agencies

North East
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
South West

Beneficiaries –
Local Bodies / NGOs the “Target Group”

Other Organizations Political Institutions

The Project

Sponsoring Body
Govt. Sector Private Sector

Figure 2.1-Different stakeholders of a project

An initial step in project planning involves identifying and listing all stakeholders. This first list is
not exhaustive and is added to as the project progresses. The relationship of stakeholders to the
problem, the inter-relations between groups of stakeholders is analyzed. Power relations between
the stakeholders groups are also analyzed to enable determinations of the impact of the planned
interventions on different categories of stakeholder.

Stakeholder groups should be encouraged to join around the table at planning meetings. The issue
of full and representative participation may arise during such meetings. If only a few stakeholders
are involved, they may join the planning meeting. However, the number of stakeholders is large,
or if other factors prevent the different groups of stakeholders from participation at the same
meeting (e.g. if woman’s group cannot sit with men), each group should nominative its own
representative to attend planning meeting or a number of consultative meetings must be organized
to involve the different stakeholder groups.

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4.6.1.3 Problem analysis
Problem analysis can involve mapping the different constraints to form a “tree”. The tree can be
drawn up during planning meeting at which stakeholders are present, using a system of “file
cards”. Each stakeholder notes problems he or she confronts on a file card (or large “Post-it” type
of self-adhesive writing paper, if available). Each card should be dedicated to naming just one
problem, which is defined as succinctly as possible. A “facilitator” who must be demonstrably
impartial, pins the cards up on a board and subsequently validates each one as representing a
problem recognized by the other stakeholders present. (Cards describing problems concerning
just one individual, and duplicates should be set aside). Stakeholders aided by the facilitator,
attempt to established cause and effect relations for each of the problems described. Cards
describing problems, which during the meeting are viewed as clearly inter-related, are placed next
to one another. Cards describing a major problem that is believed to give rise to lesser problems
are pinned over the descriptions of the subsidiary problem. The process of pairing cards continues
until all the cards are displayed in the form of a “problem tree”.

4.6.1.4 Analysis of objectives

The analysis of objectives process refers to the problem tree developed in the previous section. It
involves preparing a second tree, (which is derived from the problem tree), in which, for each
problem, a positive objective is mapped in. This, of course, requires more than simply writing in
a positive objective for each problem situation enumerated. Often there are a number of
alternative solutions for the same problem. The objective that is finally decided upon is a result of
a policy-based decision regarding the development goal to be achieved on the one hand and the
recommendations of a feasibility study on the other. What is important in transforming problem
tree into a series of objectives is to verify that the objectives to be achieved are presented in a
logical sequence at every level of intervention.

4.6.1.5 Project identification

Analysis of problem and objective trees together often reveal “clusters” of specific objectives that
together form part of the wider objective as indicated in the upper section of the objectives tree.
The project identification process should identify these “clusters” of objectives clearly. Such
clusters often relate to a specific constraint or require the same input etc. After these clusters have
been identified and described planners must decide which clusters of problems will be included in
the project identification exercise. This decision is taken after considering all the factors
including the priorities of the different parties involved, available resources and policy concerns.
The decision process can be graphically presented in decision matrix format 1 as indicated below:

Cluster of Criteria Emergency Beneficiary Policy Financia Expert / Total

Objectives priority priority Priorit l Priority technical Scores
y resource
s
Cluster 1 Objectiv
e
Cluster 2 Objectiv
e
Cluster 3 Objectiv
e

1
Various systems for scoring may be used. One possibility is a 1 to 5, in which typically 1
indicates ‘low priority’ and 5 ‘high priority’ for that criterion. Alternatively, criteria can be
scored” ..O .. + + + +” . It is essential that only one system be used.

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 Cluster 4 Objectiv
e
Grand Total

The cluster of objectives that receives the highest score will be considered the wider objective of
the project. The hierarchy of objectives, on the basis of scores results from analyzing data used in
preparing the tree. This hierarchy of objectives allows the following questions to be answered:

 Why was the project implemented or what is the change that the project is expected to
produce? (Defines the “Wider Objective” of the project.)
 What specific changes are expected? (Defines the “ Specific Objective”)
 How will the project achieve these objectives? (Defines the “Outputs” during the
existence of the project.)
 What will occur during the project? (Defines “ Activities” initiated by the project)

To facilitate ordering the different objectives of the project (Wider objective, Specific objective)
in order of priority, one can use a planning frame such as that of the “Logical Framework”
approach.

Source:
Lecture Materials of Prof. Dr. Hugu Coudere, University of Antwerp – RUCA, Belgium.

4.6.2 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)

Participation is an educative process. Approaches based on participation first appeared in more
developed societies. Nowadays, these are commonly used in development planning. In the recent
years the World Bank and other donor agencies have begun to adopt popular participatory
approach -Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in their development works. Although the
participatory approaches have a lot of merits, these have a number of demerits too. The main
advantages and disadvantages of a participatory approach like PRA, during the project planning
stage have been given below:

4.6.2.1 Advantages of PRA

1. PRA is an approach for shared learning between village people and outsiders to enable
development practitioners; government officials and local people to plan together appropriate
interventions.
2. Participatory decision making produces better ‘fit’ between what local people want and what
development agencies offer, and thus more effective during project planning stage.
3. Development projects have a greater chance of success with the involvement of target groups
from the tier of planning.
4. PRA is a bottom-up approach, which suggests to be guided from the initial stage like
planning according to the opinions of the real beneficiaries
5. Participation during the project planning stage provides planner with the information, which
is otherwise hard to come by.
6. People in the rural areas may be illiterate and ill-equipped to draw-up blueprints for
development, but they surely know (and often far more than the outside experts) what their
real needs are, and also what should be planned to meet those needs.
7. Participatory approach like PRA enhances the willingness of rural people in accepting any
decision since they are used from the planning level of a project.
8. Participation during project planning stage reduces budgetary cost by mobilizing unused
labor and other local resources.

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9. The involvement of more people in the project planning is known to have led to timely
completion of many projects.
10. Above all, participatory approach like PRA teaches rural people how to promote their
development by actually participating in the process of planning, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of development projects.
4.6.2.2 Disadvantages of PRA
1. The deeply ingrained attitudes of fatalism among most of the village people hinder the
development planning of a project.
2. PRA raises expectation of the local people involving them during the project planning stage
of a project.
3. PRA does not allow sufficient time for the team to relax with local people, to listen to them,
and to learn about the more sensitive issues effective for project planning.
4. The logical arrangements for PRA works during the project planning stage are costly enough
and often it’s a question of cost-effectiveness of the process.
5. The rural people lack resources (i.e. adequate time, appropriate contacts, money and often
time) for effective participation in project planning.

From the above discussion, it’s obvious that the disadvantages of PRA during project planning
stage are not significant enough as compared to its advantages. That’s why presently PRA is
being used widely during the project planning as well as other stages of a project cycle.

COURSE TEACHER:
Dr. Md. Hasan Uddin
Professor
Department of Finance and Banking
Patuakhali Science and Technology University
Email: hasan14860@yahoo.com
Mobile: 01812076429

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