What is a Project Management Plan and How to Create One

1. What is a Project Management Plan and How to Create One

2. What is a Project Management Plan?  The Project manager creates the project management plan following inputs from the project team and the key stakeholders. A Project management plan is a formal, approved document that defines how the project is executed, monitored, and controlled. It may be a summary or a detailed document and may include baselines, subsidiary management plans, and other planning documents. This document is used to define the approach the project team takes to deliver the intended project management scope of the project.

3. What Is a Project Management Plan Used For?  There are no shortcuts to a thorough understanding of your project than through a well-written, well-structured project plan document.  When compared to the project charter, which is a high-level strategy for the program, your project management plan breaks down that high-level perspective into the practical day-to-day operation of your project, addressing everything you must accomplish in order to achieve your project objectives.  Everything from timeframes to budgets, resources to deliverables, and more will be plotted out in a complete project plan, providing you with a roadmap of what needs fixing that you could use to manage and analyze your project.

4. What are the Components of a Project Management Plan?  A project management plan is a collection of baselines and subsidiary plans that include:  Baselines for scope, schedule, and cost  Management plans for scope, schedule, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement  Requirement management plan  Change management plan  Configuration management plan  Process improvement plan

5. The Importance of Project Management Planning  There is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into any successful project. When you're a project manager, you'll have a lot to remember at all times. As a result of your project plan, you will know precisely what to concentrate on at each stage of the project, where to allocate resources and time, as well as what to watch out for in case things run over schedule or over budget.  In order to get the most out of a project, you need to put in a lot of effort upfront to create a project plan that will serve you well throughout the project's lifespan. Here are five reasons why project management planning is essential.

6. It Serves as a Starting Point for Your Project  Your project plan, based on the agreed-upon scope, timeframe, and budget, will be developed in accordance with the authorized project charter. Having these baselines in place, specified, and authorized by the project owner will allow you to compare the actual progress of your project to how it was expected to be achieved.  This is very beneficial since it allows you to rapidly assess whether or not your project is progressing according to plan and, if it isn't, what needs to be done to fix the situation.

7. The Project Is More Organized  There are no alarms or surprises when your project is written out in a clear project plan. To make sure there is no space for misunderstanding or miscommunication, your thorough project plan will lay out all of the deadlines and deliverables in great detail so that everyone involved is aware of exactly what is expected of them.

8. It Lays Down the Project’s Scope in Detail  Another advantage of this alignment is that it prevents scope creep. When the project plan document clearly defines the stakeholder's expectations and all agreed-upon deliverables, it's easy to identify when anything is out of scope.  In addition, it makes it simpler to deal with these issues. As a result, everyone can be persuaded of what they initially committed to, and there is no doubt about what is (or isn't) within the scope of the project, owing to a written contract or project planning sheet.

9. Things You Need to Know Before Writing a Project Plan  Determine the Project’s Baselines  The first step in creating a project strategy is to ensure you understand the fundamentals. Start with establishing the project's scope, timeline, and cost baselines, since these restrictions will dictate the remainder of your project planning.  Aside from the project charter, here is the place where you truly begin to map out these baselines and establish reliable estimations. Because you'll be comparing them to other projects to see how well yours does, be as specific as possible.

10. Determine the Repercussions of Your Project’s Failure to Meet Its Goals  Alternatively, you may ask yourself: what must happen first in order for the next step to be possible? Establishing your project's dependencies early on allows you to better manage your timetables, identify possible roadblocks, and minimize delays.

11. How to Turn Your Project Management Plan Into a Plan of Action  Using a project management tool, you can bring your defined project management strategy to life, ensuring that you remain on schedule, hold your team responsible, and promote openness throughout the project.  Project Management Plan Approval  Since the project management plan is a formal document that is used to manage the execution of the project, it must receive formal approval. Who grants the approval for the project management plan depends on the organizational structure and a number of other factors.

12.  Usually, the customer or the senior management of an organization does not approve the project management plan document. The customer signs the contract but often leaves the internal workings of the organization delivering the project. Typically the project plan is approved by the project manager, project sponsor, or the functional managers who provide the resources for the project.  It becomes less difficult for a project manager to get the project management plan approved, if:  All the stakeholders are identified along with and their requirements and objectives.  The project manager handles conflicting priorities in advance.