Project planning entails the use of schedules such as Gantt charts for planning and reporting the progress of a report. In most cases, it is usually used to organize different areas of a project such as workloads, project plans as well as the management of individuals and teams (Haugan, 2002). It is for this reason that project planning should be undertaken before the start of the project to determine the approximate duration a project is expected to take. Furthermore, project planning also provides a good basis for costs and resources of each project activity to be approximated for necessary allocations. Therefore, a project manager will only be able to establish the total cost of a project upon undertaking detailed planning process (Haugan, 2002). Significant project inputs planning include the concept proposal and the project charter whereas the outputs of the project planning phase include the project schedule, project requirement, and the project management plan. This paper will seek to discuss concepts such as the purpose of planning in a project, steps in project planning and scheduling, WBS, network diagrams, developing the schedule, and preparing the project plan.
Purpose of Planning in a Project
Planning in a project is usually undertaken to control and coordinate diverse and complex activities. In this case, the undertaken planning process helps foresee many potential problems likely to be encountered in a project, thus planning accordingly to ensure successful completion of key project tasks. It is for this reason that when planning for a project, a project manager will decide tasks that need to be done (Haugan, 2002). The planning process can also involve key aspects such as organizing, staffing, directing, monitoring and liaising with others. Alternatively, planning in a project also helps in facilitating the process of setting objectives. Through the planning process, specific project objectives can be laid down, thus increasing chances to attain specific outcome intended by the project manager. It is for this reason that the outlined project objectives should not be vague. Instead, measuring objectives should be undertaken to help track down the progress of a project. By planning, the adopted project objectives should also demonstrate how successful the project has been. In a typical project environment, there are various interim project objectives that are supposed to be accomplished by teams working on the project. In this regard, project teams may have the responsibility to achieve multiple objectives in pursuit of the targeted final objective of the project (Haugan, 2002). Nonetheless, project planning can help in ensuring that there is a clear objective of what is supposed to be accomplished. In this case, such an approach determines the milestones of the project and the difficult tasks that need to be prioritized.
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Planning in a project can also help in the assessment of potential risks likely to be encountered in a project. In this case, the project manager will be able to know what is at stake and plan accordingly for the successful completion of the project. Furthermore, planning helps in the allocation of key resources in a project. In this case, a project manager will know the resources at disposal and the best way of allocating them as per the adopted plan for successful completion of the project. This is essential considering that over-allocation of resources is likely to stall major tasks in a project.
Planning in a project is also important for task dependencies. In this case, the project manager will know the tasks that are dependent on each other, then plan accordingly for the successful completion of the project (Haugan, 2002). Furthermore, planning can also facilitate communication in a project considering that a project team will know what is supposed to be done. Therefore, this ensures that important milestones and expectations are met within the allocated timeframe.
Steps in Project Planning and Scheduling
Identification and meeting with stakeholders is the first step in project planning and scheduling. In this case, a project manager should identify all relevant stakeholders to the project and cater to their interests when creating the project plan (Ursula Kuehn PMP, 2006). For instance, a project manager can meet key stakeholders, and project sponsors to discuss their expectations and needs as well as establish project budget, scope, and timeline.
Setting and prioritizing of goals is the second step in project planning and scheduling. In this case, a project manager is expected to list the needs of stakeholders and prioritize them concerning the specific goals of the project (Haugan, 2002). However, this should be underlined with the benefits and the metrics the project manager hopes to achieve. Definition of deliverables is the third step in project planning and scheduling. In this case, a project manager identifies key project planning steps and deliverables required to meet the goals of the project. In this regard, the estimation of due dates for each project deliverable will be incorporated in the project plan for consideration.
Creating the project schedule is the fourth step in project planning and scheduling. In this regard, a project manager examines each deliverable and other tasks that should be completed for the accomplishment of key project goals (Ursula Kuehn PMP, 2006). The created project schedule will also help the project manager identify any dependencies among tasks to be completed. At this point, the identified dependencies, input deliverables, and milestones are incorporated in the project’s Gantt chart.
Identification of issues and risk assessment is the fifth step in project planning and assessment. As such, the project manager identifies upfront issues likely to affect the project planning process and other unforeseen circumstances that may create hiccups. Therefore, a negative impact of such issues will be limited for the successful completion of the project.
Presentation of the project plan to stakeholders is the sixth and final step in project planning and scheduling. In this case, a project manager explains to the stakeholders how the adopted plan addresses their expectations (Haugan, 2002). Therefore, this will help in ensuring that the stakeholders who what is expected of them and the appropriate actions that should be taken for successful completion of the project.
WBS
Work breakdown structure (WBS) is a deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project being undertaken into smaller components. In this regard, it helps in the organization of the team’s work into manageable sections (Haugan, 2002). Unlike other project elements, WBS can be data, product or even service. Furthermore, WBS provides an appropriate framework detailing the estimation of costs in a project and the control measures guiding key schedule development. It is for this reason that the development of WBS occurs at the beginning of the project (Ursula Kuehn PMP, 2006). However, it precedes task planning and detailed project.
Network Diagram
A network diagram is a visual representation of the schedule adopted in a project. In this case, it is useful for tracking and planning the project being undertaken from the beginning to the end. Similarly, a network diagram can also be adapted to present the critical path and the scope for the project. It can either be in the form of a precedence diagram or the arrow diagram. Such tools are usually used in the entire process of project management (Haugan, 2002). In this regard, they help the management team working on the project to visualize the planning efforts that have been put in a project. Furthermore, they also give a quick-glance view of the project by demonstrating persons responsible for different tasks in a project.
Developing the Schedule
Developing the schedule is important in project management. In particular, a well-designed schedule should enable the project’s stakeholders to use their time wisely to deliver the results. Despite this, a developed schedule also helps in ensuring that the adopted project lifecycle id able to meet the necessary deadlines. In the entire process, a project manager should analyze key aspects such as resource requirements, activity sequences, as well as schedule and duration constraints when creating a project schedule (Haugan, 2002). However, the key advantage of this is that it uses different resources and inputs such as logical relationship, duration, schedule activities, and resource ability, thus enabling the project manager to create schedule model with planned dates for completion of key project activities. One notable thing is that development of the project schedule is an iterative way since one activity has to be completed to proceed to another. However, a project manager can assign tasks to schedules that may not be constrained by time. An appropriately developed schedule should demonstrate when a project activity should be accomplished.
Preparing the Project Plan
When preparing the project plan, a project manager should clarify the primary reasons for undertaking the project and the desired results upon its completion (Ursula Kuehn PMP, 2006). Upon identification of the deliverables and outcomes of the project, then the work required for accomplishing the identified deliverables should be recorded in a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to determine the roles and responsibility of each project activity. This may be facilitated by adopting the responsibility breakdown matrix (Haugan, 2002). A project manager can then proceed to create a network diagram representing key dependencies among various activities and deliverables as outlined in the WBS. This will facilitate the estimation of resources needed to complete the project. At this point, a project manager can also analyze, identify and plan for unprecedented risks when preparing the project plan.
Conclusion
Appropriate project planning is a key determiner of the success of a project. In this regard, the paper has highlighted the key purpose of planning in a project and the steps that should be undertaken by the project manager when planning and scheduling the project. Besides this, the paper has also illuminated on concepts such as WBS, network diagrams, developing the schedule and preparing the project plan to show their relevance in the entire project management course.
References
Haugan, G. T. (2002). Project planning and scheduling . Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Ursula Kuehn PMP, E. V. P. (2006). Integrated cost and schedule control in project management . Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
