Project Planning

The project planning activity can be simple or complex and time-consuming depending on its:

a.      Size

b.     Technical complexity, geographical dispersion

c.     Definition of requirements certainty.

In small projects the planning of all activities and resources for the required activities can be done informally.  Beyond a certain size and complexity, planning and control, is not only more difficult but essential for success. 

In practice in major projects you have to plan the planning process since often the required information is not yet available as the project is likely to still be in the definition stage. 

In the management of operations:

1.     Work follows well ordered routine

2.     People know their job

3.     Relationships exist

4.     Learning curve increases due to repetition

5.     Budgets change only slightly from period to period

A relatively static condition that is not the case in project work. The latter being:

          i.e.        Non routine

                          Temporary nature

                     Communication more important for success

   Need to promote time&cost considerations which requires   baseline for control

   Staffed only for project’s duration

In summary, project planning is done to serve as a means for:

1.     Organizing the work 

2.     Deciding who does what, when, how and for how much

3.     Determining the resources required

4.     Allocating the resources on a time phased basis 

5.     Allocating and defining responsibility 

6.     Specifying communication channels and requirements between all those involved 

7.     Coordination of all activities 

8.     Controlling progress 

9.     Estimating time to completion 

10. Handling Change 

The plan also serves as a basis for: 

a.      Project manager’s authority. 

b.     Budgeting and financial control 

c.     Self analysis and learning 

d.     Means for orientation of people and for the individual work planning.

 Should be obvious that project planning: 

1.     Can be difficult 

2.     Requires systematic analysis, knowledge, imagination and creative thinking.  Consideration of intangibles. 

3.     Requires conceptual rather than utilization of day-to-day skills which most managers feel more comfortable doing. 

4.     Needs the line managers to be involved 

a.      To secure their knowledge 

b.     To gain their involvement and commitment 

c.     Since they are accountable 

The level of detail should be appropriate to that needed to administer and for usefulness:

          (i.e. not too difficult to understand or costly to administer) 

Planning Process

1.     Project objectives and goals must be well understood (at least by project manager) by those responsible for doing the work. 

Needed to know: 

          Technical expectations 

          Time expectations 

          $ Resources availability and constraints 

The customer (inside/outside) supplies this, hence it is important for them to be involved in planning.  This will avoid misunderstanding and non-desirable outcomes. 

2.     Actually done by planning engineers. Some of which is, already being thought about when preparing proposal and bid.  Need to specify the details that can be used to direct and control the work. 

    3. First thing is to specify a statement of work.  This is a narrative description of work to be accomplished.          

 Should be reviewed and approved by customer so that there is an agreement. 

    4. Using the statement of work defining all the tasks that have to be done and organizing them in a sequential pattern. 

Formal approach used to do this is called setting up a work breakdown structure. 

-          Breaking project into work units, called work packages 

-          These should be of a size where they can be managed, budgeted, scheduled and monitored. 

-          Represent roughly the same levels of effort. 

-          Relatively small in time/cost compared to total project. 

-          Of a size that keeps administrative costs to a minimum. 

-          Usually the complexity of the project determines the number of levels (detail extent) in a WBS 

Typical work package contains write-up of: 

§        Work that is to be done

§        Inputs required

§        Specification of time and milestones

§        Resource requirements:

          labor, material, equipment, facilities

§        Who is responsible:

Person, Unit

Need a good numbering system to be able to plan and control (cannot trace without it). 

WBS is reviewed to see that everything required to do project is included and changed when necessary. 

With the work breakdown structure: 

1.     The work involved is described, summarized in hierarchic order.

2.     The costs are defined allowing budgeting.

3.     Information is provided for developing

Responsibility matrix

Organizational structure

Schedules – Gantt, Network

Milestones

4.     A basis exists for monitoring and controlling project performance.

5.     Accountability and responsibility is specified.

6.     Risk analysis is facilitated

With the WBS defined work packages are scheduled in terms of time and sequence. 

Widely used methods to do this are:

          Gantt, PERT/CPM, GERT Techniques

Planning Tools 

1.     Standard operating procedures – that set the guideline what is permissible (i.e. mgt policies. 

2.     Check lists that support help prevent overlooking key items. 

3.     If repeated work is done – set up templates that can be used and adapted. 

4.     Historical Data Bases 

5.     Code of accounts – to capture information at various level of details

Work done, costs 

6.     Commercial Handbook and software programs

Users must understand limitation and use judiciously

Planning for Quality

Purpose is to eliminate rework cost

 Can never be 100% accomplished but attempt should be made to minimize

 Recommended action to have in place:

-          Design Review

-          Pilot plants where appropriate

-          Check Lists

-          Trained work force

-          Definition of Critical Items

-          Periodic Inspection points

-          Tools and equipment capable of producing to specification

-          Maintenance of quality culture

-          Top Management interest in quality

In summary the output of the project planning process should be:

     1.      Statement of work

2.     Appropriate work breakdown structure

3.     Baseline Budget

4.     Time schedule with appropriate milestone

5.     Project Organization Chart

Some recommendation for successful planning: 

-          Be conservative

-          Encourage communication and interchange among all those concerned with the project

-          Identify and plan for the risks involved

-          Be objective

-          Employ knowledgeable people and spell out assumptions

-          Consider all factors that could impact project (From inside and outside the organization) and where required have contingency actions in place.

General Observation

§        It is unfortunate that often the focus is on mechanical (techniques).  This is fostered by the computer planning and control systems being utilized rather than attention to the human aspects, which are crucial for project success. 

§        It is to be expected that as the projects proceeds/changes occur or it is of such a nature (i.e. new technology) that the work involved is not well understood (unknown) that replanning should be expected as the project progresses. Hence, the planning procedure should facilitate flexibility. 

§        Since company policies have organizational priority project policies should conform (i.e. personnel, financial mgt., purchasing, etc.) to these by project. 

§        Involve all functions affected and seek the input of knowledgeable people, (the result likely better plans and less future change and difficulty). 

§        Define responsibilities and eliminate overlap to best degree possible. 

§        Provide a conflict/dispute resolution process.

Examples of: 

§       Work breakdown structure 

§       Responsibility Chart 

§       Time Schedule ( GMNT, CPM)