BUS402: Project Management

Believe it or not, we have officially completed the planning phase of the project management lifecycle. The project plan is the approved, formal, documented plan that's used to guide you throughout the project execution phase. The plan is made up of all the processes of the planning phase. It is the map that tells you where you're going and how to perform the activities of the project plan during the project execution phase. It serves several purposes; the most important of which is tracking and measuring project performance. The project plan is critical in all communications you'll have from here forward with the stakeholders, management, and customers. The project plan encompasses everything we talked about up to now and is represented in a formal document or collection of documents. This document contains the project scope, deliverables, assumptions, risks, WBS, milestones, project schedule, resources, communication plan, the project budget and any procurement needs. It becomes the baseline you'll use to measure and track progress against. It is also used to help you control the components that tend to stray away from the original plan so you can get them back on track.

The project plan is used as a communication and information tool for stakeholders, team members and the management team. They will use the project plan to review and gauge progress as well. Your last step in the planning phase is obtaining sign-off of the project plan from stakeholders, the sponsor and the management team. If they've been an integral part of the planning processes all along (and I know you know how important this is), obtaining sign-off of the project plan should simply be a formality.