Project Management Plan
Abstract
The project management plan (PMP) described in this chapter is often referred to as the 'bible of the project'. This document encapsulates a summary of all the essential requirements, methods, and procedures that are needed to deliver the benefits of the project. The constituents of the Why, the What, the When, the Who, the Where, and the How are listed for each of these major sections of the PMP. The way a PMP should be organized for easy and quick reference is described. Also included is a list of company procedures and standards that must be followed.
Keywords
Project management plan (PMP); procedures; methods; standards; requirements; project bible
Chapter Outline
As soon as the project manager has received his or her brief or project instructions, he or she must produce a document that distils what is generally a vast amount of information into a concise, informative, and well-organized form that can be distributed to all members of the project team and indeed all the stakeholders in the project. This document is called a project management plan (PMP). It is also sometimes just called a project plan, or in some organizations a coordination procedure.
The PMP is one of the key documents required by the project manager and his or her team. It lists the phases and encapsulates all the main parameters, standards, and requirements of the project in terms of time, cost, and quality/performance by setting out the ‘Why’, ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Who’, ‘Where’, and ‘How’ of the project. In some organizations the PMP also includes the ‘How much’, that is, the cost of the project. There may, however, be good commercial reasons for restricting this information to key members of the project team.
The contents of a PMP vary depending on the type of project. While it can run to several volumes for a large petrochemical project, it need not be more than a slim binder for a small, unsophisticated project.
There are, however, a number of areas and aspects that should always feature in such a document. These are set out very clearly in Table 1 of BS 6079-1-2002. With the permission of the British Standards Institution, the main headings of what is termed the model project plan are given below, but augmented and rearranged in the sections given above.
General
The Why
The What
The When
The Who
The Where
The How
11. Project approvals required and authorization limits
13. Project implementation strategy
15.1 Cultural and environmental restraints
18.1 Configuration control requirements
18.2 Configuration management system
22.1 Warranties and guarantees
23. Reliability management (see also BS 5760: Part 1)
23.1 Availability, reliability, and maintainability (ARM)
24. Health and safety management
The numbering of the main headings should be standardized for all projects in the organization. In this way the reader will quickly learn to associate a clause number with a subject. This will not only enable him or her to find the required information quickly but will also help the project manager when he or she has to write the PMP. The numbering system will in effect serve as a convenient checklist. If a particular item or heading is not required, it is best simply to enter ‘not applicable’ (or NA), leaving the standardized numbering system intact.
Apart from giving all the essential information about the project between two covers, for quick reference, the PMP serves another very useful function. In many organizations the scope, technical, and contractual terms of the project are agreed on in the initial stages by the proposals or sales department. It is only when the project becomes a reality that the project manager is appointed. By having to assimilate all these data and write such a PMP (usually within two weeks of the handover meeting), the project manager will inevitably obtain a thorough understanding of the project requirements as he or she digests the often voluminous documentation agreed on with the client or sponsor.
Clearly not every project requires the exact breakdown given in this list, and each organization can augment or expand this list to suit the project. If there are any subsequent changes, it is essential that the PMP is amended as soon as changes become apparent so that every member of the project team is immediately aware of the latest revision. These changes must be numbered on the amendment record at the front of the PMP and annotated on the relevant page and clause with the same amendment number or letter.
The contents of the project management plan are neatly summarized in the first verse of the little poem from The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling:
Methods and Procedures
Methods and procedures are the very framework of project management and are necessary throughout the life cycle of the project. All the relevant procedures and processes are set out in the project management plan, where they are customized to suit the particular project.
Methods and procedures should be standardized within an organization to ensure that project managers do not employ their own pet methods or ‘reinvent the wheel’.
All the organization’s standard methods and procedures as well as some of the major systems and processes should be enshrined in a company project manual. This should then be read and signed by every project manager who will then be familiar with the company systems and thus avoid wasteful and costly duplication. The main contents of such a manual are the methods and procedures covering:
• Company policy and mission statement
• Company organization and organization chart
• Accountability and responsibilities
• Planning and network analysis
• Change management (change control)
• Procurement (bid preparation, purchasing, expediting, inspection, shipping)
• Contract management and documentation
• Quality management and control
• Value management and value engineering
It will be seen that this list is very comprehensive but in every case a large proportion of the documentation required can be standardized. There are always situations where a particular method or procedure has to be tailored to suit the circumstances or where a system has to be simplified, but the standards set out in the manual form a baseline that acts as a guide for any necessary modification.
Certain UK government departments, a number of local authorities, and other public bodies have adopted a project management methodology called PRINCE 2 (an acronym for Projects In a Controlled Environment). This was developed by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) for IT and government contracts but has not found favour in the construction industry due to a number of differences in approach to reporting procedures, management responsibilities, and assessing durations with respect to resources.