The concept of planning and project planning
Planning is the process of creating and adopting qualitative and quantitative targets, as well as identifying ways to achieve them most effectively. These installations are most often developed as a tree of goals and characterize the future, as well as as possible expressed by a numerical set of indicators that are key to a certain level of management.
There are a number of reasons for the need for plans. The most significant of these are:
- coordinating the role of the plan,
- uncertainty of the future,
- optimizing economic results.
If the future of the project were indeed absolutely predetermined, there would be no need for continuous plans, improved structuring and compiling methods. It follows that the main purpose of each plan is not to determine the exact benchmarks and figures, as this cannot be done in principle, but to establish in each of the most important areas of a certain "segment" within which one or the other indicator can vary.
The point of the coordinating role of the plan is that well-structured target installations discipline both current and forward-looking activities, allowing the organization to operate without significant disruptions, brings it into a certain system.
The last reason for the need to make plans is that any disagreement within the organization entails financial costs (direct or indirect) to overcome it. If the work is carried out as planned, the probability of such a disagreement is much lower; however, the negative financial costs are less significant.
Planning provides an opportunity to ensure a high probability and a high level of achievement of goals, based on the systematic preparation of solutions. Thus, it is a prerequisite for the effective implementation of the project.
The main tool for integrating project participants is the project plan. Making and agreeing a project plan by all participants provides a better understanding of responsibility and their objectives.
The project plan provides a detailed analysis of how to balance the project's costs, quality, schedule and implementation dates.
Project planning tasks
During the project planning phase, a number of challenges are being addressed:
- Approval of the project plan
- Agreeing a plan by key project participants
- Creating and refining project management procedures
- Clarifying and detailing the goals and objectives of the project
- Clarifying the scope of work and the composition of the project;
- Clarifying how to interact in the project team, as well as between the external environment and the project team;
- Assessing and developing a risk response plan
- Clarifying the need for resources, a project resource plan (or individual project stages);
- develop a project budget and a real schedule (or individual stages).
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Structure and stages of project management plan
The main stages of the planning process according to the standard model of the consulting company Booz, Allen and Hamilton are presented on rice.
1. Formation of goals.
Two groups of targets are being developed in the planning.
Formal goals are criteria for assessing the status of the project and the usefulness of the activity, which is formed from the motivation of those who make decisions.
Real goals are ways to achieve formal goals (the products that need to be produced, its quantity and quality, the required amount of resources, their quantity and quality).
The analysis of problems includes the following steps:
- Analysis of the actual state
- State forecast
- Identify problems by comparing the target system with the results of the analysis and forecasting of the state;
- structuring existing problems.
When structuring problems, they must first be broken down into two types.
External issues that cannot be resolved by the project team throughout the planning period.
The problems are internal,the solution of which depends on the efficiency of project management.
After you need problems that have been classified in the second category, break down into two subspecies.
Problems that do not require a lot of time and financial costs. This type of problem is solved in current or operational planning.
Problems that require a significant amount of funding and a long time to solve. These problems are considered in the preparation of forward-looking plans and forecasts.
3. Search for alternatives. Alternatives mean mutually exclusive solutions.
Forecasting is important in long-term projects. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish between two types of forecasts.
Forecasts of the situation are reflected in the indicators of the external environment, which decision-makers cannot influence in the period under review.
Impact forecasts form an idea of what results each of the existing decisions will lead to, i.e. how this decision will affect the project's performance.
Evaluating alternatives in terms of risk, effectiveness and acceptability is the basis for decision-making.
The optimal is a practically implemented and legal alternative, which allows to get closer to fulfilling the real goals with the existing restrictions - labor, temporary, resource, etc.
During the project, you need to update the plan to take into account the changes you make and the current state. Thus, the project plan is the basis for assessing the progress made in the implementation of the project.
In order to ensure the accuracy of the plan and the feasibility of the project, the manager needs to solve the following tasks: agreeing on the responsibility of the main participants of the project for the results.
Planning the organizational structure of the project and ensuring that the necessary resources are attracted.
Achieving a consistent understanding of the scope and structure of the project, as well as resource needs with the main participants of the project and the customer.
Involving key players in the planning process, ensuring responsibility for the planned metrics.
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