Table of Contents:-
- Project Planning Meaning
- Objectives of Project Planning
- Scope of Project Planning
- Importance of Project Planning
- Functions of Project Planning
- Project Planning Selection: A Complex Decision
Project Planning Meaning
Project planning is the art and science of using historical data, archived information, personal expertise, institutional memory, organisational knowledge, and project scope statements to predict a project’s resource expenditures, total cost, and duration. It also includes developing guidelines for ensuring the quality of the deliverable, responding to adverse events, and dealing with the inevitable changes to the project plan.
Planning is a process of deciding in advance about tasks and activities to be undertaken in future. Planning in business is the function of selecting enterprise objectives and establishing policies, procedures and programmes necessary for achieving them. The ultimate purpose of planning is to build a model that enables the project manager to predict which activities and resources are critical to the timely completion of the project. Strategies may then be implemented to ensure that these activities and resources are adequately managed, thus ensuring that the project will be delivered both on time and within budget.
It is therefore the process of determining in advance the work to be done on a project and scheduling is assigning specific times or dates to the work.
According to Koontz and O’Donnell, “Planning is to a large extent the job of making things happen Chat would not otherwise occur”. They go on to state “Planning is thus an intellectual process, the conscious determination of courses of action, the basing of decisions on purpose, facts, and considered estimates”.
Read More:– Process of Human Resource Planning
Objectives of Project Planning
The objectives of project planning are as follows:
- Anticipating
- Coordinating and Controlling
- Information Management
- Scheduling
- Analyzing
1) Anticipating
The second objective is to focus on probable potential problems, to plan and overcome them, and to predict associated risks. So that their effects can be minimized, it can be argued that this is the major of project scheduling, may it be for any civil construction, oil rigs, public sector dams and bridges, or a chemical plant, as civil engineering is a fairly high-risk business, and the planning of many such activities is fraught with uncertainty.
2) Coordinating and Controlling
Another supporting objective is to seek an uninterrupted network on the shop floor as well as with outside parties and contractors involved in the project to develop a platform for appropriate estimating and controlling the time and costs.
3) Information Management
Finally, the aim of project scheduling is also to furnish the relevant information to help scheduling better, present the facts on the project and derive some more additional data that can be put to use in the preparation of plans.
4) Scheduling
The next important objective is to identify appropriate resources to enable optimum utility of the available scarce resources at each aspect of the project and also consider multiple projects together for the organization as a whole.
5) Analyzing
Planning of the project aims to visualize how the job will be done, in what order and with what resources by syncopating the project, or part of the project, to several manageable activities. Each activity should be readily identifiable as a definite piece of work, ideally relating to the project management structure and thus under the control of a specific individual.
Scope of Project Planning
Planning can be one of the most overlooked areas of project management. After project approval, everyone just wants to run off and start working.
Project scope is the first stage of planning. It is defined as the size of the work involved to complete the project. Project managers need to be aware of what is included in the project as well as what is excluded. Scope planning will assist in getting the manager’s arms around a project and setting the boundaries for what is included in the project.
There are three scope components to complete scope planning:
1) Scope Management Plan
The scope management plan documents the procedures that the project manager will use to manage any proposed changes to the project scope throughout the life of the project.
2) Work Break-Down Structure
The final component of scope is the work breakdown structure, which breaks the project deliverables down into smaller activities from which the project manager can estimate task durations, assign resources, and estimate costs.
3) Scope Statement
It provides a common understanding of the project by documenting the project objectives and deliverables.
Thus, project scope is the work that is done to deliver the product or service. Although this sounds simple, a poorly defined scope can lead to missed deadlines, cost overruns, and unhappy clients. Good scope planning helps ensure that all of the work required to complete the task is agreed on and documented. Scope planning builds on and adds detail to the outputs which have been created for the project charter. Scope planning is the starting point for defining the activities required to deliver the product requirements.
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Importance of Project Planning
It has the following importance:
1) Cost Control,
2) Finish the project on time,
3) Give help in managing all the affairs.
4) Reduced amount of re-work, fewer changes,
5) Knowledge of scheduled times for key project parts,
6) Continuous, uninterrupted workflow with no delays,
7) Stability of people, defined responsibility and authority,
8) Broadening the core team’s understanding of the project,
9) Clear understanding of who does what, when and for how much,
10) Integration of all work to ensure a quality project for the owner,
11) Increased knowledge of project status through timely reports to management,
Functions of Project Planning
Projects involving few resources, activities, constraints and inter-relationships can be visualized easily by the human mind and planned informally. However, when a project reaches a certain level of size and complexity, informal planning has to be substituted by formal planning. Project work requires formal planning to a much greater extent than regular operations. Without effective planning, there may be chaos.
Planning is an important element of management that serves several necessary functions:
1) It induces people to look ahead.
2) It establishes the basis for monitoring and control.
3) It instils a sense of urgency and time consciousness.
4) It is a means of communication and coordination between all those involved in the project.
5) It provides a basis for organizing the work on the project and allocating responsibilities to individuals.
Project Planning Selection: A Complex Decision
The first difficult task before an entrepreneur is to select a project, thus various aspects of project identification. The sensible entrepreneur has an infinitely wide choice concerning the new project. These may be project/service, market, technology, equipment, scale of production, location, etc. The selection of a feasible and promising task is really difficult; it needs proper planning and evaluation. The selection of a feasible project depends to a large extent on government policies, infrastructural development and skills of the employees.
With the project charter developed and agreed upon, there are five strands of planning which can commence simultaneously the project structures, planning the activities and resources, planning to manage risk and quality, planning project logistics and planning for evaluation. The evaluation assesses how planning and managing for future impact is done during the project cycle. Projects involve collaboration, where partners have co-responsibility for achieving outcomes and ultimately impact.