Planning Fundamentals

Overview

o Project Definition – Where do you start?

• A few key areas to consider

o Planning

• Approaches to Planning

• Planning Strategies

• Breakdown Structures

• Dependencies

• Costs & Budgets

Business Case

o Provides justification for undertaking a

project • Benefits

• Cost and Risk of alternative options

• Rationale for preferred solution

o Key Go / No-Go decision point

o Typical Business Case contents;

• Exec Summary

• Strategic Case

• Economic Options

• Benefits

• Compromises / Disadvantages

• Timescale

• Cost & Performance Analysis

• Resources

• Risks & Opportunities

• Strategic Fit within Business

• Time Assumptions

• Funding Requirements

• Resource Requirements

Scope Management

o Process of developing the description of

the project and its deliverables • All work is specified and related to the

project objectives

• Business plan will define the breadth of

project scope

o Requires buy-in from all key stakeholders;

• Project Executive

• Sponsor

• Programme Manager

• End User

• Any other key stakeholders

Requirements Management

o Process of capturing, assessing and justifying stakeholders wants and needs • Requirements become the principal project deliverables

• Requirements management is ongoing throughout the project lifecycle

o Requirement Definition • Consider acceptance criteria used for previous projects of a similar nature

• Consider standards, legal acts and regulations to be complied with

Requirements Management

o Requirements Management Process • Capture and define requirements from all stakeholders

• Link requirements to product breakdown structures and work breakdown structures

• Decompose Requirements

• Works Information (WI) / Statement of Work (SoW)

Project Familiarisation

Business Case

The Contract

Customer Requirements

Drawings & Specifications

Gateways & Stage Approvals

Previous stage schedules

Meetings, workshops

Stakeholders

Legislation

Benchmark Data

Cost Estimates

Previous Projects

Lead-in times

Available resources

Planning

o Planning is the process of identifying the methods, resources and activities

necessary to accomplish the projects objectives • Understand the need, problem or opportunity that the project will address and the benefits

it will deliver

• Define what has to be accomplished and delivered (scope, time, budget & quality)

• Develop a plan to deliver the project

o Planning is an art rather than a science

o Planning Outputs; • Overall strategy for the project

• Overall methodology for the project

• Breakdown structures for managing the project

• Identification of key dependencies

• Contributions to the project risk and opportunities register and issue log

• Identification of interfaces

Benefits of Planning

Planning is about communicating the sequence, method and time required to complete the project deliverables

Identifies and documents the right activities and products to achieve the outputs

Comprehensive scheduling ensures the optimal allocation and release of resource & effective control of project activities within time constraints

Planning is central to the control of the project an early identification of where the project might be starting to fail

Planning is an integral part of problem solving at all stages of the project

With good planning, it is possible to predict whether the project remains on target to deliver its output within the time, cost or performance constraints

Approaches to Planning

o Top- Down / Bottom-Up Planning

Approaches to Planning

o Rolling Wave Planning

Approaches to Planning

o Agile Planning

Planning Strategies

o Factors to consider; • Best commercial solutions based on earliest completion

• Most economical solution based on availability of funds

• The rate at which funds can be committed

• Availability of resources (labour & materials)

• The rate at which the project can be mobilised

• External factors such as a relationship with other projects

Breakdown Structures

o Breakdown structures are tools used to break down the project into smaller

elements to facilitate the delegation of responsibility

o Level 1

Breakdown Structures

o Level 2

Breakdown Structures

o Level 3

Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)

o A Product is an output which meets the scope or requirement, sometimes referred to

as a deliverable

o A Product Breakdown Structure

is a key step in a product-based

planning approach

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

o A Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchical breakdown of the scope or requirement of the

project into a series of manageable work packages or areas that can be estimated, planned and

assigned to the appropriate person or department for completion

Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS)

o Within product-based planning, the organisational breakdown structure is a top down hierarchical

representation of the management structure and people within a project. It is used to convey the

communication routes and reporting lines within the project

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

o A responsibility assignment matrix shows the project organisational breakdown structure in relation

to the work breakdown structure to ensure that each element of the scope of work is assigned to a

responsible team or individual

RACI Matrix

o The RACI matrix tool is used for identifying roles and responsibilities to avoid confusion over those

roles and responsibilities during the project

R = Responsible A = Accountable C = Consulted I = Informed

Cost Breakdown Structures (CBS)

o A Cost Breakdown Structure defines the level at which costs will be collected.

o The CBS will be created and structured at a sufficient level of detail to allow budgets to be set,

costs to be collected, recorded, monitored and controlled

Dependency Management

o Dependency Management is the process of monitoring and controlling the key interfaces on a

project

Suppliers

Disciplines

Client

Third Parties

Sub-contractors

Other agencies

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Approval Gateways

Design Reviews

Client Assurance Reviews

Consultation

Discipline Integration / Co-ordination

Cost Estimating

o Cost estimating is the process used to quantify the cost of services, materials and resources

required to deliver a project

o An estimate should be robust and repeatable. The estimate should contain the source information

used to calculate the estimate and associated assumptions

Cost Estimating Types

Planning Preliminary Definitive

Optioneering Fair Price Independent

Cost Estimate

Parametric Estimating

Delphi Technique

Detailed Cost

Estimating

Activity Based Cost Estimating

Task Analysis

Budgeting

o Budgeting is the process of

allocating appropriate budgets to

different parts of the work

breakdown structure

o Budgets are often expressed in

terms of money, but may equally

be described in terms of other

resources such as labour, plant

or materials

Budgeting – Generating a cost forecast

Summary

Questions?

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