139

6
Writing a project plan 6

6.1 The project plan

6.2 Dividing the project plan into sections
6.3 Background information
6.4 The project’s results
6.5 Project activities
6.6 Project scope and conditions
6.7 Intermediate results
6.8 Quality control
6.9 The project organisation
6.10 Planning
6.11 Costs and benefits
6.12 Risk analysis
6.13 Writing the project plan
6.14 The project’s files
Assignments

Right from the initial stages, working according to plan is an important

aspect of a project. The project plan – a document that provides a detailed
description of a project – plays a crucial role in this.
This chapter will describe a method for drawing up a project plan such that
everyone knows what is expected of him or her and the sponsor obtains
what he wants.
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv
 140 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

§ 6.1 The project plan

project plan The project plan is usually drawn up by the project manager. He should
only do so after the following have taken place:
• A number of interviews with the sponsor.
• Consultation and interviews with experts and all parties involved (the
stakeholders).
• Collection and examination of documents that may be important for the
6 project, such as descriptions of the organisation, annual reports,
reports from previous projects and the minutes of meetings.

The project plan must make the course of events clear to everyone: a
project plan defines the project. It must be written in such a way that it is
just as understandable for outsiders.
A project plan is sometimes also called a plan of approach. A project plan
should not be confused with a planning. A planning indicates who will do
what and when. A planning is merely one part of a project plan (it has been
described in detail in Chapter 4).
If the project is a small one, a single project plan for the entire project will
suffice.
You can download the ‘Mini-course on MS Project’ from the website. A ‘MS
Word model of a Project plan’ is also available on the website.

§ 6.2 Dividing the project plan into sections

As indicated above, a project plan is a document in which the entire project
is defined. While the document should consist of a number of sections,
how the contents are spread among the sections is a matter of choice.
The important thing is that the plan be both clear and complete. All of the
TMQIO factors described in Section 3.12 must be included. It is convenient
if everyone in a particular company draws up a project plan in the same
way. A standard method for doing this is described in this chapter.

The project plan consists of a number of sections, which are listed in Table
6.1 and Figure 6.2.

Table 6.1 The project plan section by section

Section Topic
1 Background information Where (in what environment) is the project taking place?
2 The project’s results Why are we carrying out this project and what is the de-
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

sired final result?

3 Project activities What do we need to do to achieve the project goal?
4 Project limits What are the boundaries of the project?
5 Intermediate results What are the intermediate products and deliveries?
6 Quality control How can we ensure the sufficient quality of all products?
7 The project organisation Who is participating and how do we plan to collaborate?
8 Planning Who is doing what when?
9 Costs and benefits What will the project cost and what will it yield?
10 Risk analysis What could cause the project to fail?
 Writing a project plan 141

FIGURE 6.2 The project plan section by section

10 Risk analysis
9 Costs and benefits
8 Planning
7 The project organisation
6 Quality control
6
5 Intermediate results
4 Project limits
3 Project activities
2 The project's results
1 Background information

In Sections 6.3 to 6.12, a method will be described for creating a suitable

project plan. Each section forms the basis for a section of the project plan.
The website accompanying this book includes a checklist that can be used
to check your project plan for completeness.

§ 6.3 Background information

The future members of the project team, the organisation in which the
project is being carried out, and the outside world will need background
information about the project. One way of doing this is including the
information – the ‘project environment’ – in the project plan. The
information should be such that even the uninitiated can form a picture of
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

both the project and the organisation in which the project is being carried
out.
• Give your project a clear, preferably original, and catchy name! This
makes it easier to remember within the organisation. Examples of
memorable names are Decibel (switch to 10-digit telephone numbers at
KPN Telecom) and Operation Desert Storm (the first war between Iraq
and the United States) and the North/South line (subway connection
between Amsterdam North and Amsterdam South).
• State the organisation commissioning the project (i.e. the party that is
paying for it) and the person who is acting as the sponsor. The sponsor
 142 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

must approve the final project plan. He or she will also want to evaluate
the results at the end of the project.
• State the person or organisation that is carrying out the project. Also
state the person ultimately responsible for the completion of the
project. This does not have to be written in detail since it is worked
out in more detail in Section 7 of the project plan, which covers
project organisation.
• Give a description of the organisation in which the project is being
6 carried out. What does the company do? What departments does it
have? Who answers to whom? The best technique is to describe the
background elements in order of decreasing size: for example, first
the company, then the business unit, and finally the department (see
Figure 6.3).
• Give an account of the project’s history. Why is this project important?
Is this project a continuation of another project? What were that
project’s outcomes? How does that project affect this one? How does
this project relate to others still in the pipeline?
• Indicate the stakeholders of the project (see Section 2.2), i.e. those
with an interest in the final results of the project. Also state what their
interest in the end product is, regardless of the outcome.
• Briefly describe how the sponsor will be approving the project plan.
• Give a short description of the layout of the various section of the
project plan.

This information should be incorporated into ‘Background information’, the

first section of your project plan (see Figure 6.2).

FIGURE 6.3 Background elements in order of decreasing size

1 The organisation

2 The business unit

3 The department

4 Your project
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5 Another 6 Another
project project
 Writing a project plan 143

§ 6.4 The project’s results

Chapter 2 of your project plan (see Figure 6.2) will consist of two parts: a
description of the project’s objectives and a description of the intended
project’s results. The results must relate directly to the objectives and if
relevant, to plans for an assignment relating to the project.

The project’s objectives (the ‘why’)

The project’s objectives – its goal – should tell you why the sponsor wants 6
the product in question. They should provide an indication of what the
sponsor wishes to achieve via the project. As such, the sponsor ‘owns’ the
project’s objectives. The objectives of the sponsor must be able to
contribute to his organisation’s overall objectives.

Some examples of objectives follow:

• increase profit margins or market share
• find a solution for an existing production problem or speed the
production process up
• promote health or shorten hospital waiting lists
• promote the integration of minority groups
• become more socially responsible by limiting the amount of waste
produced by the company or reducing energy usage
• resolve student housing issues

The project plan may be broken down into a number of sub-objectives. sub-objectives
While it are the project’s results that are usually described as SMART,
project objectives must also be as SMART as possible. You would be well
advised to reread Section 1.12 on SMART. SMART

Description of the intended project’s results (the ‘what’)

The most important element of the project plan is the description of the
project’s aimed-for result. In it, the writer (who will probably be the project
manager) will describe what needs to be delivered by the end of the
project: the finished product.

Example 6.1
The project’s results might be a physical product with properties that can
be described. It could also be a service, or it could be improving efficiency,
or an event.
The intended project’s results should derive from the sponsor’s or the
business objectives. If the goal is ‘living comfortably’, the product derived
from that goal might be a new house. If the result is a new factory, the goal
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

might have been ‘increasing profits’. Just as the sponsor owns the ‘why’,
the project manager owns the ‘what’ (the project’s results).

Since it represents the project’s end-product, the description given of it

must be as precise as possible. Discuss the product thoroughly with the
sponsor: there must be no doubt at all about it. If there is, the project will
be a failure before it even starts.
 144 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

This applies to all of the elements of the project as well: they all depend on
the definition of the product to be delivered and so the nature of that
product must be very clear. After all, how can you possibly plan to produce
something if you do not know exactly what that something is? How can you
estimate what the project is going to cost if you are uncertain about its
result? A project will stand or fall on its description.

It is preferable to break your end-product down into its various

6 statement of components. If you have drawn up a statement of requirements in
requirements conjunction with your sponsor, you could base your description of the
specification result on it. It will constitute a specification of the project results.

As you formulate your description of the project’s results, ask yourself the
following questions:
• What tangible products or deliverables are there at the end of the project?
• What does it look like? While that might be hard to answer at this stage,
try to make the picture in your head as real as possible. You might try
sketching it, writing a description of it or mind-mapping it.
• What requirements do your project end-product or solution to a problem
have to meet?
• What concrete contribution will the end-product make to achieving the
project’s goals or business objectives?

Since we know from experience how hard it is for objectives and end-
products to be formulated, a few examples will now be given.

Example 6.2

Excursion
A group of students is asked by a course administrator to organise an
excursion abroad for students of that course.

The course administrator’s objectives are to give students the ‘EU

experience’ and allow them to see life beyond their home borders.
Students will obtain 1 credit point if they participate.
The project’s end-product must include the following:
• A five-day excursion to Brussels including bus, overnight accommodation
and breakfast.
• At least two cultural events on the program.
• At least two visits to EU organisations.
• At least one opportunity to meet with other foreign students.
• A minimum of thirty students and two teachers.
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

• A maximum price of X euros per student. The course will subsidize the
excursion to a maximum of Y euros.
• Total budget: Z euros.
• The excursion must take place in the May project week.

You will notice that the description of the project’s end-product is SMART.
Naturally, the details are still sketchy: the project group will fill them as
they go.
 Writing a project plan 145

Example 6.3

Factory problems
A factory is having difficulty delivering end-products to its customers on
time and is not keeping up with its main competitor, who is doing things
much more successfully. The factory’s directors want to embark on a
program aimed at improving delivery. The directors’ goal is to reduce
shipping time from ten days to two days. This goal must have been
reached by the end of the calendar year. 6

The factory initiates two projects aimed at achieving its objective.

Project group 1 from the Manufacturing Department is given the task of

replacing five old Brand X machines with much faster Brand Y machines
and ensuring that they are in production by 1 November with the loss of no
more than ten production days. The Manufacturing Department must be so
organised as to be able to reduce production time from 8 to 3 days using
the new machines.

Project group 2 of the Shipping Department is given the task of ensuring

that the time needed to transport the end-product is reduced from two
days to one. This measure must be in place before 1 December.

The project group has the task of defining the two-project assignment
precisely.

Example 6.4

Exhibition
The directors of the Booijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam want
to increase the Dutch public’s exposure to Surrealism.

The end-product to be delivered by the project group is a retrospective

exhibition of the work of the Spanish painter Salvador Dali to be held in the
museum. The endproduct must meet the following requirements:

• The exhibition must include a minimum of one hundred works by the

artist selected from at least five museums. They must include work from
the artist’s early period, his surrealist period and his classical period
• The exhibition must draw at least 200,000 visitors.
• The exhibition must run next year from April up to and including 1
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December.
• The cost to the sponsor (the difference between income and outlay) must
not go beyond $100,000. Sponsorship is invited.
• The advertising campaign, fundraising and transport of the artworks
must all be included in the project.

You will notice that including figures in the end-result makes the
description much more precise and you can almost imagine the visitors
thronging the museum’s halls.
 146 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

research Formulating a research question

question If your project is a research project, in addition to formulating the research
objectives you will need to formulate the research problem. This should
take the form of a research question (Grit & Julsing, 2009). A research
report written on the basis of the research that has been performed must
address that research question. The research problem may need to be
broken down into a number of individual questions. The project plan is
research plan usually termed the research plan.
6
A few examples of research questions follow:
• What properties does product X need to have and how much should it
cost in order to achieve a turnover of Y million annually? What is the
best way of organising the production of that product?
• Why are there such long waiting lists for heart surgery? What measures
should be taken to halve the waiting times?

If you are doing research you will be aiming for an end-product of a highly
tangible sort: the research report, perhaps supplemented by a presentation or
a public defence of the findings. What goes into the research report could be
specified further: you could describe the nature of the information the report
will contain or show a preliminary structuring of the chapters and sections.

Example 6.5

Research into hospital waiting lists

The research objective is to halve waiting times in hospital X.

The assignment: producing a research report recommending ways of

reducing waiting times in hospital X.

The project must be fully completed by 25 October 2014. The budget

available is 25,000. The research must meet the following requirements:
• Answer the following research question: … .
• Involve departments P, Q and R in the research.
• Interview the following people at the very least: … .
• (Matters of a similar nature)

The research report should include the following:

• A description of how serious the problem is
• (Material of a similar nature)

The research results must be given to the directors in the form of a

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presentation. As such, the end-products will consist of a report and a

presentation. By clearly outlining at an early stage what requirements must
be meet and how the report is to be structured you will greatly reduce the
chances of the project group delivering a useless report.

§ 6.5 Project activities

After you have described the project’s results – the desired end-product –
you will have to devise tasks (activities) aimed at realising that end-product.
 Writing a project plan 147

Describing the end-product in precise terms will make it easier to devise

those tasks.
If you are a doing a particular type of research for the first time you will
probably be quite uncertain what needs to be done. Consider picking the
brains of people who have done similar projects. They may be able to help
you think up relevant tasks.
It is also helpful to create a Work Breakdown Structure (see Section
4.7). The following action points must be kept in mind when planning
activities. 6
• Try to identify the activities that have to be carried out as completely as
possible. If you do not, you may find it impossible to draw up a useful
planning and cost calculations properly.
• Include the preliminary design in the list of activities. By doing so, the
overall costs of the project will be included in any subsequent
calculation of costs. Look at the following hypothetical list:
Writing a project plan (group title):
– Collect and study the information.
– Hold discussions with the sponsor and those with expert knowledge.
– Make a provisional project plan.
– Discuss the project plan with the sponsor.
– Draw up the definitive project plan.
• Try to group the activities in a logical manner. Give each group of
activities a group title. Grouping provides clarity and is useful when the
planning are being drawn up (also see example 6.5).
• When you are grouping the activities, arrange them by level according to
the amount of work required. A level could be (from the top down): a
phase, a group or an activity.
• At this point, you do not have to worry about when an activity should be
carried out and by whom. Once the project members are lined up, you
can detail this in your project plan (Section 8: ‘Planning’).

Example 6.6

Grouping activities
The following production phase activities are not really comparable:
• Construct foundations
• Positioning the walls
After all, constructing foundations requires a great deal more time than
positioning the walls. A more coherent grouping would be as follows:

Construction of foundations (group with the following activities):

• Excavate foundations
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• Build foundation walls

• Lay the floor
• Seal the floor

Construction of walls (group with the following activities):

• Position the walls
• Build the interior walls
• Build the exterior walls
• Point up the exterior walls
 148 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

It is not necessary to include the weekly project meetings in the section on

project activities (Chapter 3). Such meetings are included in ‘The project
organisation’, Section 7 of your project plan (see Figure 6.2).

§ 6.6 Project scope and conditions

What falls within the project’s scope and what does not is frequently
6 unclear. Sometimes it seems clear, but it later turns out that sponsor and
the project manager had their own interpretation.

In order to prevent unclear situations from developing, you should describe

boundaries the boundaries of the project.
An unclear scope is a major threat to any project, and projects often fail on
this point. After all, if it is unclear what is and what is not part of a project,
then it is by definition impossible to draw up a proper planning. In defining
the boundaries, ask yourself the following two important questions (also
see Example 6.6 and Figure 6.4):

1 When does the project finish? (i.e. the ‘length’ of the project) Does your
new office building construction project simply involve construction of
the new building or are you also responsible for the relocation? Although
it is stretching the imagination, the length of the project might
conceivably include the latter.
2 What does the project include? (i.e. the ‘scope’ of the project) If
relocation is the project, is it simply relocation of your own department
or all departments? Look at the following situation:

FIGURE 6.4 Project boundaries and milestones

Project Start of the project

Milestones
Width
Project boundaries

© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

Length

Completion

scope Everything that is carried out as part of the project is called the ‘scope’ of
the project. The word ‘scope’ literally means size, range and domain.
 Writing a project plan 149

Example 6.7

Length and width of a project

You are involved in a project involving computerization of the financial
administration. Do you only include the sales administration or does the
purchasing administration also fall within your scope? This falls under the
‘width’ of the project. Is training of the staff and installation of the
software your responsibility? This falls under the ‘length’ of your project.
6

As was suggested above, misunderstandings based on uncertainty about

what is and what is not part of the project should be avoided at all costs.
Demarcate the project clearly: Demarcate
• Determine whether those activities that could be considered ‘borderline’
are part of the project.
• Indicate those borderline activities that do not fall within the project
scope. It may seem strange to list activities that will not be done, but
this makes it very clear for both the sponsor and the project manager.
• Indicate when the project will start as well as the repercussions of
starting at a later date.
• Indicate the project’s completion date.
• Indicate the maximum amount of the budget.
• Stipulate the preconditions that have to be met for the project to have a
chance of success.

Preconditions are factors that the project group usually has little control
over, but which must be satisfied in order to ensure a successful project.
They serve as a ‘warning’ to the sponsor: ‘Dear Sponsor, make sure that…
is taken care of or your project will fail.’ In other words, what does the
sponsor need to do to make sure the project is a success?
Examples of preconditions are: sales must be made available, another
project must be finished first, the right tools must be made available or
permission must be received from the municipality before construction can
begin.

The results of these activities are then incorporated into Section 4,

‘Project limits’, of your project plan (see Figure 6.2).

§ 6.7 Intermediate results

Your project group will carry out a number of activities. These will result in
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

all sorts of intermediate results or ‘products’. In this context, the term

‘intermediate result’ should be interpreted broadly: it need not refer to a
physical object. An event such as the official opening of a building can also
be an intermediate result. It is important to identify the result and to work
towards it.

All results (intermediate and otherwise) together result in the project

results desired by the sponsor. This is represented by the large circle
shown in Figure 6.5.
 150 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

FIGURE 6.5 All intermediate products together yield the ultimate project result

Project outcome

Activity Interim
product Interim
product
Activity Interim
6 Activity product Interim
product
Activity
Activity Interim
product
Activity Activity Interim
product
Yield
Interim
product

All activities All intermediate products

Project results are also described in Section 2, ‘The project result’, of the
project plan.

Example 6.8

Intermediate results of projects

The following are some examples of intermediate results of various types
of projects:
• A report (final report, interim report)
• A construction drawing for a machine
• A bus arriving at a school in time for a school outing
• A mould for making plastic objects
• An installed machine (such as a lathe or computer)
• A computer program ready for operation
• A training plan
• Trained colleagues
• Reports of interviews
• A project plan
• A management summary
• The opening of a store
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

• A cost/benefit analysis
• A new production process that has been implemented

Since you are producing an intermediate result (product) and doing so to a

deadline, the project’s progress is measurable. You can regard an important
intermediate result as a milestone in the planning (also see Figure 6.4).
However, having too many milestones can distort the picture. You can include
this in Section 5 of your project plan (‘Intermediate results’) (see Figure 6.2).
 Writing a project plan 151

§ 6.8 Quality control

The section on quality control in the project plan (Section 6) deals with the
quality of the end product (and all intermediate products) referred to in the
previous section. How can you guarantee their quality? Keep in mind that it
is the sponsor who ultimately decides whether the quality of the end result
(end product) of the project is sufficient. But how can you make sure this
quality is sufficient? You can guarantee the quality in the following ways:
• Describe the desired quality of the end product (see Section 2, ‘The 6
project result’, of the project plan). Also describe how the sponsor will
assess this quality after the project has been completed.
• The sponsor will have to be reassured early on – during the project –
about the quality of the project and project results. You can do this in
advance in your project plan by determining how you plan to assess the
quality of each of the intermediate results (from Section 5 on
‘Intermediate results’) while carrying out the project.
• Indicate what checks will be carried out to guarantee the quality. These
could include both test and technical procedures.
• Obtaining feedback on a project plan, a management summary, a report
or an interview is a way of guaranteeing its quality.
• Request external advice. You could have a product or an intermediate
result evaluated by an expert from outside your project team. For
example, if your project requires you to draw up a questionnaire, it is
advisable to have the questions assessed by a specialist in the field.
• Indicate the standards and techniques that apply to and are used within
the organisation. If these do not yet exist, establish the standards
yourself. If necessary, consult other interested parties.
• Indicate the tools and techniques to be employed in making the
diagrams and drawings.
• Indicate what software is used. You could, for example, specify the word
processor, project planning software and other software. Make an effort
to standardize the systems and thus make them more interconnectable.

If you deviate from the organisation’s commonly used standards, explain

why.

Speed and quality are often conflicting goals. If you rush through an
activity you may gain in terms of time but not quality. Delivering quality
costs both time and money. There must be a balance between the quality
that is delivered and the effort that this takes. Too high a standard of
quality may cost too much. The layout of a report on an interview, for
example, need not meet the same standards as the layout of an
advertising brochure.
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

§ 6.9 The project organisation

A project falls outside of the normal business of an organisation. You must
make it clear to all parties involved what role they and others will play in
the project plan and what the rules for personal interaction are (also see
Chapter 2 of this book.).
Information is also essential for the organisation of a project and is
discussed in this section.
 152 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

Organisation
When writing a project plan, you need to find suitable project members,
ones who have the right expertise and the right skills. Make sure you have
a well-balanced team (see the Belbin roles in Section 2.10). You will also
have to negotiate with the sponsor and other relevant parties about using
these people for your project. Since naturally you want only the best people
for your project, you might meet some resistance.

6 The following positions could be considered:

• Project Manager
• Working Group Manager (if applicable)
• Project Secretary
• Project Team Member
• Adviser

Assign the positions and tasks to the various individuals. This should be
done in consultation with the sponsor and the departmental heads.
• List the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of all
project members.
• Indicate the required availability of the team members (full-time, 2 days
a week, etc.). Vacations and other days off must be taken into
consideration and set out clearly in agreements. This is particularly
important: if the agreements are not lived up to, this will have direct
repercussions on the completion date of your project.
• Link the positions to individuals.
• Establish what authority each project member holds and what his or her
responsibilities are (also see Chapter 2, ‘People working on projects’).
• Indicate how and to whom you will report (i.e. to whom you are
accountable). This may, for example, be the steering committee, the
board of directors or the departmental heads.
• With larger projects, it may be necessary to receive secretarial support
or even set up a complete project office for administrative matters such
as keeping files, the financial administration, recording the hours
worked, and correspondence (also see Section 6.14).

Information
Make sure that all interested parties (stakeholders) are well informed
throughout the project. The nature of the information is highly diverse and
includes information:
• Relevant to the project members
• Relevant to the sponsor, steering committee (if any) and departmental
managers involved in the project
• Relevant to the user of the end product of the project
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

• Relevant to anyone who is ‘inconvenienced’ by the project

stakeholder If the project is complex, you can carry out a stakeholder analysis in which
analysis you indicate who is involved and who has an interest in the project for
every stakeholder. A ‘Stakeholder analysis checklist’ can be downloaded
from the website. The stakeholder analysis can be used to determine who
should produce which information and who should receive which
information information. This can be displayed in an information matrix. The ‘Sample
matrix. information matrix’ can be downloaded from the website.
 Writing a project plan 153

There might be a considerable amount of resistance to the project. That is

because projects often result in change and not everyone is comfortable
with change. A mega project involving the construction of a new railway line
or freeway section can expect considerable resistance from environmental
groups and neighbouring residents. But projects that also result in major
change within organisations will not always be considered positive. That is
why those working on projects involving reorganisation, the implementation
of new working methods or the automation of work processes should
always expect some degree of resistance. Before a project is started up, 6
arrangements should be made to ‘sell’ the project to the outside world and
involve the end users.

Large projects have members who take care of the public relations (PR) public relations
aspect of the project. They are responsible for ‘selling’ the project to the
stakeholders (all those involved) and sometimes writing a complete
communication plan based on the stakeholder analysis. It is a good idea to communication
review your list of project activities (Section 3 of your project plan) to make plan
sure you have taken this problem sufficiently into consideration.

Coordination
Effective collaboration depends on good coordination of the activities. This
applies both to the project activities as well as the activities involving the
outside environment. The following tips will help you coordinate the project
effectively:
• Establish how often and when you are going to hold meetings with the
project team, the steering committee and the sponsor. Who will receive
an agenda and the minutes?
• Together with the sponsor, establish how the project’s members should
record their time. Usually this will be via a weekly record of the hours
worked (also see Section 3.13, ‘Monitoring the progress’). A ‘Time
registration form’ can be downloaded from the website to use as
reference. In an organisation where project-based work practices are
common, the time records can usually be done by computer. The
participants enter their hours worked under the project in question
directly from their workstations. Calculations are done on the basis of
each participant’s hourly rate and financial information relating to the
time spent on a project is then readily available.
• Indicate whether you want a written weekly report from the members of
the project team. A weekly report will contain a description of what was
done the previous week. The activities that are planned for the following
week may also be included in the weekly report.
• If you wish to maintain communication between members of the project
team and others by e-mail, clear agreements must be made about how
© Noordhoff Uitgevers bv

this should be done. It may include reading one’s e-mail at least once a
day.
• Set up a filing system for the project (see Section 6.14).
• Establish which digital tools (see Section 2.11) you plan to use for
collaborating within your project group.

All these matters fall under project organisation and should be

incorporated into Section 7 (‘The project organisation’) of your project plan
(see Figure 6.2).
 154 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

§ 6.10 Planning
Once you know what the project’s activities are, what products are
involved, what the project’s milestones will be, and who is part of the
project’s team, you can start drawing up the planning. A planning provides
an overview of activities in relation to time. A planning also indicates which
members of the project team have been assigned to various activities. A
planning enables you to estimate how long a project is going to take and
6 how much it will cost. For more detailed information on the drawing up of a
planning, see Chapter 4 in this book.
approach The following approach may be applied to drawing up a schedule:
• Transfer the activities listed in Section 6.5 to a table of activities (see
Table 4.3).
• Include the duration and possibly also the required working time per
activity in the table.
• Indicate what dependencies there are between the activities.
• Draw a network diagram if necessary.
• Draw a Gantt chart.

If available, consider using computer planning software.

To draw up a planning using the MS Project program, you can download the
‘Mini-course on MS Project’ from the website. The ‘Planning model’ can be
downloaded as a spreadsheet to simplify making a Gantt chart.

For more detailed information on drawing up a planning, see Chapter 4 of

this book.

§ 6.11 Costs and benefits

Carrying out a project always takes time, and therefore costs money. It
also involves use of other resources (for example, building materials), and
has to produce something: the yield or benefits. It is up to the sponsor to
weigh up the costs against the benefits and decide whether or not the
project should be carried out. If the benefits are not greater than the costs,
you should seriously consider not undertaking the project (see Figure 6.6).

FIGURE 6.6 More benefits than costs

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Costs Benefits
 Writing a project plan 155

A project is likely to involve the following costs:

• Man-hours (required working time). These hours can be converted into
money by multiplying them by the hourly rates. Do not forget to include
the time required to manage the project.
• Other resources. These could include the cost of materials, housing,
acquisition of equipment, hiring technical aids and printing costs.
• Exploitation costs. These are costs incurred after the project has been
completed. Exploitation costs do not necessarily have to be mentioned in
the project plan. If, for example, the project outcome is a building, knowing 6
the cost of the building will suffice. What the sponsor will be doing during
the usage – exploitation – of the building is irrelevant to the building
project. If necessary, consult with the sponsor about whether or not he
wants a calculation of exploitation costs included in the project plan.

Unexpected expenditure may be included in the budget as an additional

cost. This could, for example, be 10% of the overall costs. This will have to
be negotiated with the sponsor. When you are calculating the costs you
might have to assume some things. Make sure that these assumptions are
clear to the sponsor and show how the calculation was made.

Example 6.9
The project’s benefits could include the following:
• Immediate cost savings. Savings on the costs of personnel and
materials after the project is completed.
• Additional income.
• Improved product quality. This can be translated into financial terms by
estimating how much more of the product is likely to be sold.
• Better customer service. This may also result in increased sales.
• More highly motivated personnel. This may result in an improved product
and less waste.
• In the case of a technical project such as the building of a ship, the benefits
will consist of the sales price of the project outcomes, in this case the ship.

With the benefits show how you arrived at that figure and what
assumptions you have had to make. It can be hard to express benefits in
monetary terms: how do you translate better quality, for example, into
money? Depending on the sponsor, you might be able to give global cost
benefit estimate, or if the sponsor has already decided to give the project
the go-ahead, you might leave the benefits out altogether. If you do so,
make sure that you mention this in Chapter 9 (‘Costs and benefits’) of the
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project plan (see Figure 6.2). If you do include a cost benefit analysis,
using a spreadsheet model like MS Excel is the best way of going about it.

§ 6.12 Risk analysis

A project’s success might come under threat from all directions. Re-read
Sections 3.11 and 3.12 on risk analyses when formulating this section of
your project plan. You will also find a step-by-step plan for carrying out a
risk analysis as well as a categorisation of risks.
 156 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

Example 6.10
Risks can be broken down into two types: internal and external. The
internal risks may include the following:
• The project is not feasible. Sometimes the project’s objectives simply
cannot be attained within the prescribed time period and with the
resources available.
• The duration is too long (more than two years, for example).
• The deadline is too fixed.
6 • There are too many areas of expertise involved.
• There is too little experience in working in a project-based way.
• The members of the project team are not used to plan.
• There is insufficient knowledge or expertise on the part of the members
of the project team.
• The members of the project team are not sufficiently motivated.
• There is insufficient participation by the end users in the sponsor’s
organisation.
• The project manager is unsuitable.
• The members of the project team who have to travel long distances to
attend the meetings.
• There is insufficient familiarity with the project within the organisation.
Project team members function better if they know that other employees
in the organisation are watching them.
• The members of the project team who are unwilling or unable to work
together.

Example 6.11
The external risks may include the following:
• Insufficient time for reaching decisions.
• Too much dependence on the results of other projects and too much
dependence on suppliers. If a project involving the installation of sewers
is not completed by the municipality in time, the contractor will be unable
to start a project involving the building of a residential area.
• Insufficient cooperation by employees of the organisation. In the case of
reorganisation projects, if the organisation is set against the changes, it
may turn out to be impossible to complete the project successfully.
• The project’s scope has not been clearly defined.
• A lack of ongoing preparedness on the part of the departments to supply
employees for the project team. If the project has run for some time,
department heads will often try to recall employees that have been
detached. Sometimes this is attempted, thereby undermining the project.
• Changes to the composition of the project team.
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• A goal that differs from the goal as formulated in the project plan.
Sometimes the parties involved – including the sponsor – have a hidden
agenda in relation to the project that are in conflict with the project’s
formal goal.

You should indicate in Section 7 of your project plan what risks threaten
the project and how serious they are. There are techniques for rating the
degree of risk based on ranking them. This is illustrated in Appendix 1. The
 Writing a project plan 157

value of such a calculated degree of risk is, however, a matter for debate.
Companies and projects may also vary in the type of analysis they employ.
If the sponsor requests such a quantitative risk analysis, you could use the
method in Appendix 1 as a basis.
You can also download the ‘Risk analysis model’ from the website, which
can be used to perform the risk analysis in MS Excel.

§ 6.13 Writing the project plan 6

If you have carried out the steps shown in Sections 6.3 to 6.12, all the
sections of your project plan will now be ready. Even if the sponsor
considers a particular section to be unimportant, you should still include it
in the table of contents, but with the following text in place of the text of
that particular section: ‘In consultation with the sponsor, it has been
decided that there will be no text in this section.’

Your next step is to create a cover page and table of contents. The cover cover page
page should contain the following information:
• The text: ‘Project plan’
• As the title, the name of your project
• A subtitle (optional)
• The names of the organisation and the sponsor
• The place and date of completion of the project plan
• The name of the project manager
• The names of the team members, their email addresses and telephone
numbers. If you are a student, be sure to include your enrolments
number.

After numbering the pages, you should compile a table of contents. The table of
best way to do this is automatically using a word processing program. After contents
a final check to make sure you have not forgotten anything, your draft
(provisional) project plan is now finished.

You can now submit the provisional project plan to the sponsor. You should
also make an appointment to discuss the plan. discuss

In summary, you draw up a project plan as follows:

• Consult with all persons involved (including the sponsor, subject experts
and future project members)
• Study any available documents that are important for the project
• Identifying the project’s desired end-result
• Writing a project plan on the basis of Chapter 6 of this book
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• Check the completeness of the plan

• Submit the provisional project plan to the sponsor
• Discuss the provisional project plan
• Submit the definitive project plan
• Wait for the final approval of the sponsor

Do not waste time and effort endlessly polishing up every aspect of your
project plan. A project plan is a means of giving shape to your project: it is
not an end in itself!
Formulating a project plan is an import part of the P6-Method. The six-step
project management method is described in greater detail in Chapter 5.
 158 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

§ 6.14 The project’s files

It is very important that all project documents be stored carefully. A good
filing system should be set up. It must be possible to quickly retrieve any
document from the filing system. It is a good idea to select a member of the
project team who has a feeling for filing as the filing secretary. Some people
are absolutely unsuited to this sort of work! A glance at their desk is often
sufficient to establish this. Sometimes the task is done by the project office.
6
file A file is a collection of folders in which information is stored. The best
strategy is to create two different sets of files in your filing system:
1 Day-to-day files
2 Document files

It is also advisable to keep these files separate from each other and to
store the documents in different folders or filing cabinets.

All matters that concern the organisation and management of the project
should go in the day-to-day files. The documents in this file are temporary
by nature and most of them will be designed for accounting purposes (time
log book records, progress accounts). In this sense, the file constitutes a kind of log
book. When the project has been completed, the value of this file will
rapidly diminish. Various matters are stored in the project file.

Example 6.12
The day-to-day files will contain documents such as:
• The provisional project plan
• Notes
• The project proposal
• The plannings (including any adjusted plannings)
• Progress reports and the project members’ time records
• Agendas and minutes of various meetings
• Incoming and outgoing correspondence
• Memoranda

The document files should contain all of the project’s documents: anything
relating directly to the objects and the desired outcomes. The documents
in this file are likely to remain quite valuable even after the completion of
the project.
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Example 6.13
In the system file, you will find the following matters:
• Reports of interviews
• Preliminary reports and the like
• Recommendations relating to the project itself
• Designs, diagrams, reports and the like created during the course of the
project.
 159

Assignments

6.1 In which phase of a project is the project plan drawn up?

6.2 What kinds of steps must a project manager take in order to write an
acceptable project plan?

6.3 a Why is it important to delineate the project’s scope and preconditions in

the project plan?
b Explain (by means of an example) what is meant by the ‘length’ of a
project.
c Do the same for the ‘width’.
d What are project milestones?
e Why is it important not to set the project’s quality standards too high?

6.4 ‘Projects have to produce products.’

a Explain why this is advisable.
b Identify some ‘products’ that a project involving organising a school outing
could produce.

6.5 List four job positions that a project team might require.

6.6 Indicate how each of the management aspects of Time, Money, Quality,
Information and Organisation (see Chapter 3) should be dealt with in the
project plan.

6.7 A course of training or study also has a number of milestones. List some
of them.

6.8 a Explain what the difference is between the project’s day-to-day files and
the document files.
b Indicate how useful each is likely to be after the completion of the project

6.9 Consider the following projects:

1 An art exhibition
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2 The construction of a new hospital wing

3 A computerization project
4 An ISO-9000 quality control project
5 The introduction of performance assessment talks
6 A final thesis project
7 A project you suggest yourself

Answer the following questions in respect of each of the above projects:

a Identify some of the likely activities.
b Identify some of the project’s likely boundaries.
 160 PART 2 How to do a project: methods and TOOLS

c Name a number of likely intermediate products.

d List some of the likely costs and benefits.
e Mention some of the likely risks (threats).

6.10 Write a description (specifications) of the project result for each of the
following projects. You will probably have to make up some details, though
try not to let this stand in the way of defining the project as precisely as
possible.
6 a The construction of a new warehouse
b The development of an Internet site for a company
c A computerization project
d An ISO-9000-quality control project
e Incorporating performance assessment discussions into the organisation’s
human resource management

6.11 This assignment requires you to create a project plan for a project.
• Get together a project team of 2 or 3 persons.
• Section 1.2 of this book lists a number of projects. Select one of these
projects. You could also take a project of your own. Discuss your choice
with your trainer or teacher.
• The project plan should be as realistic as possible. If necessary, interview
people who are experts in the area of your project. Alternatively, make up
some details, but try and make them as realistic as you can.
• Write the project plan according to the guidelines given in this chapter.
Write the plan in your capacity as the project manager. If the project is
completely fictitious, think carefully about who the sponsor is.
• In consultation with your trainer, draw up a planning (either manually or
using planning software).
• Check your own provisional project plan against the ‘Project plan
completeness checklist’, which can be downloaded from the website
accompanying this book.
• Swap your project plan for that of another project team. Both teams should
then read and evaluate each other’s project plan. Use the same checklist
for this purpose. Provide the other team with written feedback.
• Discuss the feedback on your own project plan with your team and
incorporate it into your definitive project plan.
• In addition to the names of the members of your own project team, you
should list the names of those members of the project team who gave the
feedback (‘Feedback from......’). This makes both project teams
responsible for the project plan.
• Submit your project plan to your trainer or teacher for evaluation.

6.12 Form a group and discuss the following statements:

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a Creating a project plan takes up a lot of time and is unnecessary if the

project is small.
b A project manager should not accept any modifications to the project plan
during the course of the project.
c The project plan must be amended if changes occur during the project.
d The project plan should preferably be drawn up by the sponsor.
e In some projects, a vague project plan may serve the sponsor’s own
interests.
 Writing a project plan 161

6.13 The descriptions of the following project commissions are invalid because
the results cannot be assessed. Give a more accurate and SMART
description.
a Optimise the flow of goods within the company.
b Reduce the number of errors in allocating student loans.
c Computerize the production system.
d Improve the municipal services.
e Organise a study trip.
6
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