What is meant by Project Planning and why we need a detailed project plan for every project - Essay Example

?What is meant by Project Planning and why we need a detailed project plan for every project Project Planning Project planning is an essential part of project management. It refers to the use of specialised tools such as Gantt Charts in order to plan and monitor the progress of a project. The use of project planning ensures that the project environment is stewarded continuously so that any known and unknown risks are monitored and dealt with in order to optimise the project cost and schedule (Kerzner, 2003). Typically, project planning begins with the definition of project scope. This ensures that fitting methods are determined in order to take the project to completion. Once project scope is well defined, the next step is to define activity structure. The various tasks required to execute the project are listed down as activities and the estimated time for these activities is listed down. These activities are grouped together and the resulting structure is known as the work breakdown structure (WBS). The WBS provides a fitting insight to how various tasks and activities are fitted together in terms of their dependencies on each other. Generally, the WBS tasks and activities are defined through the use of an activity network diagram. This tool allows the determination of the critical path which in turn provides information regarding (Project Management Institute, 2003): all activities and tasks needed to complete the project that are arranged within a WBS; the duration of time required to complete these activities and tasks; the various kinds of dependencies between various tasks and activities. The activity network diagram provides means to calculate the float and slack time. In recent years, the float and slack times are calculated using different kinds of project management software (Thayer & Yourdon, 2000). Once the total activities and tasks are defined clearly, the resources required for each task or activity can be estimated. The estimation of these resources allows the calculation of costs for each individual task or activity. The costs are then summed up in order to provide an estimate for project cost. Allowances are left in order to deal with any anticipated changes due to known or unknown risks. The project plan is often optimised at this stage in order to optimise the balance between resource usage and project duration. This optimisation is carried out in order to comply with the overall project goals and objectives. This process is known as resource levelling and it is carried out to ensure that all activities and tasks are carried out with the optimal use of resources and time. When resource levelling is carried out, the formed plan is known as the baseline. As the project proceeds, the baseline is used to compare the status of physical activities on ground with the agreed objectives. Generally, the baseline is used throughout the entire project life to both monitor and steward progress. The process used to compare actual progress to the baseline is better known as earned value management (Fleming, 2005). The major inputs required for the project-planning phase include the concept proposal as well as the project charter while the outputs are the project requirements, the project management plan and the project schedule. These inputs and outputs are used in tandem and may be revised as the project proceeds. Most projects that are executed are unique in nature and so entail unique requirements. This requires that projects are planned individually and executed accordingly including any changes that may be required as the project proceeds. 2. Need for Project Planning Planning is required for all sorts of processes that have economic value in order to ensure that these processes are competitive. The lack of planning lends credence to the fact that execution would be inefficient and would cost more than usual. In addition, projects are generally unique by their intrinsic design so that the tasks and activities are differentiated from one project to the other. When projects are being initiated, one of the primary concerns of the planners is to forecast costs as accurately as possible. Errors in estimating costs for projects may lead to large delays in order to arrange financing. Furthermore, escalated costs for projects mean that the payback periods for projects are affected often in highly negative forms. Cost estimation for projects is highly dependent on accurate estimation of tasks and activities within the already defined scope. If individual tasks and activities are not properly circumscribed then it is highly possible that resource allocation for these tasks and activities is inaccurate. Any inaccuracies in cost estimation for individual activities and tasks means that the final project cost will be off target. It is highly possible that project cost estimation goes out of bounds to large degrees. For example, the initial project costing for the Channel Tunnel project was $5.5 billion while the actual project costs were some $14.5 billion. This error can be attributed to poor planning practices within the early project phase. Therefore, it can be seen that project planning is required in order to control project costs. On the other hand, another major aspect of project planning is to control the project schedule so that resource allocation remains optimised. When projects are being carried out, it is often the case that the timeline slips due to known and unknown risks. When the project timeline begins to slip various activities and tasks get affected. As various tasks and activities are delayed during project execution, the previous resource levelling is disturbed. Resource levelling ensures that resources are optimally allocated to various tasks and activities such that only required resources are being used. This strategy reduces the chances of wastage during project execution. When resource levelling is disturbed, the already constrained resources are disturbed as well so that resources are scant for some activities and tasks while they are abundant for others. This imbalance tends to offset the project’s resource levels so that more resources need to be acquired in order to complete activities and tasks. Effectively this has two straight consequences – the resources required and the time required to execute activities and tasks increases beyond acceptable levels. Overall, the project would run into cost overruns as well as negative schedule variances 3. Conclusion Based on the arguments presented above it can be surmised that project planning is essential to stewarding the project management process. Only sound project planning can ensure that the project is finished in time and within the estimated cost. 4. Bibliography Fleming, Q., 2005. Earned Value Project Management. 3rd ed. New York: Project Management Institute. Kerzner, H., 2003. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. 8th ed. New York: Wiley. Project Management Institute, 2003. A Guide To The Project Management Body Of Knowledge. 3rd ed. New York: Project Management Institute. Thayer, R.H. & Yourdon, E., 2000. Software Engineering Project Management. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Press. Read More