Plans

• Purpose
• Defined
  • What is a plan?
  • What is planning?
  • Levels of plan
  • The Project Plan
  • Stage Plans
  • Team Plans
  • Exception Plans
• The PRINCE2 approach
  • Philosophy
  • Prerequisites for planning -
    design the plan
  • Define and analyse the products
• Prerequisites for planning
  • Write the Project Product Description
  • Create the product breakdown structure
  • Write the Product Descriptions
  • Create the product flow diagram
• Identify activities and dependencies
  • Activities
  • Dependencies
• Prepare estimates
• Prepare the schedule
  • Overview
  • Define activity sequence
  • Assess resource availability
  • Assign resources
  • Level resource usage
  • Agree control points
  • Define milestones
  • Calculate total resource requirements and costs
• Analyse the risks
• Document the plan
• Responsibilities

Key sections

• Introduction
• Business case
• Organization
• Quality
• Plans
• Risk
• Change
• Progress
• Introduction to processes
• Starting up a projectDirecting a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing Product Delivery
• Managing a Stage Boundary
• Closing a Project
• Tailoring PRINCE2 to the project environment
• Directing Projects with PRINCE2

Purpose

The purpose of the Plans theme is to facilitate communication and control by defining the means of delivering the products (the where and how, by whom, and estimating the when and how much).

Effective project management relies on effective planning as without a plan there is no control.
Planning provides all personnel involved in the project with information on:

• What is required
• How it will be achieved and by whom, using what specialist equipment and resources
• When events will happen
• Whether the targets (for time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits) are achievable.

The development and maintenance of credible plans provides a baseline against which progress can be measured.
They enable planning information to be disseminated to stakeholders in order to secure any commitments which support the plan.

The very act of planning helps the project management team to think ahead to ‘mentally rehearse the project’.
It is such rehearsal that enables omissions, duplication, threats and opportunities to be identified and managed.

The Plans theme provides a framework to design, develop and maintain the project’s plans (Project Plan, Stage Plans and Team Plans).

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