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

The PRINCE2® approach

Responsibilities

Below outlines the responsibilities relevant to the Plans theme.
For further details of project management team roles and their associated responsibilities see the section covering ‘Roles and responsibilities’.

Corporate or programme management

Set project tolerances and document them in the project mandate.
Approve Exception Plans when project-level tolerances are forecast to be exceeded.
Provide the corporate or programme management planning standards.

Executive

Approve the Project Plan.
Define tolerances for each stage and approve Stage Plans.
Approve Exception Plans when stage-level tolerances are forecast to be exceeded.
Commit business resources to Stage Plans (e.g. finance).

Senior User

Ensure that Project Plans and Stage Plans remain consistent from the user perspective.
Commit user resources to Stage Plans.

Senior Supplier

Ensure that Project Plans and Stage Plans remain consistent from the supplier perspective.
Commit supplier resources to Stage Plans.

Project Manager

Design the plans.
Prepare the Project Plan and Stage Plans.
Decide how management and technical stages are to be applied and design Stage Plans.
Instruct corrective action when Work Package-level tolerances are forecast to be exceeded.
Prepare an Exception Plan to implement corporate management, programme management or the Project Board’s decision in response to Exception Reports.

Team Manager

Prepare Team Plans.
Prepare schedules for each Work Package.

Project Assurance

Monitor changes to the Project Plan to see whether there is any impact on the needs of the business or the project Business Case.
Monitor stage and project progress against agreed tolerances.

Project Support

Assist with the compilation of Project Plans, Stage Plans and Team Plans.
Contribute specialist expertise (for example, planning tools).
Baseline, store and distribute Project Plans, Stage Plans and Team Plans.

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.