ICT Management > Managing ICT Projects

Practical Project Planning

By Lasa Information Systems Team

Adopting a systematic approach to ICT projects has many benefits. This article gives an overview of the project planning process.

"Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. And the nicest thing about not planning is that failure is a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression." John Harvey-Jones

Why do it?

Developing and running services or products as projects has many positive benefits. The thing that needs doing - producing an annual report, buying new computers, refurbishing premises - and the stages by which the end result will be achieved are clearly set out. These stages can be turned into bite size pieces, which are then much easier to budget for and can be smoothly allocated to one or more people as tasks.

The reliance on one piece of work finishing before the next can begin is readily visible and so a fairly accurate timescale for the whole project can be set, alongside a cash flow profile which will show at what stages of the project money will be spent. Progress can be monitored against each stage and completion readily reported on.

Planning brings other more subtle benefits. The planning process can be a very effective tool for communication. At each stage of the process, from setting objectives to deciding on tasks, you will need to talk to all those people who can bring knowledge to the project or are likely to be involved in its implementation. If handled well, the planning process will set up channels of communication and draw participants into involvement in the project. This will provide the basis for good teamwork. Objectives and roles should be clear. People will know where the project is going and what they have to do.

The Steps

Project Inception the idea

A suggestion for a new development is made, or maybe it's just time to do the annual report again. The first thing to do is to make sure everyone knows what is to be done, that there is agreement about what the outcome will be and it has been properly authorised. The project therefore needs to be defined.

Project Definition

What will it do and how much will it cost
So that an informed decision can be taken, a report should be drawn up that outlines the proposal. It might include the following headings: 

• background - why the project is being proposed
• objectives - what the purpose of the project is
• scope - what is and isn't included in the project
• assignments - the tasks that make up the stages of the project
• estimated effort - the number of person days for each stage (this becomes the basis for working out costs)
• assumptions - guesses you have made about time, people or money for instance
• constraints - the things that might prevent you doing all that you want
• risks - what could go wrong and what the consequences might be
• timescales - what must be achieved by when
• deliverables - what the end result will be
• responsibilities - who will do what.

This report can then be used to get authorisation from your management committee or as the basis for fund raising.Once it is fully agreed, a more detailed project plan can be drawn up.

Project Planning

The assignments, estimated effort and timescales outlined in the project definition report will form the basis of a project plan.

This will set out the main stages of the project, often called milestones, and the individual tasks that have to be done to complete each stage. For example, if you were planning to produce a new publication, the milestones would be:

1. the text completed
2. illustrations ready
3. design and layout finished
4. printing done
5. distribution completed

For something small that one person was putting together and copying in-house, the six stages set out above would be enough to enable the project to be timed, costed and monitored. However if the publication were a collaborative project that used an outside illustrator, designer and printer, a more detailed breakdown of tasks would be required. The table below shows how that might be done.

Project milestones

Assignments	No. Days	Who	Cost Per Day	Total Cost
1. the text completed
1.1 topics decided	2	editorial group	£450	£900
1.2 contributors briefed	1	editor	£150	£150
1.3 contributors chased	1	administrator	£70	£70
1.4 contributions written	10	contributors	£200	£2000
1.5 returned contributions edited	2	editor	£150	£300
1.6 whole text proof read	2	administrator	£70	£140
2. Illustrations ready
2.1 outline brief put out to tender	2 + 2	editor + admin	£150 + £70	£440
2.1.1 names of illustrators collected
2.2.2 tender document prepared
2.1.3 covering letter written
2.1.4 tenders mailed
2.1.5 tender documents chased
2.2 returned tenders evaluated	1	editor	£150	£150
2.3 illustrator selected	2	editorial group	£450	£900
2.4 initial drawings commented on	1	editor	£150	£150
2.5 final drawings approved	1	editorial group	£450	£450
Total				£5,650

You would now need to do the same for the other elements of the project and add in any additional costs such as equipment.

You can then get on and fund raise or, if you are lucky and funds are already available, carry out the project, making sure that tasks are done within the time limit and to the budget set.

HOORAY! Project completed.

But not quite!

Good project planning, no matter what the size of the project, also requires an amount of time spent at the end reviewing the project. Note should be made of what went well and what could have been done better. This report can then be made available to members of the project team or others involved in project development and management in the organisation. Everyone then can learn from good practice and avoid any pitfalls in future.

For more information see the Project Management section of the knowledgebase or download the Computanews Project Management Guide.