Planning and Authorization in Small Projects

Even the smallest of projects needs to be planned. Without a plan there is no confidence that the project's targets are achievable, what resources are required by the project, what delivery and testing / quality checking activities are required. Without plans, there is no indication of true likely cost and progress will be impossible to monitor accurately.

Admittedly the level of detail in a project's plans needs to be consistent with the level of expenditure, risk and complexity of the project, but different levels of management involved n the project will still have different information needs, and so at least two levels of plan are usually required, one for day-to-day management of delivery and quality checking (stage plans), and one at a higher level (the project
plan) summarizing the whole project.

For some work packages, team plans would be produced to allow tasks to be defined to an even greater level of detail, if required. In a small project, team plans may not be required.

The PRNCE2TM approach to planning is both comprehensive and a small project may be able to dispense with much of the lower level detailed team plans.

This is the best practice approach to planning!

When defining the project, produce a high level project plan for the whole project. This should contain all the key products, delivery and quality checking activities and management controls for the whole duration of the project. This will be the basis of progress and cost monitoring for the project board. It is impossible to know the detail of all the activities and resources when this plan is produced (during Initiating a Project (IP)). The project plan is authorized by the project board as at of authorizing a project (Directing a Project (DP)).

The detail will be provided in stage plans produced through the life of the project when more is known about current performance as each subsequent stage is planned (during Managing Stage Boundaries (SB)). The project plan will be kept p to date by the project manager with stage plan progress both when producing a next stage plan and when he/she assesses team progress during Controlling a Stage (CS)). A next stage plan is authorized by the project board as at of authorizing a stage (Directing a Project (DP)).

The level of detail in a project or stage plan should be appropriate for the nature of the project. For small projects, especially where a similar project has previously been run, the level of detail would obviously be less that for a project utilizing leading-edge technology.

Small projects may not need to provide team plans. A team plan is produced by a team manager whilst accepting a work package from the project manager (Managing Product Delivery (MP)).  A team plan is a useful aid to the project manager in that offers confidence that the work package is feasible and can be traced. It also demonstrates that the team manager has fully understood the requirements. The project manager authorizes team plans if they are is use. 

As part of authorizing any plan, tolerances are agreed which allow some flexibility in decision making by the plan 'owner'. In the event that these 'tolerances' are threatened, an exception plan is provided, to show how the difficulty will be managed. Such a plan requires the authorisation of the group or individual who authorized the original plan. I a small project, the exception plan may simply be a reworked original plan, informally discussed prior to authorisation.

Best practice planning starts by considering the products or deliverables required. The activities required to produce and quality check these products are then considered, along with their resourcing requirements. This product-based planning technique ensures that all products can be demonstrated to contribute to the final product of a plan, and al activities can be demonstrated to contribute to one or more of the products to be produced. This results in few or no wasted activities.

There is an explicit link between planning and quality management. As part of producing any plan, the key products to be produced during its life are defined in product descriptions, agreed between the customer / user and supplier, ensuring that each is fully understood. The quality criteria which the product needs to achieve, along with any quality tolerance are fully documented to avoid confusion and aid product acceptance and sign-off.

For purposes of control, each product description should be baselined (a safe, frozen copy taken) once the plan has been authorised which will produce the product, and the product itself should be baselined once it has been accepted during a quality check.

Any changes to a baselined product description or accepted product would require a request for change to be authorised by the project board or change authority.

John Neve is a Project Management Consultant Trainer in NES AIM Academy. NES AIM Academy is an Accredited Training Organisation for PRINCE2TM, APMP, Managing Successful Programmes & ITILR. For more information visit www.nesaimacademy.co.uk