Requirements and the baseline plan

For each software project a plan is developed, according to a documented procedure, that covers the software activities and commitments. The requirements allocated to software form the basis for the software development plan. Estimates for critical computer resources are documented, reviewed, and agreed to. All affected groups and individuals understand the estimates and plans and commit to support them. Senior management reviews the estimates and plans before external commitments are made. Software risks associated with the cost, resources, schedule, and technical aspects of the project are identified and evaluated, and contingencies are documented. Planning and estimation data are collected for use in planning subsequent projects and for input in management oversight review meetings. INTRODUCTION: Project planning lays the foundation for your project management success. Quality project planning enables project managers to derive useful information for making decisions to achieve safety, time and budget goals. Poor project planning incapacitates project management from using any analytical process to achieve the same goals. It is the "garbage in, garbage out" axiom at work. Therefore, the planning stage for any project should be given as much attention as possible. Project planning in many industries is still a "start from scratch", labor-intensive effort for every new project. Planners analyze each logical work element by defining the necessary steps (tasks), estimating their duration and resource requirements and laying out a logic network for sequencing (scheduling) them. Given sufficient time, experienced personnel can produce the highest quality plans with the manual planning process. Unfortunately, business pressures and time constraints do not always allow planners the luxury of manually planning to the best of their abilities. With the advent of computers and project management software, re-useable project files (project templates) have become a valuable tool for the project planner. Project templates increase planner productivity and help standardize estimates from project to project. The bulk of the data entry, estimating and scheduling effort is already done. Planners can focus on customizing previous (historical) efforts. However, the use of project templates does have some pitfalls. An organization needs to be careful to allow planners adequate time to review and customize project templates or suffer from "Cut and Paste syndrome" (CPS). CPS inevitably leads to errors such as including the wrong (old) steps, forgetting necessary new steps and overlooking schedule logic and/or man hour estimates that are not customized to the current situation. Project Planning with Estimating Modules Dynamic estimating modules incorporate the benefits of project templates while solving their potential pitfalls. Dynamic estimating modules can be thought of as large, flexible project templates that incorporate many different scenarios. Estimates and resource requirements are stored as estimating formulas instead of fixed amounts. Schedule logic is "super-networked" to allow flexibility in including or excluding ranges of tasks while maintaining the logic network integrity. To use dynamic estimating modules, planners enter the required parameters into the project estimating software. The appropriate task lists, durations, resource assignments and predecessor schedule logic are extracted (and calculated) from the estimating modules in accordance with the supplied parameters and exported into the main project file. Evolution of the Project Planning Process Over time the benefit of using dynamic estimating modules will multiply. Since estimating formulas and schedule logic are captured within the estimating modules, there will be no drop-off in quality when new or inexperienced planners arrive on the job. Dynamic estimating modules will allow larger companies the means to standardize planning and estimating using their best practices across the enterprise. Dynamic estimating modules are the next evolution in the refinement of the project planning process. The Project Team Kick-off Meeting is the first meeting with the project team members to discuss the project and the work that will be completed. Prior to the meeting, the Project Definition Document or Project Proposal should be distributed to the team members. This meeting introduces the members of the project team and provides the opportunity to discuss the role of each team member in the project work. The other base elements in the project may also be discussed at this meeting (Project Task List, Schedule, Communication Plan, etc.). Purpose  Introduce the project team members.  Discuss the general project and address any questions.  Discuss the base project plan elements: Project Task List, Schedule, Communication Plan, meeting schedules, project administration, etc.