Plans Theme Flashcards
Effective Project management relies on effective planning, because without a plan there’s no control.
A project plan should amongst other things provide all the people on the project/state:
1) What products need… x3 parts
a) Del…
b) What has…
c) What has…
2) The ri…
3) When w…
4) How pro…
5) Whether the targ…
6) Any issues with…
1) What products need to be delivered/what has to be produced, what has to be done to produce it (Which people, specialist equipment and resources are needed), and what has to be done to ensure it is produced correctly.
2) The risks, including opportunities/threats and what has to be done to control such risks.
3) When will it be produced
4) How progress will be monitored
5) Whether the targets for x6 aspects of project performance are achievable
6) Any issues with the definition of scope
It’s not usually possible to plan the whole project at the beginning in detail (e.g. plan would be outdated as things change constantly). Therefore Prince2 suggests 3 levels of plan:
1) Project Plan
2) Stage Plan
3) Team Plan
Give explanations of each type of plan
PROJECT PLAN
OVERALL DEFINITION (GENERAL CONTENT IT CONTAINS)
1) The project plan provides… Comprising… KROWW PI
a) Key…
b) Res…
c) Overall…
d) What the major…
e) What the activities…
X1 CLARIFYING/ELABORATION STATEMENTS REGARDING HOW AND WHEN
2) Provides a statement of how and when a projects…
a) TCSQ Targets…
WHAT THE PROJECT PLAN GIVES OTHE DOCUMENTS
3) The project plan also provides the business case with planned costs and timescales, identifies major control points such as management stages and milestones.
WHAT THE PROJECT BOARD USES THE PP FOR
4) Project plan is used by the PB as a baseline against which to monitor progress stage by stage. Should align with corporate/programme managements plan.
2) Quoted definition of prince2 if you feel up for it ;)
A high level…
1) The project plan provides a high level view of the full project, giving details on:
a) Key Milestones
b) Resource requirements
c) Overall cost and time estimates.
d) What the major products are
e) What the activities/major activities are that need to be carried out.
2) a) Provides a statement of how and when a projects: time, cost, scope and quality targets are to be achieved
Full Prince2 definition:
“A high-level plan showing the major products of the project, when they will be delivered and at what cost. An initial project plan is presented as part of the PID. This is revised as information on actual progress appears. It is a major control document for the project board to measure actual progress against expectations”.
STAGE PLAN - stage plan is similar to a project plan, but each element will be broken down to the level of detail required to be an adequate basis for day to day control by the PM. Each stage has a plan, and each stage plan is created at the end of the preceding stage - more confidence in plan as it’s planned close to the time the events are taking place. Shorter than Project plan but more detailed, fueled by hindsight of previous stages.
1) Stage Plan definition
1) Detailed plan used as a basis for project management control throughout a management stage (outline the products to be delivered, the required resources, sometimes the activities if required)
TEAM PLANS
Depending on the complexity of the project and the amount of resources required, the team manager may produce team plans. Regarded as optional, prince2 doesn’t prescribe a format for them as there may be more than one team on a project, possibly from difference organisations and hence they may have different planning standards. Team managers produce team plans in parallel with the production of a stage plan, or when a work package has been accepted during the managing product delivery process.
1) Team Plan definition
1) Covers the work of the team during the stage/for a work package. In prince2, team plans are optional.
EXCEPTION PLAN
1) When is an exception plan produced/what is it?
2) What level of detail is the plan prepared at?
3) What happens when an exception plan has been approved?
4) Where does an exception plan pick up from and for what type of plan are they not produced for?
5) Who needs to approve exception plans for Stage plans and project plans?
1) An exception plan may be produced to replace a plan when it’s predicted the plan won’t finish within agreed tolerances.
2) An exception plan is prepared at the same level of detail as the plan it replaces at either project or stage level.
3) Once an exception plan has been approved, it becomes the new baselined project plan or stage plan as appropriate.
4) An exception picks up from a current plans actuals, and continues to the end of that plan. Exception plan are not produced at team level, should a work package be forecasted to exceed its tolerances then, provided it can be resolved within the stage tolerances, the PM will amend or replace the work package in question.
5) Exception plans require approval of project board if it’s replacing a stage plan or by corporate/programme management if it’s replacing the project plan.
Having the right number of management stages at the right length is important as they provide a key means of control for the PM on a day to day basis. Also provide key controls to the PB.
1) How many stages minimum?
2) In defining the number of stages, we must balance:
A) How far…
B) Where do the…
C) The amount of r…
D) Too few long…
E) How conf…
1) x2 which are the initiation stage and the rest of the project (thinking and doing).
2) A) How far ahead it is sensible to plan
B) Where do the key decision points need to be
C) The amount of risk in the project (more risk suggests more/shorter stages).
D) Too few long ones or two many short ones.
E) How confident the PB and PM are in proceeding.
FROM A WEBSITE:
The number of stages in a project should be chosen by asking the question “ where do the end stage assessments need to be so that project viability can be checked?”
It is important that management stages are not confused with technical stages. These are often called phases, and refer to sensible groupings of products and techniques. Technical stages of the overlap, whereas management stages do not. Technical stages are typified by the use of a particular set of specialist skills.
Whenever a technical stage spends beyond a management stage boundary, the technical stage should be broken down so that each management stage contains a whole number of specialist products.
We may consider aligning management stages with delivery stages.
1) Management stages are all about a…
If a delivery stage spans a management stage, the extent to…
1) Management stages are about commitment of resources and authority to spend and are always sequential
2) If a delivery stage spans a management stage, the extent to which the product should be complete at a stage boundary should be clear in the product descriptions concerned.
Usually would break the delivery stages down to fit into respective management stages.
There are 7 planning steps (core things to follow when making your plan, whether it’s a stage plan, project plan or a delivery plan). These are: DDIPPAD
1) Dark
2) Dragon
3) Incinerates
4) People
5) Parking
6) At
7) Dawn
1) Designing a plan (with this done we can get into planning itself).
2) Defining and analysing the products,
3) Identifying activities and dependencies
4) Preparing estimates
5) Preparing a schedule
6) Analysing risks to a plan
7) Documenting a Plan
Please provide a description of these 7 planning steps.
1) Designing a plan - Where we decide the number… the for… and links to the…
2) Defining and analysing the products - using the pr…
3) Identifying activities and dependencies - basically defining the pro…
4) Preparing estimates - Once we know what we need…
5) Preparing a schedule - Schedule to allocate the…
6) Analysing risks to a plan - at each of the above steps you must…
7) Documenting a Plan - final step is to document the plan, meaning we pre… (Hints: Cont, const, mon&con)
1) Designing a plan, where we decide the number of stages, the format of the plan and links to the programme or portfolio where appropriate.
2) Defining and analysing the products using the product focus steps.
3) Identifying activities and dependencies, basically defining the work required to develop the products and the dependencies between them
4) Preparing estimates, once we know what we need to do we can estimate the durations of each activity
5) Preparing a schedule, schedule to allocate the appropriate resources.
6) Analysing risks to a plan, at each of the above steps you must consider the risks to the plan and any mitigating actions must be included in the schedule.
7) Documenting a Plan, final step is to document the plan meaning we prepare a short narrative to outline what the plan contains, its constraints, monitoring and control arrangements.
Prince2 minimum requirements for the plans theme. These are a lot and I wouldn’t say you have to memorise them but it’s a good to have recorded and is good/key to at least generally understand and ingrain.
1) x7
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h) Also x4 products that must be produced and maintained which are the:
1) a) Ensure that the plans enable the business case to be realised (continued business justification principle)
b) Have at least two management stages (manage by stages principle)
c) Produce a project plan for the whole project and a stage plan for each management stage (Manage by stages principle)
d) Use the product-based planning technique for project, stage, team and exception plans. Prince 2 recommends the 7 steps previously mentioned although alternatives may be used. Also recommends the steps mentioned in figure… for defining and analysing the products to produce a product breakdown structure, although alternative approaches can be used.
e) Produce specific plans for managing exception (manage by exception principle)
f) Define the roles and responsibilities for planning (defined roles and responsibility principle).
g) Use lessons to inform planning (Learning from experience principle).
4 Products must be produce and maintained which are the:
2) a) Project product description
b) Product descriptions
c) Product breakdown structure
d) A plan (Project plan presumably)
5th product is recommended which is the product flow diagram.
1) Product based planning is an approach where you…
2) 4 steps for defining and analysing the products, although alternative approaches can be used.
1) Product based planning is an approach where you identify and understand what needs to be delivered before deciding what activities, dependencies and resource are required to deliver those products. Prince2 says this is a better starting point.
Understanding the product makes it easier to identify and plan the activities needed to make them.
2) a) Create a Project product description (used for Project Plan only).
b) Create the Product Breakdown Structure
c) Create a Product Description for each main lower level product (not all may need a product description)
d) Create a Product Flow Diagram (used to show the order in which products must be created). Then becomes possible to easily produce a schedule of all activities required for the project.
1) Define Product
2) What is another word for the products of a project that encompasses paperwork/reports/mechanisms of measurement etc
3) Who is responsible for writing the project product description?
4) a) Within in a product breakdown structure there will often be products that will be provided from outside the project known what?
b) As they’re outside the control of the PM the risk register should include what?
5) Product breakdown structures are used at what levels?
1) Anything that is produced by or on the way through a project (actual deliverable and paperwork/control mechanisms).
2) Baseline products (such as business case or plan, records such as risk and issue register, or reports such as checkpoint and end project reports).
3) Senior user, though in practice the PM will often complete it in conjunction with senior user and executive.
4) a) External Products
b) Any threat to the plan if the external products are late or aren’t the required specification.
5) Project and stage plan levels, optional for team plans.
BENEFITS OF PRODUCT BASED PLANNING (DNTR)
X6
1) Clearly and consistently identifying products, this reduces the risk of overlooking key aspects of the project.
2) Clear requirements, no ambiguity on what’s being produced which can improve communication.
3) Define scope boundary, what you’re going to do and not going to do.
4) Gain agreement on production, review and approval responsibilities.
5) Creates a basis for work packages
6) Helps to manage risk as by knowing what you’re delivering on exactly, you can identify what could affect it.
Prince2 recommends the main headings that should be included in the product description as shown:
Identifier - Unique key most likely allocated by configuration management method being used
Title - Name by which the product is known
Purpose - Why do we need this product?
Composition - What are the components that will make up the product
Derivation - Where will the product come from?
Format and presentation - How will product be
presented and what will it actually look like (what form will it take).
Development skills required - Which individual, group or skill types will be needed to create the product
Quality criteria - What criteria must the product meet for it to be judged fit for purpose
Quality tolerance - Is the quality of the product acceptable/ is there a ranging quality criteria in which the product would be acceptable
Quality method - How will the quality be judged
Quality skills required - Who is qualified to check the
quality of this product and what skills will be required.
Quality responsibilities - Who are the producers, reviewers and approvers for the product.
