Sections of project plan template

Rather than the outputs or deadlines, this project plan template concentrates on tasks. It lets you visualize your project progress through its Gantt chart. This template is ideal for smaller projects that involve a few tasks and dependencies.

It includes a sample dashboard and a project tracker. Download: Analysis Tab Free, available as an Excel file. You can utilize this template to track project deadlines and status. Download: Office Free, available as an Excel file.

Filestage's document-based project plan uses different colors to identify several essential elements for an effective project plan. The document is divided into different sections like project goal, scope, task scheduling, communication, resources, and more. Each section comprises key questions where you can fill in answers related to your project objective, tasks, subtasks, mode of communication, deadlines, etc.

Download: Filestage Free, available as a Word document. This project schedule template allows you to create a simple timeline for your project without all the bells and whistles of a Gantt chart. This project template divides your entire project into numerous phases. Each phase is further subdivided into several tasks to provide you with a comprehensive picture of the project's development.

It includes blank weekly and monthly schedule worksheets that you can customize according to your needs. Download: Vertex 24 Free, available as an Excel file. Sufficient allowances need to made for contingencies, and all stakeholders should be aware of the timelines involved. The Project Manager should be aware of the critical path at all times throughout the project, to be able to respond when critical issues arise. This is also a good place to identify the dates for the key project deliverables.

The schedule itself can be placed in an appendix. Budget Each task in the activity list should have an assigned budget.

The total budgets should be rolled up into a total project budget. This allows for accurate project cost tracking, and earned value analysis to determine the status at any time. Potential for changes and adequate reasons can also be documented. Quality Management Plan The quality success criteria of each phase of the project should be identified and specified to ensure compliance during project execution. Provide a description of the processes that will be used to ensure that the quality of the product s meet the requirements.

Human Resources Plan The project participants should be identified and it should be ensured that these individuals have the time and capability to carry out the tasks required of them. Communication Define what major communications will be made at what phases of the project, such as project review meetings.

Define the communication strategy with key stakeholders, especially those inevitable stakeholders that have a minor financial interest but disproportionate impact on the project outcome like the adjacent landowner mentioned above.

Risk Management Plan This is the place to identify and prioritize the risks to a successful project. The plan should list, in table form or similar each risk, the mitigation strategy, and the plan of action should that risk occur.

There is nothing more comforting than having a well thought out plan when something bad happens, therefore taking the extra time to be comprehensive is very important. PMI reports that this is one of the most underrated sections of the project management plan.

A high-level roadmap like the one above is probably sufficient for your project management plan. You can also use a project management tool to keep your team organized. Further Reading: Our post featuring Gantt chart examples and more tips on how to use them for project management. One of the hardest aspects of project planning is assembling a team and aligning them to the project vision.

And aligning your team is all about communication—communicating the project goals, communicating stakeholder requests, communicating the rationale behind big decisions…the list goes on. This is where good project documentation is crucial! You need to create documents that your team and your stakeholders can access when they have questions or need guidance. One easy thing to document visually is the structure of your team, with an organizational chart like this one:. In an organizational chart you should include some basic information like team hierarchy and team member contact information.

That way your stakeholders have all of the information they need at their fingertips. A big part of project planning is identifying the factors that are likely to derail your project, and coming up with plans and process to deal with those factors. This is generally referred to as risk management. The first step in coming up with a risk management plan is to list all of the factors at play, which is where a risk breakdown structure comes in handy.

A risk breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of project risks, organized by category. This risk breakdown structure template, for example, shows project risk broken down into technical risk, management risk, and external risk:. As I mentioned earlier, communication is fundamental in any project. Too often, project communication defaults to ad-hoc emails or last-minute meetings. You can avoid this by planning ahead.

Start with a project kickoff meeting and include a project status report template as part of your communication plan.

This type of report is invaluable for communicating updates on project progress. You might also want to include a broader status report for bigger updates on a monthly or quarterly basis, like this one:. The above template allows you to inform stakeholders of more major updates like new budget requirements, revised completion dates, and project performance ratings. You can even include a visualization of up-to-date project milestones, like this example below:. Want more tips on creating visuals to enhance your communications?

Read our visual communication guide for businesses. A project management plan is probably the most important deliverable your stakeholders will receive from you besides the project itself. It holds all of the information that stakeholders will use to determine whether your project moves forward or gets kicked to the curb. Your construction bid proposal is probably competing against several other bidders. Ontario Construction News has great advice on this process. This simple project management plan template that clearly lays out all of the information your stakeholders will need:.

A project communication plan ensures everyone knows how, where, who and when the team will communicate during the course of the project.

This template clearly outlines all of these factors to help manage expectations and eliminate confusion about what will get communicated and when:. See for yourself. Project Action Plan Template. IT Project Plan Template. Software Project Plan Template.

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Project Task List Template. Project Tracking Template. Project Status Report Template. What Is a Project Plan? Struggling to maintain effectiveness across your remote teams? The Project Planning Process As you begin to plan your project, you should familiarize yourself with the steps involved in thoroughly mapping out a project from start to finish.

To do so, follow these steps: Concept and Initiation: Start by determining the overall concept of your project and how you plan to complete it.

Roadmap Creation: In this phase, determine a rough timeline of the tasks necessary to complete your project. Deliverable Listing: Each project must have specific deliverables, which you should identify during the beginning portion of your planning phase, so each team member is aware of what is expected of them.