Your Guide to Project Management Best Practices

Tagged: planning

steps of the project planning process

PM Tips & Ideas

The Planning Process – Ten Simple Steps to Planning a Project

The project planning process is one of the high-level management processes that make the project lifecycle. It is a complex of tasks for setting up a project plan and also defining subsidiary plans. The project planning process is closely linked to the planning phase which is the second phase within the project lifecycle, according to the PMBOK methodology. It comes after the Initiating Process Group (by PMBOK) and the Direct Project (by PRINCE2). For some project managers, planning a project is a real challenge and sometimes they feel confused when trying to define a problem, develop a strategy, build a WBS, establish communications, build teams and so on

Project Constraints and Assumptions - A Planning Checklist

PM Tips & Ideas

Project Constraints and Assumptions – A Planning Checklist

Efficient planning for project success significantly depends on the right statement of the constraints and assumptions. Why are constraints and assumptions in project management so important? The answer is that because setting proper project constraints and assumptions paves the way for adequate risk analysis, efficient project planning and timely project delivery. This article is intended to give you definitions of both project constraints and project assumptions and also show what steps can be taken to determine the key characteristics of project success.

project readiness template

Templates

Project Readiness Checklist

The Project Readiness Checklist is a four-step guide to preparing a project during the initiation phase. It includes steps to reviewing the statement of work, requesting team skills, developing a sample project schedule, and preparing an agenda for the kick-off meeting. The Project Readiness Checklist will be helpful for people involved in managing the initiation phase. Taking the steps of the checklist allows achieving better project readiness management.

managing project resources

PM Tips & Ideas

Project Resource Management Software – The Meaning and Benefits

Managing project resources is one of the critical management activities aimed at finding the balanced allocation and levelling of available project resources and optimizing resource utilization and consumption. The project resource management process focuses on planning, scheduling and allocating resources required for initiating and executing a project and its phases. Usually this process is successfully implemented with help of project resource management software which allows using spreadsheets, estimates, templates, to-do lists and reports to plan and utilize project resources.
What is Project Resource Management Software?

It is a computer program to simplify planning and using of resources by providing tools for achieving the balance between project resource requirements, schedules, availability, and optimization opportunities. Project resource management tools allow managing what, where and when a resource should be available and utilized to achieve the optimum project outcome.

Cost Projection Statement and Analysis

PM Framework

Cost Projection Statement and Analysis

Stating cost projection is an activity carried out during the project initiation phase to identify costs for development, implementation and maintenance of the project. The analysis of costs is a tool of project cost planning and management to identify, estimate and describe total cost of project management initiative. Cost projection statement and analysis are required activities that allow making the project estimated and well-grounded in financial terms. Among other tools, cost projection estimates and spreadsheets are used to develop the project charter. They are developed with help of project costing software.