Project
Implementation Plan
Need
an information management project implementation plan and want
practical suggestions and samples to ensure rapid project delivery?
A project management plan is a communications tool, which clearly sets
expectations for all team members.
It helps new team members quickly see who is involved with the project
and helps minimize project delays due to miscommunication. It also
helps
other stakeholders know what
is
expected of them and when.
Some organizations have very large IT departments and staff are
assigned to numerous projects at one time—A project plan
ensures that all
team
members know what
they are expected to deliver, when
it is
required, who
will accept the deliverable and how
it will be approved.
Why is it
Important?
Imagine an architect planning a new building. The design is not
complete
but he already should know key things like what standards the
design specifications should meet, what building codes
will apply, how he will expect suppliers to communicate
delays, etc. A project implementation plan is very similar. It is a
road map and schedule needed to ensure timely completion of the project.
What is
included in an implementation plan?
An information management project manager should create a
project
implementation plan to include the following:
- Project
objectives and goals specifies what the project is
intended to achieve—This should be a
re-statement of the objectives and goals described in the business
case;
- Resource
plan
specifies roles
and responsibilities for all information management jobs
and how project
team management is organized
including:
- The expected level
of
effort required
for each resource together with the cost
and work schedule; and
- Other
project
resources, such as team rooms, specialized software,
licenses, and software
project management tools, etc,
- Project
approach specifies the tasks and deliverables,
project management
methodologies and approach that will be utilized and
how project
documentation will be managed. The
approach also describes any planned iterative
development or prototyping
methodology that might be adopted by the project team;
- Risk
management plan defines the process that will be followed to
identify and resolve project risks;
- Configuration
management
plan identifies
deliverables that will be
included in formal configuration management, what configuration
management tools will be used and what project management templates are
required;
- Project
quality management plan
specifies
plans
to ensure deliverables comply
with
standards and best practices, including any review/checkpoints;
- Test
plan specifies how quality assurance testing will be
managed, who
will be responsible for creating test cases, what software test tools
will be required, and how project acceptance will be determined;
- Requirements management plan and project management scope
specifies
how requirements will be
reviewed and approved, what requirements management tools will be
used and how the requirement traceability matrix will be
maintained;
- Documentation management plan should specify
the project
management document review process and baseline procedures
together with
any other project documentation
standards;
- Project
scope management specifies the approach for ensuring that
the
project
does not deviate from the project objectives and how “scope creep” will
be addressed.
Summary...
Project management objectives include creating a project implementation
plan as a communications tool, to clearly
set expectations for all team members. It is important to
complete it early
in the project and carefully
manage it to ensure on time, within budget project delivery.
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