Planning Process Group – PMP/CAPM (PMBOK 6)
Planning Process Group – PMP/CAPM (PMBOK 6)
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail by Benjamin FranklinThe Planning Process Group consists of those processes that establish the total scope of the effort, define and refine the objectives, and develop the course of action required to attain those objectives. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Sixth Edition
Once authorized, the project management team needs to plan the project at an appropriate level of details using progressive elaboration techniques. This is thinking ahead of time about the project. The Planning Process group contain the biggest chunk of the Project Management processes from the 49 processes. The process group brings together all of the different types of planning needed to run the project.
This is not only to identify the Scope, Cost, Schedule but also identify the resources needed and plan proper mitigation strategies against any unforeseen future event. The project management plan provides all the necessary planning to complete the project and deliver the objectives with the identified constraints.
Project planning emphasizes on developing a roadmap that needs to be followed. It begins with setting goals and two popular methods for this purpose are S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) and C.L.E.A.R. (collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable, refine able).
Most important task here is to develop the baselines i.e for Scope, Cost and Schedule. These baselines are used for Performance Monitoring in the Monitoring and Controlling Process Group
With poor planning, the execution will go bad too… and eventually, the whole project will suffer. So to be successful in Execution, you need to plan carefully and diligently.
There are many processes which you may not use on your project, or you may do it as part of one process like Create activity, Duration, Resource, Sequencing and Scheduling. The process attempt to answers questions like
- What detailed is expected in the plan? What sections requires details and which will survive without detailed planning
- The levels of WBS and eventually identify what is needed to plan as neat future
- What level of engagement is expected from stakeholders in planning
- How to keep the planning process streamlined
- How to determine the quality and reliability of this information
- How often to re-plan
- How to administer changes to the plan
- How to minimize the effect of changes on work in progress
Though there are many deliverables listed in the deliverables section of this page, the most important is the master document known as the Project Management Plan which contains almost 19 documents. This document can be referred back throughout the project for planning, execution and monitoring and controlling. The document also serves as the official document to initiate the project work after the proper final authorization and approval.
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