PROJECT PLANNING

By: Dr. Osman I. Al-Agha

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 1. INTRODUCTION
 The purpose of the Communications
Management Plan is to define the
communication requirements for the project and
how information will be distributed. The
Communications Management Plan defines the
following:
 What information will be communicated—to
include the level of detail and format
 How the information will be communicated—
in meetings, email, telephone, web portal, etc.
 When information will be distributed—the
frequency of project communications both formal3
and informal
 .Who is responsible for communicating project
information
 Communication requirements for all project
stakeholders
 What resources the project allocates for
communication
 How any sensitive or confidential information
is communicated and who must authorize this
 How changes in communication or the
communication process are managed
 The flow of project communications

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 Any constraints, internal or external, which
affect project communications
 Any standard templates, formats, or
documents the project must use for
communicating
 An escalation process for resolving any
communication-based conflicts or issues

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 COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT
APPROACH
 Approximately 80% of a Project Manager’s
time is spent communicating. Think about
it – as a Project Manager you are spending
most of your time measuring and reporting
on the performance of the project,
composing and reading emails, conducting
meetings, writing the project plan,
meeting with team members, overseeing
work being performed, meeting with
clients over lunch and many more 6
activities related to your projects.
 You should give considerable thought to how you
want to manage communications on this project.
By having a solid communications management
approach you’ll find that many project
management problems can be avoided. In this
section give an overview of your communications
management approach.

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 COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT
CONSTRAINTS
 All projects are subject to limitations and
constraints as they must be within scope and
adhere to budget, scheduling, and resource
requirements. Project planning and
documentation are no exception to this rule.
There may also be legislative, regulatory,
technology, or organizational policy
requirements which must be followed as part of
communications management. These constraints
must be clearly understood and communicated to
all stakeholders.
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 While communications management is arguably
one of the most important aspects of project
management, it must be done in an effective
manner and within the constraints of the
allocated budget, time, and resources.
 All project communication activities will occur
within the project’s approved budget, schedule
and resource allocations.

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 STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION
REQUIREMENTS
 Most projects consist of a broad range of
stakeholders all of whom may have differing
interests and influence on the project. As such, it
is important for project teams to determine the
communication requirements of these
stakeholders in order to more effectively
communicate project information. There are a
number of methods for determining stakeholder
communication requirements; however, it is
imperative that they are completely understood
in order to effectively manage their interest,
expectations, and influence and ensure 10a
successful project.
 COMMUNICATION METHODS AND
TECHNOLOGIES
 Many times, the methods and technologies used to
communicate are just as important of a consideration
as the information being communicated. Imagine a
large project with many stakeholders who all have
different technological capabilities. Some may have
access to a share drive while others do not. Some may
have access to video teleconferencing and others only
have telephone and email capabilities. In order to be
effective, project information must be communicated
to everyone involved by some method using available
technology. Determining communication methods and
what technologies are available should be part of
determining stakeholder communication
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requirements.
 COMMUNICATION FLOWCHART
 Flowcharts provide a visual representation of a
process or processes which often allow a better
understanding of how the process is intended to
work. Project communications may be extremely
complex depending on the size and scope of the
project and the number of stakeholders. A
flowchart provides all stakeholders with a better
understanding of the steps involved with the
distribution of all project communications.

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 COMMUNICATION STANDARDS
 Standardization is a proven way to simplify the
complexities of project management
communications. Many organizations develop and
use standard templates or formats for the various
communication tools used throughout projects.
Standard templates and formats may be applied
to certain types of project meetings or specific
types of communication (i.e. emails, status
reports, etc.). By using standardization,
organizations can help ensure that its project
teams and stakeholders have a thorough
understanding of what is expected and achieve
consistent and effective communications. 14
 In addition to standard templates and/or formats,
organizations may standardize file naming or
sharing conventions. An organization may use
SharePoint or some other type of Web
Portal/Network tool (blogs, message boards, etc.) as
a standard platform from which to share information
and communicate. Additionally, an organization may
have standard file naming conventions for their
stored data on their internal share drives. Many of
these tools and new technologies are used in today’s
projects with team members and stakeholders often
spread over
 wide geographic areas. Standardization provides a
level of simplicity to an organization’s
communication platforms and improves effectiveness15
and efficiency.
 COMMUNICATION ESCALATION PROCESS
 As issues or complications arise with regards to
project communications it may become necessary
to escalate the issue if a resolution cannot be
achieved within the project team. Project
stakeholders may have many different conflicting
interests in a given project. While escalations are
a normal part of project management, there must
be a documented process that defines how those
escalations will take place.

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Priority Definition Decision Timeframe for Resolution
Authority
Priority 1 Major impact to project or Vice Within 4 hours
business operations. If not President or
resolved quickly there will higher
be a significant adverse
impact to revenue and/or
schedule.
Priority 2 Medium impact to project Project Within one business day
or business operations Sponsor
which may result in some
adverse impact to revenue
and/or schedule.
Priority 3 Slight impact which may Project Within two business days
cause some minor Manager
scheduling difficulties with
the project but no impact to
business operations or
revenue.
Priority 4 Insignificant impact to Project Work continues and any
project but there may be a Manager recommendations are
better solution. submitted via the project
change control process
 Thank You

Dr. Osman I. Al-Agha

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