Project Planning
Designing and executing projects
General characteristics of "planning"
In a general sense we can define planning as "the process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired future". More specifically planning is process of identifying the means, resources and actions necessary to accomplish an objective. (See other definitions of "planning".)
Project planning is the process of choosing the who, what, how, when, and where of pursue of project objectives. It is the second phase of the project management process (project phases), which focuses on defining clear, discrete activities and the work needed to complete them.
A project will generate benefices for internal and external stakeholders; there is a communality of interests for all stakeholders that the project is a success. However, as in all group relationships, there will be some self-interest that may not be in line with the common interest, like some people saving their time and putting inadequate effort in their tasks, vendors charging higher costs, leaders claiming responsibility of all the successes and blaming others for the problems, etc. A good plan will minimize conflict of interests as much as all the reciprocal expectations are well defined and documented and a system of monitoring and support is in place. Planning is not everything: team spirit and a visionary leadership are essential for a project success; but without a good plan misunderstand and disappointment will almost be inevitable.
Moving from the onset of the original idea to the phase of (when resources are allocated) requires a number of steps. These steps vary according to the organizational culture, the size of the project and the number of actors whose consensus is required for the project to happen. There will be a series of "judgments" or "ex-ante evaluations" concerning the coherence of the project design and the feasibility of the project activities. Each organization and each partnership has its own approach to giving green-lights to desired projects. There are some general principles, however, that apply to any effective evaluation and project selection process: the deciding body must have enough information about the needs that the project wants to address, about the coherence and merits of the solutions proposed and the viability and feasibility of its required actions. An analysis of the coherence of the project design will focused on the logics of the project assumptions: will the products expected results (products and services) generate a real change in the social environment? Will the project have a positive impact in due course of time? Will the project be a concrete step towards achieving programme objectives? Feasibility analysis will instead evaluate if the organization is really equipped for choosing and implementing all the activities required to produce the expected project results (products and services).
Moving from the onset of the original idea to the phase of project detailed planning (when resources are allocated) requires a number of steps. These steps vary according to the organizational culture, the size of the project and the number of actors whose consensus is required for the project to happen. There will be a series of "judgments" or "ex-ante evaluations" concerning the coherence of the project design and the feasibility of the project activities.
Each organization and each partnership has its own approach to giving green-lights to desired projects. There are some general principles, however, that apply to any effective evaluation and project selection process: the deciding body must have enough information about the needs that the project wants to address, about the coherence and merits of the solutions proposed and the viability and feasibility of its required actions.
An analysis of the coherence of the project design will focused on the logics of the project assumptions:
· will the products expected results (products and services) generate a real change in the social environment?
· Will the project have a positive impact in due course of time?
· Will the project be a concrete step towards achieving programme objectives?
· Feasibility analysis will instead evaluate if the organization is really equipped for choosing and implementing all the activities required to produce the expected project results (products and services).
To make the project successful, it is necessary that project teams understand the requirements, needs and problems of the beneficiaries and that the beneficiaries understand the requirements, needs and problems of the communities.
If the project team has correctly understood the needs and problems of the target beneficiaries, they will be able to utilise the outputs to empower beneficiaries, i.e. move from outputs to outcomes If the project beneficiaries have correctly understood the needs and problems of the communities, they will be able to empower communities, i.e. move from outcomes to impact.
Without active contribution of beneficiaries, project outputs will not be utilised to achieve project outcomes. Without active contribution of communities, beneficiaries will not be able to utilise outcomes to achieve impact.
Although the formal classification of the project steps is different in different organizational cultures, we can say that in a general sense project development moves through three major preparation steps:
Origination: when someone has an idea and proposes a project that can help to achieve the objectives of a programme;
Initiation: Once there is consensus amongst the decision makers in the organization, the project idea is discussed with other stakeholders like partners, sponsors, beneficiaries, and decisions are taken with regard to the number, the nature and the quality of the project deliverables.
Detailed planning: This comprises all the activities required in order to make sure that:
there is a consensus amongst all stakeholders about project activities and methodologies,
Project completion and closure
(See Project Phases in Introduction to Project Management.); Graphic representation of Project development phases.
Each one of this step delivers a document that gradually clarify and details the project idea and a managerial decision to proceed further in the development of the project.
The Project Business Case document describes the problems that generate the need for the project and the solutions envisaged;
The Project scope document defines the product/services that the project is meant to deliver and the changes expected as a direct consequence of the delivered project outputs.
The project scope document is produced through a process of reciprocal understanding amongst:
· the project team (that has to deliver the project outputs)
· the beneficiaries (who have to utilize the outputs so as to contribute to the achievement of the project expected outcomes)
· the project sponsors (who are interested that the project impact contributes to the achievement of the project objectives)
by relating:
· the deliverables
· with the expected outcomes
· and the desired impact.
The project plan: that details the activities, the work and the resources needed in order to produce the project deliverables.
The activities that project teams carry out must produce outputs that will empower project beneficiaries to better interact with their communities and utilise project deliverables to achieve the project outcomes These outcomes will enable the communities to tackle the problems identified and produce changes in the factors generating these problems, thereby contributing to the achievement of the project objectives.
See Graphic representation of Project development phases.
A commonly used tool for Project Planning is the Logical Framework; However its compilation should rather be done "at the end" of planning (as a summary structure) rather than at the beginning)