Edwards 5.1:

A project plan should be as complex as your project needs it to be in order to “identify the scope, goals, deliverables, and deadlines in your project” (McGuire, 2018). According to the article Project Management Plan: The Basics, the components of the project plan should include: an Overview of the project, Scope, Schedule, Costs, Quality, Project Team, Communication, Risks, Procurements, Closure, Changes, and Baselines (Voices on Project Management Blog , 2011). The benefits of a project plan are to have a tentative plan on how you are going to successfully accomplish this project. Sara McGuire compares a project plan to having the instruction manual to assembling IKEA furniture; you wouldn’t start a complicated project without it (McGuire, 2018).

Although I have never had the pleasure of creating a project plan I would probably use Word to do so. I’m not the best speller and I reply on its spellcheck that Excel does not have. I also feel that most project plans have a lot of writing and graphs which I can do both successfully in Word.

In my current command we have a Shared Drive that we all have access to through our work computers. A system administrator can grant you access to map the drive to your computer. Files have the ability to be read/write or read only accessible. You can also make files password protected if needed. I would have an electronic copy uploaded to the shared drive as my repository that only the Project Manager and Leads have read/write access to, the rest of the team would have read only access. I would do this so that all changes are being made through the proper channels and Project Manager. This would add a control point to ensure accurate information is being posted. By having an electronic rather than a hard copy changes are easily made and dispersed to the team. Project plans are “agile documents that will probably have to be adjusted along the way” (McGuire, 2018).

Using a project management information system (PMIS) will help a PM plan, execute and achieve goals within their projects. Jeff Collins explains that the benefits of a PMIS for a project would be; improved collaboration, enable agile processes, helps keep project on schedule, can track your project in detail, allows for faster reporting, and enhances communication (Collins, 2016). Examples of a PMIS would include Microsoft Project, Microsoft SharePoint, along with a project management software developed by programmers/developers within your organizations IT department. As long as the software is supporting the aspects of the project and helps manage it, it would be considered an PMIS. Similar to your project management plan your PMIS should be as complex as your project needs it to be.

References

Collins, J. (2016, June 3). The Core Benefits of a Project Management Information System . Retrieved from Innovative Management Solutions : https://www.ims-web.com/blog/the-core-benefits-of-…

McGuire, S. (2018, December 06). 15+ Project Plan Templates to Visualize your Strategy, Goals, and Progress. Retrieved from Venngage : https://venngage.com/blog/project-plan-template/

Voices on Project Management Blog . (2011, December 23). Project Management Plan: The Basics . Retrieved from Project Management.com : https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/8638/P…