Project Planning & Administration

Structured and on-going planning and administration are important contributors to the success of any project. Yet, due to the day to day pressures of managing the project, these activities are often bottom of the ‘To Do' list and do not always get the attention they deserve. A separate planning and administration function or 'Project Office', can often add significant value to a major IT project.

Key items to consider are the following:

  • Standards for project documentation, so that it is both consistent and easy to understand
  • Location and organisation, so that the documentation is easy to find
  • Communication, so that everyone who needs to know does know about it, including third parties
  • Tools to be employed, so that individuals have both access to the project documentation and the appropriate functionality to use it

The Project Office combines responsibility for the proper organisation of meetings and facilities, together with the management of various elements of documentation including:

  • Project Charter/Definition/Initiation to set out the scope, objectives, roles, responsibilities and overall framework for the project
  • Project Plan to describe where the project is in relation to the agreed milestones, what future actions are necessary, by when and who is responsible
  • Project Deliverables together with appropriate status and revision histories
  • Risk Register to record the likelihood and potential impact of all risks, together with appropriate contingency and mitigation plans
  • Issues Log to define all issues being progressed, whether arising from the risk register or otherwise, together with ownership and timescale information
  • Actions Log to record at a detailed level actions that have been assigned to individuals and their progress/outcome
  • Change Control to maintain a record of all changes to the project and the implications of these in terms of cost, time, etc
  • Meeting Agendas which should be to a standard format and issued prior to meetings
  • Meeting Minutes to record the outcome of key meetings within the project