This document provides an overview of project planning fundamentals, including project definition, business case justification, scope and requirements management, and various planning strategies. It emphasizes the importance of effective planning for project success, detailing tools such as breakdown structures and cost estimating methods. Key elements like stakeholder engagement, budgeting, and risk management are also discussed as critical components of the planning process.

1. Planning Fundamentals

2. Overview
o Project Definition – Where do you start?
• A few key areas to consider
o Planning
• Approaches to Planning
• Planning Strategies
• Breakdown Structures
• Dependencies
• Costs & Budgets

4. Business Case
o Provides justification for undertaking a
project
• Benefits
• Cost and Risk of alternative options
• Rationale for preferred solution
o Key Go / No-Go decision point
o Typical Business Case contents;
• Exec Summary
• Strategic Case
• Economic Options
• Benefits
• Compromises / Disadvantages
• Timescale
• Cost & Performance Analysis
• Resources
• Risks & Opportunities
• Strategic Fit within Business
• Time Assumptions
• Funding Requirements
• Resource Requirements

5. Scope Management
o Process of developing the description of
the project and its deliverables
• All work is specified and related to the
project objectives
• Business plan will define the breadth of
project scope
o Requires buy-in from all key stakeholders;
• Project Executive
• Sponsor
• Programme Manager
• End User
• Any other key stakeholders

6. Requirements Management
o Process of capturing, assessing and justifying stakeholders wants and needs
• Requirements become the principal project deliverables
• Requirements management is ongoing throughout the project lifecycle
o Requirement Definition
• Consider acceptance criteria used for previous projects of a similar nature
• Consider standards, legal acts and regulations to be complied with

7. Requirements Management
o Requirements Management Process
• Capture and define requirements from all stakeholders
• Link requirements to product breakdown structures and work breakdown structures
• Decompose Requirements
• Works Information (WI) / Statement of Work (SoW)

8. Project Familiarisation
Business Case
The Contract
Customer Requirements
Drawings & Specifications
Gateways & Stage Approvals
Previous stage schedules
Meetings, workshops
Stakeholders
Legislation
Benchmark Data
Cost Estimates
Previous Projects
Lead-in times
Available resources

9. Planning
o Planning is the process of identifying the methods, resources and activities
necessary to accomplish the projects objectives
• Understand the need, problem or opportunity that the project will address and the benefits
it will deliver
• Define what has to be accomplished and delivered (scope, time, budget & quality)
• Develop a plan to deliver the project
o Planning is an art rather than a science
o Planning Outputs;
• Overall strategy for the project
• Overall methodology for the project
• Breakdown structures for managing the project
• Identification of key dependencies
• Contributions to the project risk and opportunities register and issue log
• Identification of interfaces

10. Benefits of Planning
Planning is about communicating the sequence, method and time required to complete the
project deliverables
Identifies and documents the right activities and products to achieve the outputs
Comprehensive scheduling ensures the optimal allocation and release of resource &
effective control of project activities within time constraints
Planning is central to the control of the project an early identification of where the
project might be starting to fail
Planning is an integral part of problem solving at all stages of the project
With good planning, it is possible to predict whether the project remains on target to deliver its
output within the time, cost or performance constraints

11. Approaches to Planning
o Top- Down / Bottom-Up Planning

12. Approaches to Planning
o Rolling Wave Planning

13. Approaches to Planning
o Agile Planning

14. Planning Strategies
o Factors to consider;
• Best commercial solutions based on earliest completion
• Most economical solution based on availability of funds
• The rate at which funds can be committed
• Availability of resources (labour & materials)
• The rate at which the project can be mobilised
• External factors such as a relationship with other projects

15. Breakdown Structures
o Breakdown structures are tools used to break down the project into smaller
elements to facilitate the delegation of responsibility
o Level 1

16. Breakdown Structures
o Level 2

17. Breakdown Structures
o Level 3

18. Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)
o A Product is an output which meets the scope or requirement, sometimes referred to
as a deliverable
o A Product Breakdown Structure
is a key step in a product-based
planning approach

19. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
o A Work Breakdown Structure is a hierarchical breakdown of the scope or requirement of the
project into a series of manageable work packages or areas that can be estimated, planned and
assigned to the appropriate person or department for completion

20. Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
o Within product-based planning, the organisational breakdown structure is a top down hierarchical
representation of the management structure and people within a project. It is used to convey the
communication routes and reporting lines within the project

21. Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
o A responsibility assignment matrix shows the project organisational breakdown structure in relation
to the work breakdown structure to ensure that each element of the scope of work is assigned to a
responsible team or individual

22. RACI Matrix
o The RACI matrix tool is used for identifying roles and responsibilities to avoid confusion over those
roles and responsibilities during the project
R = Responsible A = Accountable C = Consulted I = Informed

23. Cost Breakdown Structures (CBS)
o A Cost Breakdown Structure defines the level at which costs will be collected.
o The CBS will be created and structured at a sufficient level of detail to allow budgets to be set,
costs to be collected, recorded, monitored and controlled

24. Dependency Management
o Dependency Management is the process of monitoring and controlling the key interfaces on a
project
Suppliers
Disciplines
Client
Third Parties
Sub-contractors
Other agencies
InterfacesBetweenDifferent
Organisations
InterfacesWithintheProject
Approval Gateways
Design Reviews
Client Assurance
Reviews
Consultation
Discipline Integration /
Co-ordination

25. Cost Estimating
o Cost estimating is the process used to quantify the cost of services, materials and resources
required to deliver a project
o An estimate should be robust and repeatable. The estimate should contain the source information
used to calculate the estimate and associated assumptions

26. Cost Estimating Types
Planning Preliminary Definitive
Optioneering Fair Price
Independent
Cost
Estimate
Parametric
Estimating
Delphi
Technique
Detailed
Cost
Estimating
Activity
Based Cost
Estimating
Task
Analysis

27. Budgeting
o Budgeting is the process of
allocating appropriate budgets to
different parts of the work
breakdown structure
o Budgets are often expressed in
terms of money, but may equally
be described in terms of other
resources such as labour, plant
or materials

28. Budgeting – Generating a cost forecast

29. Summary

30. Questions?
30