Knowledge Area:Project Integration Management 

• A project plan is a comprehensive document which CONTAINS detailed information about how the project will be executed, how the project will be monitored and finally how the project will be closed. A project plan is similar to a blueprint or a guideline for the team to be followed during the project.
• Project planning is a structured approach to develop an integrated project plan by developing and integrating the subsidiary plans of SCOPE, schedule, cost, resources, QUALITY, communication, risk, procurement and stakeholder.

The final project plan will include the above subsidiary plans. It will also include the detailed project scope, detailed schedule and detailed cost estimates and expenditure plan. These are referred as the scope, schedule and cost baselines.

The project plan also will include the project life cycle and the associated phases, change management plan, CONFIGURATION management plan etc.

• The project planning will be carried out by the project manager by taking the help of the core team members who will assist in developing the different components of the plan. The core team will also assist in estimating. The team will refer to the project CHARTER document to understand the initial constraints of scope, time and cost as laid down. The detailed plan will be prepared to meet these constraints or goals.

The team will first start with elaborating the project scope, developing estimates for duration, cost and resources for each activity or work package in the project scope. In addition the team will also prepare a risk management plan, risk responses, communication management plan, quality management plan, stakeholder engagement plan, and procurement management plan to complete the overall project plan.

• Once the detailed project plan is prepared by the team, the plan finally gets approved by the sponsor or by the customer. The approved plan will have the scope, time and cost baselines approved. The project baselines will be used as a reference for measuring performance once project execution begins. Any deviation from these baselines will be treated as project variances. These baselines form the boundary of the so called triple constraints.