Concept of project planning
concept of Project Planning
In general, planning includes all those activities that result in developing a course of action. These activities guide future decision-making. Similarly, project planning includes all those activities that result in developing a course of action for a one-shot occurrence with a specific beginning and ending point. These planning activities guide the project manager in future decision-making about the project.
Project planning refers to the plans of an organisation to build up production or service capabilities, to diversify its business or to extend its existing capacities Now-a days projects undertaken by different business organisations are very large and take a number of years before commercial production can start. Thus, in case of large and complex projects, project planning is essential for close coordination in different cost and time activities and ultimately successful completion of the project. Project planning includes the following steps:
●Identifying and specifying all activities to be performed.
●Establishing the order in which different activities must be performed (precedence relationships).
●Establishing cost and time estimates for different activities.
●Calculating expected completion costs and times.
Project planning, which includes all the managerial activities that result in developing a course of action, is broad in scope. A comprehensive project planning covers different aspects which can be summarised as under:
Planning the project work: Different activities which are related to a project must be spelt out in detail, and should be properly scheduled and sequenced.
Planning the cost: The total expenditure expected
on a project must be budgeted in a time-phased manner.
Planning the manpower and organisation: The man-power required for the project (e.g., managers, supervisors,technologists, operators and others) must be estimated and the authority and responsibility for carrying out the project work must be allocated.
Planning the information system: The information
and reports required for project monitoring must be defined.
