Creating a PRINCE2 7th Edition Plan 

Creating a PRINCE2 7th Edition Plan

Preparing estimates

Project managers and team managers always plan using estimates of:

people: these can be the specific skills required, the level of effort involved, and when and where they will be needed.

resources: these can be specific materials, equipment, facilities, access, natural resources, or money, as well as the number or amount of each.

duration of activities: preparation of the schedule requires estimating the time it is likely to take to complete tasks.

cost of people and resources: for people, these can be labour rates, fees, or salaries, whereas for resources such as materials, these can be unit costs and based on market rates or supplier contracts.

benefits: these can be estimates of the value of the outcomes enabled by the project products.

risk: these can be estimates of the proximity, probability, velocity, and impact of risks and their associated risk responses.

It is useful to include a level of confidence with every estimate. The higher the level of confidence in an estimate, the less likely that unexpected variations will be encountered during delivery. This enables the project manager and project board to agree to a realistic set of tolerances.

Preparing a schedule

A schedule

A graphical representation of a plan (such as a Gantt chart), typically describing a sequence of tasks together with resource allocations, which collectively deliver the plan.

The sequencing, interrelationships, and duration of work packages and their associated tasks are captured in a schedule. All work packages for a stage must be included in the schedule for the stage.

A work package includes one or more delivery activities. These activities, in turn, can be decomposed into a set of tasks. 

For each task, the people and resources can be identified, and then the level of effort required, and the duration of each task can be estimated.

The project manager should consider the planning horizon and use stage plans to elaborate the schedule as the level of effort and duration of tasks are better understood.

Preparing the budget

The people and resource requirements can be listed, and their costs along with other costs can be calculated to produce the plan’s budget. 

The budget should include:

• costs of the activities (including people, equipment, materials, and facilities) to produce and deliver the products and the cost of the project management activities
  
• risk budget
  
• change budget
  
• cost tolerances.

A resource is defined as: The goods, services, equipment, materials, facilities, and funding required to complete a plan.

Subject to the type of resources required, the plan’s budget may need to be documented using several different components. 

For example, the time required in a test facility may be indicated in a schedule, whereas the necessary capital funding may be detailed in the project budget.

The use of distinct risk budgets and change budgets is optional. Their use will depend on the project context as to whether the value of the additional control outweighs the additional project management costs and time.

Analysing risks

Plans need to be analysed for risks throughout the planning technique as the plan develops. As the detail of the plan evolves, it should be examined for its potential risk content. All identified risks should be entered into the project log: risk register.

After the plan has been produced, the plan should still be considered as a draft until decisions regarding whether and how to treat the inherent risks in the plan have been made. 

Subject to those decisions, the plan may need to be modified due to changing risk situations

Documenting the plan

The PRINCE2 planning technique creates several management products that constitute the plan.

The schedule and budget may be maintained in separate systems or files. 

Meanwhile, the product breakdown structure, product flow diagram, and work breakdown structure may be maintained in a document, spreadsheet, or graphical planning tool. 

Multiple elements may be maintained in a team collaboration tool. Even so, it is often useful to prepare a narrative document that explains the plan at a high level and identifies:

• internal and external dependencies
  
• proposed tolerances
  
• monitoring and control requirements
  
• budgets
  
• key risks
  
• assumptions underlying any of the above.

A project plan would also include a description of the stages and planned project board decisions.

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