Stage Plan and Exception Plan
The project board use this activity for one of two situations, either to approve the next Stage Plan as the current stage reaches completion or to approve an Exception Plan if, at some point during the current management stage, the project manager had forecast that tolerance will be exceeded. Of course, the project board may choose to close the project prematurely.
In making this decision, the project board will want to look back and ensure the current stage has proceeded satisfactorily, look up, and ensure that the Project Plan and Business Case remain viable, and look forward to approving the next stage plan. The essential principle is that the next stage only starts once the project board has authorized it.
Remember that the project board only has the authority to set the stage level tolerances and if project tolerances are forecast to be exceeded at any point.
The project board must escalate this to the business or commissioning level for their decision on what to do next. The board may appoint project assurance to review draft documentation, including the Stage Plan or an Exception Plan, before Authorizing a Stage or Exception Plan.
Authorize a stage plan or exception plan.
This activity of authorizing a stage plan or exception plan is therefore either used for an end-stage or exception assessment. The project board must review and approve the following:
- Check that any deviations and current forecasts for the project are satisfactory, and if needed, review the Lessons Report.
- The project board must check that the aggregated risks are acceptable and that risk responses are realistic and incorporated within the appropriate plan. These tend to be more critical for an exception plan than for the next stage plan (as things are going well in the latter).
- Some projects will hand over products to the customer or users during the project rather than just at the end of the project. If so, the project board must satisfy that product handover occurred in line with the Issues Management Approach and that user, operational, and maintenance acceptance has occurred.
- There may also be some follow-on action recommendations, and the project board will want to ensure that the appropriate groups have accepted such responsibilities.
- If the project board is asked to confirm a Stage plan or Exception Plan, then product-based planning will have occurred, and they should review and approve any new or modified Product Descriptions.
- Also, all nine of the management approaches within the PID, will have been updated as appropriate, and the project board must review and approve these.
The Stage Plan or Exception Plan
The project board have the following choices in deciding for the remainder of the project:
- Approve the stage plan or exception plan, ensure resources are available, set tolerances for the next stage, advise the project manager how often they want to receive the Highlight Report for the following management stage and authorize the project manager to proceed based on the approved stage plan or exception plan.
- The project board may reject some of the documentation, including the stage plan or exception plan, and ask the project manager to make alterations or corrections and return to them for approval.
- They may instruct the project manager to initiate premature closure of the project.
Finally, the project board must communicate the project status to corporate or programme management and other interested parties as laid out within the Communication Management Approach.
If it is a Stage Plan that has been approved, then this will be used by the project manager to manage the next stage.
If it is an Exception plan that has been approved, this will take over from where the previous stage plan left off (the point where the exception occurred) and continue until the end of this (next) stage.
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