The Practical Guide to Project Management Documentation

John Rakos, Karen Dhanraj, Scott Kennedy, Laverne Fleck, Steve Jackson, James Harris

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780471693093
• eBook ISBN: 9781119120247
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Industrial Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Project Management
The one-stop resource for project management documentation and templates for all projects
The success of any project is crucially dependent on the documents produced for it. The Practical Guide to Project Management Documentation provides a complete and reliable source of explanations and examples for every possible project-related document-from the proposal, business case, and project plan, to the status report and final post-project review.
The Practical Guide to Project Management Documentation is packed with material that slashes the time and effort expended on producing new documents from scratch. Following the processes in the Project Management Institute's PMBOK® Guide, this one-stop, full-service book also offers tips and techniques for working with documents in each project process. Documentation for several project/client scenarios is addressed, including internal and externally contracted projects. A single project-the construction of a water theme park-is used as the case study for all the document examples.
An included CD-ROM provides all the documents from the book as Microsoft Word(r) files. Readers can use these as a framework to develop their own project documents.
The Practical Guide to Project Management Documentation is an unmatched reference for the numerous documents essential to project managers in all industries.
(PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.)

PART I
Initiation Phase Documents

1
Project Concept

Project Concept: Discussion

The Project Concept is the initiating document for the entire project. It is intended to be reviewed and approved by the client and is a foundation document for the remainder of the project. It defines the business requirement or need for the project in a broad sense and is used in making a preliminary go/no-go decision.

Activities that can occur in the preparation of the Project Concept include concept exploration, feasibility studies, demonstrations, and a proof of concept. The document should be no more than one or two pages in length, although additional attachments such as maps, drawings, photographs, and other types of illustrations may be used to engage the client’s interest.

In addition to being used for the decision to proceed to the planning phase, the Project Concept is helpful in categorizing the work to be done, setting initial priorities, and obtaining preliminary funding approval. The Project Concept may be used to obtain the funding for the whole project or, more likely (and more wisely), the funding for the planning phase. In a large organization, the decisions based on Project Concept documents may set the direction for the organization.

Project Concept Outline

Executive Summary

This is an optional section that summarizes the major points of the document. It gives readers a chance to decide whether they need to read the remainder. However, because of the typical brevity of the Project Concept document, an executive summary is probably unnecessary.

Background

Provide the readers with a short summary of the situation, including project location, the scope of the project (local, national, or international), and any history or biographical information that would provide context to the reader. Remember that readers may not know anything about the project.

Challenge

In this section, describe the compelling “reason for being” for the project. Lay out the challenge in a step-by-step argument. Define the challenge: what it is, the cause, when it occurs, where, and how much it costs. Without exaggerating the facts, leave the reader with a clear sense of a need for something to be done. If there is more than one possible interpretation of the challenge, discuss each one in turn and examine any alternative sources or causes as well as possible courses of action. If possible, state the cost of not doing anything about the problem.

Suggested Solution

Describe the proposed solution in a clear, unequivocal statement. List the major deliverables to be produced, both product and process, by whom, for whom, what, when, and where. Give a ballpark cost, a duration, and a delivery date. Do not worry about accuracy here: This estimate may be + 75% to —25% in error.

Describe the general approach or strategy for managing the project. If there are several alternative solutions, describe each and suggest one. Some alternatives would be to build it ourselves, contract it out, and have different parts done by different groups. The project concept tries to identify different approaches for efficiency; for example, release a prototype in one region, and then roll it out to others after acceptance. Each alternative is evaluated in terms of price, schedule, and meeting the client’s constraints...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part I: Initiation Phase Documents
• Part II: Planning Phase Documents
• Part III: Execution Phase Documents
• Index
• Appendix: About the CD-ROM