Project Management Plan and Project Documents

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There are two fundamental categories of artifacts that are created by project management processes in order to aid the project team with the management of the project.  One is the project management plan, an integration of management plans from the knowledge areas.  The second is a family of logs, registers, reports, and other artifacts collectively known as project documents.

Quick reference

Project Management Plan and Project Documents

The project management plan and project documents are used by the project manager and core team to plan the project work and track the project progress throughout the project lifecycle.

When to use

The project management plan and project documents are the tools used by the project team to plan, track and control their work.  They are used throughout the lifecycle of the project and are being continuously updated.

Instructions

The project management plan and project documents are artifacts of project management.  They are created and maintained throughout the project.  At the end of the project, these are archived as records of what occurred during the project.

Project Management Plan

The PMBOK® Guide defines the project management plan as, "The document that describes how the project will be executed, monitored and controlled, and closed."

The project management plan is created by integrating the knowledge area management plans from all of the knowledge areas.  This is an iterative document.  As the various plans are combined, there will normally be changes required.  In addition, in an adaptive project management approach, the plan is being continuously updated based upon previous actions.  The specific template or design of the plan is determined by the project management methodology and the project team.  The components parts that are integrated into the project plan are:

Scope Management Plan

Requirements Management Plan

Schedule Management Plan

Cost Management Plan

Quality Management Plan

Resource Management Plan

Communication Management Plan

Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Risk Management Plan

Procurement Management Plan

Change Management Plan

Configuration Management Plan

Scope Baseline

Schedule Baseline

Cost Baseline

Performance Measurement Baseline

Project Lifecycle Description

Development Approach

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Table 4-1, page 89 and Glossary definition, page 716.

Project Documents

Project documents are logs, reports, lists, forms, estimates, calendars, metrics and data that are created during the project and used by the project manager and project team to assist them in executing, monitoring, and controlling the project.  These documents are each created in a project management process but may be updated numerous times throughout the project as tasks are accomplished, deliverables completed, and the project moves to the next phase.  For instance, the Issue Log will likely be updated at every team meeting as new issues are identified and current issues are resolved.  Many of the documents are not a single document, but rather a family of documents.  For instance, Test and Evaluation Documents are created for each of the different tests conducted by the project.  The list of project documents is shown in this table:

Team Charter

Project Scope Statement

Requirements Documentation

Project Schedule

Schedule Data

Schedule Forecasts

Project Calendar

Milestone Lists

Project Schedule Network Diagram

Activity List

Activity Attributes

Requirements Traceability Matrix

Basis of Estimates

Cost Estimates

Duration Estimates

Resource Requirements

Resource Calendar

Resource Breakdown Structure

Physical Resources Assignments

Project Team Assignments

Costs Forecasts

Quality Report

Quality Metrics

Quality Control Measurements

Project Communications

Stakeholder Register

Assumption Log

Risk Register

Change Log

Issue Log

Test and Evaluation Documents

Risk Report

Lessons Learned Register

Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017, Table 4-1, Page 89.  PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
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  • 00:04 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I'd like to talk now about two very important elements of the project
  • 00:09 management processes.
  • 00:11 These two elements are either inputs or outputs on almost every process,
  • 00:15 and quite frankly, most of the time they are both.
  • 00:18 I'm talking about the project management plan and project documents.
  • 00:22 These are often referred to as project artifacts, which is just another term for
  • 00:28 items generated with the project and used to help run the project.
  • 00:32 The key to note is that these are not the project deliverables that constitute
  • 00:36 the product, service, or result that is the purpose of the project.
  • 00:41 These artifacts are often changing throughout the lifecycle of the project.
  • 00:45 Many of them are logs or
  • 00:46 the checklists that are completed as the project progresses.
  • 00:50 Therefore, they are constantly changing.
  • 00:52 Now, I don't mean a change like processing a change to the project scope.
  • 00:56 Rather, it is a change of status or performance.
  • 00:59 So for instance, one of the documents is the project risk register.
  • 01:02 As risks are identified, analyzed, and
  • 01:04 actions taken, the results are noted in the register.
  • 01:07 So the register is constantly changing to show the current status of project risk.
  • 01:12 Most important of these artifacts is the project management plan.
  • 01:15 The project management body of knowledge, the PMBOK Guide,
  • 01:18 defines the project management plan as the document that describes how the project
  • 01:23 will be executed, monitored, controlled, and closed.
  • 01:26 This is a roadmap for the project team guiding the course of the project.
  • 01:31 The other category of artifacts is labeled by the PMBOK guide as Project Documents.
  • 01:36 This is a long list of logs, reports, lists, forms, estimates, calendars,
  • 01:41 metrics, and data.
  • 01:42 Again, we are not talking about the project deliverables that
  • 01:45 create the new product, service, or result.
  • 01:48 We're talking about documentation by the team to manage the project and
  • 01:52 track its progress.
  • 01:54 Let's talk about the project management plan first.
  • 01:57 This plan is really an aggregation of the plans that are developed
  • 02:00 by many of the other project management processes.
  • 02:03 It brings all of those together to coordinate and integrate them.
  • 02:07 This table is from PMBOK Guide, and
  • 02:09 it shows all the elements of the project management plan.
  • 02:12 One thing we can see is that all of the knowledge areas are represented.
  • 02:16 There's the scope management plan,
  • 02:17 schedule management plan, cost management plan, quality management plan,
  • 02:21 resource management plan, communication management plan, risk management plan,
  • 02:24 procurement management plan and the stakeholder engagement plan.
  • 02:28 In addition, there are some other key management plans
  • 02:31 that guide us in controlling the deliverables.
  • 02:34 These include the requirements management plan, configuration management plan, and
  • 02:38 change management plan.
  • 02:39 We also see the baselines that are created for
  • 02:42 the three sides of the project management triangle are part of the plan,
  • 02:45 the scope baseline, schedule baseline, and cost or budget baseline.
  • 02:48 An additional baseline that is included is the performance measurement baseline,
  • 02:53 which is really just the integration of the other three baselines, and
  • 02:56 that is what is used for tracking progress.
  • 02:58 Finally, there are several elements to the project management plan
  • 03:02 that are tied to the business structure and its strategy.
  • 03:04 These elements provide context for many of the other elements, and
  • 03:08 these include the project life cycle description and the development approach.
  • 03:12 The overall project management plan is the aggregation of all of these elements.
  • 03:16 But these elements are not static, and often are not developed simultaneously.
  • 03:21 Therefore, the creation of the plan is usually an iterative process.
  • 03:25 In addition, as the project unfolds, there will often be tweaks to this plan.
  • 03:29 That is why many of the project management processes have a process input of
  • 03:33 the project management plan and an output of updates to the project management plan.
  • 03:38 Now let's turn our attention to project documents.
  • 03:41 These are artifacts that assist the project manager and
  • 03:44 the project team as they execute the project.
  • 03:46 They're often used to organize the work, provide status of tasks and activities,
  • 03:51 and provide a convenient place to accumulate information.
  • 03:55 The PMBOK Guide lists 33 project documents, and
  • 03:58 many of those are actually a family of documents and not a singular item.
  • 04:03 Again, we'll have all of the project management knowledge areas represented,
  • 04:07 in addition to all of the process groups.
  • 04:10 I will mention each of these uniquely when we address the project that creates
  • 04:14 the initial version of this document.
  • 04:17 Virtually all of these will go through changes as the project progresses, so
  • 04:20 they're often dated or have a version control associated with them.
  • 04:25 Almost all of the project management processes are either creating a project
  • 04:28 document as an output, or
  • 04:30 they will have an output that indicates that they are updating project documents.
  • 04:34 And most of the processes also have project documents listed
  • 04:37 as an input to the process, that just means that these are ubiquitous.
  • 04:42 Thanks to today's technology for team and work integration, the burden of
  • 04:46 maintaining all these documents is much lower than it used to be.
  • 04:50 That's why we have seen the use of project documents grow to such a great degree.
  • 04:56 You need to be familiar with the elements of the project management plan and
  • 04:59 project documents.
  • 05:01 You can count on several PMP test questions that will hinge on
  • 05:04 your understanding of these.

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