What is the name of the document that will guide the definition documentation execution and control of the project schedule?

In the corporate world, bureaucracy reigns. While the amount of paperwork may seem excessive at times, we all know that there are certain documents and templates we desperately rely on to complete our day-to-day tasks. How do we know what documents we will need when working on a project? For a supervisor or manager, what type of project planning documents are needed to conduct a successful venture?

Below are descriptions of eight essential documents that will help boost your project planning goals and ensure greater success in work assignments. This list of essential documents will help you determine the most important paperwork you’ll need without wasting time on unnecessary documentation.

The project charter is essentially either an agreement between multiple parties or a more formal contract. According to the Houston Chronicle, project charters are created to formally define a specific venture. The project charter needs to include the following factors:

• The project’s name, scope, measurable objectives, and potential constraints as well as the benefits or solutions it provides.
• A brief description of the project including the goals, purpose, and requirements of the particular venture.
• The priorities of the project including time, cost, and certain qualities.
• The name of the project manager who will delegate tasks and negotiate for team’s requirements or resources.
• Names of key employees and the name of who is sponsoring the venture.
• Summary of a schedule for the project including deadlines and a timeline for each process.
• Potential risks that may need resolutions or may cause delays.
• The budget and funding sources as well as the resources required.
• A feasibility study and project product requirements such as files, training manuals, or lectures.
• Intermediate product requirements such as reports, results from studies or surveys, new schedules, or presentations delivered at the end of each projected step.
• Privacy restrictions on data use.
• Procedures that will be incorporated in case the scope changes.
• Procedures for approval of every product in each step.
• Any additional services.

The project management plan incorporates the strategy needed for managing the project and all of the processes that are part of the venture including cost, the scope of the project, and the schedule or timeline. Essentially, this document can be used as a reference index and it includes all planning and project documents.

According to the publication TechRepublic, it is important to include communications, human resources, business risks, names of stakeholders, process improvements, and project updates within the project management plan.

This document includes determining the type of processes that will be required to meet the needs of the project. The project management plan will need to include:

• A summary of the project,
• the roles of team members,
• the scope statement from the charter along with extra details,
• projected milestones including dates,
• a schedule baseline with work breakdowns,
• a resource calendar,
• budget,
• a quality baseline, and
• sponsor acceptance.

The project scope plan will need to incorporate the systems in place to manage and facilitate with any changes that may occur during the course of the project. This document also covers the objectives of the venture. It outlines the activities that are needed to meet the goals of the project. This document is meant to be straightforward and easy for all stakeholders to understand so that everyone is on the same page.

According to TheBalanceCareers.com, when defining the project scope, the manager can show what the finished product or the overall goal will look like upon completion of the venture. Without a defined scope, the project can become derailed and costs may spiral out of control while deadlines may be missed. For instance, if creating a marketing brochure, it is essential to know how many pages are needed and what the finished product should look like.

4. Project Schedule Plan

During the project planning, you’ll need to create a project schedule plan that includes all of the phases on a monthly basis of its most prominent tasks. Essentially, the start and end dates of each phase is incorporated. Project stakeholders will especially need to have access to this particular document.

The milestones and dates for major deliverables will need to be documented in the project schedule plan. For example, if designing a particular product, it is vital to include design completion dates, system testing and user acceptance testing timelines, and the software roll-out date.

5. Project Team Plan

The document for the project team plan provides more specifics on the tasks and responsibilities of every team member and stakeholder of the venture. The project will be viewed in this document based on what every individual is completing during every phase of each assignment. This document will help create more efficient systems for executing the project. Additionally, the project team plan will enable team members to communicate more transparently and honestly.

This document can be viewed as a work breakdown structure in which the milestones and deliverables are split into smaller chunks where each worker is assigned responsibility for every assignment. The manager is responsible for delegating these tasks by considering the strengths and weaknesses of every team member as well as the relevant resources and deadlines. Therefore, if the manager is concerned about a specific task, he or she will know exactly who to meet with.

6. Project Work Plan

The project work plan is a document that includes a variety of factors essential and necessary as a guideline for the project team. This document needs to detail the required activities of team members, the milestones, the schedule and duration of the project, the costs of each step, the work packages, the required resources, and more. Also, this document covers the project’s critical path toward completion.

When completing the project work plan, it is essential to understand the scope of the project, complete extra research, make a project plan outline, talk to your team members about various aspects of this document, write out the entire work plan, and share the document with your team members.

7. Quality Assurance Plan

The quality assurance plan document covers the quality standards that need to be tracked throughout the production phases and the entire venture. All project deliverables will need to reach the quality standards set up within the quality assurance plan document.

The standards will need to be created for the product testing approach and tools. The quality assurance plan document will include quality checklists, policies, quality metrics, definitions of deviations, the funds associated with poor quality, product defect severity grades, and acceptance requirements.

8. Project Risks Plan

The project risks plan tends to be underrated, but is actually one of the most important documents in project planning. This document outlines the risks associated with the venture and potential solutions for projected risks. This document also highlights plans regarding how to best address the risks at the moment they arise.

The TechRepublic article details that project managers need to know how to counter potential risks effectively throughout the lifetime of a project. Essentially, this document outlines the potential risks for the success of the project and details how these risks will be addressed. A variety of areas will provide input for this document including the stakeholder register, the project charter and project management plan, organizational assets, and the enterprise environmental factors.

When conducting project planning processes and developing these eight essential documents, it is useful to communicate with your team through a project management platform such as Runrun.it software.

How RunRun.it Workflow Management Software Simplifies Project Planning

Manually writing down and updating all of the eight essential documents and checking everything across multiple folders and different platforms may prove to be too difficult. It is much more streamlined and straightforward to utilize workflow management software such as the Runrun.it platform.

If your team is resistant toward using new project planning tools, it is beneficial to listen to your team members and address their concerns. Discuss the new tools in a favorable manner and find out what your employees think. You can provide lectures and training for the new tools as well as a reward system for utilizing the project planning tools effectively. When teaching your team members about the new tools, be sure to treat them with kindness and honesty if they are showing resistance.

Essentially, it is important to understand that workflow management software will help automate the assembly of spreadsheets and any updates to your eight essential documents for project planning. Your workflow will be more streamlined with fewer issues. Additionally, your time management will improve due to the deadlines and direct task delegation capabilities of Runrun.it software. This software automatically tracks the time spent on tasks and makes communication more transparent due to an easy-to-use comment section under each file or document.

If you’d like to see whether Runrun.it software is the right project management platform for your team, click here for a free 14-day trial.

A project charter is a formal, typically short document that describes your project in its entirety — including what the objectives are, how it will be carried out, and who the stakeholders are. It is a crucial ingredient in planning the project because it is used throughout the project lifecycle.

What is a project charter in project management? A charter overview

The project charter typically documents:

• Reasons for the project
• Objectives and constraints of the project
• The main stakeholders
• Risks identified
• Benefits of the project
• General overview of the budget

How to create a project charter

1. Understand project goals and objectives: Identify the project vision and determine the scope of the project
2. Define project organization: List all of the essential roles for the project, including customers, stakeholders, and the day-to-day project team
3. Create an implementation plan: Outline major milestones, dependencies, and the timeline for the entire team and stakeholders
4. List potential problem areas: This isn’t about being a downer, and more instead about being realistic. Adding potential risks and issues to the project charter helps everyone think ahead and even prevents potential roadblocks.

Tips for writing a project management charter

Ready to create your own project charter? Here are a few other helpful tips to keep in mind as you work through the above steps. 

1. Rely on insights from your team: Don’t feel like you need to work out all this information on your own. Pull together some of your project team members to pick their brains about goals, milestones, and potential problem areas. Gathering their insights will help you create a far more accurate project charter. 

2. Keep it short and straightforward: It’s tempting to get lost in the amount of information available. But, keep in mind that your project charter is supposed to be a high-level overview of your project and not a breakdown that covers every detail. Each section of your charter should only require a sentence or two. Additionally, charts and bulleted lists will help you present the information in an organized and digestible way. 

3. Create a template: After you realize how helpful a project charter is, you’ll undoubtedly want one for all your team’s projects. Don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. Create a simple template that you can copy and use for all your project charters. Not only will it eliminate some manual effort, but it will also ensure you don’t miss any elements.   

Project charter example

Imagine that you and your team are putting together a webinar to generate some new leads. Here’s what a simple project charter could look like.

Company XYZ Project Charter

Project Name: “Building a Positive Company Culture” Webinar

Project Description: A one-hour webinar featuring insights from three employee engagement experts 

Business Case: Supports our company-wide goals of:

1. Increasing sales by 28% this quarter
2. Establishing Company XYZ as a thought leader in the employee engagement space

Project Deliverables:

1. Landing page for webinar signups
2. One-hour webinar
3. Webinar recording for continued lead generation

Project Benefits:

1. Boosted reputation
2. Lead generation
3. Resource we can continue to promote

Project Risks: 

1. Technical difficulties
2. This is our first webinar, and the team lacks this expertise

Project Budget: 

Not to exceed $3,000

Project Milestones: 

Landing page launched: October 15, 2020
Slides completed: October 26, 2020
Live webinar: November 4, 2020

Project Team Members: 
Project Manager: Thai V.
Designer: Greta K. 
Webinar Participant/Expert: Jason B. 
Webinar Participant/Expert: Safiya M. 
Webinar Participant/Expert: Rachel C.
Webinar Host: Tom S.
Social Media Coordinator: Ander B.
Email Marketing Coordinator: Nancy R.

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