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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Project Planning (PP) Process area in CMMi

A Project Management Process Area at Maturity Level 2. The purpose of Project Planning (PP) is to establish and maintain plans that define project activities. Planning begins with requirements that define the product and project.
Planning includes estimating the attributes of the work products and tasks, determining the resources needed, negotiating commitments, producing a schedule, and identifying and analyzing project risks. Iterating through these activities may be necessary to establish the project plan. The project plan provides the basis for performing and controlling the project’s activities that address the commitments with the project’s customer.
The project plan will usually need to be revised as the project progresses to address changes in requirements and commitments, inaccurate estimates, corrective actions, and process changes. Specific practices describing both planning and re-planning are contained in this process area.

Specific Goals and Practices


SG 1 Establish Estimates
Estimates of project planning parameters are established and maintained. Estimates of planning parameters should have a sound basis to instill confidence that any plans based on these estimates are capable of supporting project objectives.
- SP 1.1 Estimate the Scope of the Project.
Establish a top-level work breakdown structure (WBS) to estimate the scope of the project. The WBS evolves with the project. Initially a top-level WBS can serve to structure the initial estimating. The development of a WBS divides the overall project into an interconnected set of manageable components. Typically, the WBS is a product oriented structure that provides a scheme for identifying and organizing the logical units of work to be managed, which are called “work packages.”
- SP 1.2 Establish Estimates of Work Product and Task Attributes.
Establish and maintain estimates of the attributes of the work products and tasks.
Size is the primary input to many models used to estimate effort, cost, and schedule. The models can also be based on inputs such as connectivity, complexity, and structure.
- SP 1.3 Define Project Life Cycle.
The determination of a project’s lifecycle phases provides for planned periods of evaluation and decision making. These are normally defined to support logical decision points at which significant commitments are made concerning resources and technical approach. Such points provide planned events at which project course corrections and determinations of future scope and cost can be made.
- SP 1.4 Determine Estimates of Effort and Cost.
Estimates of effort and cost are generally based on the results of analysis using models or historical data applied to size, activities, and other planning parameters. Confidence in these estimates is based on the rationale for the selected model and the nature of the data. There may be occasions when the available historical data does not apply, such as where efforts are unprecedented or where the type of task does not fit available models.

SG 2 Develop a Project Plan
A project plan is established and maintained as the basis for managing the project.
A project plan is a formal, approved document used to manage and control the execution of the project. It is based on the project requirements and the established estimates.
- SP 2.1 Establish the Budget and Schedule.
The project’s budget and schedule are based on the developed estimates and ensure that budget allocation, task complexity, and task dependencies are appropriately addressed.
- SP 2.2 Identify Project Risks.
Risks are identified or discovered and analyzed to support project planning. This specific practice should be extended to all the plans that affect the project to ensure that the appropriate interfacing is taking place between all relevant stakeholders on identified risks. Project planning risk identification and analysis typically include identifying risks, analyzing the risks to determine the impact, probability of occurrence, and time frame in which problems are likely to occur
and prioritizing risks.
- SP 2.3 Plan for Data Management.
When integrated teams are formed, project data includes data developed and used solely within a particular team as well as data applicable across integrated team boundaries, if there are multiple integrated teams.
- SP 2.4 Plan for Project Resources.
Defining project resources (labor, machinery/equipment, materials, and methods) and quantities needed to perform project activities builds on the initial estimates and provides additional information that can be applied to expand the WBS used to manage the project.
- SP 2.5 Plan for Needed Knowledge and Skills.
Plan for knowledge and skills needed to perform the project. Knowledge delivery to projects involves both training of project personnel and acquisition of knowledge from outside sources. Staffing requirements are dependent on the knowledge and skills available to support the execution of the project.
- SP 2.6 Plan Stakeholder Involvement.
Stakeholders are identified from all phases of the project lifecycle by identifying the type of people and functions needing representation in the project and describing their relevance and the degree of interaction for specific project activities.
- SP 2.7 Establish the Project Plan.
A documented plan that addresses all relevant planning items is necessary to achieve the mutual understanding, commitment, and performance of individuals, groups, and organizations that must execute or support the plans. The plan generated for the project defines all aspects of the effort, tying together in a logical manner.

SG 3 Obtain Commitment to the Plan
Commitments to the project plan are established and maintained. To be effective, plans require commitment by those responsible for implementing and supporting the plan.
- SP 3.1 Review Plans that Affect the Project.
Plans developed within other process areas will typically contain information similar to that called for in the overall project plan. These plans may provide additional detailed guidance and should be compatible with and support the overall project plan to indicate who has the authority, responsibility, accountability, and control.
- SP 3.2 Reconcile Work and Resource Levels.
When integrated teams are formed, special attention should be paid to resource commitments in circumstances of distributed integrated teams and when people are on multiple integrated teams in one or more projects.
- SP 3.3 Obtain Plan Commitment.
Obtaining commitment involves interaction among all relevant stakeholders both internal and external to the project. The individual or group making a commitment should have confidence that the work can be performed within cost, schedule, and performance constraints.


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