Project Management Template

Instructions / User Guide

In short… - This toolkit provides a simplified way of managing projects by reducing the number of documents into one central hub - The project charter may be used for communication purposes rather than using the traditional project management documents - The system is purposefully simple. Reason: most project management documents are rarely used, more importantly hardly ever read by all stakeholders - You will note that this template does not have a risk log / register because projects using this structure should be agile & lean and completed within 6 months - The voice of the customer (VoC) ought to be heard and incorporated into project solutions - The project framework should also take into consideration the balance between time, cost and quality

> How important is quality. Can it be sacrificed for speed of delivery of by reducing costs> What are the time pressures for completing the project? Will time be sacrificed for quality or by reducing costs?> What are the constraints of finances? Can costs be increased if time is to be reduced or quality is to be improved or vice versa?

- The project charter is on two A3 sheets is so that an A2 board can be put on the wall. It also removes the requirements for turning pages

Sheet: Project Charter - The project charter summarises all the sheets within the project management toolkit and brings together the:

> The vision, objectives, deliverables and quality factors> The business case> Project plan including the Gantt chart> Issue log> Change requests

- Vision statement (This is a manual input area)> The vision statement sets the direction of the strategy / programme that initiated this project.> A project should not be formed without clear direction or a sense of purpose> Example: We will gain markets share by improving customer service and improving customer satisfaction

- Objectives (This is a manual input area)> The project should fulfil the objectives set from the vision statement but will be more specific than a sense of direction> Objectives ought to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time Based)> Example: we will reduce costs in the finance department by 25% within the next 6 months

- Deliverables (This is a manual input area)> What are the project outputs?> Deliverables are solutions, products or services created or amended as part of the project> Examples being hardware systems, software solutions, new services etc

- Quality factors (This is a manual input area)> What are the quality expectations? What are the acceptable levels of quality?> Who specifies the quality factors? Who are the main stakeholders for this?> Is there a quality assurance policy / team to ensure that the deliverables match the quality requirements?

Project Management Template

Instructions / User Guide

- Project Plan (This is formula based manual input is not required)> Is there sufficient resources to complete the tasks?> Is there sufficient skills and capabilities to complete the tasks?> Are the tasks necessary?> The project plan shows a list of actives for the project and when it is to be delivered by> Consider the dependencies of each task, as these will create constraints

- Business Case (This is formula based manual input is not required)> The business case is the financials behind the project in regards to costs and benefits of the project> The benefits should outweigh the costs but there will be exceptions such as legal / regulation requirements

- Issues log (This is formula based manual input is not required)> What issues may prevent the project being completed on time, within budget and meets the quality requirements?

- Change requests (This is formula based manual input is not required)> Change requests should be requested if budgeted time, cost or quality is not going to be met by 10% or more> Change requests should be discussed and agreed with stakeholders, project manager and project sponsor> Upon the approval of a change request the business case, project plan and project charter should be updated

Sheet: Stakeholder Analysis - The purpose of stakeholder analysis is to ensure that the relevant people are communication with and made aware of the project's status - The principle behind stakeholder management is to ensure that people buy into the project and their concerns are listened to and addressed - The details of the person in regards to name, roles, responsibilities and contact details should be included - The degree of influence is in regards to the direction of the project. The higher the influence the more power they wield over the project's direction - The level of interest is in regards to the benefits, costs or changes to their roles or teams / departments. - The mindset column identifies how stakeholders view the project. If they are neutral or negative, increase their involvement and listen to their views / concerns - The above communication preferences demonstrates flexibility and shows stakeholders that their requirements are taken into consideration

Sheet: Project Plan - The project plan is used to list all the activities and timescales - The project plan also has a Gantt chart that is pulled through to the project charter - The time series can be amended to show weekly, monthly, or quarterly in cell J4, giving flexibility - The project plan should take into consideration critical paths / Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), to identify the dependencies of each activity

Sheet: Business case - The business case is the financial focus of the project, in particular cells (A160) payback and (A161) NPV - There are a number of hidden cells that can be opened up to insert the following financials:

> Investment costs, which are those that are one offs> Benefits, the ongoing benefits that the project will realise > Ongoing costs whether that be maintenance of ongoing costs, increase in headcount, new facilities costs etc

Project Management Template

Instructions / User Guide

- There is a chart the illustrates the costs and benefits period by period - The cumulative costs and benefits can also be seen in rows 163 to 166.

Sheet: Issues log - The issue slog is used to identify issues that have an impact on the project or business as a whole - The issue log also shows the impact that it has on the project or business, the high impact issues should be mitigated - The issues log also pulls through to the project charter to ensure that they are considered in the review meetings

Sheet: Lessons learned - Throughout the project there will be learnings that can be taken forward and these will be logged here - The lessons learned takes into accounts the actions to be undertaken within project closure session

Sheet: Change requests - Change requests should be requested if budgeted time, costs or quality is likely to be exceeded by 10% or more - Change requests should be discussed and agreed with stakeholders, project manager and project sponsor - Upon a change request the business case, project plan and project charter should be updated - The dates of change requests should be documented along with the date of approval - The change request should provide details of what changes are to be made and the impact would be if the change request is not authorised - There is a status for each change request: requested, approved and declined - All change requests are pulled into the project charter to ensure that they are reviewed in each session

Programme Name:Project / Solution Name:Project / Solution Number:Project CharterDateVersion 1.0

Vision / Objectives / Quality factors

Vision statement

Objectives

Business Case

Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 TotalTotal Investments £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Total Benefits £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Total ongoing costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Benefit / (Loss) £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

PaybackNPV 5% £0

Cumulative Benefits £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Cumulative costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Cumulative Benefits / (Loss) £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

Issues Log

Issue narrative

Project Sponsor: [Enter name]Project team: [Enter names]

Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5£0

£1

£1

Cumulative BenefitsCumulative costs

Please enter the vision statement, objectives and quality factors to be considered in this project (Manual Input)

The business case is fed from the business case sheet (formula based)

Issues log is fed from the issues log worksheet (formula driven)

Deliverables

Quality Factors

Project Plan

Activity title Status Dec-99 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00

Change requestsChange ref: Reason for change StatusDate of

change

The project plan is formula driven from the project plan sheet (Formula based)

Please enter the project deliverables (Manual Input)

Please enter the quality factors (Manual Input)

The change requests is fed from the change requests worksheet (Formula driven)

Programme name: Project / Solution name: Project / Solutions Number: Stakeholder Analysis

Job Title / Role Mindset Communication levels

Positive

Positive

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral

Positive

Positive

Key Stakeholder / Dept / Tel No. / Location

Level of Influence (H/M/L)

Interest Level

(H/M/L)Communications

preferencesKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levelsKeep infomred - Have little interest and need to actively consult to get increased interest

levels

Business Case

Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Total

Initial Investment - Capital equipment costs £0 £0 - 3rd Party costs £0 £0 - Internal costs £0 £0Total Investments £0 £0

Benefits - Headcount savings £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 - Efficiency savings £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 - Additional Revenue £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Total Benefits £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

Ongoing costs - Capital equipment costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 - 3rd Party costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 - Internal costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Total ongoing costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

£0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

PaybackNPV 5% £0

Cumulative Benefits £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0Cumulative costs £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

£0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0

Benefit / (Loss)

Cumulative Benefits / (Loss)

Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5£0

£1

£1

Cumulative Benefits Cumulative costs

Programme name: Project / Solution name: Project / Solutions Number: Project PlanActivity No. Dependencies Activity title

Activity description Respinsibility

Status Start Date Deadline Dec-99 Jan-00 Jan-00

month to month

Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00 Jan-00

Programme name: Project / Solution name: Project / Solutions Number: Issues log Number of issues 0

Issue No. Who identified Issue Issue narrative Impact

Issues log Number of issues 0

Issue No. Who identified Issue Issue narrative Impact

Programme name: Project / Solution name: Project / Solutions Number: Lessons learned log

Lessons Learned Actions (if appropriate)

Programme name: Project / Solution name: Project / Solutions Number: Change Request log

Change ref: Change owner Reason for change Impact of change StatusDate of change request

Date change request authorised