PROJECT PLANNING

➢ Sometimes the quality of project planning is even more important than the quality of project execution.

1. Initial study

The identification of needs was already performed during the initiating phase of the project; however, a detailed
study will usually be conducted during the planning phase.

In order to do this properly, the following preparatory work is needed:

▪ the analysis of information about similar projects done by the partners and elsewhere before;
▪ SWOT-analysis and evaluation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats about the project.

SWOT Strengths Weakness, Opportunities and Threats

This study allows:

▪ The justification of the project to potential donors and decision makers;

▪ The acquisition of a better understanding and overview of the domain and consequently simplifying the
composition of the project plan;
▪ An increase in devotion from project partners.

The initial study for large projects can be performed as a separate project.

The methods used for conducting the initial study can range from personal experience to a complex meta-
analysis.
Examples of possible methods:
▪ Market research,
▪ A public opinion poll,
▪ Interviews with a limited group of relevant people (users, experts, donors, etc.

 To achieve reliability in the results of market research and public opinion polls, it is suggested to order
them from experts or specialised institutions.
 As this can sometimes be an expensive undertaking, the costs and other conditions should be discussed
and agreed upon in an early phase of project planning.

The initial study can be based on personal experience and the creativity of the project team, especially in
emerging and quickly developing areas where the need is perhaps not widely recognised yet.
The analysis of similar projects can be divided into two major parts:
1) what other institutions have done, and
2) what the project partners have been done.
SWOT Analysis: is a strategic planning technique used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats related to business competition to project planning of an organisation
OR
A study undertaken by an organisation to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses as well as its external
opportunities and threats

Majority of donors do not require the performance of a SWOT analysis or are satisfied with a partial analysis
(for example, a risk analysis only)

This type of study is useful first of all for the project team: analysing its strengths and weaknesses makes it easier
to realise the potential of the team and avoid failure.
A SWOT analysis can sometimes lead to unexpected results. For example, the book [Goldratt 1997] describes a
SWOT analysis of a steel factory that experienced long-term losses. It turned out that because the production
was measured by weight (tons), the factory was motivated to produce
1) big/heavy products only and
2) to produce each type of product for a possibly long period.
As a result,
1) the storehouse was always almost full;
2) the average time for delivery of ordered products was very long and
3) there was a constant lack of raw materials because it was quickly “elaborated” into the storehouse.
The factory became profitable soon after the accounting system was changed!
Time-table for the composition of a project plan

For assuring the on-time completion of the project plan, the whole planning process should be determined and
agreed on.
For small- and medium-size projects the following general scheme can be used:

1. After the basic features of the project are agreed on, compose the first draft of the project, before a certain
date T1. The draft should already have a possible final structure; the places that should be updated are
marked by the names of persons and keywords or short descriptions of what should be added.
2. The first draft will be sent to the project team together with the obligation to return additions, comments
and improvements before a certain date T2.
3. Based on feedback from the project team, the nominated person updates the second draft before a date
T3 and sends it to the project team for acceptance (and possibly for further improvements).
4. The improvements that were received before a date T4 will be implemented into the master document,
and the project plan will be submitted.
Depending on the project, the procedure for developing the project plan can be more complicated. For example:

▪ There can be two or more cycles similar to this described above (this happens when completely new ideas
or suggestions emerge in the course of planning);
▪ There is a need to call additional meetings to discuss some important aspects of the project;
▪ The upper management or a partner institution requires significant changes in the project plan;
▪ There are changes in the project team/consortium.
Based on existing experience, the following suggestions can be formulated:

▪ The timetable for composing a project plan should foresee some spare time (the more partners the spare
time is needed),
▪ There are almost always people who do not keep the agreed dates and will not contribute before the
agreed date,
▪ The composition of a project plan should be the responsibility of one person (or at most two persons
working closely together) even for relatively big projects. A larger number of responsible persons would
inevitably cause coordination problems;
▪ Busy people tend to perform tasks at the last minute.
Structure of a Project Plan

In terms of structure, the project plans can be divided into two big groups:

1. Having a given structure (the majority of projects belong to this group);

2. Plans that do not have a predetermined structure or that should follow just very general guidelines.

There are some sections that are present in almost all project plans:

1. Basic data of the project (the title, the objective, participating institutions/persons)
2. Background of the project (need, basic target groups, priority description, previous experience of the
participants in the area)
3. Project description (work packages, key deliverables and activities)
4. Timetable of the project
5. Administration of the project (description of partners, a division of work, work arrangements, the
responsibility of partners, risk management, quality management, etc.)
6. Plans for dissemination and/or application of the outcomes
7. Estimations of the economic and social impact of the project’s outcomes
8. Budget
9. Summary of the project
Additional sections of a project plan depend on the type of the project. These can be, for example, the following:

▪ description of the previous co-operation between the partners (for example, it is required in EU projects),
▪ co-operation with the industry or with other institutions that could benefit from the outcome of the
project,
▪ description of the methodology and tools used (in research projects),
▪ compliance to the standards,
▪ perspectives for further development of the project outcome,
▪ international co-operation (EU framework programs),
▪ glossary/definition of terms used in the text.

The formal requirements should be satisfied not only formally but also in reality.

For example, institutions from more than one country should take part in every project of the EU framework
programs. A project that had six partners from one country and one partner with marginal tasks from another
country was rejected.
The general development scheme of the project plan usually is the following:

Outcome/Objective → Subgoals/Activities → Timetable → Budget.

It is very useful:

▪ to take part in the evaluation of the project plans (the proposals to become a member of evaluation
committees should be accepted),
▪ to study project plans composed by others (unfortunately, these are usually confidential, and availability
depends on personal agreements with the authors),
▪ to study requirements and evaluation criteria set up for evaluators. The evaluators should be capable of
assessing whether or to what extent the evaluation criteria are satisfied; therefore it is sometimes wise to
use formulations in the project plan that can be used by evaluators in composing the report.

All these activities help in understanding what aspects are important in the evaluation of project plans.
For example, in an evaluation of EU 6th framework programme projects the novelty was considered much more
important than social impact (these criteria had weights 4 and 1, respectively).

Depending on the financing institution, there can be some additional requirements.

For example, the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of the coordinating person is almost always needed, usually as an
appendix to the project plan. In cases where the format of the CV is not given, the Europass CV Template can
be used.