Project Management: Ensuring Accuracy and Effective Control

This report provides an in-depth analysis of project plan accuracy, structure, and monitoring strategies. It explores various methods to ensure project plans are accurate, including developing accurate schedules, justifying business needs, listing project objectives, stating project scope, identifying risks, undertaking preliminary research, managing quality, setting a communication plan, and planning project people. The report also details how project plans should be structured, emphasizing the inclusion of project names, backgrounds, aims, objectives, target groups, implementation plans, and time schedules. Furthermore, it discusses how project plans assist with monitoring and controlling projects, highlighting the importance of clear communication, resource management, and risk mitigation. The document concludes by underscoring the critical role of a well-developed project plan in achieving project success and aligning with organizational goals.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
AND CONTROL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Ways of ensuring a plan is accurate............................................................................................3
How project plans should be structured......................................................................................5
Using the project plan to assist with monitoring and control of a project..................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The project plan is a formal and approved document meant for guiding with the execution
and control of the project. It documents all the decisions and planning assumptions associated
with the project. With the help of project plan, communication can be facilitated with the
project's stakeholders with regard to cost, time and scope of the project (Kivilä Martinsuo and
Vuorinen, 2017). The plan is structured in such a way to answer what, why, when and who of the
project. The scope, aims and objectives of the project are outlined within the project plan and is
also known as project management plan. In this report, various ways through which it can be
ensured that a project plan is accurate will be discussed. Also, how project plan should be
structured will be discussed in detail. At last, the use of project plan in assisting with the
controlling and monitoring of a project will be discussed.
MAIN BODY
Ways of ensuring a plan is accurate
There are various tools available for managing project in accurate manner such as
Microsoft project which is considered to be a powerful tool of project management. By keeping
status of the project up to date, the accuracy of project plan can be ensured. The ways in which it
can be ensured that project management is accurate are as follows:
Development of accurate schedule: A project plan should have a good project schedule which
must be developed with the necessary planning prior to the development of project plan. It
provides a guidance of how time would be required for different activities involved in the project
(Levy, 2018). Only, development of schedule is not sufficient, but also it must be monitored on a
timely or regular basis to ensure that the project activities are being performed within the set
timelines.
Justification of business and needs of stakeholder: The goals mentioned within the plan must
be in alignment with the needs of the project team and the entire organization. The project's
importance must be identified for the organizational goal's achievement. The yearly or quarterly
goals must be evaluated before setting goals for the project which ensures the achievement of
project goals in accordance with the quarterly and yearly goals (Momeni, Yaghoubi and Aliha,
2019). An accurate project plan should be such which clearly states the expectations of the
shareholders associated with the project. With the statement of stakeholder's needs, an accurate

project plan could be developed due to the reason that if stakeholders are satisfied, then the
attainment of project goals become easier.
Listing project objectives along with listing requirements to achieve it: A deliberate course
must be set towards meeting the project objectives, however it is certain that the plan will change
during the project. After determining the needs of all the parties concerning a project, a list must
be attached indicating the necessary requirements to achieve these needs of the stakeholders
along which stating the capabilities and features of deliverables of the project. Also, with the
progress of the project, some aspects of the plan must be corrected as per the requirements, so
that accuracy of the plan can be ensured throughout the project.
Statement of project scope: Scope is one of the most important element of the plan acting as a
foundation for all the other element of the project plan (Frijns, Van Leeuwen and Bierwolf,
2017). Within the scope statement section of the project plan, all the details and records linked
with the project must be included. Scope must involved the factors that are definitely out of
reach. In this way, factors that are responsible for project failure can be controlled in a planned
way which in turn ensures that the project plan is accurate.
Identification of constraints, risks and preconditions: Setbacks, potential risks and dangers if
identified while creating a project plan could be helpful in managing risks at earlier stage or it
can be provided well in the plan which allows for preparing for the risks in advance. Nowadays,
project management software are widely used to create a plan by taking into consideration
various measurable risks such as time and budget overrun, constraints of resources and
preconditions which can be used as the best way to ensure the accuracy of project plan.
Undertaking preliminary research: Before creating a plan, project manager must undertake a
preliminary study to confirm regarding various parameters such as risks, probability of success
or failure, availability of resources both financial and non – financial, etc (Sergeeva and Ali,
2020). Also, a solid understanding could be developed regarding the various aspects of the
project through conducting background research, initial enquiries about past project’s
performance related to the similar area as the current one and developing a prototypes for the
project. Therefore, with this prior study, it can be ensured that the project plan is accurate.
Management of quality and assurance of quality: The standards for the quality of work that the
project will performed should be managed through setting benchmarks of related projects already

accomplished and known for its better quality, which in turn ensures that the level of quality
mentioned in the plan could be achieved without getting fail on any ground. When the quality
standards are not compromised and assured to be the same as presented in the plan, then the plan
can be called as an accurate plan (Chofreh and et.al., 2019).
Setting a plan for communication: After clearly defining the project in terms of resources
required, budget level and program, therefore, one important thing which is left to be planned is
a communication plan because poor communication leads to project failure. Also, whatever
planning has been done earlier should necessary be communicated to the concerned parties who
are actually going to work upon the project to achieve the set project goals and objectives within
the set time, budget, constraints, risk framework and preconditions applied. There a good
communication plan should be included in the project plan to ensure that these particulars of the
project plan is communicated to project team, stakeholders, etc. along with deciding upon the
method, frequency and content of the communication.
Planning project people: The management of project is mainly concerned with the management
of people who are the actual performers of the project and for whom the project has been
initiated (Ng, 2018). Planning could be regarded as accurate when project people are accurately
identified and documented in the way like who would be the client for the final product whether
it is internal or external to the organisation, who are the parties interested in the affairs of the
project, assignment of roles and responsibilities to the project team such as who will be the
financial controller, quality controller, communicator of the project progress and who actually
communicate with the end clients. In this way, project tasks could be organised well at the
planning stage itself and thus ensured the accuracy of project plan.
Therefore, with these ways stated above such project definition, risk identification,
people planning, resources acquisition and allocation, drafting a communication plan would be
definitely helpful in making a big difference and ensured the project plan is accurate (Cakmakci,
20190.
How project plans should be structured
A typical structure of the project plan should be such which clearly states the goals &
objectives of the project, specific tasks needed to be performed, identify the list of resources
required, indicates a set timeline or budget as a constraint within which the end results of the

project should be achieved. Along with the identification of project tasks, it is necessary to
determine within the structure of the project plan that who will be responsible to perform
different specific tasks (Mitrofanova and et.al., 2020). Therefore, a typical structure of the
project plan should include clear statement of work, list of resources, project schedule through
work breakdown structure and a risk plan along with measures to mitigate and minimize it.
Before structuring a plan, it must be kept in mind that a well-developed project plan acts as a
project’s critical success factor. The following structure should be appropriate for the project-
plan:
Name of the project: This section proceeds all other sections of the project plan which includes
the title of the project. The name or title should be short and memorable which is sufficient of
describing the content and context of the project. It should be determined in a unique, descriptive
and shortest way. By reminding or reading the name only, one can determine the context and
base of the project.
Background of the project: The background section of the project plan should clearly reflect the
reason for the fulfilment of which the project plan and activities has been initiated. The detailed
context of the project should be included in this section (Bierwolf, Frijns and van Kemenade,
2017). Also, the needs of different stakeholders that is expected to be fulfilled with the
accomplishment of the project should be assessed and explained clearly along with the
justification of how project tasks based on aim and goals of the project are capable of fulfilling
these needs of stakeholders.
Project's aim and objectives: The section involves the end goals that the project intent to achieve
within the timeline of the project. Aims are generally written in broader way. Objectives are
specific statements which defines the measurable outcomes like steps that would be taken for the
accomplishment of desired outcome. Both the main goals and sub goals to achieve the main goal
must be stated in clear, descriptive and realistic manner. Also, objectives should follow the
criteria of SMART objectives which states that the objectives should be Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic and time bound.
Project's target group: This section answer the most important question that is, for whom the
project has been initiated which also helps in understanding the context of the project well
(Armenia and et.al., 2019). The target group indicates the individuals on whom the effect should

be realized or achieved at the end of the project. The target group may also include various sub -
groups depending upon their differentiating needs and expectations from the project.
Implementation and time schedule of the project: This section is important for the project
manager to direct their team and for team members to get useful insights over what procedures
will they used for accomplishing their assigned tasks, so that the major goals of the project could
be achieved. All the plans associated with the implementation of the project should be stated well
in this section (Harrison and Lock, 2017). Also, challenges in terms of keeping everything within
the project scope, time and budget should be mentioned here along with stating the measures for
mitigating, minimizing or eliminating the risks associated with the project. Preparation that the
project manager will be doing for risk mitigation such as determination of likelihood and impact
of risk, response of the project manager and team towards it, estimations related risks are also
done here.
Within this section, a work breakdown structure has also been included which outline
different pieces of work or activities that is going to be performed within the project scope are
mentioned after categorizing them into five stages of project management that is, project
initiation, planning, execution, monitoring & control and project closing. WBS allows for
determining the timeline for each individual piece of work and states the activities in an order of
their performance. Therefore, team members are well aware of how much is available with them
to accomplish their different assigned tasks and sequence they have to follow for performing
distinctive tasks. This structure can be created by using Microsoft project tool meant for project
management which provides additional feature of identifying the earliest start, the latest start, the
earliest finish and latest finish for each of the project tasks. This WBS should be mentioned
within the project plan (Jiang, Klein and Fernandez, 2018).
Resources of the project: The various sources that would be used for funding the project
activities, people that is individuals required for developing a team and who will act as a leader
or manager, technology needed for the accomplishment of project activities, etc. needed to get
the project work done. Along with listing the type and quantum of different resources, it is
crucial to mention time resourcing to indicate for how much time a specific resource need to be
provided for the project in order to ensure the risk resource shortages.
Expected results of the project: Here relevant metrics are included on the basis of which success
or failure of the project are measured at the end of the project. The expected results are

mentioned in terms of efficiency to be maintained through the duration of the project,
effectiveness to be achieved in terms of quality, productivity performance and time consumed
(Kerzner, 2017). The expected results are deemed to be achieved when the project is
accomplished within the set timeline, budget and satisfy the needs of the target group.
Project monitoring & evaluation: Within this section, all the issues that are meant for affecting
the scope of the project, its timeline, quality and budget should be identified and stated in this
section of the plan. The methods or techniques through which the progress of the project will be
monitored by eliminating those elements acting as an obstacle are stated here, so that the fluency
in achieving the end results become easier. Some techniques usually found in a project plan are
process tracing, TAMD (Tracking Adaptation and Measurement Development) and SAPA
(Social Assessment of Protected Areas).
Project reporting: The method of reporting the project's progress from time to time is being
mentioned here which acts as the basis on which further decisions are made. It informs how
much has been achieved in terms of both team and individual performance.
All the sections stated above are necessarily required in a project plan to make it
comprehensive and useful.
Using the project plan to assist with monitoring and control of a project
Monitoring and controlling forms an important phase of the project management plan which
involves tracking of actual performance of the project against the planned activities and their
standards mentioned in the project plan. Monitoring and controlling begins right from project
planning till its closing (Miguel, Madria and Polancos, 2019).
The main purpose of the monitoring and controlling is keeping the project progress in the
desired direction and desired parameters are mentioned in the project plan which must be
referred to while conducting monitoring and controlling of the project. Also, there are various
measures that are mentioned in the project implementation section of the project plan to
overcome various challenges or issues facing project team or manager while the project is going
on. With the help of these measures, the effect of challenges and risks faced by the project can be
monitored and controlled immediately.
The project plan includes the various benchmarks for the performance of both team and
individual team members, which assists in monitoring and controlling in the way that the actual
performance of these individuals and entire team are measured against the well stated

benchmarks in the plan to determine deviations in performance between actual & planned one.
Without these benchmarks, monitoring & controlling could not be possible, so it is deemed as
project plan assists in measurable project performance and controlling its deviations in the
negative direction.
It is also necessary to monitor how much time is being consumed by different tasks and
activities associated with the project to determine whether it is starting and finishing as per the
work breakdown structure of not and establish control accordingly (Bondarenko and et.al.,
2018). In the absence of timeline of project schedule prepared while developing a project plan,
the monitoring and controlling of time element could not be possible as there will be no guidance
of how much time is expected for each specific activities and whether they are progressing in
alignment with the WBS or not.
Project plan also specifies the costs and resource consumption that will be needed for the
project. Therefore, while carrying out monitoring and controlling of the project, it can be easy to
conduct monitoring of what and how much resources have been already consumed and how
much more will be needed to get the entire project done. A control can be established only when
the estimated amount of resource consumption are there and this is what can be obtained through
project plan. Thus, to control consumption of resources and their wastages, project plan for
reference is necessary. Furthermore, cost controlling can be through planned or budgeted figures
of cost that is what can be obtained from project plan itself.
Project is being initiated for the accomplishment of its goals and objectives and the same
are mentioned in the project plan. When the progress of the project is measured, it is done
through comparing whatever has been performed within the project is in alignment with the end
results and goals or not (Mitrofanova and et.al., 20200. This is the biggest assistance that the
project plan extend when the project is monitored and controlled.
The target group must be satisfied and their needs must get fulfilled when the project is
accomplished. So, to determine who are the project's target group or client, it can be known
through project plan and to conduct the monitoring of whether the clients are satisfied with the
quality of project offering or not, then the quality of offerings are assessed against the standards
stated in the project plan.
In all these ways, project plan can be used for assisting in monitoring and controlling
phase of the project management.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that project plan is the base on which all the
other activities of the project are performed in a planned, organised, monitored and controlled. In
the absence of plan, project goals can't be achieved in desired way or there are high probability
of overrunning of time and budget along with dissatisfied stakeholders and clients of the project.
In this report, various ways to ensure accuracy of plan, recommended structure of project plan
and how it is used for facilitating project monitoring & controlling has been evaluated in this
project.

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