Concepts Of Planning

1. Project Planning

A  Project Planning phase begins with a Charter and ends with an approved plan. The amount of planning that occurs between these point depend on the type and size or complexity of the project and the amount of certainty that exist in the process and definitions that planning is based on.
The process of planning takes the parameters from Senior Management (Charter issued), the high level project approach and strategy from Project Leadership, and the detailed task and resource estimates from the Team and integrates them all into a comprehensive, balanced, believable plan for project execution. During the planning phase , a written scope statement is prepared as a basis for project decisions. It addresses not only the boundaries of the work to be performed but also any work specified as out of scope. The scope is further defined when the major project deliverable are subdivided into smaller, more manageable components. Formalizing the acceptance of the project scope and involving the customer in the review of the product or service features serve to verify the scope. As the the scope of the project and the resources and time lines for its completion evolve, the triple constraints evolves as well, allowing careful project delivery on time and on budget.
There are variations in how different organization divide the work of planning. The chosen approach depends on the size and complexity of the project itself and if there is a standard process the organization chooses to follow the managing its project. Some organization "charter" a project as soon as the decision to explore the project is made (See below Figure 1.0) . In that case, a project to determine the project feasibility must be completed first.

Figure 1.0
Most organization begin the high level planning process with a Charter that spells out goals for the project. This precedes planning and development of the project approach. Budget is allocated for the planning, and a project manager is appointed to carry out.

2. Boundaries of the Planning Phase

The beginning of the project planning occurs when management gives the project manager the authority to spend time and resources on creating a project plan for the project. The decision to execute the plan (or not) marks the end of the project planning. One term commonly used for this juncture is the Go or No Go decision. Management typically considers the content of the plan together with other business environment factors before deciding to approve project execution (See Figure 2.0)

Figure 2.0
There is a major shift in emphasis between the planning phase and the execution phase. The Team stops worrying about how it will approach tasks with strategies and issues and begins to actually do them. While the plan still may undergo some refinement once the project's execution phase begins, these refinements are considered modification to an existing plan, not part of the planning process. To mark this shift in emphasis the project plan is baseline, and changes to the plan are tracked as changes.

3. How much detail is in the plan

A truly effective project plan is detailed enough to assign, delegate, monitor, and control work but still allows discretion in how the team chooses to carry out that work. Planning and control mean controlling  against an agreed plan. Getting agreement on the plan usually means involvement by those who will have to pay for, implement, and sign off on it. Committing a group to deliver without its explicit agreement introduces unnecessary risk into the plan's execution.

4. High Level Planning

High level planning defines the approach, the boundaries for scope, preliminary resources estimates, potential delivery, date ranges and strategies for management of expectations and quality within the team and with customers and management. The general time table and budget estimates from initiation do not contain enough detail to validate the business case until further analysis validates the project scope and objectives.
High level planning consist of a number of separate process: