Identify Stakeholders is the process of identifying the people, groups, or organizations that could impact or be impacted by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project, analyzing and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success. The key benefit of this process is that it allows the project manager to identify the appropriate focus for each stakeholder or group of stakeholders.

A stakeholder is any person, group, or organization affected by, or who perceives they might be affected by, the project. It is also who can affect the project. The Key Stakeholder is usually someone in a management role, or who has decision-making power, who will be able to influence the project and/or will be impacted by project outcomes.  It is critical to project success to identify stakeholders, prioritize them according to influence and involvement, and assign roles and responsibilities.

Plan Scope Management is the process of creating a scope management plan that documents how the project scope will be defined, validated, and controlled. The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction on how scope will be managed throughout the project.

Collect Requirements is the process of determining, documenting, and managing stakeholder needs and requirements to meet project objectives. The key benefit of this process is that it provides the basis for defining and managing the project scope including product scope.

Define Scope is the process of developing a detailed description of the project and product. The key benefit of this process is that it describes the product, service, or result boundaries by defining which of the requirements collected will be included in and excluded from the project scope.

Create WBS is the process of subdividing project deliverables and project work into smaller, more manageable components. The key benefit of this process is that it provides a structured vision of what has to be delivered.

Develop Project Charter is the process of developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

Develop Project Charter is the process of developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

Develop Project Charter is the process of developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

Develop Project Charter is the process of developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

Develop Project Charter is the process of developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.

The schedule is developed as a result of organizing the work according to dependencies and combining the work that must be done with the resources necessary to complete the work, as defined in the WBS and staffing plan above.

Plan Cost Management is the process that establishes the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, managing, expending, and controlling project costs. The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction on how the project costs will be managed throughout the project.

Estimate Costs is the process of developing an approximation of the monetary resources needed to complete project activities. The key benefit of this process is that it determines the amount of cost required to complete project work.

Determine Budget is the process of aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized cost baseline. The key benefit of this process is that it determines the cost baseline against which project performance can be monitored and controlled.

Using the WBS-Schedule Planning Worksheet template to develop activity estimates, add together all activity estimates to get to a total project cost.  The Budget Planning Worksheet (EXCEL) is used to develop estimates, as needed, for external or vendor expenses.

Plan Quality Management is the process of identifying quality requirements and/or standards for the project and its deliverables, and documenting how the project will demonstrate compliance with relevant quality requirements and/or standards. The key benefit of this process is that it provides guidance and direction on how quality will be managed and validated throughout the project.

Quality management ensures that the project produces deliverables that achieve the expected outcomes.

Plan Stakeholder Engagement is the process of developing appropriate management strategies to effectively engage stakeholders throughout the project life cycle, based on the analysis of their needs, interests, and potential impact on project success. The key benefit of this process is that it provides a clear, actionable plan to interact with project stakeholders to support the project's interests.

During the planning process, the project manager or scrum master should identify their stakeholders. These stakeholders may help the project team achieve success by providing their own unique experiences and perspectives. Their participation is critical to the success of a project.

During the Planning phase, a project master or scrum master should meet each of the stakeholders, understand their WIIFM (What's in it For Me), and identify the best way to communicate with them and keep them engaged. If you're having trouble identifying your stakeholders, get input from your project sponsor. If it's a system that's being implemented, ask yourself (and the team) who are the end users? Who might support the system? Who must pay for the system? Who will want reports out of the system, or will want to be notified if changes are made? It's also helpful to conduct a brainstorming session with your sponsor, project team, and other identified stakeholders, to see who might be missing.

Plan Resource Management is the process of how to estimate, acquire, manage and use team and physical resources. The key benefit of this process is that it establishes the approach and level of management effort needed for managing project resources based on the type and complexity of the project.

Estimate Activity Resources is the process of estimating the type and quantities of material, human resources, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity. The key benefit of this process is that it identifies the type, quantity, and characteristics of resources required to complete the activity which allows more accurate cost and duration estimates.

The purpose of the staffing plan is to make certain the project has sufficient staff with the right skills and experience to ensure successful project completion.

Plan Communications Management is the process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on stakeholders’ information needs and requirements, and available organizational assets. The key benefit of this process is that it identifies and documents the approach to communicate most effectively and efficiently with stakeholders.

The Communications Plan template explains what types of communications will occur during the project life cycle, the mechanisms for doing those communications, and the recipients of the communication deliverables. Process for a project is of the utmost importance. This plan explains what communications will happen during the life-cycle of the project, to what stakeholders, and in what forms.  Use the RACI Chart template to determine roles and responsibilities in terms of Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.

Plan Risk Management is the process of defining how to conduct risk management activities for a project. The key benefit of this process is it ensures that the degree, type, and visibility of risk management are commensurate with both the risks and the importance of the project to the organization. The risk management plan is vital to communicate with and obtain agreement and support from all stakeholders to ensure the risk management process is supported and performed effectively over the project life cycle.

Identify Risks is the process of determining which risks may affect the project and documenting their characteristics. The key benefit of this process is the documentation of existing risks and the knowledge and ability it provides to the project team to anticipate events.

Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis is the process of prioritizing risks for further analysis or action by assessing and combining their probability of occurrence and impact. The key benefit of this process is that it enables project managers to reduce the level of uncertainty and to focus on high-priority risks.

Perform Quantitative Risk Analysis is the process of numerically analyzing the effect of identified risks on overall project objectives. The key benefit of this process is that it produces quantitative risk information to support decision-making in order to reduce project uncertainty.

Plan Risk Responses is the process of developing options and actions to enhance opportunities and to reduce threats to project objectives. The key benefit of this process is that it addresses the risks by their priority, inserting resources and activities into the budget, schedule, and project management plan as needed.

A risk is an uncertain condition or event that, if it occurs,  could positively or negatively impact one or more project objectives. It is best to leverage a simple process for handling risks on the project.

The main differences between Risks and Issues are related to timing and probability. The language used to describe risks is future tense because it is about an event and impacts that have not happened yet but may happen. Plan and work out mitigation plans for high-impact risks.  Risk mitigation plans are all about reducing the impact or probability of a risk event.  When risk materializes as an issue and moved to the Issue log, it is noted as such on the Risk Register. As part of lessons learned, these specific risks are reviewed to better plan future projects.  The Risk Register should be reviewed periodically—weekly or less frequently during status review meetings.

Plan Procurement Management is the process of documenting project procurement decisions, specifying the approach, and identifying potential sellers. The key benefit of this process is that it determines whether to acquire outside support, and if so, what to acquire, how to acquire it, how much is needed, and when to acquire it.

During the Planning phase, a project manager or scrum master will begin creating a procurement work plan, if one is needed.

It is critical, during the Planning phase, to work with your organization's Procurement team (if one exists) as you begin the procurement process. There may be established policies and procedures that your project team must follow when procuring goods and services.

As you being to identify potential vendors and go down the RFP (Request for Proposal) process, you must have your requirements identified, as well as any critical dates, resources, etc.

Validate Scope is the process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables. The key benefit of this process is that it brings objectivity to the acceptance process and increases the chance of final product, service, or result acceptance by validating each deliverable.

Control Scope is the process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline. The key benefit of this process is that it allows the scope baseline to be maintained throughout the project.

As Dwight D. Eisenhower said “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable”

Requirements define the scope of a project and the criteria for its success. They also describe what the system must do. Whether or not the system fulfills those requirements determines the success or failure of a project. Managing requirements effectively increases the probability of a project’s success. Therefore, defining clear, correct, and complete requirements, and managing them during the project, is critical for a system development project and for maintaining the integrity and performance of a system over time.

Control Schedule is the process of monitoring the status of project activities to update project progress and manage changes to the schedule baseline to achieve the plan. The key benefit of this process is that it provides the means to recognize deviation from the plan and take corrective and preventive actions and thus minimize risk.

Schedule Management is the process of defining project tasks, their durations, dependencies, and assigned resources, to complete the project within a designated time frame. It also includes monitoring and reporting on the schedule to ensure the project is delivered on time.

Managing your schedule, dependencies, and resources assigned does not have to be implemented using a PPM tool. If a tool is not available, applications such as Microsoft Excel are a great resource for creating simple task lists, or something a bit more sophisticated, that appears like a Gantt chart.

In an Agile project, this would equate to understanding what is being delivered in each sprint, while using the daily stand-ups to determine progress towards completing tasks in the sprint. The goal is to ensure that the team is aligned on tasks, priorities, and due dates, while also providing a clear view into the critical path.

Control Costs is the process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline. The key benefit of this process is that it provides the means to recognize variance from the plan in order to take corrective action and minimize risk.

Cost management is the process of estimating, allocating, and controlling project costs. This may include project labor, contract costs, hardware and or software, direct, and indirect costs. Even in the case of Agile projects, where costs may seem to be a bit more fixed because of fixed sprint durations, you may have outside costs such as contract labor or software licenses, subscriptions, etc., that need to be managed and monitored. By managing costs, you may prevent budget overruns, avoid the risk of unforeseen expenses, and help with future project planning.

The goal of managing your costs is to ensure that your project is delivered within budget, as well as to predict costs at the completion of the project. When a budget is established at the beginning of a project, it is the Project Manager’s or Scrum Master’s job to monitor and control the budget and report any variances.

When establishing and reporting on your budget, it’s important to ensure that you’re gathering all of your cost sources – labor (internal and external), assets (software licenses, hardware), any fixed costs, direct/indirect costs, or sunk costs. Your organization may provide you with guidance on the specific types of costs they’d like to capture and manage.

There are 4 components to cost management: resource planning, cost estimation, cost budget, and cost control. Part of cost management is ensuring that a process is in place for requesting additional funds, or, how to ‘return’ funds if any go unused.

The main differences between Risks and Issues are related to timing and probability. The language used about issues is in the present tense because it describes threats or opportunities at hand and how to deal with them – a situation that is certain,  and an impact and what to do about it.  For all issues at hand, the project team needs to act immediately to resolve them, and an action plan is needed that has action items listed in priority.  Issues are not “mitigated” – they are resolved. Issues recorded in the issues log should be discussed almost every day.

While risk is the potential issue that may or may not happen and can impact the project positively or negatively, once a risk actually occurs, it is denoted as “Risk Realized” on the Risk Register and a corresponding issue is immediately opened on the Issue Log.  Action Plan development immediately commences to resolve the Issue.

Additionally, during the Project Life-cycle, unforeseen issues can arise independently of the risk management process, which also may impact the ability of the project to meet its stated objectives. The key to project success is in having a process in place to review and resolve issues before they severely impact the project.  Issue management is an ongoing process iteratively performed throughout the project life-cycle at regular intervals and as the environment changes.

Perform Integrated Change Control is the process of reviewing all change requests; approving changes and managing changes to deliverables, organizational process assets, project documents, and the project management plan; and communicating their disposition. It reviews all requests for changes or modifications to project documents, deliverables, baselines, or the project management plan and approves or rejects the changes.

The key benefit of this process is that it allows for documented changes within the project to be considered in an integrated fashion while reducing project risk, which often arises from changes made without consideration to the overall project objectives or plans.