After the project planning phase, the project enters the second, definition phase. The primary purpose of this phase is to define as clearly as possible project deliverables. There are several steps involved in this phase and they are as follows:
Project Scope Definition - a definition of the end result of the project. To define the scope a project scope definition document is created to be used by the project owner and participants in order to measure the project's success. Project scope definition document consists of the following main points: project objective, deliverables, milestones, technical requirements, limits and exclusions, reviews with customer.
Establishing Project Priorities - one of the most important tasks of a project manager is to manage the trade-offs between time, cost and performance. A very useful technique - completion of a priority matrix is used to to define which criterion is constrained, which should be enhanced, and which can be accepted.
Project Scope Definition - a definition of the end result of the project. To define the scope a project scope definition document is created to be used by the project owner and participants in order to measure the project's success. Project scope definition document consists of the following main points: project objective, deliverables, milestones, technical requirements, limits pand exclusions, reviews with customer. a definition of a project created in a hierarchical form that establishes the relationship between smaller elements/tasks and the project end result. In other words, WBS is essentially breaking down the project into smaller, more manageable chunks that can be done simultaneously by different teams. Each item in WBS needs cost and time estimate making it a basic unit for planning, controlling and scheduling the project. Each element in the WBS defines work - what needs to be done, identifies time to complete a work package - how long it will take, Identifies the cost and resources needed to complete a work package and finally it identifies a single person responsible for each work unit. A tool that is widely used for defining who is responsible for which task is responsibility matrix which consists of all the project activities and project participants responsible for each activity.
Integrating the WBS with the organization - organizational units responsible for each task defined in WBS need to be clearly specified, which organizational unit is going to be responsible for particular elements of WBS.
Lastly, a project communication plan is developed. Communication is a key element in project planning and executing and failure to communicate properly and in a timely manner between the stakeholders can be fatal for project success. Project communication plans address the following core questions: • What information needs to be collected and when? • To whom will the information be delivered? • When will the information be communicated? • How will it be communicated, through which channels? In order to create a communication plan, all the key stakeholders involved in the project need to be clearly defined.
Implementing all the steps outlined above in the project definition phase, minimises the risk of scope creep, low performance, high costs, late delivery and stretched resources.
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