Information-Development Project Plan Template

							Information-Development Project Plan Template
[Enclosed in brackets you will find instructions for completing the plan. Replace or delete all of
the instructions and add your own content to the template.]

[Name of your project] Project Plan
[Project code name or other identifier]

Revision history
[Provide an account of the revisions you have made to this project plan.]

Date           Version         Author            Explanation of Change

               [Version        [Author           [Explanation of the change]
               number]         names]




[Use version numbers until you have final approval. Afterward use point changes for minor
updates. If you prepare a major update, as you might if you have a complete change in the project
scope, create a version 2.0. Include a brief explanation of the change.]

Contact information
[Provide all the contact information for the information project manager.]
   Prepared by
   Organization
   Location
   Email address          Phone number

Approved by

Name                         Position                      Date

[Names of the project        [Their positions]             [The date signed]
approvers]


[Include sufficient lines for all the required approvals. Under each line, add the approver’s name,
position, and the date signed.]
Project Overview
 [In this section of your project plan, provide all the background information needed to identify the
goals of the larger project, the audience for the product and for your information, and the project
usability requirements.]

Description of the larger project
[Briefly describe the larger project of which information development is a part.]

Project vision and goals
[Briefly describe your understanding of the larger project’s vision and the goals that your
organization has set for this project.]

Project scope
[You have a number of options in describing the scope of the larger project. You may want to list
the features and functions that will be included in the product-development effort. You may
include descriptions of project hardware to be designed and built and software to accompany the
hardware. You may describe a project in which information is the most important outcome, such
as a project to develop policies and procedures. Provide sufficient information to identify the
project scope characteristics that you will need to guide your estimate of the scope of the
information-development project.]

Project schedule
[Provide an overview of the larger project’s schedule, emphasizing key schedule dates that you
must take into account. Include information about milestones that you must meet, deadline dates
associated with these milestones, and information about the relationship of a particular milestone
to the general availability of the product or service.]

Milestone                                               Actual or Relative Date

[List the external project milestones that drive your   [List an actual date or a date relative to the general
information development schedule, such as               availability date for the product release. Provide
feasibility approval, approval to develop, functional   information about how the date was determined and
requirements freeze, functional testing, systems        who is responsible for setting the date. ]
testing, beta release, final release, and so on.]




Project budget
[Provide information about the overall project budget if it is available, especially if your
information-development budget is established as a percentage of the whole project budget.]

Description of the customer for the product and the information
[Provide as detailed a description as you can for the customer for the product and the audiences for
the information. If you have several audiences, include each of them in this section, with
accompanying descriptions. Be certain to include in your description your team’s assessment of
the potential information needs of each audience group. If you have outside sources for your
information, such as customer site visits, usability studies, market analyses, or feedback from
training and customer support, include that information here.]
Usability requirements
[State the usability requirements of the larger project and the information. This section is
especially important as an extension of the customer and audience descriptions in the previous
section. You may want to emphasize ease of access to information by an experienced user or the
step-by-step coverage for a more inexperienced user. Use the information you have gleaned from
any customer studies to inform your assessment of the audience’s usability needs.]

Information Development
[In this section, you move from the larger project to the information-development project that you
are managing. The purpose of this section is to facilitate the stakeholders’ understanding of the
information requirements and the scope of your development efforts.]

Information-development project vision
[Briefly describe the information set you intend to develop for this project. If you are updating
existing information, note that here. If you are developing information products for an entirely new
project, describe what you hope to achieve in the design. If you intend to make significant changes
to an existing suite of information products, describe why the changes are being made.]

Project schedule
[Provide an overview of your proposed schedule for the information development activities. Once
again, describe each milestone and explain the reason for the actual or relative date. Relative dates
describe the dependencies of your schedule on external events that guide the larger project. In this
section, note any schedule dependencies for your project.]

Milestone                                              Actual or Relative Date

[List each milestone that you propose for the          [Either provide an actual date for the milestone to be
information development project. Define what will be   completed or state the time relative to an
needed to complete the milestone. Don’t include in     appropriate external milestone from your previous
this list your internal milestones such as             list. You may need to explain the date and any
developmental editing, quality assurance, or           special requirements.]
copyediting. Those will be included in the detailed
project schedule.]


Project budget
[Provide information about your project budget. You may have a total budget amount that you
must stay within, or your budget may be calculated as a percentage of the larger project budget.
Your budget may be based entirely upon headcount assigned to the project, or it may include
additional funding for translation and localization and the production of final deliverables and their
distribution.]

Information-development project scope
[Briefly describe your project’s scope, outlining the major deliverables. Then, construct your
detailed table of deliverables, similar to the table given here as an example.]
Information-Development Project Scope



Deliverable        Part#        Delivery       Languages     %Changed        Page/Topic
title                           method                                       Count

[Title of the      [Part        [Method of     [Languages    [The percent    [The
document or        number]      delivery,      into which    of change       estimates
other final                     including      the           you             page or topic
deliverable]                    print, PDF,    document      anticipate in   count for the
                                HTML, help,    will be       the             deliverable.]
                                or other]      translated]   deliverable
                                                             from the last
                                                             release. For
                                                             new
                                                             deliverables,
                                                             the percent
                                                             change is
                                                             zero.]


Roles and responsibilities of the project team
[Include in this section a list of all the members of your information-development team and a list
of all others associated with the project throughout your larger organization. Describe the roles and
responsibilities of each team member on the project.]


Information-Development Project Team


Role                   Name                   Location            Responsibility

[The role of a         [Name]                 [Location           [Describe the responsibilities of this team
member of your                                                    member on your project team.]
                                              Email
project team]
                                              Phone]




Larger Project Team


Role                   Name                   Location            signoff/Responsibility

[The role of a         [Name]                 [Location           [Describe the responsibilities of this team
member of the                                                     member to your project team.
                                              Email
larger project team]
                                                                  If the team member has signoff
                                              Phone]
                                                                  responsibility, note that here.]


Project dependencies and risks
[In this section, analyze your project dependencies and the risks you associate with the project.
Note the critical items that you need to ensure that you can successfully deliver the information
required by customers on schedule and with the quality you have determined.]
Project assumptions
[State the assumptions you have used to estimate the resources required to meet the project scope
and schedule. If you must have access to the product by a certain date for the information to be
ready on time, state that assumption here. If you are expecting certain freeze dates or timely
reviews, note those assumptions as well.]

Risk analysis
[State the risks that you and other members of the larger project have associated with this project.
Complete the following risk analysis table for the project, explaining both your prevention and
contingency plans.]

Risk Description       Probability          Potential Impact     Prevention Plan      Contingency
                                                                                      Plan

[Describe the risk.]   [Indicate if it is   [Indicate if it is   [Explain what you    [Explain the
                       high, medium, or     high, medium, or     will do to prevent   actions you will
                       low.]                low.]                the problem from     take if the problem
                                                                 occurring.]          occurs.]


Dependencies calculation
[Show your dependencies calculation in this section.




Note: You can find an interactive Dependencies calculator at http://www.comtech-
serv.com/dependency_calculator.htm
Figure 16-1: Dependencies calculator
Project total hours and costs
[Provide your final calculations of the size, scope, and cost of each project deliverable and of your
project as a whole. Break these totals down by the items in your deliverables table.]

Deliverable Title    Page/Topic           % Change             Total Hours          Total cost
                     Count

[Name the            [Indicate your       [Indicate the        [State the total     [State the total cost
deliverable.]        count of pages,      percent change       hours you have       you have
                     topics, or other     expected in the      calculated to        calculated for this
                     metric.]             deliverable.]        produce this         deliverable.]
                                                               deliverable.]


Project resource requirements
[You have already listed the participants in your project in the roles and responsibilities section of
the Project Plan. Include here any other resources you require for the project. If you need access to
a lab or access to the product or other materials, note that information here.]