Template for Project Management Plan
LHCb Computing Project Management Plan
Issue: Draft
Revision: 1
Reference: LHCB COMP 98-nn
Created: 5th May 1998
Last modified: 6th May 1998
Author: John Harvey
Abstract
This is a template document for documenting the Project Management Plan describing each LHCb Computing Project.
Document Status Sheet
| 1. Document Title: [Project Name Qualification] User Requirements Document |
|||
| 2. Document Reference Number: [Document Reference Number] |
|||
| 3. Issue |
4. Revision |
5. Date |
6. Reason for change |
| Draft |
1 |
6 May 98 |
First version |
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
*2. Objectives
*3. Workplan
*3.1. Scope
*3.2. Methodology
*3.3. Assumptions
*4. Detailed tasks and subtasks descriptions
*5. Deliverables
*6. Resources
*7. Schedule
*8. Risk Identification
*9. Management and Reporting
*10. Quality Assurance
*11. References
*
List of Figures
Figure 1 Sample Gantt Chart
*List of Tables
Provide a brief overview, background, and reason for undertaking the project.
The objectives of the project should be clearly stated. The objectives should be stated as goals, products, or deliverables to be accomplished by the project.
Describe the basic plan for undertaking the work of the project. For example, Project XYZ should provide a package of common software widgets. An overall software development plan will be prepared to guide the design and development of the widgets package. Each widget will be developed as a separate task of the project. Additional tasks will be organized to address management, integration, testing, reviews, quality assurance, and configuration management. The project will be organized in phases to provide initial functionality in Phase I, etc. Discuss the limitations of the project, such as what is in the scope of the project and what is not in the scope of the project. Briefly discuss plans for follow-on projects, if appropriate.
Depending upon the complexity of the project, different development strategies may be used. For example, a large systems development project requiring significant expenditures on hardware and software development would require a project management plan to organize the project. The project management plan, in this case, would provide the overall organization and work breakdown structure (WBS) of the project, but individual system specifications and software development plans would provide the details for the components.
Discuss the general development philosophy or methodology to be used. Issues such as build vs. buy, development methodology, CASE tools, object oriented approach, rapid prototyping, etc. , should be discussed. Plans for testing, review, verification, and validation should be described. Discuss how configuration management and quality assurance procedures will be incorporated into the project.
Describe the assumptions made or pre-requisites needed to undertake the project. For example, the existence or availability of a particular piece of hardware may be necessary or the project may depend on the outcome of a current or ongoing project.
Provide a detailed breakdown of the tasks to be performed. Tie these tasks to the objectives of the project.
Describe the products and materials to be developed by the project. The deliverable items will normally be software packages, hardware systems, and supporting documentation such as requirements analysis, development plans, test reports, user or programmer manuals and reviews. Other projects may involve investigations, evaluations, or studies and will generate the appropriate reports corresponding to those activities. The deliverable items should clearly track to the tasks of the projects and the objectives addressed by those tasks.
Identify the major hardware, software, and networking components to be procured with an initial estimate of the costs to be incurred. Estimate the manpower resources for the project in man-months by skill level or expertise required, e.g., document specialist, physicist, senior analyst, etc. Determine whether commercial engineering, or support service will be required, and provide an estimate of the cost. Identify what existing hardware, software, and facilities will be required.
Prepare a Gantt chart (Figure 1) for the preliminary schedule of major tasks of the project given the assumed level of support described in the Resources section. The schedule must be realistic, reasonable, and complete. The schedule should not establish arbitrary completion dates. It must be tied to external milestones, such as installation of muon chambers, completion of magnetic field mapping, etc. As a minimum, the following major milestones shall be identified for system/software development projects.
Validation / CertificationFigure 1 Sample Gantt Chart
Risk IdentificationProvide a brief description of the perceived technical and management risks associated with the project. Examples are:
Specify the project leader, task leaders and any another special roles e.g. Quality Assurance manager. Specify the project tracking methods, status reporting format, reporting frequency, and review process.
Identify the Quality Assurance methods to be utilized for this project. Identify the proposed/required product reliability/availability/maintainability. Identify the formal Quality Assurance reviews. Identify any minimum software metrics requirements for the project.
