Methods for Development of Project plan objectives:

A clear understanding of the plan objectives is a requirement for the plans success. Ensure that the objectives are achievable, measurable, simple to understand and consistent with the resources levels fixed (as per the assumptions made in DPR estimates. Planning aims at achieving the project completion making the most effective use of time and resources. What? Describe the project objectives and its end results in detail and define the scope of work to be accomplished. This will help on understand the plan better, in regard to the work and the project specific problems. Why? State the purpose of the project and why it is important to the national economy, to the society, to the stakeholders, to you and to the project team. The project purpose and rationale will guide the plans preparation and make the total task easy. How? State the strategy and approach or method proposed to be adopted in the projects execution. Define the managements practices, construction technology, controlling and administrative procedures, information systems etc. and whether execution is proposed to be done through turnkey contracts, other forms of procurement and contracting or departmentally. Describe documentation and coding and accounting procedures. Specify the financial power. Where? Geographic area or place of work is relevant if the project enterprise has several offices or places of work or operating stations. Define the area or location where different activities will be carried out. In a multilevel or multi divisional organisation, the organizational level or division or team to which different tasks are assigned shall be defined.

When? Fix at time frame to the total project, with a schedule or major milestones, in line with the commitment made in the DPR and then, within the overall time frame, fix time duration for every major project activity. Distribute the entire work over the project duration. Determine sequence and priorities in an acceptable manner, suiting the overall plan.

How much? State the quantities of the major activities. These are taken from the DPR estimates and subjected to refinement made possible by subsequent improvement in design and project specifications. State the level of resources requirements against various tasks, based on DPR estimates and subsequent firming up. Who? Design the project organisation and assign responsibility to teams and individuals with due consideration for competence. Specify the type and size of organisation, hierarchy and levels, qualifications and experience for each position etc and job specifications of every position.

Programming:
Program is the fore-runner of schedule. It is form a program of action that the schedule is prepared. Listing of work: List the tasks and the activities under each task, showing main work elements of the total project by functions/discipline/skills/crafts. These lists will form the foundation of the subsequent step of amore detailed definition of work. The list can be simple, phase wise, tabular statement with columns for TASK CODE/TASK DESCRIPTIONS/DURATIONS/ESTIMATED MANDAYS (CATEGORYWISE). Definition of Work: Here define the listed work elements in greater detail for clearer understanding. This definition should remove uncertainties, if any, contained in DPR. Work Breakdown Structure: WBS is prepared by studying the design and engineering characteristics and requirements of the project, and breaking down the project into smaller elements, in different levels thus: Level 1: the total project Level 2: major segments of the project Level 3: Tasks in every segment Level 4: Activities in every task Level 5: Elements in every activity The Project engineering department normally prepares a WBS manual which describes every element in detail. Codification: Codification of tasks and related project accounts facilitate effective management and control. It is usual practice in all large projects to use structured codes for identification, reference, accounting, integration and computerization of drawings and technical documentations, WBS contents, costs , purchase orders, budget commitments, equipments and material,

schedules, off-site and infrastructural facilities, manpower and other inputs, contracts, bills, progress reports, performance evaluation, income and expenditure, assets and liabilities etc. The numbering structure should be logical, interrelated and level-related as suggested below. Project number X Work package XX Task XXX Activity XXXX Work element XXXXX Organizational Element AA Equipment/materials/services BB Type of Work CC Cost/Financial Account Head DD Type of Document MM The structure of codification would depend on the type, size and accounting needs of the project and enterprise. Coding can be done either numerically or alphabetically or combined alpha-numerically. Alpha-numeric codes are short as one alphabet can replace two or more numerals. Modeling the Work: Make graphic models of the main segments and important elements of the work. These models will help you understand the variables you have to handle in translating the plan into reality. Fixation of Sequence and Priority: A project is an integrated whole unit into which hundreds of tasks and thousands of work elements are integrated. So, work programming has to be done with the interrelationship of work in mind. Interfacing of the models will establish the interrelationship. It must be possible to carry out many work elements independently upto their assembly stage, but in a project with a few hundred thousand identifiable work elements, one cannot afford to leave half of them executed out of sequence and wait for mass finishing, assembly, connections and towards the end of the project. That would cause a lot of confusion, wastage; lock up of money and in most cases remobilization and even some rework. Moreover, in a large project, different work packages may have different phase out commissioning dates for technical and financial reasons, necessitating a correspondingly phased out completion of work. Besides, for economic or technical reasons, some segments may have to be accomplished on priority over others. For these reasons, sequence and priority have to be given due considerations while during programming.

Fixation of Activity Duration: Every activity shall be allocated realistically estimated time duration so that the sum total of all such durations minus the net overlapping would be equal to the project duration. It is usual to fix a shorter than permitted duration, keeping a few days buffer time for any possible slippage. This provision is called contingency time. Scheduled completion time plus contingency time is the target time. Scheduling: Scheduling is a substantial improvement on programming. Scheduling is principally the exercise of laying out and integrating time, resources and the main work elements of engineering, procurement and construction in the most efficient manner to achieve the project execution. Forward and Backward Scheduling: Forward and backward scheduling is a strategy used for keeping down the level of resources deployment and making the optimum use of them by taking advantage of floats. For doing this, time estimates have to be made for all individual work elements. Forward schedule starts as soon as working front clearance available for an activity and it often finishes before the required due date. The philosophy here is finishing every activity as early as possible. Backward schedule starts backwards from the required due date of finishing the activity and arrives at a required starting date. The starting date so arrived at will be the latest starting date. The guiding philosophy here is finish economically when required. Resource Assessment and Matching Scheduling Every projects owner resources have some limitations for reasons of economy and previous commitments. So what is usually done in scheduling is as follows: Take stock of the total available resources that can be mobilized during the activity time, after previous commitments if any. Assess the most economic quantity of resources requirements for finishing the activity within the time duration. If the resources required is more than available resources, try to revise the activity duration using forward and backward scheduling technique and adjust the volume of activities to suit the available resources, taking advantage of floats , but with due consideration to dependencies of activities and overall project completion target and then calculate the. Make provision for procurement of the difference between reassessed requirements of resources and available resources Manpower schedules: Master manpower planning is required for: 1. Project Management for the project duration 2. Construction till the completion of construction 3. Operation and maintenance 4. Management and Control

You must ensure availability of the required number of the right type of staff and workmen for project management suiting the overall project schedule. This must be related to the manpower estimated given in DPR. Ordering and Delivery Schedule: For all equipment and materials including bulk materials that go into the project, separate exhaustive lists should be prepared first for guidance in scheduling their ordering and receipt at site. The total procurement time plus any possible slippage time should be kept in mind while ordering the equipment and materials to suit the project. Schedule of Maintenance Spare Parts: The project planner usually plans also for the procurement of initial plant and machinery maintenance spares. In consultation with the engineering, operations and maintenance departments, the planner makes out a list of spares, collects the relevant drawings and specifications , ascertains the sources of supplies, obtain quotations and depending upon the lead time and level of stock required to be maintained, raises time phased purchase requisition for about one to two years requirement. Other Supporting schedules: A large project shall have several supporting schedules of resources and infrastructure activities. These are made with the objective of managing and controlling project Implementation in the best possible manner. There shall also be supporting schedules prepared factor wise as per requirements. Integration of schedules: All supporting schedules must be dovetailed appropriately into the master schedule. Principles of Schedule: Schedules must be sufficiently detailed, easy to understand, comprehensive, realistic and feasible and must form quantitative baseline for monitoring and control. They should correlate objectives, resources, cost and time and aim at speedy execution of the project, using the least possible amounts of resources, making optimum use of them. Conclusion Planning, organisation and control are the main components of project management after the studies, clearances and financing phases. As per the management expert Luther Gulicks there is a term PODSCORB which stands for the following: Planning: establishing broadly what needs to be done and how to achieve it Organizing: creating formal management structures Directing: carrying out the role of leader-making decisions, giving orders and making sure they are carried out. Staffing: recruiting, selecting and training people to do the work. Coordinating: pulling together disparate elements of the work, so that they all support the same overall objectives Reporting: through record, measurement and monitoring, keeping track of progress and providing relevant feedback to himself, his superiors and subordinates Budgeting: the process of control, particularly financial control.