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• Module overview
• 1. Introduction to planning
  • 1.1 Types of plans
    • 1.1.1 Some definitions
    • 1.1.2 Domains of planning
    • 1.1.3 Users and levels of planning
  • 1.2 Completing a planning cycle
    • 1.2.1 A planning process
    • 1.2.2 Tactical and operational planning
    • 1.2.3 A participative planning process
    • 1.2.4 When to complete business planning
  • 1.3 Implementing an operational plan
    • 1.3.1 Define the plan's purpose
    • 1.3.2 Setting the planning period and scope
    • 1.3.3 Why plans fail - The strategic level
    • 1.3.4 Why plans fail - The operational or project level
  • 1.4 SMART goals
    • 1.4.1 S.M.A.R.T. Goal statements
  • 1.5 Contingency plans
    • 1.5.1 Why contingency plan?
    • 1.5.2 Contingency plans and risk
    • 1.5.3 Contingency planning actions

• 2. Plan and manage resources

  • 2.1 Plan and manage human resources
    • 2.1.1 Recruitment
    • 2.1.2 Selection
    • 2.1.3 Induction
  • 2.2 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
  • 2.3 Purchasing resources
    • 2.3.1 Tangible and intangible assets
    • 2.3.2 Acquisition costs
    • 2.3.3 Depreciation costs
    • 2.3.4 Planning resource acquisition and utilisation
    • 2.3.5 Estimating resource needs
  • 2.4 Manage Capacity
    • 2.4.1. Planning capacity
    • 2.4.2. Measuring capacity
    • 2.4.3. Matching operations plans with capacity
    • 2.4.4. Capacity analysis and economies of scale
    • 2.4.5. Capacity and performance effectiveness
    • 2.4.6. Determinants of capacity
  • 2.5 Aggregate and Master Planning
    • 2.5.1 Master Schedule
    • 2.5.2 Operational control and resource planning
    • 2.5.3 Demand and scheduling control

• 3. Risk Management

  • 3.1 Risk Management
    • 3.1.1 Potential benefits from an effective risk management
    • 3.1.2 Classifying risk
    • 3.1.3 Risk and ANZS4360:2004
    • 3.1.4 Risk analysis
  • 3.2 Estimate the risk attached to a corrective action
    • 3.2.1 Risk analysis categories
    • 3.2.2 Prioritising risks

• 4. Planning projects

  • 4.1 Planning the project
    • 4.1.1 Setting the project plan
    • 4.1.2 Setting achievable outcomes
  • 4.2 Controlling Projects
    • 4.2.1 Personnel resources
    • 4.2.2 Managing project costs
    • 4.2.3 Value of managing project costs
    • 4.2.4 Estimates
    • 4.2.5 Cost Coding
    • 4.2.6 The time factor
  • 4.3 Scheduling project tasks and activities
    • 4.3.1 Project timelines and deliverables
    • 4.3.2 Critical Path Analysis (CPA)
    • 4.3.3 PERT
    • 4.3.4 Seven steps to project scheduling
    • 4.3.5 Completing project schedule activities

• 5. Problem solving and decision making

  • 5.1 Problem solving
    • 5.1.1 The problem solving process
    • 5.1.2 Solutions search
    • 5.1.3 Removing root causes
    • 5.1.4 Solutions implementation through inclusive communication processes
  • 5.2 Decision making
    • 5.2.1 Decision making model and leadership styles
  • 5.3 Decision making approaches
    • 5.3.1 The logical systems
    • 5.3.2 Contingency approach
    • 5.3.3 Quantitative - schematic and mathematical approaches
    • 5.3.4 Critical Path Analysis
    • 5.3.5 PERT
    • 5.3.6 Group quantitative approaches
    • 5.3.7 A qualitative approach
  • 5.4 Context and the influence on the decision processes
    • 5.4.1 Factors in decision making
    • 5.4.2 Rational decision making
    • 5.4.3 Creative decision making
  • 5.5 Scenarios for team decision making and problem solving
    • Problem scenario number 1 - Lost in the bush
    • Problem scenario number 2 - Toothpaste blues
    • Analysis of personal behaviour in groups

4.1.1 Setting the project plan

Project plans need to set parameters that are to be managed. These usually involve three major factors and establishing objectives that stipulate targets and compliance requirements. When delivered in full and on time this suggests the project has conformed to all aspects of quality, cost and time.

Compliance factors include:

1. Scope
The context and the range of variables involved in the project.

2. Quality- Free from variance in performance, standards or specifications
The end result of the project must be fit for the purpose for which it was intended: that is, the specification must be satisfied. This involves Total Quality Management and Total Quality Service in which responsibility for quality is shared by all staff from top management downwards.

3. Cost or Budget
The project must be completed without exceeding the authorised expenditure. Even when a project is undertaken where there is no real profit motive, proper attention to cost budgets and financial management is essential.

4. Time to Completion
Actual progress must match planned progress so that all significant stages of the project occur no later than their specified dates so that final completion occurs on or before the planned date. Time constraints include:

• Waiting for information
• Waiting for funds
• Waiting for approvals
• Inadequate resources

A project costs money every day of its existence (working or non-working, weekday or weekend) from day one to the final payment. Therefore time and cost are interdependent (Lock, 1988:12).

5. Risk
Risk involves the potential harm that may arise from specified options or actions and the current or future consequences relating to the project. Management of risk guides how the project is controlled and how the above variables or compliance factors are managed (see the related topic on risk management).

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