Project Execution Plan Template and Guide
Project Execution Plan Template and Guide
1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 13
2 Management Plan..........................................................................................................15
2.1 Management........................................................................................................15
2.1.1 Introduction.............................................................................................. 15
2.1.2 Sub-Project Management.........................................................................15
2.1.3 Reference Groups....................................................................................15
2.1.4 Consultants.............................................................................................. 15
2.1.5 Working Parties........................................................................................15
2.2 Status Reporting..................................................................................................16
2.3 Risk Management................................................................................................16
2.3.1 Risk Assessment......................................................................................16
2.3.2 Failure to Deliver......................................................................................17
2.3.3 Acceptance and Review Periods..............................................................17
2.3.4 Issues.......................................................................................................17
2.3.5 Non-availability of Resources...................................................................18
2.4 Provision of Facilities and Equipment..................................................................18
2.5 Skills and Resource Requirements......................................................................18
2.5.1 Skills and Resources................................................................................18
2.5.2 Training.................................................................................................... 19
2.6 Configuration Management.................................................................................19
2.6.1 Change Control........................................................................................19
2.6.2 Problem Reporting and Resolution..........................................................19
2.6.3 Incident Reporting....................................................................................20
2.6.4 Issues Management.................................................................................20
2.7 Confidentiality......................................................................................................20
2.8 Output Review and Acceptance..........................................................................20
2.9 Updating this Plan................................................................................................20
3 Quality Plan................................................................................................................... 21
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................21
3.2 Methodologies and Standards.............................................................................21
3.3 Development Environment.................................................................................. 21
3.4 Inspection, Measuring and Test Equipment.........................................................22
3.5 Development Cycle..............................................................................................22
3.6 Outputs to be Developed.....................................................................................22
3.7 Project Evaluation................................................................................................22
3.8 Records............................................................................................................... 23
3.8.1 Record Keeping....................................................................................... 23
3.8.2 Records Required by <Business Owner>................................................24
3.8.3 Retention of Records................................................................................24
4 Purchasing Plan............................................................................................................25
5 Development Plan.........................................................................................................27
6 Test Plan 30
6.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................30
6.2 Unit Testing..........................................................................................................30
6.3 System and Integration Testing...........................................................................30
6.3.1 Approach..................................................................................................30
6.3.2 Review..................................................................................................... 31
6.4 Acceptance Testing.............................................................................................31
6.4.1 Approach..................................................................................................31
6.4.2 Review..................................................................................................... 31
6.5 Certification of Test Results.................................................................................31
7.1 Implementation....................................................................................................32
7.2 Handling, Packing, Marking and Delivery............................................................32
9 Maintenance Plan..........................................................................................................36
11 Project Plan................................................................................................................. 38
1 Introduction
Depending on the size and complexity of the project, the need for multiple Project
Execution Plans (PEPs) for the Project may arise. Examples include where separate
Project Teams are developing specific outputs for different business areas (i.e. as sub-
projects).
The Project Execution Plan (PEP) is the operational document for the project. It is owned,
maintained and utilised by the Project Manager and Project Team to support the delivery
of the agreed project outputs.
The PEP is the responsibility of the Project Manager and is the ‘road map’ enabling the
effective day-to-day (operational) management and control of the project.
The PEP expands on the Project Business Plan which is the approved plan describing
‘what’ will happen in the project. The PEP details ‘how’ the Project Team will carry out
their tasks/activities to ensure that the ‘what’ will occur. The document provides new
Project Team members, or a new Project Manager with the ability to start during a project,
and continue to perform the project’s activities in a consistent manner.
The document should be reviewed and amended to meet changed conditions during the
project’s life span.
Clearly identify the intended audience of this document, as it may include key
representatives from the business area(s), and other stakeholders who will be impacted by
the planned outputs.
State any assumptions regarding the document up front that may assist the reader, for
example:
As the document proceeds through a series of iterations during the life of the project
(e.g. after each phase), its structure, emphasis and intended audience may change.
Appendices
Output Description
A.
B.
Briefly summarise the scope of the work involved in the project as defined in the Project
Business Plan.
2 Management Plan
2.1 Management
This section may be covered by a reference to the Project’s governance structure, i.e.
management roles, functions and responsibilities that are defined within Section <X> and
Appendix <X> of the Project Business Plan.
The project will be managed by <Name, Title> who is the Project Manager. The Project
Manager is responsible to the Project Sponsor <Name, Title> for the delivery of the agreed
project outputs.
The sub-headings under section 2.1 (2.1.1 – 2.1.5) may not be required if the above
content is adequately covered in the Project Business Plan.
2.1.1 Introduction
This section expands the operational management of the <Project Title> Project, as
defined within the Project Business Plan.
Define the operational management of the sub- projects if this has not already been
defined within the Project Business Plan.
Detail any specific reference groups (i.e. function, objectives, membership etc) that are
required and have not been defined in the Project Business Plan.
2.1.4 Consultants
Detail any consultancies (i.e. function, time frame, objectives, management, reporting etc)
that are required and have not been defined in the Project Business Plan.
Detail any specific working parties (i.e. function, responsibilities, time frame, objectives,
membership etc) that are required and have not been defined in the Project Business
Plan.
Appendices
Describe the provision of project reporting requirements (e.g. content, frequency, audience
etc) for the following (if not defined in the Project Business Plan):
Project Manager
Reference Groups
Consultants
Working Parties
Quality Consultants
Cross reference the above reporting requirements with status reporting in the Project
Business Plan so as not to duplicate.
Clearly define the purpose, content and frequency of project status reports. The
following is a generic guide to minimum requirements:
the status of the project, which includes monitoring of milestones and budget:
an issues report (including areas of concern, specific problems, and any action that
needs to be taken); and
a risk management report (which will specify any changes to the risks identified and
the strategies put in place to manage them).
All projects require on-going risk analysis to be undertaken regularly throughout the life of
the project. Analysis should be undertaken with the critical stakeholders.
If appropriate, describe how risk management will be conducted. Refer to the Tasmanian
Government Project Management Guidelines that contain a section on risk management.
Providing a risk review within status reports to the Steering Committee, which will
specify any changes to the risks identified during each phase of the project and the
strategies adopted to manage them.
the approval mechanism for risk mitigation strategies e.g. Steering Committee
approval.
In the event of the project suffering slippage of greater that <eg. one month> then the
project schedule and outputs to be delivered shall be reviewed by the Business Owners,
Project Sponsor and the Project Manager. The Project Manager shall inform the Steering
Committee of the situation and recommend the course of action to be followed.
Agreement on how to proceed shall be negotiated by the Project Manager and Steering
Committee.
All review and acceptances shall be completed within <eg. ten working days> of the output
being handed to <Project Sponsor name, title>.
Should any agreed review period not be met and, in the opinion of the Project Manager,
the project is unable to proceed the schedule shall be revisited. Any adjustments for the
time lost should be negotiated by the Project Manager with all affected parties.
Appendices
2.3.4 Issues
When issues arise which must be resolved between the Business Owner and the Project
Manager then the issue shall be advised in writing (using the Open Issues Form) between
the Project Manager and the Business Owner. The recipient of the issue shall be
responsible for ensuring it is resolved and the resolution communicated in writing to the
initiator.
Should any agreed resource not be made available as scheduled in the Project Plan
(Refer Section X) and, in the opinion of the Project Manager, the Project cannot proceed
the schedule shall be revisited. Any adjustments for the time lost should be negotiated by
the Project Manager with all affected parties.
Describe what facilities are required by the Project Team (e.g. accommodation, office
support, equipment etc) and any specific maintenance requirements.
Project Manager;
Describe any specific knowledge and skills required to undertake processes designed to
achieve the project outputs (examples):
etc
2.5.2 Training
What training requirements are there based upon the required skills and resources listed
in 2.5.1? How is the training to be provided and conducted?
Describe the process that will be used to raise, record, review and resolve change
requests.
Appendices
Problem reporting is used to record a problem that has been identified in a project.
Describe the process that will be used to raise, record, review and resolve problem
reports.
An issue is a point that requires noting, but is not considered a problem or change.
It is anticipated that most of the issues raised within the development phase will be solved
by the <Project Manager and Team>. However, issues arising which must be resolved
between the Business Owner and the Project Manager are referred to the Project Sponsor
for resolution (refer to 2.3.4).
Describe the process that will be used to raise, record, review and resolve issues.
2.7 Confidentiality
All project members, agents, contractors and subcontractors shall respect the
confidentiality of each other’s business and technology and shall not reveal any
information concerning the other party without the written permission of the other party.
All agreements and contracts entered into require inclusion of a confidentiality clause.
Describe the process that will be used for the review and acceptance of each output and
documentation product, including who is responsible for scheduling the reviews, who will
be involved, what will be generated for each accepted output or documentation product.
Appendices
This plan shall be updated at least at the end of each phase or phases. The updated plan
shall be reviewed in accordance with <the Development Plan> and accepted and issued.
The update process includes acceptance by the Project Sponsor. This shall be a new
release in accordance with Output management (Refer Section 8).
Any changes to standards and procedures and other information specifically documented
in this plan shall result in a new release of the plan being prepared and issued.
Day to day project plans shall be maintained outside of this plan to reduce the frequency of
change. For the project, this document contains only the broad phase plans.
3 Quality Plan
3.1 Introduction
Describe the methodologies and standards that will be utilised and for what purpose.
Quality Management <eg internal Quality Management System, ISO 9000 standards>;
<other standards for general or specific documentation (eg user, technical, design,
training etc); programming/coding, publishing etc>;
Describe the process that will be used to record and change the development
environment.
Describe any special tools, techniques, or inspection, measuring and test equipment
which needs to be acquired or developed for verifying the project outputs, or the process
of developing those outputs. How will the equipment be verified?
Where practical, the elements of the <Project Title> Project will be developed using the
<name of methodology>:
…
What phases from the methodology will be used, or what life cycle will it follow?
…
Examples include new legislation, new finance system, new computer applications, Market
program, Functional Requirements Specification, Design Specifications, Test
Specifications, User documentation, Maintenance documentation and Training material.
Appendices
All outputs (and components of outputs) shall be managed (Refer Section 8 – Output
Management Plan).
The measurement of the success of a project provides valuable input in to the continuous
improvement for the following phases of a project, or for subsequent projects. This
evaluation forms an important part of the Project’s Quality Plan. Improvements may be
identified in the areas of the planning process, the development process, the utilisation
process, or to the project management processes in general.
For further details regarding the types and timing of these reviews, refer to Section 10.
3.8 Records
Determine what records will be generated by the project team and retained by the Project
Manager, and where they will be retained eg Project Quality Records, Departmental
Records Management System.
Project Proposal
Feasibility Report
Environment Baseline
Incident Reports
Problem Reports
Change Requests
Risk Register
Which of the records created within the project, if any, does the Business Owner require
access to? How and when will they access them? How long will they retain them for?
The <Project Sponsor and Steering Committee> will be provided with copies of any
records they request access to.
Records shall be retained according to the Archives Act. Additional retention or access
requirements may be identified by the Business Owner or Project Sponsor.
Appendices
4 Purchasing Plan
This section is to describe the requirements for the purchase of goods and services
(including subcontractors). The objective is to ensure purchased goods or services
conform to documented requirements.
What is the procedure and processes to be followed for purchases, including approval
and authorisation requirements?
What is the process for purchases that aren’t acceptable (eg damaged goods)?
Are there any potential occupational health and safety issues due to the proposed
purchases?
This section is to describe the requirements for the selection of suppliers (including
subcontractors). The objective is to ensure suppliers are selected on the basis of
appropriate criteria.
What is the criteria for selecting suppliers of ‘off the shelf’ products (eg purchased
through SPS Supply)?
What are the criteria for selecting other suppliers, including subcontractors?
Example criteria:
This section is to describe the requirements for the management and control of
subcontractors. The objective is to ensure subcontractors are managed appropriately.
What methods are to be used for managing and monitoring subcontractors (eg
agreements, contracts etc)?
What documents, if any, will the subcontractor provide (eg project schedule, quality
plan etc)?
This section is to describe the requirements for the verification of purchased goods and
services. The objective is to ensure goods and services are inspected or tested/assessed
upon receipt to ensure conformance with the purchase specification.
Where are the verification requirements to be documented (eg purchase order, PEP,
agreement etc)?
This section is to describe the requirements for the maintenance of purchasing records.
Project records required may be addressed in one section of this PEP or within individual
sections/plans. The approach will depend on the demands of the project.
Appendices
5 Development Plan
Describe the process to be undertaken in the design and development of the project’s
outputs, as defined in the Quality Plan.
Consider the approach for this section, either by describing the design and development
activities for each output, or summarising the minimum activities required.
Describe the process that will be used to design, develop, review, accept, distribute and
change outputs. Will all outputs delivered by the project follow the same process?
Describe by exception?
that the resources (eg staff) are identified and allocated for design activities; and
that appropriate management of staff, clients and providers is defined (this may have
been addressed in the Project Business Plan under Stakeholder Management Plan
(Section 4).
Describe the design methodology that activities will conform or reference to, if not already
addressed in the Quality Plan. Design and development activities to be performed are to
be listed in the project plan.
Describe any design input that will be used. Ensure input is reviewed for applicability
before commencing any design or development. Be aware that the development of an
output may be input into the design of another output.
Describe any specific design output requirements (eg an iterative process will occur to
produce a sequence of design specifications).
Documentation requirements.
Documentation requirements.
Documentation requirements.
Appendices
Documentation requirements.
Appendices
6 Test Plan
If the project deliverables are other than an information system, then this section will
require significant change.
6.1 Introduction
unit testing;
acceptance testing.
All testing shall show the version of the output being tested, the version of the test
specifications being used and, for acceptance testing, the version of the design
specification being tested against.
The programmer shall test each testable unit of programming for conformance to the
design by applying tests, recording the tests applied and the results of testing, and filing
them in the <project working papers file>.
Each page used to record testing shall identify the unit of programming tested including
the version (or date and time stamp of the load module) and a page number within the set
of tests applied to the unit of programming.
6.3.1 Approach
System and Integration testing shall be performed using the system test specifications to
ensure that the programming works as a homogenous unit before the acceptance test
specifications are applied.
Each test specification shall be annotated with the results of the test.
Appendices
Where the output fails to pass testing a Problem Report shall be raised. Incident Reports
may be used to identify individual failures for later consolidation under a single Problem
Report.
6.3.2 Review
When the tests have been successfully completed the results of testing shall be reviewed
generally as defined in the Development Plan.
6.4.1 Approach
The <Business Owner> Representatives shall nominate a person to apply the acceptance
test specifications to the system.
Describe processes, resourcing and responsibility for developing and approving the
acceptance testing plan (eg Business Owners responsibility).
The nominated acceptance test specifications shall be applied to the nominated version of
the system to test that the system conforms to the nominated version of the design
specification.
Each test specification shall be annotated with the result of the test.
Where the output fails to pass testing then a Problem Report shall be raised. Incident
Reports may be used to identify individual failures for later consolidation under a single
Problem Report.
6.4.2 Review
When the tests have been successfully completed the results of testing shall be reviewed
generally as defined in the Development Plan.
Describe the output required (eg acceptance certificate) from the <Business
Owner/subcontractor> whom the output is being delivered to. Will this be the same for all
outputs and <responsible officers>?
Ensure responsibilities are adequately defined for all parties involved in confirming and
accepting the results of all phases of testing.
Appendices
7.1 Implementation
The relationship between this document and any Implementation Plan and Outcome
Realisation Plan(s) will need to be determined to ensure all implementation issues are
defined within the project’s management document set.
What documentation will be required from the Project Team and Business Owner’s
perspective for management of the implementation phase (the current methodology
advocates a Project Business Plan for the Steering Committee, a Project Execution
Plan for the Project Team, and an Outcome Realisation Plan for the Business
Owner)?
Who is responsible for implementation activities and where will the functions, roles
and responsibilities be defined?
Does the role of the Project Team, and therefore this document (PEP) cease upon the
delivery of the project’s outputs?
It is recommended that the Outcome Realisation Plan template be considered prior to this
section being developed, to gain an appreciation of the purpose of each project
management template advocated by the Tasmanian Government Project Management
Guidelines (i.e. Project Business Case, Project Business Plan, Project Execution Plan and
Outcome Realisation Plan).
Outputs will be identified and managed to ensure that all interested parties know that they
have the correct version and can be advised of any changes and/or deficiencies.
An Output Register may be maintained and printed as required. This may record:
output identifier/name
output type
computer file
program
sub-system
software system
document:
version and
description.
status:
built/draft
reviewed/inspected
approved
tested
accepted
released and
nonconforming.
status date
Appendices
Each output to be produced shall be uniquely identified on the Output Register. Where an
output is assembled from one or more other outputs then it shall also be identified on the
Output Register.
All outputs shall be traceable to their parent output as well as the relevant specification
and design item.
Outputs and sub-Outputs for release shall be identified by a release number starting at
one and increasing by one for each release.
subsequent changes in draft form become Release 1.0A, 1.0B etc; and
the accepted and issued second version becomes Release 1.1 or Release 2.0, as
determined by the Project Manager.
Computer file versions may be identified by date and time stamp coupled with file size.
8.4.1 Migration
Computer files subject to output management shall be kept in secure libraries. Migration
of files into these libraries should be the responsibility of the Project Manager.
8.4.2 Backup
All documents relating to the project(s) under development and then the implemented
system shall be backed up by the < > using the <standard backups>. Any other backup
requirement is the responsibility of the Project Manager and should be defined in this PEP.
Check the server backup procedure and incorporate it into the project’s backup strategy.
Appendices
e.g. Define the frequency of backups, the backup media cycle, labelling requirements,
backup/fault logs and other records, storage and security needs etc.
9 Maintenance Plan
Describe responsibilities and processes for maintenance once project outputs have been
accepted by the<Project Sponsor name, title>.
The timing for any reviews, which may be conducted at the end of a phase or each
and every phase, and/or after all outputs have been delivered prior to the project being
closed.
What action will be taken once the report(s) have been received?
The Business Owner(s) will use the outputs of the project after successful Acceptance
Tests and Implementation. The quality records resulting from the tests and any Problem
Reports/Change Requests after implementation will be a major input into the post
implementation review.
Appendices
11 Project Plan
The Project Schedule is attached at <Appendix X>. The Appendix is the baseline Project
Schedule for the project. The working copy of the day-to-day project schedule will be
maintained by <Project Manager name, title> in < >, to reduce the frequency of change to
this document.
Appendices
12 Appendices
The following documents and forms may be attached to the Project Execution Plan as
appendices to enhance or meet specific project requirements.
templates that become working documents in their own right, as they will be updated
and managed during the life of the project (e.g. project plan); or
additional information provided to support the summary content within the Project
Execution Plan (e.g. project development methodology).
For example: