•Software  Project   Plan

To communicate risk analysis and management, project cost estimates, schedule, and organization to our customers, we usually write a document called a project plan. The plan puts in writing the customer's needs, as well as what we hope to do to meet them. The customer can refer to  the plan for information about activities in the development process, making it easy to follow the project's progress during development. We can also use the plan to confirm with the customer  any assumptions we are making, especially about cost and schedule.

A good project plan includes the following items:

1. project  scope

2. project  schedule

3. project  team organization

4. technical  description  of  the  proposed system

5. project standards,  procedures,  and  proposed  techniques  and  tools

6. quality  assurance  plan

7. configuration  management  plan

8. documentation  plan

9. data management  plan

10. resource managemen plan

11. test plan

12. training plan

13. security plan

14. risk management plan

15. maintenance plan

The scope defines the system boundary, explaining what will be included in the system and what will not be included. It assures the customer that we understand what is wanted. The schedule can be expressed using a work breakdown structure, the deliverables, and a timeline to show what will be happening at each point during the project life cycle. A Gantt Chart can be useful in illustrating the parallel  nature of some of the development tasks.

The project plan also lists the people on the development team, how they are organized, and what they will be doing. As we have seen, not everyone is needed all  the  time during the project, so the  plan  usually  contains  a resource allocation  chart to show  staffing  levels  at different times.

Writing a technical description forces us to answer questions and address issues as we anticipate how development will proceed. This description lists hardware and software, including  compilers, interfaces, and special-purpose equipment or software. Any special restrictions on cabling, execution time, response time, security, or other aspects of functionality or performance are documented  in  the  plan.

–Introduction

–Project Organization

–Material Process

–Technical Process

–Work Packages, Schedule, and Budget

–Additional Components