Revision as of 23:21, 4 May 2023

1.0 Introduction

Project manager / planner tend to overlook certain elements of planning which are essential and are required for Successful delivery of the project. Fundamental factors that contribute to defining success of projects are identifying stakeholder needs, gap assessment, planning, communication, execution, monitoring and closer. The wiki article highlights the role and application of communication plan based on prince 2 best practices methodologies. Communication management strategies and adopted approaches for execution are paramount in defining whether project is a success or a project management success. The emphasis of the article will be on highlighting how having a communication plan contributes towards delivering successful project. The article will consist of all the essential element that are required to design a meticulous communication plan. Project that achieves its desired output identified within its allocated budget covering all of it scope is known to be successful projects. In large corporation, due to abundance of resources and involvement of stakeholders with different area of expertise often complicates the process and simultaneously derails efficiency. Communication planning in project plays an important role in mitigating this risk; therefore, it is essential that the project manager hired are also experienced in designing communication plan and understand the role of communication in project. A project management professional will have the acumen and the knowledge to assess gaps and connect dots through gap analysis activity but equally important is also his ability to communicate with both internal and external stakeholders in the project.

2.0 Role of communication plan in project

Larger corporation due to its size and cross functional integration of its different department is often encountered with the dilemma of long-delays in project and over expenditure of budget, resources, and time. In certain cases, quality of deliverables in compromised and few of the project fails to achieve its desired output. All of this is essential part of project, and often basic understanding of communication and designing a plan can potentially address most of these challenges. Communication management plan are documents drafted at the start of the project which identifies key stakeholders need, their interest and involvement in project. The frequency at which communication will be shared, mediums and tools that will be used through the project for communication. The stakeholder in projects where stakeholder engagement and management are required is also a part of the document. if implemented and controlled well, communication management plans serve as a key factor in limiting over expenditure of budget in the project and limiting scope creeps. Setting clear Communication management approach and defining strategies at the initial stage of the project is principal in delivering successful project. Due to lack of resources or perhaps lack of understanding on the potential gains, it is often the case that the communication management approach in the project gets overlooked. The impact of this is significant, as it easily unsettles the whole project management plan and causes unnecessary delays or nuisance through different stakeholders. As a part of project planning, Project managers are required to create a document which acts as a guideline and as a standard for communication during the project. The document includes some exclusive information about the project, including stakeholders both internal and external. Information such as they are in favor or against the project, what role they must play and where they belong in the hierarchy highlighting, their overall influence. Communication management approach provides a road map strategy to project manager in relation to communication establishing a bidirectional and a controlled flow of information.

3.0 Elements of communication plan

How does it work, and is it as simple and self-explanatory as it is described above? What are the essentials required to create a comprehensive Communication management plan and are there best practices templates available that could be useful? Communication management plan is based on documentation, which includes basic but essential information that is required to be shared and communicated throughout the project. The plan allows Project manager and other stakeholders in setting blueprint on some fundamentals. They are as follows:

1. Introduction
2. communication procedure
3. Tools, and technique
4. Records and logs
5. Timing of communication activities
6. Stakeholder matrix
7. Roles and responsibilities
8. Scale priority and severity
9. stakeholder analysis

3.1 Communication plan brief

Based on prince 2 project management methodology plan, a comprehensive communication plan consists of nine different segments, which ensures all areas of communication are covered and are well in corporate within the project brief and initiation phase. The first segment Introduction is used as a general brief highlighting how communication will be conducted through and during the project. The approach which will be adopted underlying the objectivity behind working with communication management approach. A Strong introduction from project management prospective, ensures that strong base is set for the document (katrinaolson, 2022).

Communication briefs are targeted for large group of audience, and it is essential that brief is well documented. A well complied communication will clearly specify strategy, communication goals and content that could be expected in the communication plan. Beside this, it will also contain information on background of the project, target audience, communication objectives and potential draw back / challenges, if the project team fails to adopt and implement the communication plan. Essentially, the purpose of the brief/ introduction is to introduce the communication plan with a consistent voice and strong message focusing on potential benefits. Figure 1 below is sample collect to display good practice of communication plan introduction.

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3.2Communication procedure

The second segment marks the communication procedure that will be adopted and is in line with the strategy of communication for both internal and external stakeholders. The key is in consideration for the project manager here is evaluate where they can potentially apply the principles of Stakeholder engagement and management. Every corporation is entitled to adopt and implement its best fit procedure. Considering best practices, procedures should always be in line with the overall communication goals ensuring that procedure documented in the plan provides with an effective feedback loop between stakeholders (kaeen, 2022).

Communication procedure provides a guideline to the project team with handling of information on the project. In many ways, it serves well in refreshing memories on team member with standard protocol they are expected to follow and maintain throughout the project, especially in case of confidential information. In summary, communication procedure not just signifies the channel or medium of communication but also enable team streamline communication needs while refreshing memory on communication policies and protocol like file sharing (FTP), User datagram (EDP), internet message process protocol (IMAP) and simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) (Rouse, 2020)

3.3 Tools and techniques

The third part of the document is related to tools and technique that will be used throughout the project to share information with ease and effectively. This could be in form of portal, website and dashboards builds to communicate on specific topics related to the project which piques interest of stakeholder at all phases of the project. Communication tools can be software that are used by broader audience in the project such as MS team for virtual meetings. Microsoft outlook for any communication over email, share point for sharing project documents and other form relative material. Every tool mention has a specific purpose and hence they need to carefully select based on the objectivity of communication. In addition, project board needs to ensure that the tool selected and recommended for communication are reliable, secure, compatible and provides easy user interface and can easily secure project team member (Communicaitons planning , 2023). Techniques selected for communication are more tailored and project specific. Some of the general techniques used in project communication are verbal, non-verbal, and visual technique’s which includes common practices like seminars, power point presentation, workshops, reports, and standup meetings (M, 2007).

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3.4 Records

The fourth segment the project managers / planners are required to elaborate and refer to all the potential documents to be used during the project for communication purposes. Projects should never be considered in isolation, as there are multiple activities that are required to be completed for a milestone. Each activity presents its own unique challenges, and due to large project team and fast-paced environment, there is a risk that the information discovered during an activity can be lost. Based on best practices logs and project documents such as highlight report, end stage report, issue reports and other form of register are used to mitigate this risk. This is also a part of communication management plans, where project team are informed and familiarized with all necessary document that are planned to be used during the project. Communication logs and register serves the purpose of storing information, simultaneously keeping track on all communication activities in the project. In addition, it helps and secure that all information is always informed, and project team are well onboarded on project objectives (METHOD 123, 2023).