2 Part 2: A Tour through the V-Modell

2.4 Definition of a Project

2.4.2 Project Plan

V-Modell Description: »Project Plan

An adequate project plan is indispensable for the safe and organized execution of a project. The project plan describes the selected approach to the project, specifying in detail what shall be done when and by whom. It is the basis for monitoring and controlling the project. The »Project Leader is responsible for the project plan, which will be prepared and developed in cooperation with all participants.

The project leader Dr. Odysseus uses the »Decision Gate as basic framework and top ordering criterion for project planning. In order to develop the »Integrated Planning in the »Project Plan, Dr. Odysseus first plans the activities required for developing the »Work Product for the respective decision gates, i.e. the work products which must be submitted to the Trademark and Patent Administration of the Technische Universität München. To be on the safe side, he includes a buffer so the products can be »Submitted in any case in time before the decision gate.

The Project Leader Dr. Odysseus can repeat activities, as shown by the activity »Planning Project. During the course of the project, the schedule must be re-adapted frequently since there will be delays caused by risks or unforeseen events. The »Project Plan will then be updated, and the activity »Planning Project will be repeated.

Dr. Odysseus updates the »Project Plan continually. However, the »Project Execution Plan of the »Project Manual will only be prepared once at the beginning of the project unless there are changes which require a new processing, e.g. delays of the decision gates planned in the »Project Manual.

An other example for the repetition of activities is the activity »Preparing Project Status Report. In contrast to the activity »Planning Project, however, this is not an activity which repeatedly develops the same product, but it includes several identical activities for different products. »Project Status Reports must be prepared anew at the end of each »Project Section and submitted at each decision gate.

Up to now, Dr. Odysseus has planned the activities relating to the products to be submitted at the decision gates. Now he deals with the remaining products.

Dr. Odysseus plans the establishment of the »Project Management Infrastructure – e.g. the technical infrastructure for filing the electronic project data, which is clearly important - also in the project section leading to the decision gate »Project Defined.

He regards some activities as too small for the overall plan of the Trademark and Patent Information system. Nevertheless, he wants to include them into his plan in order to prevent them from being forgotten. Therefore he introduces »Work Package, e.g., the work package "Supporting project section", the processing of which is scheduled from the beginning to the end of the project section. Dr. Odysseus associates, for example, the activity »Keeping a Project Diary, which is not intended to be planned with a start and end date, with this work package.

The »CM Manager Dr. Artemis has informed Dr. Odysseus, that she wants to design the »Configuration Management for the project in such a way that the products can alway be entered into the configuration management tool by the participants themselves. Therefore it is not necessary to plan the activity »Managing Product Library. Dr. Odysseus assigns this activity to the work package "Supporting project section".

The V-Modell offers the »Product Dependency concept as an aid for planning. Dr. Odysseus considers this concept when planning quality assurance evaluations.

Certain products are marked with an "i" for initial in the V-Modell; they must be prepared exactly once in every V-Modell project. In addition to these initial products, the V-Modell also includes non-initial products, e.g. evaluation reports.

These are products which are not developed directly in the project but will be derived from other products. These interconnections are documented in the V-Modell by the generative product dependencies which are specified in the V-Modell. For example, an evaluation report will be generated by a »Generative Product Dependency, which will be derived from the »QA Manual and the »Project Plan. An evaluation report includes the evaluation history records made by the »Inspector.

The Project Leader Dr. Odysseus must consult the »QA Manual and the »Project Plan when planning the evaluations. The »QA Manager, Mr. Prometheus, has already prepared the »QA Manual and submitted it to Dr. Odysseus to obtain his opinion. In the QA Manual, Dr. Prometheus specified - among other things - the products which shall undergo thorough evaluations. He included the products of the decision gates, complementing them by other products he wants to be evaluated.

From the »QA Manual Dr. Odysseus knows that products »Request for Proposal and »Criteria Catalog for Assessment of Offers are intended to be evaluated. Thus he plans evaluations for these products. As shown in the above example, the planning shall ensure that the comments made by Mr. Prometheus after the evaluation will be included.

Now Dr. Odysseus has completed the »Project Manual and the »Project Plan and these products can be submitted at the decision gates »Project Defined after being examined by Mr. Prometheus.

At present, the planning of Dr. Odysseus is not yet complete, for he plans only so far into the future as he considers useful at the respective point in time. While having prepared a rough plan based on the decision gates in the »Project Manual, the detailed planning in the »Project Plan only covers the time until the decision gate »Request for Proposal Released.