project planning

Project planning is a discipline for stating how to complete a project within a certain timeframe, usually with defined stages, and with designated resources. One view of project planning divides the activity into:

• Setting objectives (these should be measurable)
• Identifying deliverables
• Planning the schedule
• Making supporting plans

Supporting plans may include those related to: human resources, communication methods, and risk management.

Computer hardware and software project planning within an enterprise is often done using a project planning guide that describes the process that the enterprise feels has been successful in the past.

Tools popularly used for the scheduling part of a plan include the Gantt chart and the PERT chart.