Project management skills checklists

Project Management Skills Checklists

Successful project management means delivering your projects on time and within budget. Our checklists will help you to know exactly what to do at each stage to make your project a success.

Project Management Plan Checklist

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This project management process checklist details the five phases of a project, and details the actions and responsibilities you must fulfill to ensure your project is successful.
To be a successful project manager you need to have a comprehensive understanding of what is required in the five basic phases of project management.
The commonly accepted phases of project management are:
• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Monitoring & Controlling
• Closing
For your project to be successful you need to follow each of the process groups logically. You will need to perform the processes at a project level first and then repeat in greater detail for each phase or sub-phase, as your project requires.

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Project Feasibility Study Checklist

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This project feasibility study checklist enables you to produce a well-researched feasibility study that allows senior management, stakeholders and the project sponsor to give their approval for a project. It guides you through evaluating alternatives, market potential, cost effectiveness and technical solutions for your project.
The purpose of your project feasibility study is to evaluate possible alternatives, technical solutions, cost effectiveness and market potential. Our checklist will enable you to construct a well-researched feasibility study that enables your project sponsor, stakeholders and senior management to make an informed decision on whether to proceed with your project or not.
The section that will be critical to these people making an informed decision is your management summary, which is the first section of the study. This is often the last thing to be written because it draws all the project information together at a high-level defining the benefits for your organization on its completion. It also provides the key driving forces that have instigated the necessity for the project.
The study must include preliminary cost estimates and resources estimates, as well as an assessment of your organization's in-house capabilities. In your feasibility study you will propose the initial project objective. Some organization's requires project managers to produce a feasibility study at the end of each project phase; others prefer to have one study produced for the whole project.
The sections recommend for your project feasibility study are:
• Executive Summary
• Organizational Purpose & Benefits
• Issues related to Technology Factors
• Environmental Considerations
• Marketing Strategy
• Operational Considerations
• Implementation & Time frames
• Financial Projections
• Recommendations

 

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Project Business Case Checklist

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This project business case checklist explains the purpose of the project business case and the essential sections and their recommended contents that must be included. This checklist will ensure that you present a well argued case for your project and how it contributes to your organization's strategic growth plans.
There are many different requirements asked of a manager within a company. Regardless of the type of company, or the level of the manager, certain skills are needed in order to effectively guide the department in the desired direction. For instance, a manager needs to be a strong people-person, adept and taking the various personalities of employees and merging them into a productive unit. Managers also need to be reliable, steady, and comfortable working under pressure.

Another skill that a manager needs to retain is the ability to write an effective business case. A business case is simply a document that provides the evidence in support of a particular course of action. As with most business decisions, this course of action usually involves the spending of capital or other resources.

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Project Management Plan Checklist

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The plan should begin with a management summary that provides the project stakeholders with a high-level view of the project objective. It should also outline the deliverables and benefits your organization will gains from completion of the project. Note that for larger projects, some of the sections detailed below would be self-contained subsidiary plans.
This checklist can be used in conjunction with the associated project management plan template to help you produce your own project plan. The purpose of a project management plan is to explain how the project is going to be to managed.
In the case of smaller projects, this plan can serve as a self-contained planning document. However, in larger projects it makes more sense to create a series of subordinate plans for each functional area (scopebudgetscheduleriskqualityhuman resources, etc).
Using the project plan as a parent plan that refers to these subordinate plans prevents it from becoming too lengthy and complex. The following outline provides a good foundation for a project management plan but you will need to use your own judgment about which sections to use and how much detail to go into.​​​​​​​

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Scope Management Plan Checklist

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This scope management plan checklist ensures that you create a well defined and presented scope plan following the four key processes that define scope management.
Any project you undertake must have a well defined and presented scope management plan as this provides the working framework to ensure its success. One of the key functions of this document is that of defining how your project scope will be managed and controlled as the project progresses.
1. Collect and document requirements
2. Definition of the scope
3. Produce a work breakdown structure (WBS)
4. Verify and control scope
First you must collect and define exactly what your customers' needs and expectations of the project are. You will also need to carefully read the project charter and stakeholder register to fully appreciate the project obligations and write your requirements management plan.

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Statement of Work Checklist

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This statement of work checklist describes how to create your project statement of work (SOW) document and ensure that you provide sufficient detail to gain the agreement of all the necessary parties to the scope of work your project requires.
As a project manager you will have to produce a Statement of Work, commonly referred to as SOW document. You will conduct this activity during the planning stage of your project.
In this document you have to supply enough detail on the scope of each work package in your project that you are able to gain agreement from all interested parties. Your SOW will be used by internal work groups as well as external agencies approached to provide resources to understand the exact requirements of their work package.

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Checklist

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The work breakdown structure document is essential to any project manager because it provides a detailed breakdown of all the work packages that constitute your complete project as part of the scope plan.
This document can take a variety of formats and you will select the one that best reflects the knowledge base of those involved in approving your project. This also determines the level of detail you will present in your WBS.
Your WBS forms a foundation stone of your project communications in the form of your WBS report. Its purpose is to keep all key individuals and groups up-to-date on the progress your project is making according to the project plan.
This report is fundamental in allowing you to develop and retain support for your project. It is the main channel you will use as project manger to explain how the project is progressing and to provide reasoned evidence for work packages that are falling behind, how this is being addressed and what impact this will have on the project schedule.

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Post Implementation Review Checklist

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This post implementation review (PIR) checklist is designed to ensure that you capture a complete and accurate review of the project, its successes, failures, weaknesses and issues encountered. It is important that any lessons learned are communicated clearly to all necessary parties and that they are incorporated into future projects.
Conducting a complete review of how a project has gone, during each phase and overall is an essential exercise for any project manager wanting to develop their skills and gain from each project experience. This activity is known as the Post Implementation Review (PIR) and has benefits for the organization as well as the project manager.
The review is conducted after the project is complete and looks at its successes, failures, weaknesses and issues encountered. All the findings must be documented and communicated to ensure that the organizations and future project managers benefit from the lessons learnt.

Download "Post Implementation Review Checklist.pdf"