Plan Communications Management is the process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on stakeholder’s information needs and requirements, and available organizational assets. The key benefit of this process is that it identifies and documents the approach to communicate most effectively and efficiently with stakeholders. 

 

Planning the project communications is important to the ultimate success of any project. Inadequate communications planning may lead to problems such as delay in message delivery, communication of information to the wrong audience, or insufficient communication to the stakeholders and misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the message communicated.

 

On most projects, communication planning is performed very early, such as during project management plan development. This allows appropriate resources, such as time and budget, to be allocated to communication activities. Effective communication means that the information is provided in the right format, at the right time, to the right audience, and with the right impact. Efficient communication means providing only the information that is needed.

 

While all projects share the need to communicate project information, the information needs and methods of distribution may vary widely. In addition, the methods of storage, retrieval, and ultimate disposition of the project information need to be considered and appropriately documented during this process. Important considerations that may need to be taken into account include, but are not limited to:

 

Who needs what information, and who is authorized to access that information; When they will need the information;
Where the information should be stored;
What format the information should be stored in;

How the information can be retrieved; and
Whether time zone, language barriers, and cross-cultural considerations need to be taken into account.

The results of the Plan Communications Management process should be reviewed regularly throughout the project and revised as needed to ensure continued applicability. 

 

 

 

 

 

Project management plan

 

Stakeholder register

 

Enterprise environmental factors

 

Organizational process assets

 

Inputs:

Outputs: