The project plan

A project plan is a necessary first step in clarifying the outcome of the work, all the individual contributions to the outcome, and the process of getting there.

The project plan is the ‘basic document’ of the project team. It contains detailed information about your objectives and about how and when you want to achieve these. It is the first document to be compiled by the team. You can ask your tutor to check if it is realistic.

Below you will find a short description of the basic components of the project plan.

Project plan: Components	Description
Objectives and activities	Intended final result, problem definition, definition of research, stages of the project, research method, intended secondary (interim) and final products.
Timetable and distribution of activities	Planning of activities (required reading, execution of the project, consultation with professionals, intended secondary (interim) and final products), who will do what?
Project organisation	What are roles and tasks in the project and how is each role going to deliver to an agreed deadline? How is the communication organised, virtually as well as physically, what consultations does the team take part in.
Budget and time allocation	Distribution of time and budget available.
Information	Which information is supplied to whom and by whom at what point in time?
Evaluation of process and contributions	How and how frequently are the project approach and the contribution of team members evaluated and assessed by the team? What if people are absent or do NOT perform up to standard?

Supervision and support by the tutor

Each project team is supervised and supported by a tutor. This means that the tutor will get to know the students and their way of working well. The tutor is NOT an expert on writing a business plan. He/she is an expert in guiding a project group. His or her task is to supervise the project team (monitoring the learning process, the group process, project working, planning, and making individual students recognise their strengths and weaknesses). The tutor is not a member of the project team itself. You may expect your project tutor to give you guidance and support if matters get into a deadlock. (S)He is your contact if you have any questions or if there are any problems, but (s)he will not tell you what to do exactly. Your tutor has a say in the assessment of the team and the individual student.

Chapter 3 - Writing the business plan

Steps to help you conclude the Business Plan Project successfully

Introduction

Before starting a project you have tot think about a logical structure, both of the work to be done and the way you want to present the results (the report). To be successful a project needs careful planning and execution.

E.g. while working on your idea and developing a market perspective you may find that your idea is not sufficiently marketable: there may be too much competition or there may not be a market. Do not hesitate to start working on a new product as soon as you feel this is the case. Make sure you include this possibility in your overall project plan and time schedule.

A lot of background material about these aspects you can find in your books for marketing and accounting & finance. Do not hesitate to ask questions to your lecturers during class!

Ø Project plan

For the contents of the project plan see chapter 2.

Ø The idea

A brainstorm session to come up with a good idea for a business and a product.

Ø Business definition

By now you have come up with a good idea for a business. But before you can actually start writing the business plan you have to answer some vital questions. What drives your company? What do you want your image to be in the eyes of your customers, employees or other stakeholders? Why are you in business?

Дата добавления: 2015-10-31