Free Project Management Plan Templates | Smartsheet (2024)

A comprehensive project management plan includes many plans and documents necessary for the success of a project. Project plan sub-documents may consist of the project scope, work breakdown structure (WBS), milestone list, and more. This project management plan template also provides an outline, so you can include all plan details in one document or attach or link to separate planning documents.

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A dashboard provides a handy means for project managers, stakeholders, and team members to display summaries of important metrics. This integrated project plan template includes a task list that updates a corresponding Gantt chart as you begin and complete tasks. The template also offers a widget to summarize task status, project spending, and pending items.

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You may need a narrative description of parts or all of your project plan. However, a visual depiction can convey how aspects of the project relate to one another and the schedule. With this integrated project plan template, choose a Gantt chart or static timeline. Then, complete the task list, list responsible parties, and add due dates. The template also includes a cost baseline sheet and a communication plan sheet.

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This customizable template suggests the items you need to prepare to implement your project and provides space for each item’s due date. Additionally, find sections for the project approval phase, project planning, project execution, and project close.

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The project scope defines the deliverables and the resources you need to complete those deliverables. By identifying these elements before the project begins, you reduce the chances of scope creep, wherein expectations and budgets expand without limit. When you write a project scope, refer to project objectives, goal statements, and the project charter. If you are a vendor preparing a project plan, you may refer instead to the statement of work you received with the request for proposal (RFP).

The project scope template below details the following: the project deliverables; the project assumptions; what is out of scope for the project; the time, budget, quality, regulatory, and resource constraints; and the tasks you need to accomplish in order to create the deliverables. In this template, you can describe the tasks without a separate work breakdown structure document, or use the WBS template that follows.

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See Also

Free Resource Planning Templates | SmartsheetResource Management project settings | Smartsheet Learning CenterProject Management TemplatesResource Management: Setting Up and Managing Teams and Projects

A work breakdown structure provides a visual tool for understanding how you can accomplish a project. Start with the goal or deliverable at the top and then break down the effort needed into smaller and smaller tasks. A WBS focuses on tasks and deliverables but complements the project schedule, which offers a high-level view of the work required over time. Some project management pundits suggest that leadership benefits most from schedules, while teams and individuals benefit from a WBS. This template offers a fill-in-the-blanks diagram and a task list template. Use both formats with the scope of work template.

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Stakeholder analysis identifies individuals and groups with a potential interest in the project, determines the extent of their interest and degree of possible influence, and attempts to understand the best means of communicating with those individuals and groups about the project. A stakeholder analysis forms a significant basis for the project communication plan.

This stakeholder management template offers space to list stakeholders, describe their role in the organization and in your project, identify the types of project activities that might interest them, define their level of commitment, and supply the reasons for their interest in your project. One sheet of this template includes a stakeholder analysis matrix, so you can create a visual evaluation of the level of commitment and influence for each stakeholder.

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A resource plan lists the equipment, supplies, and staffing needed for a project. Resource plans help schedule shared resources, including hardware, software, and office or workspace. This template outlines project phases and then lists resources by project phase, role, department, pay rate, and more.

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You start your project plan document or presentation with an executive summary, which encapsulates the project at a high level. However, the executive summary should be the last piece of content or document you write as you create a plan. To write this summary, refer to the project charter for plan details, or, if you are a vendor or contractor fulfilling part of a larger project, refer to the project statement of work. This customizable template walks you through the elements of an executive summary, including major milestones and issues to be solved. Add your own summary components as required.

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Project governance describes how you will conduct the project and who has responsibility and accountability for the effective and efficient execution of the project. This project governance template outlines the project scope and lists who is responsible for what requirements and tasks. It also offers a RACI matrix and provides space to link to the resumes of key personnel. Additionally, the template details the process for managing and escalating issues, the decision-making process, and the quality assurance process.

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Excel | Word

To conduct a successful project, internal and external stakeholders must be clear on goals and changes. A communication plan template assists you in documenting stakeholders, contact information, areas of interest, required information, and message format and frequency.

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A timeline is an essential tool in project management. Timelines capture the required activities in a project in the form of high-level milestones or detailed tasks and sub-tasks and show how those activities relate to each other. This chronological timeline works well for simple projects. With this template, you can add tasks to the list, and those tasks will appear in the timeline.

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Excel | Smartsheet

A dynamic Gantt chart can serve as a timeline for more complex projects. Add milestones to the timeline to focus all eyes on the prize and highlight dependencies among tasks.

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Excel | Smartsheet

Change is inevitable in projects, but it’s much better to plan for change and provide a consistent process for reviewing, implementing, and tracking adjustments and updates. This change management process template offers a visual tool for understanding how to suggest changes, reviewing proposed changes, planning for their implementation, and assessing the results.

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To guarantee a successful and usable deliverable, create a quality assurance or quality control plan. This test plan template is particularly adapted to Agile product development, but can be customized to fit your management approach and product. Simply list the test ID, the test number, the test description, the expected and actual result, whether the product passed or failed, and pertinent comments.

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To avoid scope creep, you must clearly define what outcomes you expect from the project and what is out of scope. The project charter provides a starting point for defining scope, but you should also include the following sections in your project scope statement or link to separate documents:

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): The work breakdown structure offers a visual description of all the high and low-level tasks needed to create the deliverables. In the WBS diagram, list the major tasks at the top and then break down the items into smaller and smaller tasks until you determine the smallest tasks or work packages. The WBS works with the work breakdown structure dictionary, which is a detailed list of tasks, owners, due dates, and more.
• Schedule Baseline: To understand whether your activities, milestones, and project are on track, create a schedule baseline.
• Milestones: Milestones mark important stages of completion in your project. Create a list of high-level milestones, and briefly introduce them and their context in the overall project schedule.

For the project plan, summarize the risk management approach, including the process for identifying risks and the mitigation strategy. At the end of the project, during the after-action analysis, the project manager will assess the identified risks against the management approach and recommend any improvements for future projects.

A risk register captures each risk and mitigation action. A register is essential for quality improvement and may be required for regulatory compliance. It logs a unique ID for a risk, a risk detail, who identified the risk, the date during which they identified it, the probability of the risk, the severity of its impact, and so on. In PRINCE2, a risk register is known as a risk log.

In a cost management plan, you describe how you will measure, manage, and report costs for the project duration. Identify who has responsibility for controlling costs, how they approve and track budget changes, and the means by which and frequency with which they report on the budget.

A cost baseline describes the approved, time-phased spending for a project and represents the combined total of the estimated project cost and contingency reserves.

To ensure that your completed project meets quality expectations, create a quality management plan. This plan defines the standards against which you will judge the final outcome. The plan also identifies the processes that will gauge the work. In the quality plan, note who is responsible for quality, and describe any applicable quality assurance or quality control regulations, standards, processes, and tools.

A quality baseline articulates the specific metrics by which you will assess quality throughout the project. To discover the appropriate metrics, you should review the current quality management process or standards, any recent or similar projects, and any pertinent industry or regulatory standards.