ABSTRACT
Approval of the project Charter moves the project process into a more formal plan development stage. This chapter summarizes a few of the common rationale supporting a more focused planning process. All project teams are typically pressed to move on into execution quicker than they would prefer. A project vision is often spawned in one segment of the organization and for that reason it is common to focus the solution on that isolated segment. In the organizational environment, multiple project proposals and active projects are likely to start at any one point in time. One of the cardinal tenants of project management is to seek organizational alignment of projects pursued to organizational goals. The primary plan components are often summarized for presentation to senior management and this view highlights various key issues that are relevant for the project. Some project plans need to emphasize risk and time, whereas others might focus heavily on quality, time, or availability of critical resources.
