Communciation

PROJECT COMMUNICATION

Project communications management is about the timely collection of project information; formatting that information in a useable document; and distributing the information to the relevant and interested parties. Relevant communication between project personnel and other stakeholders is paramount to project success. Without it, the project will veer off course eventually, wasting time and resources. Create a Project Communications Management Plan as part of the initial project planning. During the course of a project, a large amount of information is produced and received. Management of this information is the responsibility of the project manager as the "office of record" for all project information. The communications plan addresses the policies and procedures to manage project information. A well-developed report plan determines how project information is packaged and distributed.

Project Communication Plan

The communications management plan should be either a separate document or a section within the overall project plan, and should include the following:

• Procedures for collecting project information, and how up-to-date information can be obtained between scheduled publications of the information.

• Provide a description of the Project Library, the central point for collecting and sharing information, including how (and by whom) the information is updated.

• A distribution list showing what information is provided by who, to whom, in what format, using what media, and how often. Each project stakeholder has a particular communication need to be covered. For example, users generally require project awareness, mentoring and promotional information from time to time, managers need project updates while members of steering committee look for status reports on operations coupled with briefings on strategy and vision. Consider all available communication vehicles you have at your disposal (e-mail, web site, collaboration...