Developing the Communication Management Plan

1. What Is Communications Planning?

did you know

Communication is important, 90% of a project manager’s job is spent on communication.

Communication is important to make sure everybody gets the right message at the right time. Communications planning is about keeping everybody in the loop. A project manager communicates with the project team, the project sponsor, organizational management, various stakeholders, vendors, and any other groups that need to know throughout the life cycle of the project. These groups can be either within the organization (internal) or outside of the organization (external).

Communications planning is a set of processes that do the following:

• Define the types of information you will deliver
• Determine who will receive it
• Decide the format for communicating it
• Set the timing of its release and distribution

term to know

Communications Planning

The process of determining what communications are required by stakeholders for the project.

1a. Outputs From Communications Planning

The communications planning processes yield a communication management plan. The communication management plan is not a single document but a set of documents that guide the project manager through the communications needs for the project. This plan is also referred to as the communications plan. The outputs from communications planning include:

• A RACI chart (responsibility, accountability, consulted, informed)
• The communication management plan

We will cover both of these output items in detail in this lesson.

As a reminder, the communication management plan is part of the project management plan (PMP).

Planning Component	Addresses	Document	Document Purpose
Scope and scope management	The process of defining exactly what work is required (and what is not) to deliver the project’s objectives	Scope Management Plan	It outlines how the project scope will be defined, validated, and controlled to prevent scope creep.
Work breakdown structure (WBS) and scheduling	Breaking the project deliverables into smaller, manageable components and estimating the time needed to complete each activity	WBS and Schedule	The WBS breaks the project scope into manageable components, serving as the foundation for planning, estimating, and assigning work.
Identification of resources needed	Determining the people, equipment, and materials required to complete project activities	Resource Management Plan	It is created to document the type, quantity, and timing of resources so they can be acquired and managed effectively.
Determination of costs	Estimating the costs associated with the resources needed for the project activities	Project Budget and Procurement Management Plan	The project budget documents the costs of the project. The procurement management plan documents goods and resources needed to be obtained for the project.
Communication	Determining how project information will be shared among stakeholders (remember, you identified stakeholders during the initiation phase!)	Communication Management Plan	It is created to ensure the right information is delivered to the right people at the right time using the right methods.
Risk assessment and management	Identifying potential events that could impact the project, analyzing their likelihood and impact, and planning responses	Risk Management Plan	It is created to record identified risks, their characteristics, and planned responses so they can be monitored and managed throughout the project.

term to know

Communication Management Plan

A project management plan (PMP) document that includes the project information that needs to be disseminated to key stakeholders (also known as the communications plan).

1b. The Importance of Communications Planning

A communication management plan is considered critical to the success of a project. It provides guidance for the project manager on how to keep stakeholders informed. This helps manage stakeholder expectations. A well-prepared communication management plan should assist the project by:

• Improving efficiency
• Assisting collaboration
• Avoiding misunderstandings

Additionally, it can help the project team stay focused on success. Think of the communication management plan as defining the who, what, when, and how of communication throughout the project.

Communications planning can help teams:

• Stay connected
• Document important changes to the project scope
• Assist with timely and accurate reporting
• Improve stakeholder engagement

The first step in the communications planning process is to gather stakeholder communication needs. You do this with a communication requirements analysis.

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2. The Importance of the Communication Requirements Analysis

To define project communication, you will need to figure out what kind of communication your stakeholders need from the project so they can make good decisions. This is called the communication requirements analysis. Your project will produce a lot of information; you don’t want to overwhelm your stakeholders with all of it. Your job is to figure out what they feel is valuable. To complete this analysis, you will use the stakeholder register that was completed during the project initiation process.

big idea

Communicating valuable information doesn’t mean you always paint a rosy picture. Communication with stakeholders may consist of either good news or bad news. The point is that you don’t want to bury stakeholders in too much information, but you do want to give them enough so that they are informed and can make appropriate decisions.

In addition to learning what our stakeholders want to know about the project, the communication requirements analysis can help us know when they want to receive the information. As previously mentioned, we don’t want to overwhelm stakeholders who may have a casual interest in the project, and conversely, we don’t want to fail to keep key stakeholders informed on critical issues.

The final piece of information that the communication requirements analysis will reveal is how our stakeholders wish to receive the information, or specifically, the method or technology to be used.

key concept

Communications technology has a major impact on how you keep people in the loop. Methods of communicating can take many forms, such as written reports, conversations, emails, formal status reports, meetings, online databases, online schedules, and project websites. You should consider several factors before deciding what methods you’ll choose to transfer information.

You will learn more about communication methods in a future lesson.

Our communication requirements analysis should provide us with a good amount of useful information regarding the communication needs of our stakeholders. However, so that we are clear, what information are we gathering from this analysis? Let’s look at some of the goals and data gathered from the communication requirements analysis in a bit more detail.

1. Identify your stakeholders (to whom).
2. Identify stakeholder expectations (why).
3. Identify communication necessary to satisfy stakeholder expectations and keep them informed (what).
4. Identify the time frame and/or frequency of communication messages (when).
5. Identify how the message will be communicated (the stakeholder’s preferred method) (how).
6. Identify who will communicate each message (who).
7. Document items—templates, formats, or documents—the project must use for communicating.

IN CONTEXT

Let’s say that our project sponsor wants to see a project status report every month, prepared in PowerPoint and sent via email. The information the sponsor wants to know is whether the project is on schedule, on budget, and within the scope of work. Additionally, the sponsor wants a risk status report.

However, the project team has a weekly face-to-face meeting to review the project status. During their weekly meeting, individual project team members report their status on the tasks they are working on and share any concerns they may have. Here, the emphasis is on maintaining the project schedule and getting ahead of possible problems.

In both cases, the stakeholders want project status information. However, each prefers a different level of detail, frequency, and method of delivery.

big idea

All projects require a sound communications plan, but not all projects will have the same types of communication or the same methods for distributing the information. The communication management plan documents the types of information needs the stakeholders have, when the information should be distributed, and how the information will be delivered.

term to know

Communication Requirements Analysis

The process of determining the communication needs of the project stakeholders.

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3. Communications Planning Documents

The types of information you will communicate typically include:

• Project status reports
• Project scope statements and updates
• Project baseline information
• Risks
• Action items
• Performance measures
• Project acceptance

It’s important that the information needs of the stakeholders be determined as early in the planning phase of the project’s life cycle as possible, so that as you and your team develop project planning documents, you already know who should receive copies of them and how they should be delivered.

3a. RACI Chart

Remember, in an earlier tutorial, in the initiation phase, when we addressed stakeholder analysis? You may recall that we addressed the power interest grid, which helps us determine what types of communication we should use and how often we should communicate. Often, this is another document created during communications planning, the RACI chart. The RACI chart is a tool that describes the tasks, activities, or deliverables of a project and the roles that stakeholders take in that effort:

R: Responsibility (“I will get it done.”)

A: Accountability (“The buck stops here.”)

C: Consulted (“I want to be part of the decisions.”)

I: Informed (“I just want to know.”)

EXAMPLE

Let’s look at our spa app and how each role might occur.

Role	RACI Letter	Definition	Spa App Example	Why
Responsible	R	The person who does the work	The interface designer of the app would be responsible.	They are the ones actually doing the work.
Accountable	A	The person who is ultimately responsible for the work (but may not actually be doing the work)	The project manager is ultimately responsible for the interface design of the app.	Although the project manager is not the person actually designing the interface, they are ultimately responsible for it.
Consulted	C	Provides feedback and input on a project	The marketing team may have feedback or insight.	Since this team markets the spa, it may have valuable insight into the usability and design of the app.
Informed	I	Needs to be kept in the loop	The finance/accounting team needs to be informed.	Even though the project does not directly impact this team, updates from time to time are important.

The RACI chart provides a visual representation (shown here) of the roles and responsibilities of each project stakeholder for each activity, task, or deliverable. Notice that the first column represents the activity description. The remaining columns represent each role on the project and their part in the activity. Knowing this information helps the project manager know how to focus communication related to that activity and ensure that those who need to know are informed.

EXAMPLE

Consider our spa scheduling app. One activity in the deliverables section of the scope management plan is the automated email/SMS reminders for appointments. The RACI line item for that activity might look like this:

Now, let’s look at the communication management plan document.

term to know

RACI Chart

Identifies project stakeholders who are responsible, accountable, to be consulted, or to be informed for activities, tasks, or deliverables.

3b. Communication Management Plan

By now, you understand that the communication management plan is a document that lists the specific communication needs of the stakeholders of the project, as well as the frequency and method of delivery. A team member may be assigned to prepare and deliver the communication.

Since you are familiar with the RACI chart, let’s take a look at how it ties into the communication management plan.

Here are two examples of what a communication management plan might look like.

EXAMPLE

1. As you can see in the image given, this formal plan lists the project overview, stakeholders, and the types of communications, as well as the frequency and other important information.



2. Here is another example of a communication management plan. As you can see, it contains mostly the same information but is just condensed. Different companies may use different types of documents such as these, so it is important to recognize that ultimately, they all provide the same information.

Stakeholder Name/Group	Role	Internal/ External	Interest/Influence	Communication Needs	Communication Type

In our first example, the Project Overview section of the plan often contains basic information about the project, such as:

• Project name
• Beginning and completion dates
• Project manager
• Project description

If the project manager is not the owner of the communications plan, then include their name.

The Stakeholders section contains a list of project stakeholders with their title, their role in the project, communication preferences, and email addresses.

The Communications section contains a chart of all activities, tasks, or deliverables that require a form of communication and identifies who is to receive the information. This chart can include a variety of different columns, but some common columns include:

• A description of the activity, task, or deliverable; examples include project status, project planning, and deliverable review
• How the information will be communicated; examples might include email and virtual meeting
• How often the information will be communicated
• Who will receive the information
• A description of the information to be included in the communication

In our second example, which is more simplified, you can see the stakeholders are listed, along with information about their role, whether there is an internal or external stakeholder, what their level of interest and influence is, their communication needs, and the communication type. No matter which type of communication document is used, remember the main purpose is to ensure we are meeting stakeholder communication needs.

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4. Communication Management Plan Scenario

Now that you have an understanding of what is included in a communication management plan, let’s look back at our spa app project. Here is a communication management plan that has been developed.

Stakeholder Name/Group	Role	Internal/ External	Interest/Influence	Communication Needs	Communication Type
Maria Lopez	Project sponsor	Internal	High—oversees project success and provides funding	Regular executive updates; milestone progress reports	Email and weekly meeting
James Chen	Project manager	Internal	High—responsible for project execution and timelines	Daily or weekly team meetings; status reports	Email and daily meetings
Marketing department	Content and branding support	Internal	Medium—needs consistent branding and timely content delivery	Weekly check-ins; review cycles for content	Twice-monthly status reports via email and weekly meeting
Community members	Local public audience	External	Low—may be indirectly impacted by project reach and visibility	Public announcements; press releases	At project start and finish

As you can see, the spa owner, the project sponsor, and the project manager have high interest and influence. Because of this, we want to communicate more frequently with them. When someone has lower influence, we do not need to communicate with them as often.

try it

Based on this communication management plan, see if you can answer these questions. Once you determine your answer, select the “+” icon to see if you were correct.

How often will you communicate with the project sponsor?

The project sponsor is Maria Lopez, and since she has a high interest and influence, communicating with her during regular meetings and emails is needed.

Why do you think the project sponsor has a high interest and influence?

Since it is her spa, and she is providing the financing for the project, she has both high influence and high interest.

Why do you think community members are marked with low influence?

It is because they do not have a lot of say in the project. They are still important stakeholders, since many of them may use the app. Usually with these stakeholders, you’ll communicate with them less frequently.

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5. Improving Communication Within Projects

There can be problems with project communication. Here are some common problems and things to consider:

• Too much information given to the wrong people: Here is where a good requirements analysis can help.
• Technical jargon: It’s important to remember that not all stakeholders have the same level of technical understanding. Tailor the message to the audience.
• Vague or unclear messages: Be sure that all communications are clear, concise, and to the point.

Some strategies for making sure the message is received can include the following:

• Use visuals whenever possible. Often, a picture can provide clarity that words may not.
• Use technology to your advantage. When teams are spread out, video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams can help bring people together.
• Consider ways in which you can encourage continuous improvement. Actively seeking feedback from your stakeholders regarding communication can help ensure that they are getting the correct message.

SOURCE: THIS WORK IS ADAPTED FROM (1) PRESSBOOKS "NSCC PROJECT MANAGEMENT” BY ADRIENNE WATT. ACCESS FOR FREE AT WWW.PRESSBOOKS.ATLANTICOER-RELATLANTIQUE.CA/PROJECTMANAGEMENT/ AND FROM (2) SASKOER "PROJECT MANAGEMENT: A STRATEGIC APPROACH" by CARMEN REAICHE. ACCESS FOR FREE AT WWW.SASKOER.CA/STRATEGICPROJECTMANAGEMENT/. LICENSING (1 & 2): CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 4.0 INTERNATIONAL