Role of a Planning Manager

Core Outcomes

  1. Provides inputs necessary and prepares the documentation of commitment map
  2. End-to-end Milestone Mapping: Creating Baseline plans, resource estimation, planning in the P0 & P1 Phase.; tracking all commitments
  3. Monitoring: Updates as per agreed intervals – daily, weekly, etc.
  4. Planning Role of Analysis, Insights, Experience sharing, Facilitating operational excellence
  5. Early Warning: of Project Health
  6. Performance Analysis: timely Insights for gap analysis, improvements, impact, etc. so that there is improvement post-mortem
  7. Shared Visibility: of project across all stakeholders
  8. Time Optimisation: Optimise and balance conflicting demands across projects – optimising the work, use of resources, etc.
  9. Resource Balancing: Based on project dynamics

Deliverables

  1. Baseline Plan & Schedule (end-to-end milestone)
  2. Resource Plan for DU; Function wise Resource Plan
  3. Rolling Plans based on availability and priorities
  4. RCA for Performance Gaps
  5. Action Plan Tracker

Key Practices

  1. Effective communication – plans, progress, insights, gaps, risks, etc.; prevent gaps in understanding, mistakes, avoid flash points caused by communication gaps
  2. Synthesising and summarising data (in key bullet points) and making them relevant and meaningful for decision support
  3. Managing multiple commitments
  4. Balancing resources
  5. Analytics – variance, gaps with focus on finding points for improvement – doing analytics and sharing them with the team
  6. Driving a single version of truth in an integrated platform with information integrity from P0 to P4
  7. Success sharing – sharing success stories and learnings

Should Do

  1. Integrate/ ensure one version of truth/ data integrity
  2. Translate P0 and P1 Commitments into L1, L2 Milestones
  3. Detail plan to have day wise quantities so that each DU member can be given input subsequently
  4. Integrate performance across parameters – discipline, statutory compliance, productivity, cost, etc.
  5. Track reasons for losses / variance
  6. Review performance of DU, contractors, CU, etc.
  7. Track early warning signs and alert DU / G6 for quick mitigation
  8. Release pre-read materials in time for review meetings
  9. Drive daily G6 meetings – agenda, issues to be discussed, progress points, etc.
  10. Enable the functions to set their own priorities and manage them correctly

Should not do

  1. Report data without any insight or summarization
  2. Deviate from process because of convenience
  3. Deviate from priorities without approvals
  4. Delay communications to other team members / Keep things under wraps
  5. Make hypothetical assumptions without discussions with G6
  6. Hide / sit on issues or hesitate to report issues, facts, data on the G6 / DU
  7. Start the decision making (wait for the Project Manager)

G6 Interface

  1. Detailed inputs for conducting RCA on variances and take action as emerged from RCA
  2. Inputs and status updates from other team members for scenario planning, impact assessment, corrective /preventive actions needed / underway
  3. Ensuring clarity on deliverables and timelines from various functions and that they are aligned to the DU targets
  4. Performing integrator/enabler role for G6
  5. Timely escalation of issues
  6. Reconciliation of requirement with cross functional planning.
  7. Trouble shoot issues beyond DU/CU capability
  8. Escalate to CU leads on support requirement w.r.t competency or number of resources or any others to work on what is required