Pre-Project Planning and its Practice in Industry

Pre-project planning is the project phase encompassing all the tasks between project initiation to detailed design. The development of a project scope definition packages is one of the major tasks in the pre-project planning process. Project scope definition is the process by which projects are defined and prepared for execution. It is at this crucial stage where risks associated with the project are analyzed and the specific project execution approach is defined. Nevertheless, the pre-project planning practices vary significantly throughout the industry from one organization to another. Pre-project planning practice data from 62 industrial projects and 78 building projects, representing approximately $5 billion in total construction cost, were collected and pre-project planning practices (as measured by the level of scope definition) were analyzed. Poorly defined scope elements among the surveyed projects will be identified and compared between the two industry sectors. The pre-project planning practices among successful and less-than-successful projects will be compared.