Creating the project outline

Whether you are sourcing business finance, writing a business plan or getting a new business project of the ground, designing the project plan will be one of the more important processes with which you get involved with. The project plan in many ways will define not only what resources you may need but also what the potential hiccups are that you can expect, how long the project will take and of course who will be involved. If its a start-up project you may not always of accurate data on which you make your decisions so this may be even more challenging.

The project outline is the last step you have to undergo when you are involved in project design and planning. It provides a summary of the project, sometimes called a project brief, and describes in broad terms the goals and in specific terms, the objectives of the project. It also lists down the activities and strategies to achieve the project objectives, the target outcomes, the project evaluation techniques, project monitoring system to be employed and the proposed budget.

A good project outline is one of the bases for funding approval, therefore it should be concise, well-written and include all the important details in an easy to follow and understandable format.

   1. The first thing you need to do is write a problem statement. This describes the problems that triggered the need for a project design.
  
2. Follow that up with the goals or aims of the project. The statement should describe the ultimate aim of the project, in broad terms. They will define the expected results based on the objectives that you have set.

  3. Create specific statements for the objectives of the project. Objectives are the details on what you are going to do to achieve the project goals. This is where you outline the strategies and activities you will employ to eventually achieve the long-term project goals. You will define the changes that will eventuate through the employment of strategies to solve the problems that the project aims to address. The objectives will provide the answers to the problem that was stated in the problem statement. Careful thinking is required when you write the objectives because these are the ones that will deliver measurable and realistic results.

   4. You should include the ways in which you plan to evaluate the success or failure of the project, with set baselines and indicators in which to measure the results against. The monitoring system should help demonstrate the effectiveness of the project strategies that will be employed and make the project accountable to the donors and supporters.
 
 5. A good project outline should include a description of the monitoring system that will be used to oversee the implementation and progress of the project. It should also include a provision for implementing alternative methods should some of the activities fail to deliver the desired results at any point in the project implementation. The monitoring system will check if the project is on schedule, chart its progress and get feedback from target audiences.
 
 6. Your project outline should also include a workable time line in which to implement the project from start to finish and measure results.
 
 7. Finally, you should include a proposed budget to effectively implement the project. This should include a detailed breakdown on how you plan to allocate finances, and your contingency measures. The budget must follow the guidelines set by the donors and sponsors.

Its important that the outline of the project clearly defines the various elements of the project, what will be done buy who and at which point in time. In addition you also want to be clear on what should be achieved by the implementation of the project, what and how you are going to achieve the aim, ways to monitor, supervise and measure the effectiveness of the project as well as how much you need to launch the project and make it work. Getting this stage of the process right will almost certainly ensure that you save plenty of time and effort later on. Failing to plan in many ways is really planning to fail so make sure you spend the necessary time and effort on this very crucial element.