Project Planning ensures that you know the exact tasks to be performed, the internal and external resources required, and the projected time to execute those tasks. From the Project Plan, you will know what activities can be conducted in parallel, and what activities lie in a defined precedence. You can then define which tasks, and degree of system implementation, are to be included in "Phase I" of your project, so that budgets can be requested and allocated. Non-essential "like-to-have" functionality can be deferred to subsequent phases, and thus, follow-on budget cycles to smooth your project investments.

Your formal Project Planning effort can consume from 1-3 weeks, and results in a detailed "blueprint" of the steps necessary to implement your project.