ALS Project Management Manual

This manual has been prepared to help establish a consistent baseline of management practices across all ALS projects. It describes the initial process of planning a project, with a specific focus on the production of a formal project plan. We feel that the primary weakness in ALS project management efforts to date stems from a failure to appreciate the importance of ''up-front'' project planning. In this document, we present a guide (with examples) to preparing the documents necessary to properly plan, monitor, and control a project's activities. While following the manual will certainly not guarantee good project management, failure to address the issues we raise will dramatically reduce the chance of success. Here we define success as meeting the technical goals on schedule and within the prescribed budget.