Creating A Project Manual Made Easy

The project manual contains all the rules to be followed and relevant information that is important for the successful implementation of your project. It is, therefore, a set of rules and an overview simultaneously. But what belongs in a project manual like this? Why is it so important? And who is creating it anyway? These are questions that we answer for you in this article.

By the way, In our project management seminars, you can further deepen the contents of this article and take your project management to a new level.

Table of Contents

Why Does A Project Manual Need To Be Created At All?

What steps does the project plan include? Who needs to be informed about which step? And what quality standards apply to the project? These are questions that everyone involved in a project asks themselves from time to time. To answer these and keep everyone involved in the project continuously updated, it is necessary to create a project manual early.

It is up to you whether you create the project manual in print or digitally and store it in a place accessible to everyone involved. The only important thing is that you collect all the important information so that you can manage your project successfully. You should pay attention to the following aspects:

A Project Manual Is Project-Specific

The project manual is a project-specific information work for carrying out the project. So, each project gets its own individual set of rules.

Without A Manual, There Is No Project

You need to create a project manual to have transparency, continuity, and reporting – so you won’t be able to manage a project successfully.

The Standard You Choose Obliges You

No matter which policy you choose, the standard will give you the minimum content for your set of rules you should not question.

The Project Size Requires Adjustments

Depending on your project type and scope, you can decide for yourself which of the required aspects you would like to handle and in how much detail.

Brevity Is The Soul Of wit

No novel is required of you! The project manual should always be as concise as possible and only as detailed as necessary.

Who Creates The Project Manual?

As a project manager, you are responsible for creating the project manual. Not only that, but continuous maintenance and taking changes into account are also in your hands. If you have support from a project assistant, they can enter and archive the changes for you.

Each new version must be finally approved by the steering committee designated for your project.

Also Read: PRODEG – A Management Consulting Firm

What Should Your Project Manual Contain?

As I said, depending on the guidelines you choose, there are a variety of requirements for the content of your project manual. But no matter which standard you use to create your project manual, we have put together some of the most important content for you in a short checklist – so that you don’t forget any important aspects of your project manual:

Project goals you want to achieve
Employees involved in the project
Responsibilities that each project participant has
Contact details of the project participants you need
Description of the roles that the employees take on for the project
Stakeholders who are interested in the success of the project
Contact details of the stakeholders you need
Standards, norms, and guidelines that apply to project implementation
Content concept that describes the project
Rules about the project report that you must report
Information about the project documentation you need to create
Guide to project communication that occurs within and outside the team
Notes on the software used to implement the project
Instructions on the structure and archiving of the documents generated during the project