When it comes to planning, executing & monitoring projects, there are several questions to consider; for example, what needs to be done to reach a project’s ultimate goal, who must do it, and just how much time do they have?
An action plan provides the perfect answer to all these questions. As a structured document, action plans break down a broad objective into smaller, actionable steps. They also provide a definitive checklist of the milestones, timelines, resources, and responsibilities associated with each step.
In our Action Plan template, each action step (or task) is assigned to a Task Owner before being assigned a Priority level based on urgency or impact. We then set a time frame for each task using a Start and End Date before identifying the amount of resources (human or material) needed versus those available. In the next two columns, we expand upon the Desired Outcome and Potential Risks associated with each task to ensure all team members are aligned and aware of what the task entails.
For the most productive results, you are encouraged to use our project Action Plan in tandem with our Project Timeline to maximize the time efficiency of your project!
Project Overview
Right at the top of our template, we identify the project on the basis of its name, and version (in case of projects that are periodically extended).
We also identify the project lead (usually, the Project Manager) who oversees the overall planning, execution, and monitoring of a project.
Goals and Objectives
In this box, you identify the key objective or primary goal you’re trying to achieve through the project. When developing goals, it’s important to find the right balance between what you want and what you can achieve given the resources, time, or organizational context you are working with.
One popular framework is the SMART framework used to formulate goals that are Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Use our SMART Goals template to create more effective action plans and set ‘smarter’ goals.
Benchmarks for Success
Benchmarking is a data-driven process that helps you set certain standards for measuring success. In project management, it is common to use Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs) to compare your project performance against industry standards, best practices, and competitors.
Examples of KPIs include average costs per hour, the number of project milestones completed on time, and billable utilization rate. These metrics allow you to focus on critical aspects of your project outcomes, allowing stakeholders and teams to determine how well a project was able to deliver on its goals and objectives.
Action Description
Actions are specific units of work (tasks or subtasks) that form the basis of your project’s workflow. In most cases, they are developed during the planning phase and finalized at the start of the project when preparing the project’s timeline.
Once you know the nature and sequence of all the steps you need to take, list them down in this column to create a structured, step-by-step guide geared towards a specific project goal.
If you are struggling with deciding which tasks are more critical than others, feel free to use our Task Prioritization template to prioritize your units of work based on their impact and the effort they require!
Task Owner: Name and Designation
In this column, we sort tasks by human resource. In other words, it’s time to figure out who is doing what. Enter the name and professional designation of the person or team responsible for each specific action.
It is important to make sure each action is assigned to the right member of the team. Project leads must assess the talents and abilities of individual team members to ensure they are a good fit.
Start and End Date
Use the next two columns to place every action inside a preset time frame, ensuring the overall project delivers on time.
To create viable and effective project timelines, feel free to check out our Gantt Chart template – one of the most popular ways of visualizing a project’s timeline and schedule.
Priority
Not all tasks are equally important. While some may be an urgent priority for a client with the fate of a whole project counting on it, others may be better off on the back burner, say, minor bug fixes or responding to irrelevant emails.
In this column, assign a particular priority level to each action by assessing its importance in the light of project needs or client demands. Then, use our drop-down menu to prioritize tasks using three options: ‘High, ‘Medium’ and ‘Low’.
Status
In this section, you simply want to know which actions have been completed, which are currently in progress, and which ones are yet to be initiated.
You can use this list to indicate the current status of individual tasks by selecting one of three options: ‘In Progress’, ‘Completed’, and ‘Not Started’. While these are the three standard categories we have used to define and track task status in our template, we have also provided a configuration sheet where you can adjust these categories to suit your own specific project needs and context.
Resources
In this section, you take stock of your resources (human and material) and specify the exact number or amount of resources you need to complete each task. Follow this with the number or amount of resources actually available to you at that given stage of the project’s life cycle.
By adding separate values in these two columns, you can easily identify any budget discrepancy.
If you want to develop a more in-depth financial blueprint for your print, feel free to download our free Resource Plan and Project Budget templates here!
Desired Outcomes
It’s important to hash out the difference between goals and desired outcomes. While Goals provide a specific, concrete direction to focus your project’s activities, Desired Outcomes refer to the ultimate impact you want a project to have as a result of achieving these goals.
Compared to goals, DOs are less tied to quantifiable metrics. Here’s an example; let’s say the goal of your project is ‘to create a 2-part documentary series about a rare infectious disease’. Your benchmark for measuring success will be, say, the number of public screenings you were able to book, or the number of views you were able to rack up on YouTube. However, your Desired Outcomes in this case will be, greater awareness about the disease, or increased momentum for public-private health partnerships to help those afflicted with it.
In other words, desired outcomes focus on the world that results from achieving your project’s goals. When identifying the desired outcome of each action, make sure to consider them within the context of your project’s overall scope, strategy, goals, and KPIs.
Potential Hazards/Risks
In this section, you need to identify any potential risks associated with a project based on a comprehensive risk assessment.
This is useful information for project managers and stakeholders when developing a project’s schedule and budget as it allows them to pre-empt and prepare for any operational, financial, environmental, reputational, compliance, and cybersecurity setbacks along the way. When filling out this column, make sure you obtain input from relevant team members, especially those with experience working on similar projects/tasks.
To develop a complete strategy for identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating risks – feel free to download our Risk Matrix and Risk Register here!
Who Is This Template For?
- Project managers & team leaders
- Business executives & HoD
- Team members
- Project stakeholders
- Consultants & visors
What Our Template Is Good For?
- Task management
- Goal achievement
- Project execution
- Prioritization
- Risk management
Wind Up
And there you have it – a clear roadmap that can help your team stay focused and organized while making sure that the progressive development and execution of your project can be tracked and monitored in a systematic way. Use our Action Plan template to track team progress and always meet your objectives on time!
Our editable Action Plan template can be instantly accessed in Excel in .xlsx, .xltx, and .ods formats, as well as Google Sheets.
