Staff acquisition involves getting the human resources needed (individuals or groups) assigned to and working on the project. We begin with a staff management plan.

Staffing management plan

The Staffing Management Plan details the project’s human resources requirements and how those requirements will be fulfilled.  The Staffing Management Plan includes several sections:

·       Project Roles and Responsibilities – summarizes the responsibilities for each role required to conduct the project work

·       Project Staffing Estimates – identifies estimated staffing requirements

·       Acquisition Strategy – describes when, how, and from what sources staffing will be acquired

·       Training Plan – identifies skills gaps and details specific training requirements for each Project Team member

·       Organizational Chart – displays project reporting relationships

<Describe the roles and responsibilities of each position required to conduct the project work. This description may be accomplished with responsibility summaries for all roles combined with a Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), which is also referred to as a Responsible/Accountable/Consulted/Informed (RACI) chart.  Refer to the System Development Life Cycle Roles and Responsibilities document for guidance regarding standard roles and responsibilities.  Complete job descriptions may be included in the Staffing Management Plan as an appendix.

The following text is a sample responsibility summary:

Project Sponsor

The Project Sponsor is the business manager who is responsible for providing the overall business direction for the project and is the senior spokesperson for the project.  The Project Sponsor is responsible for ensuring that the needs and accomplishments within the business area are widely known and understood.  He/she also ensures that the design of the system meets both the functional and non-functional business goals. 

The following table is a sample RACI chart/RAM template and key.>

Possible RACI Matrix/RAM

The following table contains the project’s estimated staffing requirements. 

<Document the project’s estimated staffing requirements by phase in table format.  Estimate when each resource is to start working on the project and the estimated duration of work based on the Work Breakdown Structure.  Consider the use of a resource histogram, described in the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Section 9.1.3, to illustrate the number of hours resources will be needed each week or month throughout the project’s life cycle.  The information below includes a sample staffing estimates table template and sample staffing terms to be included in the table.>

The terms used in the table are defined as follows:

·       Role: High-level identification of each required function on the project (e.g., Project Manager)

·       Team: Identification of the team(s) to which the role is assigned.  Is the role required for the Planning Team, Development Team, and/or Systems Team?  Also, specify if personnel proposed will be members of the Steering Committee or Project Management Office personnel.  It is common for personnel to overlap teams

·       Competency: Description of the skill set necessary for each role for the project to be successful

·       Estimated Start Date: Description of the estimated date when the resource will be needed

·       Estimated Duration: Description of the length of time the resource will be required

·       Time Commitment: Description of the required time commitment of each resource

<Describe how required resources will be acquired to conduct project work.>

<Determine the names of staff (if currently known) to be assigned to each role.  Assess whether each resource possesses the required skills to perform the responsibilities, and document all skill gaps.  Describe the acquisition strategy to obtain the needed resources.  Typically, the Project Team obtains commitments to borrow resources from the agency pool or to contract outside resources.  If using external or contract resources, be sure to describe how those resources will be obtained. This information may be documented in a table.  A sample table template is included below.> 

1       Staff Training Plan

The Staff Training Plan requirements are detailed in the following table.  The training detailed is required to enable the skill to successfully execute the project.

<After determining all skill gaps above, assess whether staff members require any training to competently fulfill their project duties.  Training needs should be considered for all Project Team members, including State employees and contractors.  Summarize the results of this analysis in the table below. If anticipated Project Team members do not have the required level of competency, identify the training required, and include the training costs in the baseline cost of the project. Also, consider helping Project Team members obtain professional certifications that will benefit the project.  Please note that this section should be focused on the training necessary for Project Team members to conduct the project.  A separate Training Plan is encouraged for the training required for end users to utilize the system during the Operations and Maintenance Phase.>

The Project Organizational Chart below provides a graphical representation of the project’s hierarchical reporting relationships. 

<Include an organizational chart that contains all project roles and conveys the relationship between each.  Project organization charts are elaborated progressively – that is, they are developed during the Planning Phase and periodically updated throughout the project life cycle as more information becomes known.  An example using Microsoft Word drawing tools is displayed below.  Be sure to include roles and staff names in each box.>

 Organization chart

This is used to graphically display project relationships. An Organization Breakdown Structure (OBS) is a specific type of organization chart that shows which organizational units are responsible for which work items.

The staffing management plan describes when and how human resources will be brought onto and taken off the project team. It may be formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed, based on the needs of the project. It often includes resource histograms.

Particular attention should be paid to how project team members will be released. when they are no longer needed on the project. Appropriate reassignment procedures may:

• Reduce costs by reducing or eliminating the tendency to "make work" to fill the time between this assignment and the next.
• Improve morale by reducing or eliminating uncertainty about future employment opportunities.

This will vary by application area and project size and includes:

• Organizational impact - what alternatives are precluded by organizing in this manner
• Job descriptions - written outlines by job title of the skills, responsibilities, knowledge, authority, physical environment, etc. Also called position descriptions.
• Training needs - if the staff to be assigned is not expected to have certain skills, those skills will have to be developed.

Tools and techniques:

Negotiations

Project management may need to negotiate with:

• Responsible functional managers to ensure that the project receives appropriately skilled staff within the necessary timeframe.
• Other project teams to assign scarce or specialized resources.

 Pre-assignment

In some cases, staff may be pre-assigned to the project. This is often the case when (a) the project is a result of a competitive proposal and specific staff were promised as part of the proposal or (b) the project is an internal service project and staff assignments were defined within the project charter.

 Procurement

This is necessary when the performing organization does not have the appropriately skilled staff.

 Outputs:

Project staff assigned

The project is staffed when appropriate people have been reliably assigned to work on it.

 Project team directory

This lists all the project team members and other key stakeholders.

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