WORK OR

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
AND
BUDGET PREPARATION

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 Learning objectives
• At the end of the session participants should
be able to:
 Define a work plan and what a work plan
may include.
 Describe the characteristics of various
project planning and scheduling
techniques
 Outline the importance of budget
preparation.
 Select and develop appropriate major
categories for a budget. 2
 WORK OR
IMPLEMENTATION
PLAN

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 Work plan
• What is a work plan?
 A work plan is a schedule, chart, or graph
that summarizes, in a clear fashion,
various components of the research
project and how they fit together.
 A work plan is vital to guide the progress
of a planned project and monitor its day-to-
day development.

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 Components of work plan
• A work plan may include:
1. The tasks to be performed (activity)
2. When the tasks will be performed (time)
3. Who will perform the tasks and the time
each person will spend on them (person)

4. The relationship of the tasks to each

other.

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Important Points on work plan
• Points to keep in mind when preparing a
work plan include:
 It should be simple, realistic and easily
understood by those directly involved.
 It should cover both the pre-project period
and the implementation phase of the
project
 The activities covered (technical work,
administrative tasks, training and teaching,
secretarial and other support level tasks 6
Important Points on work plan
• Points to keep in mind when preparing a
work plan include:
 The realities of local customs and
schedules:
 local holidays, festivals,
 seasonal changes and their effect on
travel
 work habits and phenomena you may be
studying such as incidence of disease,
food habits, etc.
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 Importance of Work Plan
• A work plan can serve as:
 a tool in planning the details of the project
activities and later the project funds.
 a visual outline or illustration of the
sequence of the project operations.
 a tool for monitoring and evaluation, when
the current status of the project is
compared to what was foreseen in the
work plan.
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 Importance of Work Plan
• A work plan can serve as:
a management tool for the principal
investigator and/or members of his/her
team, showing what tasks and activities
are planned, their timing, and when various
members will be involved in the tasks;

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 When should the work plan be prepared?
• The first draft of the work plan should be
developed when the project proposal is being
developed, so the schedule can be discussed
easily with the relevant authorities.
• A more detailed work plan should be prepared
after the pretest in the study area.
• There should be no hesitation in revising work
plans or preparing new ones after the project
is underway based on reassessment of what
can be realistically accomplished in the
coming months. 10
Ways of presenting a work plan
• A work plan could be presented in the form
of:
1. Work schedule
2. GANTT chart or
3. PERT chart.

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 The Work Schedule
• A work schedule is a table that summarizes
the tasks to be performed in the research
project, the duration of each activity, and the
staff responsible.
• There are different versions of a work
schedule.

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 The Work Schedule
• Work schedule should contains:
 The tasks to be performed;
 The dates each task should begin and end
 Research team, research assistants, and
support staff (drivers and typists) assigned
to the tasks; and
 Person-days required by the research
team members, research assistants, and
support staff (the number of person-days
equals the number of working days per
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person).
 The Work Schedule
• The work schedule shows:
 The tasks to be completed,
 How long they take, and
 Who is to be assigned to each one,
• But work schedule does not
 Show how various tasks are related,
 Give a visual picture of the time schedule.

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The Work Schedule

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 The GANTT Chart
• The Gantt chart is a planning tool which
depicts graphically the order in which various
tasks must be completed and their duration
of activity.
• A typical Gantt chart usually reflects the
following time and duty bound items:
The tasks to be performed
Who is responsible for each task; and
The time each task is expected to take.
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 The GANTT Chart
• The length of each task is shown by a bar
that extends over the number of days, weeks
or months the task is expected to take.
• The Gantt chart shows the tasks to be
completed and illustrates visually how long
they will take, but doesn’t show how various
tasks are related.
• It may show who will be involved in
completing the tasks.

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The GANTT Chart

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 The PERT Chart
• A PERT arising from
 Program
 Evaluation
 Review
 Technique
• A PERT chart involves identifying the various
“steps” necessary for implementing a project
and then planning the optimal feasible
schedules for completing a study.
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 The PERT Chart
• The PERT chart shows the steps or events in
the project that must be completed as well as
illustrating graphically how the steps are
interrelated.
• It has the added advantage of helping the
investigator determine the best timing for
particular tasks and how to complete the
project in the least possible time.
• However, it doesn’t indicate who will
complete the work and is somewhat more
complicated to use than the other techniques. 20
 The PERT Chart

Figure: Simple fictitious example of a PERT chart for 21

planning a study
Budget Preparation

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 Budget Preparation
• The principal resource in research
undertaking is finance.
• Since finance is quite often in short supply
and more so in developing countries
including ours, there is a dire need for
optimal utilization of available fund.
• To ensure maximum output from a
reasonable expenditure, the need for careful
work up of a research budget is of paramount
importance.
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Importance of Budget Preparation
• Main reasons why we need a budget:
 A detailed budget will help you to identify
which resources are already locally
available and which additional resources
may be required.
 The process of budget preparation will
encourage you to consider aspects of the
work plan you have not thought about
before & will serve as a useful reminder of
activities planned, as your research gets
underway. 24
 When should budget preparation begin?
• A complete budget is not prepared until the
final stage of project planning.
• However, cost is usually a major limiting
factor and therefore must always be kept in
mind during planning so that your proposals
will not have an unrealistically high budget.
• Remember that both ministries and donor
agencies usually set limits for research
project budgets.

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 Preparation of a Budget
• It is necessary to use the work plan as a
starting point.
• Specify, for each activity in the work plan,
what resources are required.
• Determine for each resource needed the unit
cost and the total cost
• The unit cost (e.g. per diem or cost of petrol
per km), the multiplying factor (number of
days), and total cost should always be clearly
indicated for all budget categories.
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 Preparation of a Budget
• The major budget items usually include
1. Personnel cost
2. Transport cost
3. Equipment and supplies.
• The personnel costs: include costs or per
diem for employment of temporary and
contractual workers
• Transport cost: includes the fuel, lubricant,
and costs for minor maintenance and other
related items. 27
 Preparation of a Budget
• We may divide the equipment part into major
and minor
• Supplies include chemicals reagents, drugs,
stationeries and the like.
• Adherence to budget item and cost is
mandatory during the course of
implementation of the project.

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Budget form

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 The Budget Justification
• It is not sufficient to present a budget
without explanation.
• The budget justification follows the budget as
an explanatory note justifying briefly, in the
context of the proposal, why the various
items in the budget are required.
• If a strong budget justification has been
prepared, it is less likely that essential items
will be cut during proposal review.

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 The Budget Justification
• One has to give clear explanations
concerning
 why items that may seem questionable or
are particularly costly are needed and
 discuss how complicated expenses have
been calculated.

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 Advice on Budget Preparation
• It is advisable to take the following into
account during budget preparation:
 Keep in mind the tendency to
underestimate the time needed to
complete project tasks in ‘the real world’.
 Include a 5% contingency fund if you fear
that you might have budgeted for the
activities rather conservatively
 If inclusion of a contingency fund is not
allowed, an alternative is to slightly over-
budget in major categories 33
Advice on Budget Preparation
 If the budget is for a period longer than a
year, incorporate allowances for inflation
before the project begins and in
subsequent years by increasing costs by a
set percentage.

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