13+ BEST Project Plan Excel Templates

Project plan excel templates are readily available for you right here on this page. The most crucial part of a project is the planning of the project itself. Regardless of the nature or scale of the project, a project plan template is a document that every project manager must have. It is one of the most important elements of the toolkit of a project manager.

What is a Project Plan?

A project plan is a document that contains the details of the execution of a particular project. It lays out all the important details related to the project like what is the project, why it is important, what are the deliverables, and how to carry out the project. In order to carry out a project in a proper professional manner, it is important that the project must be planned on paper. For this purpose, a project plan template is used.

Most project managers create their own or use a customizable project plan template. The project plan actually breaks down the whole project into more realistic and achievable goals. This type of document is helpful in explaining the scope of a project to the stakeholders related to a specific project.

A project plan also includes the different levels or stages of a project, a communication plan, the involvement of key individuals, budgets, and estimated costs related to a project. The timeline of a project is also an important part of a project plan. It segregates the ultimate goal of a project into several small and easily achievable goals.

In this article, you will find some amazingly helpful project plan templates in excel. You can easily download and customize any of the given templates to use them as per your requirement. So, make sure to scroll down and check out these free project plan excel templates.

FREE Project Plan Templates Excel

Blank Project Plan Template

Editable Project Plan Excel Template

Law Firm’s Project Plan Template

Professional Project Marketing Plan Template

Practical Project Plan Sample in MS EXCEL

Project Implementation Plan Template

Fillable Project Plan Template in XLSX Format

Why a Project Plan is Important?

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the USA, once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. This saying is true in every aspect of life be it war, politics, personal life, business, etc. The same is also true for project management. When you are working on a project blindly without any proper planning, the chances are high that you will be failed in carrying out and implementing the project in an effective way.

As mentioned earlier, a project plan is a vital component of carrying out the whole project. Especially in the case of a long-term complex project, preparing and planning for it in advance is quite an important thing to do. Following is a list of some benefits that will further explain the importance of a project plan:

• The presence of a project plan will help you keep track of the progress of a project.
• A proper project plan includes a detailed analysis of risks and uncertainties thus enabling you to take timely decisions to minimize those risks.
• A project plan also sets guidelines for the project teams on how to cooperate with each other in order to get better results and achieve the set goals.
• Having a project plan will help the teams and key personnel to have a clear idea of their roles and responsibilities. This will help them not to deviate from their assigned duties.
• Similarly, when the individuals have a clear understanding of their roles and duties, it gets easy for the project managers or team leaders to have a check on them.
• A project plan is a great way to improve communication and reduce the communication gap between the project managers and the stakeholders. The stakeholders include anyone directly or indirectly associated with a project like team members or investors.
• The project plan increases transparency and promotes accountability and evaluation. As and when the project progresses, its performance can easily be measured against the set goals and objectives as laid out in the project plan.
• The project plan also lays out the details of the resources to carry out the project under the subject. This includes the details like the resources that are available and the resources that will be required for the completion of a project.
• The project plan also helps you control your project costs as the project progresses. The project plan includes the budgeted or estimated costs of the project and if the actual costs are quite high than the estimated costs, you can easily ascertain the reasons right away.
• The project plan sets the actual timeline for the project. The time for completion of every stage or level of the project is set separately. Such a plan also sets out the deadlines for each stage as well as the whole project.
• The presence of an effective and well-defined project plan also helps you to set the standards of quality of work.
• Project plans are also flexible and can always be changed in accordance with the situation.

More Project Plan Excel Templates

Official Project Plan Template Free Download

Organization’s Project Plan Template XLSX

Detailed Project Planner Template in Excel

Formal Project Plan Excel Template

Example Sheet of Project Implementation Plan

Project Communication Plan Format

Project Plan Template Agile