Project plan

The project plan is the operational blueprint approved as part of a funded award — the document that sets out what work will happen, in what sequence, against what timeline, using what resources, and by whom. It is the reference an institution and a sponsor both compare actual progress against during interim and final reporting across the project lifecycle.

Funder-specific forms

The project plan doesn’t have one universal template; it takes the form a given funder’s application process produces. For Horizon Europe projects, Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement (the "description of action") is the formal project plan, organized around work packages and deliverables. For NIH and most US federal awards, the Specific Aims and Research Strategy sections of the funded proposal serve the equivalent function, alongside the approved budget and budget justification.

What it typically covers alongside the plan itself

A project plan is usually accompanied by, and cross-referenced against, a data management plan and, where required, a climate impact statement or comparable environmental-impact disclosure. None of these documents stand alone — a reporting cycle checks progress against all of them together, not the project plan in isolation.

vs. updated project plan

The project plan described here is the original, as-approved document. When a sponsor approves a substantive change — following a formal change request, a no-cost extension, or a project pivot — the resulting revised document is a distinct artifact, the updated project plan, which records what was actually approved and now governs the project going forward. Informal changes tracked only in internal notes, without sponsor sign-off, do not produce an updated project plan in the compliance sense; the original approved plan still stands until the sponsor formally approves otherwise.

References

• Project Management Institute, PMBOK Guide (project management plan); Horizon Europe Annex 1, Annotated Grant Agreement.