**5.2 The project planning process**

The first task within the project planning process is the order entry, which deals with the registration and IT-based handling of the incoming order. In the course of the following task, the order clarification, the contents of the final proposal and those of the actual customer order are compared and assessed (Schuh & Schmidt, 2006). The specification, scheduling & availability information exchanged at that time between the customer and the supplier refer to a far more detailed and committing level compared to those exchanged in the course of the inquiry clarification & assessment.

In the course of the following task of project planning and order creation the overall project is segmented into subprojects and these are allocated to the various involved in-house departments and the chosen subcontractors. This task thus includes further make-or-buy analysis extending and detailing those made in the course of the bid preparation - which were basically limited to main components and services. According to the results of this make-or-buy analysis, potential suppliers furthermore have to be found, preselected and finally chosen. The task of project planning and order creation hence necessitates an intense interaction between the producer and various 1st-tier suppliers (cf. KL2 in Fig. 13), during which intent information, specification information as well as scheduling & availability information have to be exchanged. To determine the availability of time-critical buycompenents or services restrictions of downstreamed external processes are taken into account in this task as well (Cuber & Schmidt, 2012).

Fig. 13. Detailed structure of the project planning processs (Schmidt, 2008)

The first task within the project planning process is the order entry, which deals with the registration and IT-based handling of the incoming order. In the course of the following task, the order clarification, the contents of the final proposal and those of the actual customer order are compared and assessed (Schuh & Schmidt, 2006). The specification, scheduling & availability information exchanged at that time between the customer and the supplier refer to a far more detailed and committing level compared to those exchanged in

In the course of the following task of project planning and order creation the overall project is segmented into subprojects and these are allocated to the various involved in-house departments and the chosen subcontractors. This task thus includes further make-or-buy analysis extending and detailing those made in the course of the bid preparation - which were basically limited to main components and services. According to the results of this make-or-buy analysis, potential suppliers furthermore have to be found, preselected and finally chosen. The task of project planning and order creation hence necessitates an intense interaction between the producer and various 1st-tier suppliers (cf. KL2 in Fig. 13), during which intent information, specification information as well as scheduling & availability information have to be exchanged. To determine the availability of time-critical buycompenents or services restrictions of downstreamed external processes are taken into

**5.2 The project planning process** 

the course of the inquiry clarification & assessment.

account in this task as well (Cuber & Schmidt, 2012).

Fig. 13. Detailed structure of the project planning processs (Schmidt, 2008)

The next task in the course of the project planning process is the in-advance planning of long-running parts & materials, which includes the identification of those parts and materials as well as the planning of their sourcing. "Long-runners" are those parts or materials, whose standard procurement times exceed the planned lead time of the corresponding order-execution process and which therefore have to be procured in advance. To assure a high quality of planning data, technical parameters as well as master- and standard-specifications have to be updated and the standard procurement times have to be checked (cf. KL3 in Fig. 13). Depending on whether the long-runners are produced internally or externally a production- respectively order-proposal is forwarded to the manufacturing- or procurement-department.

The in-advance planning of long-runners is followed by the assessment of whether the project is feasible as planned or not. If the project is considered as feasible, its project structure and schedules are subsequently passed. In the course of the passing of the project structure and schedules, the written order confirmation is send to the customer in which the commercial conditions as well as the confirmed deadline is binding stated. The final task within the project planning process, the (sub-)project approval, eventually launches the respective subprojects according to the project schedules and initiates the corresponding detail engineering & design order. In this context, each detail engineering & design order successively concretizes the project structure in terms of a continuously growing part list. Furthermore the sub-project approval triggers the transmission of order data and time framework to the process of order creation.
