Project Levels: So You Think You Know What a Level-4 Project Plan Is?

Wayne is a Program Manager for Kaiser Permanente in California.

  Cost Management   Estimating   Risk Management   Scheduling   Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)  

Your executive sponsor informs you that she expects “a level 4 project plan” along with the business case for your new program. You nod your head and smile…while choking back your panic! You have a general idea of what that might mean, but you don’t recall a specific definition of project levels from A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide). You bring up the requirement at a staff meeting, and the lively debate goes on far too long with little agreement in the end.

Welcome to the miasma of opinion regarding project “levels.” Although it’s difficult to tell, it’s crowded here in the fog. That’s because outside of the discipline of cost engineering and the diligence of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACEI), the concept of project levels isn’t well documented. That hasn’t stopped the spread of the concept, but without supporting documentation, project managers have been left to make up their own definitions (and we are a creative bunch!).

You might be thinking, if the concept of project levels is for cost engineers, what does it mean to me?¹ To find out, let’s question our own creative definitions by exploring some common themes, then look at the best practice from AACEI to help clear the fog. Finally, we’ll apply what we learn …

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