Project plan template
A project plan with scope, milestones, schedule table, budget, risks and sign-off.
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Approval steps and required fields vary by employer. If your company has its own form, use that one and treat this as a quick way to draft the same information.
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Project Plan
| Prepared by | Approved by |
| Project | New hire onboarding program | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Department | People Operations | Prepared by | Taylor Kim |
| Date | October 12, 2026 | Start | November 2, 2026 |
| Target finish | January 29, 2027 | ||
| Objective | Give every new hire a consistent first month, so they know the tools and the policies by the end of week four no matter which team they join. |
|---|---|
| Background | Of the 24 people hired this year, most said in the 30-day survey that they did not know what to do in their first week. Each department has its own welcome material, so the same questions get asked over and over and the answers differ. |
| Scope | In scope: the first four weeks for all full-time hires at the Austin office, a shared checklist and welcome guide, a mentor program. Out of scope: contractor onboarding, the benefits enrollment process (owned by HR Operations). |
| Approach | 1) Write a four-week checklist and a shared welcome guide (People team) 2) Assign one mentor per department with a 30-minute check-in every week 3) Run a short survey at week 2 and week 4 and fix what comes up |
| Dates | Milestone or task | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2 to Nov 13 | Draft the checklist and welcome guide | Taylor Kim |
| Nov 16 to Nov 27 | Department review, assign mentors | Sam Park |
| Dec 1 | Pilot starts with the December hires | Taylor Kim |
| Jan 29 | Survey results and final report | Taylor Kim |
Budget (in dollars)
| Budget line | Basis | Amount ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Printed welcome guides | 30 copies at $12.50 | 375 |
| Mentor lunches | 8 per month at $20, 3 months | 480 |
| Survey tool subscription | 3 months at $49 | 147 |
| Total | 1, | |
| Risks | Mentors may not have the time. Cap it at one new hire per mentor per quarter and count the check-ins as work time. Q4 hiring freeze would delay the first real run; the pilot moves to January in that case. |
|---|---|
| Success measures | 30-day survey score of 4.0 or higher out of 5, and 90-day turnover of new hires below last year's rate. |
October 12, 2026 Prepared by: Taylor Kim | |
How to use it
The plan answers the questions an approver asks in order: why, what is going on now, what is in and out of scope, how you will do it, when, and what it costs. Keep the objective to two or three lines and put the evidence in the background box. Number the steps in the approach and name an owner for each.
Type the schedule one row per line as "dates | milestone | owner". Budget lines take a basis (30 copies at $12.50) and an amount in dollars, and the table totals them. The sign-off boxes at the top right are for whoever has to approve the plan.
Things to watch
Write the success measures as numbers you can check later; the project report will ask for them. If your company has a plan template or a PMO process, use its headings and treat this as the draft you copy from.
Calculators that go with this
Frequently asked questions
What goes in scope versus approach?
Scope says what the project does and does not cover. Approach says how you will do the work that is in scope, step by step, with an owner for each step.
The project has no budget. Do I leave the table empty?
Yes, or type one line such as "No additional budget" with a zero amount. Empty rows print as blank lines so you can fill them in by hand.
How many sign-off boxes do I need?
Match your company's approval chain. A small team often uses one box for the manager. Larger companies add Reviewed by and Approved by. Pick None if approvals happen by email and you only need the body of the form.
Is what I type saved anywhere?
No. Everything stays in your browser and nothing is sent to our server. If you refresh the page it is gone, so print, save a PDF or download the DOCX when you are done.