What integrated project planning means, why it matters, and how the Krong method puts it into practice.
The definition
Integrated project planning is the practice of building the major project planning artefacts around a shared project structure, so that scope, deliverables, activities, schedule, responsibilities, stakeholders and risks can be traced back to one another.
Put simply, every figure, owner, date and risk in the plan can be followed back to the part of the plan that explains it. If you change one, you can see what else moves.
Why plans fail without it
Most plans are built one section at a time, often by different people. Each section can look sound by itself. The failure shows up between the sections:
- A budget that does not match the work breakdown structure.
- A critical task with no owner in the responsibility matrix.
- A risk register that names risks but not the assumptions behind them.
- A contingency set at a flat percentage, with no link to where the risk sits.
- An outcome with no baseline, so nobody can show it was achieved.
A board or funder usually finds these gaps first. Integrated planning is the habit of finding them yourself.
A worked example: Caldera Freight
Caldera Freight is a fictional logistics company used throughout the course. Its plan is a 111-page, board-ready document for a USD 2.4 million route optimisation project over 60 weeks. Three links show how the plan holds together:
- Money to Uncertainty. The contingency reserve is allocated by each component’s risk exposure, not spread as a flat ten per cent.
- Time to Adoption. If the adoption risk fires, retraining draws on the float in the training work packages.
- Mandate to Money. The business case recovers the investment in about 3.7 to 5.9 years once running costs and the contingency are counted.
The plan is fictional. Its figures are illustrative and are not advice for any real project.
The integration check
The course turns the idea into a check you can run on any plan. Five questions cover most of it:
- Does every deliverable have one named owner and a place on the schedule?
- Does every cost trace to an element of the work breakdown structure?
- Does every risk name an owner and the assumptions it rests on?
- Does every outcome have a baseline, a target and a measure?
- Do the same figures appear everywhere they are used?
The course runs a fuller version, Annexure A, against eight planning threads and five principles. See the Krong method.
Common questions
What is integrated project planning?
Integrated project planning is the practice of building the major project planning artefacts around a shared project structure, so that scope, deliverables, activities, schedule, responsibilities, stakeholders and risks can be traced back to one another.
Is it a template or a piece of software?
No. It is a way of building the plan. You can do it in the course template, in a spreadsheet and a document, or in Sen, Krong’s optional planning tool. The method is the same.
Is it a new idea?
No. Planners have long talked about integrated planning, and we do not claim to have invented it. Krong Academy gives it a precise definition, a named check and a worked example, so you can apply it to your own plan.
Who is it for?
Project managers and project leaders who must defend a plan in front of a board, a client or a funder, and anyone with an idea who wants to test whether it is viable before committing to it.
Where can I learn it?
In The AI-Augmented Project Manager. You build the plan for your own project, step by step, beside the fully worked Caldera Freight plan. Modules 1 and 8 are free.
Krong Academy is an independent training provider. Caldera Freight is a fictional organisation created for instructional purposes.