Planning projects
Prepare and consolidate planning information in a project, including the project background, purpose, scope, and relevant planning files.
- The Planning tab in a project is equivalent in functionality to the Reference tab in a framework.
- When two users are editing the same field, the first user to save is successful. The second user receives a warning message to copy the changes and refresh the page to avoid overwriting the earlier change.
How it works
Planning a project is the process of defining objectives within a project, and setting up all the tasks that are required to achieve objectives.
Planning a project typically involves:
- defining the background or context of the project
- documenting the purpose of the project
- defining the high-level project activities within scope
- preparing all relevant planning files
Within each project, you can document planning information from the Planning tab, and upload supporting files that pertain to the planning process from the Planning Files tab.
Example
Planning information: FCPA assessment and monitoring
Scenario
You are responsible for preparing and consolidating all planning documentation related to a FCPA assessment and monitoring project. You need to capture this information in the project so that it can be referenced at a later date.
Process
First, you navigate to the Planning page, and define the background, purpose, and scope of the project. Then, you add supporting documentation using the Planning Files page.
Result
The planning information reads as follows:
Background Anti-bribery and anti-corruption risks are not well mitigated by standard (i.e. reporting focused) financial controls. The impact of non-compliance to anti-bribery and anti-corruption legislation is potential investigation by authorities leading to fines up to billions.
Organizations with operations in the United States are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and organizations connected with the United Kingdom are subject to the U.K. Bribery Act.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 is a US Federal Law primarily intended to prohibit payments of bribes to foreign officials and political figures (also know as the Anti-Bribery Provision). The second provision requires that companies maintain transparency requirements for business accounting as outlined by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (also know as the Accounting Provision).
The Bribery Act of 2010 is a UK law that creates four distinct criminal offenses of:
- Bribing another – i.e., the offering, promising or giving of an advantage to another person
- Being bribed – i.e., the requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of an advantage from another person
- Bribing a foreign official
- Failing to prevent bribery (for commercial organizations)
Purpose / Objective This program is intended to provide you with insight on preventing and detecting anti-bribery/corruption risk, and should not be construed as legal advice.
Anti-bribery and anti-corruption legislation is complex. You are cautioned to obtain independent, qualified legal and accounting advice regarding the regulations that affect your organization.
Scope This program will provide guidance on how to implement preventative and detective controls in your organization to mitigate the process-level risks related to anti-bribery and anti-corruption.
We will include all key business processes and general governance within the project scope, specifically:
- Governance & Business Partners
- General Ledger
- Vendor Management
- Purchase to Payment
- Order to Cash
- Payroll
- Travel and Entertainment
Permissions
Only Professional Managers and Professional Users can add planning information. Oversight Executives and Oversight Reviewers have read access to planning information.
Add planning information
Add planning information to define the background, purpose, and scope of a project.
-
From the Launchpad home page (www.highbond.com), select the Projects app to open it.
If you are already in Diligent One, you can use the left-hand navigation menu to switch to the Projects app.
The Projects home page opens.
- Open a project.
The project dashboard opens.
- Click the Planning tab.
- Enter the relevant information and click Save:Note
Rich text fields cannot exceed 524,288 characters.
Field Description Background
The context of the project. This is an optional field.
Purpose/Objective
The goals of the project. This is an optional field. Scope
The extent of the project. This is an optional field.
Attributes
Specifies the attributes associated with planning or the overall project. This is an optional field.
Project Admins and Project Type Admins can define custom attributes for planning under Manage project types.
Tip
To enable spell check on rich text fields, do one of the following:
- Chrome, Firefox, or Safari CTRL + right-click within the field on Windows or Command + right-click on Mac
- Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge open your browser settings and turn on spell check / highlighting of misspelled words
Result The planning information is added to the project.
- Entity Coverage - Optional. Tag the project to one or more entities for reporting purposes.Note
Only Professional Managers can tag a project with an entity by clicking Show content and selecting each entity to associate with the project. Changes are automatically saved.
Add a planning file entry
Quickly add a planning file entry to your project.
-
From the Launchpad home page (www.highbond.com), select the Projects app to open it.
If you are already in Diligent One, you can use the left-hand navigation menu to switch to the Projects app.
The Projects home page opens.
- Open a project.
The project dashboard opens.
Update planning file information
When two users are editing the same field, the first user to save is successful. The second user receives a warning message to copy the changes and refresh the page to avoid overwriting the earlier change.
Update planning file information and upload supporting files that pertain to the planning process.
-
From the Launchpad home page (www.highbond.com), select the Projects app to open it.
If you are already in Diligent One, you can use the left-hand navigation menu to switch to the Projects app.
The Projects home page opens.
- Open a project.
The project dashboard opens.
After you plan a project
After you plan a project, you can complete the following tasks:
| Task | Information |
|---|---|
| 1. Ensure that all team members have the appropriate access to the project. | |
| 2. Build the project (define objectives, risks, and controls). | Workflows and project types |
|
3. Manage timelines and dates across the different phases of all active projects in a single, central view. |
