The In-project Support Plan is needed if all or part of the solution is to be supported by a vendor or 3^rd party. It addresses support needed during the project which includes the post-implementation stabilization period.

Here is a list of some things to consider (this is not necessarily the complete list of considerations; your project may have more):

• Scope – describe the conditions in which this support is triggered.
• Contact information – phone #’s, email, website, customer access id
• Service Level Agreements (listed in order of severity, commits to how fast you can expect a response to a reported issue)
• Problem and Status Reporting – what tools will be used, roles, responsibilities
• Escalation Procedure if issues are not addressed in a timely or effective manner
• Change Requests – for changes that are not bugs, define the request procedure & labor rate

This topic concludes the series on “The Project Plan”. In the next series of blog posts, I will address development of the Project Schedule.