Integrated planning: one plan that moves together
Most plans fail at the joints. The schedule says one thing, the budget another, and nobody can say who owns what. Integrated planning closes those gaps.
These are the eight planning threads the Krong course is built around. The highlighted ones are covered here. What are the planning threads?
What integrated planning means
A project plan is not one document. It is a set of connected views: the work, the schedule, the budget, the risks, the people and the benefits. In an integrated plan, they all describe the same project.
If a task slips by three weeks, the schedule moves. The cost moves with it. A risk may now be more likely. A different team may need to step in. In a loose set of files, you must remember to update each one. In an integrated plan, the links do that work.
Eight threads, one plan
On the course, we group a plan into eight threads. A weak plan treats them as separate chapters. A strong plan ties them together.
Three links matter most. Work connects to Time: every task has a duration and a predecessor. Work connects to Money: every task has a budget. Work connects to People: every task has one owner who is accountable.
What it looks like on a real plan
Caldera Freight is the course case. It is a USD 2.4 million route optimisation project with 35 work packages, 13 risks and 15 stakeholders. It runs for 60 weeks.
| You change | It moves |
|---|---|
| A task duration | The critical path, the end date and the Gantt chart |
| A task budget | The component total, the contingency and the earned value baseline |
| A risk score | Its priority band and the contingency for that part of the work |
| A RACI assignment | The task file you send to Asana, monday.com or Jira |
How Sen helps
Sen holds one dataset for the whole project. The Schedule, Risk, Budget, RACI, Stakeholders and KPI tabs all read from it. You type a figure once, and it appears wherever it belongs.
- Consistent figures: the number on the overview is the number in the export.
- Exports in several formats: a plan document, a board deck, a workbook and a task file.
- Practice with real planning software, using a worked example you can copy and change.
Sen is optional. You can build the same plan in a template or a spreadsheet. The value of Sen is that the joints are already made.
Where to start
Begin with the work breakdown, because every other thread hangs from it. Then read the guides on the critical path, the RACI matrix, risk scoring and earned value to see how each one links back.
Questions people ask
What is integrated planning?
It is planning where scope, schedule, cost, risk and people are held together in one connected plan, so a change in one place shows up everywhere it matters.
Do I need software for integrated planning?
No. A spreadsheet works if you keep the links by hand. Software such as Sen makes the links automatic, which is where most manual plans break.
Is Sen free?
Building and exploring projects in Sen is free with an account. Full exports are for enrolled students of the course.
See it in a real plan
Open Sen and explore the Caldera Freight example. Every figure on this page comes from it. Copy it, change a task, and watch the plan move together.
Open Sen, free About the course