The Communications planning process determines the information and communicates needs of the stakeholders; for example, who needs what information, when they will need it, how it will be given to them, and by whom. A project manager spends most of his time communicating with the various stakeholders and providing the necessary information to the project team to successfully complete their work. While the entire project shares the need to communicate project information, the informational needs and methods of distribution vary widely. An important factor of project success is identifying the informational needs of the stakeholders and determining a suitable means of meeting those needs.

On most projects the majority of communications planning is done as a part of the earliest project phases. However, the results of this planning process are reviewed regularly throughout the project and revised as needed to ensure continued applicability. Additional resources in the project and changes in the stakeholder requirements often impact the communication planning.

Communications planning is often tightly linked with enterprise environmental factors and organizational influences, since the project’s organizational structure will have a major effect on the project’s communication requirements.