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Communication Management Approach

discussion icon Downloadable Template


The Communication Management Approach is one of the four approach (guideline) documents created at the start of the project by the project manager and is then used by the project manager as a guideline on how to communicate with stakeholders (both internal and external to the project) during the project. So this document contains such information as: the different types of stakeholder in the project, whether they support or oppose the project, the type (format) of information to communicate, when and how often to communicate, etc. In other words the Communication Management Approach facilitates engagement with stakeholders through the establishment of a controlled and bi-directional flow of information.

Sample Communication Management Approach Document

Communication Management Approach

This is taken from the PRINCE2 Sample Project (The Pen Project) and it gives a good example of how to use the Communication Management Approach product. Note the following sections:

Source data for the Communication Management Approach

The Communication Management Approach is derived from the following sources:

The format of the Communication Management Approach is usually as stand-alone product (word/PDF document) and is part of the Project Initiation Documentation. It can have other formats too.

Quality Criteria for Communication Management Approach

Content of the Communication Management Approach document

What does the Communication Management Approach document contain? It contains a description of the means and frequency of communication to internal & external parties. This can also include the Programme Management if the project is part of a programme. The Project Manager is responsible for creating the Communication Management Approach during the Initiation Phase of the project. This should be reviewed during the Managing a Stage Boundary Process to ensure that key stakeholders are receiving the required communication.

The Communication Management Approach document contains the following information:

You may be thinking, “Another management document to create?” Well, if you work in a programme environment or have worked on a similar project, then you would already have a template to work from; this can be customized to suit your project.

Some tips from Frank

discussion icon PRINCE2 wiki is open-source and published for free under a Creative Commons license.

discussion icon Written by Frank Turley (his LinkedIn profile)