A newly assigned project manager joins a project that will use resources from an affiliate. When confirming availability, the deploying manager declines. What should the project manager do first?

The project's resource management plan outlines the processes for identifying, acquiring, managing, and releasing project resources. It should contain strategies for addressing resource shortfalls or conflicts, including escalation paths or alternative resource acquisition methods. Consulting this plan first ensures the project manager follows established procedures and understands the agreed-upon approach for such situations before taking ad hoc actions. Asking the project sponsor to provide external resources or rescheduling the project are potential solutions, but they are premature without first understanding the existing plan. These actions might be necessary later, but only after exhausting the strategies outlined in the resource management plan. Creating a change request is also premature; a change request is typically initiated after assessing the impact of a problem and identifying a proposed solution, which would follow consulting the resource management plan.