Project Initiation

Module 3
Project Initiation
• Sets foundation of a project

• It entails the Project’s purpose, primary and secondary goals along

with timeframe as to when the goals are to be met

• Helps in identifying key stakeholders

• Reduce the chances of failure of the project

• E.g. As per study of PricewaterhouseCoopers, 71% projects fail to meet their
time budget and deliverables criteria
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Steps in Project Initiation

Launch Approval
Create Key Appoint from
Business Requirements PM Team the Stakeholders
Case Project

Identify Key Define

Feasibility Terms of parameters deliverables
Study Reference

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Creating Business Case
Identify
• Provides reasoning for initiating Business
Problem or
project Opportunity

• It states quantifiable and non- Evaluate all

quantifiable characteristics of possible
alternatives
project
• Gives idea about the problem that
Recommend a
needs to be solved and solution
alternatives to solve the same
• Timescale for implementation Describe the
implementation
• Risks involved approach

Fig. Steps in preparing Business case

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Conducting Feasibility study
• Do preliminary analysis • Conduct Operational,
• Conduct Economic feasibility Technical and Market
analysis feasibility analysis
• Benefit-cost analysis • Conduct Legal and regulatory
• Break-even analysis feasibility analysis
• Conduct Financial feasibility • Conduct Environmental
analysis feasibility analysis
• Loan availability • Conduct Social feasibility
• Creditworthiness analysis
• Land purchase, lease, etc

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Establishing Terms of Reference
• The justification for carrying Background Objectives
out project
• Proposed methodology to
manage project Implementation
Key Issues
Methodology
• Resource requirements
• Reporting rules and
requirements Expertise Reporting
Required Requirements
TOR
Format Work Plan
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Performing Phase Review
• Conducted at end of each phase
• Purpose is to check whether project is right on track or not
• Also to inform stakeholders about the progress of project
• Outcomes are documented in phase review form
• Phase review form includes:
• Results of project review
• Progress of project to date
• Any risks or issues that have impacted the project
• Project outcomes produced to date

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Project Charter
• A statement describing the high level project scope, objectives and
roles and responsibilities
• It identifies main stakeholders and level of activity of project manager
• According to PMI, project charter is “a document issued by the
project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of
project, and provides the project manager with the authority to apply
organisational resources to project activities.”
• Issued by Project Sponsor empowering Project Manager to begin the
project
• Created during initiation phase
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Components of Project Charter
Statement of Critical Success
Benefits
need Factors

Measures of Stakeholders
Approach
Success and Customers

Assumptions Project Team

Project Scope
and Constraints Structure

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Critical Success Factors
• As the name suggests, this section outlines which aspects of the
project are crucial for success
• If these select factors are not achieved, the project timeline or
budget will surely suffer
E.g. Continuing the same example, the Critical Success factors
can be
• Strong project management
• Thorough and complete testing of all business processes
• Minimal disruption from other projects

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Measures of Success
• The metrics included in this section are those that will
determine whether or not the project is successful, and
should be directly impacted by the aforementioned Critical
Success Factors
• These are the specific measures by which the project team
and the project itself will be evaluated.
e.g.
Upgrade completed without unexpected disruption to the
business
Upgrade completed within budget and timeframe
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Approach
• “How” of the project
• How is the project going to be implemented to address the
Statement of Need, Critical Success Factors and Measures of
Success?
• This section is one of the most important to discuss with all
parties involved so as to ensure everyone is on the same page
with the project implementation strategy and methodology.
e.g.
Perform a “like for like” upgrade
Implement base functionality without modifying program code.
Perform the installation, configuration and testing in an alternate
environment dedicated only to this project. 12
Stakeholders and Customers
• This lists those outside of the consulting team who are involved and
impacted by the project
• It serves as the list of those to whom the project team is accountable
• If the project consists of multiple phases, it is important to indicate
who is affected by which phase
e.g.
Individual Role Affected by
Mr. ABC Owner / President Phase 1
Mr. PQR CIO Phase 1
Mr. JKL VP Phase 1
Mr. XYZ Customer Service Phase 2
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Project Scope
• Project Scope is a more detailed section of the charter
• It is often broken into three subsections: Scope, Deliverables and
Out of Scope
• The Project Scope provides boundaries for the work, which helps
maintain focus and avoid scope creep
• The scope statement in the charter is the reference point used by
the project manager to say "yes" or "no" to various requests
throughout the process.
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• Scope
• The upgrade is limited to platform-specific data and interfacing
applications and third-party programs.
• Deliverables
Milestone Deliverables
Technical Phase A detailed go live task list, test scripts and
results of mock go live
Go Live Stats reports and issue logs
Post Go Live SupportStatus reports and support

• Out of Scope
• A statement of what is out of scope is as important as a statement of
what is in scope to determine the boundaries of a project
• Non-platform applications
• Functionality not specifically identified in the Scope section
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Assumptions, Constraints and Dependencies
• Assumptions, lists which responsibilities each party will oversee;
such as who is paying for what and which members of the
customer’s staff will be available
• The Constraints and Dependencies section lays out things that may
negatively affect the project and that need to be taken into
consideration
• This section also includes a list of Risks, which are another
important list for all parties to be aware of as the project begins so
that proper mitigation strategies can be discussed ahead of time.

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Examples:
• Assumption
• The Customer will staff the internal project team with personnel that have
sufficient business and industry knowledge to make key decisions
• The Customer will purchase, subscribe to, install, and maintain all necessary
third-party applications

• Constraints/Dependencies
• PTO, holidays and other scheduling constraints that affect project team
availability will be published, as they become known

• Risks
• Code changes required by the project could impact go-live if modifications or
custom code are installed after the code freeze date
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Project Team Structure
• Here the roles of each member of the project team are assigned and
explained
• Occasionally categorized by customer or development team, this
outlines the role, the person assigned to it, and the responsibilities of
that role
• This eliminates any confusion as to who is responsible for which
aspect of the project and helps ease communication when questions
arise.
e.g. Role Resource Responsibilities
Managing Director Mrs. Roberts Business contact, recipient of notifications
Project Managers Mr. Williams Provide project leadership, recipient of
Mr. Smith notifications

Senior Technical Manager Ms. Matthews Technical lead for the development team
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