PMI calls it Initiating Process Group and includes two processes called as Develop Project Charter and Identify stakeholder. This you can say as the base of project and remember that a tiny mistake here is going to have much bigger impact on the project in future.
In practice, a Project initiation starts much before writing the Project Charter and we can conclude the entire process into 10 steps. In my upcoming posts, I'll explain all Process Groups in similar detailed steps.
Life of a project starts with a Project Initiator or sponsor who comes up with a business case or an agreement and the Project Statement of Work.
Above statement includes two very critical terms i.e.. Project Sponsor, and Business Case and before we move ahead, it is important to understand these terms.
Project sponsor is the person who connects Project Team with the Organizations Management. From the organization's perspective, the Project Sponsor aligns project with Organization's Goals and from Project Team's perspective, Project Sponsor helps Project Manager to get support from Organization.
A Business case is a very powerful document and it really decides whether the Project will be selected for execution or not. It necessarily includes (but not limited to this)-
Apart from the initial information about project (as above) there are two more important and deciding factor which are-
Standard Processes, Proceedures, Information and learning from old projects, and Norms of the organization. In PMBOK terms, this is called Organizational Process Assets (OPA) &
The External environment (it may be Geographical, Legal, Political, competitions) in which the organization is operating. PMBOK calls it Enterprise Environmental Factor.
These two things are many a time a deciding factor for the project in an organization. Not just for deciding the project selection OPA and EEF plays role in almost every decision in the life of project.
Based on the inputs from stage 1 and 2, project is selected for execution. Project selection is done by a project selection committee or some other competent authority who evaluates all available project options and select a project which is best as per the "Project Selection Criteria".
Now that Project has been selected, next most important task is to assign "Project Manager" to the Project. Hence, your project as PM starts right from the beginning of the project.
As a project manager, you are ultimately responsible for the success of project and hence you should look at two broad things-
a. The organization's system, processes, procedures, information from historical projects to to gain knowledge about project has to be managed under specific circumstances.
b. Look at Project statement of work to decide whether project should be managed in single phase or it is large enough and can be managed more effectively by dividing into phases. Whatever be the case, you should finalize the approach with strong justifications and take consensus from the sponsor.
Wow!!! so you have decided the approach and ready to dive deeper into the project. Get deep understanding of the business case for which project has been selected. This is quite important step and mostly missed by inexperienced PMs. The business case helps you to understand how project fits into the organizational / strategic goals of the organization. While running the project, this information keeps you focused towards the organization's objective which in turns help to get support from senior management for the project.
After having understood the Business case, you'll look at project statement of work to come up with-
a. The initial requirements as per statement.
b. Initial assumptions and possible risks.
c. Major constraints.
At previous step we acquired the knowledge about what has to be delivered and under what constraints.
This is the high time to evaluate whether desired result under given circumstances is possible or not. This is called feasibility analysis and is done at two levels-
a. The project feasibility analysis.
b. Product feasibility analysis.
With feasibility analysis done, you will have below information in hand-
a. Project Statement of Work.
b. Business Case.
c. Initial Requirements.
d. Major Constraints.
e. Risks and Assumptions.
f. Feasibility
g. Measurable Project Objectives (being measurable is must else you won't be able to tell when your Project Objectives are met).
h. The Project Manager
All above details shall be consolidated into one document called Project Charter which is signed by Sponsor.
Project Charter is first authoritative formal document which describes project objectives and authorize Project Manager to use organization's resources to run the project.
The next important task or the very first task after being an authorized Project Manager is to identify people you may be concerned or impacted (Positively or Negatively) with the project. We call them stakeholders. The stakeholders which are positively concerned with the project can be a good support for the project and those who are negatively concerned can be a threat to the project. In either case, knowing your stakeholders and their interest (positive or negative) and their ability to influence the project is beneficial. Once you have these information, you can plan a strategy to handle them.
This strategy we call Stakeholder Management Strategy. The stakeholders details, their interest, ability to influence the project and plan to handle them is documented in "Stakeholder Register".
Although developing stakeholder management strategy is a planning task, it is included into "Initiating Process Group" of PMBOK.
With this we are done with initiation of the project. Before we start with planning let's look once again what all major tasks we did in project initiation.
Develop Project Statement of Work and Business Case, evaluation of project and final selection, selection of project manager, deciding to run project in single phase or multiple phases, acquire knowledge of organizational processes and constraints, know measurable objectives,
Develop & sign-off Project Charter, Know your stakeholders and plan how to manage them.
In practice, a Project initiation starts much before writing the Project Charter and we can conclude the entire process into 10 steps. In my upcoming posts, I'll explain all Process Groups in similar detailed steps.
Step-1:
Above statement includes two very critical terms i.e.. Project Sponsor, and Business Case and before we move ahead, it is important to understand these terms.
Project sponsor is the person who connects Project Team with the Organizations Management. From the organization's perspective, the Project Sponsor aligns project with Organization's Goals and from Project Team's perspective, Project Sponsor helps Project Manager to get support from Organization.
A Business case is a very powerful document and it really decides whether the Project will be selected for execution or not. It necessarily includes (but not limited to this)-
- Overview of the Project.
- Why the Project required.
- What are the benefits of this Project.
- Risk Analysis
Step-2:
Apart from the initial information about project (as above) there are two more important and deciding factor which are-
Standard Processes, Proceedures, Information and learning from old projects, and Norms of the organization. In PMBOK terms, this is called Organizational Process Assets (OPA) &
The External environment (it may be Geographical, Legal, Political, competitions) in which the organization is operating. PMBOK calls it Enterprise Environmental Factor.
These two things are many a time a deciding factor for the project in an organization. Not just for deciding the project selection OPA and EEF plays role in almost every decision in the life of project.
Step-3:
Based on the inputs from stage 1 and 2, project is selected for execution. Project selection is done by a project selection committee or some other competent authority who evaluates all available project options and select a project which is best as per the "Project Selection Criteria".
Step-4:
Now that Project has been selected, next most important task is to assign "Project Manager" to the Project. Hence, your project as PM starts right from the beginning of the project.
Step-5:
As a project manager, you are ultimately responsible for the success of project and hence you should look at two broad things-
a. The organization's system, processes, procedures, information from historical projects to to gain knowledge about project has to be managed under specific circumstances.
b. Look at Project statement of work to decide whether project should be managed in single phase or it is large enough and can be managed more effectively by dividing into phases. Whatever be the case, you should finalize the approach with strong justifications and take consensus from the sponsor.
Step-6:
Wow!!! so you have decided the approach and ready to dive deeper into the project. Get deep understanding of the business case for which project has been selected. This is quite important step and mostly missed by inexperienced PMs. The business case helps you to understand how project fits into the organizational / strategic goals of the organization. While running the project, this information keeps you focused towards the organization's objective which in turns help to get support from senior management for the project.
Step-7:
After having understood the Business case, you'll look at project statement of work to come up with-
a. The initial requirements as per statement.
b. Initial assumptions and possible risks.
c. Major constraints.
Step-8:
At previous step we acquired the knowledge about what has to be delivered and under what constraints.
This is the high time to evaluate whether desired result under given circumstances is possible or not. This is called feasibility analysis and is done at two levels-
a. The project feasibility analysis.
b. Product feasibility analysis.
Step-9:
With feasibility analysis done, you will have below information in hand-
a. Project Statement of Work.
b. Business Case.
c. Initial Requirements.
d. Major Constraints.
e. Risks and Assumptions.
f. Feasibility
g. Measurable Project Objectives (being measurable is must else you won't be able to tell when your Project Objectives are met).
h. The Project Manager
All above details shall be consolidated into one document called Project Charter which is signed by Sponsor.
Project Charter is first authoritative formal document which describes project objectives and authorize Project Manager to use organization's resources to run the project.
Step-10:
The next important task or the very first task after being an authorized Project Manager is to identify people you may be concerned or impacted (Positively or Negatively) with the project. We call them stakeholders. The stakeholders which are positively concerned with the project can be a good support for the project and those who are negatively concerned can be a threat to the project. In either case, knowing your stakeholders and their interest (positive or negative) and their ability to influence the project is beneficial. Once you have these information, you can plan a strategy to handle them.
This strategy we call Stakeholder Management Strategy. The stakeholders details, their interest, ability to influence the project and plan to handle them is documented in "Stakeholder Register".
Although developing stakeholder management strategy is a planning task, it is included into "Initiating Process Group" of PMBOK.
With this we are done with initiation of the project. Before we start with planning let's look once again what all major tasks we did in project initiation.
A. Pre-Initiation:
Develop Project Statement of Work and Business Case, evaluation of project and final selection, selection of project manager, deciding to run project in single phase or multiple phases, acquire knowledge of organizational processes and constraints, know measurable objectives,
B. Initiation:
Develop & sign-off Project Charter, Know your stakeholders and plan how to manage them.
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