Project Inititation Document

Project initiation document

The Project Initiation Documentation

Ø  It is assembled from a series of other documents, including the Business Case, the Terms of Reference, the Communication Plan, the Risk register, the Project Tolerances, the Project plan, and any specific project controls or inspections as part of a departmental Quality plan or common project approach.

 

Ø  The PID represents a detailed version of the basic project start-up document called the Project Brief.

Ø  In short, this is the, "What, Why, Who, How and When", part of the project.

Ø  PID is a guide to a project, clearly laying out the justification for a project, what its objectives will be, and how the project will be organized

Ø  Bundled together, the PID forms the logical document that brings together all of the key information needed to start and run the project on a sound basis.

Ø  The amount of detail included should be sufficient for the reader to understand the basic purpose of the project and to determine, in principle, the overall feasibility of the project objectives and plan.

 

Ø  It is the document that goes before the Project Board for sign- off to commence a project.

Ø  It should be conveyed to all stakeholders and agreed and signed off by the business sponsors

Ø  The PID is supported by many detailed planning documents that may not be entirely completed by the time that the PID is prepared.

Note: You can also use a Project Charter instead of a Project Initiation Document for these purposes as they are very similar documents. However, a Project Charter usually has less detail. So a Project Initiation Document is more suited to projects where you have the resources to write a more detailed document.

A Project Initiation Document often contains the following ^[3]

Section 1: What?

This section tells the reader what the project is seeking to achieve. In it, describe the problem that the project is seeking to solve, as well as a full definition of the project.

This section will typically cover the following topics:

Background
What is the context of the project, and why is the work needed? Briefly describe the idea or problem, and discuss why this project is relevant and timely. The details will come later, so use this section to highlight briefly how this project came to be.

Project Definition

• Purpose: Why are you doing this work? Describe the desired end result of this project.
• Objectives: What specific outcomes will be achieved, and how will you measure these outcomes? Remember to limit the number of objectives for your project – four or five goals are typically enough.
• Scope: What are the boundaries for this project (for example, type of work, type of client, type of problem, geographic area covered)? List any areas excluded that you believe stakeholders might assume are included, but are not. The more specific you are, the less opportunity there is for misunderstanding at a later stage in the project.
• Deliverables: What will the project deliver as outputs? Where you can, describe deliverables as tangible items like reports, products, or services. Remember to include a date that each deliverable is expected. You'll use this information to monitor milestones.
• Constraints: What things must you take into consideration that will influence your deliverables and schedule? These are external variables that you cannot control but need to manage.
• Assumptions: What assumptions are you making at the start of the project? If necessary, schedule work to confirm these assumptions.

Section 2: Why?

Build a business case to show why your project is going ahead. Describe the effect the project will have on the business, and support this with a detailed account of the risks that should be considered.

Business Case

• Benefits: Why are you carrying out this project, and what benefits do you expect it to deliver? Include information on how these benefits will be measured. For more on benefits management, click here.
• Options: What other courses of action were considered as this project was designed and developed?
• Cost and Timescale: Provide a breakdown of project costs and related financing.
• Cost/Benefit Analysis: How are the costs of the project balanced against the expected returns? For details of how to construct a cost/benefit analysis, click here.

Risk Analysis

• Risk Identification: Identify the risks within the project, and that you'll either need to manage or accept.
• Risk Prevention: Describe what you are going to do to mitigate or manage risks.
• Risk Management: Where you can't prevent risks, what are your contingency plans for dealing with them? What actions will you take should the risk materialize?
• Risk Monitoring: What processes do you have in place to routinely assess the risks associated with your project?

For more on how to identify and manage risk, click here.

Section 3: Who?

Describe how the project will be organized and managed. Identify reporting lines, and outline specific roles that will be filled. You need to be clear about staff roles so that you don't duplicate responsibilities, and so that everyone is clear about what's expected of them. If this is a long-term project, you may even consider developing job descriptions for team members.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Project Organization Chart/Structure: Create a diagram that shows the lines of authority and reporting for each project team member.
• Project Sponsor: Who has the ultimate authority and control over the project and its implementation?
• Project Manager: Who is the Project Manager, and what are his or her responsibilities?
• Project Team: Who are the key members of the project team? What are their roles and job descriptions? What are their phone numbers and email addresses? What is their original department or organization? And to whom do they report to on a daily basis?

Section 4: How and When?

Provide broad information about how the project will be implemented. Outline how the project will roll out by defining timelines, resources, and management stages. This is a high-level overview that will, as the project proceeds, be supported by more detailed project planning documents.

Initial Project Plan

• Assignments: What major tasks (with milestones) will be completed during the project?
• Schedule: Provide a report of the estimated time involved for the project. You've probably already prepared a high level Gantt chart or similar schedule, so the PID simply summarizes the anticipated schedule.
• Human Resources: How many days activity will be needed to complete the project? How many support staff will be needed? Will you need to bring more people onto the project team?
• Project Control: How will progress be monitored and communicated?
• Quality Control: How will the quality of deliverables be evaluated and monitored?

Hope this helps.

Reference: Link1

Regards,

Arun Manglick

Project Manager – PMP, CSM