Initiating processes at PMPeople

Initiating projects should be a key decision at any organization. Before committing funding and resources, a thorough analysis must be done on project convenience, strategic alignment, opportunity, etc. Besides, any approved project should have a written evidence of the initiation rationale and who authorized it: the sponsor. When large projects are divided into sequential phases, each phase should be initiated as well.

Project Managers develop many initiation activities, including:

• Perform project assessment based upon available information, lessons learned from previous projects, and meetings with relevant stakeholders in order to support the evaluation of the feasibility of new products or services within the given assumptions and/or constraints.
• Identify key deliverables based on the business requirements in order to manage customer expectations and direct the achievement of project goals.
• Perform stakeholder analysis using appropriate tools and techniques in order to align expectations and gain support for the project.
• Identify high level risks, assumptions, and constraints based on the current environment, organizational factors, historical data, and expert judgment, in order to propose an implementation strategy.
• Participate in the development of the project charter by compiling and analyzing gathered information in order to ensure project stakeholders agree on its elements.
• Obtain project charter approval from the sponsor, in order to formalize the authority assigned to the project manager and gain commitment and acceptance for the project.
• Conduct benefit analysis with relevant stakeholders to validate project alignment with organizational strategy and expected business value.
• Inform stakeholders of the approved project charter to ensure common understanding of the key deliverables, milestones, and their roles and responsibilities.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) describe two initiating processes:

• Develop Project Charter: Developing a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.
• Identify Stakeholders: Identifying project stakeholders regularly and analyzing and documenting relevant information regarding their interests, involvement, interdependencies, influence, and potential impact on project success.

Organization experts collaborate to agree on the rationale behind the project initiation. If the project is authorized, a formal document named project charter, containing the main organizational topics concerning the project, is signed by the project sponsor, meaning that organization is committed to get the project done, funds are allocated and resources are preassigned. It is a recommended good practice to have a project manager working in this phase, even before the project is approved, to help produce this document, making sure the right experts collaborate, and a solid rationale is written. A good project charter should include a description of the responsibility, and authority level of the project manager.

Other initiation activity, in parallel with the go/no-go decision making, and no less important, is to elaborate a stakeholder register. Good project managers start managing as soon as possible, writing down the relevant information about stakeholders: their position regarding the project, power, interests, knowledge, accessibility, concerns, high level requirements, etc.

Project initiation data are easy to access in PMPeople. Tab INITIATION is automatically opened when the project state is “initiating”. Project Managers can update the project basic data, the expected project benefits summary, the project charter, the extended project team, and the stakeholder register:

PMPeople does not replace the necessary processes to analyze and launch projects. However, it can optimize management through some use cases explained below.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of initiating processes in PMPeople?

Initiating processes ensure that a project is aligned with business strategy, has stakeholder support, and is formally authorized through a project charter.

What documents are created during the initiation phase?

Key documents include the project charter and stakeholder register, both of which outline scope, responsibilities, and key roles.

How does PMPeople support project initiation?

PMPeople provides an “INITIATION” tab where Project Managers can input project data, benefits summary, stakeholder info, and more when the project is in the initiating state.