Initiating a project

• Purpose
• Objective
• Context
• Activities
  • Overview
  • Prepare the Risk Management Strategy
  • Prepare the Configuration Management Strategy
  • Prepare the Quality Management Strategy
  • Prepare the Communication Management Strategy
  • Set up the project controls
  • Create the Project Plan
  • Refine the Business Case
  • Assemble the Project Initiation Documentation

Key sections

• Introduction
• Business case
• Organization
• Quality
• Plans
• Risk
• Change
• Progress
• Introduction to processes
• Starting up a projectDirecting a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing Product Delivery
• Managing a Stage Boundary
• Closing a Project
• Tailoring PRINCE2 to the project environment
• Directing Projects with PRINCE2

Activities

Assemble the Project Initiation Documentation

There needs to be a focal point at which all information relating to the ‘what, why, who, how, where, when, and how much’ of the project is:

• Gathered for agreement by the key stakeholders
• Available for guidance and information for those involved in the project.

This information is collated into the Project Initiation Documentation.
The Project Initiation Documentation is an aggregation of many of the management products created during initiation and used to gain authorization for the project to proceed.
It is not necessarily (and rarely) a single document, but a collection of documents.

The version of the Project Initiation Documentation created during the Initiating a Project process, and used to gain authorization for the project to proceed, should be preserved.
It will be used later as a means to compare the project’s actual performance against the original forecasts that formed the basis of approval.

Diagram 1 shows the inputs to, and outputs from, this activity.

© Crown copyright 2005 Reproduced under licence from OGC

Diagram 1

PRINCE2® recommends the following actions:

• Extract and, if necessary, revise information from the Project Brief (project definition and project approach)
• Include or reference information in the:
• Project’s management team structure and role descriptions
• Business Case
• Quality Management Strategy
• Configuration Management Strategy
• Risk Management [see ‘The Complete Risk Management package’] Strategy
• Communication Management Strategy
• Project Plan
• Include or reference the project controls and summarize how the project has tailored PRINCE2
• Assemble the Project Initiation Documentation
• Carry out a cross-check of the information in the various elements to ensure that they are compatible
• Consult with Project Assurance to check that the assembled Project Initiation Documentation meets the needs of the Project Board and/or corporate or programme management
• Prepare for the next stage (which triggers the Managing a Stage Boundary process)
• Request authority from the Project Board to deliver the project

Diagram 2 shows the responsibilities for this activity.

© Crown copyright 2005 Reproduced under licence from OGC

Diagram 2

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