Please watch this video before proceeding further. This video will introduce you to some of the basic, yet widely used definitions of project management.
Initiation process group comprises of two processes;
- Develop project charter
- Identify stakeholders
The project sponsor calls you to his cabin, and says ‘We have appointed you as the project manager‘ for this new prestigious project, which is very important for your company. The following sequence will help you to get going fast;
1) Catch hold of a copy of the project charter, prepared by the sponsor and try to understand;
a) The business case of the project
b) The high level deliverables
c) The major milestone dates
d) The major risks identified
e) The documented roles and responsibilities of the project manager
f) The documented roles and responsibilities of the sponsor
g) The key stakeholders
A stakeholder is anyone, who is affected positively or negatively, by doing a project, or by not doing project. For a project, some of the very prominent stakeholders are;
- The project sponsor
- The project manager
- The end users
- The sub contractors
- The team members
- Families of the project team
- The government agencies
- Competitors
- The local citizens etc…
This list can be much more elaborate and is very project specific. Identifying all the stakeholders at the beginning of the project, and having proactive plans to manage them is critical to any project’s success.
h) Enterprise environmental factors to be considered during planning and execution
i) Organizational process assets to be considered throughout the project
j) Assumptions, Constraints
Key points?
- The first step in initiation is the preparation of project charter, followed by stakeholder analysis.
- Project charter is a less than five page document containing;
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- The business case of the project
- High level description of the product of the project
- The key constraints (time, cost, scope)
- High level risks
- Assumptions
- Project manager’s name
- Roles and responsibilities of the project manager
- Roles and responsibilities of the sponsor
- Key stakeholder details
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- The project sponsor is accountable for preparing and approving the project charter.
- Project sponsor can be an individual or group of people.
- Since the contract is signed prior to initiation, contract and the statement of work (SOW) are available for reference while preparing the project charter.
- The project charter contains the business case, key deliverables, major milestones with dates, key stakeholders details, major risks, project managers name, roles and responsibilities, sponsor’s name.
- Once the charter is released, any changes to it has to be re-approved by the sponsor.
- The second output of initiation is the stakeholder register.
- Because the project manager’s name, roles and responsibilities are documented in the project charter, and approved by the sponsor (senior management representative), we say that the charter gives authority to the project manager.
Points to ponder
- If the project charter is not available, what can be done?
