Project Management: Project Initiation

Now that we have understood the activities involved in the Project Selection phase, lets review the Project Initiation Phase

The Initiation Phase has two important deliverables namely

• Business Process Analysis
• Project Charter

Each of this deliverable has clearly defined contents and needs certain activities to be carried out.

Business Process Analysis

A set of inter-related and inter-acting Activities that convert Input to Output is defined as #Process. A Business Process is those set of activities that have to be carried out in the Value Addition Process like Sales, Purchasing, Design, Production, Shipment, etc..

A Business Process Mapping has to be developed for the Analysis to be Effective.

Once the Mapping is complete, each Sub-Process or for that matter each Activity has to be systematically analysed for its impacts. An initial Risk Assessment is imperative at this stage. A Value Stream Mapping #VSM of the Process would be prudent approach.

Project Charter:

The Project Charter is the formal Authorisation for a Project to take-off. This document primarily consists of

• The Problem Statement
• Overview of the Project - High Level Deliverables
• Project Scope
• Objective of the Project
• Stakeholders, Roles & Responsibilities
• Milestones & Timelines
• Funding & Sponsor
• Assumptions

The Charter has to be prepared after due consideration from all angles, with engagement of knowledgable people and signed off by the key stakeholders. While the Charter itself may be crisp and to the point document, a detailed annexure to this Charter would bode well. The more accurate the Charter is, better will be the Project Execution.

The Project Charter will be the Go-to document for any potential future changes or conflicts that may arrive at the subsequent phases of Project Management

In the next article we shall move to the Project Planning Phase