Starting Up A Project – Key Steps
Starting up a project purpose
The purpose of the process of starting up a project is to ensure that the prerequisites for initiating a
project are established by answering the question, ‘do we have a viable and worthwhile project? ’
The decision to start the project must be explicit, as the activities within the process of starting up a
project happened before this decision.
Nothing should be done until fundamental information needed to make rational decisions about the commissioning of the project is defined, key roles and responsibilities are resourced and allocated, and a foundation for detailed planning is available.
The purpose of the process of starting up a project is as much about preventing poorly conceived
ideas from ever being initiated as it is about progressing viable projects for approval.
As such, starting up a project is a lighter process compared to the more detailed and thorough process of
initiating a project. The aim is to do the minimum necessary to decide whether it is worthwhile to
even initiate the project.
Starting Up A Project – Appoint the executive and the project manager
It is the responsibility of corporate or programme management (if the project is part of a programme), to appoint the executive. Once the executive role has been appointed, they can then appoint the project manager.
The first activity that the project manager must do is to create the daily log, which acts as the project manager’s personal diary. It’s broad use here is to record any personal actions plus their outcomes, and to note down any issues or risks that are known at this point in time.
Note. The issue log and risk log are created within the initiation stage and any formal risks or issues contained within the daily log will be then transferred to either at the issue of risk log. For the remainder of the project, any informal issues will continue to be captured and managed within the daily log.
Prepare the outline business case
It is the executive role and is responsible for creating the outline business case. At this pre-project point in time, the business case will be stated at a fairly high level and lacking in real detail, but should contain sufficient information to justify undertaking the project.
The next responsibility of the project manager is to create the project product description and it should be created by liaising with the senior user role. The project product description will describe the specifications and quality criteria for the major products that will be created during a project.
In the final stage of the project, the project product description will be used to verify that the correct products have been created.
Capture previous lessons
Here, the project manager creates the lessons log, and enters any lessons from previous projects that will help with the management of this particular project.
To do this, the project manager may need to gather information from others within the organization. In particular if the organization has a project office which will often store lessons learned from past projects.
Design and appoint the project management team
The executive and the project manager will now design the project management team structure and create job descriptions for all those filling the roles. It is normally the executive who will appoint other members of the project board including project assurance.
The project manager will focus on designing roles such as the use of team managers and project support staff.
Select the project approach and assemble the project brief
It is the project manager who will create the project approach which describes the overall approach to be used for delivering the products. This will include options such as creating the products in-house or using a third party, designing a new product or modifying an existing one.
Next, the project manager assembles the project brief. This will include describing the scope of the project in terms of what’s included and what is not, and laying out the general objectives or goals the project needs to achieve.
In addition, the project brief will contain the management products already created such as the project management team structure, their role descriptions, the outline business case, the project product description, and the project approach.
Plan the initiation stage
The project manager will create the stage plan for the initiation stage. The plan will describe exactly what resources (including human and non-human resources) are needed the funds required, and the timescale of the initiation stage.
It is worth mentioning that during the initiation stage, two main management products will be created; the project initiation documentation and a stage plan for the next stage (which will be the first delivery stage where the specialist products are created).
Therefore, the initiation stage plan will need to include all of the activities necessary to create the project initiation documentation and the stage plan for the following stage.
So in summary, the starting up a project process will create two main management products; the project brief and the initiation stage plan.
These two documents will contain all of the evidence needed for the project board to make an informed choice about whether or not to proceed to the initiation stage.
If the project board decides not to proceed then the project will not begin. Alternatively the project board may suggest modifying the information within the project brief in some way such as de-scoping the potential new project, and then for a second time deciding whether to proceed or not.
The main purpose of the starting up a project process is to act as a filter to only allow viable and worthwhile projects to proceed to the initiation stage.
The starting up a project process provides key base information to allow the project will want to make an informed choice about whether the initiation stage should be started or not.
Because of the nature of starting up a project, then this process will tend to be somewhat simpler and quicker than the other processes. The objective here is to do the minimum necessary to prepare information for the project board to make an informed choice.
The project mandate is provided by appropriate senior management which PRINCE2 calls corporate management. However, some projects may take place within a programme, in which case it will be programme management who issues the project mandate.
Which ever source, the project mandate should provide the terms of reference for the project and should contain sufficient information to identify at least the prospect is executive of the project board.
An outline business case is created to ensure there is sufficient business justification, and that the necessary authorities are designed and appointed ready for the initiating the project activity. These authorities have the project management team.
The project mandate is refined and expanded to become the project brief. The project brief will contain the project product description, the outline business case, and the various approaches the project can be delivered are evaluated and presented as the project approach.
The documentation within the project brief will clarify any assumptions that must be made, the scope of the project, any constraints, top-level timescales and define the project acceptance criteria.
A plan for the initiation stage is created outlining the work required for the initiation stage. Because of the nature of the starting up a project process, there will be regular and frequent interaction and consultations between the project manager the project board members and other appropriate stakeholders.
The contents of the project brief will be later refined and extended to become the project initiation documentation.
In summary, the activities to be undertaken in starting up a project:
- Appoint the executive and the project manager
- Capture previous lessons
- Design and appoint the project management team
- prepare the outline business case
- Select the project approach and assemble the project brief
- Plan the initiation stage
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