PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Lecture 3
Initiating Process

Dr. Talal Alharbi, PhD

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Objectives

• Initiating process.
• Stakeholders identification and analysis
• Statement of work “sow”.
• Business case .
• Project charter
• Project management initiation process tips.

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1. INITIATING PROCESS
 Initiating the project means setting up the project
from the idea or inception and making sure it is:
• the right project
• in the right place
• at the right time
• for the right purpose
 Initiating a project includes recognizing and
starting a new project or new project phase.

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1. INITIATING PROCESS
 Initiating processes include:
 Clarification of the project purpose and justification
 Identify stakeholder and their needs analysis
 Designation of user requirements or other specifications
 Establishment of clear and shared project objectives
 Generation of options to deliver the project objectives
 Evaluation of options and selection of the most appropriate
 Documentation of this process as the Project charter
(Project Proposal/Definition Document ).
 it is important to check whether all key stakeholders are
in agreement on all of the points listed above before
proceeding to the planning stage.
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1. INITIATING PROCESS
 Research indicates that most projects that end up
failures have either skipped the project initiation
phase altogether or have been through inadequate
initiation processes.
 The project is initiated or defined to determine its
viability. Essentially, a GO/NO GO decision about
its viability needs to be made by the end of the
initiating process.

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1.1 Initiating Project and its Subjects
Processes
Impleme Close-
Subjects Initiation Planning Control
ntation Out
Integration     
Stakeholder  
Scope  
Resource    
Time  
Cost  
Risk   
Quality   
Procurements   
Communication
  
s 6
1.2 Integrated Initiation of a Project

Process
• Assign project top
Inputs management
• Project • Identify and analyze
statement of stakeholders Outputs
work
• Define resources, roles and
• Contract/appr • Project
responsibilities
oved proposal charter
• Develop project charter
• Business case • Approval to
including preliminary
or previous GO/NOT GO
scope, cost, schedule and
phase quality
documents
• Identify risks
• Confirm approval to
proceed
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2. STAKEHOLDERS IDENTIFICATION AND
ANALYSIS
 Person, group or organization that has
interests in, or can affect, be affected by, or
perceive itself to be affected by, any aspect of
the project.
 This interest or effect may be:
• Positive or negative
• Strong or weak
• Financial or non financial
• Real or perceived
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2.1 Stakeholders and Project Organization

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2.1 Stakeholders and Project
Organization
As shown in the figure three categories of
stakeholders may be addressed:
I. The project organization which may include :
1) Project manager, who leads and manages
project activities and is accountable for its
completion;
2) Project management team, which supports the
project manager in his responsibility;
3) Project team (Doers), which performs project
activities. Those also include: Sustainers , who
will support the product of the project in use.
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2.1 Stakeholders and Project
Organization
II. The project governance which may include:
1) Project sponsor, who authorizes the project,
makes executive decisions and solves
problems and conflicts beyond the project
manager’s authority;
2) Project steering committee or board, which
contributes to the project by providing
senior level guidance to the project.

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2.1 Stakeholders and Project
Organization
III. Other or additional stakeholders which may
include:
1) Customers or customer representatives, who
contribute to the project by specifying project
requirements and accepting the project
deliverables;
2) Suppliers, who contribute to the project by
supplying resources to the project;
3) Users, who will use the product of the project.
4) Dependents, who need an interim work item from
the project. 12
2.1 Stakeholders and Project
Organization
III. Other or additional stakeholders which may
include:
6) In-laws , who are affected by the actions of the
other stakeholders.
7) Project management office, which may perform
a wide variety of activities including
governance, standardization, project
management training, project planning and
project monitoring. This also include auditors,
who will verify compliance with applicable
standards.
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2.2 Stakeholders Analysis

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2.2 Stakeholders Analysis
 Stakeholders have the following broad needs:
 To have their opinions sought and to have their
views heard;
 To be able to raise issues and concerns and see
those issues being addressed and resolved by
the project;
 To be able to help shape the project.
 To achieve their interest and expectations
regarding the project
 Stakeholders must be identified, have their needs
and expectations understood. They also must be
managed, and be communicated with frequently in
order to complete the project successfully 15
2.2 Stakeholders Analysis
 Stakeholder analysis serves three purposes:
• to identify the key stakeholders and their
requirements and expectations.
• to ensure we effectively manage the
expectations of stakeholders
• to determine the information needs of the
various stakeholders and to devise a
communication strategy that will best serve
the project.
 Use a project stakeholder analysis worksheet

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2.2 Stakeholders Analysis
 Sponsor influence over time:

Sponsor influence
High

=$
Cost of change
Low
Project time
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3. STATEMENT OF WORK “SOW”
 The customer issue a SOW and is one way to
communicate specific, measurable expectations for
the project
 SOW : a portion of a certain formal contracts that
describes the requested work
 SOW : contains explicit acceptance criteria
 Example :
• The brakes should have the capacity to stop a bicycle moving at
10 mph in 1.15 meters in dry concrete, under conditions of 0.85
and rolling coefficient of 0.014.
• This condition shall be verified by company testing SOP.
• The ES&H regulations should be meet in recycling product
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 4. BUSINESS CASE
 A business case captures the reasoning for initiating
a project .
 It is often presented in a well-structured written
document, but may be also a short verbal argument
or presentation.
 The logic of the business case is that,
whenever resources such as money or effort are
consumed, they should be in support of a specific
business need.
 An example could be that a software upgrade might
improve system performance, but the "business case" is
that better performance would improve customer
satisfaction, require less task processing time, or reduce
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system maintenance costs.
4.1 Benefits of Business Case

 A business case is a helpful document to perform

the followings:
• Research the business problem or opportunity
• Identify the alternative solutions available
• Quantify the benefits and costs of each solution
• Recommend a preferred solution to your
sponsor
• Identify any risks and issues with
implementation
• Present the solution for funding approval

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 5. PROJECT CHARTER
 Project Charter is a document issued by senior
management that formally authorizes the work of
the project to begin (or continue) and gives the
project manager authority to do his job.
 The project charter is a document that formally
recognizes the existence of a project.
 The project charter is typically drafted by the
Project Manager or by senior management, but its
development is a team effort. The published owner
is the Project Sponsor

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 5.1 Purposes of project charter
1. Formally authorize a project or a new project phase;
2. Document the business needs and the economic
aspects of the project.
3. Identify the project vision and objectives
4. Define the overall scope of the project
5. List all of the critical project deliverables
6. State the customers and project stakeholders and list
their key roles and responsibilities
7. Create an organizational structure for the project and
define the project manager responsibilities and
authorities
8. List any risks, issues and assumptions
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5.2 Develop project charter
 The project charter links the project to the
strategic objectives of the organization and
should identify any appropriate terms of
reference, obligations, assumptions and
constraints.
 The charter should be SMART:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-specific 23
5.3 Contents of Project Charter
 Recommended contents may include but not
limited to
 Project Title, Start & Finish Date
 Budget Information
 Project Manager (contact address)
 Project Objectives
 Approach
 Roles and Responsibilities (Sign off)
 Comments (from stakeholders)
 Project statement of work, Business Case and/or
Contract
 Enterprise environmental factors
 Organizational process assets 24
5.4 Template for Project Charter

Template for Project Charter

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5.5 Project Charter versus Project Management Plan

 Project Charter:
• Project Initiation Document, Project Mandate, Project
Brief, Letter of Agreement, Statement of Work
• Normally comes from “outside” the project and
defines the project (issued by Project Sponsor).
• Unchanged during the project.

 Project Management Plan:

 Strategy Plan, Project Execution Plan, Project Plan
 Owned by the project team (issued by Project
Manager).
 Constantly updated during the course of the project.
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6. PROJECT MANAGEMENT INITIATION
PROCESS TIPS

Organization Strategy

Opportunity

New Project
New Project Phase • Project statement of work
• Previous phase documents • Contract/approved proposal
• Business case

Project Initiation Process

• Project charter
• Approval to GO/NOT GO 27
6. PROJECT MANAGEMENT INITIATION
PROCESS TIPS
 Consider project as organizational investments
than as operational expenses
 Project managers support top management by
providing much of data that allow them make
decision
 Good project manager understand the
relationship of his project to the goals of
organization
 If the project is a weak business case, prepare to
recommend its termination so the organization
can redeploy the resources on other project 28
Summary

• Initiating process.
• Stakeholders identification and analysis
• Statement of work “sow”.
• Business case .
• Project charter
• Project management initiation process tips.

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