Paper by Dr Glenn Strange
Project initiation may be defined as the process of defining planned deliverables and anticipation of those actions needed in order to complete a project. It will involve the identification of activities, tasks and a sequence in a project schedule, including both milestones and deadlines. In addition, it involves estimating those resources that will be needed in the project together with projected costs.
When a consultant is assigned in order to advise on project initiation, there will be a very structured approach as to how advice will be given. One of the first actions on a project, once the client has confirmed the appointment of the consultant, will be to confirm the appointment of the project manager. The organisational structure and hierarchy must be put in place as a necessary first step. This will include the defining of the roles and responsibilities associated with this structure. Figure 1 defines a typical organisation structure for a project start-up situation.
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Establishing structure
The success and profitability of a project is normally determined at the time the project plan is established. Where the plans are properly completed, easy to understand and well defined, then the project will normally succeed. The approach to follow assumes that a contract is not yet in place and will be one of the activities completed during the project initiation stage.
The Statement of Requirement
The project manager (or the advising consultant adopting this role) must ensure that the project sponsor has produced a written statement of requirements (SOR). This must be a thorough document which is:
· unambiguous · fully defined or complete · verifiable deliverables · no conflicts · consistent · auditable
The SOR will be the document against which change control will be exercised. The SOR should be closely matched to the contract and there should be no conflict of interests between the two. Where consultants are involved, the client or sponsor SOR will normally form the basis of the proposal. All of these documents must carefully align and there should be no scope for misinterpretation, confusion or lack of understanding. This will be the cornerstone of the project.
The Project Plan
The Project Plan is a vital part of the project initiation stage. The plan should normally contain the following information:
· Introduction and status of the plan · The authorisation procedures · Statement of project objectives · Statement of requirements · Deliverables in the project · A Work Breakdown Structure · The project milestones · The resource requirements · Interdependencies of work · The timetable of events · Staffing, organisation and responsibilities · Development methods and toolsets to be used · Source documentation · Resource and financial summary
This information creates the generation of a Project Book (log). The log should be in a loose-leaf binder with clearly identified sections and version control exercised over the documentation sets. These logs are now often retained as computer file, which enables a greater level of security to be maintained over them and version control to be established as an automatic feature.
The Quality Plan
Every project must have a quality plan. The quality plan will be presented as a section in the project plan. It is drawn up by the project manager at the start of the project and should be agreed with the project sponsor. You would expect the quality plan to contain the following elements:
· Statement of the quality control organisation · Identification of specific standards and methods that will be used · Definition of the quality control procedures; this is aligned to the Work Breakdown Structure · Specification of quality milestones · Detail of unusual features · Change control and configuration management · Detail of acceptance procedures · Specification of quality assurance procedures
Project control and reporting
Project control may be considered to be one of the continuous objectives for the project manager. As such he is responsible for taking remedial actions, within the defined terms of reference, to correct potential problems or taking risk avoidance measures. The prime objective is to protect the integrity of the project at all times.
Formal methods like PRINCE assist in control procedures by having project steering committees that
meet at regular intervals and at project milestones.
The frequency of project reporting is agreed at the outset of the project. It is normal for status reports to be produced at weekly intervals. These are then consolidated at monthly intervals to show:
· Project Status Report · Financial Status Report · The Client Report
Reports should describe any deviations from plan and highlight any problems on the project. They should clearly state any corrective action taken, person responsible, date to be achieved by and anticipated result. Reports should also indicate progress against milestone achievement.
Project Control Log
It was mentioned earlier that a Project Control Log should be maintained by the project manager. It is useful to note what information should be contained in the log and maintained:
· Copy of contract · Project terms of reference · Statement of Requirement · The Project Plan (including Quality Plan) · Project status reports · Financial status reports and cost estimates · Resource Plans · Client Reports · Milestone Reports · Exception Conditions · Change Control documents · Deliverable Reports · Summary completion reports · Quality control records · Resource resumes (CVs) · Cost Ledgers · Expense Reports
Project completion
At the end of projects the project manager has certain mandatory actions. It is important that these actions are fully understood at project initiation time. The following checklist is offered to assist this process:
· Produce a project debriefing report raising any important issues that may assist future projects. · Report on the actions taken to address any QA issues raised. · Obtain written acceptance documents from the Acceptor. · Get a written approval from the project sponsor in order to say that contractual conditions have been met. · Raise a final completion report on the project indicating benefits achieved. · Archive a complete version of the project log including electronic (soft copy) backups.
· Lodge any specific standards with QA office.
· Conduct external project compliance audit and comply with findings for close-off procedures.
· Report to the programme manager where the project forms part of a large programme. The programme manager must also sign off as complete.
Project initiation checklist of requirements
As an aid to help in considering depth of coverage at project initiation, I have provided a brief checklist fc compliance checking:
· Every project must have a project manager appointed. · No individual shall QA his or her own work. · The client must provide a written Terms of Reference statement. · There must be an agreed contract. · Each project must have a plan. · There must be a quality plan. · There must be plans to cover (a) a detailed work breakdown structure, (b) costs, (c) resource estimates. · Reporting frequency and structure must be defined. · Methods and toolsets to be used are to be defined. · A project log must be set up. · Documentation standards are to be complied with. · Milestone reporting — a must! · Deliverable reporting — a must! · Project benefits must be assessed and quantified at the end of the project. · Control documents must be maintained. · Configuration control and versions must be maintained for audit trail. · Individual roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined. · Maintain record over all internal external communications. · The project log must be kept up to date at all times and when the project is complete it should be properly archived. Upon completion of project initiation in the management process, we should have achieved:
· a clear definition of the deliverables in the project · a clear understanding of the relationships between individuals in the project organisation structure, including roles and responsibilities · personal commitments for the deliverables.
The levels of personal commitments are achieved by establishing explicit goals for individuals. It is necessary to ensure that there is a clear understanding of the deliverables. With responsibilities and goals clearly understood there should never be any ambiguity about the project.