Planning a Kick Off Stage
Overview
Kicking Off the project and preparing the Project Plan take time and consume resources. The work should be planned and approved like any other project work. Make sure that Initiation is not aimless and unstructured.
Having already checked that there is a definition of what the project is to do, plus some justification for doing it, the Project Board needs to know what is required to create the Project Foundation Document.
The objectives of the process are to:
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Produce a plan (the Initiation Stage Plan) which covers the production of two management products: |
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Define the reporting and control arrangements for the Initiation Stage |
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Create a Risk Log to record and track the project's exposure to risks. |
The Project Foundation Document is an extension and refinement of the Project Directive with the addition of the Project Management Team details, the Project Plan and a risk analysis. The Initiation Stage Plan needs to show the investigation and development of the extra information required, plus the development of the Project Directive into the format required for the Project Foundation Document. The Initiation Stage should be a short and inexpensive one, compared to the likely total cost of the project.
A stage structure for the project will be either already defined in the Project Directive or developed during Initiation. At the end of Initiation the Project Board will expect to see not only the Project Foundation Document, but a detailed plan for the next stage, because the extent of their actual commitment will only be for the next stage.
The end date for the Initiation Stage should be checked against that held in the programme plan. The Initiation Stage Plan will also give programme management warning of any requirements from the programme and of the need to prepare to review the Project Foundation Document.
The Project Manager is responsible for planning the Initiation Stage. The appointed assurance and support roles will assist. In particular, whoever is responsible for business assurance needs to identify in the Initiation Stage Plan how the Business Case and risk assessment will be checked.
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Management information |
Usage |
Explanation |
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Input |
This defines the way in which the work of the project will be conducted. This will have a bearing on the scale of work likely to be involved in Kicking off the Project |
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Update |
Details of the job to be done (plus any earlier planning work done) are contained in the Project Directive and will help to size the Initiation Plan |
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Update |
Updated with any significant extra activities to counter risk exposure |
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Draft Initiation Stage Plan |
Output |
An essential product to gain approval to perform Project Initiation. The Plan for the Initiation Stage should be discussed informally with the Project Board. The assurance and support roles identified will help with creation of the Plan |
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Does the Initiation Stage Plan show sufficient resources being available to help the Project Manager develop each of the elements of the Project Foundation Document? |
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Has an appropriate level of management reporting been established as required by the size or risk of the Initiation Stage? |
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Does the Initiation Stage Plan show how each element of the Project Foundation Document will be produced? |
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Is there sufficient information for the corporate or programme management to make the decision on whether to continue with the project or not? |
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Have those with assurance responsibilities indicated which parts of the draft Project Foundation Document they wish to be checked, how and by which resources? |