Project Initiation - tutorial

How to get a project started and on track from day one

Course contents:

Course benefits

Who should attend

Content

Duration

Course benefits:

Many projects fail simply because the process of project initiation is done badly or not done at all.

No matter what approach or technologies an organisation employs, without an understanding of and consensus for what must be achieved it is an impossible task to deliver anything more than a wish list of features.

Effective project initiation overcomes this problem by focussing on the scope, the business objectives and the constraints up front and before there is an opportunity for work to go off in the wrong direction. This is not to say that the direction a project takes cannot change. However, if it must and does change, then at least that is a conscious decision and not something that simply happens. Project Initiation is a defining moment for a project and done well, problems like creeping scope and an inability to measure benefits will be avoided.

Who should attend:

This tutorial is for anyone who works in a project team and who participates in the early stages of the work. This tutorial is also suitable for staff from the business areas that will be involved in the Project Initiation process.

Content:

The Project Life Cycle - types of project; choosing the most appropriate life cycle; project initiators; terms of reference

The Project Initiation Process - the facilitated workshop approach; participants; the documentation and process; role of the Project Initiation Document in later stages and in negotiating and agreeing change

The Project Initiation Document - purpose and content; project scope; the problem to be solved, or opportunity to be addressed; the objectives to be achieved and constraints to be observed; presenting benefits and how these will be achieved

Understanding Business Goals - working with senior management; using Critical Success Factors to elicit problems and requirements; distinguishing Wants from Needs; distilling real requirements from feature lists and other characteristics of the solution

Risk and Risk Management - the risk management process; identifying risks; quantifying impact and probability; minimising these through planning and risk mitigation measures

Duration:

Half day, in-house only.

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