Chapter 16: Initiating A Project

Question 1

What’s the purpose of initiating a project

Answer 1

To establish solid foundations for the project, enabling the organisation to understand the work that needs to be done to deliver the project product before committing to a significant spend

Question 2

State some of the objectives of initiating a project

Answer 2

Ensure:
- reasons for doing project
- benefits and risks
- how and when the project product will be delivered
- how the quality required will be achieved
- how baselines will be established and controlled

Question 3

Info regarding context of initiating a project

Answer 3

The initiating a project process enables the project board to decide whether the project is sufficiently aligned with corporate, programme management or the customer objectives to authorise its continuation

The PM will be creating the suite of management products required for the level of control specified by the project board. The PM should have agreed the means by which the project board will review and approve the management products

Question 4

if the initiating a project stage is skipped what could this result in

Answer 4

May risk committing significant financial resources to a project without fully understanding how its objectives will be achieved

Question 5

What are activities that the PM is required to do within the initiating a project process

Answer 5

• agree the tailoring requirements
• prepare the risk management approach
• prepare the change control approach
• prepare the quality management approach
• prepare the communication management approach
• set up the project controls
• create project plan
• prepare the benefits management approach
• assemble the PID

Question 6

Where do approaches derive from

Answer 6

The approaches are derived from corporate, programme management or the customer strategies, standards or practices that the project needs to comply with, and the customers quality expectations captured in the project product description.

Question 7

Info regarding project plan and controls

Answer 7

After the controls have been established and a project plan created, it’s then possible to complete the business case because forecast time and costs of developing the project product, and managing the project are now fully understood

Question 8

Agreeing the tailoring requirements

Answer 8

The PM may need to tailor how the project is directed and managed in order to recognise internal and external factors that affect the way in which the project is delivered. Any deviations from the organisations standard PM approach must be documented and agreed

Question 9

What actions does prince2 recommend regarding tailoring

Answer 9

• review project briefed to understand the outline tailoring approach
• seek lessons from similar previous projects, corporate, programme management or the customer related to how tailoring was applied
• define tailoring as part of the PID and create initial project controls
• consult with project assurance to check that any proposed tailoring meets needs of project board
• seek project board approval for any tailoring

Question 10

Prepare the risk management approach

Answer 10

The risk management approach describes the goals of applying the risk management, the procedure that will be adopted, the roles and responsibilities, the risk tolerances, the timing of risk management activities, the tools and techniques that will be used and the reporting requirements

Question 11

What actions does prince2 recommend regarding preparing the risk management approach

Answer 11

• review the tailoring approach included in the PID and it’s implications for risk management
• review the project brief to understand whether any corporate, programme management or customer strategies, standards or practices relating to risk management
• seek lessons from similar previous projects
• review daily log for any issues and risks related to risk management
• define the risk management approach
• create the risk register in accordance with risk management approach and populate it with any risks from daily log
• seek project board approval for risk management approach

Question 12

Prepare the change control approach

Answer 12

Change control is essential for the project to maintain control over its management and specialist products

Level of control required will vary between projects. The maximum level of control possible is determined by breaking down the projects products until the level is reached at which a component can be independently installed, replaced or modified

Change control approach will define the format and composition of the records that need to be maintained

Question 13

What are some actions prince2 recommends regarding preparing change control approach

Answer 13

• review the tailoring approach included in the PID
• review the project brief to understand any corporate, programme management or customer strategies that need to be applied
• seek lessons from similar previous projects
• review the risk register and daily log for risks and issues associated with change control
• define the change control approach
• create the initial configuration item records
• create issue register and consider whether any issues already captured in daily log need to be managed
• seek project board approval for change control approach

Question 14

Prepare the quality management approach

Answer 14

A key success factor for any project is that is delivers what the user expects and finds acceptable. This will only happen if these expectations are both stated and agreed at the beginning of the project, together with the standards to be used and the means of assessing their achievement

Purpose of quality management approach is to ensure such agreements are captured and maintained

Question 15

Prince 2 recommends the following action regarding preparing the quality management approach

Answer 15

• review the tailoring approach included in the PID and it’s implications for quality management
• review the project product description to understand the customers quality expectations
• review the product brief to understand whether any corporate, programme management or customer strategies, standards or practices
• seek lessons from previous projects
• review risk register and issue register
• define quality management approach
• create a quality register in readiness to record details of all quality activities
• seek project board approval for quality management approach

Question 16

Prepare the communication management approach

Answer 16

The communication management approach addresses both internal and external communications. It should contain detail of how the project management team will send info to and receive info from wider organisations involved with or affected by the project.
- in particular, if the project is part of a programme, details should be given on how information is to be fed to the programme

Question 17

Prince2 recommends the following actions regarding preparing the communication management approach

Answer 17

• review the tailoring approach included in the PID and it’s implications for communication management
• review the project brief to understand whether any corporate, programme management or customer strategies or practices relating to communication management need to be applied by the project
• seek communication management lessons from previous projects
• review the risk register and issue register for risks associated with communication management
• identify and/ or review stakeholders and consult them for their information needs
• establish the info needs associated with the quality management approach
• define the communication management approach
• consult with project assurance to check that proposed communication approach meets needs of project board
• seek project board approval for the communication management approach

Question 18

Set up the project controls

Answer 18

Project controls enable the project to be managed in an effective and efficient manner that is consistent with the scale, risks, complexity and importance of the project

Question 19

Give examples of some project controls

Answer 19

Project controls can include:
- the frequency and format of communication between the project management levels

• number of management stages and hence end stage assessments
• mechanisms to capture and analyse issues and changes
• mechanisms to monitor tolerances and escalate exceptions
• tolerances for delegated authority
• how delegated authority from one level of management to another will be monitored

Question 20

Prince2 recommends the following actions regarding setting up project controls

Answer 20

• review tailoring approach included in PID
• review the quality management approach, change control approach, risk management approach and communication management approach to identify which controls needs to be established
• actively seek lessons from similar previous projects
• review risk register and issue register and issues associated with project controls
• confirm and document the management stage boundaries required to provide the appropriate level of control
• incorporate the agreed decision making authority and responsibility into the project management team structure and role descriptions where appropriate
• confirm tolerances for the project and escalation procedures
• summarise the project controls in PID
• seek board approval for project controls

Question 21

Create the project plan

Answer 21

Before committing to major expenditure on the project, the timescale and resource requirements must be established.
- this info is held in the project plan and is needed do that the benefits management approach can be prepared and the project board can control the project

Planning should be done with close involvement of the users and suppliers
- it’s useful to hold planning workshops to help identify all products required

Question 22

Prince2 recommends the following actions regarding creating a project plan

Answer 22

Review the project brief to:
- understand what project is to deliver and check for predetermined milestones as defined in project brief
- review tailoring approach included in PID and it’s implications for planning
- seek lessons from similar previous projects
- review risk register and issue register for risks and issues with planning
- identify any planning and control tools to be used by the project
- choose methods of estimating for projects plans
- document the project plan
- seek project board approval for the project plan

Question 23

Prepare the benefits management approach

Answer 23

The outline business case produced during starting up a project needs to be updated to reflect the estimated time and costs, as determined by the project plan, and the aggregated risks from the updated risk register.

The detailed business case will be used by the project board to authorise the project and provides the basis of the ongoing check that the project remains viable

Question 24

Prince2 recommends the following actions regarding preparing the benefits management approach

Answer 24

• review the project brief to check whether there any corporate, programme management or customer requirements for the format and content of a business case
• seek lessons from similar previous projects, corporate, programme management or the customer and external organisations related to business case development
• create more detailed business case with additional detail gains
• create the benefits management approach
• if any new risks or issues are identified, update the risks register, issue register and/ or daily log
• seek project board approval for business case and benefits management approach

Question 25

Assemble the project initiation document (PID)

Answer 25

There needs to be a focal point at which all info relating to the ‘what, why, who, how, where, when , how much’ of the project is:
- gathered for agreement by key stakeholders
- available for guidance and information for those involved in the project

This info is collated into the PID

The version of the PID created during the initiation a project process, and used to gain authorisation for the project to proceed, should be placed under change control.
- it will later be used as a means to compare the projects actual performance against the original forecast that formed the basis of approval

Question 26

Prince2 recommends the following actions regarding assembling the PID

Answer 26

• Extract and revise information from the project brief
• include or reference the project controls and summarise bow the project has tailored prince2
• assemble the PID
• carry out a cross check of the information in various elements to ensure they’re compatible
• prepare for next management stage
• request authority from the project board to deliver the project

Question 27

Info regarding tailoring guidelines

Answer 27

Tailoring is needed to suit a projects circumstances but it may not always be obvious, at the start of initiation, what the relevant factors are. At such an early stage in the project, there may not be enough information
- tailoring needs will emerge as the initiation work progresses.
- for this reason, it’s better to start simple and elaborate if needed

Some projects are too complex to have a full definition of the projects output agreed by the end of this process. In such cases, it’s common to have a project lifecycle with a number of investigative stages to choose a solution

Question 28

Info regarding tailoring products to initiating a project

Answer 28

Just because prince2 has separate management products in this process, it doesn’t mean each management product is reflected in a discrete and separate document or even as a document at all, where information and collaborative systems are used

Look at tables 16.10

Question 29

Information regarding tailoring roles in initiating a project

Answer 29

Project support may be responsible for some supporting products, but in all cases the project manager is responsible to the executive for how the project is run

The PM may therefore assign whoever is appropriate to the task