What Is Project Initiation and How Do You Initiate a Project?

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide identifies four processes involved in the overall project definition process: project initiation, scope planning, scope definition, and scope verification. This post will focus on the first of those and cover what project initiation is, what you need and how to perform project initiation, and what the outputs are at the end.

What is project initiation?

Initiation is the process for formally recognizing that a new project exists or that an existing project should continue into its next phase. In some organizations, a project is not formally initiated until after completion of a feasibility study, a preliminary plan, or some other form of analysis. Some types of projects—especially internal service projects and new product development projects—are initiated informally, and a limited amount of work may be done to get the approvals needed for formal initiation.

What goes into project initiation?

Each aspect of the initiation process has its key components, as outlined here:

What are the techniques for Project Initiation?

The key activity in project initiation is project selection. Project selection methods generally fall into one of two broad categories:

These methods are often referred to as decision models. Decision models include generalized techniques (decision trees, forced choice) as well as specialized ones (analytic hierarchy process, logical framework analysis).

Project initiation also often requires expert judgment to assess the inputs above. Such expertise may be provided by any group or individual with specialized knowledge or training and is available from many sources.

What do you get out of Project Initiation?

With these deliverables in hand, the organization is prepared to turn its attention to the project scope. Stay tuned for future posts on project scope planning, definition and verification.

For more help on navigating the challenges of project management, contact us today.

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