Making a strong start to project initiation
Rebecca Collings
Before moving too far into business case development, it is critical to make sure the Town Deal Board, lead officers and project leads are on the same page on key details of individual projects. The TFDP has developed a Project Initiation Document template that will help you have consistent understanding and expectations for projects from the outset.
At the point of TIP submission, some projects were already fairly mature with technical design and requirements, commercials and other specifications already nailed down. But many projects are much less-developed. Clarifying and agreeing the specifics of these less mature projects is a critical step on the journey to completing your business cases.
The vision for your project may be clear, but you now need to be sure that key parties have the same understanding of the details. This will avoid nasty surprises later. Such surprises arise all too often, when it emerges that stakeholders have different expectations of a project. In fact, differing understandings of a project are a major cause of delays, increased costs and even dispute over their delivery.
A Project Initiation Document can help you to mitigate these risks and will also create a good foundation from which to develop a business case. The purpose of a Project Initiation Document (sometimes called a “PID”) is to record basic, but important, information to better define the project, including:
The expected benefits
High-level requirements
Arrangements for assuring the project is on track
Key risks and the plan to manage these
Roles and responsibilities, such as who is ultimately accountable for the project
Drafting a Project Initiation Document can help you to spot early where there are gaps in the detail which still need to be resolved. Because these details inform the business case, it is worth regarding a Project Initiation Document as a vital step towards a robust business case, rather than an unnecessary add-on.
Once complete, Project Initiation Documents can be shared with relevant parties, such as the Town Deal Board, to ensure that everyone understands and agrees the details of projects. It may be that, in sharing and signing off on the document, it emerges that some stakeholders have completely different opinions on the requirements of the project. This is one of the benefits of using Project Initiation Documents. It is much better to surface that difference in opinion, be able to reach an agreement and move forward quickly, than for this to emerge once the business case is well developed or has been produced. Discovering a significant divergence of view at the late stages of business case completion could result in having to re-write the document, putting the project funding at risk.
To help you to better define the detail of projects, we have developed a Project Initiation Document template. It clearly sets out what to capture in each section. Project Managers or Project Leads should be able to complete these fairly quickly; they do not need to rival War and Peace in length!
We can support you to work out where you might benefit from developing a Project Initiation Document ahead of a business case. If you would like further assistance, please let your Town Coordinator know.