Project Initiation Documentation

Here you can find a simple Project Initiation Documentation template in Microsoft Word/Excel format, along with explanation on how to use it.

Download the Template

Background

When we’re done with starting up the project, we will initiate it, i.e. set strategies and create the high-level plan (Project Plan), which in turn, makes it possible for us to replace the Outline Business Case with a real Business Case.

When we approach the end of the initiation stage, we will package everything, and this package is what we call Project Initiation Documentation. So, as you see in the template, most of the content is just references to external documents.

Composition

The template has these main sections:

Document information: this is the generic information about the document and connections with your Configuration Management system. Feel free to add more information here, but it’s best to keep it simple.
Approval: this section is for capturing approvals. There are multiple lines, because you may have multiple versions of this document approved. If you have a well-formed Configuration Management system to track approvals, feel free to remove this section.
Definition: similar to what we have in the Project Brief, this is where we introduce the project, and this introduction is mainly based on the problem that it’s going to solve, as well as its scope and quality (Project Product Description).
References: this is a list of external documents that we’ve created during the initiation stage. Project Management Team: we first had this section in Project Brief. Now we probably have more people for managing the project, and we can add the updated list here.
Project Controls: this is about the way you will monitor and control the project. I personally prefer to make it a separate document and reference it here, specially because the same approach can be used in most projects, and when it’s separate, we can keep it in a central place in the organization (e.g. PMO) along with management strategies, and then only adjust and tailor it for each project. Tailoring: the way you’re going to tailor the project is partially reflected, or at least implied in your management approaches. However, you can still add extra information here.

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