PRINCE2 Processes · Topic 2 of 4
Initiating a Project
PRINCE2 7 initiating a project: its purpose, objectives and context, how the PID and management approaches are built, and the board decision that follows.
- 5 min
- Purpose: establish solid foundations before committing to significant spend.
- Initiation is the first management stage of every PRINCE2 project.
- Led by the project manager after the board authorises initiation.
What it is
Initiating a project is the first management stage of every PRINCE2 project. It lays down solid foundations, so the organization understands the work needed to deliver the products before committing to significant spending.
Its main output is the project initiation documentation (PID), which the project board uses to decide whether to authorise the project.
How it works
Purpose
The purpose of initiating a project is to establish solid foundations for the project, enabling the organization to understand the work that needs to be done to deliver the project's products before committing to a significant spend.
Objectives
Initiating a project ensures there is a common understanding of the following.
| Objective area | What must be understood |
|---|---|
| Reasons and benefits | Why the project is being done, the benefits expected and the risks |
| Scope | What will be done and what products will be delivered |
| Delivery | How and when the products will be delivered and at what cost |
| People | Who will be involved in decision making and the roles they hold |
| Quality | How the required quality will be achieved |
| Baselines and control | How baselines will be set and controlled, and how the project will be monitored and controlled |
| Risks and issues | How risks and issues will be identified, assessed and controlled |
| Communication | Who needs information, in what format and when |
| Tailoring | How the PRINCE2 method will be tailored to suit the project |
Context
The trigger is the board's decision to authorise initiation, made in directing a project. The work is led by the project manager, with project assurance and the project board consulted throughout.
Initiation is a management stage in its own right, which is why every PRINCE2 project has at least two stages. Its length depends on the size and complexity of the project, but it should be no longer than needed: it is an investment, and the project might not go ahead.
What is built during initiation
| Built in initiation | Note |
|---|---|
| Management approaches | Benefits, sustainability, commercial, change, communication, quality, risk, issue, and digital and data management approaches |
| Project log registers | Risk, issue, quality and product registers set up |
| Project controls | Stages, tolerances, reporting and escalation |
| Project plan | High level plan for the whole project |
| Detailed business case | Refined from the outline business case in the project brief |
| Team structure and role descriptions | Reviewed and confirmed from starting up |
| PID | All of the above assembled |
Towards the end of initiation, managing a stage boundary is used to prepare the plan for the next stage. The project manager then asks the board to authorise the project.
Why initiation matters
Without initiation, a project commits to delivery before anyone agrees how quality, risk, change and progress will be handled. The PID created here becomes the baseline against which the board judges progress and, at closure, success.
| Without initiation | With initiation |
|---|---|
| Spend committed on a rough idea | Detailed business case reviewed before major spend |
| No agreed controls | Tolerances, reporting and escalation agreed |
| Everyone works their own way | Management approaches set common rules |
A worked example
A regional hospital authorises initiation of a project to introduce electronic prescribing. Over six weeks, the project manager agrees with project assurance how PRINCE2 will be tailored, prepares the management approaches, and sets up the risk, issue, quality and product registers.
The communication management approach includes clinicians, pharmacists and patients, and the change management approach covers training on every ward. The detailed business case shows reduced prescribing errors as the main benefit. With the next stage plan prepared, the PID goes to the board, which authorises the project.
How the exam asks about this
- "Which process establishes solid foundations so the organization understands the work before committing to significant spend?" Initiating a project.
- "What is the main output of initiating a project?" The PID.
- "Which is an objective of initiating a project?" A common understanding of how the required quality will be achieved (or how risks and issues will be controlled, or how PRINCE2 will be tailored).
What to remember for the exam
- Purpose: establish solid foundations before committing to significant spend.
- Initiation is the first management stage of every PRINCE2 project.
- Led by the project manager after the board authorises initiation.
- Produces the PID, including the management approaches, project plan and detailed business case.
- Ends with a request to the board to authorise the project.
The project brief is created in starting up a project, not initiating a project. Initiation refines the outline business case into a detailed one.
Common mistakes
Merging start up and initiation. Starting up checks whether the project is worth initiating; initiation plans how the project will be run.
Skipping initiation for small projects. It can be very short, but it is always a stage.
Forgetting the next stage plan. Managing a stage boundary runs near the end of initiation to plan the next stage.
Check yourself
What triggers initiating a project?
The project board's authorisation of initiation in directing a project.
Why is initiating a project a management stage?
Because it is a section of work the project board authorises and controls, ending with a decision on whether to authorise the project.
Which management products are created during initiation?
The PID, with its management approaches, project controls, project plan and detailed business case, and the project log registers.
Topic 2 of 4 in PRINCE2 Processes
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