Project Initiation Documentation

The purpose of the Project Initiation Documentation (PID) is to define the project in detail so it can be used by the Project Board to assess the project and see how it performed. The Project Initiation Documentation gives the direction and scope (Project Plan) of the project and along with the Stage Plan forms the ‘contract’ between the Project Manager and the Project Board .

Project Initiation Documentation (PID) has three primary uses which are:

• Ensure that the project is well understood before asking the Project Board to make any major financial commitment to the project to produce the products.
• Act as a baseline document that the Project Board and Project Manager can then use to assess Progress , issues and ongoing viability questions; e.g., Is this project still worth doing.
• Provide a single reference for the project in one place so that people joining the project can easily find out what the project is about, the reasons for the project, the business justification, major risks, how it is being managed and controlled, ….

Timeline Project Initiation Documentation

• The Project Initiation Documentation is put together at the end of the Initiation Stage.
• It is made up of most of the management documents that are produced in the Initiation Stage.
• The Project Initiation Documentation is a living product, so it should reflect the current status of the project. Therefore, the Business Case and Project Plan are updated in the Stage Boundary process.
• All other parts of the PID can be updated if necessary; e.g., The four approach documents, the project controls, etc.
• Management products that are updated must be re-baselined.
• At the end of the project the initial Project Initiation Documentation is compared with the Project Initiation Documentation at the end of the project in the Closing a Project process to see how the project performed.

Sample Project Initiation Documentation (PID)

• This is taken from the PEN project.
• This PID acts like a cross-reference to a number of other documents.

• This image shows an online PM application, Trello
• All the documents inside the RED box are part of the PID (except for the Benefits Management Approach)

Source data for the Project Initiation Documentation

• Project Brief from the Starting up a Project process
• Discussions with users regarding requirements
• Discussions with business regarding value for money
• Discussions with suppliers for input on methods, standards and controls.
• The Project Initiation Documentation consists of almost all the management documents from the Initiation Stage except the Benefits Management Approach as this has a life after the project and is not archived with the other project documents.

Format of the Project Initiation Documentation

• Can be a single document but this is not so common
• Normally an index for a collection of documents
• A document with cross-references to a number of other documents
• A collection of information in a project management tool.

Quality Criteria

• The Project Initiation Documentation should represent the project.
• The Business Case should show that the project is a viable and achievable project and that it is in line with corporate strategy or overall programme needs.
• The project management team (PMT) structure is complete, with names, titles, links to role descriptions and some indication that people are aware of their roles.
• Project controls document clearly shows how the project will be controlled and who will administer each control.
• Project assurance overview.
• Clear project objectives for the six project variables (time, cost, quality, scope, benefit and risks).
• Format of the Project Initiation Documentation is appropriate for use by the Project Board.

Tips from Frank

• See the PID as a collection of documents.
• Check out the format of other PID and how they are assembled and made available to the Project Board.
• Check that all management documents on their own.
• Do not rush the PID as sometimes upper management are in a hurry to start creating products before there is a clear overview of what needs to be done.
• Have some kind of online application to easily distribute any updates to the necessary stakeholders.
• Baseline all documents in the PID and give yourself time to this.