Session 3
Project Initiation:
Getting The Project Started
© SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Learning Objectives
• Be able to recognize a project request
• Understand how to formulate high-level
requirements
• Be aware of vendor/contractor needs
• Be able to list the primary documentation
associated with a new project request
• Understand the decomposition of requirements
• Understand how large organizations determine
which projects to work on
• Define who the project stakeholders are
• List the items that make up the project charter
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How does a project start?
• Customer Request starts the project
– New product development to meet a market
demand
– Internal business need (e.g. new invoicing
system)
– External customer request
– New technology
– Legal requirement
– Social need (e.g. infrastructure in a developing
country)
© SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Can you think of others?
• What are some other ways that you can think of
that would spur a new project?
• Who would the “customer” be?
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You Decide
• Suppose you’re the PM for Orange County
Choppers building custom motorcycles.
– Who is your customer?
Photos from www.orangecountychoppers.com
© SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.
High-Level Requirements
• Defining the Problem
• Requirement Categories
– Functional
– Business
– Technical (technical requirements entail a variety of
categories):
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•
•
•
•
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Usability
Maintainability
Operational
Legal
Performance
Security
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Vendor Bids
• Vendors are often used to assist with
projects
• Key documents might be required to solicit
vendor input, and direct vendor
expectations:
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–
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Request for Proposal (RFP)
Request for Information (RFI)
Request for Quote (RFQ)
Statement of Work (SOW)
© SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.
•
•
•
•
•
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Documenting the
Requirements
Problem statement
Objectives
Strategic value
Requirements
Timing
Historical data
© SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Decomposing
the
Requirements
STAKEHOLDER REQUIREMENT:
Users throughout the company’s fifty-three campuses will be able to connect
to a centralized database system via browser in order to manage sales and
inventory information. You and the stakeholders have agreed upon this highlevel requirement and you are now ready to decompose this complex
requirement into its baser elements.
DECOMPOSITION:
To decompose the stakeholder requirement, we’ll pick out the main
elements and determine the types of requirements these entail.
“Fifty-three campuses” - This element of the stakeholder requirement is a
business requirement because the company has fifty-three campuses and
you’re required to have all of them connect to one another.
“Centralized database” - This element is a technical requirement. You’ll
use a single centrally located database for all transaction activity.
“Via browser” - This is a functional requirement. The stipulation is that all
users will use a browser to connect to the system. (A very right and proper
standard and requirement in today’s complex network topographies, we
might add.)
“In order to manage sales and inventory information” - This is also a
functional requirement. You might confuse this as a business requirement,
but in actuality you’re saying here that the users are functionally going to do
something with the system—they’re going to manage sales and inventory
information.
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Project Selection Techniques
• Executive decision-making committee (often
armed with project scorecard)
• Feasibility study
• PMO
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Decision Models
•
Benefit Measurement Methods
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•
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Cost-benefit analyses
Scorecard method
Economic model
Constrained Optimization Models
Expert Judgment
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Project Stakeholders
• Sponsor
–
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–
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Provides or obtains financial resources
Analyzes key stakeholders
Negotiates support from key stakeholders
Monitors deliveries of major milestones
Runs interference and removes roadblocks
Provides political coaching to the PM
• Other stakeholders
– The Project Manager
– Project team members
– Functional managers - leaders of each department that
have an interest in the project
– Customer/client
– End-user
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You Decide
Suppose that you’re the project manager in
charge of constructing a new high-rise, or
implementing a new computer system
– Besides the list above, who else would you consider
to be a stakeholder?
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Stakeholder Matrix Practice
In thinking about the high-rise or new computer
system in the You Decide slide previously listed,
create a stakeholder matrix for each group or
individual you determined was a stakeholder.
Include the following information:
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–
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Role on the project
Needs from the project
Involvement on the project
Level of influence over the project
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The Project Charter
• Output of the Initiating Process Group
– Formally approves the project and allows it to begin
– Authorizes the expenditure of resources on the project
• Charter is a major milestone and a document that
is signed by the approving authority
• Charter contents:
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Project description
Project team
Goals and objectives
Business case
Formal approval
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Chaptal Winery Case Study
• Who are the stakeholders?
• What are the project’s objectives?
• What should the charter contain?
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End of Chapter Review Q&A
Instructor Hand-out Q&A
• Go over end-of-chapter review questions
• Instructor to hand out additional questions
(POP QUIZ TIME!)
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Optional Case Study
Choose a project that you’d like to follow through
in this course. Examples include:
– Remodeling a home-improvement store to enhance the
customer shopping experience
– Finishing an unfinished basement
– Building a kit airplane or car
– Developing a project plan for a start-up company resulting
in an Initial Public Offering (IPO)
– Developing a project plan for a European vacation for two,
covering at least two countries
– Remodeling a kitchen
– Landscaping a new house
– Building a Web site
– Brewing one’s own beer or wine
© SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Next Steps
• For this session:
– Understand the Initiating Process Group and it’s single
output, the Project Charter
– Understand the three categories of requirements
– Be able to identify the most common project selection
methods
– Be able to define a project stakeholder and list stakeholders
common to most projects
– Be able to describe a project charter
• For next session
– Read Chapter 3 and complete the end of chapter review
questions.
– Work through the continuation of the Chaptal Winery case
study found at the end of Chapter 3 © SYBEX Inc. 2005. All Rights Reserved.