What is Project Initiation Document & How to create one?

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One of the major things that are needed to be completed if you wish to have a successful project is having a project initiation document. It might seem fair that now you have all the things you need from the client and have the resource and time allocation for the project, you should directly start working on the project and go ahead with the assignment of tasks and items to the team but there is one crucial thing missing. Yes, having PID. There are so many advantages of having PID project management and today in this article, we are going to familiarize you with the examples as well as the template for the PID. After you complete reading this article, you can go for project management professional certification which could be very helpful for your career and give you a better understanding of how things are done in the project to take it to the heights your clients expect.

What do you understand about PID?

PID is regarded as one of the crucial documents that have details of various things like the scope of the project, various business cases along with the project charter, and other details of risks associated with it. This documentation is very useful as the team can always come back and look at the details provided in this. It is seen that without this document, the project can lose direction and there could be drastic repercussions to this. It is defined as the basis of management as well as the assessment of overall activities in the project. There are so many reasons that it is important to the project and some of its benefits are mentioned below:

Foundation to the project

The key to a successful project is its good start and the team can ensure that things are on track by having this document. There are so many advantages to this and having a strong foundation to the beginning of the project can set a good tone for the team as well as the project. It will not create too much work for the team in the beginning as all the work is properly defined and the team will have time evenly distributed to work on those tasks.

A better understanding of project

Having team collaboration and better communication are some of the key aspects of any good project. With the document of having good project initiation, the team will be able to have a better understanding of the scope and objective of the project. With this, they will be able to work in that direction and achieve the shared goal. The scope is going to be clearly defined in that document which is very much needed for the whole team.

Definition of roles and responsibilities

When there is a clear understanding of the work that comes under the buckets of the team members, they will be able to give their best to their defined tasks. With the PID, the tasks along with various roles and responsibilities throughout the project are very clearly defined which could be very beneficial for the team. The team in the project can work efficiently when there are tasks in their queue. The documents can always be looked upon whenever needed in the project cycle.

Maintain budgeting and resource allocation

In addition to the points mentioned above, the project initiation document template can also be very effective when the budget needs to be defined for the project. The resource allocation along with cost management ways are being introduced in this project initiation stage which can be very helpful throughout the project. The pmp certification training from the right institute will help you understand all the basics of these things in the project and you can learn faster.

What consists of PID?

Now that we have a fair understanding of what is PID and what are its advantages, it is time for us to look into what goes on in this document. The below-mentioned points will help us understand what we can find in the documents and what the various things that are needed to create these documents are.

What- Understanding the context of the project

This is the first part of the document where it is clearly mentioned what is needed in the project. It tells the scope of the project along with the goals and objectives it tries to accomplish with it. In this section, the problem is mentioned which is going to be resolved with the upcoming project. There are various things that are included in this part and these include:

The purpose of having this project is included in the document and also the goals and objectives to which this project will work.
Also, this also provides what is achieved by the end of the project, i.e. what are the deliverables of the project.
In this section, it is clearly mentioned how the project is going to be rated as a successful project and what metrics will be used to define that.
In this section, a high-level understanding of the theme and the objective of the project is provided so that the team is clear on what to achieve in this project. Overall, this will help the team to know what the context of the project is.

Why: Understanding why the project is needed

This section of the PID will include the business case along with the assessment of the project risks associated with it. There are many things that need to be approved before the project gets a go-ahead. The business case is used to see why this project should be on the floor and what the advantages that the organization is going to have with this project are. There will be benefit analysis that is done on the project level and then all the things are weighted.

Also, the risk analysis is a major part of this section. Not only the risks are identified in this, but the solution and the prediction of the outcome are also done. This is the best place where the monitoring of those risks is defined so that nothing is missed once the project starts. In this section, those processes and responsibilities will be clearly mentioned so that the team is aware of what needs to be done in the project so that risks do not arise in the project. With the right information, you will be able to understand what goes into this so that you do not miss the crucial things out of the document for the project.

Also Read: Social Cost Benefit Analysis

Who- Understanding the participants of the project

Knowing the team structure is very much important both internally as well as externally. There are many times that roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined and this could risk the success of the project. There are various approaches that can be used to help and overcome this issue. One such way is by using the RACI chart which is defined as follows:

Responsible – Who is responsible to complete the job?
Accountable – Who will be known as the decision-maker?
Consulted – Who is needed to give permission before making any step?
Informed – Who is needed to be informed during this whole process?

Along with this having the right resource allocation is very much needed. There are teams that are required to complete the process and the allocation of those keeping the overall cost in mind should be done. The team should be aware of what their role is and should be responsible for the tasks that are assigned to them. This way, it can be made sure for the tasks that are assigned to them. This section is very much necessary as this will allow the team member to have more understanding of who is responsible for what and who is questionable to certain things in the project. This will enhance better communication among the team members.

How and When: Understanding the plan and breakdown

To make sure that the team is going to work efficiently in the project, it is needed that the work is clearly stated and how it needs to be done. The how part can consist of various frameworks, processes, and other things that are needed to complete the project. Having a schedule along with the plan can give the team confidence and keep track of the progress of the project throughout. Not only this, this is very helpful in maintaining the quality of the project deliverables which is very much necessary. Also, when the dependencies are defined in the right manner then the team can yield better results. The team will be able to work on the risks and the assumptions that are defined in the documents in a more efficient way with the project initiation document example.

Final word

PID is definitely going to give a positive kick start to the resolution of the problem that is raised in the market and then when the project is all ready to get on the floor, this plan is going to help the teamwork in a better way. With the things mentioned above for the documents, the higher management should be clear on what goes inside this document so that necessary things are not missed out when needed.

So if you are looking for your PMP training, then coming to StarAgile and getting your certification will be a wise decision for your career. Here you are going to have access to the best teaching methods along with all the information and understanding that you need to have your pmp certification. So grab your chance now and have a better hand at a great career in your hand.

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