The Project Initiation Phase is the 1st phase in the Project Management Life Cycle, as it involves starting up a new project. You can start a new project by defining its objectives, scope, purpose and deliverables to be produced. You’ll also hire your project team, setup the Project Office and review the project, to gain approval to begin the next phase.
In this phase, the idea for the project is explored and elaborated. The goal of this phase is to examine the feasibility of the project. In addition, decisions are made concerning who is to carry out the project, which party (or parties) will be involved and whether the project has an adequate base of support among those who are involved.
In this phase, the current or prospective project leader writes a proposal, which contains a description of the above-mentioned matters. Examples of this type of project proposal include business plans and grant applications. The prospective sponsors of the project evaluate the proposal and, upon approval, provide the necessary financing. The project officially begins at the time of approval.
Questions to be answered in the initiation phase include the following:
- Why this project?
- Is it feasible?
- Who are possible partners in this project?
- What should the results be?
- What are the boundaries of this project (what is outside the scope of the project)?