Actions Upon Project Assignment

1. Review and Validate Existing Project Documentation

Assemble and review all currently available project information. There may be a wealth of information, such as business cases, feasibility studies, funding requests to financial institutions, web sites or artefacts of prior attempts to kick off or plan the project. On the other hand, there may be very little documentation; and that may be written on the back of an envelope or book of matches. Validate the information available to make sure that it is still accurate and that the objectives will be achievable. The documentation may reflect a completely different scope of work particularly if a lengthy period of time has elapsed since it was completed, key stakeholders have changed or the business environment has changed significantly.

2. Identify Stakeholders
Stakeholders are people, groups or organisations who affect or can be affected by a projects actions. Stakeholders may be customers, sponsors, team members, vendors and the public who are or may be actively involved in the project or whose interests may be affected by the project. Stakeholders may be internal (from within our own organisation or section) or external. Understanding stakeholders is the foundation of effective risk management. The more involved stakeholders are in the initiation phase, the less likely they will be to make changes to the project downstream when costs outweigh benefits. The key to a sound analysis is breaking down stakeholders to the lowest appropriate level where bona fide differences may arise; e.g., should we examine State offices in general, offices in each State or our contact individual in each State office?

NAME OR TITLE / GROUP / ORGANISATION

INFLUENCE (L,M,H,C)
On the Project By the Project

KEY NEEDS OR INTERESTS

IMPACT/INFLUENCE ON OR BY PROJECT

L Low Impact: M Medium Impact: H High Impact C Critical

Support at this level an integral part of a successful project Actions can enhance or disrupt the project Capable of determining the success or otherwise of the project Will determine if the project proceeds or is abandoned

Figure 1 Identify stakeholders and the key needs or interests

12 August 2008

Page 1

Actions Upon Project Assignment

3. Develop a Preliminary Scope Statement
A scope statement will ensure that we understand what the project is to achieve. It will be revisited many times in the project. But a scope statement should not just cover what is included in the project; it should also define what will not be included and other considerations that will impact upon the project as well.

Figure 2 SCARE: defining project scope Note that a fully-defined scope statement contains more than merely a description of what is included in scope. It also considers other known and unknown factors that can significantly impact upon and qualify the statement of scope. These characteristics are explained in Figure 3.

Scope Constraints

Assumptions

Related Projects (or Activities) Exclusions

Scope statements draw a boundary around what the project includes and include: Broad planning information to focus the efforts of all stakeholders Clarification of the purpose and objectives of the project Insight into possible issues, problems and opportunities Constraints qualify scope statements by identifying known restrictions which influence the way in which work is undertaken or completed, e.g.: Milestones (must finish by date) Standards Cost (must not exceed amount) Technology Equipment (no new equipment) Legislation Personnel Assumptions identify the expectations (educated guesses) made about unknown factors that enable the project to proceed with planning based on the premise that something will or will not occur. They must be: Confirmed by higher authorities Proven by deliberate research; OR Managed as a risk, by contingency options Because of inherent uncertainty in a project, assumptions are not only reasonable, they actually reduce risk. Known projects that may have an impact on the project in some way. Projects do not exist in isolation, so it is important to identify related projects at an early stage. For example, they may draw on the same skills as your project or your project may depend on the output of another project. Exclusions are known activities, functions or deliverables that a reasonable stakeholder may otherwise expect to be included in the project. Exclusions help define stakeholder expectations and also help the project team to focus its energy: e.g., IT projects may exclude: Technical and user documentation and training Hardware upgrades, if required

Figure 3 Explanations of S.C.A.R.E. statement components

4. Raise any Red Flags

Once we have reviewed all project documentation, identify stakeholders and possible risks, and developed our preliminary scope statement, we are in a position to raise a "red flag" to Senior Management about any significant errors, omissions, issues or risks associated with this new project.

12 August 2008

Page 2