More information on planning a project can be found in the handbook Project Management at Princeton University, which includes information on identifying stakeholders and creating an Initiation Plan.

Deliverables

Proposal The proposal is a document that indicates what the business needs are that resulted in the need to initiate a project. It is the first serious look at what the costs and the benefits would be of completing the project, and what the penalties would be if the project is not undertaken.
Initiation Plan This documents the project's goals and objectives, scope, stakeholders and their accountabilities, management approaches, and estimated schedule (shown as a Gantt chart). Use the Initiation Plan template, obtained from the Princeton Project Office (PPO), to create the Initiation Plan, and MS Project 98 to create the Gantt chart. At this time, no sample is available.
Methodology Compliance Form This form is initialized by the project team, and completed by a methodology representative who has reviewed the project documentation and found it acceptable. It is completed in Word. At this time, no sample is available.
Recommendation Form This form is completed by the project team, and contains the recommendation to the approving authority on whether or not the project should continue. The form is completed in Word. At this time, no sample is available.

1. The project sponsor initiates the proposal phase by discussing the business need with a representative of CIT.
2. The CIT representative provides the project sponsor with a copy of the proposal form (using the PROPOSAL template).
3. The project sponsor completes the proposal form, with the help of a CIT representative, if necessary.
4. The project sponsor forwards the proposal to the DMS resource manager for approval. When the proposal is approved, continue with step 5.
5. The project sponsor selects the project manager and business area representatives, and the DMS resource manager reviews the proposal and selects the technical project manager and other DMS members of the preliminary planning team. The project managers must have a copy of the handbook Project Management at Princeton University, which can be obtained from the Princeton Project Office (PPO).
6. The preliminary planning team meets to develop a problem statement that identifies the problem and the stakeholders. The problem statement includes
   • Basic business goals and objectives (from the proposal)
   • Basic project goals and objectives (based on the proposal)
   • Initial estimates of project scope and resources
   • Project Stakeholders, including business resources (executive, management, and staff), application development resources, architecture resources, data administration resources, networking resources, help desk resources, and so on

Note: If the scope is significantly larger than the estimated project size indicated in the proposal, a different route may need to be selected (it's not a small project any more), and the proposal must be redone according to the Proposal phase description for that route.

7. The preliminary planning team meets with the stakeholders to refine the basic goals and objectives and the initial estimates, and to establish accountabilities for each stakeholder.
8. Based on the information provided in the meeting with the stakeholders, the preliminary planning team creates the Initiation Plan (see the handbook Project Management at Princeton University).
9. The preliminary planning team forwards the Initiation Plan to the methodology representative for review. The methodology representative reviews the Initiation Plan for compliance, and completes the Compliance Form (using the COMPFORM template). If the Initiation Plan conforms to methodology requirements, it is returned with the completed compliance form to the team, which then proceeds with step 10.

   If the Initiation Plan does not conform to the methodology requirements, the plan and the compliance form are returned to the team with an explanation of what is wrong. The team then corrects the Initiation Plan as required and returns it to the methodology representative for a follow-up review. When the reviewer approves the deliverables, the team continues with step 10.

10. The preliminary planning team forwards the Initiation Plan to all stakeholders for review and sign-off.
11. The project sponsor and DMS resource manager determine whether or not they will agree to commit the required resources for the business analysis phase, providing a go/no go decision.
12. The proposal and the Initiation Plan are sent to the appropriate approval authority, with a recommendation form, for approval.
    • For enhancements to legacy systems, the approval authority is the Princeton Administrative Systems Triage Adjudicators (PASTA) group.
    • For Partnership 2000 projects, the approval authority is Ray Clark.
    • For other projects, the approval authority is the executive sponsor.
13. The approval authority decides whether or not to move forward with the project.