Writing a Project Initiation Document 1/13

01.Document Change History, Related Documents and Purpose
02.Project Scope Statement
03.Project Background
04.Project Definition
05.Assumptions, Dependencies and Constraints
06.Business Case
07.Organisation and Governance
08.Communications Plan
09.Quality Plan
10.Initial Project Plan
11.Project Controls
12.Initial Risks and Issues Log
13.Initial RFC's, Open Questions, Training & Appendix
14.Getting A PID Approved

The beginning of a PID is usually no different to any other formal document you will be expected to write and covers Document Change History, Related Documents and Purpose.

Document Change History

As you will see above, this section is merely where you should note any updates made to the document, and what caused those updates.

Related Documents

This section is where all the documents and information which you have used in writing the PID need to be stated so they can be reference checked later if required.

Purpose of the Project Initiation Document

Usually this will be a standard piece of wording which is utilised at the Company you work at. It will often be along the lines of the following:

This document has been produced to capture and record basic information needed to correctly define and plan the project. The PID addresses the following fundamental aspects of the project:

• What the project is aiming to achieve
• Why it is important to meet the stated aims
• To provide a clear and unambiguous view of how the project will be managed and controlled
• Who will be involved in managing & delivering the project; their roles and responsibilities
• How and when the arrangements covered in this document will be put into place.

When approved by the Project Board it will provide the baseline for the project and will become ‘locked’. The PID will not be updated between stages unless major changes are made to the project which will require prior approval from the Project Board. It is anticipated that any revisions which need to be made will be done so at the end of each stage to incorporate detailed milestones and plans for the next phase, together with any organisational/ team changes required.

The PID will form the basis of decisions taken for the project and be used at the conclusion of the project as a basis for post project review. Updates between stages to the approved project PID will take the form of addendums.

Writing a Project Initiation Document Intro Tip

Ensure you keep on top of these sections as there is nothing worse than a Project PID being queried at a later stage when no record has been kept of when and why changes to a PID were made.