As you learned in the previous modules, you manage projects through stages or processes.

Also, recall
that processes belong to five process groups. You manage the initiation of a project through a process
group called the “initiating process” group, which consists of two processes: Develop Project Charter and
Identify Stakeholders. Before you can initiate a project, it must originate from somewhere. So, the central
question in this module is, how is a project initiated? In search of the answer, you will explore two avenues
with me: developing the project charter, and identifying stakeholders.

After successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

 Understand the project charter development process

 Determine the stakeholder identification process
 Identify the inputs, tools & techniques, and outputs used in the project initiation phase
 Know the project charter, and stakeholder register

Monitoring
Initiation Planning Execution and Closing
Controlling

The Project Charter

Initiating a project means defining the project such that it is in alignment with the organization’s strategic
objectives on one hand and with prospective stakeholders’ needs on the other; getting approval to start
it; identifying and analyzing project stakeholders; and starting the project while informing and involving
the stakeholders. In Module 3, you saw how the context triggers the process of creating two project
management business documents: project business case and project benefit management plan. As shown
in the big picture of initiating a project presented in Figure 4.1, these two business documents are the
major input into the development of the project charter, which in turn is an input into the Identify
Stakeholder process. The project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project, which
includes naming the project manager, determining the authority level of the project manager, and
allowing the project manager to start using organizational resources on the project.
 Figure 4.1 Illustration of the relationship among the major building blocks
of the big picture of initiating a project

Developing the Project Charter

Each process group is composed of 3 parts: (1) inputs, (2) tools and techniques, and (3) outputs. The input
contains the raw data or information for the process. The tools and techniques are the appropriate
procedures and practices used to convert inputs into meaningful outputs. The output is the final result,
product or service of the process. Table 4.1 present the inputs, tools and techniques used in developing
the project charter.

Input Tools & Techniques Output

1. Data gathering 1. Project charter
1. Business documents
a. Brainstorming 2. Assumptions log
a. Business case
b. Focus groups a. Assumptions
b. Benefit management
c. Interviews b. Constraints
plan
2. Interpersonal and
2. Agreements
team skills
3. Enterprise environmental
a. Conflict
factors
management
4. Organizational process
b. Facilitation
assets
c. Meeting
management
3. Expert judgement
4. Meetings
The development
Table 4.1 of
Theproject charter
Develop process
Project inputs
Charter are: Input, Tools and Techniques, and Output
Process:
  Business Documents. This involves the business case, and benefit management plan that
were generated or developed from the previous stage of the project (pre-work).
 Agreements. These are contracts with external parties involved in the project, verbal
agreements, email, letters of intent, service-level agreements (SLAs), and memorandums
of understanding (MOUs).
 Enterprise Environmental Factors. This includes consideration of the organization’s
internal and external environmental factors relevant to this task, which include the
following:
 Government and industry standards
 Regulatory and legal requirements and constraints
 Organization’s culture and political climate
 Marketplace conditions
 Organizational structure and governance framework
 Stakeholders’ expectations of their risk threshold
 Organizational Process Assets. These are the processes and procedures for conducting
work as established in the company’s internal control policy manual, and the corporate
knowledge base for storing and retrieving information acquired from previous projects.
The aforementioned inputs are then applied with the following the relevant tools and techniques to
develop the project charter.

 Data gathering. To collect data in the process of developing a project charter, data-
gathering techniques, such as interviews, focus groups, and brainstorming, can be used. An
interview is essentially a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and
the other provides answers. Interviews are used to obtain information from experts or
stakeholders on any appropriate topic. In interviews, trust and proper confidentiality are
essential to create an environment of honesty and thereby collect unbiased data. Focus
groups are facilitated group interviews with individuals that have something in common.
This gathers data about combined perspectives and opinions. Lastly, brainstorming is a
way to generate ideas within a group setting. It is usually used in the beginning stages of a
project, where the possibilities for the project are not clearly understood or defined.
 Interpersonal and team skills. Interpersonal and team skills are an important part of the
leadership skills expected from a project manager. These skills, such as meeting
management facilitation and conflict management, can be used to develop the project
charter. Some of the good meeting management practices include 1) run the meeting with
an agenda; 2) send timely invitations to appropriate stakeholders; 3) prepare for the
meeting; 4) make sure that meeting minutes are being taken; and 5) follow up the meeting
with minutes and action items from the meeting. The facilitation skill can be used to
effectively guide a group to a successful conclusion, such as a decision or resolution to an
issue, by encouraging effective participation, considering all contributions, and developing
mutual understanding. To develop mutual understanding, sometimes conflict resolution
skills are warranted. Conflict resolution is the process by which two or more parties reach
a peaceful resolution to a dispute.
  Expert Judgement. This refers to relying on expert advice and using that advice as a factor
to make a decision. Expert judgment can be obtained by using a suitable method, such as
individual consultation, interview, survey, or panel group discussion.
 Meetings. A meeting is a gathering of two or more people that has been convened for the
purpose of achieving a common goal through verbal interaction, such as sharing
information or reaching agreement. This is a very general tool and can be used when
appropriate to collect or discuss information on any topic, such as project objectives,
success criteria, high-level project and product requirements, and list of milestones.
The outputs of this process are now created after converting the inputs through the use of the different
tools and techniques. These outputs are:

 Project Charter. It is a high-level document that summarizes information about the project
and its intended outcome. It contains the following information:
 The project purpose and justification
 Project description (including key deliverables and scopes)
 Project requirements
 Project objectives and success criteria
 Project risks
 Milestone schedule
 A budget summary
 The project manager
 The project sponsor
 Project exit criteria
 Project approval and acceptance requirements.
Depending on the project and the organization, the charter may include other elements as
well.
 Assumptions Log. This item contains assumptions and constraints related to the project.
They are usually recorded in the business case document and can also come from expert
judgment. An assumption is a factor that you consider to be true without any proof or
verification. It’s important to document assumptions clearly and validate them at various
stages of the project because assumptions carry a certain degree of uncertainty with them,
and uncertainty means risk. A constraint is a restriction (or a limitation) that can affect the
performance of the project. Normally, the constraints are in time, costs or other resources.

Identifying Project Stakeholders

As explained in module 2, project stakeholders are individuals and organizations whose interests are
affected (positively or negatively) by the project’s execution and completion and/or who can influence or
impact the project. Accordingly they fall into two broad categories: positive and negative stakeholders. It
is critical for the success of the project that you identify positive and negative stakeholders early on in the
project, understand and analyze their varying and conflicting expectations, and manage those
expectations throughout the project. Table 4.2 presents the Identify Stakeholders process in terms of the
input, tools and techniques, and output.
 Input Tools & Techniques Output
1. Data gathering 1. Stakeholder register
1. Project Charter
a. Questionnaires and 2. Change requests
2. Business documents
surveys 3. Project management
a. Business case
b. Brainstorming updates
b. Benefit management
2. Expert judgement a. Communications
plan
3. Meetings management plan
3. Agreements
4. Data analysis b. Stakeholders
4. Enterprise environmental
a. Stakeholder analysis engagement plan
factors
b. Document analysis c. Requirement
5. Organizational project
5. Data presentation management plan
assets
a. Stakeholder mapping d. Risk management
6. Project documents
and presentation plan
a. Requirement
4. Project document
documentation
updates
b. Change log
a. Issues log
c. Issues log
b. Assumptions log
7. Project management plan
a. Communications c. Risk register
management plan
b. Stakeholder
engagement plan
Table 4.2 The Identify Stakeholders Process: Input, Tools and Techniques, and Output

Identifying stakeholders is an iterative process—that is, you might have to perform the identification over
and over again because some old stakeholders may become irrelevant, and some new stakeholders may
appear during the life of the project. Because identifying and analyzing the stakeholders and managing
their expectations and influence is so critical to the success of the project, you should start this task early
on in the project. However, as new information and inputs become available throughout the project
lifecycle, the stakeholder identification and analysis must be updated.

The inputs of this process are: (1) the project charter, (2) business case and benefit management plan, (3)
agreements, (4) enterprise environmental factors, and (5) organizational project assets, which were all
discussed during in the previous process. The other inputs include:

 Project Documents. This includes the requirement documentation, change log and issues
log. The requirements documentation in project management describes how each
requirement meets the business needs for the project. The requirements documentation
need to follow a specific format. The format can range from a simple document that lists
the requirements that are categorized by the stakeholder or it can be elaborate and contain
a detailed description of the project, an executive summary, and several attachments to
support the project. The change log is a comprehensive list of changes made during the
project. This typically includes dates of the change and impacts in terms of time, cost, and
risk. Lastly, the issue log is a project document used to document and monitor elements
under discussion or in dispute between project stakeholders.
  Project Management Plan. A project management plan is a document used to describe
every phase of a project. It is composed of the communications management plan and the
stakeholder engagement plan. As stakeholder management is closely coupled with
communication management, you can extract considerable information about project
stakeholders from the communication management plan. Also, the stakeholder engagement
plan contains information about stakeholders. All of these are developed in the project
planning phase which is discussed in the next module.
Once the data about stakeholders is collected, it needs to be processed to extract the useful information
from it using the following tools and techniques:

 Data Gathering. The data gathering procedures that can be used in stakeholder
identification process include the use of questionnaires and surveys. A questionnaire is any
written set of questions, while a survey is both the set of questions and the process of
collecting, aggregating, and analyzing the responses from those questions.
 Data Analysis. Stakeholder analysis is an activity to analyze data about the stakeholders to
extract useful and relevant information. The following are the two major steps:
 Identify all potential stakeholders and the important characteristics of each
identified stakeholder, such as the (1) name, department, and role; (2) interest in
the project; (3) the rights, ownership, and contributions; (4) knowledge level; (5)
expectations; and (6) the kind and level of influence.
 Make an assessment of how a stakeholder is going to react to various situations in
the project.
 Data Presentation. An example of a data-presentation technique is mapping stakeholders
in a way that categorizes them using various criterion. When there are so many
stakeholders, it’s important for effective stakeholder management to classify and prioritize
them. There main criterion used to classify stakeholders is the power/interest grid. In this
model, you place the stakeholders on a two dimensional plot: power (i.e., authority) level
versus interest level. When you plot your stakeholders on a power/interest grid, you can
determine who has high or low power to affect your project, and who has high or low
interest. An example of a power/interest grid is presented in Figure 4.2. The following rules
are observed in a power/interest grid:
 People with high power and low interest need to be monitored closely. You need
these people to be kept satisfied with the project, even if they aren’t interested in it.
 People with high power and high interest must be managed with maximum effort.
They are the decision makers who have the biggest impact on project success.
 People with low power and low interest must be monitored with minimal effort.
 People with low power and high interest need to be kept informed.
 Figure 4.2 Example of power/interest grid

The tools and techniques used in the previous process such as brainstorming, expert judgements, and
meetings can also be used in the identification of stakeholders. To continue, the outputs of this process
are as follows:

 Stakeholder Register. You store information about the stakeholders that you identified in
a document called the stakeholder register. This information includes the detailed
identification, assessment, and classification of the stakeholders.
In addition to this output, the Identify Stakeholders process may also generate change requests, and as a
result some documents may need to be updated, such as those listed in the output column of Table 4.2.