The goal of the Initial Investigation Stage is for you to examine the proposal as quickly as possible (say, within one to six weeks), and to evaluate it against the existing business plans of the company to determine if what is intended is likely to be viable in financial, operational, technical and customer terms.
‘To have begun is half the job: be bold and be sensible.’
HORACE, 65–8 BC
The goal of the Initial Investigation Stage is for you to examine the proposal, as quickly as possible, (say, within one to six weeks), and to evaluate it against the existing business plans of the company. You need to determine if what is intended is likely to be viable in financial, operational, technical and customer terms.
You will need to:
Remember, this is only an initial assessment; do not run ahead of yourself by working to too high a degree of accuracy. Think in ranges, rather than absolutes. For example, ‘this project will cost between $75,000 and $200,000 and take four to eight months, with cost savings of the order of $100,000–200,000 per year.’
The Initial Business Case document contains the business rationale for the project. It is the document which outlines WHY you need the project, WHAT options you intend to work on, HOW you will do it, and WHO is needed to make it happen. It also answers the question HOW MUCH? and hence is used to authorise the funding for at least the next stage of the project. The Initial Business Case does not comprise a full analysis, but only sufficient to enable you to decide if it is worthwhile continuing the project. The full Business Case will provide the definitive appraisal for the project.
The Initial Business Case includes:
It also evaluates the project against the existing strategies and goals of the company to confirm its fit and to determine if it is likely to be viable in both business, technical, operational, and customer terms. See the CD-ROM and p. 293 for more detail.
The Project Plan is a key appendix to the initial business case and defines the schedule, cost, and resource requirements for the project. This is defined in summary to completion of the project and in detail for the Detailed Investigation Stage.
Deliverable | Prepared by | Review by | Approved, prior to gate, by |
Initial Business Case | Project manager | Impacted or benefiting functions and business units | Project sponsor |
Project Plan | Project manager | Impacted or benefiting functions and business units | Project sponsor |
Note: These are minimum roles and deliverables only. Each project manager should define the full set pror to the start of the stage. At the discretion of the project manager, a separate initial investigation report and/or output definition may also be produced.
Initial Investigation Gate. This gate is the point at which a decision is made as to whether an initial investigation (business, technical, marketing and operational) should be undertaken and whether there are resources to do it. If the Proposal is authorised, the Initial Investigation Stage is started. See checklist on p. 92.
The Initial Business Case is submitted for gate authorisation.
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