Explanation
The writing of a complex specification should be treated as a project because it requires the brain power from different stakeholders. Many tools and processes of project management can be applied to complex specification development. Before engaging with the stakeholders and implementing the project, the project initial document should developed.
A Project Initiation Document (PID) is one of the most important components of project manage-ment, which forms the foundation for a company project. It is a reference point during the entire project, for the client as well as for the project team.
A PID bundles documentation into a logical reference work that collects all important information needed to start and run a project from a good foundation. After that, Project Initiation Document must be transferred to all stakeholders, including business sponsors.
This forms the basis for the project management. The documentation from which the PID is com-posed include the business case in which the project’s justification can be found, the communica-tion plan and the project plan.
The PID is composed out of collected information and includes, among others, the following com-ponents:
- Project goal(s); what do you want to achieve with the project?
- Project size; how large is the project, how long does it take and how many people are involved?
- Project organisation; who are involved in the project, what are their tasks, responsibilities and authority?
- Limits and risks; what can cause a project to stagnate and are there risks related to the project?
- Stakeholders; who has a stake in the success of the project?
- Project checks and frame reporting; by carefully taking into account evaluation moments, it is clear to everyone what sample tests can be carried out during the process.
In addition, it is important that the Project Initiation Document also contains the following infor-mation:
- The background and occasion of the project, which together provide information about the con-text.
- The project organisational structure, which describes who has which management responsibility in the project.
- The project quality plan, describing who controls the quality of the products to be delivered and how it will take place.
- The total project planning, including the duration of all activities.
- The exception process, which describes how exceptions are dealt with and the steps of the escalation procedure.
- The risk log, including the measures that will be taken when there are unforeseen risks.
- The documentation structure of the project, in which the encoding and storage of all documents and products to be provided by the project has been recorded in advance.
[Reference:, - CIPS study guide page 148, - Project Initiation Document (PID), a project management tool | ToolsHero, LO 3, AC 3.3]
