This phase is the first pre-project phase: the project is not yet "launched".
Its purpose is to :
Define the project issues.
Study the project opportunity.
Study its feasibility (technical, budget, operational).
Define how to get money.
Organize the work and determine resources for the next phase
of the project.
At this phase, the type of project is not yet impacting, whether you are then on an
agile or V project afterwards, the initialization phase remains the same.
Needed Inputs
The business must provide to the client a scoping note that briefly describes
the expectations from the business.
Missions, goals and objectives.
The current business situation regarding the issue, with the current process.
Expected results with the target process.
The constraints.
The evaluation criteria.
Dependencies.
The potential risks.
The stakeholders
Business side :
The Business sponsor: guarantees the availability of human and material resources
for the smooth running of the project.
Business expert with a global vision of the project.
The key users: users or business expert.
IT side :
Project manager: in charge of preparing the project proposal, he coordinates the various
stakeholders.
Functional architect: provides the vision of the existing functional IT.
The deliverables
A Business Case including :
Overview of a Business Case
The reminder of the business demand and its requirements.
The functional scope.
The operational scope.
The organizational scope.
A first vision of the level of security that the solution should have.
An architect view.
The different alternatives considered with a comparison on the functional,
organizational, costs and planning aspects.
Assessment of the actions of this phase and their costs.
Estimates of the actions to be carried out in the next phase with their costs.
This proposal and the follow-up to be given to the project must be validated on both the IT and business sides.
To carry out this phase...
Determine the different expectations and the tasks to be carried out during this initial phase.
Organize a meeting to launch the initial phase to communicate with the business and IT stakeholders
around the project process in general and the progress of this phase, taking care to note the different business interlocutors to be solicited
and present the different expectations of each by discussing planning and availability of each.
Confirm with the business its need (between the first written need and the beginning of the initiate phase, time may have passed and
the business may have matured its need).
Carry out the work plan by keeping the business informed at the rate planned during the first meeting.
Write the business charter for the rest of the project and then request a decision.
Communicate the decision to all parties and move forward for further action !!!
Communication is the key !!!!!
Some methods to lead this phase
Define the people involved in the issue
By carrying out a persona type workshop. It is a question of listing the different profiles
of people impacted or influencing the project.
To understand and appropriate each profile, it is necessary to imagine its:
Firstname:
Age:
Main expectations:
Frequency of use of the product:
Knowledge of tools/technology:
Motto:
Post workshop, each profile can be assigned a photo.
Then, classify these different profiles according to their impacts and influence
to identify the people to be satisfied to ensure the success of the project.
Then, choosing, at most, 5 profiles that will follow the different participants in the course
of the project.
Define and share the business model
Using for example the Business Lean Canvas, this allows the business to review the
problems and share the various issues with the IT..
Description of Business Lean Canvas
To carry out this analysis, the following steps should be followed using the representation table
above:
Identify the different users/customers
For each of these users, identify irritants or problems
Propose a unique value
To each problem, propose a solution
To this solution, analyse its advantage over the competitors
the financial benefits of the solution
The costs of the solution (implementation and maintenance)
Definition of the solution's performance indicators
The channels on which they will be deployed
Identify the expected functionalities
Impact mapping can be useful during this phase.
The mapping impact is done in visual form. The different stakeholders are trying to put themselves in the shoes of the 5 people
defined above and find out what the future project could improve for them.
Once this exercise is done, people try to find out how it happened.
We obtain representations as follows :
(who)------(what)------(how)
Then, according to the weight of the people (impacts and influence) the main functions are selected.
Frugal analysis (value analysis) can help to select the how in a relevant way.
Frugal innovation (value analysis)
The frugal innovation assumes that everything (constraints, solutions,...) can be declined
in the form of values and costs.
For each function, people try to find 3 different solutions.
For each of these solutions, the value provided by the latter is quantified (additional value
compared to the current situation). The 3 solutions are then classified as "Good", "Better" and "Best"..
Then we try to estimate the costs of implementing the solutions.
Once this cost/value vision has been achieved, decision-makers can make the decision on what will be
and how in a factual way. In addition, it helps to convince the various stakeholders
the justification for the solution.
Definitions
Some explanations of the terms (select to expand): Production Deployment
It is deployed on production environments BUT is not
not used or used by a small part of the users (this is called the pilot phase).
Commissioning
It is accessible and used by all users.
Report
Document allowing all parties to trace the delivery
of deliverables.
GO
Decision of all parties to proceed to the next step.
GO's decision can be qualified: prior actions must then be taken
(e.g. corrections or rapid corrective delivery planning).
Recovery plan
Comes after the crash of servers, databases, etc., it is a function
of uploading the application from the backups.
Service continuity plan
System adopted to guarantee the expected service rate.
RACI or RAM (responsibility assignment matrix)
Describes who does what on the project. The different responsibilities :
Responsible / Accountable / Consulted / Informed.
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