Understanding the Project Initiation Process

Project initiation is the beginning phase for large-scale engineer-to-order (ETO) or make-to-order activities. Industries that make products according to very specific customer requirements rely on project management practices to ensure that all customer requirements are met in the final product. Projects of this nature can have a life cycle of a year or more; therefore, during the project initiation phase, you must comprehensively and accurately enter all of the information that is required for a project.

If you operate in an engineer-to-order business environment, you typically initiate a project only when a customer requests a quote for a specific product. After the customer transmits the request for a quote, you complete these activities that yield the information that is required for a quote:

• Create a project.

• Define high-level phases and tasks.

• Determine an estimated schedule.

• Calculate estimated costs.

• Determine a price and generate a proposal.

The goal of these activities is to provide the customer with sufficient information to make an informed decision about accepting or rejecting the quote. Some of the project initiation activities might be iterative, in response to additional customer questions and requirements. The project initiation phase concludes when the customer accepts the quote and you actually start planning for and working on the project tasks.