Frequently Asked Questions

I wish to start a new project, which form do I use?

A Project Concept (doc 71kb) should be completed for all intended projects. The information provided will assist the IT Directors to review the relative merits and priorities of submitted projects before determining whether they should proceed to the next stage of review by the relevant Programme Steering Committee.

What is a Project Charter?

A Project Charter (doc 111kb) is the formal agreement between the Project Manager, Project Sponsor and Stakeholders. It is the basis of all change control and can not be altered unless all parties agree. The charter will be the initial deliverable for a project and once approved, is the authority to commence the project.

Who is the Project Sponsor?

The Project Sponsor may be the person who controls the budget or the person who has ultimate responsibility for the completed project. It usually is someone within a business area or an ITS Director.

What is a project?

This can often be a difficulty especially when a prospective project may be of short duration but with wide and significant impact. There is no simple answer to this question and, where project managers have concerns as to whether the work to be undertaken is really a project or not, then it should be referred to a Director, or the Project Office.

How do you define the scope of a project?

The scope of a project refers to the boundaries, which may be organisational, technical, functional or geographic. It can be useful to explicitly also state what ISN'T within the scope of the project.

What project benefits need to be defined?

All benefits should be identified. Benefits can be:

Tangible - tabulation of the quantifiable financial benefits (by description) to be achieved over the next 3 to 5 years from increased revenue generation or avoided costs through direct cost reduction, cost deferral or avoidance. Note that "improved service" benefit is tangible if there is a resultant avoided cost or increased revenue flow.

Intangible - Benefits that are not able to be financially quantified

Strategic - A strategically important factor which will cause a project to be initiated irrespective of cost or perceived benefit (e.g. Y2K)

What if I can't predict the cost of the project at the Project Concept stage?

Complete cost/budget estimates for an entire project may be difficult (or impossible) to identify at the outset. If this is the case then simply state what is known at the time of preparing the project description and update at a later time, when the estimates are known.

Do all projects require a Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is an important part of a project's governance structure and although there may be projects that do not require a committee, they will be rare exceptions. The IT Project Office is available to discuss issues like this, so before running a project without a Steering Committee please contact us.