Project Starter Kit Template Bundle
How Your Project Begins Determines How Your Project Ends !
Have you been assigned a project but don’t know where to start? Worry not, we got you covered. Starting a project from scratch can be daunting, particularly if you are new to project management. However, with a little help (your PMO is your best friend!) you will be mastering the art of managing projects successfully in no time. Think of your new project like a house – it all starts with building right and solid foundations.
To assist you in the process of starting a project, we have put together a Project Starter Kit, which contains the typical management deliverable of this project management phase. And yes, it is ready to use!
What Does The Project Starter Kit Include?
- Project Proposal One-Pager (PowerPoint Template)
- Project Business Case (Word Template)
- Project Statement Of Work - SOW (Word Template)
- Project Charter (Word Template)
- Project RAIDAD Log (Excel Template)
- Project Requirements Breakdown Structure and Traceability Matrix (Excel Template)
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Dictionary (Excel Templates)
- Project Management Plan (Word Template)
- Project Initiation Checklist (Word Template)
- Project Planning Checklist( Word Template)
Project Proposal One-Pager: all projects start with a good idea. The Project Proposal One-Pager is where that idea is recorded by the first time. This document provides a short and sweet overview of this new project could be about and outlines the why (context & justification), the what (high-level scope), the when (high-level timescale), the who (high-level view of resources required) and the how much (budget required) of the project, in this way providing sufficient information for the idea to be assessed as worth implementing or not.
Project Proposal One-Pager
Project Business Case: following from the project proposal, the Business Case aims to provide a solid justification for a project to be implemented, with a focus on benefits to be realized by the project and high-level costs to be incurred. This document can be produced by a separate Business Analysis team and should include an element of investment appraisal, supported by relevant financial metrics such as Benefit-Cost Ratio or Return-on-Investment so that the project can be thoroughly evaluated regarding its feasibility, desirability, and viability.
Project Business Case Template
Project Business Case Template
Project Business Case Template
Project Statement of Work: if you have a winning business case for the project, that project probably got approved as worth investing and a Project Statement of Work can be issued to initiate conversations with vendors. This is the first formal document submitted to a supplier for the provision of a piece of work and outlines specifications of work to be performed as well as any requirements relating to the management of the relationship with the supplier, such as reporting requirements, place of work and other obligations, expected schedule for delivery as well as the payment schedule.
Project SOW Template
Project SOW Template
Project SOW Template
Project SOW Template
Project Charter: the Project Charter is THE document when it comes to project initiation since it formally authorizes the project in the organization and empowers the project manager to go ahead and lead it. This document is critical in the management of the project not just because it creates a vision and a shared understanding of the project and identifies the high-level objectives and scope of the project, but also because it defines what will success look like and enables budget and other resources to be secured, in this way containing all the key information that will serve as a point of reference for the project team and other key project stakeholders.
Project Charter Template
Project Charter Template
Project Charter Template
Project Charter Template
Project RAIDAD Log: managing project logs is the bread and butter of project managers. To make this work easier, a RAIDAD Log can be extremely useful since it centralizes all logs in a single place, in this way facilitating management, access, visibility, and reporting, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. This tool is used to track risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies, actions, and decisions (I guess you found out already why we call it RAIDAD, very clever of you). A Financial Tracker and a Daily Log can also be found in this template.
RAID Summary Tab
RAID Risks Log
RAID Actions Log
RAID Assumptions Log
RAID Decisions Log
RAID Dependencies Log
RAID Issues Log
Project Financials Tracker
RAID Daily Log
Project Requirements Breakdown Structure and Traceability Matrix: once the project is authorized, requirements need to be gathered and refined for the work to start. This information is captured in a Requirements Breakdown Structure, which is a hierarchical display of the requirements and the main input that will inform the scope of the project. Requirements - either business, functional, or technical needs – will then be tracked and traced back to their requestors through a Traceability Matrix. This supporting tool enables clear ownership of the requirements, as well as their prioritization in the project and per stakeholder.
Requirements Breakdown Structure
Requirements Traceability Matrix
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Dictionary: following from the requirements, the WBS and WBS Dictionary are the backbone of the scope of the project. The WBS is a hierarchical decomposition of the scope of the project, represented as a tree structure, from deliverable (the output of the project) to the most elemental piece of work (work package), acting as an important communication and reporting tool. In turn, the WBS Dictionary expands the WBS further by providing information about the description of the task, ownership, related resource requirements and acceptance criteria, in this way removing any ambiguity from the project scope and providing robust information to enable successful delivery.
Project WBS and Dictionary
Project Management Plan (PMP): the PMP is the “Bible” of the project and the key management document for the planning phase. It provides a comprehensive description of how the project is going to be executed, monitored, and controlled, being the first point of reference for any of the project processes, baselines, and standards to be followed by the team. The PMP is a living document which is formed by several subsidiary management plans, such as scope management, resource management, schedule management, risk management, etc. If you are after some information about the project, this is the document to go to.
Our 36 pages comprehensive project management plan !
Project Management Plan
Last but not least, a Project Initiation Checklist. This simple but powerful tool is used as a prompt to ensure that all necessary procedures and project management best practices are being followed. It focuses not just on deliverable-oriented tasks (such as the production of the Charter), but also on other activities relating to the establishment of the right conditions that could enable project success (e.g. sponsor available and committed or clear success criteria), in this way being a useful guidance piece for inexperienced project managers (beginning of initiation) or as double-check for experienced ones (end of initiation).
Project Initiation Checklist
Project Planning Checklist: completing the planning phase of a project is not just a checkbox exercise, I agree, however, with so many aspects to look for and so many management plans to produce, having a project planning checklist can help ensure that you don’t get lost between the paperwork and are really focusing on the minimum controls that need to be in place - such as having baselines approved – to get the project ready for entering the execution phase. Do not neglect the usefulness of checklists!
Project Planning Checklist
By completing each of the products above, you will be in a good position to define the project and to ensure that the right conditions are in place to facilitate its achievement, from having a robust business case for it to the identification and prioritization of requirements or the production of the statement of work. You will be building solid foundations for your new project.
How your project begins determines how your project ends, don’t forget it!
