Microsoft Project Fundamentals

Lesson 3Establish a Strong Foundation

LESSON OBJECTIVES

• List the components of the initiating process of a project.
• Identify at least three types of project stakeholders.
• Name at least three elements of the project charter.
• Name at least three methods for learning potential project requirements.
• Identify at least three elements of the project scope statement.
• Explain the differences between the project charter and the scope statement.
• Decide on the best way to organize project plan documents and make them accessible to the stakeholders.

When you're assigned a new project, you might feel the enthusiasm or the pressure from others to immediately jump straight in and lay out tasks and responsibilities.

It can certainly be more fun—at least at first—to “plan first and ask questions later.” It's all fun and games until you find out you're heading in the wrong direction or that the higher-ups weren't seriously committing to this project after all.

To prevent wasting precious time and money caused by having to double back and rework, when you take on a new project (or even inherit an existing one) one of your first jobs as a project manager is to get the powers that be to take a deep breath and think carefully about what this project is all about.

What's the source of this idea? What problem is it expected to solve? What will the project do and not do? How will you know if the project is successful? Who's paying for it?

In this lesson, you'll learn the important steps of ...