Origination
The goal of the Origination Phase is to ensure that the projects in an organization's portfolio are aligned with its strategic goals and to control and prioritize projects coming into an organization. Main activities include turning an idea into a proposal, approval, prioritization, and scheduling a project. While the Project Manager has limited involvement in this phase, this process must be in place in order to have effective project management within an organization.
| Activity |
Description |
Inputs |
Outputs |
Owner |
Templates and Resources |
| Develop formal project proposal |
The Project Sponsor will create a formal project proposal that includes: description of the work, business case, alternatives considered, impact of not doing the work, initial estimate of resources and schedule, and strategic match. |
Project idea
Organization's strategic plan |
Project proposal |
Project Sponsor |
A project proposal template is available. |
| Review and approve proposal |
The project proposal is reviewed by the appropriate organization's committee and approved or rejected. |
Project proposal |
Approved project proposal |
Organization's governance group |
|
| Prioritize project |
Approved project proposals are prioritized and put into the pipeline for scheduling and PM assignment. The full pipeline of projects is re-prioritized on a regular basis. |
Approved project proposal |
Prioritized and approved project |
Organization's governance group |
|
| Schedule project and assign PM |
Projects in the pipeline are assigned a tentative start date and project manager by the Lead PM or PMO. This assignment takes into account the following:
- Schedules for in-flight projects
- Priority of to-be-scheduled projects
- Resource demands
- Skill of the Project Manager
|
Prioritized and approved project
Project pipeline
Existing project status
Resource allocation and demand |
Tentative start date for project
Tentative PM assignment |
PM Lead / PMO |
|