Appendix B: Standard IT Project Documents

For this Appendix, we've created some project templates that you might find helpful during project execution. You can find these documents as Microsoft Word and Excel spreadsheets on the companion CD of this book.

Initial Project Proposal Analysis Template

This document gives you different questions you can ask in order to determine the basic nature of the project request before you. Use this at initial project assessment time. When presented with an initial project proposal, it may be helpful to ask a few basic questions of your clients in order to clarify what the project entails:

Customer Information

Ask yourself and your team specific questions about the nature of your customer and its needs.

Who is my customer?

What is the problem or issue that we're trying to solve?

If we solve this problem, how will we benefit?

If we can't solve this problem, what will happen? (Is there a penalty that we might incur if we don't solve this problem?)

What does the solution to the problem look like?

What are the primary deliverables?

What do you think this project will cost and where will the project funding come from?

How long do you think the project will take?

What does my customer have to do to ensure the success of the project?

Who will be the sponsor of this project?

Who will be the project manager?

Success Information

You need to decide the criteria that will determine project success. Ask yourself and your team these specific questions about the project you are tackling.

By what metrics will we be able to measure that we've successfully solved the problem or met the need?

Will we increase sales? If so, what are current sales and what do we project future sales to be?

Will we be lowering the costs of an operation? If so, what does the operation currently cost and what do we anticipate it will be after we've implemented our solution?

Will the overall quality of our product or service be enhanced? If so, what is the measurement of product or service quality now and what will it be when we're finished?

Will our performance be improved? If so, what is the current measure of performance that we use and what does the enhanced measure look like?

Business Impact

You need to record the projected impact the project will have on your business. Ask yourself and your team these questions to determine if the project is right for your organization at this time.

Are there other projects vying for corporate time and resources?

How will competing projects be impacted should this project go forward?

Do the other projects depend on the successful outcome of this project?

What is the impact to the business for these other projects?