Initiating Process Group

The Initiating Process Group is one of the most important groups because they are involved in paving the way for the rest of the project. A Villanova University article defines the group as, setting up the project, including permits, ground laying paperwork, and anything else that is going to be needed throughout this phase, and subsequence phases of the project. (Source: http://www.villanovau.com/resources/project-management/pmbok-project-management-process-groups/#.VNohH_nF-Ts (Links to an external site.)) The way that I look at this is, if you are building something that requires permits, government regulation or otherwise the influence of a much larger body to approve or deny your plans, the Initiating Group can be the lifeblood of the project, setting up the permits correctly, getting all

Having seen this with my own personal experience, poor planning can derail a project very early on, or you can see evidence of it spinning out of control as the project is transferred to the Execution Group. You have to have a firm grasp of milestones, the scope of work that is needed to reach each milestone, or go even granular and see how each activity can be performed on time, on budget, and not delay the project, especially if subsequent phases and tasks are waiting for this phase to be completed. An article on Bright Hub has a good point about this group, in that it is critical to the success of your project. After the documents created in this phase of the project are completed you will have a clear and actionable roadmap for project delivery, with the key being actionable. (Source: http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/1673-moving-into-the-project-planning-stage/ (Links to an external site.)). As you can see, a very complex, but very important part of the overall project