ProjectInvestment Launch and Run Checklist
Initiate - Before you release an RFP or sign a contract.
Have you articulated a shared vision?
Have you identified your stakeholders and initiated engagement with them?
Do you know what you are getting into and can you prove you know through experience or research?
Have you reached shared commitment to the vision with your range of stakeholders?
Have you identified the visible executive sponsor(s) for the duration of the project?
Do you have a clear problem statement and/or business need?
Do you know what you want to accomplish or change and how to tell when you’re done?
Have you fully defined your scopeand does it encompass everything needed to achieve the shared vision?
Is this project related to a larger portfolio? If so, do you have a strategy to manage the relationship?
Does this project have policy and procedure implications? If so, do you have a plan to address them?
Have you engaged change management resources to help shape your change efforts?
Do you have a high level schedule or date constraint?
Are you intending to “BUY” (SaaS, COTS, Cloud) or “BUILD” (APP DEV)? Do you understand why?
Have you applied lessons learned from prior projects?
Planning –Source and conduct full project planning.
Has clear ownership for the project, from initiation through value achievement, been established?
Have you initiated yourstakeholder engagement program that will operate through the value phase?
Have you committed to and are you following a standard project management practice?
Have you brainstormed potential risks and developed mitigation scenarios?
Have you estimated internal and external resources?
Have you clearly defined your detailed deliverables?
Have you defined and committed to a change management and implementation approach?
Have you created a detailed project plan that identifiesinternal dependencies and those to other projects?
Do you know your critical path is and is this articulated in your project plan?
Have you aligned your acceptance criteria to your benefits and desired outcomes?
Build - Configure or design.
Are you actively managing organizational change management, communications, benefits realization and risk mitigation?
If you intend “BUY”: Have you adaptedyour process to the product through business process reengineering? Have you updated your policies and procedures and configured the product to your basic needs?
If you intend “BUILD”: Have you followed your build methodology? Has your product been end-to-end tested?
Does your acceptance criteriaeffectively support the achievement of your benefits and desired outcomes? If not, consult with VMO to determine a path to reclaim benefits, modify expectations or terminate.
Have the executive, businessand technical sponsorssign off on the configuration or build specification?
Operate-Deploy and implement.
Are you actively managing organizational change management, communications, benefits realization and risk mitigation?
Have you deployed effective training to the user community and affected stakeholders?
Have you fully implemented your business process reengineering?
Is the sponsor visibly engaged in implementation and communication efforts?
As you complete implementation, has your acceptance criteria effectively supported the achievement of your benefits and desired outcomes? Has the project outcome been determined prior to the final payment?
Achieve–Run, adopt and evaluate.
Are you actively monitoring adoption and the change curve for signs of success or trouble? Do you have prepared responses if the change curve is not trending as desired?
Is the sponsor visibly engaged in managing the implemented project to the benefits?
Have you evaluated and documented the project implementation and effects (lessons learned)? Are you satisfied with the outcomes? Did they reflect the original benefits and desired outcomes? If not, why not?
Have you identified future strategic changes to this process or related ones? Have you budgeted for your next strategic investment?
Page 1 of 2 October 1, 2018