BUS605: Strategic Project Management

The initiation stage concentrates on evaluating the project's feasibility from the perspective of the different stakeholders. Therefore, it is crucial that the customer identifies and analyzes the possible project stakeholders who can have a positive impact on the project's value creation and who can bring some special competencies to the project. Naturally, those who can impose constraints must be identified as well.

Usually, RPDM projects contain lots of contingencies compared with traditional projects. Decisions are made concerning who is going to carry out the project, who the stakeholders to be involved are, and whether the project has an adequate base of support among those who are involved. In addition, questions are asked about the positions, interests, influence, interrelations, networks, and other characteristics of the stakeholders, with reference to their past and present positions but also their future potential.

In the initiation stage, the project stakeholders enter a temporary relationship with each other, and thus, it is extremely important for all stakeholders to emphasize the effort and engagement required for successful project completion. Typically, in the initiation stage, misunderstandings arise because the involved stakeholders have different expectations and alternatives. However, it is important to work out these disputes in order to avoid complications later in the project.