The project brief should focus on the ‘big picture’. It is a broad, high-level view of the project and it is important to focus on making sure that the breadth of the problem is stated. It is possible to get side-tracked or involved in detail when writing a project brief, so bear in mind that it will be verified and analysed during project planning. Important or complex areas will be fleshed out as a matter of course. The main areas your brief will cover are:
Overview
Organization
Critical Success Factors
Related Projects
Breakdown/Decomposition
Overview:
The Project Brief’s overview should answer: What is it? Why do we need it? Who will be involved or affected by it?
The Project Brief’s overview is a full explanation of what the project is expected to achieve, in other words the overall outcome and how will it improve the existing situation. This will allow the project scope to be established and the objectives to be defined.
You may include information on the general context within which the project is to be developed together with details of the other business processes with which it is associated.
General questions to be answered are:
What is it?
Why is it necessary?
Who are the stakeholders/interested parties?
Organization:
Identify the Project Sponsor and consider who the stakeholders are in your project brief.
Generally in a project there are roles to be fulfilled as follows:
Sponsor - This is the person in the company who is responsible for the financial outlay associated with the project and for the end decision on extension of the scope or other matters that may affect the financial status of the project.
Stakeholders - These are normally best described in a broad flow chart indicating the structure of the organisation, indicating and describing all areas that may be affected by the project
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