The short answer
A Project Initiation Document (PID) sets out what a project will deliver, why, how, by when, at what cost and who is responsible. It brings together the project's scope, business case, plan, team and the rules for managing risk, quality, change and reporting. The project manager writes it, the project board approves it, and from then on it's the baseline the project is measured against.
What a PID should contain
Under PRINCE2 7, the current edition, a PID covers:
- Project definition. The background, objectives, scope (including what's out of scope), constraints and assumptions.
- Project approach. How the work will be delivered: in-house or with suppliers, in stages, and with which method (for example traditional, agile or a mix).
- Business case. Why the project is worth doing: the benefits, costs, timescale and main risks.
- Project team. Who sits on the project board, who manages the project and what each role is responsible for.
- Project plan. The stages, key milestones, dependencies and resources needed.
- Project controls. The tolerances for time, cost and scope, how often progress is reported and when issues must be escalated.
- Management approaches. How risk, issues, quality, change, communication and benefits will be managed. PRINCE2 7 adds commercial (suppliers and contracts), digital and data, and sustainability.
- Tailoring. How the method has been adapted to suit this project's size and risk.
Keep it short enough to be used
“The PIDs that cause problems later are rarely the short ones. They're the long ones written to win approval, which nobody opens again once the project starts.”
A PID is a working document, not a submission. To keep it useful:
- Scale it to the project. A small project might need a few pages. A large programme of work needs more, but each section should still earn its place.
- Link, don't copy. Point to the plan, RAID log and business case rather than pasting them in, so there's only ever one version.
- Write for the board. Lead with scope, cost, timescale and the decisions they're approving.
- Revisit it at every stage gate. If the project has changed, update the baseline formally rather than letting the PID drift out of date.
Who writes it and who approves it
- Writes it: the project manager, with input from the team, suppliers and the people who'll use the result.
- Approves it: the project board. Approving the PID is how the board authorises the project to go ahead and commits the money for the next stage.
- Uses it: everyone. It's the reference point when scope, cost or timescale are questioned later.
About the author
Martin Brodie-Lynch
COO and Co-founder
Reviewed by Stuart Lester