This stage will help you confirm that your strategy, planning and resources are in place and suitable to deliver your project requirements.Before continuing, ensure that you can answer these questions:

1. Do your stakeholders support the project objectives and agree with the success indicators?
2. Can you confirm that your project does not conflict with others elsewhere in the organisation/region?

Achieving objectives

Make sure you have a clear statement of the objectives and success indicators/outcomes, and that the planning and resource allocations will deliver them.

If not, then return to the Identify and Plan stages to review and redefine the project.

Are you confident that, as far as possible:

• Your approach and project plan will deliver the objectives within the time and budget?
• The outcomes of your project can be measured and the indicators for measuring them have been developed?

If your plan and resources do not seem to deliver the required outcomes:

• Have you identified the correct outcomes?
• Are you taking the right approach?
• Is this the right project?
• Is this the right time?
• Is the project correct but needs additional supporting projects to deliver the objectives?

Stakeholders

Review your stakeholders and contributors to ensure that you have identified them all and clearly described their roles.

Make sure:

• You can describe the approach and intended outcomes of your project clearly and simply – an elevator pitch
• There is a full communications plan that includes all your stakeholders
• The project plan properly addresses the stakeholders’ needs and objectives
• You can deliver this project within the limitations defined in your project plan

Resources

Make sure you have allocated sufficient resources and prioritised them for the best return on investment (ROI). Ensure that you have:

• Committed budgets and are clear on any performance or timing requirements you must meet in order to release budgets when your project is in progress
• An agreed and approved project plan
• An appropriate project team
• Selected your supplier(s) and agreed on timelines and costs
• If required, your suppliers have the necessary specialist skills
• Access to these specialists when you need them according to your project plan
• A procedure to cover the required sign-offs you need to externally procure these specialists
• Daily or weekly reporting mechanisms to manage and review budgets and time

Context and influencers

It’s important to assess the context of your project at the time of decision-making.

Below is a reminder of the list from the Contextual analysis step of the Identify stage:

• Timing – will the project coincide with expected changes in the organisation (e.g. reforms, elections etc?)
• Are there ongoing projects in your, or other organisations that could have positive or negative influences your project planning?
• Could your project benefit from similarities with existing projects in your organisation?
• Does your project fall within an area of political awareness? Could this have an effect?
• Does your project fall within an area of media/press interest? Have you developed contingency plans in case of premature media coverage?
• Does your project either support or oppose current topics in the public domain? Could this attention have a positive or negative affect?
• Could legislative issues, permissions or other formalities influence your project’s progress?
• Are there potential environmental or social issues that could influence your project’s development?