Purpose

Because different organizations interpret project requests (as a practice) differently, their purposes may vary as well. A project request may be a simple one-paragraph description of a project that has been formally submitted to management (either through a chartering process or proposal process). It may also be a specific form or format for submitting initial information about a project that may be of interest to the organization or that may serve an organizational need. For the sake of this discussion, the latter is assumed.

Application

A project request is used as a means to initiate ongoing analysis (feasibility study, impact analysis) of a project concept. Information available for the project request is generally somewhat scant, as the project request is used only to trigger other processes.

Content

A project request form includes only the most rudimentary information about a project concept:

•  Project name (or a few-word description);

•  Project description (may include a brief description of the goals or objectives of the project, as well as any problems/concerns it is designed to resolve); •  Timing;

•  Special resource needs (may include material or human resources essential to project initiation or implementation);

•  Support organization (the anticipated “home” for the project if it is determined to be viable);

•  Name of person completing the form.

Although other information may be incorporated, these are the essentials for initiating  a project and ensure that a consistent baseline set of information is available for any project that will undergo further study or scrutiny.

Approaches

The information embedded here may be redundant with information collected for a project proposal or feasibility analysis. That is why, particularly in smaller organizations, a project request form may be embedded within those other processes. Larger organizations use project request forms as an initial screening mechanism to enter projects into the process and to ensure that those that undergo more formal feasibility assessment are initiated at the appropriate levels within the organization.

Considerations

Because the project request form data are frequently redundant with information gathered in other processes, it should be applied only when there are copious requests being filed on a regular basis, the organization is large, and tracking mechanisms are limited. In smaller organizations where project owners are easily identified, project requests may be seen as purely administrative overhead.