The main steps that need to be taken to reach the project initiation approval include preparing the Concept Paper, and conducting the Milestone 0 Decision Briefing.

Preparing the Concept Paper: The Concept Paper information basically documents the business problem and proposed technical approach. The document should be brief, providing a high-level justification for the project, giving enough information to determine if the project should continue onto the next phase.

After the appropriate Administration or Staff Office approval, the Concept Paper will be submitted to the CIO for review. The reviewing official will determine whether the project should go forward to EIB or be tabled, reworked, scrapped or refined.

Preparing the Briefing: In addition to the documentation, a briefing needs to be given to the Enterprise Information Board (EIB). If the project is approved to go forward and is approved by the EIB, an Exhibit 300, either Planning or Full Acquisition, will need to be developed for the next milestone.

Once a concept is approved, the project team will need to complete a more detailed life cycle cost estimate, breaking out acquisition and recurring costs for each year of the project, in order to provide sufficient information to prepare and justify a budget request.

The Project Manager is responsible for project cost, schedule and performance. Selection of the project manager should be based upon qualifications and experience commensurate with the size, complexity and profile of the project. All OMB Exhibit 300 level projects must have a  Level III master project manager and alternate project manager assigned. A Level II master project manager should be assigned to projects of medium to large size/complexity or to those subprojects that fall under an OMB Exhibit 300 initiative. Level I master project managers are qualified to manage small projects with a short duration. The project manager should be selected as early in the project life cycle as possible.

The Project Manager should have broad authority over the entire project. Senior management should empower the Project Manager to take actions necessary to complete the project successfully. This includes the authority to make design decisions during development, as well as the ability to control requirements, budget, schedule, resources, and product quality.

Assignment of the Project Manager should take place as early as possible. It is especially important the Project Manager conduct the planning phase of the project. The Project Manager’s understanding of the project’s planning process and trade-offs can be invaluable to team members and matrixed support personnel as they come on-board. That understanding of ‘how we got here’ will also have a beneficial impact on the decisions made during project execution.

From the perspective of the One- EA, at Milestone 0, PMs are expected to focus on the information relevant to their respective proposed new projects in row 1 of the EA Zachman Framework. This information is described in Chapter 3 of version 2.1 of the One Enterprise Architecture. Chapter 3 provides a delineation of the business of the Department from a business-focused, top-down, enterprise-wide perspective.

Projects that will involve telecommunications and operations infrastructure should consider the following questions leading up to Milestone 0:

Network Capacity Planning:

▲    Will the project use the data network for its operation?

▲    What is the project’s conceptual data network environment?

▲    What metrics were used to define this environment for appropriate network execution?