Problem need or opportunity.A brief high-level summary of
key parts of the Project Requirements Document.
Proposed solution.Generally, this is the project title expanded
for greater clarity and understanding.
Statement of work and strategy for execution.A narrative
delineation of the work that will be done and descriptions of how
it will be done. It must be stated in sufficient detail to enable the
breakdown of work to the task level. It should describe the gen-
eral approaches and strategies for meeting project objectives. It
may describe how the elements are interrelated or describe a
rough sequence of how major elements of work will be carried
out. This section is the primary focus of the Project Definition
Document.
Major deliverables.Describes outputs or end products of the
project. The level of detail in this section could vary from a gen-
eral description of major outputs to a set of performance speci-
fications.
Completion criteria.A description of what must be accom-
plished or delivered in order to fulfill the contract.
Risks, uncertainties, and unknowns.Identification of factors or
conditions for which information is missing and that may affect
the accuracy of your predictions for the project. Emphasis is
ordinarily put on areas where the project may be negatively
impacted relative to stakeholder expectations.
Assumptions.Information, data, or statements about conditions
that have unknown validity, used when there are significant
unknowns or uncertainties.
A Project Definition Document mayalso include these ele-
ments:
Preliminary execution plan.Includes whatever planning docu-
mentation exists at that time, such as preliminary cost and
schedule estimates, a procurement strategy, and an organiza-
68 Project Management