Revision History

Date	Version	Description	

Feb-03, 2002	
1.0 	
Initial version.	

Mar-15, 2002	
1.1	
Update Project brief and Issue log for consistency.	

			

			

Approving the Project 

Purpose
To carefully evaluate project opportunities to ensure that the investment being contemplated through the undertaking of the project is wisely allocated and that the objectives and anticipated benefits are aligned with the department’s overall business plans and priorities. Furthermore, the associated potential risks must be also be evaluated to determine their impact on the achievement of the project benefits and goals. 

The process described in this section, applies specifically to projects requiring Treasury Board approval (see the Departmental Approval Authority to determine whether your project requires approval). However, even if your project does not officially require the application of the Treasury Board Project Approval Policy, your Department’s approval process and guidelines should be respected. You may also consider adopting the aspects of this process that can improve the rigour and discipline of your project. 

Activities 
The Treasury Board Approval process normally involves two iterations at increasing levels of project planning detail. The output of the first planning iteration is used to seek authority to proceed with further definition of the project.  The output of the second planning iteration is used to seek the authority to implement the project. Departments normally request Preliminary Project Approval (PPA) when the initial project planning and identification is completed, and Effective Project Approval (EPA) when the detailed planning is complete. Where extensive project definition and detailed planning can be performed in one step (and the associated costs are within the prescribed guidelines), a single submission is possible. In these cases, the single submission must provide all information required from both the PPA and the EPA.

No.	Activity	Detail of Activities and Remarks	
1	Prepare & submit the PPA proposal	Prepare the PPA proposal to obtain approval and authority to proceed with all or part of the project’s detailed planning phase:
•	Identify the program requirement and justify that it relates directly to the Department’s goals and responsibilities. Show that the project can effectively address the requirement.
•	Specify the costs required to complete the project definition phase (detailed planning).
•	Provide documentation substantiating that the project represents an effective and efficient solution to the operational needs as setout in the Department’s defined priorities or in the Long-term Capital Plan (LTCP).
•	Prepare the project brief (where required).
•	Gather and assemble the supporting documentation including the:
•	The indicative overall project cost estimates (to be refined in the detailed planning phase).
•	The overall project schedule;
•	Summary of cost-benefit and option analyses;
•	Preliminary Risk assessment;
•	Preliminary Project Management Plan (including project management approach and milestones);
•	Project Issue Log; and 
•	Other objectives, if deemed appropriate in consultation with the TBS such as: preliminary procurement strategy, IM/IT strategy, HR impact, and communication and policy issues.
	
2	Prepare & submit the EPA proposal	Prepare the EPA proposal to obtain approval and authority to proceed with all or part of the project’s implementation:
•	Specify the substantive costs required to complete the project implementation phase.
•	Detailed description of project objectives and benefits, including as appropriate schedule objectives, performance objectives, industrial and regional benefits, and other national objectives.
•	Detail any other objectives that have been deemed as by the Department, in consultation with the Treasury Board Secretariat, to be sufficiently critical to require specific authority by the Treasury Board. 
•	Project brief (where required);
•	Gather and assemble the supporting documentation including the:
•	Descriptions of agreements with external parties (such as international cooperation agreements, agreements with other federal government departments, or provincial governments);
•	Formal Risk assessment and mitigation strategies;
•	Formal Project Management Plan (including project management approach, schedule milestones and the overall project schedule) Project Issue Log; 
•	Schedule objectives; and 
•	Corporate Process Plans (Quality Plans, Risk Management Plan, Communications Plan, Performance Management Plan, HR Plan, Configuration Management Plan, Requirements Management Plan, and IM/IT plans).

Inputs
No.	Input	Detail of Inputs and Remarks	Entry criteria	
1	Approved Scope Statement, or Project Charter
	•	Scope statement, that includes project justification, project scope and summary-level deliverables, in addition to product/service description. 
•	For details see the deliverable description.
•	Charter: for details see the deliverable description.
	Yes	
2	Approved Business Case 	The individual elements of the business case for the basis of the TB Submission. For details see the deliverable description. 
	Yes	
3	Organization’s approaches and constraints	TB Submissions need to take into Government approaches and constraints: 
•	Alignment with Government-wide and Department specific policies and standards, and priorities
•	Alignment with Department LTCP
•	Pre-defined organizational processes, roles and responsibilities, tools and techniques, etc.
•	Stakeholders knowledge, skills, availability, etc.		
4	Project Plans (PMP and Corporate Process Plans)
	The planning output from each planning iteration is used to create the submissions and their supporting documentation.		

Outputs

No.	Output	Detail of Outputs and Remarks	Exit Criteria	
1	PPA Proposal (submission)	For details see the deliverable description.		
2	PPA Decision Letter	Treasury Board approval of the PPA is in the form of a decision letter that may include changes to the proposed objectives as well as other direction. 	Yes	
3	EPA Proposal (submission)	For details see the deliverable description.		
4	EPA Decision Letter	Treasury Board approval of the EPA is in the form of a decision letter that may include changes to the proposed objectives as well as other direction.
	Yes	

Policies & Standards
The following is a list of Treasury Board project policies and standards with a brief overview:

Policy

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Standards

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Supporting Tools and Techniques
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