2 - Project Documentation
At the beginning
At the start of any service design review there are a number of documents that you should complete and keep up to date throughout:
- Project scoping document (make sure you also complete the benefits measuring document linked in the scoping document to understand and agree what the project should deliver)
- Project charter (within this it’s important that you identify, agree and document the outcomes you want to achieve from the service design review, as this gives you the overall purpose of the review)
- Risk register to help you identify risks to include in the risk register you can complete a SWOT analysis
- Stakeholder analysis to help identify your stakeholders and the impact. And a stakeholder communication plan to identify the right level of communication required for your stakeholders.
You should also complete a plan to keep you on track and ensure all of the key elements of the review are covered. Some tools you can use for this are:
- A project plan
- A Trello board
- Gantt chart
During your stakeholder communication plan you will identify different ways of engaging with your stakeholders. If you need to send them regular written updates a template you can use is:
At the end of the review you should complete a lessons learnt log to help inform future projects.
Gateway Reviews
At the end of each stage within the service design process before preceding to the next stage there are two things you should do:
- Check you have got enough information to achieve the expected outcome of that stage.
- Go back to the project charter and remind yourself the desired outcomes of the review – based on what you’ve identified at this stage in the review, is it still possible to achieve these outcomes?
Key Decisions
- During project meetings it’s important to log minutes, key decisions and actions from the meeting to ensure there is a record of this. These should also be circulated after the meeting.
- If a decision needs to be made about changes to the project scope or objectives this must be agreed by the project sponsor and should be noted in the same way as other key decisions.
