Initiating: project charter, sponsor authorization, high-level scope, assumptions, constraints and success criteria

Initiating turns an approved idea into an official project. Its most important output is the project charter, a short document that formally authorizes the project, names the project manager and gives them authority to apply organizational resources to the work. The sponsor, or another person with authority outside the project, signs it. Until the charter is signed, the project does not formally exist, and a project manager who starts spending money or booking people without one is taking a real risk.