Purpose of the Project Brief

Purpose of the Project Brief (#1 in the series The Project Brief)
By The Office of Government Commerce – OGC, UK

The purpose of the project brief is to provide a firm foundation for the initiation of the project.

If approval is given to proceed to initiation, the Project Brief is extended and refined into the Project Initiation Document.

For construction projects, the Project Brief is a formal statement of the objectives and functional and operational requirements of the finished project. It should be in sufficient detail to enable the construction team to execute the detailed design and specification of the work and is therefore an essential reference for the construction team.

The Project Brief is a key document in its own right. It is the basis of the Project Initiation Document, which gives the direction and scope of the project and forms the ‘contract’ between the project team and corporate or programme management. Any significant change to the material contained in the Project Brief will thus need to be referred to corporate or programme management.

For construction projects the Project Brief is a key component of the Project Execution Plan.

Successful delivery toolkit, the Office of Government Commerce – © Crown Copyright 2009