What it is: Develop High-Level Milestones and Timeline

Description
This activity identifies high-level targets or milestones for the project. Milestones are deliverables or major events to be achieved on a specified date. Milestones can be viewed as  ”how are we doing” thresholds indicating whether a project is on track to finish as expected.

Note: At the Initiate Stage, information is at an overview level. Milestones identified at this early stage may be further broken down and revised during the project planning stage when the project schedule is created.

Rationale/Purpose
High level milestones and timelines have three important goals:

1. Provide measurement showing that tangible progress has been made on the project;
2. Ensure validation allowing the project to move on to the next step if the milestone is met or take corrective action if the milestone is not met;
3. Provide support for staff resource planning and budget preparation.

Who is involved
Project Manager
Project Stakeholders

Result
Milestone and timeline information is included in a separate section of your project charter often referred to as:

• Project milestones
• Project timeline

 

How to: Develop High-Level Milestones and Timeline

Recommended actions and strategies
The table below provides three key strategies for defining project milestones and a timeline.     

	What to do	How to do it
1	Identify the milestones for the project at a high level of detail	Specific milestones will vary according to the type of project and circumstances, but milestones often include these types: Proposals and Recommendations – Provide a basis for approvals and decisions Approvals and Decisions – Provide acceptance and authority to proceed Deliverables – Provide a measure of progress, an opportunity for evaluation, proof of deliverable Events - Provide specific project events (example – a project kick-off meeting)
2	Provide a brief but relevant description for each milestone	Write a brief explanation of the milestone. Example: Milestone: Project Management Framework Web Delivery Tool Description: Web based tool to present framework content to end users
3	Construct the timeline	Create the estimated target completion date for each milestone.

Templates/Examples: Develop High-Level Milestones and Timeline

Introduction
The table below provides several tools and templates you can use to help identify high level milestones and timelines.

Template	Example
High-Level Milestones and Timeline	High-Level Milestones and Timeline