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