ABSTRACT
It is quite common to meet professionals working on small projects or projects within organizations new to project management. These professionals often think that there is only one point of approvals for projects—one estimate, one plan—stemming from the usual confusion of thinking that process groups are phases. It is likely that some organizations do have one only approval point, which might be enough for the types of projects that they handle. However, this is not a good practice for most projects. The first budget approval is at Stage Gate 2. The second budget approval point might not be necessary for some projects but is needed for capital investment projects. Organizations with capital investment projects require a detailed plan as the basis for estimating, to produce accurate estimates and reduce uncertainty.
