The Microsoft Office Project Initiation Tool is a Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 sample solution that simplifies the process of capturing and ranking project ideas. These ideas are logged in a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services list for comparison and selection. You can approve selected ideas using the same InfoPath form. This results in the creation of a Six Sigma project environment, including a full Microsoft Project Server project and a related Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site.

The form is fully customizable to address the particular business needs of the organization deploying the Microsoft Office Project Initiation Tool. This example solution includes selection criteria and associated metrics for calculating the potential success factor for the project idea and illustrates how to customize and use the tool. There is accompanying documentation that provides further guidance on how to customize and use the tool.

The Microsoft Office Project Initiation Tool is designed to work with the Sample solution for Six Sigma. However, with some customization of the Project Data Service (PDS) method, you can use this tool with any implementation of Project Server 2003. The accompanying documentation provides details of the required modifications to the PDS method.