Preview: Project initiation workflow for PM² and other standards (Enterprise add-on)

Those who work according to project management standards, such as PM² or PMflex, rely on very specific requirements when creating new projects. A new project initiation request is therefore often time-consuming and prone to errors: Which version of the spreadsheet actually contains the up-to-date data? And what information do I need to submit the request? In many organizations, this project initiation request serves as the formal basis for approval, budgeting, and prioritization.

As a project portfolio manager, you want to enable project initiators to easily create and process project initiation requests in one platform for project and portfolio management. That’s why we want to significantly simplify the project initiation process with OpenProject: we are currently developing a wizard that guides users step by step through the project initiation workflow.

In this blog article, you can find out exactly how this workflow will simplify the work of portfolio managers and everyone involved in creating new projects. Please keep in mind that this is a preview of a feature still in development and therefore subject to change.

Importante

This feature is currently planned to be released with version 17.1 in February 2026, as Enterprise add-on in the Premium plan. Please see our Pricing page to learn more about the different OpenProject plans.

Automated guidance for complex processes

Every month, we release new features and Enterprise add-ons for OpenProject. On the one hand, this means the software is becoming more powerful. Project managers can work faster, more effectively, and in a more targeted way. On the other hand, we are aware that users need clear guidance from the software — especially when underlying processes are complex, whether based on PM², PMflex, or other project management standards.

Particularly when starting projects, a step-by-step workflow can be extremely helpful. The idea: project portfolio managers define specific steps and attributes in a template. Anyone who then creates a new project simply follows the predefined steps. At the end, a work package is created that contains all the necessary information and is assigned directly to the responsible person or group reviewing the request.

This ensures that standards are met, everything is documented centrally, and users can focus on their actual work instead of on the tool.

Benefit of a workflow for project initiation requests

Does the following sound familiar? To create a project initiation request according to PM² or PMflex, you have to search through scattered Excel spreadsheets — or, even worse, emails — and in the end, you’re still not sure whether you have the latest and correct data. And even if all the data is there, it still needs to be checked by a portfolio or program manager. But how and when?

These unclear processes cost time and causes frustration, resulting in incomplete project initiation requests.

So let’s:

• Predefine clear processes and required attributes in a template.
• Enable a feature that guides the user step by step.
• Complete the workflow with automation that bundles all information and initiates the next step.

Our vision is to make this possible for users of PM² and PMflex in particular and to enable it as Enterprise add-on. At the same time, we also want teams using other methods – such as PRINCE2, SAFe, OKR – to benefit from predefined standards and guided project creation.

Dica

PMflex is the project management standard for public administration in Germany. As OpenProject is part of openDesk, the all in one office and collaboration suite tailored for public sector Germany, the project initiation wizard will also be available for openDesk users.

A structured process helps organizations:

• Reduce cognitive load for project initiators.
• Ensure all mandatory information is collected.
• Avoid errors caused by outdated or inconsistent data.
• Standardize project initiation across departments.
• Onboard new employees more easily.
• Improve transparency for reviewers and decision-makers involved in the approval process.
• Automate the handover to portfolio or program managers.
• Keep documentation in one central place.

Let’s see what the OpenProject team is currently working on to enable this idea of a project initiation wizard.

Feature preview: project initiation workflow (Enterprise add-on)

The planned Enterprise add-on will enable project initiators to navigate through the process in four steps.

1. Select a template to create a project

Choose the right project, program, or portfolio template defined by your portfolio manager to ensure that all required attributes and steps are included.

Image: Preview mockup showing interface to select different templates to begin the project initiation request in OpenProject.

2. Fill out the predefined requirements

Enter the necessary information in a clear and guided form. The fields shown depend on the chosen template and ensure that all mandatory data is collected.

Image: Preview mockup showing interface to fill out several requirements for the project initiation request, such as Dates, Technical information or legal basis.

3. Submit the project initiation request to trigger automations

Once all required fields are filled out, submit the initiation request. The workflow automatically bundles all information and sends it to the responsible reviewer.

Image: Preview mockup showing interface to submit a project initiation request in OpenProject.

4. Check the status and exported artifact on the work package

After submission, OpenProject automatically creates a work package in addition to the project you just created. With this work package, you can track the status of the initiation request. Additionally, OpenProject will generate an artifact from your information in the form of a PDF and add it to the newly created work package.

For this step, we don’t have a mockup to show yet, but the created work package could look something like this:

Image: Demo work package of a project initiation request in OpenProject, with automatically written description, uploaded PDF file (the artifact) and comment by ‘System’.

Example from practice: How this wizard will improve daily work

Imagine Anna, a project coordinator in the IT department of a medium-sized German city administration. Until now, her workday often started the same way: searching for the correct version of a project initiation file. One version was saved on a shared drive, another was attached to an email, and a third one was updated by a colleague “just last week” — but nobody remembered where.

When she finally found the right file, the next challenge was figuring out which fields were mandatory. Some projects required additional information, others didn’t. And if something was missing, the portfolio manager would send the request back days later with comments like “Please update section 3.2” or “Missing justification for budget planning.”

With the new project initiation workflow in OpenProject, this process is expected to become much easier. Anna selects the correct template, follows the predefined steps, and fills out only the fields relevant to the project type. No guessing, no version confusion, no back-and-forth.

When she submits the request, all information is automatically bundled and assigned to the responsible reviewer — making the process transparent, structured, and significantly faster. And because the workflow aligns with the PMflex project initiation phase, her organization can ensure that every new project starts with complete and standardized documentation.

Outlook

The project initiation workflow is the first step toward a series of guided processes in OpenProject. After completing this feature, we plan to support additional PMflex-aligned wizards to make structured project, program, and portfolio management even easier — especially for public administration and large organizations with standardized processes.

We look forward to sharing more insights as development progresses.