An Initiative in Catalio is the strategic container for a modernization engagement. Every entity in Catalio — requirements, journeys, personas, capabilities, artifacts — can be connected to an Initiative, giving that entity the “why” behind the work.
If Applications answer “what system are we looking at?”, Initiatives answer “why are we looking at it, and what are we trying to achieve?”
What an Initiative Captures
An Initiative holds together:
- Strategic intent — The business rationale and transformation goal
- Scope — Which Applications, Features, Requirements, and Journeys are in scope
- Success measures — Quantified targets for what “done” looks like
- Process domains — The business process areas involved (Q2C, R2R, H2R, ITSM, P2P)
- Delivery structure — Tasks, risks, metrics, dependencies, and change proposals
- Governance — Stage gates, approval workflows, and audit trail
Initiative Stage Lifecycle
Initiatives follow a structured stage lifecycle managed by Catalio’s state machine:
planning → approval → build → release → retro → archived
| Stage | Purpose |
|---|---|
| planning | Define scope, gather context, upload artifacts, run discovery |
| approval | Stakeholder review, requirements sign-off, baseline confirmation |
| build | Active development and implementation |
| release | Deployment, verification, and go-live |
| retro | Retrospective, outcome measurement, lessons learned |
| archived | Retired or cancelled (terminal state) |
Revert transitions are available for course corrections:
approval → planningwhen scope needs reworkbuild → approvalwhen requirements have changed
Key Fields
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| name | Initiative name, e.g. “Quote-to-Cash Modernization” |
| description | High-level description of the engagement |
| strategic_intent | The business rationale and transformation goal |
| scope_summary | Narrative description of what is and is not in scope |
| success_measures | Array of targets: name, current value, target value, unit, timeframe |
| process_domains | Business process domains: q2c, r2r, h2r, itsm, p2p, etc. |
| start_date | When the initiative begins |
| target_date | Delivery target date |
| assumptions | Categorized map of assumptions the initiative depends on |
| constraints | Categorized map of known constraints |
| out_of_scope | Explicit declaration of what this initiative will not address |
| stage | Current lifecycle stage |
Readiness Signals
Before advancing between stages, Catalio computes readiness signals — advisory indicators of whether the Initiative is ready to proceed. These are nudges, not gates: the PM can advance even if signals are not all met, but the signals create visibility into preparedness.
Planning → Approval signals:
- Has a strategic intent been documented?
- Are there at least one scope item connected?
- Does the Initiative have a description?
Approval → Build signals:
- Are there at least 3 scope items?
- Have success measures been defined?
Connecting Entities to an Initiative (Scope)
Entities connect to an Initiative via InitiativeScope — a polymorphic join resource that supports any entity type: requirements, personas, processes, applications, journeys, artifacts, and more.
Each scope item has a relationship type (relationship_type attribute, defaulting to :in_scope):
- in_scope — This entity is actively within the initiative’s scope
- impacted — This entity will be affected but is not a primary deliverable
- out_of_scope — Explicitly excluded from the initiative (documented for clarity)
- related — Linked for context only
And a MoSCoW priority (for requirements-type scope items):
- must_have, should_have, could_have, wont_have
What Lives Inside an Initiative
| Child Concept | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Onboarding Plan | Prioritized artifact collection checklist |
| Initiative Tasks | Delivery work items per stage |
| Initiative Risks | Tracked risks with likelihood and impact |
| Metrics | KPIs with baseline, target, and actual values |
| Dependencies | Internal and external blocking dependencies |
| Change Proposals | AI-suggested or manually proposed requirement changes |
| Discovery Sessions | AI-guided stakeholder interviews |
Audit Trail
Every stage transition is recorded as an immutable StageTransition record capturing: who advanced, from which stage, to which stage, when, with what notes, and what the readiness signals were at transition time. This creates a complete governance audit trail.
Field-level changes to the Initiative record itself are captured by InitiativeAuditEntry records.
Best Practices
Define strategic intent before anything else.
A clear strategic intent statement keeps all downstream decisions aligned. “Reduce quote-to-cash cycle time from 12 days to 3 days by replacing Oracle EBS with a modern SaaS platform” is actionable. “Modernize the system” is not.
Declare out-of-scope explicitly.
The most common source of scope creep is not what was agreed to be in scope, but what was never explicitly excluded. Use the out_of_scope field to state clearly what this Initiative will not address.
Set success measures before approval.
If you cannot define what success looks like before approval, you are not ready for stakeholder sign-off. Push for measurable success criteria, even if the numbers are estimates.
Use stage revert as a signal, not a failure.
Reverting from approval back to planning is not a failure — it is the governance process working correctly. It means the team identified a scope or readiness issue before committing to build.
Relationships at a Glance
| Related Concept | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Applications | Applications can be in scope of an Initiative |
| Requirements | Requirements can be in scope of an Initiative |
| Journeys | Journeys can be linked to an Initiative |
| Change Proposals | Proposals are Initiative-scoped |
| Discovery Sessions | Sessions are Initiative-scoped |
| Artifacts | Documents uploaded for AI extraction |
| Onboarding Plan | Artifact collection checklist |
Next Steps
- Create an Onboarding Plan — Start collecting the artifacts your Initiative needs
- Run Discovery Sessions — Conduct structured stakeholder interviews
- Define Metrics — Set quantified success criteria
- Manage Risks — Track and mitigate threats to delivery
Pro Tip: Before your first discovery session, fill in the Initiative’s strategic_intent, success_measures, and out_of_scope fields together with your sponsor. This 30-minute exercise prevents months of misalignment.
Support
- Documentation: Continue reading about Onboarding Plans and Discovery Sessions
- In-App Help: The AI assistant can help you structure your Initiative
- Email: support@catalio.ai
- Community: Share Initiative management patterns with other Catalio users