Which document contains the preliminary description of the business functionality desired by the project sponsor?

The Preliminary Scope Statement is an early-project document created during the initiation phase. Its primary purpose is to provide a high-level understanding of the project's scope by capturing the project objectives, high-level requirements, and a description of the project's deliverables. This document is based on the initial information provided by the project sponsor and stakeholders, effectively serving as the first formal description of the desired business functionality before detailed planning and requirements gathering commence.

A. Requirement Document: This document contains detailed, specific requirements gathered and analyzed during the planning phase, making it far more granular than a preliminary description.

C. PMP (Project Management Plan): The PMP is a comprehensive document that outlines how the project will be executed, monitored, and controlled, not the initial description of what the project will deliver.

D. Project Scope Statement: This is a more detailed and definitive document created later in the planning process. It evolves from and replaces the preliminary scope statement with greater clarity and detail.

1. Project Management Institute. (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (4th ed.). Section 5.2.3.1, Preliminary Project Scope Statement, p. 115. This section explicitly states that the preliminary project scope statement includes "high-level requirements" and the "product scope description," which together define the initial business functionality.

2. Heagney, J. (2016). Fundamentals of Project Management (5th ed.). AMACOM. Chapter 5, "Project Initiation: From Idea to Project Charter," discusses the evolution of project definition documents, where the preliminary scope (often part of a charter) contains the initial high-level description of project deliverables and objectives.

3. University of Washington. (n.d.). IT Project Management - Lecture 5: Project Scope Management. Courseware. This lecture material defines the Preliminary Scope Statement as an output of the Scope Definition process that "provides a high-level description of the project scope" and is a precursor to the detailed Project Scope Statement.