What term characterizes an initiative that requires financial approval before implementation?

An initiative that requires financial approval before implementation is characterized as an epic. In the context of SAFe, an epic is a significant body of work that can span multiple Agile Release Train (ART) iterations and requires a significant investment of resources. Epics typically represent large, high-level endeavors that need to be evaluated for feasibility and financial justification before moving forward, making them critical in strategic planning and budgeting.

While features and stories are important components of the SAFe framework, they are generally smaller in scope compared to epics. Features are deliverable components that provide value to customers and can generally be completed within a single iteration. Stories represent even smaller units of work focused on specific user needs and requirements. Tasks are the most granular level, detailing the specific activities needed to complete stories or features. None of these smaller deliverables usually require a financial approval process as epics do, reinforcing the distinctive role that epics play in the context of large-scale agile project management.