Implementation Project Definition before managed systems installed

We are just starting a project. Solution Manager 7.1 has just been installed and we waiting for the ECC on Hana system to be installed. Meanwhile we need to create an Implementation project and define the img. Is this possible? I have the Virtual System document but it mentions that the Dev system has to be created (non-virtual).

We want to create the project and upload a template to get this project started asap.