Project Charter

Revision as of 00:56, 17 February 2018

The abstract will be here.

Introduction

Following are the three main reasons for using a Project Charter: ^[1]

1. To authorize the project. This is used to sell the project to the stakeholders and give them a rough idea what the return will be.
2. To serve as the primary sales document. The project has a framework so the resources can be allocated as necessary.
3. To use it throughout the life cycle of the project. The project manager and the team can pursue the project by using the charter and can refer to it during the project lifetime. projectmanager.com

Develop Project Charter

A flow diagram of the process can be seen in Figure 1. The process of developing a project charter is divided into three main steps; Inputs, Tools & Techniques and Outputs. In the following sections, these steps will be explained in more detail.

• Figure 1 is supposed to be here.

Inputs

The inputs to develop a Project Charter are following:

• Project Statement of Work
• Business Case
• Agreements
• Enterprise Environmental Factors
• Organizational Process Assets

Tools and Techniques

Two elements are needed for this step:

• Expert Judgment

An individual or a group of experts with special knowledge or training criticize the inputs. These individuals can come from a different source, for example, other units within the organization, professional and technical associations, stakeholders, project management office and consultants.

• Facilitation Techniques

The project manager will apply various methods that are within project management, like brainstorming, problem-solving and conflict resolution. This processes will help to develop the project charter.

Outputs

The output is the project charter and the project manager will allocate the project to organizational resources and has authority to use project activities. Contents of a project charter are following:

• Executive Summary

High-level summary of reasons for creating the project and what problem it is supposed to improve. Moreover, it can contain background information and general statements about the project.

• Project Purpose/Justification

It is vital to know the purpose or justification of the project and what is the expected outcome of it. This section describes the project and how it is related to the company’s business by defining the business case and business objectives. The business case will explain the need for the project and how the company will benefit from it. Analyze the logic for the business case and what effects it will have on the business. It is important to define the final goal of the project, and therefore it is vital to list the objectives for the project that are in a relation to the company’s strategy.

• Project Description

This section will include; project objectives and success criteria, requirements, constraints, assumptions and preliminary scope statement. It will provide a more detailed description of the project, but be careful not to have too many details. General information such as; what is the project, how will it be done and what will it achieve. It can be useful to use the SMART method to set the project objectives. The effect is that each objective will be specific, measurable and achievable within a certain time frame, and for that reason, it will be easier to monitor them. Therefore, the project manager can monitor if the project is on the right path and it is more likely that the project will be a success. In the requirements section, a list of all project requirements needs to be stated by the project team, it will not be exhaustive list since the requirements can change as the project moves forward.

• Risks

Every project contains some form of risk. Risks and other potential issues that may happen in a project need to be taken into account and listed because without it the project can derail. The project manager will address this and create a plan to solve these issues if they occur, the team would be more ready and could reduce project delays and prevent complications.

• Project Deliverables

This should provide a list of all deliverables, whether it is from the customer, project sponsor or the stakeholders. The project sponsor needs to approve the list and the team must present all changes to the project sponsor and be represented in status meetings.

• Summary Milestone Schedule

All predetermined milestones in the project are listed but are subject to change throughout the project. All changes will be evaluated by the project manager.

• Summary Budget

Includes the sum of all relative costs and the total budget for the project. Since the project charter is done very early in the process, the costs are likely to change when the project becomes clearer, but the charter will give a rough plan. In addition, it is crucial to run all changes by the project manager.

• Project Approval Requirements

Project approval requirements will state the point when the project has reached its goal. The goal and the requirements need to be clear, decisive and should be accepted by an authorized person. At last, if the project is approved and has met all the requirements it will be signed-off by the sponsor.

• Assigned Project Manager

This section will state the assigned project manager to the project, along with the responsibilities and authority level. These responsibilities can vary between organizations and projects.

• Authorization

The project and all of its guidelines stated needs to be approved and signed by the project sponsor.

Limitations

Even though potential risks and issues are considered in project charter, nobody can predict the future, so the project manager cannot predict each complication. The teammates will rely on the project charter to manage obstacles but when a problem occurs that is not included in the charter it can take a lot of time to solve it. On the other hand, it can also be a problem if the charter has a solution to a problem that occurs, it may not be adequate to solve it and therefore the project will delay.

Later on, the challenges are presented in this section.

References

1. ↑ Stephanie Ray. (2017). A Quick Guide to Project Charters. https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-charter