DEVELOP PROJECT CHARTER

A Project Charter is a statement of the scope, objectives and participants in a project and is a critical document to ensure that everyone involved in the project is aware of its purpose and objectives. It outlines the project objectives, identifies the main stakeholders, and defines the authority of the project manager. It serves as a reference of authority for the future of the project and its management. The detail within the charter should be proportionate with the size of the project.

The purpose of the Project Charter is to document:

Reasons for undertaking the project Objectives and constraints of the project Assumptions that influence the project environment Directions concerning the solution - scope Identities of the main stakeholders Empowers the Project Manager with the authority to carry out the project

A Project Charter typically includes all or some of the following detailed areas: 1. Project name and date 2. Revision history and versions: Date, what changes were made and who made the amendments. Version is incremented for each significant change or edit. 3. Project sponsor and key stakeholders 4. Project manager 5. Project organization, governance bodies or project steering committees 6. Goal: What does the project hope to accomplish? Goals can also be viewed as the response to identified problems. 7. Objectives: A concrete statement describing what the project is trying to achieve. The objective should be written at a low level, so that it can be evaluated at the conclusion of a project to see whether it was achieved or not. A well worded objective will be specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, realistic, and time bound. 8. Success criteria: Success criteria should be identified. To the extent possible, these factors should be quantifiable and measurable. 9. Project scope: Identify what is in scope and what is out of scope. Defining scope activities and deliverables (exclusions) is critical to avoiding false assumptions regarding the project.

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 10. Roles and responsibilities: Describe the various skills or roles in the project and highlight the respective responsibilities in terms of accountability, responsibility, and information requirements. 11. Configuration management: Identify the composition of the project, documentation control and other data that supports the project. 12. Effort: An estimate of the time that team members will spend on the project. This may be broken down by the roles or resources that will be required to complete the work. 13. Estimated budget/costs: An estimate of the costs that will be required to execute the project is required. 14. Assumptions: Project assumptions are circumstances and events that need to occur for the project to be successful but are outside the total control of the project team. Assumptions are made to fill knowledge gaps; they may later prove to be incorrect and can have a significant impact on the project. List only those assumptions that have a reasonable chance of occurring. Identifying and documenting assumptions is essential in ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned on the project approach, and since acting on false assumptions can add significantly high risk to the project. 15. Risks: Project risks are circumstances or events that exist outside of the control of the project team and may have an adverse impact on the project if they occur. (In other words, whereas an issue is a current problem that must be dealt with, a risk is a potential future problem that has not yet occurred.) All projects contain some risks. It may not be possible to eliminate risks entirely but they can be anticipated and managed, thereby reducing the probability that they will occur. Only risks that have a high probability of occurring and have a high negative impact should be documented in the charter. All risks, details and mitigation strategies should be included in the risk management plan. 16. Obstacles/constraints: List any known constraints imposed by the environment or by management. Typical constraints may include fixed budget, limited resources, imposed interim and/or end dates, and predetermined solutions. 17. Supporting documents: Include in this section copies of pertinent documents such as: Business Case or Plan, Requirements Documents 18. Approval: Use this section for approval signatures from project stakeholders.

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Related Resources
Supporting Planview Functionality NotificationsPlanview Enterprise uses a system of electronic notifications to alert a user of information that is relevant to them, such as when a document is ready for creation, review, or approval. Document Templates Project CharterA summary document that defines in broad terms the purpose and scope of a project along with other major topics.

Copyright2010byPlanview,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Thisdocumentmaynot,inwholeorinpart,be copied,photocopied,reproduced,translated,orreducedtoanyelectronicmediumormachinereadable formexceptasprovidedbypriorwrittenconsentfromPlanview,Inc.