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PROJECT CHARTER is an informal contract between the project team and the project sponsor. CONTRACT is an agreement entered into freely by two or more parties, one party cannot arbitrarily change it, there is something of value for each party, and it is a living document that can evolve with changing conditions (if both parties agree and receive something of value for making the change).

(1) to authorise the project manager to proceed

(2) to help the project manager, sponsor, and team members develop a common understanding

(3) to help the project manager, sponsor, team members commit to the spirit of the project (4) to quickly screen out obviously poor projects

WHY IS A PROJECT CHARTER USED? The project charter is a document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. This gives the project and the project manager official status within the parent organization. Everyone involved in the project needs to develop a common understanding of what the project entails. This includes the broad justification for the project, how it aligns with the goals of the parent organization, determination of what is included and excluded in the project scope, rough schedule, success measures, major risks, rough estimate of resource needs, and stakeholders. Each person needs to commit personally and formally to doing their part to the best of their abilities to achieve the agreedupon project results. This formal commitment often motivates a person to keep working hard on a project when things are not going well. A charter is used to quickly screen potential projects to determine which appear to be poor choices.

COMMON UNDERSTANDING RESULTS IN THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS •teamwork develops •agreement, trust, communication, collaboration, and commitment among the sponsor, project manager, and project team develop •the project team does not worry if management will accept a decision and can focus on the project plan •the sponsor is less likely to unilaterally change the original agreement study_ingmadesimple

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WHEN IS A PROJECT CHARTER NEEDED?

ELEMENTS IN A PROJECT CHARTER CHARTER ELEMENT

INFORMATION

title

The title can be used to quickly identify which project is being referenced. The scope overview is the project in a nutshell: a high-level description of what needs to be accomplished and how it will be done.

scope overview

ANSWERS THE QUESTION what?

The scope overview helps prevent scope creep which is the uncontrollable increase in the work of a project without corresponding adjustments to resources, budget, or schedule. Product scope refers to what needs to be accomplished. Requirements refer to the characteristic or condition needed to satisfy either a contract, client, or stakeholder expectations.

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business case

background

milestone schedule

The business case is the project purpose or justification statement and is used to justify the necessity of the project. It helps all parties understand the purpose of the project. A well-written business case should persuade decision makers to support the project and inspire the project team members and key stakeholders to work hard toward successful completion of the project. The background statement is optional and is used to give more detail to support the scope overview and business case statements. The milestone schedule is a high-level plan that indicates a few significant accomplishments that are anticipated over the life of the project. The milestone schedule divides the project into intermediate steps whose completion can be verified.

why?

why?

when?

A deliverable is a unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.

success criteria risks, assumptions, and constraints

resource estimates

stakeholder list

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Acceptance criteria stipulate which conditions must be met in order for the deliverables to be approved. A risk is an uncertain situation that could negatively or positively affect the project if it occurs. The goal is not to eliminate all risk, but to reduce the risk to a level that decision makers deem acceptable. Forecasting and planning increase the likelihood of discovering problems before they occur. Assumptions are suppositions made during project planning that are treated as correct or factual, though they have not been proven. A false assumption becomes a risk. A constraint is anything that limits the implementation of a project. A constraint that limits money, time, or resources is a risk. The resources section describes what will be invested in the project. Resources include the workers, tools, equipment, and anything else needed in order to execute your project. Identify and prioritise stakeholders to the project.

what? whoa!

how much?

who?

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team operating principles

lessons learned

Team operating rules or principles are used to enhance team performance. The goal is to increase team effectiveness and ensure that all parties are aware of what is expected. The operating principles establish how meetings will be conducted, how decisions will be made, how work will get done, and how everyone will treat each other with respect. Lessons learned represent the knowledge gained from one project which may be applicable to similar, future projects, including things that should be replicated and things that should be avoided on future projects.

how?

how?

The successes and failures of previous projects become practical advice. Learning from past projects helps project managers avoid the risk of repeating the same mistakes.

signatures and commitment

A lessons learned register is an accumulation of the knowledge learned, which can be easily referenced and catalogued. The commitment section of the charter lists who is involved and describes the extent to which each person can make decisions and/or the expected time commitment for each person. The project sponsor, project manager, and core team members show commitment by signing the charter.

who?

WHY SHOULD PROJECT MANAGERS AND TEAMS LOOK AT RISKS? (1) Identify negative risks that can be viewed as a threat and plan to overcome them (2) Identify positive risks that can be considered an opportunity to complete the project in a better, faster, or at a lower cost and plan to capitalise on it (3) Consider the risk of not undertaking the project CONSTRUCTING A PROJECT CHARTER SCOPE OVERVIEW AND BUSINESS CASE INSTRUCTIONS The sponsor or the leadership team creates the first draft of the scope overview and the business case. If the leadership team feels something is very important, they can contribute additional information. 1-4 sentences for each is enough – but it needs to be in writing. BACKGROUND INSTRUCTIONS The project manager and team decide whether this optional section is necessary for their project.

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CONSTRUCTING A MILESTONE SCHEDULE 1. Describe the current situation in 3-4 1st row of the milestone column The starting point for many projects is words that requires the project either something that exists, but does not work as well as desired, or a desire exists for something completely new, or a project starts at the ending point of a previous project. 2. Describe the project at its successful Last row of the milestone column completion in 3-4 words 3. Describe the acceptance criteria for Bottom row of 3rd and 4th columns What stakeholder(s) will judge the the final project deliverables deliverables, and on what basis? 4. Determine the key points in the milestone column where quality needs to be verified 5. For each milestone, determine who the primary stakeholders are and how the resulting deliverable will be judged 6. Determine expected completion dates for each milestone

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RISKS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND CONSTRAINTS INSTRUCTIONS The project manager should brainstorm all the things that could pose a risk to the project schedule, budget, usefulness of any project deliverables, or satisfaction of any project stakeholder. Constraints that limit choices and unproven assumptions can be identified. An assumptions log is often created as a living document to record all assumptions and the findings of whether they proved to be true or false. Quantify risk by determining the probability of the risk occurring and the potential impact it will have if realised. Qualitative risk analysis refers to the process in which risks are analysed to determine which are major risks which require a formal response plan. RESOURCES NEEDED INSTRUCTIONS The project manager and team will then make crude/ rough estimates of the project budget and other resource needs such as people, equipment, or space. It is important to describe how the estimates were developed and the level of confidence the team has in them. STAKEHOLDER LIST INSTRUCTIONS Stakeholders are all the people who have an interest in a project. They can be internal or external to the organization, be for or against the project, and have an interest in the project process and/or the project results. The project manager and team begin by identifying all stakeholders, then determining which are most important and then determining what interest they have in the project. TEAM OPERATING PRINCIPLES INSTRUCTIONS The operating principles establish how meetings will be conducted, how decisions will be made, how work will get done, and how everyone will treat each other with respect. LESSONS LEARNED INSTRUCTIONS A sponsor is wise not to sign a project charter authorizing work until the project manager and team show they have learned lessons from recently completed projects. The project manager and team can then look at the lessons until they find at least a couple that can help them on their project. The more specific the lessons, the more likely the team will find them useful. SIGNATURES AND COMMITMENT INSTRUCTIONS The project sponsor, manager, and team members sign the charter to publicly acknowledge their commitment. Sometimes other key stakeholders also sign. RATIFYING THE PROJECT CHARTER The project manager and team formally present the project charter to the sponsor for approval. The sponsor will ask questions regarding any part of the charter for clarification and agreement. Once all questions are satisfactorily answered including any agreements regarding changes, the sponsor, project manager, and core team all sign the project charter and feel bound by it. REFERENCES – the above summary is made using the following textbook: Kloppenborg, T.J., Anantatmula, V.,Wells, K. N. 2017. Contemporary Project Management. Fourth Edition. Cengage: Boston. study_ingmadesimple

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