The Project Charter: Why it's necessary 

 

I'm often asked why as project managers, do we need to develop a project charter?  'Can't we just get on with the project?'

As tempting as this may be, developing a good project charter establishes the 'contract' between the project team (headed by the Project Manager) and the project sponsor, describing 'what' and 'how' the project will be delivered.

Projects are all about delivering a product or service to meet the customer's requirements (in this case, the project sponsor).  Therefore, it is imperative that these requirements are captured in the Project Charter (scope, budget, schedule), along with 'how' the project will be delivered (resources, management, etc).

A typical project charter may contain these headings:

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.0 INTRODUCTION

2.1 Business Need

2.2 Business Requirement

2.3 Project Background/Alternative Analysis

2.4 Stakeholder Influence

2.5 Key Dependencies

3.0 Project Definition

3.1 Business Objectives & Benefits

3.2 Business Benefits to Strategy - Relationship Mapping

3.3 Project Scope

 3.3.1 In-Scope

3.3.2 out-of-scope

3.4 Project Deliverables

3.5 Assumptions and Constraints

4.0 Project Resources

4.1 Project Budget Summary

4.2 Project Schedule Summary

4.3 Project Human Resources

4.3.1 Project Organization Chart

4.3.2 Roles, Responsibilities, Accountabilities and Authorities

4.3.3 Staffing & Responsibilities

 

 

What are other items have you used or seen in Project Charters?